Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I'll Bet You...

...ten bucks that you can't tell who is who!
They were waiting so patiently for their "pock-corn!"
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I'm feeling particularly snarky today. I'm not really sure what snarky means but it sounds like how I feel, so I'm going with it. Right now the big boys are supposed to be napping but instead Ben's singing Old McDonald and Abe's calling out for "choc-a-gone" a.k.a chocolate milk. I keep going back and forth between telling them to cool it and just listening and laughing at their antics. Two is fun. EXHAUSTING but fun.

Today, while the boys played in the backyard, I worked a little in the garden {and by worked, I really mean watered and imagined beautiful state fair winning produce}. It was nice until I noticed that one of my tomato plants was stripped of all 3 of it's little green tomatoes. Bummer. I've been trying so hard to teach the boys the value of caring for plants. How we treat them just like Judah-gentle and we don't walk on them! We give them "drinks" of water, pat the soil to "tuck them in," and pray to God and ask Him to grow them for us to eat. However, the only part that seems to have stuck is the "eat them" part. In time, I guess.

In other news, Ben randomly announced on Sunday that he wanted to go potty on the toilet. When I tried to put him on his training chair, he said no and asked to get on the big toilet. We gave it a whirl but my arms started to give out after a good five minutes of our balancing act. So my question is, have any of you tried the toilet insert, as opposed to the stand alone training chair? Have you had more success? Less? Suggestions! Volunteers!! {Worth a try, right?!}

Saturday, April 24, 2010

According to Jer, Part IIV

{Overheard conversation between Jeremy and Ben}

Ben: Dramatically crying

J: "Son, you don't eat bananas while you roll around in a tunnel."

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{Recent conversation between Jeremy and I regarding our new endeavor to start composting}

Me: "I know what will keep the boys outta the compost pile!"

J: "What? Sharks with laser beams on their heads?!"

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Just A Night

Right now it's 7:42 and there's two little boys sitting on the floor surrounded by overturned bowls of popcorn. Really, they should be in their pj's and heading off to brush their teeth but tonight their daddy and I seem to have a non-verbal agreement to let it go and so they're watching cartoons and munching away on my leftover snack from an earlier trip to Target. As for their little brother, well, he's laying in my lap, chewing on his hands as if his life depended on it and cooing at the ceiling. His rubber-band wrists are dripping with slobber and his roly-poly legs just keep contentedly kicking away.

And it's in this moment that I realize it's these things that need to be blogged about, as well. There's no amazing pictures to post, no great story to tell, no funny joke to recall. It's just simply a moment that on any other night might just go unnoticed. But not tonight.

Tonight, it seems like more.

Tonight, I think it's just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Dino-MITE

This weekend, Jer and I decided to take advantage of a rainy Saturday and took the boys to The Museum of Natural History. I think it was the sheer size of the statues...
...and the museum's open mouth staging to help emphasize their sharp teeth...
...that made for such a leery Mister A.B..
Ben, on the other hand, LOVED every second of it...
...except for the fact that none of the dinos moved when
he called to them :)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Restaurant Revolt

I'll be the first to admit that I am a creature of habit. I like what I like and that's about all that I like. This is especially true when it comes to the only two places I that I like to eat out at, Dion's and Taco Cabana. I guess I didn't realize just how much this affected the people closest to me though, until our little family was in the drive thru at Taco C on Friday night. As soon as we pulled up, the boys started crying, "No pizza! No pizza! No pizza!" Totally confused but urgent to stop the crying so we could hear to order, I tried explaining to them that we were indeed NOT there for pizza but rather for tacos. It was at this point that Ben, with crocodile tears still on his cheeks, happily replied, "Combo!" Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. Guess it's time to change it up a bit, huh?!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

4 Months Old!

Judah had his four month check-up this last week and everything looked great! He weighed in at 13 lbs. 13 oz, was 24 1/2 inches long, and had a head circumference of 42 cm! He's just getting so big and so fast! It's hard to believe we're a third of the way through his first year!
In honor of his four month celebration, our sweet boy has also started pulling an 11 hour stretch at night. I must say, even though we've been followng Babywise again, it has been no where near as strict this time around. This boy naps when he ABSOLUTELY HAS TO, mostly in his carseat a little here and in his bouncer a little there. Basically, I've just been a lot more lax about his schedule because, well, let's face it! I'm tired!! Anyway, I was worried that might carry over into his night time sleeping but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. For the last two weeks, he's been sleeping soundly from about 8:30 to between 7:30-8 the next morning! Ahhhhhhhh, sleep! Everything seems so much more doable with sleep!
As for The Deuce, they are just as smitten with their brother as ever! They luuuuuuuv their Jew-Jew! It's been especially sweet to see Judah start to respond to the boys though. He smiles, laughs, and coos at them and they just eat that up! No one's tried anything particularly daring...yet. Although I did find an Annie's Cheddar Bunny floating around in Judah's mouth the other day. I might not have noticed it but he was gagging so stinkin' dramatically that it practically screamed "LOOK, MA! LOOK!" Added bonus though, I did get to see the Tongue Thrust Reflex in vibrant action. Guess that reaffirms our decision to wait on solids.

Now that the weather is finally warming up, we've been having quite a few play dates and frequenting the zoo, park, and aquarium. While it's been a welcomed break to our previous months of being homebodies, it's also been very interesting learning to navigate the ropes of traveling solo with 3 wee ones! The hard part isn't so much getting there as it is just figuring out the best way to maneuver once we're there. Luckily, I have amazing group of friends who are always quick to lend a hand and slow to judge. Isn't it amazing how motherhood can create such a bond between women?!
This last month, Judah also took his first trip on an airplane and went to Austin, Texas with his daddy and me! Jeremy participated in the Austin Record Convention and I tagged along to spend time with my sister, bro-in-law, and his parents.
It was a splendid couple of days spent touring Austin and San Antonio and just spending some one-on-one time with our Judah Boy! The Texas size breakfasts weren't too shabby either.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter Sunday

Our family had an absolutely wonderful Easter Sunday! One of the nicest I can remember having, in fact! For some odd reason, we were ridiculously organized and prepared for our early morning church breakfast, the time of worship that followed, and the afternoon egg hunt and lunch at Mimi and Pop's. An extremely rare feat these days but certainly not an unwelcome one! The weather was gorgeous and we spent most of the day outside on the back porch playing on the swing, laughing at my niece's knock-knock jokes, and just plain shooting-the breeze.
I must say, Judah's really good at breeze-shootin. Just make sure that belly's full and he'll shoot the day away!
See? More shootin!
The big boys played their hearts out on the slide and in the sand box stopping only for...
...a water break every now and then.
And just when they thought it couldn't get any better, out came the Easter baskets! Despite Mimi's best efforts to hide the candy in the bottom of the basket hoping the fun toys would distract them, they would not be deceived. Those boys can sniff out a piece of candy from miles away. I know. I've seen them do it at the park.
And once those baskets were empty, there was only one right thing to do. Fill em' up! With Easter eggs!
But not without a little coaching first...
...except for Judah, he decided to just shoot some more breeze with Nana.
And last but not least, what spring day could be enjoyed by a little boy without a bug in a jar. Oh man, did A.B. enjoy this honey bee that daddy caught for him. He shook carried his "bee-sh hou-sh" around for most of the day before the poor bee just. stopped.buzzing. Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, right?!
I just wonder if the bee would have said the same thing.