When I Was A Baby...

As a stay at home mom, I feel like I know my kids pretty well. I feel as if I've been around for all their amazing adventures, but every single day Jayno reminds me of certain things that I have missed. Certain major things that I am sure I would, and should, remember her doing. Things that she always did when she was a baby, but doesn't anymore. You know, since she's a big kid.

What kind of things you ask? Well, the other day I was informed that she walked the 2 miles across the Coronado Bridge. She didn't make it all the way across, however. She fell at one point and luckily landed in the trees in the water. You know, the trees growing in the water that protect you from the sharks swimming around. With the trees in the water, a baby such as Jayno could just swing from limb to limb and get the beach safe and sound.

Today while riding the glass elevator down from her dermatology appointment, Stella informed Teigue and I that: 

"When I was a baby I fell from this elevator." 

Teigue: "You did? Did you get hurt?" 

Stella: "No, I just grabbed onto those [beams] and swung down to the ground." 

Teigue: "Wow, you were lucky those were there."

Each day I learn more and more about events that I have missed in her little life. She used to drive a car, walked in the canyon by herself and fight the coyotes... Each tale always starts with "When I was a baby, I...". Pretty amazing life my little almost 3 year old has had. 

Let the Crafting Begin!

It's been looking a lot like Christmas around here- glitter, gingerbread, snowflake hole punches (thank you Martha!). Did you know that I love this time of year? You know what else I love? Doing crafts outside. 

You know what Stella loves? Putting a wet stocking on her head so all the glitter and sequins get stuck in her hair. Pretty festive my little lady is!

Thanksgiving

What an amazing time we had at Thanksgiving. We invited our most favorite people here in San Diego, welcomed some cousins from the rainy Northwest, ate some wonderful food, drank some tasty beverages...it was just a perfect day. Brady and I actually feel as if it was our most fun Thanksgiving ever. The sun decided to come out and warm us up for a bit so we were able to eat outside and enjoy our new and improved deck. The kids played with their buddies and cousins allowing Brady and I time to actually chat with our guests. Imagine that! 

Wait...what were the kids doing? Oh yeah, that's right. They were destroying the gingerbread house that they made with Brady 3 days before...and could not wait to eat up. Mom, can we have the gingerbread house now? No, on Thanksgiving. Well, is today Thanksgiving? Every day I heard this. They knew they had to wait until all the kids arrived to devour it. It was no surprise to anyone that when Iris arrived at 2:00, out came the house and away the decorations and icing went.

It was also no surprise that when the food was finally done, most of the kids had two bites and declared themselves Full! and moved on to the next activity- which was usually making Max bury them under the piles of pillows on the couch and making each of us "find" the kids- because that crazy Max always loses them on his watch. This usually ends up with the kids laughing hysterically and declaring that they want to do it over and over again.

Ok, can we have Thanksgiving again this week?

Billy Week One

One week ago we brought Billy home and into our family. How has it been? I would never would have thought that a stinky little labrador would have such a positive effect on our family after just one week. Our little lady has woken up happy and undemanding every single day, temper tantrums are no existant, and my floor have never been cleaner...well certain patched of my floors anyway.

 He helps Teigue and Brady win every time at Mario.

 Teigue decided that he wanted to nap next to Billy on the living room floor. During the day. When it was still light out.

He discovreed that Stella's play dog bed- meant for her small stuffed animals- is the best place for afternoon naps.

And Stella's bed is the best place for sleeping at night. Especially if a little boy is also in the bed.

He played in the rain, discovered the spider webs under the deck, gave us loads of love, fell in love with one of Stella's baby dolls and has adopted it as his own, and has just made us all so happy and thankful that we have him in our life and family. It would be better if he would pee outside more often , but oh well.

Yohigho!!

Yes, I realize we have been home for more than a week and I should have posted these pictures on Saturday, the day after we arrived back. But you see, I have a newborn at home. A very cute, hairy pee pee smelling newborn that doesn't understand that he needs to sleep through the night and pee outside. Combine that with a husband that conveniently went out of town for the week after getting puppy...well, I was tired. I fell asleep every night after telling the kids stories and spent my days chasing a dog out of certain areas that he was so fond of peeing in (why is carpet so much better to pee on than grass, deck, or even hardwood floors??) and cleaning up that pee. Well, here we are, YOHIGHO! 

We arrived late Friday night and landed in Ohio's first snowfall of the year. Driving down the highway we were surrounded by trees dusted with white, slushy roads and falling snow. We were so excited- we couldn't wait to wake up and play, build snowmen, throw snowballs...but alas, that was not to be. Thankfully, it did snow again during the day and we were so very excited to get out there and catch some snowflakes.

(and by we I mean me...I was a tad obsessive about getting the kids out before the snow stopped so I could grab that all important picture of them in their first snowfall...Sorry Brady...next time I'll let you put on some real clothes. At least the kids had their super cute hats on.)

After playing outside and having the most fun ever playing with all the apples that had fallen from Gram's tree, we headed on inside to play some Monster Match and Go Fish! that Gram thankfully played over and over and over again.

The next day was a little warmer, but a tad bit more treacherous. Did you know that Gram has an abominable snowman living in her backyard?! Thankfully Daddy showed us all the correct way to fight them. 

 We love you D'd and Toddfinney.

The rest of the time? We just played and played, loved Grandma, spent time with family and found a super fun park to play in that had zip lines, tire swings and loads of bad guys. 

Did I mention we loved Grandma. Yeah, just a little bit.

 Until next time, Yohigho.

Summer Has Finally Arrived

Yesterday and today it was 90º, low tide was in the afternoon and water temps were in the mid 60s. Of course we went to the beach- summer has finally arrived!

Yesterday we headed to the tide pools at Cabrillo. We climbed cliffs, hunted for crabs and found more hermit crabs than, um, I could handle.

Today we had the intention of again visiting Cabrillo, but instead made a B line for Coronado. 8 foot waves pulled us there- waves that a little boy so very very wanted to jump in to, but also realized that maybe he was just a little bit too little for such big kid waves. It sure was hard to resist.

 

This week, 90º and the beach- next week, OHIO!!!

Halloween Part I

I am sure that this will be the only time that I get Teigue is his full Mario costume. We discovered 3 seconds after putting on the construction paper mustache and oversized gloves that they were just too ticklish for this sensitive 4 year old and had to be immediately discarded. Why don't my kids know they have to suffer for candy! Deal with the oversized ill fitting mustache! At least my little purple witch wore her mustache and dealt with the annoyance. Candy was on the line- she knew what was at stake!

Bitty Baby's Rash

This actually happened a week or so ago. Pictures were on old hard drive. Thankfully I had this blurry one on my phone to tell this story.

I'm just going to let you all look at that picture for a moment. Try to figure out what is covering that Bitty Baby's butt, Jayno's legs, arms and belly. Oh, it was also on Stella's floor and play table (and later our couch, walls and bedding). Think you know what it is? 

Last week sometime Jayno was quietly playing in her room with her babies. I could hear her chatting away while I was in the other room, but I thought nothing of it. That is what Stella does all the time. Then my little naked lady comes running out of her room holding her baby- frantic. She didn't say anything, she just showed me the baby's behind. I could only see this smooth light brown substance that was covering the baby's back, Jayno's arms and legs...I instantly thought the worst. Maybe she wanted the baby to be like her? Maybe she wanted a more realistic doll? Why on Earth is she covered in it?!

I need not have worried. You see, Stella got a full (brand new just opened) jar of creamy peanut butter out of the fridge and emptied it on her American Girl doll. Why you ask? Why because the poor baby had a diaper rash. Stella was just trying to make the bumps go away with a little bit of cream. Ahhh, yes, why of course. No wondered she was so frantic, her poor little one was all sore on her tookus.

Thankfully tall was fixed with a little dish soap. Thankfully I was informed that American Girl has a hospital (thanks Timmy) for the future "rashes" this little one may have.

Teigue's Lonely Bed

I know what you're thinking: "Wait, it's 9:10 p.m., why is Teigue's bed empty?! Have you gone mad keeping him up well into prime be by yourselves time?!" Before you start thinking that Brady and I have turned all batty and are keeping Teigue up late, letting him sleep in our bed, couch, whatever...let me explain. 

You see, a few months back Danpa came to visit. In previous visits from family and friends, we usually gave the guest Teigue's bed (since it is a nice full size bed and pretty darn comfortable), while Teigue slept with us in our bed. Well, this is all fine and good except that Teigue REALLY likes to kick Brady and the back all night long and enjoys sleeping sideways. Which means Brady and I really don't get much sleep. Since Danpa was staying for a few days, Teigue sharing our bed would just not work- enter old crib mattress. At one point Teigue was in the teeny toddler bed that Stella now has and Stella was in her crib, so we had two mattresses. Well, one mattress was just hanging out all lonely in our storage room- it was brought up Teigue to sleep on in Stella's room while Danpa slept in Teigue's room. I figured that after Dan left the mattress would make a perfect couch of sorts- perfect for reading and telling stories in Stella's room. Well, I was wrong.

You see, Teigue has decided that his super cozy, full sized big boy bed is just not cutting it. Instead, he has deemed the super small, quite hard and not so comfortable crib mattress a much better bed. For the last 3 months, Teigue has been sleeping on the floor in Stella's room.

Some nights, they have even fallen asleep together in her bed. I mean, why share Teigue's full sized bed when there is a perfectly teeny tiny doll sized toddler bed to cozy up in?

I always knew that my kids would sleep in the same bed at one point in their lives (I loved sleeping in my brother's room when I was little), but for some reason I always figured it would be Stella heading into Teigue's room. Never occurred to me that it would be the other way around. 

Again??

Uh, Stell, what's that on your chin? Jelly? Oh, yet another bonk on your face. 

 How'd you get it?

Reason #287,098 Why I Love My Kids

Holding hands in the truck, just because. 

Billy Fox

Have I mentioned Stella's very slight, minimal even obsession with puppies? Like how she would be a puppy if such a thing was possible? How we call her the Puppy Master and all bed time stories must involve at least one bad guy and puppies? Have I also mentioned Stella's um...strong personality? Her screaming for close to 25 minutes to get her way type of strong personality? Yeah, it has started to be a bit much. We know she is still 2 and this sort of behavior is normal for her age, but man, it sure can be trying. There is little that we can do to calm her, she gets herself so worked up, but we know that she has the ability if she just would try. To help her along we have asked for the help of Ollio, our friendly Christmas Elf. 

Yes, yes, I realize that it is not yet Halloween and we are already busting out Ollio. I too hate it when Target brings out their Christmas stock when the Halloween stuff is still out. But you see, we need Ollio and the power of Santa to help us. We have tried everything to stop the tantrums- ignoring the behavior, sticking to a schedule, quiet time, limited sugar, pleading, begging, crying...everything. Now, like most parents before us, we have started bribing our little lady with the promise that Santa will bring her a puppy if she is able to control her behavior. You know what- for the last 2 weeks our house has been calmer and happier than it has for a very long time. It is actually working. Thank God.

We headed out to a breeder today to just check out some 5 week old puppies with the slight possibility that we would get one. OK, we knew, we're not that strong. The way that this breeder works, whomever gives a deposit first, has first choice on a dog. Since we were the last to deposit, we get last pick. When means we are forced to take one of these guys:

One of these little fellers will be coming home with us on November 7th. We either get the chunky wittle white stinky wabador or we get the chunky sweepy darker stinky wabador. Kind of a win win for us.

Teigue is so excited about our new member, he wants to go get him tomorrow. He has decided that when we go pick him up, he will carry Billy to the truck and Billy will ride in his lap. No, scratch that, safety patrol captain has deemed that not safe, instead he will ride in the middle of the two seats on a pillow from Jayno's room and covered up with Teigue's blanket. We fell in love today. Hopefully Billy will help Stella work out her emotions in the future.