let a mama brag for a moment

Guess what Pete did today? C'mon, just guess.

Give up?

He ROLLED OVER! Mark it down- 4 months and 11 days! From back to belly, going to the left. That's the side that the torticollis is on (translation: a small mass in his neck that developed in utero and limits his range of motion.) 2 months ago, we had a hard time even getting Pete to look to the left, let alone spend any amount of time facing that way. But today, while I was getting him ready for his bath, he just rolled all the way over, all by himself. He even got his head up and his arm out from underneath him. I was so proud of him!

All this from the kid who was born with fused and/or missing bones in his LEFT arm and hand. I knew he'd blow me away with all that he's capable of. This is just the tip of the iceberg, Bug.

musings from the day

We had your average day today, but there were a few times when I wished that I had my "helmet cam" on to record what I was seeing and hearing. For instance,

* E checking out a scratch on P's forehead this morning, and exclaiming "Pete, your head is cracked!"

* how can 1 uncut, ripe melon stink up an entire house by just sitting on the counter?

* holding Pete for any length of time is like going paintballing...you're going to get hit somewhere, and you'll probably need a change of clothes. Or couches, as the case may be.

and on a related note...

* in a pinch, baby formula will work in place of hairspray. It definitely falls into the "maximum hold" category, although the fragrance is less than desirable.

* I now text my mom more frequently than I email her. Strange.

*Hot chocolate in the middle of July is HILARIOUS to an almost 3 year-old. She was intently stirring it and not saying much and then burst into a fit of giggles. When I asked what was so funny, she scrunched up her face and wailed "Hot chocolate in the summer??!!?!?" See, Papa. Mama CAN be silly somtimes.

* Emerson said (and I'm typing this verbatum) to her Grandpa tonight, "Grandpa, I know you're sleeping over at our house, but why won't you be there in the morning when we get up?" Jeff, Grandpa, and I were all speechless at that one.Not just the linguistics, but the reasoning behind it. Sheesh. At her 3 year check-up, the doctor asked me if she's putting together 3-word sentences. Um, yeah. We've got that covered.

So, that's a peek into the average day for this stay-at-home Mama. Wouldn't trade it for a thing.

a big day around here

We had P's 4 month and E's 3 year check ups today. Emerson (who's actual birthday is a few weeks away) weighed in at 36 lbs. and is 38 inches tall. That's only 5 inches away from the "big" rides at Disney World! She's in the 90+ percentile, and we are blessed that she seems to be in teriffic health.

P, on the other hand, is a tiny guy. He's now 26 inches long, which puts him in the 65th percentile. That's great news, since only one month ago, a measuring snafu put him in the FIFTH percentile. But his weight is only 11 lbs, 11 oz. He's not progressing the way they'd like on the chart, and has been having trouble digesting formula since weaning from nursing earlier this month. He poops 8-10 times a day, and has an epic, EPIC rash on his bottom from spending his whole days in poopy diapers. We're trying soy formula, so fingers crossed that he'll be able to process and digest it properly. This will help him 1. lose the rash, and 2, GROW! The doctor also advised that we should start "solid" foods, so Pete had his first taste of rice cereal tonight. He was pretty confused at first and did not like the consistency. But he caught on quickly and started opening his mouth as Jeff would approach with the spoon. But by the end, he was really tired, and began to look a bit like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I can't believe we have a kid in a high chair already. He's growing up so fast!

Here's some pics from Pete's first "dinner."

10 more things

Here are a few more things that I'm quite fond of. Again, in no particular order:

* Jeff
* Emerson
* Pete
* avocadoes (I'm OBSESSED with them. Squirt a little lemon juice on and oh, my!)
* photography
* Disney World (duh!)
* pedicures
* county fairs
* catching up with old friends
* crossing things off of my to-do list

Make it a great week~

have you seen pete lately?

Well, here he is. Live and in the flesh. Um, sort of.

Master P is now 4 months old. What a Lovebug...

a project

So, we've admittedly not been doing as many projects around here since, oh, mid March ;) But we do still get to do something crafty from time to time. Emerson inspired our latest endeavor. A few weeks ago, when looking at a green light in Pete's room, she asked me "Minnie (she likes to pretend that I'm Minnie Mouse), why is that green? And I said something like "Well, it's not red, and it's not blue, so it must be green." To which she replied, "Why is it green?" And I got to thinking about how yellow and blue make green. But this seemed too abstract to explain, so I resolved that I'd SHOW her.

We busted out our paints and talked a little bit about primary and secondary colors. And then we got down to business. Mixing the colors. She LOVED it. In fact, we have done "color mixing" 4 times in the last week. Yesterday, we even made a color wheel (I should have taken pictures, but sadly, I didn't.)

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy the fruits of our labor. If you haven't done color mixing with your kiddos, give it a try. They'll love it, and their kindergarten teachers will be so impressed that they know where colors come from!

so?

So, do you like the new blog design? I have to say that I just love it. It's just where we're at right now. Sort of free and just going where the wind takes us. Hope you like it too.

yet more things

* Hawkeye football
* backrubs
* cookie dough
* playing catch with Emerson
* Trader Joe's
* my iPod
* going to church (yep, I really did say that. I LOVE my church!)
* Jeff's eyes
* getting Christmas cards
* new crayons

more things

* sleeping in (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I crack myself up.)
* patterned paper (as in scrapbooking paper)
* ice cream- I eat this every day, without fail
* the show Friday Night Lights
* purses
* reading with my kids
* Burt's Bees lip balm
* Facebook
* old time radio shows from the 1930s, '40s, and 50's
* date night with my DH.

100 things i'm fond of

Before I get to the 100 things, I have a post script to a post from earlier this week regarding Emerson's birthday. So, out of the blue today, she says to me "I don't like birthday parties that are for me." And as I started thinking about it, it hit me like a ton of bricks...she hates, Hates, HATES when people sing "Happy Birthday" and that hatred grows exponentially when the song is directed at her. OF COURSE she doesn't want a bunch of kids at her party- they'll sing to her! When I asked her if that was the reason she didn't want kids at her party, she looked at the floor and whispered "Yes." I, being the Fairy MomMama that I am, looked her square in the eyes and promised that there would be no singing at her party. And do you know what she said? "Mama, can I have some friends come to my party?"

It might take me a while, but I get there eventually. Operation Emerson's 3rd birthday party is on like Donkey Kong.

Now, onto my 100 things. I recently saw a scrapbook page that listed (very creatively, I might add) 100 things that the creator likes. I thought that may be a fun thing to work on, but my list includes things I'm crazy about too, so I'm titling it "100 Things I'm Fond Of." And I'm going to share it here with you. Aren't you lucky? I'll be giving you little bundles of 10 every now and then. Feel free to chime in with things you're fond of as well.

These are in no particular order. Just a stream-of-consciousness kind of thing.

*mountains
*palm trees
*places that have mountains and palm trees, like Palm Springs or Sicily
*olive oil
*vanilla lattes
*flip flops
*the smell of suntan lotion (do they even MAKE "suntan lotion" anymore?)
*driving stick
*clean sheets
*80's music

Happy weekend!

choose joy

A wise friend and spiritual mentor recently gave a sermon about choosing joy in our lives, no matter what the circumstance, and it resonated with me. I am a person who is quick to point out the negative in a situation, so making the conscious effot to choose joy is a challenge, but one with tremendous benefits.


Case in point...


For whatever reason, Kid 1 decided that she would wake up around 2:30 last nite. I heard her singing, which sounds cute, but is really annoying in the middle of the night. I must have dozed off, because next I knew, it was 4:07 and she was in there giving a speech of some sort. Just talking and talking. I went in to sit with her for a bit and rub her back in the hopes of lulling her back to sleep. I left around 4:30, and at ten after 5, she was still up. Poor thing. So I grabbed my pillow and set of to go sleep with her.

Now, was this my idea of a good night's rest. No. Did I want to crawl into a twin bed with a long-legged, wiggly toddler? Nope. Am I looking for a repeat performance tonight? What do you think?

But...

Would I trade the soft way she stroked my face as she snuggled onto my pillow? No way. Or the sweet way she asked if she could give ME a backrub? No way. Or the way her tiny hand fumbled in the dark to take mine and then finally drifting off to sleep holding hands with my best girl?

Not on your life.

I CHOOSE joy.

Make it a good day~

meet jessie

Ever since we took Emerson to see Toy Story 3 a few weeks ago, she has been pretending to be Jessie on a daily basis. We do her hair in "Jessie braids," and she actually will sit still long enough to let me finish. Score one for Mama!

Anyway, she has commandeared my cowboy hat and looks so stinkin' cute in it that I had to snap some pics. Please excuse my laundry room in the background. There is great light in there, but it's not the optimal backdrop.

birthday blues

Emerson's 3rd birthday is coming up, and we've been talking about what to do for a party. After much deliberation, we decided to have 3 friends for a kids party and then have some family for a separate family party a few days later. When we asked her what she thought about that this morning, she told us that she doesn't want any kids to come to her party. Just grown-ups. As a matter of fact, she has a very short guest list in mind...just her grandparents and uncle Craig. (She clearly does not yet get the correlation between number of guests and number of gifts!)

Emerson is VERY shy. I frequently arrive to various places with her nose literally up my butt as she is trying to hide. Recently, this shyness has carried over to kids as well as adults. After talking to her this morning, I felt so sad for her. I SO wish there was something I could do to ease her shyness. And to not want any kids at your own birthday party? That broke my heart. It was bothering me all day, and so I brought it up again. She had the same answer- no kids. But this time, she added one important detail.

ME- "Em, are you sure you don't want me to call Greta's mama and invite them to your party?"

E- "No thank you. (she's so polite!) I don't want any kids to come. I don't want to share."


She doesn't want to share her toys. THAT'S why she doesn't want kids at her party.

Ok, Emerson. If you want to keep all of your toys to yourself on your birthday, I guess that's ok with me. Man, her reasoning skills are WAY beyond what I give her credit for.

venting

So, I have to get this off my chest.

I never, NEVER, EVER have a minute to myself during the day. Emerson has stopped napping, and potty training was the final nail in the coffin for her "mandatory down time" every afternoon. When she had to be in constant supervision, we let that go for a few days, and sadly, it seems that we're not going back.

Makes it hard to run a travel planning business. Oh, I can still get trips booked. In fact, I just set up 4 girlfriends who are running the Disney Wine & Dine 1/2 marathon in October. But I have to do all of my work at night, after the little people are in bed.

Bye, bye down time. I literally am busy working on something from the minute I get up until I get into bed at night. And I'm getting a bit burned out. I need to find a way to get things done during the day before I spontaneously combust.