Big Girl

JB took her first steps!!! She has been toying with it and cruising for the last month or so but we didn't expect her to even try for a few more weeks because big brother walked at 10 months. She 9 1/2 months and feeling very adventurous. Since this video (half an hour ago) we've caught her practicing more on her own. Things are about to get nuts around here!

For the record - I am NOT a boy

Since my oodles of pink and purple, frilly jeans and pink clogs don't seem to indicate that I am a girl, mom decided to kick it old school with my hair and bring back the 1970's girl mohawk. Surprisingly, not ONE person referred to me as "he" or "him" at church today (compared to the 5 times over the previous 2 Sundays).

Oh and did I mention that I have a tooth!?!?

Bump

We have more words!!! June Bug has already added bye-bye and Pop to her repertoire although Pop comes out Popbbbbbth, ha. Still no teeth, sadly.

My dad has this little special thing that started with my brother when he was a baby and has moved on to the grandchildren, a little thing we like to call the head bump. Basically when Pop says hello or good bye he leans in really close like he is going to bump heads with you but stops short and then the kiddo leans in, they bump heads, and then they pretend it hurt and rub their heads over and over again. Pop has been working on JB for a while and only recently has she started leaning in to bump (without the rubbing of course). Today at church it was hilarious to watch as person after person came over to see her and would lean in to get her attention and she would lean forward and bump heads with them, ha. Cracks me up.

My favorite kind of post...

The other day LM was hanging out in my office while I tied up a few loose ends. He found an orange in my purse and asked if he could have it. I told him that he would have to wait until we got home because it was too messy. A few minutes passed and I noticed he was really quiet so I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Just drinking my juice" I walked over to him and he said, "See mommy? Now it not messy!"

Some more highlights.....

Riding in the car home from the grocery store....
LM: Mommy, can we eat lunch at Chick fiway?
Me: No buddy, I didn't bring money for that.
LM: Oh butter
Me: Oh butter???
LM: Yeah, I am sad.
Me: Do you mean BuMMer?
LM: Yeah! Butter!


At the end of time out I call LM over to me to talk about why he was in time out...
Me: Little Man, come talk to mommy
LM: Not yet mommy (continues crying)
Me: I want to talk to you
LM: But I not done being ugly yet.

Riding in the car he asks to hear a story and I tell him the story of David and Goliath (the G rated version). When the story is over he sits there silently for several minutes...
Me: Whatcha thinking about buddy? Did you like the story?
LM: No
Me: Really!?!? Why not?
LM: Mom, dats not a good story. You're not supposed to throw rocks and you are not supposed to kill people.

A Day In History

Be still my heart!!

My sweet little baby girl is sick, miserably congested and adorably pathetic. She is so snuggly and still that I love soaking up the depth of the snuggles and grateful smiles but she feels so bad that it just breaks my heart.

I've been working with her since the day she was born on what I hoped would be her first word. My little man said ball, dada and nana before he ever said mama but last night in all her glorious snuggles she looked deep into my eyes, let out a sigh and said so contently, "Ma Ma." I screamed and then I cried. For half an hour I would say "Mama?" and she would smile back and say "Ma Ma" in a very matter-of-fact way. My mom says that when I left the house last night to go to my small group gathering she kept saying it almost like she was asking for me - dad is very jealous - HA!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!

Conversation from the Christmas break...

LM: Pop, where is history?
Pop: Huh? What do you mean?
LM: Rudolph went down in history. Where is history?
Pop: Ask Nana.

Momma's Girl

She is definitely her momma's girl...bald and toothless, poor thing.

Happy Birthday Little Man

Happy Birthday my little man.

Christmas Time Is Here......

I am so excited for Christmas this year because of one very sweet little boy who is excited about Christmas. Sunday our church had a little Christmas pageant and my little donkey technically *participated* but not willingly. I wish I could have captured the look he gave me when I whispered loudly to him to sing. If looks could kill, I would be dead, ha.


Sunday afternoon we built a gingerbread train from a kit. My sister also used a kit to build her gingerbread house and her's looked like something out of Martha Stewart's magazine while ours looked like a train wreck. At least we had fun!

Vacation!!

I am almost on vacation! Although I still have two half days left at work I have been in vacation mode since Friday. My house has been deep cleaned, shopping is done, presents are wrapped, hard drives are cleaned off and backed up and I have a list of really fun things for our family to do for the next 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS - woohoo! The festivities start tomorrow and I'll share the details (with photos) later on this week.

In the meantime I thought I would share with you a little bit of Little Man's excitement about the BIG man in the red suit...

Writing his letter (or in his case coloring the letter mommy wrote for him)

Delivering the letter :)

Finally, my little gingerbread girl :)I'll be better about keeping this updated starting THIS week with Little Man's Christmas show, his Birthday party, Christmas and some fun family activities. Come back soon! Don't give up on us now!

For Mr. Christopher

Mmmmmwaaaah

I just want to smother her in kisses.....
and tickle him to pieces!!!

The reason behind the bumps on her noggin....

Little stinker can't figure out how to crawl but she has figured out how to pull up? Don't ask me, I can't explain it.

More conversations

Riding to school, after singing a million verses of Father Abraham...

LM: Mommy, Fahder Abaham have many sons?
Me: Yes buddy he had lots and lots of sons.
LM: It so hot in Fahder Abaham house?
Me: Well, yeah, I guess it probably was hot in his house. Why do you ask?
LM: He have lots of SUNS mommy. Da sun is so hot.


LM: Mommy, I don't feel good. I sick.
Me: You're sick? What's wrong?
LM: My froat hurts, my stomach hurts and my arm hurts
Me: Your ARM hurts?
LM: Yes and my 'nother one arm hurts too

Junebug is practicing her new vocal skills by screeching and blowing loud raspberries
LM: June bug is too loud. She hurting my ears.
Me: She is just practicing talking
LM: (walks up to JB and gets right in her face) WOMAN dat talkin too loud!
Me: Excuse me?
LM: Sorry mommy (back to JB) Princess woman, dat talkin too loud!
(we actually had a long talk about this one)

Leaving Sonic
LM: Hey! Where's my flush (slush)?
Me: We didn't get one today buddy.
LM: But mommy I NEED caffeine!

Watching Backyardigans

So this morning as I was sitting on the couch drying my hair, Little Man was snuggling on the couch with June Bug watching Dumbo (not the photos above). He asked me repeatedly to make the TV louder and told me that my hairdryer was too loud. I turned up the television but kept drying my hair. A few minutes passed and we tapped me on the arm:

LM: Hey mommy....
Me: Yes?
LM: June Bug sleeping?
Me: Yes...
LM: Mommy turn off loud dryer. Mommy wake up June Bug.
Me: Hmmm sounds to me like LM wants the dryer off, not June Bug.
LM: No. June Bug say mommy too loud.

Ha!

Who Has The Best Dad In The World???

MY KIDS!!!!! So several months ago (actually while prego with JB) I had this vision to stop throwing away my hard earned money on over-processed, weird tasting baby food and decided we could buy, cook and make our own. It isn't the right solution for everyone but since so many of Trav's health issues were exacerbated by food choices it felt like a good move for us (well, that and the fact that baby bananas don't taste like bananas and it creeps me out). I bought the books, I bought the food processor and I bought all of the little special BPA-free containers (don't get me talking on that one) and promptly put them on a shelf where they have stayed until this week. My W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L husband announced that since I was working a second job (essentially) to bring in more money to put towards our Total Money Makeover that he would take full responsibility for the baby food making endeavor. Let me tell you what a delightful treat it is to see my dream realized and not actually have to lift a finger to make it happen! I came home late last night to find hubby elbow deep (figuratively) in fresh delicious acorn squash, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. The aroma was intoxicating and the concoction was absolutely delicious! In less than half an hour he was able to make 3 weeks worth of baby food all for $4.13....nearly a $25 savings!!!!!!!!!!!! Woot woot!!

Acorn Squash.....not so sure at first but a hit in the end! One down a million more to go!

We're Back :(

Our family took a little camping trip this weekend with friends from church. It is a trip that we make twice a year so Little Man really looks forward to our camping trips but this one was June Bug's first. I think this face sums up her weekend nicely :)The weather was brisk in the day time and down right COLD at night but the 4 of us were huddled in a very small tent with lots of blankets and snuggles so we made it work with only a little bit of wind burn on our cheeks.

Little Man had such a fun time "catching" aka fishing with Pop. He didn't actually CATCH anything but he really liked the worms and throwing the lines. We also made a trip up to the docks to watch the ranger do a demonstration that ended with a live snake catching and eating a live mouse. I wasn't sure how Little Man would handle the mouse's demise but he really enjoyed it.The highlight of my trip was napping in the hammock with JB and then napping in the tent with a kiddo in each arm and a dog in my lap (photo coming from a friend soon, ha).Both kiddos were very disappointed to return home. How do I know JB was disappointed? When we got home this afternoon she was completely inconsolable, crying a really mad cry and after about 30 minutes of trying every trick in the book I simply walked outside - blessed silence followed by a "coo". That's my girl!

Visited by a Ghost

When my husband and I were first married we lived in a tiny little town called York, Nebraska in a 250 square foot "quaint" house. We moved there with my beloved but very unfriendly (except to me) russian persian cat, Piper. Trav so desperately wanted an animal that actually liked him that one day he brought home THE friendliest little farm kitten that we affectionately named Rawley. As far as cats go, and I have had many, Rawley was AWESOME and not at all like your typical cat. He was sweet, snuggly, playful, mischievious and loved people and animals tremendously; he was such a joy in our then childless home. Shortly after we moved to Texas he, along with our three other cats ,disappeared suddenly. Shortly after their collective disappearance we heard rumors from the neighbors that a pack of coyotes had destroyed the cat population in our neighborhood.

So imagine my surprise when Travis came running into the room tonight saying, "Guess who is at the front door?!" As it is Halloween I was expecting some really cute trick-or-treaters and was so shocked to see MY Rawley sitting coyly on the front stoop SIX YEARS after he disappeared! He is still as sweet as ever, a little less playful but still the little darling that we loved so much. He apparently wasn't fond of sharing all of the attention with three other cats, a chihuahua and a golden retreiver so he found a new home. Our animal farm only includes one animal these days but I know he wouldn't enjoy a home with kiddos so I am happy to see he is healthy and friendly enough to stop by for a visit.

Sick Kiddos

Our house has been full of sick kiddos this week and after a very full weekend of fundraisers and trunk or treat these two aren't the only ones who are exhausted.