Actuary Mom

Home Improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:50:00 +0000

John and I generally do a home improvement project two times a year. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the cost of the prior one. We've been debating redoing the master bath, taking down some trees in our backyard and putting in built-ins in the family room. We were five seconds from buying our new bathroom tile when we suddenly changed our minds that we must do the built-ins immediately.

Every since I bought my 27 inch iMac (aka my fourth child... after my two actual human children and my 6D), and it has been sitting on my dining room table all out of place, and our lack of office has really become an eyesore.

Insert the built-ins. We decided we'd do an entertainment center on one side of our fireplace and an office on the other side.

Years ago, we got an ASTRONOMICAL quote on someone building, finishing and installing. It was insanely expensive, so we decided we'd order the built-ins and install and finish ourselves. We saved about $5k by putting in some sweat equity.

before:

after:

Before we ordered, John and I debated doing something over the top, but he was pretty apposed. So I dropped it. Now that they are installed, he agrees we need something over the top. We'll order that in the next few months. We are so happy with how they turned out!

One more photo:

Our garage full of the unfinished furniture. It took two FULL minivan pick ups, and two long nights of painting, but we got it all installed over one weekend. I'm thankful for my handy hubby.

Project 365 - Week 24

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:25:00 +0000

The past few weeks have been slow blogging weeks. Maybe it'll pick back up soon, maybe it won't. I'm still going strong with my project 365 though. Although on Wednesday I was informed by John that he thinks it takes too much of my time. So right now I'm trying to multitask. I have Max on my lap, and Frances is whining "mine" because I'm not holding her too. All while John is sitting across the room with no one demanding his attention.

siblings

the coolest birthday party ever.

beautiful girl

summer!

siblings take 2 for the week

frances loves washing her hands

bath

someone fell asleep reading his yearbook

Project 365 - Week 23

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:30:00 +0000

So now that I've changed my kids' names in the blog, occasionally a friend will call them by their "blog name". I caught myself doing it once as well. That is the only time I've caught myself. I probably have people I know in real life thinking my kids' names are really Maxwell and Frances. :)

Siblings

Ignore that they are wearing the same clothes. Max sleeps in his clothes. He refuses to wear PJs. Frances wears PJs until the mid-morning on the weekends.

Sweet girl.

An uninspired evening. I practiced with my flash.

Cute kid. Frances running in the background.

Probably my least inspired evening yet.

Then I came back for the win on Thursday during tropical storm Andrea to catch Frances hanging out by the window watching the rain.

The Pen

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:56:00 +0000

Max loves his leapfrog pen thing. He'll read his books or play with his maps for 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

He especially loves the maps. And asking questions like "why does the state map have some countries?" and "why are Hawaii and Alaska the only states on the world map?" These questions are mostly awesome (because HELLO? he is thinking), but when you've heard them 20 times in one day the whoa factor diminishes. For that I shake my fist at leapfrog for being inconsistent.

Tuesday night, Frances grabbed a peg from one of those wooden toddler toys and took it over to one of the maps and started putting the peg onto the map. She had her own pen. It was cute.

This all went down on an overall pretty crappy parenting evening. So even in those nights where it all sucks, there is some good.

Selfies.

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:45:00 +0000

For the photography class I took last month, I ended up having to take a lot of selfies because my kids aren't so psyched about taking photos in a very specific light looking a very specific way without drooling (mostly joking about the drool).

Because I'm a narcissistic blogger, I'm going to share them!

There you have it folks. I just took narcissism to a whole new level.

Maxwell at 4 Years 1 Month

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:29:00 +0000

Suddenly he is an "upper". That is what they call non-nappers at school. He has discovered that uppers get to go outside and play, so I'm afraid this no napping business is here to stay. He is a bear at night. We'll adjust.

Due to his non-napping state, we've reintroduced a 7pm (or earlier) bedtime.

He loves maps.

Maxwell loves flags.

He loves to find and announces that he has found flags of the USA and/or Florida and/or Israel.

His favorite book is still Go, Dog Go.

He loves acting out the "do you like my hat" part of the book.

Max likes finding rhymes.

He loves babysitters.

Max loves playing in the water table or the pool.

He still refuses to any dish that is an all in one dish. Like lasagna or enchiladas.

He told me the other day that he likes water and milk better than juice.

Max lies.

He sings pop songs that he hears on the radio with John. There isn't anything to sing from NPR from when he is in the car with me.

He graduated to a real twin bed because I found an awesome deal. He is no longer sleeping in a too small toddler bed. Part of the graduation included reducing the number of blankets he sleeps with to two. It has worked so far.
His favorite toy these days is a toss up between his tag reader and blocks.
He likes to say "I haven't been there since I turned 4" to try to convince me to go somewhere -- like whole foods or starbucks or panera or barnes&noble.

Project 365 - Week 22

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 00:39:00 +0000

Max riding a rocking horse in the mosquito invested backyard all so I can get a photo.

Frances at the beach.

Cutie.

Playing games on her cell phone.... errrr... playing with the remote.

Southern belle building.

I took photos of the junior league house to help show off the recent renovations.

Project 365 - Week 21

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:01:00 +0000

I'm still enjoying this project a ton. I love looking back at my flickr photo-stream at this year's daily photos. This might become an annual thing. We'll see though. It is quite a commitment to take a photo everyday.

Frances

We went to the beach Sunday morning.

This is a "lazy" photo day. I'll just take a photo of a flower.

Reading - I love the light reflecting back onto his face from the book.

Frances at her well-baby appointment. She wasn't terribly happy about the situation.

If only I could get them to walk towards me side by side.

Max humoring me for a minute in some beautiful light.

Randoms

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:25:00 +0000

I think when I hold down my shift key for more than a nano-second on my iMac it freezes it in shift for a while. I'm guessing I should like this feature, but mostly it annoys me. I'm sure I could turn it off. Or I could stop holding my shift key too long.

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I'm grading actuarial exams. I'm not sure why. I hate doing things that require extra effort (specifically things that require extra effort that I am not paid for and/or I don't enjoy). I decidedly do not enjoy grading actuarial exams. I'm mostly doing it so I can see some of my friends that I haven't seen for a while. That'll be fun. Plus I'm bringing Max (and John). Max will get to go to Canada. He likes talking about Canada a lot, and he'll get to be there. It'll be our first trip with a child into a timezone further than one timezone away. Should be interesting. I predict we'll be eating dinner at 3pm (we are going to Vancouver).

While grading the exams today, I discovered something I needed was on SharePoint. Something they used to mail us. I was all "BLAH BLAH BLAH I hate sharepoint, I hate having to figure out my login, and figure out where the thing is... and blah blah blah, I still have to print it!". Made me feel old. Old people complain about new technology. Old people like me.

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Frances had her 1.5 year old well-baby. She weighed 27 pounds 9 ounces (94th percentile). She was 33.75 inches tall (90th percentile). Max's stats were pretty comparable.

Max also had a well-child - his four year old one. 42 inches tall (82nd percentile). 43 pounds 7 ounces (92nd percentile).

It is safe to say my children are big children.

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My sister, Kaci, and her husband, Ryan adopted two kiddos last week. Max was once the oldest grand baby, now he is the fifth oldest due to adoption and marriage. Pretty cool stuff. I love that my extended family is growing. I love that my little family isn't growing.

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Last night Maxwell wouldn't eat dinner. He was so HUNGRY at bedtime that I bribed him if he took some photos, he could have a fruit cup. He was so cooperative. Maybe I should starve him more often.

Frances at 1 Year 6 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:02:00 +0000

Frances says hi, mom, daddy, book, read, milk, all done, up, down, thank you, cat, meow, eye, yellow, kiss, kaija (for baby), truck, ball, milk, cheese, hat, hot, what's that, stop, out, yes, no, sh for shoe, stuck.

She can climb up onto the couch. It took her a long time.

She likes to build/destroy blocks.

Frances likes to eat with a spoon or fork.

She always grabs a bib before meals.

Her favorite thing to play with is bibs (taking them out and putting them away again).

She is not interested in TV. But she will scream out "TRUCK" if there is a truck on the TV.

She likes chasing birds.

She wants to be a big kid outside and climb up to the big slides.

Frances loves swinging.

She loves playing in water.

She sleeps from around 6:45pm to 7:00am. One 2 hour nap a day.

She likes to get her sippy cup out of the fridge and put it back after she is done.

Frances like playing patty-cake and ring around the rosie.

If you ask her if she wants to wear a pretty dress, she'll say "YES".

She takes a pacifier at bedtime. She'll spit it out in the morning we go get her out of her bed.

Frances has had a couple timeouts.

She'll go get her shoes when you ask her to and bring them to you. She almost always takes her shoes off in the car.

Her favorite books have texture in them. There has to be something interesting to touch.

She isn't patient enough to sit through an entire story yet.

She loves singing.

Frances gets a bad rap for being difficult because she is loud.

Project 365 - Week 20

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:15:00 +0000

A selfie fail that I sort of love.

Frances

Practicing on Kinsey. She demanded that she should be my photo of the day.

Someone likes playing with water.

bubbles and siblings

"I'm a builder"

Focusing on transferring pom poms.

The Big Decisions

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:28:00 +0000

What feels like a big decision one year doesn't in a different year. Sometimes I just have to think about that to gain perspective on the "big decisions" I'm making right now.

I've decided to move Frances to a big kid preschool/daycare/school environment in September.

Two pick ups / two drop offs have taken a toll on this family. We are ready to simplify that part of our day.

I've also decided I'm going back to work full-time in October (which is a big reason we need to simplify that drop-off/pickup logistics of our day). I've been "leaning out" of work for about 4 years, it is time to become fully engaged again. My baby will be turning 2 in November, which is decidedly no longer baby. It is time.

I'm feeling major guilt from all different angles on making this decision.

I feel guilty for leaving our home daycare provider, whom I've seen every day for almost 4 years. Writing that right now brings tears to my eyes. I absolutely hate leaving her. But we can't make it work with one child at her place and another child somewhere else. It just doesn't work. It also helps that we love the place Max is at. It also helps that in Frances's age group the provider to child ratio is 4:1 (two better than the state standards). I can feel good about the attention she'll be getting. Really good.

But still. Major guilt. I'm leaving this woman who has taught my babies. Who loves my babies. Who has worried about my babies. Who is my friend.

I also have major mom guilt. I'm deciding my career is important.

You know what though? It is important. I'm going to feel more productive at work full-time. I'm going to feel like I'm doing more. I'm going to feel more ownership.

I'm not going to have as much time with my kids. I'm going to be putting more on John. We'll work it out. My kids will be fine. I'll be fine. Frances's provider will be fine. Big sigh.

In moments like this, I am glad that I am someone who decides things quickly. I would hate to be actively agonizing over this decision for months. Three days has been enough agonizing for me.

For now, I have my summer to mentally adjust to be fully back at it come October. And I have September to transition Frances into her new provider. I just need to remind myself in a year, these seemingly big decisions really won't feel so big anymore.

Project 365 - Week 19

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Another fun week.

Max turned 4.

Pretty catchlights

Disney World on Sunday.

Playing at the hotel park.

Someone met Cinderella for the first time.

Some beautiful toddler cheeks and eyelashes.

And a grown woman taking selfies for her photography class.

Disney World

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:21:00 +0000

For Max's 4th birthday, instead of having a party, we went to Walt Disney World for three days. On the final day, he declared to me that it was way better than having a party. It actually was. We had fun. All of us. The kids didn't drive John and I crazy, they slept and behaved pretty well.

We got the parks at opening each day, and that was perfect. We had a couple hours before lines got long, and we were able to ride everything we needed to ride without having to wait in line. Max was able to ride Splash Mountain 3 times, Thunder Mountain 7 times, Tower of Terror 5 times with this strategy.

Max loves thrill rides. He has a perma-smile when on them. John and Max went to check if Max was tall enough to ride the Aerosmith roller coaster, and he wasn't (even close). Max came back to the stroller and drank some water and declared that he wanted measured again because he ate some healthy food, and healthy food makes you big and strong. He still wasn't tall enough.

Now a massive photo dump:

Project 365 - Week 18

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:28:00 +0000

finding the light

Birthday photoshoot for Max

Silly girl

handsome boy

Upside down Frances

Catchlights

Backlit Max

Maxwell at 4 Years

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:58:00 +0000

He is bribable (see above photos).

He still likes balloons.

He sleeps from 7:30pm to around 6:30am. He still naps most days.

Maxwell doesn't always stand up for himself. We are working on that.

His speech is improving. After a full school year of therapy, there is a definite improvement. Much more improvement than we've seen in his swimming with swim lessons the entire school year.

He doesn't like crunchy carrots and hummus.

Maxwell still likes knock knock jokes.

His favorite author is Dr. Suess. He says that Dr. Suess isn't alive anymore (thank John for that one). He also knows something about his gravesite that I don't know offhand (but you can thank John and the internet for that one).

Thanks to Dr. Suess, Max's current obsession is rhyming. Sometimes if he says something that doesn't really rhyme, he'll say, "if you say it really fast it rhymes."

Max likes geography. He likes talking about cities versus states versus countries. He knows that a country is somewhere you need a passport to go to, but you don't need that to visit a different state.

He has learned how to wipe his own bum.

Max runs like a big kid.

He insists that he is a big kid.

He hates it if I call him my baby boy.

Max's favorite foods include: quesadillas, pizzas, pancakes, chicken nuggets, avocado rolls.

His favorite vegetables are cooked carrots.

His favorite fruits are grapes (he basically loves all fruit. except grapefruit. And who can blame him?)

Maxwell knows if he eats all of his vegetables he gets a special treat. That special treat is unsweetened applesauce or a fruit strip thing typically.

He loves his tag reader.

Max loves to play with water outside. He loves to run around the house. He likes to "exercise". He tries to do John's random strength exercises with John. He loves to participate as the "weight" in John's exercises as well.

If you offer him just a little bit of information, he'll ask a million follow up questions about how it works. Just don't mention the internet to him. Take my word for that.

Max has sat by his teacher almost everyday this school year for lunch (minus the first day of school and maybe one other day that someone sat in his seat).

He likes to spell. He hasn't learned many (if any) new words since that last time I wrote about his spelling.

A Note to Max

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:17:00 +0000

Max,

I feel like four is going to be the most perfect age. I just adore you these days.

Everyday on the way home from school, I ask you what your most favorite part of the was (lunch) and your least favorite part of the day (nap time). Then you ask me back. I usually come up with something that was my favorite and least favorite about work, but if I was being honest, my most favorite part of the day everyday is those 10 - 15 minutes we have alone in the car between the JCA and Frances's daycare. You tell me about the random things that only a 3 (or 4!) year old could possibly think are significant about your day. I never know what is true and what really didn't happen. You might go off on a random tangent about the earth's rotation. Or ask if God made me, who made statues, or even who made God? All of this is before we pick up Frances and the world starts centering around her (mostly because you can't talk above the screaming/screeching), we have those 10 minutes. That I wouldn't give up for the world.

I love the way we'll sing silly ABCs, tell knock knock jokes over and over again. The way you make up words to songs to be funny. That you constantly ask to go outside to play, and everyday after school you want to go see the satellite in case you can happen to catch it talking to other satellites. How everything is a race except when you lose is charming for now, but it will quickly lose its charm the first time you say it with someone other than your parents.

I'm feeling overly sentimental about this birthday, mostly because I think age four seems just so old. I'm also afraid that age four is going to be the most perfect age and the perfectness of you will just start diminishing with each year that is coming. Of course, I have age four up on a pedestal, for reasons that are unknown to me. I know this age is going to bring challenging days. But I also know I am going to look back next May and think about how awesome it was (just like I have each year of your life).

For now though, I want to be happy today. Enjoy your birthday to its fullest. Enjoy letting you eat too much ice cream cake and stay up too late and play with all of your new toys.

Love, Mom

Maxwell's 20 Questions at 4

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:21:00 +0000

Maxwell's 20 Questions at age 4 (here is at age 3):
1. What is your favorite color? Green
2. What is your favorite toy? the little green and orange dump truck he is holding
3. What is your favorite fruit? Grapes
4. What is your favorite tv show? Mickey Mouse
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? A really long granola bar
6. What is your favorite outfit? My green jersey and short pants
7. What is your favorite game? Hide and Seek
8. What is your favorite snack? Apples
9. What is your favorite animal? Elephants
10. What is your favorite song? ABCs
11. What is your favorite book? Red Fish Blue Fish One Fish Two Fish
12. Who is your best friend? Akin and Benjamin and Maddox
13. What is your favorite cereal? Chocolate (he was blessed with chocolate cereal during passover)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with trucks in the valley
15. What is your favorite drink? Grape Juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? The one with the turkey songs (Thanksgiving)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Mickey Mouse and Pluto
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Chocolate Cherrios
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Grapes, Macaroni, Apples, Pizza
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Drive garbage trucks

Hard Light

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Wed, 01 May 2013 01:26:00 +0000

I'm taking a photography class right now about using light indoors. It is something I'm obsessed with, so hopefully the class will improve my abilities. The light in the above photo is hard. The name indicates that the light is intense and dramatic, but I mean it is hard to shoot in. For real. Frances is eating her dinner there. I moved her to just the right place while she was eating and content. I took a billion (slight exaggeration) photos and I was only somewhat happy with a couple. Most of them I completely blew out her face.

The class runs for the next four weeks. Just expect for the next four weeks, I'll have little to write about other than photography. :)

A Little Obsessed With Light

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:54:00 +0000

This window and I. We have a thing going on.

Frances knows it. She is drawn to the window as well. Maybe it is because of the attention she gets from me when she is at the window... or maybe it because she likes the light too.

But we have a thing.

Frances is in on it.

Project 365 - Week 17

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:50:00 +0000

We went to an event downtown on Friday evening. This involved riding the tram, which the kids thought was the coolest thing ever.

this cracks me up.

the most fun photoshoot ever! this sweet girl is turning 3.

my kiddos (and the chair I painted)

love this light and that belly

Frances is a crazy kid that will read paper page books without ripping the pages.

I left work early to watch Maxwell's swim lessons. He was pleased.

Frances at 17 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:53:00 +0000

The big news in Frances's life is she is forward facing in the car. We didn't make it to the 2 year mark. The good news is she is like a new child in the car. A completely new child.

Frances says: hi, more, up, all done, yes, yea, ya, clock, kaia (that is baby), down, no, milk, door.
She is LOUD.
Frances is the center of attention. If she isn't, she is loud.
Frances is the leader. Maxwell follows.
She loves playing outside.
She loves shoes.
Sometimes when she is poopy, she'll start walking towards her bedroom indicating she needs a diaper change.
Other times, she fights diaper changes like we are ruining her life.
Most evenings at bedtime we read two pages of Goodnight Moon, she gets down from our laps and walks over to her crib.
She sleeps from 6:30pm to 7am.
Frances naps once per day.
She is pretty good at using silverware.
Her attention span is very short.
She still likes to put her feet onto books.
Frances can walk backwards (she is very proud).
She still can't climb on the couch.
Frances has major stranger danger. She also has mom is leaving the house danger. She does not have dad is leaving the house danger.
She LOVES babies. If a baby is crying at daycare, she is a first responder.
Frances isn't interested in TV yet.
She likes playing ring around the rosie and patty-cake.
She'll sing along with the ABCS (more like she hums along with the ABCs).
Frances is a sweet sweet child who sometimes gets a bad rap because she is loud.

Project 365 - Week 16

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:28:00 +0000

The year is flying by! Already to week 16.

international night dinner at daycare

two cutest kids ever? Yes.

the belly

taking a breather

showing off his "hospital" while telling a knock knock joke

forward facing for the first time (taken at a stoplight)

I had a babysitter lined up. I ate chips and salsa for dinner, drank a chai latte, and painted this chair.

random non-365 photos

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:25:00 +0000

I could have never done this with my old camera...

Taken at ISO 5000.

Then I started looking through my flickr photo stream of photos that weren't included in my 365, so you get this one too. I like it.

I was letting Max jump off of my bed the other day. I didn't get a great one of him jumping, but I did get this cute one. We need to work on getting air while jumping. I will get a good one of the jumping before my 365 is done.

The Mad Rush

noreply@blogger.com (Actuary Mom) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:16:00 +0000

I've been full-time at work the past few weeks. It is just temporary and funded my totally amazing iMac. So I can't really complain, but since this is my blog I'm going to complain (rule #1 of having a blog is that you can complain about something you shouldn't complain about because it is YOUR blog).

I don't have much to complain about work. It is just that... work. Somedays it is good, sometimes it sucks balls, but on average it is good.

What I can complain about is the rat race I experience each and every evening to pick up kids at TWO different daycares by 5pm, get home and make dinner before Frances decides she is dying. The thing about Frances is once she sees food out, she expects that I should be able to shake my magic wand twirl around a couple times and TADA it is done.

I've taken to making casseroles on Sunday evening to eat Monday - Wednesday. The thing about that is 1) Frances doesn't even like to wait for the microwave, and 2) Max refuses to eat casseroles. In the end, I mostly feel like I am still losing with this strategy.

All in all, this working full-time thing doesn't really increase the stress of work life. It increases the stress of the rat race 4pm to 6pm part of my life.

Oh, and I no energy to move my butt in the evening. I just want to sit. And eat sweets.

But all in all, my iMac was worth five weeks of painful 4-6pms and a slightly bigger ass.