L days number 3

Well, as I suspected L would happily pick relaxing every day if allowed. I had previously told him that he got to pick one this and it needed to be different. 

There was kind of 2 things he got today. Today was the day of his "teacher welcome" at his school. His request was that we all go AND that we do not embarrass him. I said to him, "But L, we were all going to go, this is not celebrating you" His response?

"By not embarrassing me, you are celebrating me!" 

I guess that is important to a almost 10 year old. I almost felt like I was cheating him out of his "L" days celebration but it is what he wanted. 

That is until we got home. He said, "Mom, member when we were in the states this summer and you bought me my video game? Well today is September 15th (they were not allowed to have it until today) and I was wondering if I could play it." 

He got 15 minutes that he didn't have to "earn" 

Good thing my kids remember stuff like me buying it and where I put it. We bought it about 6 weeks ago and I said to them, "This is not yours until Sept 15th. If you pester me, I will not let you have it. And you will need to remember where I put it when we get home" 

Of course they remembered where I put it and they never pestered me once!

L days number 2 AND a milestone.

We are celebrating "L" days, a celebration of my sons soon to be 10th birthday. Today, he wanted us to draw a picture of a monster for him. Now no one out there LOVES art the way L does. So his request was that we made up a monster of a mammal and a reptile.

And it had to come with it's own secret weapon. Whatever we want it to be.

I was going to take a picture BUT L wanted to keep the pictures private, so private they are. 

I love that we can do little things to help him celebrate this milestone in his life. 

The most important thing is how important HE feels! 

Yesterday cost nothing.

We all did what he had chosen. 

And we all loved it.

Now, he did say that today, I could share my milestone with everyone.

1 year.

365 days.

8760 hours.

525600 minutes.

31536000 seconds.

no diet coke. 

I never ever in a million years would have thought that I would have made it 24 hours. 

The headache at hour 12 made me reconsider all I had said.

BUT I DID IT!

I can actually do something!

Thank-you all so much for your encouragement. 

It means more than anyone could ever know.

And thank-you to my cousin A for starting the conversation on it. 

I would have never done it otherwise. 

I appreciate your support!

"L" days number 1

So, L came up with a way to celebrate birthdays. He will be turning 10 this year so for 10 days before his birthday he gets to come up with 1 thing each day we get to do to celebrate his birthday and we do it as a family. 

Today was day #1. 

his choice?

his favorite thing of course!

(to the tune of "the 12 days of Christmas)

"on the first day of "L" days my family gets to do with me"

.

.

.

Relax.

I am not joking. 

He loves to relax and take it easy.

So that is what we did!

My house is a mess, I would not even answer the door if anyone came over but I gave him his wish and happily did it. Tomorrow I will have to make up for it. He only get's to pick it one day otherwise I am quite sure he would pick 10 days of relaxing!

making rules

So when I think of making rules, I think often that rules don't apply to me. Why I feel like I should be exempt I do not know. It's not like I deserve to have no rules, just don't really make rules for myself. 

This year I have my boys in school all day and M goes 2 afternoons a week so I have about 2.5 hours by myself. At first I was sad because I love having her around. She is a great kid and I love to have her help me out! So I decided that since all the kids would be gone, I need to give myself rules. 

1. no computer UNLESS it's a very specific project. 

2. no phone calling

3. no texting

4. no t.v

I want to be able to have quiet time to myself. I may go for a massage or go do something little for myself or I may just clean to keep busy. But I don't want distractions. I used to do morning papers and used that time to really meditate and think about the day. I have stopped doing that and miss it. It was nice to just have time to think about things and not have distractions. 

Now I get to go back to it.

how L got his name

Yesterday I guest posted on my friends blog about being due with L on 9/11. You can read it here if you didn't read it before. I have been asked since the day he was born how he got his name.

When I was 6 weeks pregnant with L, I had a dream. I saw this little face in my dream and I knew if I had a boy that this would be his name. It was odd to me because I obviously didn't know if it was a boy or girl. And we didn't want to know until we had the baby if it was a boy or girl, so it was going to be a LONG wait. 

We had our girl name that I was sure I was going to name the baby if it was a girl (McKinnley, none of our kids are named that, just loved the name since I was 15) 

I was due on Sept 11, 2001. A few days after  9/11 I was thinking about his name. I wanted to be sure that his name would have strength, character and was named after someone who symbolized strength and honesty. A name that would have meaning.

My labour was long with L, 29.5 hours. pushing for 2 of it. When he came out he was not doing great so I didn't get to see him for an hour. I remember when Mr. M came up to me with L in his arms and said "So, can we name him Sawyer Prescott?" I looked at the little one in his arms and saw the very same face I saw in the dream. I said, "Nope, this is the face that I saw in my dream" 

So L it is and has been for almost 10 years. He loves his name and the history behind it. It means something to him. He loves the person he is named after and gains strength from him. Really feel like he needs to honest like him.

Here is a pic of him this summer. I love it. He has this thing for having everything tight on him, including his swimming goggles. 

I love who he is and the strength he gives to me.

guest blogging

10 years ago today I was due to become a mother for the first time. I blogged about it but it's on my friends site. Please, check it out here
It's a celebration all about FAMILIES! Sweet eh?