The Party Doesn't Start

Til Girlfriend Walks In!

Christmas 2009

I must say Christmas kind-a blind-sided me this year...

sucker punched me if you will...

snuck up & pulled the rug right out from under me...

Anyway...

I blinked and 6 months had gone by...

I blinked again & Christmas came & went...

But the memories will last forever...

Nana Ann & Girlfriend bonding on Christmas Eve...

Something about a camera makes my son want to pick his nose...

Seriously AJ?!

And Abby screamed if we took the spoon away...

Really Girlfriend?!

And my eyes were closed in the other ten pictures we took...

So...much like our Easter picture...we just can't all get it together at the same time for a photo...

whatever...

This is real...

The kiddos were gifted with a play kitchen built by their Great Grandfather Jack 

that Nana Ann used to play with as a kiddo.

I just love items with such true authentic value.

I wish now that I would have saved more of my childhood toys...

They went nuts!  

They haven't stopped playing in it since Christmas morning!

Santa even brought plastic food for the kitchen!

Lots of plastic food...

The following gift is the beginning...of something I never thought would happen at the young age of 3...

AJ in complete amazement, "This is what I wanted from on-line!  Wow!"

Thank you Disney for target marketing my young impressionable child...

"My own video game!"

great...

Again, Thank You Disney for bringing our first video game into the house...

for the cheap price of $80...

AJ was super excited about his stocking....

The Christmas stocking was always the best part of my Christmas growing up.

My mom always filled our stockings to the brim with fabulous treasures...

treasures special and unique to each of us...

treasures that I always eagerly anticipated & never found disappointing...

treasures I hope my kiddos always look forward to as well... 

& Baby Girl got her first doll from Aunt Jess.

She just snuggle loves that creepy looking thing like nobody's business!

And according to AJ Santa left "the coolest gift e.v.e.r." around Nana & Papa's tree:

The "red train that goes by itself" has been on AJ's wish list since he spotted it at Home Depot & threw an award winning tantrum for weeks ago.  

It is his "most favorite best present ever".

& in other news:

Girlfriend has taken 4 independent consecutive steps now...

but she can scale a case of stairs in seconds flat...

This chicka is going to be trouble once she realizes the power of her independence. 

It is only a matter of time...

& I leave you with the pure joy of a three year old discovering the treasures that await inside yet a second stocking...

Peace out friends.  

I hope you also had a fabulous Christmas with your families!

Hayride 2009

Every year we bundle up and head over to Nana & Papa's for the traditional hayride.

Girlfriend got to partake in all of the festivities this year like...

petting the horses...

and listening to Papa's annual reading of The Cajun Night Before Christmas...

Thanks Nana & Papa!

Our Little Shepherd & A Hazardous Trip To The North Pole

When I asked AJ if he was excited about being a shepherd for his Christmas program... 

He said he would rather be a zebra...

of course he would...

&

What could be better than Polar Express & popcorn?

Polar Express in 3-D.

AJ just kept saying, "That is not safe!  It is just not safe, mom." the. entire. movie.

He was hanging by a thread until the kid made it home safely in the end.

Scooby Doo scarred the child for life & Polar Express gave the kid an ulcer.

We better stick to Thomas around here from now on.

Girlfriend thought she would take advantage 

of AJ being distracted, totally on edge by his alarming train movie 

& 

help herself to his juice...

She is a sneaky one, I tell ya.

Mud Pies

I am just head. over. heels. in. love...

with Girlfriend's 

CHrIsTmAs kNoT dReSs and bLoOmErS!

Funky colors!

Perfect sewing!

 Ribbon trim!

 Ruffle bloomers!

I can hardly contain myself!

I just can't enough of her in it.

She wears to every holiday occasion we have!

Wait...it gets better....

 She can wear it next year as a stinkin' cute shirt with jeans!

Are you kidding me?!  Can little baby girl fun get any better than this?!

I already have big plans for GF's birthday dress!

So this fabulous knot dress fun can continue after the holidays...whew!

BUT

the absolute best part is...

You can have one too!!!

Just email my amazing friend over at Mud Pies:

mudpies.april@gmail.com 

A Girlfriend In Her Brother's Truck

Really?! Can This Truly Be Real?

My favorite part of writing a post is creating the perfect title to pull you in and set the tone of the whole post.  This part actually takes the most time and consideration, but I love it.

This post could have had a couple different titles, & I had plenty of time to draft them in my head at 1:47 am this morning:

Sometimes I Think Of Having A Third

The post would have continued something like this:  

A third child that is.  Then something happens with my first two children to make me realize that that is just crazy talk, and I tell my husband to just slap me if I start talking like that ever again.

OR I could have titled it:

God Hates Me

but I decided such a  title was a little severe...

Ultimately I decided upon the current title...

slightly cynical, but not too harsh...

won't give my husband a heart attack...

might catch my readers' attention...

allows me to categorize several parenting experiences into one post...

perfect!

So here goes!

There are some things in the world of parenting that just seem too cruel or just plain impossible to be a reality.

I have three examples:

Example A:

Week 36 of my pregnancy with AJ I developed an annoying itchy rash on my baby belly.

I call my OBGYN office and describe the said rash to a nurse to which she replies, "Sounds like you have PUPPP."

Me: Oh, what is that, and more importantly what can I do to make it GO AWAY?!

Nurse:  Well...PUPPP is a rash that less than 1% of women get.

Me: Lucky me...maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.  Ha!

Nurse: It usually occurs in women having a male baby.

Me: Check, the precious muffin in the oven is a boy.

Nurse: And women with excessive weight gain.

Me: Check, I have gained 65 pounds...and could qualify as a new planet.  But, really what can I do to make it GO AWAY?!

Nurse: Well, it usually doesn't dry up until the baby is born...

Me: Haha.  Stop messing with me.  I am as big as a house, hormonally imbalanced, and fairly miserable in this state of wanting to scratch my belly every. given. second. of. the. day.

Nurse:  I am not kidding ma'am.  This is real and unfortunately there is not much you can do...Aveno baths...anti-itch cream.

Me:  Look lady.  

This. really. is. not. funny.  

You are sick and twisted to continue to mess with me like this.

Nurse:  It could be worse, some women get it all over their entire body.  And if you get it once, you usually don't get it again...

Me: right... (click)

Week 38:  It does spread all over my e.n.t.i.r.e. body.   I cry.  I beg to be induced through my screaming and tears.  I am denied it as it increases my risk of having a c-section.

3 days past Week 40 I. kid. you. not. 

AJ is born...

via an emergency c-section no less.

The rash dried up within 24 hours of his birth.

PUPPP is mean

PUPPP is cruel, unusual punishment

PUPPP is real folks.

Example B of seemingly too cruel & impossible parts of parenting:

Potty Training.

enough said.

Example C:

Night Terrors.

The reason why I was awake at 1:47am this morning drafting this post in my head.

AJ has been doing this lovely thing where he wakes up screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night.

That in and of itself is enough to jolt a parent into a special place in the middle of the night, but it gets worse folks...much worse.

It is not just a cry, it is a blood curdling, gut wrenching, top of his lungs scream.

He is truly freaking out.  Terrified of something unknown.  Sweating.  His heart is racing. 

Freaking Out, I tell ya, Freaking Out

His eyes are wide open with a startling look of crazed panic in them, but he does not recognize his very own parents.

He is inconsolable.  Nothing. you. do. snaps him out of it.

This pure hell lasts from 30 to 45 minutes.

He has no memory of it the next day.

& the worst part:

There is not a lot we can do.

After talking to a friend about such traumatic nights, she said, "Sounds like night terrors."

humm?

So after a bit of research, Night Terrors it is.

& like PUPPP...we pretty much just have to live through it.

Usually peaks at age 3 and a half: Check, AJ is exactly 3 and a half

More common among boys: Check, AJ is all boy

Why is this happening?:

He is over tired.

What can we do?

Stick to a bedtime routine.

We do.

The child has a bedtime routine compulsively broken down into ten minute intervals.  

Written on a poster.  

With pictures. 

Posted on his bedroom wall.

Night Terrors are scary.

Night Terrors are awful for everyone involved.

& although, they sound too distressing to be true, Night Terrors really do exist.

The good thing about examples A, B, & C is that 

I have perfect, beautiful children, & their snuggle hugs cancel every bit of these mean, cruel, terrible realities out in one fell swoop.

Lights

Today we put up the lights...

I contributed wrapping the lights around the bottom of the tree below...

FYI:

I will be thrust back into the workforce bright and early in the morning...

5am early as I wrestle getting 2 kids and myself out the door in clean clothes without our hair sticking up by 7am...

Expect a lack of pictures 

& 

sporadic postings over the next three weeks

due to the said return to work.

It's a good thing we got the coffee pot on Black Friday.

Gratitude

I am thankful for a job that gave me the opportunity to be a part of AJ's Thanksgiving feast at school this week.

I am thankful for my feisty son and all the smiles he brings to me.

He introduced me to his teacher as Chance...not mom...Chance!

Really kid?!  How do you even know my first name?

It's mom...or momma...or mommy to you Mister.

He chose the Native American name "Leaping Zebra" for his feast.

imagine that...

(Later that night when I asked him what daddy's name was, he said Percy.)

What?!

On the turkey in his classroom most kids listed their family as what they were thankful for...

AJ said he was thankful for zebras.

nice...

I am thankful for headbands with bling and

a bald daughter to wear them.

I am thankful for great in-laws that gave me the assignment to make pies this year...

and a sister to call about a hundred times to help with the said pies...

and great neighbors to borrow foil from when making pies...

and that no one chipped a tooth on my ever so soft pie crusts...

(I call corn for Christmas.)

AND

I am thankful for a husband that got up to brave Target at 5am 

for my $3 coffeepot, $3 crock pot, & some creamer.

Collateral Damage

Girlfriend is teething.

She isn't a fussy teether.

She just slobbers a lot 

& chews on E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Of all the things in the world she could chew on...

oh, I don't know like...maybe her teething toys...

She chooses my power cord.

She gravitates towards it.

She hunts it down.

She simply notices it &

crawls at warp speed from across the room to get to it.

my. power. cord!

really child?!

$85 later, I have a new power cord.

& AJ is just crazy.

There is no other explanation for it.

One thing that absolutely drives. me. insane. is that 

our laundry room does not have an electrical outlet.

really Berkley?!

no outlet?!

a spacious laundry room without an outlet?!

So in order to iron at my house

oh...I don't know in a logical place like the laundry room,

we have to slide the cord under the door & into the hall to plug it in:

This scene this drives me insane like nobody's business everyday of my life, but

apparently this scene had a different affect on AJ.

Today AJ saw the above scenario, & was just too tempted to grab that cord & 

run like a banshee through the house.

Are. you. kidding. me?!

Crazy, I tell ya.  

That boy has fleeting moments of insanity 

or lapses of judgement 

or just pure bouts of impulsivity.

$101.27 later, I have a new power cord & a new iron.

How exciting.

Didn't anyone tell these children that the most expensive...

I mean the happiest time of the year is just around the corner?

A Challenge

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A Little Man In His Room

It Has Begun

The first of 4:

AJ decorated his Christmas tree this afternoon.

He insisted on putting most of the ornaments on the bottom branches...

so he can see them better from his bed as he falls asleep at night.

More power to ya little buddy.

It's your tree.

Stay tuned for trees 2, 3, & 4.

It Runs In The Family

A love for those 23 flavors.

The Best Gift Ever!

Bella mittens!

Hip Hop Elf Style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Disco Elf Fever!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Sweater Reincarnated & A Turkey Surprise

Something strange happened after I had Girlfriend.

All my clothes shrank.

It's a sad thing really.

Some of my favorite clothes 

just were not gonna happen ever again.

I was having a hard time letting this one go:

It was cute with jeans...

great with slacks...

fun under a denim jacket...

I tried to wear it one last time, 

but a good friend tells ya when your underwear are showing...

our time together was over...perhaps long overdue.

And yet, there it was...

still in my closet taunting me.

Until I came across this fabulous idea!

And now my beloved sweater lives on!

Cuter than ever upon this bald head.

I am just smitten with that vintage button.

&

that little girl under the button!

Oh, and by the way...

I do have two children...

AJ is just never around to be photographed.

He is busy with maintaining his friendships one day a week at daycare, 

preschool 2 days a week, and speech language therapy.

The other day I caught him in a free moment 

to share a turkey surprise (cookie with a turkey ring) with me after nap time.

It was great.

We reconnected over really bad grocery store neon frosting, sprinkles,

 and plastic turkey jewelry.

I just can't get enough of these two!