Before and After

Just a little walk down memory lane to keep up with the goings on:

First stop: Ms. Kate. It's hard to believe that she came in such a teeny tiny package. She's sittin pretty at almost 16 lbs., has earned her first tooth and is maybe 23 floor scoots away from crawling. I love this stage..aren't quite mobile, totally smiley, and just delicious!

Next we have Brody Brod.
He was such a cute baby with big milk dud eyes. He wore diapers back then. And now that he's totally 3 and gigantor....he's STILL wearing diapers! Grrr.

The other day I asked Cole and Brody to pick up the bonus room before coming down for lunch. I told them to let me know when they were done and I would do a little checky check. All was going famously well (-it looked surprisingly great and in record time)until I asked him to put the pillows back on the couch. "Uh, don't worry about the pillows mom, they'll be o.k." Cole's lying alarm starting blaring and I immediately asked him to remove all the pillows conveniently shoved in the corner. Oh the beauty and shame of it all. He was mortified, ( and rightly so) mad, and so very 5. I gave myself parenting kudos that day for handling the situation like a champ. Find the problem, take appropriate pictures, resolve the situation peacefully. Cole was grounded from the Wii (his BFF) for 5 days, one day for each year of his Wii deprived life. Those 5 days Wii-less were glorious and thus I instituted our new system: Wii-kends. That's right, only on the weekend can the Wii even be considered. It's not rocket science and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Yea for a playing with siblings with actual toys!!!!

Last up: Mr.Sweat himself. Jack is thick in the middle of b-ball season and is having such a good experience. He's improved with every game and I'm seriously loving watching him play. I still don't understand how a capri sun and doritos or ding dongs are the snack of choice after running for an hour. It goes against my better judgement to give out anything Hostess after a game. So now I gotta come up with something fun so I'm not the lame mom with gross "treats" when it's Jack's turn for snack. Ideas?

There you have it...January in review.

Look who's gotta tooth

This is my little doll head baby. She's been drooling like ca-razy lately.

She turned 6 months old a few weeks back....and mastered the gummy under bite look.

It finally came. After gnawing on my shoulder for weeks....it has popped through. Her first tooth.....bottom left, pearly white, teeny tiny.. has arrived!

Quote of the day:

I'm currently about 47% potty training as of late. I thoroughly understand that 100% effort on my part has to be put forth in order for success to be achieved in this beautiful coming of age. Truthfully, I just don't know if I've got it right now. Both my older boys were good to go (literally) at 3 1/2. Brody just turned 3. Perhaps my 47% is just a little too much (or too little) right now.

Just picture my utter delight upon first finding then cleaning up his POO this morning. He decided that the CARPET in the hallway was a good enough place for him.It didn't help AT ALL that our carpet is a lovely shade of brown. grrrrrrrr

As I'm wiping I'm firmly discussing the importance of using the toilet and and not the floor....dogs use the floor......we are not dogs....gross....we don't want to be gross......toilets.....toilets are good......eye contact....firmness...........

"Can I have a piece of gum, not Cole's gum but udder gum?"-"And I need socks."

Rethinking past purchases and the Hives incident

I have always wanted a girl. Ever since I can remember I have envisioned myself with at least one daughter. Incidentally, during all those years of "envisioning" I was also purchasing various clothing items that were at the time- "too cute to pass up"- Poor Kyle. I fully admit that before I was even married I had a smaller sized bag containing little girlie items that I had collected here and there over the years......hoping to use one day. So as Jack came along, then Cole, then Brody...my bag of girlie stuff seemed a bit useless. Useless U-N-T-I-L.......I pulled out this little antique from Gymboree circa...oh, maybe 1998!! Can you hear it.....the circus, the circus has come to town! I remember at the time thinking that this frilly yellow get up was just to-die-for. Who wouldn't want to snuggle up and sleep amongst the ruffles?? My cute little good sport clown Kate has worn this a few times so I can justify my idiotic purchase way back when.

Now on to this guy. Isn't that a pathetic face? Poor kid. This was my very first introduction into the lovely world of hives. These pictures really don't do it justice either. Long story short: We went sledding up in the mountains-Brody fell asleep in the car on the way home...Kyle puts him straight into his bed. He wakes up the next morning and as I'm dressing him for church notice a few splotchy spots on his body. Hmm. Go to church, return from church, nothing out of the ordinary. By 5:30 he comes downstairs and says that his ears hurt. Well by golly my ears would hurt too if they were as big and flat and red and stiff as his were. I took off all his clothes and he was covered. I felt like such a good mom...you know, really aware of her kids and all. So I call the nurse hotline and she asks:"Does he have swelling around his neck, face, head?" Well yea, his ears are gigantic and swollen and his face is starting to swell. She says I should bypass the insta-care (cause they are closing) and she would send me to the emergency room anyway with head swelling. Sweet! Kyle takes control at home and Brody and I head to the ER....the disgusting, inefficient, germ infested, ER. I don't know what was more awesome: Standing in line holding my swollen 3 year old for 40 minutes just to check in, Listening to the stoned with completely red blood shot eyes addict behind me talk to himself while snorting mucus every 10 seconds or so.....or......Having thee only triage nurse try to take Brody's temp. using an old school under your tongue takes 30 seconds thermometer with no success and then threaten (while he's screaming in her face) "If I can't take it hear I will have to insert it into your bah-dum...do you want that?" I asked if they ever considered using those speedy quick head scanning kinds...'no" was her response. Anyway, 3 hours and a $75 dollar co-pay later, it was determined that he had severe hives. Plan of action: go to the store-get Benadryl. Thanks doc.

So you live and learn. I've never been around hives before. I wouldn't have gone to the ER hadn't the nurse advised that any swelling on his face and head was bad news. All was well again with Brody by day 4. The hives are gone and we are thankful. The clown suit is still here and we're thankful for that as well