out of the mouths of babes . . .

“dear God . . . thank you for horsies, teacups, eggs, roller coasters and pirates . . . and me!  amen!”

have a holly . . . Jolly . . . Christmas!

like many families, we had a fun visitor this past Christmas season . . . the elf on the shelf!  on Thanksgiving morning, the kids woke up to a special gift left by Santa.

the kids (Lily) decided to name him “Jolly”.  we were just happy that she didn’t name him one of her made up names like some of her imaginary friends . . . Kerndern . . . Lim . . . etc.  anyway, Jolly immediately showed that he was a mischievous little elf . . . tricking our family and hiding in peculiar places.  a few times he even left presents for the kids  . . . like Christmas lights for outside of our house, a cardboard gingerbread house to color,  flannel blankets for the trip back to Ohio, and a few sweet treats too.  we found him in many different places but one of our favorites was in the bathroom . . . in a marshmallow bath, wrapping our toilet in christmas wrapping, and inserting himself on our photobooth strip wall!  he even managed to find us all the way at Walt Disney World when we stayed for the weekend!

we know that Jolly must have been tired after the holiday season, so we were happy for him to go back to the North Pole and get some much needed rest . . . he’ll need it for when he comes back next year!!

check out the slideshow to see all of his antics!

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out of the mouths of babes . . .

this week while driving lily to school . . .

mama: oooh, i like this song! (on the radio)

gus:  dance mama, dance!

(mama and gus both start “dancing”)

lily:  just don’t forget to drive too, mom!

oh. crap.

this is too funny (now) not to share.

gus is a major wetter.  so each night, before we go to bed, we check on him and change his diaper.  being out of town, tom was lucky enough to miss out on this one, because what awaited me last night was something i never imagined i would see and hope to never see again!

at first sight, i thought to myself, “oh, how cute!  he has his hand down the back of his pants and he fell asleep!”  it wasn’t until i took a picture and looked at the preview on the screen that i noticed something was awry.  it was, after all, very very dark in his room!

that’s when i realized that i was in deep crap.  literally.

i quickly called for my mom (who is visiting from cincinnati for the weekend) to come and help me as this was in no way a one woman job.  as you will hear in the video,  we soon realized that it was much worse than we originally thought!

it was bad enough that it looked like a crime scene in his crib, but then he turned his head and i saw just how bad it really was!  what seemed sweet a few minutes earlier (having his hand down his pants) quickly turned to horror as we saw that it was actually stuck there by dried poo!

needless to say, i’m sure he will hate these pictures someday . . . and though i’ll gladly forget the smell and chore of scraping it off his little body . . . i will never EVER forget this experience in motherhood!

 

have teeth, will bite.

well, it’s happened.  i have a child who is a biter.  gus has recently discovered that his little teeth can be used for more than just chewing his food but also a weapon to retaliate against those who take his toys, “hug” him around the neck too hard, etc.  lily has not been the only recipient of this behavior.  i’ve personally received a few bites when holding him / playing with him . . . on the shoulder and even once on the thigh which really did hurt.  there are two incidents that specifically stick out in my memory (and i’m sure in lils too!).

one day, while at the grocery store, i decided to be the cool mom and let my kids “drive” the car attached to the front of the grocery cart.  i’m sure some of you have experienced these monstrosities before.  you know, the carts which are practically impossible to maneuver and stop on a dime?  anyway, here i am, attempting to push this around the store, trying to get my coup-on, when all of a sudden i hear my daughter screaming, “no gus! no gus!”  i run to the front of the cart only to find gus chomping down on lily’s little shoulder.  big tears rolling down her cheeks she’s yelling, “why did he bite me?”  after correcting him, i tried to explain that sometimes babies just bite but sometimes it’s the only thing they can do when being provoked.  after all, i had just seen her with him in a headlock!  needless to say, gus quickly became the lone driver of the car.

the second, and dare i say, more loving incident happened just a few days later.  we had just pulled into our driveway and i had finished unbuckling lily.  she walked over to gus’s seat to give him a kiss on the lips.  bad idea!  she pulled away with a bloody bottom lip.  though it was hilarious, i really did feel bad for her.  poor girl, she was just trying to be affectionate with her little brother, only to end up wounded!

in the end, this has been gus’s biggest fault thus far.  i’d say we’re doing pretty good!!

oh, and i’m sure that he could give charlie a run for his money.

a week at grandma’s

last week was wonderful!  we had the pleasure of spending a week at my mother-in-law’s house in new richmond, ohio.  it was so much fun!!  great meals, garage sales, splash park, berry picking, sleeping in, tractor rides, pink cows, sewing sewing and sewing some more, river days . . . even having our friends over for a fun afternoon of playing and singing on the porch . . . oh, and franklin swimming in the pond . . . what a hoot!

enjoy our video recap of our great week at grandma’s!

a belated birthday recap

oh to be the second child . . .  they almost always get the short end of the “oh so exciting firsts” stick.  sigh.  poor gus.  i am finally getting around to sharing about his first birthday, but at least i’m doing it.  though he’s not only getting screwed out of having two parties (one in florida with friends and one in cincy with family) and a birthday video recap like his sister had,  he did at least have a party and a few photos taken!  truth be told, i’m pretty much banking on the whole “he’s a boy and probably won’t care” idea anyway!  here goes nothing . . .

i knew the party was going to be on a much smaller scale since i had a much smaller budget (thank God for the dollar tree!), but i did spring for a few special things like fun fabrics to make a birthday banner and neat personalized invitations (thank you etsy!).  we decided on a carnival theme . . . partly because i wanted it to go with the banners i had made and partly because it was easy to find what i needed at the dollar tree.  we gave away favors of candy and pinwheels (the latter of which always makes me happy . . . just like gus!), ate cupcakes with sprinkles, and even had a “cake walk” with the kiddos (thanks again for the idea, franki!).

we are super lucky to have so many great friends in orlando who gave up their day to celebrate sweet gus.  even though he wasn’t feeling all that great, and lily was a total pill,  we still enjoyed ourselves as you will see.

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i never knew love before, then came you

as i write this post, my sweet little gus is quietly sleeping in his bed.  a year ago on this day i was anxiously awaiting what tomorrow would bring for all of us . . . his birthday.  would he look like his daddy or like me?  would he cry a lot or be mellow, as i had prayed for him to be?  how would lily react to having to share the limelight?  though i couldn’t answer these questions at the time, God knew the precious gift that He was about to give to me and i know rejoiced when gus entered the world.

at 1:50 in the afternoon my world completely changed . . . again.  in that moment my heart grew even bigger, and just enough to fit in an 8 lb 10 oz new baby.  as he was being cleaned by the nurses, he turned his head in the direction of my voice and thus began the incredible bond that we now share.  gus has completed me in a way that i didn’t even know was needed.

it is an absolute honor to be his mama.  i delight in him daily.  knowing that i can’t freeze time, i am choosing to enjoy each and every day that I have with him.  most of all, i thank God for entrusting me with His child.

daddy’s shouldn’t cut hair

to all my  fellow mamas out there . . . you’ll probably totally get what i’m going to say in this post.

i know that i’ve stated in an earlier post about what a great teammate i found to go through life with.  my husband is a great dad.  he often has great ideas, though what i’m about to describe admittedly wasn’t one of them!

last week while eating dinner, we were all commenting and laughing about gus’s crazy hair and how he needs a haircut.  tom asked me when it was going to happen and said that we should just go ahead and cut it ourselves with the trimmers upstairs.  now, being the girl that i am i said, “well, i want to take him somewhere to get his first haircut, but i guess that we should just save the money and do it ourselves.”  translation . . . “i don’t want to touch his hair.  the first haircut is a special time . . . even if it is only for the mom, darnit, and i want it to be a memory . . . a good memory . . . for me!! so i’m going to say that we should do it ourselves, but we both (should) know that i don’t mean it!”  of course, being the guy that tom is, he didn’t read my mind and thought i was cool with what was about to happen.

so after dinner we headed up to the bathroom.  i was thinking positively and suggested that we only trim the sides to get rid of the “earmuffs” and tom agreed . . . or so i thought!  he grabbed the “trimmers” (which actually are only used on trimming a beard or sideburns!) and started shaving gus’s fuzzy little head.  at the beginning, it was going pretty well.  tom was using a guard so he wouldn’t shave too much off . . . gus seemed ok with what was happening . . . i was busy taking pictures . . .  lily was bouncing in and out of the bathroom chatting away . . .

and then it happened . . .

i turned my head to answer a question for lily and when i turned back there was now an almost bald spot right on gus’s forehead hairline!!  no joke,  it was completely surrounded by longer hair and looked like crap.  that’s when things turned ugly . . .  i’m now crying at how bad he looks . . . gus starts crying because he’s becoming impatient at the experience . . .  tom is getting frustrated because gus isn’t sitting still (he is, after all, still a baby!) . . . and then the frickin trimmers break!!!  so there we all sat . . .  baby, crying in the bathtub . . . mama, crying and refusing to look at the baby (or at her husband!) . . . and dad,  saying that it doesn’t look that bad and that we’ll fix the trimmers and finish it later.

hell to the no!  i already knew in my heart that this had the potential of being a total disaster . . . and i was right.  our son now had a haircut that resembled a character from last of the mohicans . . . mostly shaved to the scalp with long sections all over his head.  it looked A W F U L !

i begrudgingly grabbed a clump of hair from the bottom of the bathtub and jammed it in an envelope to save.  it was, after all, a memory. :S  i immediately made a beeline for my phone, called our friend/hairdresser/babysitter, christina, and made an appointment for the next morning.  even she was shocked at how bad it really was!  anyway, she saved the day by trimming the rest of it and making him look presentable.

though his looks have drastically changed to me, i know that it is just hair and it will grow back.  seriously, i’ve had hair the color of the rainbow and a shaved head.  i even wore fishnet hose with combat boots and a biker jacket to my freshman homecoming!!  i know that how you look outside doesn’t necessarily reflect who you are inside.*  however, i must admit, for the first time i completely understood how my mom must have felt the day i came home with a shaved head (at age 13!!).  i mean, you look at your kid and you think to yourself, “i made that!  how this kid looks . . . behaves . . . etc . . .  is a direct reflection on me!”  besides all of this, i’m about 99% sure that this is my last baby and the only little boy i’ll ever have.  i wanted the first haircut to be special. (again, for only my memory!)

anyway, all of this to say that we all learned a valuable lesson from this experience.  #1 . . .   unless you are married to paul mitchell or john frieda don’t let your husband near your kids hair with anything other than a comb.  #2 . . . if you break rule #1 . . . at the very least use good equipment and for the tools intended use.  and finally, #3 . . . girls, say what you mean.  if you have an idea of how you want something to go, speak up and say it.  don’t expect anyone (especially a guy) to read your mind!

* yes, i understand that gus is a baby and that he didn’t choose to do this with his hair, unlike i did.  😛

milestones

i was just looking on a friend’s blog about his daughter learning to ride her bike without training wheels and it started me thinking about milestones.  it’s interesting how when you have a baby, you anxiously await each new milestone they achieve.  today, new parents follow the What To Expect The First Year book like it’s the Bible for babies . . . where as for my parents’ generation it was Dr. Spock!  recently, gus has learned to push himself from his belly to a sitting position.  so, like a good mom i quickly ran to my book to see if he was on schedule or (gasp) had he mastered this skill early?  sigh . . . according to the book by age 8 mos (he’s now 10 mos) he probably would be able to do this.  waaah waaah . . . two mos behind.

anyway, for the most part i try to ignore these types of milestones and comparing my kid to every other baby his age.  instead of getting down on myself for what he isn’t doing and what other kids already are,  i choose to focus on how special he is.  like how even though he’s been sick for over a month now . . . fevers, multiple ear infections, seven trips to the doctor, nebulizer treatments, three days worth of antibiotics via shots in the leg, two ent visits . . .  that little guy is still smiling and laughing . . . even in his sleep! most other parents have to deal with whining crying babies, but not this mama!  (and don’t you know that i thank God daily for that . . . seriously.)

all in all,  he’ll get there eventually.  God’s timing will be perfect and gus will be as he is meant to be.  since i know this is my last baby i’m really not minding this extended baby stage.  i love carrying him around. besides, his 25 lbs of jolliness and love are giving me some freakin awesome biceps to rival michelle obama’s!

lily recently hit a milestone that probably isn’t covered in any baby books, but instead only in a mama’s heart. the other morning she came into my room begging me to follow her into her room for something she just had to show me.  i’m so glad i got my lazy butt out of bed, for what awaited me started my day off in absolute delight!  here she had drawn on her easel her first family picture.  of course, being the sappy dork i am, i started crying and ran to get the camera.  (what the heck is it with me and feeling the need to document every darn thing?)  she willingly sat with her “masterpiece”.  i love Love LOVE this girl!!  i’ll save you the trouble of guessing who’s who.  the picture is labeled according to what she told me!

“my family” by lily

(mama, daddy, polly, gus, lily, a baby carriage, and franklin . . . we’re  hoping she doesn’t know something that we don’t!)