The Stockings were Hung

Well, we are ready for tomorrow morning to come. Ok, let me revise that, I am ready for tomorrow morning to come. Graham is ready for tomorrow to come, and Nate is ready for tomorrow to come. Jesse... well, Jesse has the flu, so we'll cut him a little slack.
For most of the day, it was kind of a bad day. Nate was particularly frustrating, and I had so many things to get done that the whole day I was going going going. But by about dinner we calmed down, and things got a bit better. Graham got a bath, and got into his new Christmas jammies courtesy of Grandma. Then Nate wanted to get into his matching jammies, so we did that. Then after Graham went to bed, Nate and I sat down to read some stories. We read the Night before Christmas, and were were talking about Santa coming tonight. He really still only marginally understands things, so I was working on that with him. When we were talking about the stockings, Nate started to talk about Santa coming with a hammer and making a hole in the wall to make a fireplace. So there you go, we have no fireplace, but that problem is solved.
And then we were reading the Christmas story in his illustrated New Testament book, and he wanted to read that several times. We tried to talk about that being the real meaning of Christmas, but I think that he still is pretty happy about presents.
During this time my RS president came by with a little gift for me. She gave me a book, and this quote that she had made into a wall hanging. It was the quote that was on the program at my Father's funeral, and it just made me a little weepy. It made me sad because I miss my dad, and it made me sad because my mom doesn't have my dad tonight with her, but it really touched me that she would do that for me. It was probably the perfect present from her. Anyway, so I was crying a little bit, and Nate got concerned. He started to go upstairs and said he was going to get me my blanket. I don't know what blanket that was going to be, if he was going to drag the quilt off of my bed and bring it down or not. I told him that I would be ok. But it was so sweet of him, and that made me just a little bit more weepy. He really is a sweet boy when he's not being so loud and obnoxious.
But I can't end of that note, so I'll leave you with this. I am so thankful for all of the blessings in my life this Christmas. I am thankful for my family and the joy that they bring to my life. I am thankful for my mom, and the opportunity that I have to be close to her. I am thankful for Jesse's family, and the love and generosity that they always show us. I am thankful for so many wonderful friends that I have, and all those who have shown their love and support this past month. I am thankful for the perspective that I have, that even though this has in fact been a pretty bad month for me, that in the end, my blessings far out-weigh anything else. I am especially thankful for the birth of my Savior, and His love and attention for me personally. I have felt His love many times recently. I am thankful for His Atonement, and the knowledge that I have an eternal family, so that some day I can be reunited with my Dad. It is for these things this Christmas that I am thankful.

Almost there

Well, here we are, 2 sleeps away from Christmas. Not too much time to get things done. Fortunately I have finished much of what I wanted to get done. The gingerbread house is done. The holiday baking is done. The treats are bagged up and ready to go. Most of the Christmas cards are out. Most of the presents are wrapped. Now there is just the pesky issue of not having a place to put the presents on Christmas morning due to a lack of a Christmas tree. Then there is of course the issue of the last present I need to make, A quilt. So I have to work feverishly on that today and tomorrow. I'll be at my mom's house today and hope to be able to talk her into helping out with that. So there we have it. I think we'll make it. Hope all of the rest of you are having a wonderful Christmas.

A Wrench in the plans

So here we are a week out from Christmas. I only have a few more things to get done before Christmas. I am finished shopping except for one or two more stocking items. I made my beautiful gingerbread house last night, more pictures to follow. I made fudge. I made the sugar cookie dough yesterday, so now it needs to be rolled, baked and decorated. I also wanted to make a few more treats to give away to others. Plus, there are a few more sewing projects to be done. So that is where I am a week out from Christmas. The problem? I believe that I have the flu. That sure is what it felt like last night as I could not sleep all night. So maybe I can keep myself drugged enough to get some stuff done. If not, well, it's just stuff, so I should not stress if it doesn't get done. Anyway, that's it. Hope you all enjoy your last week before Christmas.

Christmas tag

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real.
3. When do you put up the tree?Usually sooner rather than later, but this year we don't have a tree yet.
4. Do you like eggnog? In small amounts
5. Favorite gift received as a child? So many good ones it's hard to say.
6. Hardest person to buy for? My inlaws.
7. Easiest person to buy for? Nate
8. Do you have a nativity scene? We have 3, one that we bought our first Christmas, which I don't like as much, a Little People nativity for the kids to play with, and a Willowtree Nativity which I love.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A Table saw.... just kidding, I don't know.
11. Favorite Christmas Movie? I don't know, I loved Muppet Christmas Carol when I was younger. I don't know I could pin one down today.
12. When do you start shopping?Last year, in October. This year, next week.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas candies, I love mint ones, especially the candy cane Hershey's kisses, and York peppermint patties.
15. Lights on the tree? Assuming I put up a tree with lights, colored.
16. Favorite Christmas song? I love the Mormon Youth Choir and Symphony cd. Maybe called Oh Holy Night?
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a hand me down angel, but I prefer stars.
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Growing up I always wished we opened one on Christmas Eve, we're still thinking about our new traditions. The kids do get jammies that night though.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Going to Walmart.
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? Snowmen
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? Let's see, I already got a new vacuum, so I'd have to say a tube of Harry and David Mint truffles.
25. Who do I tag? Erin, Debbie,

He's got all the answers

So today we were driving and saw one of those Santas on a motorcycle. We talked about if Santa rode a motorcycle, and determined that he was in a sleigh. Then Nate informed me that the reindeer fly by flapping their feet, and then made a very cute hand motion illustrating it. I guess it makes sense, every time you see a cartoon of reindeer flying, they do look like they are flapping their feet. So there you go, I know you have always wondered exactly how the reindeer fly.

What a week it's been

Well, it has been quite a week for us over here. Last Saturday night my father passed away. My mom called me on Saturday afternoon saying that he was not doing so well, and she wanted me to come over. So I came over. He started to do a little better at dinner time, and was even joking around a little bit. Then later he started to get to be more non-responsive. That night he slipped away in his sleep. It was a little unreal, and quite an evening. I am so glad that I was able to be there with my mom as it happened. All of my brothers and sister have moved away, though emotionally are close. I was just glad that my mom was not alone that night. I am also so thankful for all of my parents friends. That night some friends visited the house, and one of them offered to stay there with my mom if she needed it. I'm so glad that so many people care about her. There were so many people who came that night, and so many others that would have come to stay with my mom had they been called.
So that night was kind of numb despite all that went on. There were family members to be called. It was fortunate that all of our family was out west, so that no one had to be woken up in the middle of the night. By the time everything was take care of, and everyone came and went it was about 2:30am, and we then had to "sleep."
Sunday was another day of tears for us. We had a few visitors, and Jesse was able to be there the whole day. By that evening, David, Chris and Erin got there, and that was a huge relief. There is something about David that just makes you think that things will be ok again, and that he will take care of our family. It was very obvious to watch him this past week and see that he realized that he was our family's priesthood leader. There have been many times this week that I have been so glad to have such righteous brothers.
The rest of the week, more and more family arrived each day. We always have a good time when we are together, and although this was a more somber gathering, it was still really nice to be together as a family. I am so lucky to have such an amazing family and such wonderful sisters and brothers-in-law.
On Wednesday night we had the viewing, and that went well. It was so great to see all of these people who loved my dad, and love my family. It was so wonderful for me to have so many friends there to support me.
Thursday was the funeral, and that was really nice too. My dad was a wonderful person, and loved by so many. It was really nice the rest of the day to be able to talk to my Aunt Chris about her memories of my dad's early days. We really just spend the day talking together as a family, and that was really great.
On Friday we were able to go to the temple as a family. That was such a powerful and unifying experience, and I can't believe how lucky I am to be a member of this amazing family.
Sunday most everyone went home, so that was our last chance to just spend time together as a family. It was sad to see people leave, but Erin is here through the end of the week, and next week David will be back to check in on things. After the new year, Tim will come back for a while, and I'd imagine Chris and or Erin will be back before the end of January. It will be nice to be able to see everyone with a little more regularity.
But in the mean time, it will be me and my mom, hanging out together, finding a new normal.
In addition to seeing the best in my family, I am so thankful for my friends this past week. I have had so many offers of help and compassion. Jesse's family have been saints with child care, as well as a few other friends. Jana gave up a much needed day of sewing to watch my children, and knowing that makes it all the more appreciated. My college roommates sent "meals from out of town" in the form of gift cards. That was unexpected, and much appreciated. And then there was the day that Jana told me she needed my house key for the day. I came home that night to find that a team of 5 friends had came into my house and cleaned it from top to bottom. This place looked better than I ever get it to look. It felt so nice to come home to a clean house. So to all of you who have been thinking and praying for us, and for those of you who have helped in some way or another, many many thanks to you too. It's been a roller coaster of a week, but I have made it through with your help.

Happy Birthday Graham!

Well, I can hardly believe it, but my baby is 1! What a fun little boy he is. He has more and more of a personality every day. He loves to eat, and much to my great joy, he is eating table food. He loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which I am still trying to get Nate to eat. He loves cheerios and graham crackers (of course.) He is starting to walk, and he can sometimes walk across the room, but is still fairly unstable on his feet. Crawling is his preferred mode of transportation. He has a mouth full of teeth. Today he has 9 that have broken through, with one coming in the next few days, and two more molars in the coming weeks. (Which means that he will have cut 6 teeth in a month's time.) He loves to dance all day long. His favorite toy that he got for his birthday is the one that he can just keep on pressing the button to make it play the song over and over again to dance dance dance. He is a little monkey and loves to climb the stairs and open my cabinets. He has learned to slide down the stairs on his belly, which is a little frightening to me. He still is not so great at turning around at the top of stairs, so it's still a chore to watch him.

But every day I am amazed at how much I love this little boy. How much I love to play and cuddle with him. How much I just love to be near him. So happy birthday little boy! Let's hope this next year is just as wonderful as the last one. As it turns out, Graham must not care for chocolate cake. We tried a few times, and he didn't really like it any time.

Best Friends

Graham found this little kitty a month ago or so, and he loves it so much. Grammy gave it to Nate years ago, and it was loved very much back then too. It has a little meow sound that it used to make when you squeezed it. Then it started to sound like a cat that was hit by a car. Now it has been reduced to a low buzzing noise. It is almost quiet enough for church. Whenever Graham finds this cat lying around it is in his hand all over the house for hours afterwards.

Brothers

Oh what fun it is to have a brother that you can wrestle with.

And sometimes they are even great buddies!

Thankful

So among all of my many other blessings, this year I am also thankful that Graham has not learned how to climb yet.

A Happy Thanksgiving

Well, we had a good Thanksgiving over here. We spent Thanksgiving with Jesse's family. I always feel bad when we don't have it with my parents. Growing up we didn't have family close by, and there were a ton of us, so we always just had Thanksgiving with our little family. As a result, as kids move away, my parent's Thanksgiving is smaller and smaller. This year I am the only kid in the area, so even if we did go over, it would have been a sad small little gathering. Anyway, it had been 3 year since we had spend Thanksgiving with the Markhams, so I thought we were due. Plus, there had been a turducken ordered. That's right, a turkey stuffed with a chicken and duck. It was actually really good, but hard to tell the meats apart.
We spent the afternoon with the family, and the only downside was that Graham would not take a nap, but he was a trooper none the less.
The big news is that he was taking a lot more steps yesterday. He has taken a few steps here and there in the past, but yesterday he was taking 4 steps together. He still is quite wobbly, and often just head dives to his target, but he has started taking steps. So that's exciting.
Today, despite the fact that I am sick as a dog, I went shopping at 5am. Jana came to pick me up, and we hit toys r us, which was way more crowded than I thought it would be. Then we went to Target to pick up a few more things. I didn't really get that much stuff, since I am waiting for Jesse to be able to come to do Nate's shopping, but I did get some 50% off deals. I agree with Jana that door buster sales on Black Friday are best for people buying big ticket items, not me with my, oh, it's $15, not $30. We did wait in long long lines at both places, but we didn't see any fights much to our great disappointment.
So now it is over. We all sit here, most of us a little sick. Jesse finally got his birthday present of basketball shoes today, so now he is going to head to the church with Nate to play a little ball. Graham and I will stay here and rock the Einstein.

prayer Time

So, Nate has gone through these phases of praying. He did it for a long time, repeating what we said, and he loved it. He also went through a phase where no matter what we said, what he said was "thank you for Nate." But then he stopped. He didn't want to say any prayers ever. He would listen most of the time, but he didn't want to participate. But then the other day he started again. This time around he can say them by himself. They don't include much, and tonight it was about how he had to go to church and be quiet and eat goldfish and juice, but he is excited to say them alone these days. It's nice, it makes me feel like maybe I did something right. So there's my little guy, I'm so proud of him that he is so happy to say prayers.

He's just so cute

So, Nate is nowhere close to being potty trained. We hit the weekend, and I never want to do something like that on the weekend, so it kind of stalled. But then today I put some underwear back on him, and he cried and cried for a while. (Of course, he was kind of in trouble at the time, so that contributed to it.) Finally I sat and talked to him, and pointed out that it didn't hurt, and it wasn't scary, and he stopped crying. Then I think he kind of felt liberated, and he's been dancing around all day now. And he's just so cute. He's so cute in his little monkey underwear, sitting there with no pants on. When he's grown up, he'll hate me for putting this on the internet, but hey, at least there are no pictures. Anyway, so I'm prepared to do it for the long haul this time. The only problem is that I have trouble with the whole, stay home and don't go anywhere thing, so it's going to take longer. Already this week I'm going to be at my mom's house tomorrow, so he'll only get morning practice in. Then we have somewhere we need to go on THursday afternoon, so that'll pause things. Part of me feels like I have plans on Friday too, but maybe that's just because I feel like I always have plans. But we're going to go out an rent Kung Fu Panda and maybe another movie and just sit and watch movies and hopefully sit on the potty the entire time. Then maybe when he has an accident, he'll be in the right place. Oh the joys of parenting.

Holy Cow! It's a breakthrough!

So our story today starts at Staples. We had to go to Staples today to finally get a new ink cartridge. I've needed one since mid-summer, but it was not until I was called into the RS Presidency and needed to print stuff out for "homework" that I finally got one. So we were checking out at Staples, and Nate saw these cute little frog and pig magnets displayed at the checkout. He begged and begged to get them, and it's possible that we would have since one of the things that I also needed was magnets, but they were like $5, and that's more than I wanted to spend on an impulse buy.
Flash forward to nap time. We were changing Nate's diaper, and he was not being as complacent as I would like, so I said it was time to get rid of diapers and go on the potty. He agreed, which he sometimes does. He said that mommy doesn't like to change diapers, so he needs to wear big boy underwear, and he needs to go wee wee on the potty. So I told him that if we went wee wee on the potty then we could go and get the frog toys from the store. He immediately wanted to go wee wee on the potty. So we got out the potty, and he sat for a little while. Nothing came, so he went to have a nap, and then I said that after his nap we can try again, and he agreed.
This is a major breakthrough. In the past, if I had said that he could have something after going on the potty, he would have changed his mind and said he didn't want it anymore. Not only did he want to sit on the potty, but the major breakthrough is that it was not met with complete terror and disdain. We're going to take this and run with it. That kid is not wearing pants for a week. Wish me luck. (Of course, he'll probably have totally changed his mind by the time he wakes up from his nap.)

File this under: more cute things my kids say

So today we were in the car, and we were talking about Graham about to turn one, and how he is getting to be a big boy. Nate argued that Graham is still a baby, but that he is a big boy. I then countered that big boys wear big boy underwear and sit on the big boy potty. (Nate has a very close relationship with his diapers.) So Nate starts listing all of his friends who wear big boy underwear, and then I say that I think that all of his friends wear big boy underwear. He then says, no, they're not my friends, only Mommy and Daddy and Graham are my friends. It was awfully cute when he said it. Of course, it could be that he feels betrayed by all of his friends for breaking their pact to wear diapers all of their lives, but who knows.
Then also, this morning he was watching a movie that had the Disney castle at the beginning of it, and he turned to me and said, look mommy, is that a Temple? It was pretty cute.
Well, I think that I hear Jesse's car outside which means it only took him 2 1/2 hours to get home today. Of course, it could not even be him, and he could be nowhere close to being home. Poor Jesse.

Another First

So one of the great things about the first year is that there are so many "firsts." The First step, the first word, the first foods, the first time crawling, etc, etc. We have experienced a first this week, and that was the first lollipop. I think that the pictures tell the story.

It's interesting how much more quickly "firsts" tend to come with a second child. I think that Nate's first lollipop was maybe less than a year ago. Of course, it is a food item, so that kind of explains it with him, but yeah, I didn't really think that Graham would have his first before a year old. Oh well.

Shortly after this picture he managed to suck through the stick, so he was not allowed to finish it, and boy was he mad! I guess I'll have to go the push pop route in the future. I remember when we went to Europe many years ago with Erin's little boy who was at the time 5 months old, and she took a push pop for him to suck on at times when we needed to buy a little time of good behavior. Not a bad idea.....

Graham at the Lake

I tried to put a picture of Graham at the lake in the last post, but it was blurry so I took it out, and every time I put a new photo in it messed up my format, so I just thought I'd add another one in a different post.

Deep Creek Lake Vacation

Ok, so Nate really wants me to get off so that he can play his computer game. (What! He's three!) So instead of waiting patiently, he is sitting here randomly hitting keys. What a monkey.

Anyway, we went on vacation with the Markhams a week ago. We rented a house up at Deep Creek Lake and spent the week there. It was our family, Heather and Meckenzie (Jesse's sister in law and daughter) Cammi, Jesse's sister, and his parents. The cabin was big enough for all of us to have our own rooms, so that was nice. Graham even got his own little room, but Nate just slept in the same room as us.

The first day or two we really just stayed at the house. On Monday our big activity was Wal Mart as well as a few sports stores in the area. Nate and Meckenzie had a ton of fun playing together, and whenever Graham could get in on the action he liked it too.

On Tuesday some of the family went to go find some geo caches, or boxes that people hide places and then post the GPS coordinates on the internet, and then other people go and try to find the boxes. You can sign you were there, and generally leave a token in the box. Our token of choice was a pack of gum. Jesse and I stayed home from that since Graham was napping, but then we went out exploring the area trying to find something to do. We failed. The problem with going to a resort town in the off season is that everything is closed. People were closing up the water activities, but the snow activities had not yet started.

On Wednesday we did get to go and find some Geo Caches at Swallow Falls State Park. Nate and Meckenzie thought it was great fun to be searching for treasure. While there we did hike along the trails and see the falls too. We didn't go swimming though.

Thursday it rained, so we were pretty much stuck at home. I think that Heather and I may have gotten out to go to some markets that day.

A couple of different times we took the kids over to the lake area at Deep Creek State Park. Nate enjoyed playing a the playground and throwing rocks into the lake. Graham just did his own thing, but for a little guy being out of his own house, and dragged all over the place, he did such a good job. He was a trooper.


On Friday we had to cram all of the rest of our fun into one day. We started out by going to a corn maze. The kids loved it. Nate as it turns out is a natural at mazes. Every time we had to make a choice, we asked him, and he always knew the right way to go. Then one time he went into the corn, and jumped out to surprise us. That turned into a really fun game. That game was replaced with Jesse going into the corn, and then jumping out to surprise the kids. That was the most fun game. There were other lots of fun things to do there, like bikes, and a cow train (which Nate refused to ride) and a playground, and the animals you can stick your face out of. Plus, there were all of the young calves that you could go and look at. It was a fun morning.

That night Jesse, Heather and I went to a haunted house and mountain roller coaster. It's one of those where they pull you up the side of the mountain, and then gravity takes care of the rest. You are the one in charge of the breaks, so you go as fast or slow as you want. It was actually pretty fun, but freezing, since you need to have your hands out, and none of us thought to bring gloves to our October vacation.

So it was a fun vacation. On Saturday we just packed up and headed home. The kids slept the whole way home, so that made the drive easy. And, Jana even remembered to feed our cat, so when we got home, Lizzie was still alive even!

Baltimore Care First BCBS Half Marathon

So on the 11th, Jesse ran in the Baltimore Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield Half Marathon. There were I think like 15,000 people participating in the running festival which included a marathon, half Marathon, Marathon relay, 5K and Fun Run. The Half Marathon starts later in the day, so we were able to get up and all go down together. Jesse's dad came with us, and we caravaned down with some friends of ours in our ward. While Jesse ran we mostly just hung out at the Inner Harbor. It was a beautiful day, and the kids were well behaved, so that made things nice. We had a hard time finding Jesse after he finished his race, but finally he found a cell phone to borrow and called us. So congratulations Jesse! Hopefully next year it'll be me!

Graham

So today at lunch Graham turned bulimic. It may have started with food caught in his throat, but then he repeatedly made himself throw up. And by "made himself throw up" I mean stuck his fingers as far back in his mouth as possible until he threw up. He was so mad when I made him stop. Even after I moved him and took away his lunch, and tried to calm him down he kept on trying to do it. I decided to just nip it in the bud, because I didn't want to have him diagnosed with an eating disorder at the age of 2, and I looked back to think that I could have stopped it.
In other Graham news he has been doing such a better job of sleeping through the night for the past month. It is on a very regular basis these days. He also will occasionally stand on his own for a few nanoseconds at a time before he crumples down or leans into something. Last night Jesse tried to get him to walk since he has occasionally taken a step to make it to the couch or something, but he was really not interested at all.
So that's it. I have a ton of projects going on right now, and that is why I have not posted any updates on the vacation (Not that it was that noteworthy, it was more of a relaxing vacation than an activity vacation.) You can see all about my projects on my losingmyneedles blog. That's all for now.

correction

So I just realized that in the post about Nate's animals I said that he found the panda on the flood in the basement, and that may leave many of you wondering about our basement flooding and me not mentioning it and even allowing my child to play with a plush animal that was flood damaged. Take heart, no such thing happened. It should say he found the panda on the FLOOR.
Just wanted to clear that up.

More to come

So I just got back from a week long vacation on Saturday, and I am still in that post-vacation funk. I have a day of unpacking, organizing and laundry, in addition to the errands that I need to run. We have no milk for me or Nate, fresh fruit or veggies, etc etc. (We do however have tons of snacks leftover from vacation that came home with us.)
So I will post about the vacation soon, and Jesse ran the half marathon 2 Saturdays ago, but maybe not right now. In the mean time I did get pictures up on the other website, jesseandlauren.com so you can go and check those out for the time being. More to come soon. I promise.

Cute pics

So here are just some cute pictures that I've gotten in the last week or so.

These first two are of Nate's love of stuffed animals. I keep on meaning to get a picture of his bed at night, because it is getting ridiculous. He needs to take about 6 matchbox cars up to bed, as well as a lego man, 5,000 stuffed animals, and whatever random toys he has been playing with at the time. He found that panda on the floor downstairs a month ago or so. It survived the great animal packing, and he just latched onto it. He loves it best of all.

Often when the door is open I go into the dining room to find both Nate and Lizzie just sitting there looking out the window. Today Mack joined them.

And lastly, just some pictures of the boys being buddies. Nate often is tired of Graham playing with his toys, and getting into things, and being in his way, so they are not friends all that often, but when they are, it's cute as can be. In the last picture, Nate does have a paci in his mouth. He has never been a paci kid, but since seeing Graham, he has started to play with one. Just so long as I don't see it become a habit. I'd hate to have to break him of the thumb and a paci! The middle picture is my favorite because they were having so much fun that time.

Boyds Bear Country

So last week I joined my mom and my niece Paige at Boyds Bear Country in Gettysburg. Nate loved it up there. He is going through a major stuffed animal phase right now, so it was just a wonderland to him. He ran from bear to bear to bear. After a long time he finally got tired of looking at the bears, and he moved on to the escalators. We did that for a few minutes while waiting for Paige and Grandma to be finished looking at things. When it was time to go, Nate did not want to leave. He went running back to the building when he realized we were headed to the car, and for the rest of the day he said he wanted to go to the bear store again.

Graham did pretty well too. He sat in his stroller and was content for the most part. I was so proud of him.

Blanket diving

This is Graham diving into the laundry basket last night to get his blanket. I guess he just could not wait to spit up on it.

You have GOT to be kidding me

So today Graham and I had a battle of sorts. It all started last night. I had just given him a bath, and he was naked save for a diaper in his crib when he spit up all over his blanket and proceeded to crawl through it. Argh!
So no biggie, wipe him off, and get the second blanket out. It's not the one that I usually put him to bed with since it is smaller. I usually use this one to take places with us, but he loves both of them, so it was fine. I needed to do laundry today anyway, so I'd clean the blanket soon.
So I do laundry. His load got done while he was taking his afternoon nap today. So I'm folding his laundry and then he wakes up. I hand him his blanket when he gets up, and he is excited to see it. Within 10 minutes he spits up all over it. Not just a little, a lot of gross stuff. Argh!
No biggie, I still had 2 more loads to put in the laundry today. So I put his blanket back in the wash and was thinking that it would come out right in time for bed. Sure enough, right when it's time for bed, the dryer stops and I go and get his blanket. He is once again excited to see it. He almost tips himself into the laundry basket as he tries to get to it. So he has his blanket and keeps on face planting into it. Within 10 minutes he totally spits up all over it. Gross orange carrot spit up.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
At this point all you can do is laugh. There are some pants that have not been washed yet, so I can still scrounge up another load, and very little spit up has gotten on his other blanket, so we can still use that. I swear, it's like this kid is marking his territory. So the only reason that his blanket will not be soiled again today is because he is in bed already. I'm nervous to give it to him tomorrow. Maybe he'll only be allowed to have it in bed, except that that is where this whole thing started!
What a stinker!

Hip Hip Hurray!

If only we all had the youthful excitement that kids have. Nate celebrates EVERYTHING! Today in the car, he was playing with a tiny Lego man, and he was taking it apart, and putting it back together. At one point he had taken the head off and put it in his cup holder, and then couldn't pick it back up again. So he is asking for help, and of course I can't help without killing all of us. He finally was able to get it, and breaks into a round of the hip hip hurray song from Super Why.
I think that we all need to celebrate life's little victories. That is my challenge to you today.

File this under: Cute things my kids say

So today Nate informed me that "this is the frigerator, and this is the freezerator."
Nice.

Proof

If you look closely in the lower left hand corner you will see proof of what happens all day long at our house.

Many Random things

Ok, so it's been a while since I have posted anything positive, so here we go.

First off, some random thoughts on Lizzie. Lizzie is not a lap cat. She almost never will climb up onto your lap and sit there. The only time she will do this is when I have a blanket in my lap. Nap time is kind of interesting with her. She almost always will come and nap with me when I take a nap. This morning when I went to lie down for a few lazy moments after Graham went down for his nap, and before Nate woke up, I was lying there in bed, but didn't have the covers on, and Lizzie just sat there on the bed and waited for me. So I put the covers on, and she came and lay down on top of me. So she likes to nap on top of me, but only if there is a blanket there. What a weird cat.

This picture is an old one of Graham. It is the best picture that I have of his jack-o-lantern teeth. He now has all 4 teeth on the top row, and the two on the bottom as well for a grand total of 6 (for those of you who have trouble doing the math.) Other than that, he is just all over the place, and lots and lots of fun to have around these days. I am considering partially weaning him. I think that up until this point I have been starving him. He started out as a heavy weight, and is now down to the 10th percentile. He only gained 12 oz in the past 3 months. He seems to love bottles, so maybe we ought to go with it. I'm not ready to give it up though, and I think that he still enjoys nursing, so we'll see.

Nate has developed a love of scissors in the past week or so. He saw me clipping things out of the paper a week ago, and said, "Ohhh, can I try that?" So I let him cut up the newspaper. The next day we went out and got some safety scissors. He is starting to get the whole one handed thing. My biggest regret right now with Nate is that I don't have enough quality one on one time with him. He is such a sweet boy when I have enough attention to pay to him, and when Graham is not around. The problem is that when Graham has his morning nap I am showering, and then when Graham has his afternoon nap, Nate naps as well, and Graham wakes up way before Nate in the afternoon and morning. The only time I have with him is in the evening, and that is Jesse's ONLY time with him, so that doesn't always work either. Oh well, we just need to try to make time for him and I.

What a day!

So our day started at 6am, when else? I just don't understand why Graham feels the need to wake up and eat at 5 if he is just going to wake up at 6 when he hears Jesse get up anyway? That is of course after waking up twice previous in the night. In addition to that, my back was killing me all night and all day today. So that's how our day started. Then Nate woke Graham up when he had not had a long enough nap, so both kids were driving me nuts this morning. Graham screaming because he was tired, and Nate just screaming for the heck of it. It was all that I could do to not lock them in the dungeon this morning. Keeping in mind that I don't even have a dungeon, I was willing to dig one just for them this morning.
We went to story time with Graham screaming the whole way. And then I put him in the stroller to go into the library and he was screaming bloody murder. Thanks by the way to the complete stranger who informed me that "someone was not happy." When you see a mom who has a screaming child, unless you have something constructive to say, don't say anything at all, just let them walk the walk of shame.
Life got better in the afternoon because they both took naps. But in true Graham fashion, his nap was not nearly long enough, which meant that my nap was not nearly long enough. Not that you can have a good nap when your back hurts badly enough to make getting comfortable impossible.
So I got up with Graham, and Nate continued to nap. He didn't nap yesterday, so he had a 4 hour nap today.
This is where the day got interesting. First of all, Lizzie escaped. I didn't even notice that she had gotten out, and was out for like, an hour, until my neighbor knocked on the door and asked if that was my cat in the front yard. Sure enough... So she got a taste of freedom today. I sure hope that she didn't get fleas while she was outside. The best thing about having an indoor cat is that they never get fleas!
Then I was sitting on the couch working on my latest quilt fabric, and Graham was just crawling around as he pleased. He went into the dining room and made a snack of the cheerios and graham cracker that he dropped earlier. He came back and played for a bit. Then he went over to the stairs. I'm not paying too much attention, but look over after he'd been over there for a minute, and think, oh, he must be way on the other side because I can't see his head. So I look closer, and I don't see his head, but I see his feet- sticking off the 2nd step. So he can climb the stairs now. The rest of the afternoon was spent re-installing the gate at the bottom of the stairs. Hopefully Nate will not pull it off this time around.
And that brings us to now. Nate is finally up. Jesse is late getting home from work. It's getting close to Graham's bed time, but he needs a bath today. I was supposed to clean the bathroom today, but well, when your back hurts, you are usually not inclined to bend over the bathtub and scrub. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
So it's boring here, but what else is new? If I weren't so lazy I would post a picture, but well, that involves going to the basement. Maybe next time.

Finished!

Don't worry, I finished Jane Eyre. I didn't have to go and rent the movie.

mama

So it's official, Graham has said his first word, and it is mama (what else could it be when you have a mom as awesome as me?) however, it doesn't mean what you would think that it means. He says it when he wants to eat. And not just nurse, he says it the most when I am about to feed him real food. Just goes to show mama=eat.
Now I have to go and read the last 100 pages of Jane Eyre before book club tomorrow night. Anyone care to give me a summary of what happens after she leaves Mr Rochester in case I don't get it done? I know that they do eventually end up together. I'm one of those people who reads the last page of a book.

A New Game

So the other night we were out to dinner at a restaurant, and Graham was sitting in a high chair playing with some toys. He dropped one of his toys on the floor, and as I leaned down to pick it up I saw this gleam in his eyes and knew that he thought he had found a great new game. So for the rest of the night he would play with the toys for a minute or two, and then throw them or drop them on the floor. Before too long Nate saw that this was a fun game, but he figured his role was to pick up the toys and give them back to Graham. How convenient.
So this morning I was rocking Graham, and all of the sudden he plopped his paci out of his mouth, and dropped it above his head, and then looked up at me with a mischievous little grin. What a stinker! He did it again, and then I said, alright, you're going in your bed!
Nate never really got into this game, but Graham is much more mischievous than Nate ever was. Oh well.......

Already?

So Graham is already wanting to stand on his own and walk. All day yesterday and even the day before he would be standing at a toy or the couch and let go. He of course falls right away. He's still a little wobbly even when holding on, so I'm not expecting the standing on his own to happen all that soon, but all the same, he's trying, and that is a little nervous.
I think this says a lot about the differences in my kids' personalities. Nate was an early cruiser. He was cruising furniture well by 9 months old, but he wasn't mobile in any other way. He also NEVER let go of the furniture. We finally made him practice walking after he turned one. He could do it, but was afraid to try. And that has carried into other things. Nate is a very cautious child when it comes to trying new things, or even things that he hasn't done in a while. I have a feeling I'll appreciate that more and more as the years go by, even as it is a frustration in other things. Graham on the other hand is much more adventurous, a quality that I'm sure will help him get what he wants in life.
So there you have it, they may look alike, and they may cry alike, but they are two different children.

Movin' Right Along

So Graham has had a pretty busy past 2 weeks. He learned how to crawl up on his hands and knees, and does that pretty much all of the time now. He also has learned to pull himself up. At first he did it, and fell over right away. It didn't take him long to figure out how to stand. So now he stands. He can also kind of move along things, like the early early stages of cruising. He can sit on his knees. He can pull the laptop off of the table. He can pull the lid off of the goldfish cup. (And eat the goldfish without too much trouble.) He also got 2 more teeth. But they are not the ones you would think, they are the side top teeth. So we have a little jack-o-lantern. Plus, I'm pretty sure he went through a grown spurt because he did nothing but eat. Whew! I'm tired just listing it all.

Nate is being 3 and all that involves. Enough said.

And finally, my high school 10 year reunion is coming up, and they asked for current family pictures to be sent. Well, I don't have a current family picture. There is no picture in existence with the 4 of us. So I had my photographer friend take some family pictures tonight. Now we have one. Good for us.

Anyway, that's it. I'm going to go and watch the men's marathon with Jesse now. Hope they show every second of it.

ps- Erin- I just went to a pie party that my friends hosted. Are you jealous?