The joy of being a parent

As a parent we are required to act a certain way when our child does something wrong. We're supposed to give them the "talking-to" and educate them on why it's wrong, ask them all the pertinent questions to affirm their understanding, etc., etc. But sometimes, just sometimes it's so hard not to laugh at the situation. Here's what I mean...

On Saturday we continued our quest to entertain ourselves while as my husband puts it, we're "adrift in Kansas." So we headed into the big city and did a little shopping, had a pre Father's Day dinner and ended the evening at a Kohl's department store before heading home. So Daniel goes to the bathroom while I'm pushing the stroller around and trying to keep Kate from wandering off and talking some poor unsuspecting soul's ear off. We're in the girls clothes and I notice her wonder off to look at something one aisle over and turn my back for just a second. Clearly it was a second too long.

I tell her we're going across the aisle to look at baby clothes and to follow me. As I'm weaving in and out of the racks Kate is super quiet and following closely behind. I thought this was unusual but decided not to question the perfect behavior and just go with it. At one point I turn around and see her grabbing at her crotch. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" "No," she says. "Are you sure?" "Yea." So we continue on. A few minutes later I turn around again to witness the same thing. "Are you sure you don't need to go?" "No." "Did you forget to wipe? Is it itchy or something?" "'No." Now you have to remember my child is not a child of few words so again this strikes me as odd.

We walk back over to the other side and I turn around one last time and she's still got a hold of the front of her dress. "What are you doing? Why do you keep grabbing yourself?" My little cherub then proceeds to lift up her dress, pull her underwear back, and expose the source. There's a shiny blue bracelet in there. My first reaction is confusion, then shock, then that moment where you're trying so hard not to laugh because you know it would be so wrong to do so, but oh man. "I don't know how it got in there," she says.

I'll spare you the details of the conversation that followed. Daniel walked up just in time and Kate ended up being pretty embarrassed and decided she was "sleepy" when we got out to the car. In her defense she's always finding little trinkets on the floor of places and stashing them in her pockets. In the past they've always been discarded tags that have come off clothes, little perfume sample cards, or the round size thing off of hangars. I guess she figures it's trash and my child is a classic case of turning trash into her little treasures. So imagine her excitement when she saw this little bracelet, lost from her fellow bracelets and without a tag. But somewhere in there she must have know I would have made her leave it so she stashed it where the sun don't shine. Ahh parenthood!

Happy Father's Day

Happy 5th Father's Day to my husband Daniel. You're an amazing Father and Husband. We're so lucky to have you in our lives. We love you!

Enjoy this look back at some shots of Daniel with his spunky monkeys...

Happy Dad's Day to my great Dad as well. Here is the most recent picture I could find of me and my Dad together by ourselves. It's an oldy and not really a goody. We must take some more family pictures when we're together!

Summer 2003 with a big shark mouth in the background- the perfect photo spot!

Friday Five 4.0

Once again it's Friday! Time for 5 things on my mind...

1.) On a serious note... My little niece Ava is in the hospital. She's just about 5 weeks older then Aidan and stopped breathing yesterday. It terrifies me just thinking about it. She's had a rough road since she was born and will be having heart surgery sometime in August or September. Luckily they got her breathing in plenty of time and hopefully she's going to be OK. I know they'd appreciate any prayers for her and their family.

2.) Aidan had his 2 month check-up yesterday. It was so sad because my chilled out little guy cried harder then I think I've ever seen him cry. There were actual tears. :-( He also bled a ton which I wasn't expecting. The nurse said it was because he was pumping his legs around and got the blood really flowing. He was obviously hurting later in the day and he got his 1st dose of baby tylenol which seemed to drastically improve his mood.

He was doing great otherwise and performed for the doctor by cooing, smiling, and holding his head up while on his tummy. When he was born he was in the 99th percentile for weight and 92nd for height. The doctor was pleased to inform me that he was right in the same percentile for both and weighs in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces and is 25 inches long! He has a bit of a flaky head and a little rash on his neck from having too many neck folds. Poor thing! Anyway he gave us some lotion to try. A sidenote to report: Aidan has slept for at least 7 hours the last 3 nights in a row! Now if I can just convince my body that it's OK to sleep. I constantly wake up thinking any minute now...

3.) Speaking of little performers... Kate is a maniac. You can see it in the eyes in this pictures taken at our neighborhood splash park! :-) I mean it. Where does she get this? She

could NOT control herself at his visit yesterday. She started in with the nurse right away and was telling her about her baby doll which she later put under her shirt to nurse. She was showing the doctor her mosquito bite, informing them how she liked their wall decor but that the room with the Finding Nemo art was better, and expressed his disgust when the doctor was checking Aidan's bottom. The nurse had to ask her more then once to sit down after I had been on her already when she was trying to give the shots and in true Kate fashion she asked for a sucker and some stickers at the end. Since it's a pediatricians office and they want to promote being healthy she was disappointed to be informed that there were no suckers but she could have a sticker- as in just 1. She's used to going with me to the OB and getting about 10 and 2 or 3 suckers. They love her over there. No one can say she isn't a go-getter!

A side thing that just has me cracking up with her is her new obsession with hating the Jonas Brothers. She did not get this from either one of us. We've never talked about them around her.

But anyway... I get Good Housekeeping magazine which even further adds to my "old lady status and on the cover this month are the Jonas Brothers with their Mother. So she sees this a couple days ago and walks over and announces, "The Jonas Brothers creep me out!' No truer statement has ever been made. Leave it to 4 years olds to tell it like it is. So later at Walmart we see a poster and she says "Eehhh- I don't like them!" At the mere mention of their name she makes a face. So today they were performing on the Today Show and she says again that she doesn't like them. Then she decides, "I like their song, but their hair REALLY creeps me out!" So true, so true.

4.) I am officially annoyed with people coming to my door. In the wake of the big wind storm it was announced in the paper that the city would not be helping residents remove the damaged trees and debris from their yards like they did after the big ice storm. So that meant any guy with a truck was free to drive through the neighborhoods knocking on doors asking if they could haul away your tree limbs. Note to these people... No! Unless you're doing it for free then I'm not interested! If I wanted someone to come clean up my tree limbs and haul them away I'd look in the phone book and call a reputable business. Additionally I don't want you to mow my grass, I don't want to buy educational books for my children from you or set up a retirement account with whatever company you say you're with. You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to let you into my house in the middle of the day to demonstrate how your cleaning product will take that stain right up from my carpet and I'm not interested in becoming a Jehovah's Witness. Oh and note to the delivery men- unless you're requiring me to sign for the package a simple knock will suffice- you don't have to feed your inner child by ringing the doorbell and running away. It wakes the baby up and has my other one leaping for the door because she too likes to talk to strangers. By the way~ Daniel was a good husband and removed the tree limbs after them only sitting on the lawn for 1 day. I only had to strongly suggest it once.

5.) I have battled with kidney stones since I was pregnant with Kate. I don't drink enough water and I like black pepper. So I take some responsibility for this. I've had what I presume to be one moving around in there somewhere for quite a while. My back started hurting yesterday pretty bad and I've had that oh so lovely feeling like I need to pee really bad come and go over almost the last month. So since my insurance is covering everything for me for free for the rest of the year since I met my cap from the birth experience I figure why not- let's get this taken care of! You want to do lithotripsy on the really big one- why not? I know for sure I'll be having a cat scan soon. My back's also been hurting me in other ways- perhaps a freebie to the chiropractor is in store as well! So I'm waiting now for the nurse to call me back to schedule the scan and anything else the doctor wants to do. Too bad the dental work I found out on Wednesday that I have to have done in July can't be considered medical. By the way- I think dental insurance is kind of a racket. It's great and fine if you just have to have cleanings twice a year. But if you need something else done- you're gonna have to pay. Sure they'll pay some but only up to a certain amount and then you're on your own.

So now enjoy some more pictures from our evening a couple nights ago at the Splash Pad

The batteries ran out before I could get any of Aidan relaxing on a blanket.

Just a little storm

So last night we had a little excitement in our ordinarily boring lives. I think this picture gives you a pretty good idea what went bump in the night! We were pretty lucky we didn't have more come down. I had seen on the news throughout the day that storms were possible but never really pay much attention since I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas is not much different when it comes to weather. I was all set to go be a health conscious person and go to the gym after dinner when Daniel told me I might want to wait. There was apparently a line of storms to the west of us producing tornados and such and they were headed our way.

I went ahead and stuck around and he said he was going to return our movies from the night before and would be right back. So Aidan was asleep in his swing, Kate was content playing and I headed down to the basement to tackle the little boxes and to sweep the floor. For some reason when ever there's stormy weather I have this strange inclination to clean and during snowy or icy weather I want to bake. Who knows why.

Probably 10 minutes later I return upstairs and the rain and winds have started up. Then I hear that sound that you never really want to hear: sirens. Loud tornado sirens. Of course at this time the satellite has quit on us, we don't have a weather radio or anything, and Daniel is no where to be seen. "Quick go put on socks and shoes," I yell to Kate. "We have to go to the basement." By the time my little slow-poke emerged from her room and came downstairs Daniel was pulling into the drive-way. He informed us it wasn't a tornado but apparently they were expecting some pretty strong winds. Try 90 mph strong.

Anyway... We never lost power and were able to get the local radio station on who was doing mininal coverage of what was going on, but the town got a beating. Roofs were flying off, trees were up-rooted, and one poor guy had a giant tree fall on his car. Hmm sounds familiar.

An oldy but a goody

Circa December 2007- right after we moved here.

Here's his poor car... He was just a few streets over

He just might have gotten the worse deal.

So even though a large chunk of a otherwise healthy tree landed in our yard and I didn't get to work out, yesterday was a pretty good day. Here are my guys resting after an exciting evening.

It wasn't a fluke & other weekend happenings

So Friday night we tried to go to the restaurant I mentioned earlier. I wouldn't exactly call it a restaurant. Perhaps a food establishment would be more like it. Either way it was closed. Like some other "must-have" places to eat in our town it is only open for lunch. Boo. It's called Sacks Fifth Avenue. It's on 5th avenue and I believe they give you your food in sacks or something. Anyway... too creative and I'm sure Saks Fifth Avenue doesn't mind the rip-off.

So this of course left us to have the following conversation transpire. Him: "Where do you wanna go now?" Me: "I dunno this was my only thought." Him: "OK Chinese? Me: "Nooo." Him: "OK then where?" Me: "What kind of food do you want?" Him: "Chinese but Mexican would be fine. Let's go to Anchor Inn." Me: "No I don't want that." This continued on until I informed him Aidan needed to eat. So we went home, fed him, and started the whole thing over. This continued until I realized that perhaps Anchor Inn would be a good idea. Then we got there and realized it was way too crowded and had the conversation once again, then opted for one of the other 4 mexican places we have in town. (We can't have a Greek or Indian restaurant but we got Mexican food covered!) It turned out to be pretty tasty and Kate actually ate some chicken that was spicy and didn't freak out on us. Surprise!

So then we headed over to the newest hotspot for a Friday night or any night of the week for that matter judging by the parking lot: Petco! Seriously the place was crazy. There were dogs everywhere barking and pulling on their leashes. One lady brought her, I'm sure terrified cat on a leash and had him riding in the kid part of her shopping basket. This made me wonder if I could persuade any of our cats to agree to that. I think not! Next was our exciting mall and home.

Saturday we headed to the big city and I found a dress for my friend Erin's wedding that's in a little less than 2 weeks and it was on sale! So bonus for my husband! I still need some new black shoes. I refuse to wear a nice dress with my black heels that have little teeth marks on them from a certain little someone who no longer lives with us. It might not be that obvious but it's not happening. We also faced possible injury or involvement in some sort of crime and headed to TJ Maxx in the part of town I don't like to frequent after dark. Daniel hated every minute and after a trip to the "nicer" mall we decided it was all worth a visit to our favorite restaurant Bella Luna. Yum Yum!

Sunday brought church where Aidan continued his quest to poop at all religious events and this time it came out the top of the diaper and onto the blanket my husband had smartly wrapped around him. Fortunately this happened right at the end and we whisked him home to deal with the mess and discovered poop up to his neck. UN-believable! We've decided it's because our almost 8 week old is ready to be in size 2 diapers. So that meant an equally fun trip to Walmart to trade in our last remaining size 1's. The lady asked why we were returning them. To me this seems fairly obvious. I mean we had 3 packs, all the same size but different brands- so I'd guess brand wasn't the issue and I'd go with size. Daniel informed her he'd grown faster then we thought. I thought he should have gone with something more fun like we think diapers are over-rated or something more smart-aleck.

We closed the weekend with a tasty chicken noodle casserole I made for the 1st time and some homemade rice crispy treats which seem to be disappearing quickly. Hmmm. We had some free movie rentals and saw "He's just not that into you." It was pretty good and fairly amusing as it's pretty on target with how men and women can be.

Then the best thing happened! Our little man proved it wasn't a 1 time occurrence only to be seen again when he's 2. He slept a 6 hour 20 minute stretch! Yea! I woke up to it starting to get light outside at around 5:45 feeling very refreshed and very surprised that I didn't have my usual 3 a.m. TV time.

Please enjoy these attempts at being artistic

Now feast your eyes on these attempts to get a smile in bad lighting

Friday Five 3.0

It's time again for the Friday Five. Here are Five random things on my mind...

1.) We've been busy, busy! Yesterday Kate went to Wishy Washy Day class and came home with paint on her sleeve and a smile on her face. I'm not entirely sure what they did in there but she seemed to really enjoy it. I however wasn't as fond of its 8:30 a.m. start time since the previous 2 days were spent re-connecting with my night owl roots. I better gear up though since next week she has a class Monday through Thursday that starts at 8:30. Fun! Next up was the My First Fish class. She didn't catch any fish but did enjoy playing with the worms and chasing around one of the boys from her Pre-K class. The teacher also informed me when I came down to the pond for the last part of the class to watch that I might want to check her pockets. She had been collecting things. Her pockets were full of rocks and a plastic worm that she was taunting her classmate with when I walked up. When he stole it as any normal kid would want to do she cried. Lovely. I think she had fun but when you're 4 watching a bob in the water doesn't always equal a good time. She does want to go back- maybe one day she'll get a fish. Then finally, last night we went to the library to read to Rover. It's a program where they bring in dogs that are mainly therapy dogs and let the kids interact with them and practice reading to them. She made up stories and re-told "If you give a mouse a cookie" to the twin Bichon Frise dogs. This experience only further solidified why we no longer have a dog. Sorry it's true- a dog lover I am not. I mean they're OK as long as they're someone else's and I'm not into the little dogs as we discovered first hand with our little Zoe.

2.) Kate will talk your ear off if given the chance. For those of you that knew me as a child you know that I was pretty shy and quiet. Never would I have initiated a conversation with an adult. Not true for our little doll. She was telling the woman with the dogs last night who knows what and was telling the nurse at my Dr.'s appointment today all sorts of things about the array of toys she had brought in. Then my Dr. came in and I realized that perhaps it was little characters like Kate that are to blame for my other Dr.- the infamous Dr. D, being behind schedule. She was informing them of her lack of desire to change smelly, poopy diapers and why her dancing ballerina dolls were so great. Then as we're leaving she stops at the nurse's station where there are at least 5 nurses and my Dr. and walks right up to the Dr. and says, "Can I please have some candy." The first time she came she got some offered to her- now she never forgets. As we were leaving she said, "See, if you want some candy you have to ask for it." So true, so true.

3.) I am pleased to announce that on Wednesday night our little monkey slept through the night! I put him down awake which never would have worked with Kate and he went to sleep all on his own and over 6 hours later woke back up. It was very exciting! Of course last night he slept 3 hours, went back to sleep, and slept 3 more hours. But that's fine- it's a start. In these wee hours of the night I've discovered that a little TV helps to keep me from falling asleep holding him on a pillow and him ending up tangled up in the sheets which has happened. My new favorite show that is great for keeping me thoroughly entertained at 3:00 a.m.: Discovery Health's "I didn't know I was pregnant." If you haven't seen it you must seek it out and watch. It features women who really had no clue they were having a baby until they went into labor. You'll sit there in shock and amazement- especially if you've ever been pregnant. Incidentally, if you've ever not known you were pregnant until the baby was crowning then they're accepting new stories for new episodes. You too can have someone much more attractive then yourself play you, have your 5 pound baby come out looking like a 3 month old, and generally look like an idiot on TV. Enjoy!

4.) Also on my list of shows I'm enjoying late in the night thanks to the amazing invention of the DVR: Pitchmen, Say yes to the dress, The Next Food Network Star, and of course All my Children. By the way if you watch TV at all and don't have a DVR you must have one. I'm talking to you Mom and Dad! You might think you don't need one or wouldn't use it. That's what we said. I say: new house, new TV, new gadget. It works!

5.) My muscles are still sore but thanks to taking 2 days off from the gym I might survive. I'm hoping to at least get some cardio in tonight and save doing more weights for this weekend or Monday. I'm also hoping since it's Friday we can go out to eat since I'm out of food and have already determined that shopping on a Friday afternoon at Walmart with 2 kids is never going to happen. Too bad I live in a crap town that doesn't have a large variety of places to eat at. But we did get the news that a little restaurant we've driven by and ignored the last year and a half is actually really good. We may be brave and give it a try. Also the new Petco is open! It's exciting news around here trust me! I think my Friday night is all planned out.

And just because I have to post a couple pics for your viewing pleasure...

Courtesy of my Sister-in-law

Proof that we did attend the Thomas the Train show

The cousins in their matching dresses

I'm Baaack!

It feels like forever since I've been on here. It's kind of like being re-united with an old friend...

Here's a re-cap of my week of absence in no particular order with a bonus section of "Things on my Mind."

• We survived our trip to Oklahoma and back. Me and the kids were gone for 9 days and although it was great to see family and all that I was happy to be back home. I kind of feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. I've spent the last 2 days more or less recovering by spending time catching up on my soap and sorting all our laundry into piles. There's also been some extra sleeping and time entertaining my little monkey into giving me a smile.

• That's right- he's really smiling. We still don't have a great picture of it yet but you can see his famous smirk below in the picture show.

• While away I amazed my parents with my extensive knowledge of the mortgage industry and after much deliberation they have bought a new house. The house I grew up in and the place they've called home for 26 years will soon belong to someone else. I'm not overly sentimental so I think it's great! They deserve it!

• I did end up getting to enjoy some yummy Chickfila but no Waffle House. Oh well no big deal. I highly recommend their chicken minis for breakfast. So good!

• Aidan apparently gets out of sorts on his 1st night in a new place. At both houses the first night was awful. He made up for it at the in-laws on the 2nd night by sleeping 5 hours 45 minutes! So close to the 6 hour "sleeping through the night" phenomenon.

• Kate and I went with my Mother in law, Sister in law and my niece to see Thomas the Train on stage. Cute show that was about 15 minutes too long but Kate loved it. Of course despite my best plans to be the organized, prepared Mother I forgot my camera. We didn't even end up with a souvenir to prove we went. I just couldn't justify spending $20.00 on a conductor's hat. Even better was the light up spinny toy thing for 15. Who are they kidding?

• We also went to the Tulsa Zoo. The 85 degree weather felt hotter and the zoo has seen better days. We got some cute pictures though and all in all it wasn't a bad way to spend an afternoon. Aidan thoroughly enjoyed it of course. So much so that he rewarded me with a mega poop somewhere between the lions and the fish building. After "careful" consideration and inspection of the lovely restrooms we decided he'd be less likely to catch something changing him on a park bench. Also notable: my amusing husband horrified bystanders not once but twice by informing Kate that if she touched the poison dart frog it would kill her and later that that if she were to get in the cage with the jaguar it would eat her. Nice.

• On our last day we enjoyed a tasty lunch at Bone Fish Grill. I highly recommend the bang bang shrimp.

• Kate started her first of several little art/play classes this summer. She has them scattered on various days over the next 2 months. For my Dad class was a success. We doubled up tomorrow and she's off to Wishy Washy class in the a.m. and a fishing class in the afternoon.

Now for some random "Things on my Mind."...

• I have what I have determined to be a very large child. At just a little over 6 weeks he weighed in at 12 pounds 13 ounces. Perhaps that isn't all that big but it seems that way to me.

• Daniel installed some new version of Safari on the computer. In true "old-lady" fashion I don't think I like all the new bells and whistles.

• I'm not overly pleased with the weather. The temperature is in the low 70's here which is fine but it's cloudy and rainy. It just doesn't feel like summer yet.

• My child continues to amaze me in her ability to make friends in 5 seconds flat and that she talks to adults at the library. I don't think you could have given me anything at her age to be that personable and outgoing.

• I'm already stressing about Kate's 5th birthday that isn't until August. Where will it be? Who will come? Do we try to find addresses of kids from her Pre-K class and have a kids party? What weekend will work best? What theme is it going to be? Ahhh!

• I'm officially back to my gym-obsessed self. Monday I cleared myself to work out even though I don't get cleared by my Dr. until Friday. My legs are not happy with the squats and multi-position trainer routine I put them through on Monday. Not even just walking on the treadmill yesterday made them happy. I may have to suck it up today and take the day off. My arms are not as displeased. Must be all that lifting of my mega baby.

• $1.75 per page to fax something long distance is a rip-off. Thanks Office Max

And now enjoy this slide show of pictures from our week away from home.

Smilin' in Shawnee

I feel like I've been a blogging slacker so I'll try and catch up today... 

We made it to visit my side of the family and I'm still here with the kids (again that seems so strange to say kids) and Daniel went back to work.  Our little monkey made his first 4 hour car trip with no problems and slept the whole way.  I did wake him up half way to feed him because I was worried he might be hungry.  But if you've held him you'd probably disagree.  His first 2 nights were not the best. I'm going to hope it's because he was just out of sorts from not being in his normal routine.  But he rewarded me last night with a 5 hour stretch before waking up. He's fighting sleep right now in his swing which seems to be another thing he's become fond of doing.  

We've spent the last couple days lounging around not doing much which is not always a bad thing.  I got to eat at 1 of the 3 places I HAVE to have while in Oklahoma: Cheesecake Factory. Next up Chickfila and if possible Waffle House.  The Waffle House is always a little trickier. Although I love their waffles I feel like you've stepped into an alternate world when you go into one of them.  They have this weird way of shouting out your order and everyone must be referred to as sugar, doll, or honey.  Plus it seems like the perfect place for someone to try and eat my baby or at the very least try and touch his face.  So we'll see.

On the agenda for today: something fun for Kate and my hair appointment.  I haven't lived here in almost 10 years and haven't lived in the state for 1 1/2 but I still have the same person do my hair if possible.  I'm just not ready to commit to someone new.  So I figure if I'm here why not go in for a little cut and color.  

We'll be off to Tulsa on Thursday and will be rejoined by Daniel.  But most exciting is that our little guy smiled at ME.  Before he merely smirked at things almost acknowledging that they might be slightly amusing but in no way warranted a full blown smile.  On his list of favorite things to smirk at were the ceiling fan, lights, paintings, and sometimes just the air.  But last night and several times this morning during his happy morning time he full out smiled right at me!  HA!  Of course I couldn't get a great picture but I'll keep trying.  

Ready for the field.

Our little baseball player.

Not the best picture but a smile- I'll keep trying