My boys!

I have been on a very long vacation from blogging.  Oh how I have missed it!!  I don't have a whole lot of time today but I just had to do a quick update on the kiddos.  Alex turned ten in May and started the 5th grade this year.  I can't believe how fast my baby boy is growing up!!  He loves his baby brother so much even though he won't always admit it.  Our little guy Ethan is already ten months old!! Wow can you believe it??  At his 9 month check up he weighed a whopping 24lbs. 11oz (which I know for sure has gotten bigger this past month) and was 27 inches long.  He is kinda short and dumpy but there ain't nothing wrong with that!!  We are truly blessed at how well he is doing.  When I tell people that he was 7 weeks premature they really don't believe me!  He has caught up in every aspect both physically and cognitively.  He is crawling like a little mad man and pulling up on everything he can reach.  He loves our dogs and cat more than words can say and of course his big brother is his hero.  He eats more than any baby I have ever seen and just this week started asserting his independence by only eating if he can feed himself.  I am working on posting alot of baby pictures but for now here are a couple of my favorites!!

Ethan Daniel 8 months

My boys!!

Hope everone has a blessed Wednesday!

New hair!

So Alex has been growing out his hair since last August.  At first it wasn't intentional we just hadn't made it to get a hair cut.  Then after it finally started getting a little length he decided that he really liked his hair a little longer and wanted to see what it would look like even longer.  So much to my dismay I agreed to let him grow out his hair until Summer 2010.  He agreed and we even pinky promised.  However after a few months and as his hair started to get longer and longer I started to really like it!  I didn't want him to cut it and told him that IF he decided he wanted to keep it long thru the summer that I was ok with it and just left the decision up to him.  Up until a few days ago he was still diggin the long hair....until it started getting HOT outside.  I had to giggle when he looked at me and said "Mom, my hair is kinda  hot....I think I wanna cut it."  It was bitter sweet I have to admit. I had kinda grown fond of his beautiful hair. (Don't let him no I said his name and beautiful in the same sentence!)  So without further delay here is the new hair!

Taken rite before she started cutting away...I love the long hair on him!!

She had shaved the sides and back now she is starting on the top. Now that is one heck of a mohawk!

Just a little more....

That's ALOT of hair off of one little head

Is this the same child??

This picture cracks me up. I think he is looking at the guy to his left with the mohawk.

You can see his wheels a turning!!

Finished!!  He got a little fauxhawk...close as he is gonna get rite now!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!

Bubble Time!

A few months ago my nephew who is three and my son took a bath together with the "bubble machine" as they like to call it.  It's actually this really cool contraption that I found at a garage sale.  It is supposed to be a "spa" for the tub but we use it to make an enormous amount of bubbles! 

Where's Waldo?

They were having so much fun!

Alex thought the more bubbles that were on his face the better!

Bubble Monster!

I love this face!

I love this sweet face!

He always makes me smile!

His sweet smile melts my heart!

Since the day he was born he stole my heart! He is 100% a mama's boy although in a few years I suspect that statement will really embarass him.  For now though he is my baby. My parnter in "crime"!  I love you Boogey!

Reminders

Friday at lunch I had to go to the post office for my job.  By the way I HATE the post office.  Line out the door and one worker = a forty five minute wait.  I don't know why I let it bother me it's not like i'm not getting paid to stand in line and wait.  Who likes to wait though even if they are getting paid?  Super uber annoying!  Anyway while I was standing there waiting I heard the most precious laugh I hadn't heard in along time.  You know that sweet little  belly laugh that seems to happen right around when a baby is 6-9 months?  So I looked over and noticed a mother standing in line hold her precious little baby girl who was just laughing  away at what i'm still not too sure.  I couldn't help but look for a minute and laugh myself.  Then I remembered Alex at that age...oh how it seems just like yesterday and now in two months he will be 9! Everyone tells you that you "forget" your child ever being that small.  I never knew what that meant until he started growing up.  I always just shook my head but inside I was like "whatever I will NEVER forget this!"  Well hmmm you do forget! I mean you KNOW they were that small, but you just simply forget what it felt like to hold them.  So then a few minutes after I had my Alex flash back I of course started feeling sorry for myself.  I started longing to hold a baby once again and hear that sweet belly laugh.  Then something popped into my head that I have never really given much though to and it made me very sad.  What if I never have a baby? What if Alex never has a sibling that he can become close to?  How sad would that be? Luckily I was snapped back to reality before things got too ugly when the counter lady said "next!".  Whew saved by the bell so to speak.  I guess i'm doing a little better...I haven't had a pity party since here.  Yay!
Well I hope you guys had a great weekend!! 

Simple pleasure

I love this picture. I think his face says it all!

Disguise the Turkey

Alex recently had a school project that was called "disguise the turkey." The goal was to disguise a turkey so he would be safe this Holiday season. When we first got the assignment I was a little worried. For those of you who don't know I am NOT the least bit crafty. I have ideas in my head, but they never come to life. So to say the least I was pretty nervous about this project. I encouraged Alex to brainstorm for ideas and told him he would be doing a majority of the leg work, but of course we would help him if needed. So I googled ways to disguise a turkey and off we went! Luckily I had just obtained a large amount of baby clothes from my sister in law...figured I might as well take them just in case we needed them because they were just going to be sold in a garage sale. (Yes i'm really hoping for that baby!). I came across some great ideas, but one in particular stuck out. I ran my idea across Alex and of course his initial response was "No, I don't like that" followed by giving me a look like I was crazy and didn't no ANYTHING. (Gotta love this age). However, I insisted and so off we went. End result?

A turkey disguised as a baby! (Thank goodness for the spare baby clothes!)

He loved the idea once it came to life! I was told this was my best idea ever and was given lots of hugs and kisses.

Backside view of Turkey Feathers

Up close and personal

This is the Turkey before we changed his face up a little. We stuffed the legs, arms, head and body with magazine pages.

Overall it was a fun project that we were able to work together on with Alex. Great family time even though it was school work!

Blond no more!!

Over the weekend we attended a birthday party that was Halloween themed. All of the kids got to dress up and they had so much fun. Last year Alex was Ghost Rider. This year we bought his costume (Transformers) really early because all of the stores here had them out at the end of August, which by the way I think is ridiculous! So you know of course when it's actually time to wear the costume we can't find it! I have no idea where it could possibly be...it's not like my house is super huge or anything. Anyways, I refuse to buy a new costume so we are recycling last years. I figured he would throw a fit, but he was actually ok with it. I'm not sure what he is but I really thought it turned out good and it was so much fun getting him ready.

This picture cracks me up because he looks sooo serious.

So when we got home that evening he was looking in the mirror and says to me "Mom, don't you think my hair looks better like this when it's long? You know black?" I said "Yes, actually I do like it dark when it's long. Hmmm would you like to dye it black?" He could barely get yes out of his mouth before he was running out of the bathroom yelling to Steven what the "plan" was. Later that evening, after we had washed off all of the hairspray dye and face paint we headed to Walmart to get black hair dye. His natural hair color is dark brown/almost black, but he has had the blond in his hair for over a year now. He LOVES to color his hair.

Before we colored his hair (This pic was taken this summer at the lake. He has on pink Tinkerbell shorts in this picture because that's all we had that was dry. He was SO embarrassed!!)

Seriously mom how much longer till we are done??

We are almost there! Only five more minutes!!

The end result!! Jet black with a tint of blue. Oh so handsome!

Wow is all I could say when we were finished! It looks so different after seeing Blond for a year now. The blue was kind of an accident. I didn't realize that the blond tips would turn blue. I really like it, but I was afraid his school would get mad. Luckily they haven't said a word!

Wow what a difference!!

This was such a fun experience! Plus I got his undivided attention for a whole 30 minutes while we were waiting on the dye to be finished "cooking" as he liked to put it. We had a great conversation about various topics and he couldn't run off from me to do something else! Hmmm maybe I need to dye his hair more often??!

Have a great Wednesday!!!

Dam-in

The other day Alex was playing rock band and decided he would take a break from playing the drums and sing. I'm sure most of you know that the singing part on rock band is just like karaoke. The words appear on the t.v. for you to follow. Anyway I was outside doing something in the yard when he came bopping outside to tell me how good he did and then to ask me a question.

Alex: Mom what does "dam - in" mean?
Me: dam in? I have no idea what you are talking about.
Alex: It is a word on the song and I don't know what it means. You know mom "dam-in".
(I for the life of me cannot remember what the name of the song is that he was even singing. I'm sure it will come to me in the middle of the night.)

Hmmm I have no idea what he is talking about at this point. Dam in?? So I asked him to spell it for me.
Alex: It's spelled d.a.m.n
I immediately erupted in laughter which confused the heck out of him.
Alex: Why is "dam in" so funny?
Me: Well baby that's not "dam in" that is "damn". You know the not so nice word you aren't allowed to say?!
Then we both erupted in laughter. Light bulb goes on! He was like ohhhh!! Well I'll just keep saying "dam in" if that's ok. I sometimes forget just how confusing words can be and all of the rules that go along with them.

Now i'm wondering what other choice words are on that game that I haven't noticed. I'm going to really miss it when he gets older and these little innocent moments are non-existent. I need to do a post where I put down all of the words he used to mispronounce and all of the cute things he did as a baby so I don't forget them. Maybe I will start working on that really soon!!
Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Mom I wish I had friends

This statement came out of Alex's mouth a couple of nights ago while we were laying in bed snuggling before bedtime. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I thought he had friends. Then I started to feel myself panic. You see when I was his age (it started about 3rd of 4th grade) I was the kid in the class that was picked on. You know the one that everyone makes fun of and laughs at on a daily basis?? Yep that was me. I HATED school. I had only one friend in 4th grade and I will never forget her. She was picked on as well so I thought she needed a friend. Her name was Becky. She was over weight, smelly and her clothes were always dirty. BUT she was an awesome friend!! Anyway back to Alex. I didn't want him to see my panic and fear (Thank God it was dark in his room) so I began to casually ask him questions about his friends or lack thereof. Our conversation went something like this:



Me: So

I can't wait for college....

The other night Alex and I were laying there snuggling in his room as we do every night. It has become our evening ritual to snuggle and talk for about 15 minutes before he goes to bed. It's my favorite part of the day!! You never know what is going to come out of his mouth considering he is trying desperately to figure out a way to keep from going to bed. So we are laying there snuggling and he says "Mom, I can't wait to go to college." I was so happy to hear those words come out of his mouth, but I didn't want to seem too happy. Sometimes if I seem to happy about stuff then he changes his mind! I told him I was excited for him to go to college and that he would have so much fun. I told him about my first year of college and my roommate. I talked about dorm life and how exciting it was.
He was quiet for a little bit and then he said "Mommy, do you know the only thing about college that i'm NOT going to like?"
I said "No baby what is that?"
He says "I won't be able to snuggle with you before bedtime anymore!"

My heart melted at that very moment. I went on to assure him things would be ok and that he could come home and visit me whenever he wanted. He doesn't realize that by the time he gets to be 18 he won't want to snuggle with his mom anymore. I'm not going to let him in on that little secret just yet! I'm going to enjoy these moments while they last!!!

Puke puke go away and never come again!!

My poor little guy is sick today. I got the dreaded call from the school this morning after I had been at work maybe 45 minutes. This is how it went....
Nurse: Hello is this Andrea?
Me: Yes, this is she
Nurse: I was just calling to let you know Alex has thrown up at school
Me: Oh no is he ok? (I'm thinking damnit why couldn't it of happened before I drove all the way to work?!)
Nurse: He's ok for now. I asked him what he had for breakfast and he said he only drank milk because his stomach hurt.
Me: Yes he said it hurt this morning, but I thought maybe he was just trying to get out of going to school (He's been known to do this)
Nurse: Well then I asked him what he had for dinner last night.....his answer was projectile vomit.
Me: Oh wow...i'm on my way(all the while i'm having to hide my fits of laughter that he had exorcist style vomit all over the school nurse!)

So now i'm at work with a sick child and all I really want to do is take him home. I hate having to bring him to work with me while he is sick. I no he hates it too. He wants nothing more than to just be in the comfort of his own home laying on the couch with mom snuggling. Ok snap back to reality. I HAVE to work otherwise I run the risk of losing my job. The entire car ride back to work I was thinking how can I be a SAHM and still make money? I'm not sure what the answer to that question is but I have to figure it out. I am so tired of missing out on things with my child to come to a job that I really don't like. I am tired of missing out on field trips at school, picking up my child everyday and the list could go on all day. So my new mission is to try to figure out a way to stay at home and make a little money too. I will let you know when and if I get it figured out!
So for now i'm just praying that the little stomach virus doesn't visit too long and that it doesn't spread throughout the entire family!