In Desperate Need of An Update

Lindsey

Running

I've been "training" for a 5K the past two months. I basically haven't run since middle school track (and I was pathetic even back then), and it has been a learning experience. I can now run the full 3.1 miles on the treadmill in the basement, and I've done it a few times outside with hills, wind, hard pavement, onlookers. I am also super, SUPER slow. I want to go faster, but these legs of mine just become dead-weights. About three weeks ago, I twisted my knee and despite painkillers and taking an entire week off it stills hurts. We'll be running Memorial Day in my parents' ward, and I just hope to not get the "pity-cheer" at the end. I fear I'll have to walk most of it because of this silly knee. Sigh.

St Louis

I headed to St Louis the last week of April to see my youngest brother. He was home for one week between finishing his 2nd year at BYU and heading to Uganda for a summer internship. It was so fun to see him, and he even kept Collin twice while I went to my mom's new gym. He is now in Uganda (hopefully safe and sound).

I'm also headed to St Louis all next week. Ryan has to go to Madison Wednesday and Thursday of next week, and then he has an overnight scout training Friday night and all day Saturday. I figured there wasn't much reason to return to be home alone for the week, so I guess I'll just stay when he comes back Memorial Day afternoon.

Story Times

I'm kinda obsessed with finding story-times around town to take Collin too. My favorites, by far, are anything taught by Mrs. Melissa at the Dunlap library. Unfortunately, except for the once per month Saturday morning Book Babies class, she has canceled her drop-in Wednesday morning classes until September. Instead, I have found that the Lakeview library hosts a story time every other Monday morning through the summer, except for August. I've also attended Barnes & Noble's and Borders' story times, but I recommend neither. We've also attended story times at Peoria Heights library (now on hold for the summer) and the Butcher Block (only once and it was awful!). I like to think one day Collin will like books as much as I do.

Some perks of Story Times:

1- Free!

2- Scheduled activity to get out of the house each morning

3- New (non-LDS!) friends

New Calling

I've been called to teach the 7-year olds in Primary. That means I've been released from teaching Seminary. I've cried more than a few times, but I won't miss the early hour. Unfortunately, I'll terribly miss teaching every day and having an activity that reminds me of life before children. I'll also miss my teenagers. What good kids.

Ryan

Running

Ryan's been running for more than a year now. Last Spring he ran his first 5K in my parents' ward on Memorial Day. Two weekends ago he ran his first real organized race for Caterpillar. He got a new personal best time of 23 minutes. He sees himself doing a marathon one day, which I would never dream of. You go, babe! He's promised to run with me (aka SLOW) on Monday though. What a champ.

Seminary

Ryan also got released from Seminary-teaching. He isn't nearly as sad, seeing as he's only gotten to know the kids the last 5 months. We threw an end-of-the-year bbq last weekend for the Seminary kids. We bought a bunch of backyard games and roasted marshmallows. It was great.

He's been called to be the assistant varsity scout master. I already am starting to see how much time he'll be away from home: one Friday night and Saturday morning every month plus every Wednesday night.

Mother's Day Gift

Ryan made me the best Mother's Day gift of all-time. If you remember THIS (for my birthday last year) you'll know he likes to put a lot of time and effort into gifts. Believe it or not, he topped the movie! He made me an alphabet book in rhymes about about all the activities Collin and I do together. We are now in the process of getting it published. It is adorable, and Collin loves it too.

Tree Line

When we were house-hunting, we made a Wish List for our "perfect house." Two things we placed on the list were that it be a newer-build and have mature trees on the lot. Our realtor literally laughed at us. By some miracle, we found this house (only 5 years old) with this tree line out back.

We love that we don't look into anyone else's kitchen (or bedroom!) window. So the Tree Line has become quite the project. Our end-goal is to thin the trees out and plant grass among them, effectively visually connecting our little lot with the giant cultivated lawn behind us.

We have found that our wonderful mature trees are in fact hedgerow trees with 1/2 inch brutal thorns throughout. They also grow right next to each other in clusters. I'm sure it is VERY effective at keeping the cattle in the correct spot, but not such a plus when wanting to put a swingset among them.

Last year we removed the barbed wire fence and all the low-lying branches. This year we have gathered all the branches, cut down a few of the trees (thanks for a friend and his chainsaw), pulled 5 lawn bags of weeds, placed a temporary fire-ring in the midst, and laid some logs out for seats. It has a long way to come, but we are thrilled with our progress so far.

Gardening

Ryan is also working on building a new Bunny Guard for our garden. It is looking awesome, and hopefully it'll get done soon. We got our garden in the week before Mother's Day for Family Home Evening: green beans, soybeans, red peppers, onions, roma tomatoes, and some herbs. We're keeping it simple this year!

The pots have our tomato and herbs in them, and the garden is behind Collin. Yes, it is raining when this picture was snapped. He didn't want to come inside when it started raining, so I let him stay out and get all muddy. Then, of course, I plopped him in the bathtub.

Great Finds

Garage Sales

Ryan is becoming a great garage sale-r (in the absence of garbage). We've started attending garage sales on Saturday mornings. Ry drops Collin and I and the stroller off and we walk half the neighborhood while he drives and scouts out the rest. Then we call each other on the cell phones, discuss our finds, and return together to make purchases. We've gotten a new play gym with splash down pool and infant bike seat. Nice!

Garbage

We were out biking (using our new bike seat) last Monday night (Tuesday's trash day!), and we happened upon a plastic turtle sandbox (needs some cleaning and certainly has been well loved, but it'll work) and a new stainless grill (snazzy huh?). Not bad for free!

I snapped this picture to show what a great helper Collin is. He is obsessed with doing everything Daddy does, and he needs the tools too. I think it is so cute, though Ryan is starting to understand now why I can't ever get anything done.

Classifieds

I may have expressed my dismay with Peoria's Craig's List in the past, but we've found a new jackpot. Caterpillar has a site for listing items for sale that's only accessible to Cat employees. We've found that the quality is better, and the prices are pretty good too. In fact, this week we scored a bike trailer. We've been hunting for one since the summer before Collin was born, so we are thrilled with our "new" purchase. I take Collin out in it every morning. He seems to enjoy it.

We also scored this little plastic car. More than anything else, Collin likes to get in and get back out. He also likes to turn the steering wheel. I love watching him in it. He looks so grown up!

Collin

Running

Collin has indeed figured out that walking can be as fast as crawling. Though he gave up crawling entirely a few months ago, he was still teetering and quite a slow walker... until recently! Now he's running all over the place, and keeping his mother on her toes!

Cleaning

Collin LOVES to pick up. He picks up dirty clothes and puts them in the laundry baskets; he picks up his books and puts them in the bin; he puts his blocks in their bucket, and his balls in their bag; he even tries to hang up the dish rag when he pulls it down. I love it! I kid that he is better at picking up after himself than his father; unfortunately it isn't an exaggeration! The best part of it all is that I never ask him to do these things: he just sees something out of place, says "uh-oh" and puts it away. Tell me this will last forever!!!

He especially likes to walk around with the broom. I'm hoping he figures out how to use it real soon.

Shyness

Collin has been very shy since birth. Whenever we went to new places, he'd get real quiet and cling to my arm. Especially in really loud places, like the RiverPlex Preschool Splash, he'd take 30-45 minutes just to warm up to the people and the noises. It was horribly annoying, especially when I had to pay an entrance fee, that he'd just begin to realize that where ever we were could be fun, when the activity would be over and it was time to cleanup.

Fast forward to this month: Collin is sometimes the first person to get to the box of toys after the story time is over. The other day he rushed into the gymnasium at Motor Mites before I'd even paid for us and signed the disclosure. Ryan volunteered in the nursery for Mother's Day (we still have one month until Collin can go), and Collin pretty much ignored him the whole time. I've spent many hours worrying I wouldn't be able to leave him in there with the chaos, and then he grew up right before my eyes! Bring it on.

Talking

Collin jabbers a lot; in fact, he is pretty much always babbling about something. He says tons and tons of words too though, and he understands just about everything we say to him. I don't know when he picked up on all this stuff, but he certainly has. He loves animals and their sounds, and he likes being able to now tell us what he wants. What a smarty pants!

Easter Weekend

Caterpillar doesn't close for many holidays, but Good Friday is one of them. So last Thursday evening, we drove to St. Louis for the weekend. Spring had sprung there, only 3 hours south of us. It was BEAUTIFUL!Friday morning Ryan and I got to go to the temple, and then had lunch afterwards at Mimi's. Collin was pretty good for my parents, though certainly not himself. He seems to have inherited his mother's anxiety in new, different places. He didn't talk much at all while we were gone, and she couldn't get him to smile either. What a silly boy!

When he woke from his nap, we headed to the St. Louis Zoo. It was the perfect place to spend the warm, sunny afternoon... Unfortunately, the entire city of St. Louis agreed: it was packed! It was nice to be outside and look at all the animals. It was Ryan's first time, though Collin and I went once last Fall without him. Collin spent most of the time up on Daddy's shoulders, clinging to his koala - as if it was the only stable thing in his life.

Saturday and Sunday were spent almost exclusively watching Conference on my parents' satellite. I love how in touch with the world the prophets are. I picked up on two themes from the meetings:

1 - Despite the current times of crisis, we can have hope, faith and peace through Christ our Savior.

2 - We must teach our children in words and by example of their Savior and His all-encompassing love for them.
What wonderful reminders for all of us.

By Saturday afternoon we could hold out no longer, and busted into the bags and bags of Easter candy. I put some in little plastic eggs for Collin to shake, but he quickly discovered he could open them, dump them, and eat the stuff inside! It was so funny to watch.

We also colored Easter eggs before Ryan and my dad headed to the Priesthood session. Here are Ryan and Collin playing with his easter eggs... Princess Leia and her bug.

Between sessions on Sunday, we went to visit my grandparents' new retirement villa. They have lived for many wonderful years on a large farm in southern Missouri, but the time has come in their lives to move to a more assistive place. It is great: meals in a dining hall daily; maids to come and clean weekly; nurses throughout the day with medicines; someone to change the heating filter monthly; van services around town and to the grocery store; monthly field trips; daily arts, crafts and activities... Sign me up! We are also super excited because it is only 15 minutes from my parents' place, so every time we visit them, now we can see them too!

It was a great weekend. We love Conference weekend... and the Easter candy, temple date, and time with my parents made it even better!

Insomnia

I haven't done this all the way through the night in three years. Why?

My family has a history of insomnia, with its onset usually in the twenties. My mom and sister both suffer from similar ailments. I figured it was just my time for the dreaded 3-5am wakings. I decided that when I was done having children and nursing, then I would maybe think about taking a sleeping pill. But until then, I would just suffer through the nights... and then the following days.

Since about the age of twenty-two, I would have periodic insomnia. Ryan deduced its cause as a symptom of anxiety. I'd always be awake the night before a new school year, the nights before the school play, the night before parent-teacher conferences, etc. He read online, in my behalf (Love you, Babe!), that keeping a notepad by your bedside would help you record that "one more thing" on your to-do list, and then you'd be able to fall back asleep. It worked wonders for me, until three years ago.

About three years ago I started waking during the night and not being able to fall back asleep for not just a week in a row, but for entire months. I could never think of anything to record on my notepad, because I wasn't in need of adding something to my never-ending list. By this time, I was finishing my teaching and career, and my life was changing. Unfortunately, my body was not resting. Instead of getting that blessed sleep, I just stared into the dark night.

Then two weeks ago my friend came to visit. I was exhausted each night (she has a two-year-old and Collin's 15 months), and suddenly: I started sleeping again! I told Ryan that I must not be getting enough interaction and activity each day, and Jenn's visit had cured me. I knew it'd only be temporary, so I relished the week I slept each night all night.

Then it happened last week again. I was thrilled! ...and confused. Why was I suddenly able to sleep through the night again? What had been wrong for so long, and what was now right?

Here's my self-diagnosis:

Since I have a weak stomach, I began taking a prenatal vitamin before bed so that I wouldn't feel nauseous all day from the folic acid. This was about three years ago. We were trying to conceive, and I knew I needed the extra boost to my diet. At this time, we lived in an apartment with radiant baseboard heating which popped and clicked - imagine a band warming up for their big stage performance! - each time it had to come on. It woke Ryan and me each time it did its horrible job of heating our little apartment. Ryan was always able to fall back asleep, but I'd lay there all night... in pure frustration. I blamed everything of the heat, but then we moved to our beautiful home, and I was still waking.

The next year I got pregnant, and every woman knows the night-wakings associated with pregnancy: peeing, turning over, shifting pillows, rearranging blankets... It is quite and ordeal, and I blamed my wakefulness on all the discomforts of hauling my belly around.

This past year of chronic insomnia was Collin's baby year. With all the night feedings and waking to check if he was breathing (I was such a spaz), I was usually up for several hours after each unknown waking.

Then came last week. Not only was I exhausted each night after chasing Lane and Collin around (as well as constant chatting with Jenn!), but I was also too lazy to fill my water cup and take my prenatal before going to sleep. Then last week I was out of my good habits and didn't take my prenatal all week either.

Ta-da! Sleep!

I told Ryan my suspicions that my prenatal was causing night-wakefulness, and we decided it was probably a placebo thing. I decided that whether it was a "sugar-pill" thing or not, I was sleeping, and I didn't mind if I was just playing games with my brain.

Then I found THIS (gotta love google-ing). Insomnia is a documented side-effect of prenatals! Alright, now does everyone else know this already but me? If you already knew this, then shake your head and move on to the next blog. If you didn't already know this, have you had any problems like this? Do you know that your waking could be caused by your vitamins?!

My SIMPLE solution is that I've started taking my prenatal first thing in the morning. (To my surprise, it isn't even making me feel sick, and I am definitely still sleeping!) Awesome, huh? Simple solution to a HUGE problem.

Disclosures: I know you are dying to know... No, we are not expecting, but I am still nursing Collin once a day. I figure extra vitamins are good for me anyway, and why not take a prenatal over any 'ol multi-vitamin? Hope that satisfies your extra curiosity.

Happy sleeping to you all, because I know I'm sleeping tonight!

Shameless Plug

My sister-in-law Emily and mother-in-law, Lori, are super creative. I just saw this video about their boutique in Boise last weekend.

http://brollproduction.com/

Amazing, right? All the dresses were made by Lori, and one of the adorable little models is my niece Ella. Emily ran this boutique and several others, which have been traditionally held before Christmas. This one was a bonus Spring/Easter one.

If you are interested in buying a dress for your niece, daughter or granddaughter, leave me a comment and I'll get you in touch with Lori. She'll also have a website up and running soon, so keep checking back here for the link to that.

So do you now understand a little bit more of my feelings of inadequacy in the craft department? These Williams' have lots of talent!

Jenn's Visit

This past week my friend Jenn came to visit from Madison. Her husband had a conference all week in Louisville, so he dropped her and her almost-2-year old off "on his way." We played all week, and it was wonderful.

We spent time at two of the parks by our house, since it was 65 and sunny for three days. Yippee! Collin is warming up to sitting on my lap on the swing and slide, but he still doesn't love the infant swings. We also sat in the yard and relaxed one afternoon. Lane and Collin struggled to share the one child's camping chair we have. It was funny to watch Collin race - crawling, of course, since it's faster - for the chair each time Lane stood up.

We also went shopping (but not buying; go us!) and out to eat (at a fabulous trendy restaurant by the unversity here - One World Cafe). On Friday morning we went swimming at a local gym for Preschool Splash. Lane loved it the first thirty minutes, and Collin loved it the last thirty minutes, but it was fun anyways.

Jenn even babysat - after Collin was asleep - on Friday night so Ryan and I could go out. We saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid and got Coldstone. Delish! It was only our third non-temple date since Collin was born, and we were in heaven.

Even though we were tired, Jenn and I spent each of our evenings after the babies were asleep working on 4th of July door wreaths - that turned out pretty cute, I think. I got the idea HERE.

Foam form: $2.99 at Michael's
Fabric: 1/2 yard each of 3 different types ($2.79/yd at JoAnn's)
Craft glue: $2.79 at JoAnn's
Total: about $10

It was a great week with great friends. Collin is super lonely today, and I think he's even been looking for Lane. I can't believe how quiet the house is. Thanks for coming Jenn, and thanks for sharing your family with us Dave!

Collin is 15 months

(I just saw this post from FOREVER ago, and apparently I never posted it - it's been saved as a draft. Pardon the need for me to post it so I have it for our own history's sake.

Yes, I know that Collin is now almost 3! You don't have to read it.)

Physical Statistics:

Height - 31.5 inches (57%)

Weight - 23 lbs, 8 oz (32%)
Head Circumference - 46 cm (16%)

Language Skills:

Speaking - Collin says a lot of words, though much of it is based on the situation...
ball, this (meaning "What's this called?"), juice, cheese, mom (the only perfectly enunciated one!), dada, woof (when he sees a dog).

Listening - He claps his hands when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It." He heads towards his highchair when I tell him it's time to eat. If I say, "It's time for Sesame Street," he walks to the living room, and stands in front of the television smiling. If we ask, "What does a cow say?" He answers, "Mmmmm." If I say ANYTHING about "outside," he goes to the sliding back doors and looks out.

Understanding - I think Collin understands most everything. That might seem strange, but he seems to know a great deal of what is going on. For instance, when he hears the garage opening, he heads to the laundry door, and stands saying, "Dada," and then eagerly waits for Ryan to come in. He also waves bye-bye when we put on his jacket (summer temperatures have really confused him!). If we are putting on our shoes, he brings us his. He also tries to put my socks or shoes on my feet when he wants to go outside. If I put on my workout clothes, he stands at the baby gate to the basement (where the exercise equipment is).

Mobility Skills:

Collin's walking! I never officially announced it to the blogging world, but Collin started walking two days before his 14-month birthday. Now it has been a full month, and he is probably walking 50% of the time. If he wants to get somewhere fast or if he's feeling lazy, he'll still crawl. But he is gradually adding more and more walking to his day. His favorite thing to do is to walk holding someone's hand - much safer, and much faster!

Of course walking means ouchies. This doozy happened at the end of Sunday School, and the whole ward heard/saw it! Pews are hard and sharp!

Sleeping Schedule:

Nighttime - Collin sleeps regularly 7:00pm-7:30am. If it gets messed with (example: driving to St. Louis and not arriving until 8:30pm) things get ugly... and I mean, UGLY! Collin has quite a temper, and I've seen enough tantrums in the last week to fill my lifetime. Fortunately, I discovered the problem, and Collin's catching up on his sleep. He is a much happier little guy.
Daytime - I had moved Collin to one nap, starting somewhere between 11:30 and 1:30 about a month ago. I loved the freedom to do things, especially since almost every kid-activity in this city starts between 9:30 and 10:30am. Unfortunately, though some days one nap is what Collin wants/needs, there are still the days where he desperately needs two.

Just imagine the difficulty I'm having scheduling doctor appointments, appointments for shots, visiting teaching appointments, play dates, and meeting friends at the park. I never know if he'll be on a one-nap or two-nap day! Sigh. One day my life will be routine again, right?

Eating
Colling eats three meals per day and one snack (mid-afternoon). Here's some of his main dishes: hot dog, fried egg, peanut butter & jelly, pizza rolls, grilled cheese, baby oatmeal. For snack, he usually eats something from this list - which are also sometimes his side dishes at meal time: peas, black beans, pretzels, string cheese, goldfish, strawberry yogurt, applesauce.

Oh, and Collin LOVES his juice - orange juice! He's only allowed one sippy-ful per day, and he guzzles it in just a few minutes. The rest of the day he sticks to whole milk.

Other Silly Tidbits

He used to just unload the cupboard, but now he climbs in and takes the appliance's place!

Ryan caught this classic one morning when he went to get snotty-nosed Collin from his bed.

Yep, we've got a Roman toga boy in the works!Collin loves to take things out of a location and then replace them. This time it was the silverware from the dishwasher container.And this time it was an entire bag of Goldfish!

Caught in the act! We dug out these dart guns for a Scripture Mastery Friday game, and Collin thought he'd "pack" them along for the grocery store. Probably shouldn't allow my baby to play with guns just yet...

(So it was actually just super fun for me to read this. Brennan is in most of this clothing now, and luckily is not quite so mobile. I'm sure my days are numbered though...)

Reading!

What do we do when it's 65 and sunny?

Pick up a good book, kick up our feet, and relax...

basking in the rays!

More Crafting

One of the purposes/goals of my crafting is to spend next to nothing. I like feeling I can make things for nearly free. So my new goal is to post each of my projects and leave an accounting of how much I spent. I love THIS blog, which is where many of my ideas/projects come from.


As requested, here are some explanations of my last projects:


1 - Collin's High Chair

We've hated the covering on Collin's chair since we pulled it from the dumpster 2 years ago in Madison. In January, we finally bought the fabric at JoAnn's. It was pretty expensive ($10/yard?) but we only needed a yard, so it wasn't too bad. And we had the red pleather leftover from a project many years ago to recover the seat of a motorcycle Ryan used to own, so it was free.


I traced the old cover onto the fabric (folded in half so I'd get two) - allowing for a seam allowance - and cut it out. We found a W online in a font we liked and printed it. Then I traced the W upside down on one piece of the black, shiny stuff. Then Ryan helped by using a razor blade to cut it out. We placed the red pleather (just a square piece) behind the removed W-shape, and this is when it got tricky. It had to be sewn from the front, but the black stuff was so sticky, the foot of my sewing machine couldn't advance it. Ryan got the great idea to place a piece of tissue paper over the area. Then he sewed around the W (I was afraid of messing up)then gently removed the tissue. It worked perfect: he could see the outline of the shape to sew around, but the machine was able to grip and advance the fabric accordingly.


To finish up, I sewed right-sides together (like a pillow case), turn it right-side out, and stuffed the old cover inside. Admittedly, I still haven't closed up the hole I left open. It is just tucked inside, and hardly shows at all, since it's along a hidden edge. Voila: a new throne for the Big C man!

2 - Love Letters Mailbox

The BYU ward (10th Ward Tigers!) Ryan and I met in had a tradition of collecting and distributing notes among the ward members. The notes were placed in a #10 can shaped like a Honey Pot. Ryan and I often sent each other "honey pots" as we dated and then got engaged. When we got married, we wrote each other notes and put them in each other's lunches. Since having a child, I've noticed we don't write each other notes much, and I always loved this tradition. So for Valentine's Day, I bought this mailbox - undecorated - to begin the tradition of note-writing again. I got the idea HERE.

Red Mailbox: Michael's $2.00

Foam Adhesive Lettering: Michael's $1.99 (a splurge - I could have made these and they would have been fine)

Glitter Gems: JoAnn's $1.50

Black Ribbon: free

Hot Glue: free

Foam Base: free

We've enjoyed putting the flag up to signal "You've Got Mail!"

3 - Rosette Wreath

These was the most fun fun project I've made so far. It was super easy, and it turned out better than I could have hoped for. I just love it! HERE's where I learned how to do it.

Felt: JoAnn's $4.99/yd (I bought 2 1/2 yards, but I only needed 1 1/2 yards)
Heart-shaped form: JoAnn's $2.99
Black Ribbon: free

And here's what I've been working on this month:

1 - Easter Wreath
I got the idea HERE, but I didn't like the bow as you can see. If I were making it again, I would do it differently. I spent far too much time worrying about the placement of each and every egg and varying the colors in order to make it look random. I think I could have throw them on in seconds and gotten the same look, but oh well. I was worried about how it would turn out, but I think it's okay. It isn't my favorite, but it was the best I could find online for the best price and easiest construction.



This project cost me $5.50:
- Plastic Eggs: 3 bags of 18 eggs each (Dollar Store: $1 x 3)
- Ribbon: I bought a whole spool, but then I opted to skip the bow, so I really only used it to making the hanger. I could have used anything else and saved this dollar. Live and learn. (Dollar Store: $1)
- Grass: 1 bag of grass (Walmart: $1.50)
- Cardboard: We've got tons of moving boxes in the basement. I just cut one up.
- Hot Glue: I used a lot, but I had a lot, so this was free, this time.

2 - Magnet Letters
Collin has been getting into all kinds of trouble while I work in the kitchen, so this project was an attempt to provide him with something to do that I approved.

This project cost me $0:
- Foam: leftover from a project my students did when I was teaching
- Magnetic strip: also leftover from my teaching days
- Hot glue: Had just enough to finish up this project. I'll have to buy more for the next craft though.


And that's my crafting of late. What cheap crafts have you found? Do you enjoy feeling like you can make things for almost free?

Lola

In memoriam of our non-trip to Cancun (we spent all our money on the dining room remodel),

we're proud to introduce you to Lola.

Do you find your mind wandering to warmer weather too? Aww, the doldrums of winter. Wishing warmer weather upon you too!

Valentine's Day Pet Peeve

Question: Is Valentine's Day an all-inclusive holiday for your mother, father, siblings, children, their classmates, and their teachers?

Wikipedia: "Saint Valentine's Day (commonly shortened to Valentine's Day) is an annual holiday held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The holiday is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD 496. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The holiday first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished" (italicized added).

Answer: No. Valentine's Day celebrates love between "intimate companions."

When my mother-in-law's first question (Love you, Lori - even though you didn't get a valentine...) last week during our Weekly Sunday Evening Webcam Session was, "What did Collin get?" I was shocked. I didn't think that's what Valentine's Day was about. I asked, "Was I supposed to get him something?"

This question prompted some research on my part. Maybe I was the one who was wrong. Fortunately for me, if Valentine's Day is celebrated between "intimate companions," Collin doesn't fit the bill. Don't get me wrong; I love Collin dearly. But he did not receive a card on Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is meant from my husband and I, not for our one-year old son. He has his birthday and Christmas, and he'll have Valentine's Day in 25 years or so.

In truth, Valentine's Day is really about commercialism. We've been told by the media that if we care about someone we have to spend money (cards, flowers, candies, dinner, etc.) on them on February 14th. I think it is sad that if we're told something over and over again, we start to buy into it (pun intended).

Am I a big fan of Valentine's Day? Heck no. Never have been. As a child, Valentine's Day presented a multitude of problems. You remember the angst of choosing which card seemed the most innocent in the packaged box to give to that stupid boy who'd been bothering you all year. You wanted to be nice, but not too nice. Then there was the equal anguish of picking the card to give to the boy you did like, but that you didn't want to know that you liked him. Of course, there was also the stress surrounding the "readings." Did he mean that? Why do I only have 21 cards in my little heart- and aluminum foil-covered shoebox? Did Casey skip me?!

Wikipedia: "The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When you include the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines."

Aww, yes, and then there's Valentine's Day as a teacher. Ten- and twelve-year olds are awkward anyways, but on Valentine's Day it was worse. Girls were crying in the bathroom about what he said at recess, and boys were freaking out at recess about the "card" (also known as a small piece of cardstock with a pre-printed, impersonal To and From) she gave him in his bag. Sigh. The first school that I taught at had it right: they banned valentine exchanges because of all the heartache and hassle it caused. Looks like St. Valentine would agree. He's probably rolling over in his grave about how far this has all gone. But, as our society has proven, the advertisers have successfully gotten us all to spend excessive amounts of money on greeting cards and the like for people like our children, their classmates and their teachers.

Was it nice to get a babysitter and an excuse to go on a date with my husband? Absolutely. Do I care that you did something for everyone you love on Valentine's Day? No. Go for it. It's your money. But please don't expect me to do something for my kid on a holiday meant for my spouse.

The End (to my rant).

Crafting

Crafter (noun): 1. one who makes crafts frequently 2. one who makes crafts well 3. one who teaches others to make crafts 4. one who exhibits confidence with making crafts

I am not a crafter. But I've had some fun this month, and I wanted to share.

1 - Collin's High Chair

2 - Love Letters Mailbox

3 - Rosette Wreath
And there you have it: A few crafts from the non-crafter who wishes she could craft.

Destructor (aka A Day in the Life)

When Mommy makes breakfast, Collin climbs up on the couch and turns on the tv.

When Mommy cleans up breakfast,

Collin decides he wants that yogurt he turned his nose up at 30 seconds earlier.

When Mommy wants to take Collin's picture,

Collin points to what he wants (the camera, of course).

When Mommy watches the evening news,

Collin makes dinner - with his toothbrush. (Pardon the sideways video and the whining.)

When Mommy makes heart-shaped sugar cookies,
Collin destroys - I mean, discovers - the dishwasher.

When Mommy uses the restroom,

Collin gets in the bath (he fell in - head first. Nice).

When Mommy makes Daddy's Valentine's Day present,

Collin empties his Church pictures book.

When Mommy skips a feeding,

Collin climbs in the rocker and tries to grab the boppy.

Oh, who knows...

When Mommy does ANYTHING without 110% attention on Collin,

Collin empties every cupboard and pushes all the chairs around for obstacles.