Alex Update

It's been a while since I talked about little Alex.  He is great by the way.  Check out my favorite picture of us:

Seriously, could he be any cuter? 
He is going on 8 months old (January 6th).  He is a strong sitter now and so close to crawling.  He rocks back and forth all the time on his hands and knees.

(Uggh!  I can't get any more photos to upload - instead of stopping I will just blog with no pictures, sorry, but it is the only way to stay current)

I really think he is going to be fast as soon as he figures out how to lift his knee.  Mason tries to help him by moving one limb at a time.  He can get pretty far by rolling and sitting up and purposely falling on one side or the other. 

He is starting to show a few signs of separation anxiety.  He will cry when I walk away from him.  It is not all the time, but if he is tired, he wants his momma around.  He also has started screaming at the top of his lungs.  He does it just to hear himself I think.  Mason did the same thing too.  It is SOOO LOUD, and the bad part is that Mason laughs, and so Alex learned that it is funny to scream like that.  Umm, blog readers, how come nobody picked up on the fact that I wanted (needed) sound canceling head phones for Christmas?  I was not joking.  I cannot stand the noise.  I guess I will just have to use some of Steve's earplugs.

He has been pretty healthy all month (last time I talked about him, he was still on his breathing treatment).  All that wheezing finally cleared up.  I hope he stays well through the winter.  By next winter he will be so much bigger that I won't be so worried.

He eats really well.  So far he hasn't turned down any food that I give him.  He started this weird pig snorting though when I feed him.  I think he is happy, but it is hard to tell.  I will try to get it on video.

His Christmas was good too, but unfortunately he was mainly on the side-lines to Mason.  I can see how the order of your children starts to mold their personality.  No matter how much you think you will treat them the same, the older kid is just going to get more attention.  I am so curious as to the things he is going to be interested in.  Will he be outgoing, like Mason, or shy, like mom?  Will he be into all teh same toys Mason is or will he be different?

That is all I can think of for now.  If someone is curious about something, send me a comment.       

Update to Alex Update: He have a crawler!  His feet get bound up sometimes and he sits up to straighten them, then falls back forward for a couple inches, feet get tangled, sit up, straighten them, falls forward, tangled, sit up, straighten, fall...I am sure he will get them straightened out soon enough, but he is moving!  Now I will see what he gets into and see what I need to baby-proof. 

Christmas 2010

What it is my lunch hour and I am not doing some on-line shopping?  Oh, Christmas must be over!  I love Christmas, and this year was the least-hectic one I can remember, but it is still Christmas, and there always seems to be just one more thing to do.  But not anymore, now I can blog!  Oh yeah, thank you notes.  Well, be patient, I will get to them soon enough.

I went to Costco yesterday and it was the slowest I had ever seen it.  and they had tons of prime rib and rack of lamb, and rib roast that were all still $90 + and I shake my head why Costco never has sales.  I am not sure why I said all that, but oh well, it's my blog.

Anyway, I will document backward through December and see how far I get.  I am at work so I don't have convinient acess to any of my pictures.  I did get them all posted at my smugmug site, so you will have to just go there to see them (and there are lots of movies for Grandma Chris!).  http://www.jlbphotos.smugmug.com/  

Christmas was great.  Mason awoke to find Santa had dropped lots of candy canes out of his sack, all the way down the stairs and to the tree.  The only thing he consistently asked for was candy canes and the Thomas Holiday movie.  Santa delivered!  He loved all of his things, but he is so funny about the smallest little things.  If he only got a stocking, I think he would be just fine.  The tiny play doh and candy canes and puzzles made his head just spin before we even opened one present.  The other thinsg he got were, a big firetruck, lots of clothes (his face was priceless when he opened the clothes - if we caught it on video it would be a $10,000 video for sure), a(nother) train set, Thomas movie, and Toy Story 3 movie (and how lucky am I, Toy Story 1 and 2 were on last night, so we can have a movie marathon), an alarm clock (so he stops coming in my room at 4 AM!  It turns yellow when it is "ok to wake"), lots of books (15 in total!), hotwheels, collector coins, and a toolbench.  I think that was all.  I am probably missing a couple small things, but you get the gist of it.  Alex was too young to know what was really going on be he got some things too.

I want to say a little story about the train set.  I told everybody not to get him anymore Thomas things.  Santa didn't hear the message though.  He got the movie and a little train set.  I thought he was kinda done playing with trains, but that is the only thing he played with for the rest of the day.  Alex was in on the action too.  He has just started wiggling around to where he wants to go - not quite crawling, but somehow getting places.  He kept taking Mason's tracks and trains and this was the first time I had seen Mason get mad at Alex.  He is usually the most loving little boy I have ever seen, but not when the "baby" got near his trains.  I think his exact words, repeated over and over all morning long, were, "Ugh -Baby!..."I did catch this on video, so you will have to watch it.  Poor little brother.  We have a long way to go on the sharing front.

Anyway, the rest of December was all in anticipation of this one day.  Mason can grasp time a little better now, so we didn't have the constant "Is today Christmas" battles that we had last year.  Quite a few times over the past couple weeks he would ask me, "Can I just sit in front of the tree and look at the lights?" Of course!  And never stop being so precious please!

Ok, I didn't get very far before I have to get back to work pretty soon.  I will do another post on Alex soon.  He is getting so adorable - and I think he found his voice!

Oh, I have to say one more thing...We had our first trip to the ER.  Poor Mason was rough-housing with Dad - IN THE BEDROOM - which is one of my few rules; you can only fight on the carpet (meaning the carpet in the family roon where there is the least amount of dangerous obstructions).  If I had a nickel for everytime I said "get on the carpet" I could retire right now.  Anyway, basically Mason rammed his head into the very sharp edge of the armoire and split his head open.  It was so sad.  Luckily both of us are pretty calm people and we handled it pretty well.  Sorry for the lack of deatils, but I really have to go now.

BYE!

Morning with Mason

So much has been going on, but I don't have time to go through all the details.  I just wanted to share this sweet story.

I love Mason the most in the mornings.  I always say that if anyone is debating wheter to have a child or not, they just have to spend one morning in my home to convince them that there is nothing better than a sweet child. 

He comes in to the bathroom, where I was getting ready and Alex was playing on the floor.  The first thing out of his mounth was, "Oh, good morning baby, I missed you!"  Then he said good morning to me, and I asked him if he slept good.  He replies (and always says the same thing), "I slept good, I dream about [chocolate milk]."  Insert whichever thing Mason is obsessing about...[candy canes] [cereal] [yogurt] [blue blanket] [christmas trees].  It is so sweet to see what Mason loves.

I really wish I could record his voice because that is what really makes it awesome.  I never want to miss even one morning with my boy.

Ornaments don't bounce

We got our Christmas tree today.

We discovered that "ornaments don't bounce."

the first casualty of the season

We bought a new camera (Mom's making out this year - it helps when you just go ahead and buy for yourself).  Actually the camera broke when we went ice skating last week, but I thought I fixed it Saturday, and I was kinda bummed that I wouldn't be able to buy a new one; then, I went to take pictures of getting the tree this morning and it broke again.  Weird.  So off to Costco...

It has smile recognition.  That is so cool!

My boys!

So maybe my pictures will start improving and you will get to see just how blue Alex's eyes are, instead of all the red-eye fixes.

I still need to work on the settings a little, but I will get to it, after all the other things I have to "get to."  Can we please pause life for a few...

busy busy busy

So it is that time of year, where everyone is busy busy busy.  I haven't stopped moving from 6:00 in the morning (that is sleeping in for me!) and I forced myself to stop and write just a little.  

Bountiful baskets

making baby food

changing sheets

doing laundry

feeding kids

That's it, but that's a lot in my book.  Yesterday was packed with chores and some good Christmas stuff too.  Tomorrow we will get our tree and maybe see Santa.

Tonight the boys are sleeping at the cousins so that Steve and I can go to a little Christmas get-together.  YEAH!  It has been so long since we have gone out.  This will be the first night of my mom-life that I will not have to wake up to an alarm or a baby.  Wow!  Almost 4 years.  I am sure I will still be up at 6 am, but I AM NOT GETTING OUT OF BED!!!  It is going to be marvelous.  

Well that is all the sitting I get to do.  Alex just woke up.  Still lots of cleaning to do.  

Oh I want to post a picture of last weekend's ice skating (Alex can wait a minute).  It was a lot of fun!  

They had these walkers for the kids.  So awesome!

Mason said "weeeeeee" the whole time.

He has asked to go back every day this week.  We may be making this a weekly outing.  It is good exercise for me and he loves it!  

My camera broke while we were there, but at least I could get these pictures off the camera.  Guess what I am getting from Santa - but there is no way I can wait until the 25th to use it.  I am getting one tonight from Costco so I can take pictures of the tree going up tomorrow.  See you tomorrow!

Mason's Letter to Santa

We are having a good day today.  We are sending out Christmas cards, getting the apple butter ready to ship (one more batch to make tonight!), and later we are going to have an early Christmas with my mom (who will be in Hawaii on Christmas).

I thought it would be a good time for Mason to write his Letter to Santa.  I prompted, and Steve typed it out word for word:

Me: You start your letter by saying why you have been a good boy this year.
Mason: I played with my friends and say hi to Arianna.  And I am her best friend.  And say hi to Addison and be good and maybe you pick me up.  And that's all the words I'm gonna say to Santa.
Me: Ok, then what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas.
Mason: Thomas Holiday Movie.  Candy Canes.  And maybe a Christmas Tree and maybe some presents and I's wants um um more maybe um uh a new new new new car seat.  Yeah Yeah.  A new car seat for Abby and Owen and that's all.


Ok, some explanation.  Mason doesn't like Arianna (girl from daycare), so we go over this almost every day.  I say you don't have to be her best friend, but you have to say hi to her.  He hates to do this, but he does it because he is being a "nice boy."  That is probably another post: Should I make him be friends with everyone?  He likes everyone else at daycare, but he just doesn't like Arianna.  I have no idea why.

Car seats: I think he is just saying that he wants Abby and Owen to drive in the car with them and he wants them to have car seats like he does.  They just drove with us yesterday, so it was on his mind.

It is nice that he doesn't want so many toys yet.  This is going to be a fun Christmas!

Pretending

Mason is fully in the pretending stage now.  He is always "getting things packed up" to go on trips.  When I ask him where he is going, it is usually "breakfast" or "lunch" instead of an actual place.  We go out to eat very rarely and when we do it is a big deal.  I think he remembers every single restaurant we have ever been in (but again, that is not very many).

Right now he is playing airplane/boat/car.  He is sitting on a towel which is the airplane, but everything is "packed up" in the boat (Alex's rubber ducky bathtub) and he is driving the car.  When I walked by he screamed for me to get out of the street, and then when I tried to talk to him, he said he couldn't hear me because he was in the car.

With the cousins last night they mostly played zombies.  There was lots of bombs going off and shooting bad guys.  I guess this is pretty common for boys.  At least boys that are Steve's off-spring.  I think I need to invest in some noise-canceling head phones, because this kind of play really annoys me.  I am going to need them by the time Alex joins in the chaos.

He often acts out the Thomas the Train episodes with his trains.  I don't know if that is pretending, but it gets pretty elaborate.  By the way, I checked on the number of Thomas engines there were, and there are officially 84 engines!  EIGHTY-FOUR!!!  That is ridiculous.  That doesn't count all the extra trucks and stuff that goes with the engines.  He probably has about twenty, I should count those next.

Another of Mason's constant expressions is always needing to know where he is going when he wakes up. He asks, "Where am I going when I wake up?" I answer with whatever it is, and then he points up in the air with one finger and asks, "this morning?" (checking to make sure that we are indeed going to that place tomorrow).  I say yes, and he gets happy.  Always the same.  And always happy even if the answer is nothing except to clean the house.

He also asks about "when you were this big" all the time.  Whatever he is doing anything, he asks if I did that "when I was this big" or "when I was a little girl." I don't really know why he does this, maybe it makes him feel normal if it was something that I did too.  It is just simple stuff, like coloring: "Momma, you like to color when you was this big?"  I say yes, and he just goes on with coloring with no response.  It is almost like his validation that he can continue doing whatever it is he was doing.  

He is also very aware of the things that he has, when he got them, and who gave it to him.  Absolutely everything he owns goes this way: [Thomas book] "Sherry got me this book for me for Christmas from the store." (lots of things are just from "the store") Or it is in question form: Mason: "Who got me this book?" Me: "Abby and Owen" Mason: "Why did they get it for me?" Me: "Because it was your birthday." Mason: "Where did they get it?" Me: "the store." Mason: "Why?" Me: "Because they thought you would like it." Mason: (smiling, because I played along again...) "Oh."  Always the same.  And he already knows all the answers, he just wants to hear them again.  I don't know if other kids are like that, but he sure is.

On the Alex front, he is still not completely cleared up from his chest congestion.  I don't really know what else to do, but I will probably take him back to the doctor soon.  He is still acting perfectly fine and happy.  He is starting to get up on his knees for crawling and just rocking back and forth.  If I remember correctly, that means crawling is a couple of weeks away.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my wonderful two healthy boys.  While we all have the sniffles and such, we have never had any major illnesses and I am so grateful for that.  I really don't know how I got so lucky (I think I have said that a lot on this blog) to have such great children.  They really are exceptional.  Do you know the best thing about having a three and a half year old and a six month old?  The three and a half year old does not get annoyed with all the repetitive games that baby likes to do.  Like throw his spoon off the high chair over and over again.  It just makes Mason laugh and laugh and he very obediently retrieves the object over and over again.

I am thankful that I have family to spend thanksgiving with (and it's only one family).  I am determined to play games this afternoon with my sisters (whether they like it or not!!!).  The cousins play so well together and it should be a great day filled with lots of food and fun.

I am thankful that I am married to such a hard working man.  He has such a strong work ethic and is the most self-motivated person I know.  It is really impressive and I am super proud of him right now.  Even though he is working today...poo.

I am thankful for my job.  I know many engineers that are not working right now, and I realize how lucky I am to have a great career.  I really like my job and the people I work with.  I love that I work on projects and get things started and finished (I don't know if that makes sense, but it does to me, and it's my blog).  It gives me a great level of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.

I am thankful for my daycare.  I almost can't put into words how much Laurence means to me.  She really loves my kids and takes such great care of them when we are working.  They learn so much there, and I am am actually getting teary-eyed thinking that Mason will leave there when he is four.  So sad.  But at least we have many more years with Alex. I also have to say how thankful I am that I can still drop my kids off there on Fridays when I am not working.  I couple hours of me time is just what I need every week.

And now for some more simple things.  I am thankful for:
my bathtub
my ipad!
not having to cook today
my hearing, so I can hear the best sound in the world (my boys laughing)
my van with two sliding doors
hot chai tea
pumpkin pie

So off to try to bake my first pumpkin pie (I don't count that as cooking).  I hope it turns out well!

Baby Hookah

Alex is loving his breathing treatments.  I am starting to wonder what drug is in this nebulizer...

Really, he just sits there so calmly and will even pull the mask back to his face if you take it away.  Steve has done this plenty of times at 80 mph in the back of the ambulance and he said that he has never seen any baby as calm as Alex.

And this picture is for Grandma and Grandpa in Hawaii.  I think he looks just like Grandpa Forrest in his sweats!

And this is to prove Mason is never far away when you pull out the camera:

Doctor

Alex has been slightly sick for the last three weeks, and i just assumed that he was not sick enough to go to the doctor, but we finally went today for his six month check up, and now I feel terrible that we didn't go sooner. He order him a nebulizer and everything. He said it is really important because the oxygen is limited to his brain when he is congested like that. He went from 75 percentile in weight to 45 percentile, and he said it might be because he isn't getting enough oxygen. The mom guilt is hitting me big time!

Anyway, he is 18 pounds and 28 inches for those of you that like stats.

He still doesn't seem that sick to me, but hopefully the breathing treatments will help him and he will start improving soon. We love our doctor (Dr. Reyes at Southwest Medical Associates).  He spends so much time in the room and plays with the baby before touching him.  He explains everything and gives us lots of time to discuss things.  Steve loves this because he asks him all sorts of drug questions and stuff.

As far as his daily updates: He has flipped out of his green rainforest chair and the bumbo chair already.

bad picture, but this is a bumbo chair. And remind me to do another post of Steve and Wendy's statue in the background.

 I hope this doesn't mean he is going to be accident prone or overly active. I did not actually see either of these acrobatic maneuvers, and we are super lucky he didn't actually fall off the table that the bumbo was sitting on. It is time to get a highchair with a five point harness to strap this kid into! He always sits with his long arms straight out to his sides and he rolls his wrists. The more excited he is, the faster his wrists go. He is eating sweet potatoes this week. I can't wait to get my bountiful basket to get more veggies to purée for him.

As for Mason: We decided to put mason into pre-pre-kindergarden when he is four.  There are so many things that he is waiting for when he is four.  I have told him he can play tee-ball and tennis when he is four.  He can go to disneyland when he is four.  Now he has school to look forward to.  He is starting to manipulate us with him saying, "I love you."  First off, it works.  Whenever he doesn't want to eat any more dinner, play with the ipad, wanting to get out of a wrestling move, he just declares, "But I love you..."  It is sweet, but I am on to him, and see his patterns.  Usually when the words are preceded by the word but, I pretty much know he is just saying it to get something he wants.  Man I love that kid!

A Day Out With Thomas

So the Thomas obsession began about two years ago with a Halloween costume.  I had a cute bear costume or something that went over his head and he absolutely refused to have anything on his head.  So I went out the day before Halloween and came back with a Thomas costume only because it was the only thing I could find that didn't involve a hood.  That was the start of the love for all things Thomas.

I love Thomas too, and definitely encouraged it.  They are simple toys (except that is getting a little out of hand, as there are about 40 or so different engines to buy and he wants all of them.  I think we stopped at 15 engines - a little crazy).  The cartoons are basic and slow and have good messages.  The whole thing is  age appropriate and I think it is a pretty good thing to be obsessed with.

I think this about sums it up. Thomas trains, track, flashlight, book, bed, pillow....

We saw Thomas Live on stage when he was just shy of two and I had never seen a more excited kid in my life.  He was literally shaking with excitement and totally crashed right before intermission.  If this ever comes back to Las Vegas, we will go back and see the whole thing.

Every birthday has been Thomas themed.  Ever pair of pajamas - Thomas.  Every holiday - Thomas paraphernalia.  I think you get the idea.

My favorite picture!

2nd Birthday

Easter basket

His first train set

This was kinda fun going through my pictures.
I can't stop myself:

Legoland!

Are these not the cutest pajamas?  Yes he is playing swords with a sucker in his mouth.  It's Christmas - anything goes!

I obsessed over this cake for a month. It turned out ok, and Mason was the happiest three year old ever!

Ok, that's enough.

So for the past two years we have been trying to go to A Day Out With Thomas.  This is an actual train ride with Thomas passenger cars.  The website and pictures looked so great, but there just wasn't anything that worked with our schedule until now.  This weekend we traveled to Perris, Ca to spend A Day Out With Thomas.

It was packed.  Busier than I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams.  Our ride was at 1:00 pm, and they said arrive one hour early, but I thought that was a little extreme since I would only have to entertain a overly-excited three and a half year old and a hungry six month old for an hour before we got to ride on Thomas.  We pulled into the parking lot with open mouths at 12:15.  We got parked at 12:30 - that should tell you how busy it was.  We rushed through the parking lot and ticketing (thank goodness I had my tickets mailed to me) and just made it for boarding the train.  This part was all anti-climatic, because you couldn't actually see Thomas while you were on the passenger cars.  Mason humored me, Alex cried from all the noise, and Steve just kept giving me "the look." You know the look.

We didn't stay for all the extra stuff they had - storytime, tattoos, Imagination Station, etc.  We had a baby that needed to eat and be changed, and we all pretty much hate crowds.  The walk back to the car was the best part:

Honestly his fondness for Thomas is waning just a little, and I think he humored me more than anything. He knew I wanted him to be excited and with all the build up I had given this event, I think he was just pretending to be excited.  This kid is a little too smart for us.  Oh well.  If we could have made this trip about 6 months ago, I think it would have been much better.  Mom was busy having a baby then though...

He did it!

November 9, 2010 was the best day of Steve's life. I know it is supposed to be witnessing the birth of his sons or something, but no, for Steve, it was yesterday. This was the day he finally made it. He is actually going to get paid to do what he loves to do. I am not going to elaborate for all the world wide web to see, but if you know him well enough to know what i am talking about, give him a call and congratulate him.

Truly amazing. I can't sleep because i am just so excited for him. He has worked literally all of his adult life in some capacity to bring him to this day, and it finally did work out. All of those cliches, about doing what you love and you will never work another day in your life; i believe they finally came true for him. I always knew they would. I am so proud right now.

I told him we have to celebrate somehow; this is unbelievable. He said, yeah, let's get a pizza! Gotta love him.

Look who is 6 months old!

I can't believe it, but it has been an entire six months since Alex was born.  He is adorable.  He is normally so quiet and observant, but lately he has found his voice.  I think it has something to do with his teething; lots of moaning and groaning is now coming from that sweet boy.  I think he is going to be a patient boy.  He can always wait just a couple more minutes for anything.  I don't think I have ever seen him have a melt down because of not eating or something.  He can hang out in the front carrier for hours without a peep coming from him.

At six months, he is rolling pretty proficiently, but sometimes still gets one arm stuck underneath him.  He reaches and grabs and becoming much more coordinated at getting what he wants where he wants it - in his mouth.  He is not yet sitting up, unfortunately.  I can't wait for this.  I guess in a few more weeks or so he should be getting there.

He is a good eater.  We have had rice, oatmeal, green beans, and peas so far.  I am excited to try some of the baby food I made him.  I am still trying to find some good freezer storage system that holds 2-4 ounces of food.  Thanks to our Bountiful Baskets I don't think I will be buying much baby food.  He still takes about 4-5 bottles per day too.

He laughs and laughs at Mason.  Right now the best thing Mason can do is make a farting noise.  That cracks Alex up every time.  It is starting already...

He sleeps really well.  He goes about 10 hours every night (except last night we had an unusual 3 am feeding - again, I think it is his teeth, and that he needs more solid food).  He naps pretty good too, but he needs to be in his crib to sleep.

What else is there to say about the sweet pea?  We love having him in our family.

Random Mason Story (RMS)

I meant to update on all the October events we did, but I think that is the downfall of a lot of blogs - always being behind....So, today, here is another installation of RMS.

Mason and I took a walk to Einstein's (Yellow Starbucks) by ourselves.  It was nice to talk to him one-on-one.  Once we got in the very busy Einstein's and ordered my usual Spinach and Bacon Panini, large ice tea, and a Cinnamon Twist (for Mason) - at least we walked there, right! - Mason declared, "I have a light in my brain!" This slightly panicked me, as my "brain" went directly to the worst - he must be having a seizure or something.  I knelt down and asked him, "what do you mean you have a light in your brain?" he said, "it's e-c-city." Me: "It's like a city?" Mason: "Noooooo, it's E-lick-city" Me: "huh" (repeat about 3 more times - remember it's super busy and we are right in the middle of everything), finally, I got it "Oh, electricity!"  Mason: "Yeah, I have an idea!"  Apparently, a light bulb went off in Mason's head.  You know, I never found out what the idea was, I was just laughing and shaking my head, thinking about how his brain works.

His new word is "brain."  Steve always says, "Use your brain" and Mason has picked up on it and always states proudly, "I am using my brain" when he follows our instructions.  Or, "I'm not using my brain?" (yes that is a question when it comes from a three year old) when he gets in trouble.  This kinda sounds mean when I write it out, but we are just trying to get him to think before doing things, i.e., not be a three and a half year old.  Maybe we are kinda mean...

The other brain phrase comes every time I get him dressed or undressed.  See Mason's head is about two sizes too BIG, and every time I pull a shirt off or struggle to squeeze it over that noggin, I say "Why is your head so big?  He always replies, "Because I have such a big brain!"  

Halloween post

It's been awhile, and I still don't have much time (exactly 12 minutes before picking up the kiddos), but I thought I would throw out a quick Halloween post.  Luckily it is election day and I work at a great company that allows two hours off for voting.  So I cancelled out Steve's vote in 30 minutes, which gave me time to rush home and look on the internet for a bit before I have to get the kids.  Bring on the judgements!

Halloween was Sunday which meant a whole lotta time to do Halloweenish stuff.  Just a little too much time in my book.  By Sunday at 5 pm I was all Halloweened out and finally realized why my mom hated Halloween.  Mason redeemed it for me with his cuteness!  Once he was all outfitted up and knocked on that first door I had the biggest smile on my face.  His voice can totally change my mood in an instant.  There is just something about it, and I need to get more on video.

He was soooo polite and thanked everyone and said Happy Halloween so happily that I was beaming with pride.  At one point I was right behind him and after he got his candy, he turned with an outstretched Vanna White hand and said, "Look at my cute brother!"  It was priceless.  This kid has got to go into sales.   (kinda like his dad in that sense).

I don't have lots of time for the photo uploads, so check them all out at www.jlbphotos.smugmug.com.  But here is the best one:

Oops, don't know how to turn it right now, but can someone please tell me why all Halloween costumes are made for midgits.  Or maybe my kids are just too tall!

A full October post will come shortly!

Pinewood Derby

I feel like we have reached a milestone in parenting - participating in a pinewood derby!  This is not something you do with a toddler - this is a full grown kid activity.  Yeah!  We are officially parents of a kid.

The event was at my employee day at the Springs.  Steve went all out and let's just say an entire machine shop was involved.  I felt horrible submitting this car in the 0 to 8 age group, but Steve assured me every car in that age group was undoubtedly made by a parent.  (it turns out, he was mostly right and the winner of the entire day came from the 0-8 age group).

BTW, Mason cannot pose for a picture any longer.  He always makes a stupid face - just like his father!

The race was a lot of fun.  There were about 16 cars in our age group and he won the first and second heats.  He ended up in 4th place, and then upgraded to third since the overall winner was in his age group.  So we got a little trophy (too bad we had already left due to a 5 month old that had been awake for 4 hours!).  Here is a little video of the first heat.  Mason being a little less than gracious to Addison (off camera)...

He was signing "I love you" while teasing, so that counts for something, doesn't it?

So Steve is already thinking about his design for next year, but I think we will submit that in the adult age group and let Mason really do his own next year.  

Oh!  And Alex got his first tooth today!  You can't see it, but believe me, it's there!

My thoughts on bullying

I am definitely not the authority on bullying, but after reading This post: http://www.danoah.com/2010/10/memoirs-of-bullied-kid.html, I thought about it all day. My personal advice is to have a good group of friends. Dan sorta suggests the same, but I think it goes one step further.

The best advice I was ever given in high school was to not allow math class to be the highlight of your day. Meaning, having extra curricular activities is what makes the rest of the day bearable. I was already following his advice, so this was not life changing to me, but it still sticks with me and I tell it to as many young people as I can.

I was in band from sixth grade on. I loved every minute of it and proudly wore the label of band geek. We all did. That is the point. Nobody messes with groups of people, they mess with the loners. Not that it is ok to mess with the loners, but that is why bullies never got to me.

I had my fair share of insecurities. I was too tall, too thin, flat chested, big nose, very nerdy - pretty much exactly the same person I am today. Even with these "faults" I had a self confidence that being part of a group gave to me.

Let me elaborate just a bit on that.  Luckily, I was too thin. I had and every once in a while, still have, issues with body dismorphia (you know, seeing something different than everyone else sees when looking in the mirror). Nothing clinically diagnosed or anything, but only because I did not have to work at all on being thin. I would look at my thighs and if I was able to pinch a piece of skin, I honestly thought that it was fat, and I was fat. I totally get people who are anorexic. I understand the thoughts of being able to control nothing in your life, except food. I would have been right there with all the anorexic girls if I had even the slightest issue with weight. I prided myself on being thin.

So anyway, this was my issue.  This is what bully's could have got to me with.  But they didn't, and I believe whole-heartedly that it was because I was surrounded by a great group of people.  It doesn't matter what the group is, band, sports team, leadership, drama, whatever, as long as you have a group to identify with and you can be yourself around.  But I think band is just a little better than all those others, because it takes a brave soul to put a actual feather in your hat and march around the football field with your head held high.

So if you are a young person, join something, anything. Do not let math be the best part of your day. Even though I could rock an around-the-world session with multiplication tables and would be on a high for days! (please tell me you know what I am talking about)

If you are a parent of a young person, help them to be involved. Help them to be busy.  Help them to be normal.  Help them to not be a loner.   And please, above all else, it is not all about grades. I hate when I hear someone say that they have to quit sports because their grades are suffering. That is crazy talk. A minimum level of grades must be achieved, but after that, it doesn't matter.  What matters is to raise a confident well-rounded person.

I think of myself as a successful person today, but do you think anyone knows what grades I got in high school, or even college. Never, not one time, has it ever played a role in my professional life. Man, what I wouldn't have given to realize that when I was stressing out in high school. Heck, I starting stressing in SIXTH grade about grades. I promise that I will never let my kids get that stressed out because of a grade. Never. They might stress about sports or girls or acne, but I won't allow them to stress about grades.

So there is my confession for the day, and my thoughts on this terrible epidemic going on in schools now.  It was always there before, but now with the shield a computer can give you, so many more people are bullied and it is really sad.

So Thankful

Even though yesterday was extremely annoying and a big inconvience, it reminded me again and how lucky and thankful I am for my health insurance.  Steve got something in his eye when he was at work on Sunday - a tiny piece of metal or something.  After a couple hours at the ER on Sunday, we followed up with an opthomologist on Monday (referred there by ER).  It turns out we can't go there because this was a workman's comp issue.  We had to go across town and be seen by the clinic that the workman's comp tells you to go to.  Three hours later, they referred us to a different opthamologist.  Once we got to that office, the doctor finally got the piece of metal out.  All in all it was a half a day of time and frustration and LOTS OF PAIN on Steve's end, but that will be the end of it for us.  At that clinic, I was just thinking of all the people sitting there, and their individual situations.  A minor little accident could really affect their entire lives.  I don't have much time to expand, because I have to get back to work.  I just really feel lucky right now.  Health insurance is something many of us take for granted, and so many people don't have it.  I know that if I didn't have health insurance back when I had my ectopic pregnancy - there is no way I would have went to the doctor when I did.  I would have waited until the pain was unbearable, and that could have affected me for life.  So just a quick lunchtime thought on how I am proud of our country for at least trying to give everyone access to insurance.

Crappy Monday

So I had to follow up my happy Friday, with a crappy Sunday and still going on into Monday.

Sunday, was just doomed to begin with. I woke up with a headache, and steve was working, so I had to deal with the kids all day. We had a birthday party to go to at 1:00, which I was very excited to go to, to force myself outside (still amazing weather here). Well, that meant early naps and just off schedule altogether, so everything seemed to be a fight.

I tried to wake mason up at 12:30 to leave and he was so upset that I had woke him up! He just rolled over and I decided to give him another 30 minutes. We finally got out and I drove to the park, without too much thought,I knew right where it was so I didn't bring any maps or anything. The park was PACKED! Which is a nice sight normally, but I couldn't find the party. I walked up to literally five parties and asked if it was the right one. One person told me, someone else was just asking for Amelia, and they went that way...so I continued while pushing the stroller, and chasing mason, sincere just wanted to go on the slides...and have cake.

Anyway, we never found them, so I let mason play for awhile. Alex started fussing, and I just decided to go home. Once we got home, I looked up the invite again, and it was the wrong park!!! It was way too late to head back out, especially since Alex now needed to eat again.

Once I put alex down for a nap, I told mason we could make cupcakes, since he missed out on the cake. I don't know why I offered this, I knew it wasn't a good idea because I was in such a bad mood and I hate cooking even in a great mood. It went just about how I thought it would, lots of aggrevation...at one point I had to stop, take a deep breath, and I told Mason,"I'm sorry, I am not being a very good mommy today.". He responded, "you are not listening to my instructions?" ....I think he has heard that one before.

Anyway, I just couldn't wait for Steve to get home, but when he did, he had something stuck in his eye. At first, it seemed like no big deal, but it got worse and worse, and he ended up going to the hospital to get it out. They couldn't, and gave a referral to an opthamologist for this morning. We went there just now, but they told us we needed to go to the workman's comp place first, so now we are there, and this is taking forever, and poor Steve still has something stuck in his eye! This is not a good day.

Happy Friday

I had a really good Friday today.  I am still not crazy about my long Monday - Thursday, but having Fridays off, and the ability to still drop off the kids at day care, means total me-time which is needed every once in a while.  The thing that made today great was the weather.  Man, it was gorgeous here.

I dropped the boys at daycare at 9:30, in and out of Target in 10 minutes, in and out of Costco in 30 minutes (Amazing - I know!).  Steve and I had a much-needed date-night/afternoon (you take what you can get) at my FAVORITE restaurant, Rosemary's.  Back home to watch a movie (Crazy Heart - eh, skip it, but any movie on my comfy couch with cool enough weather to wrap up in a blanket is a good time by me!).  I made it to the gym!!!!  First time in 8 months.  How pathetic is that?  Don't answer that - but I guess I had a good excuse with the turkey of a son that I had.  Then back to pick up the boys.  Both boys were really good this evening - but it is probably because I had such a good day that my patience was re-calibrated.  I took the boys for a nice walk around the neighborhood and relished that others were out walking too.  Ahhh...life is good.

Anyway, since I was in a good frame of mind, I added about 20 items to my Mighty Life List (see www.mightygirl.com for my inspiration).  I promise I am going to post that list on here when it is finished (or at least at a good stopping point) because I think it is really powerful to write it down and share it with people so that I can't back down from my really big dreams and desires.  If it is not done by the end of the year - please bug me about it - because it needs to be done.

Tomorrow we are going to Gilcrease Orchards to hopefully pick our own pumpkins!  I hope your weekend is as good as mine is already turning out to be.
BYE!

Mason's first sleepover!

We had a fun night when Mason's bestest friend was able to sleep over for the first time.  I offered to watch Addison and Adam for Shannon and Corey on Thursday night because I knew that Mason would love it - and Shannon and Corey needed it.

It was my first experience with twins!  Mason and Addison are only 3 weeks apart and Alex and Adam are only 9 days apart.  I always think of the possibilities of Mason and Addison being friends (or more than friends) forever.  So I always like to take lots of pictures of them and record all their little interactions just in case...

For instance, Addison was talking about Halloween and how she would be a princess.  She said Mason should be a prince since she was a princess, and went on to say that they were going to have a baby girl named Angel.  Isn't that sweet!  Too bad Mason wants to be a ghost.  I have tried to get him to be something a little more exciting, but he is genuinely excited to be a ghost.  I think it is great that his innocence is still showing, and I bet every little boy who isn't corrupted by marketing really wants to be a ghost.  

Back to the sleepover...Addison and Mason were rowdy all night - just running around and totally excited.  I had everything planned out with four kids, I had to have a plan.  Adam and Alex had just both had bottles before I picked them up from daycare, so they were fine for about an hour.  I made dinner (every kids' favorite: chicken nuggets and apple slices) while the babies were playing in the other room.  Right when I served the dinner Adam started crying and I fed him.  Alex fell asleep for a cat nap, so he was easy for a while.  I put Adam to sleep at 7:30, and then woke up Alex.  I fed him and he played a little while longer.  I put him to sleep shortly after, and then it was time to wide down for the older kids.  I am just now realizing that this is super boring so I am going to wrap it up. 

Long story short - they did really well.  I was so proud of myself for getting it all done and not going crazy.  They fought like brother and sister, which I was kinda surprised about.  There wasn't any terribly funny stories to tell - except Addison wanting to say her prayers, and I thought she was asking for pears, and she was so sad when I told her she couldn't have pears (prayers) - finally I figured it out and of course she could say her prayers! 


Oh, and I did get to brush her long hair, which is the one thing I cried about when I knew I wasn't getting to have a girl...

The hardest part was logistically getting them all back to daycare on Friday morning.  Luckily I had no schedule since I was off work, but 4 bags, two car seats, two booster seats, two babies, and two rowdy kids was a little much!  Good thing I have the van.  

Hilarious RMS

Being a mother is so very glamorous.  I am constantly wiping some substance off of something - a butt, a nose, a place mat, whatever.  This morning I am waiting for Mason to finish going to the bathroom so I can wipe his butt and he says, "Momma, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  I have never heard this line before, so I start chuckling, and respond, "I don't know; what are you thinking?"  He responds, "I am thinking of getting one more piece of poop out!"

HAHAHAHA!!!!  I haven't laughed this hard in a while.  

Good Morning

My baby is 5 months this week.  I am posting now, because the weekdays just get too hectic.

Good Morning

He is really playing now.  He has a scrunchy book that he loves to make lots of noise with.  If it gets out of his reach he lets out a little squeal, and someone has to retrieve it for him.  He has us well trained.  He loves Mason, and Mason loves him.  We started a little rice cereal this week.  Pretty soon we will be all in to those yummy veggies.  He hasn't shown any interest in eating though, so I will wait a little longer. 

He is still as cute (and quiet) as ever.  I still can't believe what a good boy I have.

And I have to say one RMS that just happened.  I just asked, where's my camera (so I could take the 5 month shot above).  Mason ran over, "I'll help you find it momma" (meanwhile I found it in my tennis bag), he continues, "it's not under the chips..." HAAAA!  Thanks for checking there Mason.

"my states"

Mason has been learning the United States of America for a while now.  It started with a puzzle that we got, that just happened to be the USA.  He did that puzzle for months, I think I wrote another post about it already.  Then a couple of weeks ago I bought him a TAG United States map.  TAG (leap frog brand) is basically a pen that reads to you and it was designed for reading books, but this USA map came out and I thought it would be perfect.

Let's talk just a sec about this TAG system.  I just get kinda worried that this is not a good toy.  Mason loves it, and he reads The Cat in the Hat with it mostly (we have one other book for it, but he LOVES the Dr. Seuss books).  He got it for his third birthday, and it took me 5 months to actually give it to him.  Not because I couldn't find batteries (even though that part did take about two weeks), but because I wondered if it detracts from our book time together.  It is very nice that he can entertain himself for a while with the pen, and it is better than TV, but is it good?  I don't know the answer.  I just feel kind of conflicted every time he uses it.  I have tried to read with the pen with him, but I can't take it.  It is so annoying.  He wants to touch every character on every page to see what they will say (you just have to hear it for a few minutes, and you will know what I mean).  The best part of the TAG system is that it is really good for reading (umm, listening) comprehension.  There are "games" every couple of pages that ask you about things that are going on in the story.  He always gets all of these right, and I am always very impressed by it.  But still, I wish that it was me reading the books to him.  Not the pen.  Any thoughts?

But this map part of the TAG system is AWESOME.  He has learned so much from it.  Again, I could be naming all the states with him, but I can only take so much repetition.  How many time can you point to Washington without wanting to jab an ice pick in your eye?  Kindergarten teachers, homeschool parents... more power to you.  I have no patience.

TAG map, and it is two sided.  Awesome toy!

He always calls them "my states" and when we watch the news, he gets really excited when the weather guy uses his states to describe the weather.  He is very observant and will point out "my states" any time he sees the shape of the USA, which are surprisingly everywhere, when you've got eagle eyes out looking for them.

So since I am quite obsessive with all things, I had to get him one more map.  This one just hangs on our wall in the family room.  If I prompt him, he probably knows about 30 states, but here is a video of him just doing it all by himself:

Apple Butter Experiment

So I was very ambitious this weekend and decided to can applesauce!  No, nobody hacked into my account and started typing for me.  I, Janelle, actually did it!  It all started with a new food co-op in town.  It is called Bountiful Baskets and it is amazing.  It is a co-op, and the buyers pool all the money from orders on Tuesday, buy all the food at great rates (like supermarkets do), and then split it all up in baskets for us to pick up on Saturdays.  I am amazed at how much food you can get for $15!  They also have mass quantities of in-season fruits and vegetables.  This week it was a bushel of apples or peaches.  36 pounds of Gala Apples (from Washington) was only $24.  That is an amazing price!  And the apples - every last one of them - were perfect and sweet and yummy and actually still cold!  I thought I was going to get the scraps - all in a real bushel.  So when my perfectly packaged box of apples with all the inserts to keep the apples from touching, was what I was presented with on Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised.

80 apples

I found a recipe on-line, and it seemed very simple, so simple even I could do it.  Guess what - it was simple!  And I had fun!  And I will even do it again!  I am so excited - can you tell?

My friend let me borrow her canning stuff and her unopened apple peeler/slicer/corer.  It worked great!

This was the first batch, hence the smile

Get this, applesauce is just smooshed cooked apples.  Who would have guessed?  It was so easy!  I decided to actually go ONE step further and make apple butter, because every time I mentioned my 36 pounds of apples, someone mentioned how good apple butter was.  But get this, apple butter is just apple sauce that is cooked a really long time (and a little more sugar and spices).  It was still so easy!

Having this grinder attachment made the sauce part simple - and it was fun to use.  Can you believe the amount of times I have said fun while talking about cooking?  I can't.

The only thing left was to cook the apple butter in the crockpot for 12 hours.  Somehow I missed that in the directions, but no biggie. I just waited for a few more hours and turned the crockpot on at night.

This was about 35 apples

The next morning we had to add one more batch of applesauce to the now condensed apple butter.  Steve decided to turn up the power on the apple peeler/corer/slicer:

My hand thanked him!  The smell in the house when I woke up was amazing.  I actually woke up about three times in the night to stir it (not that I set an alarm or anything - I just wake up a lot - I think it has something to do with being a mom).

This was simple enough for Mason to help:

He actually did such a good job.  I love that he is getting older and more capable.  He told me that he dreamt of apples.  And he was cooking too.  He made apple cereal:

Oh, I have to have at least one tangent: Yesterday Mason was grazing on his cereal all day, which consisted of Honeycomb, Trix, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch this day.  He accidentally dropped a piece of Trix and he said, "Oops I dropped a Trick."  Steve and I couldn't stop laughing and he had no idea why.  I tried to explain singular and plural but he just though it was funny to keep dropping a "trick."

Back to apple butter - I did it! 12 pints of apple butter!

So now if anyone has any ideas of how I am actually supposed to eat apple butter, please send them my way.  I have never had it before, and now I realize it has nothing to do with butter (I honestly thought this was going to come out like a flavored stick of butter.  Friday, while driving, it finally occurred to me: peanut butter, almond butter - OHHHH - lightbulb! Apple butter.  That is kinda embarrassing...)

So I am tremendously proud of myself because nothing I ever do in the kitchen turns out well - and this is REALLY good.  And I had fun!  Amazing!  Call me crazy, but I am thinking about getting another bushel of apples next week because I want more applesauce.  After all that, we still don't have applesauce.  And dehydrated apples.  And apple crisp.  And apple pie.  And baked apples.  Mmmmmm. I so wish it was still not 100 degrees!

Pudding Paint

This was an extremely fun play date I did with Mason and my new mom's group.  Basically you get vanilla pudding and food coloring and finger paint with the colored pudding.  It is so messy that I don't think very many people do it - but Mason had such a fun time that I think everyone should try it.

Some kids do not like to get dirty, but Mason is not one of those kids.  He did complain that the pudding was too cold, but within a few minutes it warmed up and he really got into it.  Mason was the oldest kid by 6 months, and those 6 months really make a difference.  The next oldest played for a little but was not interested in getting it on the walls.  He prefered his hair.  All the other kids were about one year old and they all treated it about the same - just smearing it all over their bodies and eating it.

I am just so thankful that Jaime let us wreck her house so that we could experience this rare treat.  If I ever decide to do this again it will be outside, everyone will have smaller containers of pudding, and we will play more with the colors - red and yellow make orange.  But really you have to be at least 3 or it is just chaos.  Not that chaos is bad - but probably should take place directly in the bathtub.

My proud Artist

The aftermath

Everyday happenings: Mason threw up at day care today - all over Dad.  Right when they were getting ready to go home he said he didn't feel good, and then bleh!  This is only the 4th time he has thrown up in his entire life (I am so lucky).  The last time was in his Thomas bed, shortly after we got it (Christmas time) and we still hear about that "big burp" at least once per week.  I wonder how long we will hear about this one, especially since it was all over dad.  He had to drive home in his boxers.  Hehehe.  That makes me laugh.  BTW, he seems absolutely fine now, so it was probably something he ate.  

Alex is teething like crazy.  Drooling, chewing, moaning, cranky, not eating...this is way too early to start this stage.  Hopefully he will sleep good tonight.

Goodnight!