The Middle of the night

Random Marcus Picture!

Marcus was a pretty good sleeper when he was a baby and suddenly when he was around 9 months old he started waking up more frequently and that has been the story sense. It is much better now- but I would guess that from 9 months until 2 years he (normally) woke up once a night.  I think he mainly did it to check and make sure we were there.  With some cuddles, reassurance, and lots of love he feel back asleep until morning.  He wouldn't be up long (normally) and fortunately I fall back asleep pretty easily.

As a toddler things are a little different-  Most nights he sleeps through the night but when he wakes up is it frequently because he had a nightmare and all he wants is love.

I am torn because nights like this suck.... They make me tired and crabby but they also fill me with love and compassion.  Marcus HUGS with everything he has- he wants to be as close as possible and be held tightly- he never wants me to go away.  I know that eventually this will stop and he won't need Mommy in the middle of the night and while this makes me smile and more rested - I think I am going to miss his hugs. 

My Sleeping baby...

Sleeping Marcus

 I LOVE sleeping Marcus..... I can't help but peek at him every night to see how he sleeps.... and yes I take a LOT of pictures but is it is so cute.....

here are some samples...

This is a funny one..... He is sleeping in the playpen at his grandparents.  When I left him he was on the bed with all of the blankets and stuffed animals---- some how they ALL moved into the playpen....  He looks pretty comfy in there.

During all of the many car rides this summer (and at other times) Marcus spent a lot of time passed out in the car.  It is such a cute sight and it makes me smile.

Here are a bunch of random Marcus sleeping pics.... In his bedroom-  Sometimes on his bed and sometimes on the floor!

I love this kid.... I may add more later but it does kind of make me feel odd sneaking into his bedroom at night to take cute pictures of him!

Visiting the Peace River and a Major Geocache Fail!

The Peace River Wildlife Center

After we left the Edison estate we had time for one more stop that day.  We decided to go to one of Don and Jackie's favorite places.  The Peace River Wildlife center and Refuge.  We had heard them talk about it before but really didn't know what to expect.

When we got there it was almost 4 (when it closes) but I think we still had about 30 minutes to check out the Wildlife Center. It was a pretty neat place - Marcus Loved it.

Here is a bit about it from their website:

The Peace River Wildlife Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the care, preservation and protection of Charlotte County's native wildlife.

THE MISSION of the Peace River Wildlife Center is to treat and rehabilitate injured and orphaned native Florida wildlife (except venomous snakes) and, if possible, to return them to the wild.

If they cannot be returned to their natural habitat due to sustained non life-threatening physical limitations, a permanent home shall be provided by the Center.

We also seek to inform the public about native Florida wildlife and how to co-exist with these beautiful creatures successfully through formal educational outreach activities.

Peace River Wildlife Center Website

As you know from previous posts Marcus LOVES birds to this place blew him away and he kept running back and forth to look at them.   Here are some pics of our visit.

Look at the Bird!

They has one huge are that was full of birds.

Lots of pretty birds.....

I didn't get a good picture but there was a beautiful bald eagle in the refuge.  It has a broken wing so it was designed to be a lifer but it looks like it had it pretty good.  Marcus picked it out right away and say "eagle mommy"-  there is one just like it at the MN Zoo.

Once we finished looking at the birds and refuge closed we decided to check out the park- 

"Ponce De Leon Park"

We took our time and went on a nature walk through the preserve-  Marcus and Grandma Fiedler really enjoyed walking together.

Once the walk was finished we sat by the river and watched a few boats come in.  Marcus saw a Great Blue Heron and decided that he wanted a new pet.  He spent a bit of time very slowly chasing it around in circles.

The good news is that he never caught the bird..... But we did get to watch one eat a fish!

Finally once we were done chasing the bird I decided I wanted to get a geocache and fortunately according to my handy GPS we were very close to one. 

So I set off down the beach-  Luke and Marcus followed behind.  The walk along the beach was beautiful and it was was almost sunset.  For some reason I didn't get a lot of pictures of this - probably because I was focused on finding the cache.....      We got close-  like  10 feet away and even found the tree where it looked like the geocache lived but we also found a problem.  A SNAKE---- it was black and kind of scary looking.... It didn't move and instead just sat at the bottom of the tree.  I don't know a lot about Florida snakes- except for the fact that some are poisonous so I decided that finding this geocache was not worth it.  We turned around and headed back to Don and Jackie on the beach.

 Our adventure for the day was over but we had a lot fun and saw a ton of wildlife.  Since we got in so late the night before I think we were all ready to head back to the house and enjoy a relaxing evening of hanging out, swimming in the pool and Downton Abbey.

Just one last picture of the day.  I just really like this one of Marcus, Mommy, and Grandpa Fiedler.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed seeing the water, the birds, and the boats!

More Big Balloons

Hudson Hot Air Affair

Earlier this week one of my friends posted about the Hudson Hot Air Affair – which was an entire weekend-long series of events focused on hot air balloons.  I thought this might be something that Marcus would enjoy, and I decided to invite my dad along.  He is usually into something fun and different like this.



So early this morning Marcus and I left for our adventure in Hudson, WI (we actually had to leave the house before 6:30 am).  The actual event was scheduled for 7:30 pm, and as many as 40 balloons were scheduled to take off – sounds totally cool to me.

We got there just in time and were met by the sad news that the wind was blowing the wrong direction and they would not be launching any balloons.  The good news is that they were still going to blow up some of the balloons while they sat on the ground.  For Marcus this was perfect.  I am pretty certain that he didn't know what to expect anyway.

It didn't take long for two things to happen:
1.  They started filling up a the massive Family Fresh Markets  balloon.
2.  We found grandpa – Marcus was pretty excited to see him.

We walked around, and soon many of the other balloons started to get filled up.  I am guessing we saw about 10 balloons filled with hot air.  Marcus loved all of it.  But it was pretty cool watching them get filled up.  It was faster than I would have guessed and a lot more entertaining.

Marcus was not excited to walk away, but he was getting cold – it was about 23°F outside, so we needed to get back inside.  When we started walking away, Marcus ran back to be closer to the balloons again.  So we compromised, and I carried him.  That way, he could still see the balloons behind us while I carried him.

When he got the car he said, "Mo' Big Balloons, Mommy."  I think it was a win.

Here are a few of the balloons that we saw today.  If you want to see more information on the event, check out the website below

http://www.hudsonhotairaffair.com/balloons.htm

After leaving the balloons, we still did a few more activities with Grandpa Harvey in Hudson.  First, we went to the Freemason's Pancake Breakfast – it was quite yummy.  Once that was done, we headed down to the river and did a bit of geocaching.  We found a really cute path next to the river and headed down it.  It wasn't very far, and we found the geocache.  We signed the log and headed towards the second stop.  When we were walking toward the second cache, we saw an opening in the river with a ton of geese, swans, and ducks just hanging out in the open water.  Marcus was super-excited—he does love birds.  We tried for the second stop, but gave up because it was time to head out and return home.

This was a great day.  It is always fun to hang out with my dad – Marcus loves his grandpa and hanging out with him.  I think we may go again next year.  I just hope the balloons go up!