In your child, you will see yourself

The more Tanner's personality comes out, the more I see myself in him.  He is shy (in new situations), emotional, and loving.  He started summer school 3 weeks ago.  Summer school is more like a camp.  They have a cooking day and a water day each week, plus, they go Mon-Thurs.  The night before his first day, we talked about going to school (he had been out for a month) and meeting new friends, playing, etc.  He started kind of whimpering, but didn't cry.  Then, the next day, he was up really early (I think because he was anxious about school).  On our way to school, he continued to whine/whimper and suck his thumb.  I could tell, it would not be an easy goodbye.  When we got into his new classroom, we didn't see any of his friends from last year.  So, we meet his teachers and I sit down with him on the floor and show him a fire truck.  There is another little boy playing with a train beside of us.  He is older than Tanner and starts talking to him about trains and trucks.  Tanner played for a second, then I told him that I had to go bye bye......That's when things went south!  He started really crying and screaming.  I kissed him and told him I would be back in a little while.  His teacher, Mrs. Martha, picked him up and I left him still crying.  On the way out, I saw the director, Mrs. Katie.  She asked if that was Tanner she could hear crying.  I said yes and that his last teacher got him with snacks in the beginning.  Mrs. Katie said "Ok, I'll try that and I'll call you if I need too."  So I left feeling like I wanted to cry too.  When I came to pick him up, Mrs. Katie said that he calmed down after a few minutes and going into the gym to ride a bike.  When I walk into his room, he yells "Nonny" and runs to hug me.  Best moment ever!!!!
That night, we talked about school and his new teachers.  Anytime I said anything about school, he would fake cry.  I tried to tell him no, we say "yaaaaay" when we are talking about school.  It didn't work, but was worth a try!  The next day, same thing on the way to school and same thing when I dropped him off....crying, screaming, sad Mommy.  When I picked him up, Mrs. Katie told me that from now on, his class (the ones and twos) will be dropped off in the gym because Tanner and a few others do better in there.  So the next day, I drop him off in the gym and he runs away, right over to a bike.  The rest is history.  He has been so excited to go to school and ride on the bikes!  Today was the last day of summer school, so he will be out of school for the month of August.  But, when he goes back, a few of his friends from the summer will be in his class, so that will be nice.  Hopefully, we will have an easier transition, but I am not holding my breath about it.   I can sympathize with how Tanner feels because I am also nervous and shy in new situations.  Even as a teacher, I would get anxious about the first day of school.  Thankfully, it gets easier the more you do it, and Tanner will have plenty of practice before Kindergarten!  :)  

Flashback Blog: Tanner's birthday

In honor of my big boy turning two, I thought I would do a flashback blog about his actual birthday (June 26th, 2009).
On Thurs. June 24th, Bobby and I were scheduled to be induced at 7 am.  The induction was because of my high blood pressure and protein in my urine, which is a sign of pre-eclampsia.  The night before, Bobby and I ate at Olive Garden and tried to go to bed early.  He seemed to sleep fine, I was sooooooo nervous.  I even told him that if something happens to me, tell Tanner that his mommy loved him very much.  The hospital told us to call in the morning to make sure that they had room for us, and they did!  So off we go!  I tried to eat a little breakfast, but that didn't really happen.
We get to CMC-Pineville and they tell check me.  I am 80% effaced and a whopping 2 centimeters dilated. Do the midwife puts cervil on my cervix and tells me to walk around.  Bobby and I walk a few rounds, then his parents arrive.  They walk with us a few more rounds, then my mom get there.  We all walk around a bit more and my sis-in-law gets there.  At this point I am sick of walking so, we go back to my room and chill.  I am feeling some slight cramping, but nothing major.  They check me, I have dilated to 3 centimeters.  Now time for the pitocin.  They give me the pitocin, the contractions really start, and I request an epidural.  After the epidural, all I kept saying was "Now this is the way to have a baby."  By this time, it's dinner time for everyone (except me, of course) so the crew gets Japanese take out and a dish for me for after the birth.  Then I rested for a bit.  The nurse kept checking me and at 11:00 pm, I was at 10 and she said I could start pushing.  The midwife was in another labor when I started and the nurse said that she can see the head, and he has hair, so if I am a good pusher, she will have to have me stop and wait for the midwife.  I guess, I was not a good pusher because it took me 1 hour and 16 mins. to have Tanner.  When Tanner was born, Bobby, his mom and sister, and my mom were in the room.  What a special moment!  :)  Right after he was born, he had a busted blood vessel on his umbilical cord, so they had to take him over and work on that.  Then I delivered the placenta and that's when things went downhill.  After the placenta comes out, my uterus should have closed, but instead, it didn't and therefore, I hemorrhaged.  I knew something was wrong because the nurse had all of the visitors except Bobby leave and suddenly there were TONS of nurses in there.  I kept telling Bobby that something was wrong, but he said no, everything is fine (even though he knew it wasn't, he was trying to keep me calm.)  They worked on me until about 1:30am and Bobby stayed by my side, holding my hand, the whole time. They still could not getting to bleeding to stop, so they put a sponge in me and told me no food or drink until the morning after I go into the Operating room.  The doc wanted to have more help just in case I was still bleeding  and they had to take out my uterus (aka a hysterectomy). That night, I was on bed rest as I was too weak to get out of bed.  Therefore, Bobby held Tanner all night long.  Tanner slept on his chest and Bobby was smitten!  My mom also ended up sleeping in our hospital room, I think she was worried about me and didn't want to leave.
In the morning, they took me to the OR waiting room, where I waited for almost 2 hours to go into surgery.  They ended up giving me a blood transfusion since I had lost so much blood, then took me into surgery.  When I woke up, they said the bleeding had stopped and I did not have to have a hysterectomy!  YAY!!! I was finally wheeled back to my room to be with my new baby!  Finally, it was my turn to love on Tanner Boo Boo, and I've been doing it ever since!  :)
The difference between Tanner's birth story and Brennan's is like night and day, but in the end, we got two healthy, happy babies....what more could one ask for?

Tanner turned two (how did that happen?)

On June 26th, Tanner Boo Boo turned two!  I am so happy and proud of the toddler he's becoming.  He is such a sweet boy. He hugs and kisses Brennan all of the time. He has started kissing everything on the way out of the door when we leave the house.  He kisses the baby swing, his motorcycle, the couch, etc.  He no longer clings to me or Bobby at family events.  One of my favorite things we do is to cuddle on the couch before bed.  After I put Brennan down, Tanner and I get into PJ's (Ok, I'm always in mine), and then cuddle on the couch watching "Wheel of Fortune."  What can I say, he likes it!  :)  He can count up to 3 now and he recognizes that words have letters.  For example, he will see a word in a book like ELMO and say "A, D, E, R."  Then I will say the letters in the word. We have been working on the letters in his name.  He now says 2-3 word phrases.  They usually start like this "I do.......(mom mow, poo poo, night night)  or "I need........(this, water, shoe)  or "Where.....(Daddy, sock, Dede) go?"  He is getting into the independent phase, which, for the most part, I am happy about.  However, when he insists on walking down a big staircase without holding my hand or putting on his shoes by himself it can be challenging!
For his party, we decided to have it at our house so that Tanner's friends could come.  His friends Tom, Ryan, Andrew, and his girlfriend Emma came!  We were going to have the kiddie pool up, but it had a hole in it.  Oh well.  The kids got to play outside with bubbles and Tanner's many vehicles.  His grandparents came and some of our friends too.  My first attempt at mini meatballs came out pretty good, if I do say so myself!  Plus Mama Roney made some delish mushroom and cheese apps and her famous jalapeno poppers.  We had cupcakes and Tanner opened presents.  All of which had wheels!  Hehe!!  The night ended with fireworks, too bad Tanner was already in bed!

These past two years have gone by so fast.  I think back to when Tanner was a newborn and sleeping in the swing, or when he was army crawling after the cats, or trying Mommy's spaghetti for the first time, or cruising around the couch, and it makes me teary, but in a good way!  :)