Bloggity, Blog, Blog, Blog

It would take me a week to catch up on everything I want to blog about. Christmas with the family, Zee visiting, shopping, shopping and more shopping, so much to tell. Unfortunately, there is not enough time. We are leaving Saturday to spend 10 days with the Becker side of the family, the Biorns, Murray/Ramon and our friends in San Angelo. In the meantime, I'm trying to pack for a plane trip, road trip, Christmas presents and a wedding. So here are some highlights to the last week.

Bug had 3 firsts in the same day: first Christmas, first fall off the bed and first cat food. He loved everything but the rug rash from the carpet.

Little Man got a car from his Great-Grandma Elaine (my dad's mom). It's one of his favorite presents. When you push the button it lights up underneath, has hydraulics and plays "Low Rider". How long til I can make it disappear?

Little Man singing "frosty the snowman has a very shiny nose!"

Bug walking. Seriously. He doesn't take more than 2 or 3 steps at a time. But he's doing it all the time now.

Bug's words. He started picking up the phone and saying "he-wo". I'm biased and he's the cutest thing EVER.

Shopping with the girls. All day.

My new SEWING MACHINE that Santa surprised me with.

Little Man's new 'puter. It's a v-tech laptop. Wil couldn't believe that it was the first thing he wants to play with in the morning. What's that... like father, like son thing?

Zee waking up with the boys in the middle of the night. Sleep is amazing.


I better get back to work. Please don't be surprised if you don't get a Christmas card til February.

I need a little Christmas now.

Wil works for a large government contractor. It's a big company with offices nationwide, the kind of company that doesn't just do a run of the mill holiday party. It's a PARTY! The kind you get dressed up for. The kind of thing that we can't afford to go to on our own. There's a full schedule of events that looks something like this:

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Cocktail Reception
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Dinner
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm Dessert

6:00 – 10:30 pm – Complimentary Portraits
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Casino
7:00 pm – midnight – Band/Dancing

The babysitter is scheduled. My outfit is all picked out! A fancy dinner and DANCING at no cost to us!!!

And my husband has the stomach flu.

So instead of getting all dressed up, tonight I will be scrounging together random leftovers to feed the kids and doing laundry. Woo Hoo!

Counting Down

My sister will be home the day after tomorrow!!!!!!! My sanity can't wait much longer than that. I only have to make it through One. More.Day. without strangling my children. Thank goodness.

And just because I'm wondering... has anyone else threatened that Santa won't come to town this year?

Zizi better hurry.

Bug and Monkey

Little Man wanted to take pictures like Zizi. He's a Monkey from head to toe.

Bug and his bed head:

This is what happens when he wakes up early from his nap:

Short and Sweet

Because my to do list is creeping onto a second page, I've got to keep this quick. But of course I wanted to fill you in on our happenings this weekend.

Friday night was dinner with some of my friends from high school. Luckily Kristyn brought her camera and sums it up nicely on her blog. Check it out. (We had to get the babysitter home, so we missed the Vanilla Ice-capades.)

Saturday:

Little Man and Wil were getting ready for the Ward Christmas Party. Bug was very upset that he wasn't allowed in.

At the party, after they did a small program of the Christmas Story, some of the kids put Bug in the manger.

Yesterday after the kids napped (!!!!!), we headed to dinner with our friends/home teachers. Their daughter is a month older than Little Man and one of his best friends. He doesn't quite understand that she gets to go to Sunbeams and he doesn't. He's gonna be heartbroken.

A Moment of Weakness

I realize now that this problem started about 6 months ago... you see I'm the one addicted to the pacifier. About a year ago, Little Man realized that his nunie meant bedtime and he chucked it across the room. Hard. A couple months after Bug was born he wanted it back. This is where I made the big mistake. Having anticipated that he might revert, I let him have his pacifier back. I should have been strong then. Now we're attached to that thing. Attached. Really attached. So after a very lllloooonnnnngggg night, I stopped at Stuff Mart and bought a pack of shiny new nunies. They look almost exactly like the one we threw away last night. I took it as a sign. A sign that I didn't have to suffer another 2 and half hours of crying followed by a sleepness night with Little Man's death grip on my arm. A sign that we wouldn't have to spend 4 hours on a plane without it. A sign that it was meant to be. Little Man's mommy needs that pacifier. Really she does.

Goodbye, Dear Friend

Tonight around 8:30pm, you met your end. A hole bitten into your silicone. You were thrown away without much of a thought, until he crawled into bed. You have been Little Man's comforter and support for almost 3 years. You have been my life line.... peaceful afternoons, quiet car rides and easy bedtimes. Oh, yellow nunie, I miss you already!

Check it out!!!

I'm the roommate and this is my little sister!

I wonder what's coming

It's 11:20 pm and I just got home. I'm exhausted. It's been a long day in a long and busy week. Here's how it went. The boys "slept in". They woke up at 7:30, but they didn't go to bed until almost 10 last night. Little Man threw a fit because I wouldn't let him have pink milk first thing in the morning. Bug threw a fit because he wanted Little Man's sippy cup instead of a bottle. I got them both fed and realized that we were down to our last clean bottle. I got the dishwasher started and noticed that I only had about 20 minutes to get us all dressed and out the door. Little Man was coloring quietly so I took the chance to get myself ready. When I came back out to the kitchen he had erased my white board calendar. (My phone/pda freaked out on Wednesday, the kitchen calendar was my back-up. I have no idea what I have scheduled next week. Please don't be surprised/offended if I don't show up somewhere next week. I mean, really, what were the chances that I would lose both at the same time.) I got both the boys dressed and out the door. We went to Music Makers and the Sprint store. As we were headed to get nuggets for lunch, Little Man got upset about something. I turned the car around when he told me to shut up for the third time in five minutes. We got home, had lunch and were playing until naptime. That's when Bug got himself STUCK IN THE BATHROOM. And when I say stuck... I mean REALLY STUCK.

He pushed to door opened - apparently it hadn't latched all the way - crawled in behind the door, pushed the door closed and started opening the drawers on the bathroom cabinet. The opened drawers made it impossible to open the door more than a couple inches. And he was still right up against the door. He would play happily until he would hear me, or feel the door move, then he would start to cry hard. After a few futile tempts to get the drawers closed, I called my dad. He came up from his basement office and figured it out in about 5 minutes. That's when we realized that Bug had been playing with a sample size bottle of mouthwash and it was open. There was a small puddle on the floor, his shoes and pants smell minty fresh. I didn't call Poison Control, maybe I should have. I did wonder at the fact that Little Man is almost 3 and we've never had a run in with anything potenially toxic, but Bug has managed it in 9 months.

Once that crisis was over, it was naptime.... GLORIOUS naptime. The evening has been busy with baby showers and trips to Wal-mart sans small children. Unfortunately, Bug's little escapade has left me wondering what's in store for the future. I'm sure being stuck in the bathroom is only the beginning.......

Thanksgiving Preview

There's a ton of stuff I need to blog about... Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Festival of Trees, but unfortunately I don't have the time today to do it justice. So I'm going to give you a quick preview.

Bug is standing!!! He's also walking behind any push toy he can get his hands on. I'm in big trouble now.

Little Man "helping" with dinner. He was supposed to put the peanut butter on the celery, but he spent most of the time eating the celery and grapes. I just love his "ho ho" chef's hat and apron.

Be Thankful

my husband, who does the dishes and folds the laundry without complaint

for Mom and Baby!
for allowing me to get some sleep!

Spray & Wash Dual Action
my purple bedroom
Herbie the minivan and his heated seats
shopping
chocolate
the smell of something fresh baked
eating out
my family
naptime
Bedtime!
"mac and roni" and hotdogs
dear friends
long, hot showers
my own space
a washer and dryer that work
good health
my cute flower headband
spanish sundaes
Sweetwater, Maggianos, and the other fun places we go for special occasions
good movies and books
google reader
blogs to help us keep in touch
the Gospel of Jesus Christ
the list goes on and on.....

What are you thankful for?

All I want for Christmas...

When I was little my Grandmother would start asking for our Christmas lists sometime in September, reminding us frequently if she didn't have it. She's 85 now and doesn't ask, but I'm so in the habit that I usually have a running list in my head (or on Amazon). Here's this years list:

An assortment of Ikea boxes for our Expedit shelves

Curtains for our living room (with curtains rods) These are both Ikea, too.

A cool lamp for our bedroom (also Ikea)

I've been wanting something with the boys' names on it. I like this one.

Wii
This cool notepad
Convertible gloves
This is the best picture I could find. I'd like something a little more subtle...maybe black.
And here's my crazy random Amazon list.

Christmas comes early?

I know you've been waiting on pins and needles for this one.... We have FINALLY worked out all the kinks and updated the BeckerFam website. There's a ton of new pictures up for you to enjoy.

Have fun!

Frivolousity

Is that a word? Yes? No? I don't care.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 I'm dropping my kids off with a friend so I can spend 4 hours with a group of friends going to see Twilight. I shouldn't spend the money, but I don't really care. I wasn't even excited to see it until Book Club tonight when they started talking about their plans. Now I can't wait.

On an unrelated note... We had the sister missionaries over for dinner tonight. We have a new sister in the ward and I kept thinking that she seemed really familiar to me. Then I realized that she reminds me of my dear friend, Anke. I nannied for her little boy when I lived in Germany. Sister Mourier doesn't really look like her, but her voice and reactions were uncanny. It's been 10 years since I've seen Anke, her husband Raffi and their kids (at the time they had 3 or 4, now I think they have 6). It made me miss Anke. A lot.

There's a party in my tummy

Don't forget to check out the recipes on the Calvert Ward Recipe blog! These would be great (and super easy!) if you need to take a dessert for a holiday function. This one was fabulous too!

Blogging, International Style - The list continues

I started my list in this post and it continues to grow. We're up to 25!!!! countries (that includes the US). In the last month we've added: Germany, Croatia, Greece, Poland, Philippines, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Venezuela, Malta and Indonesia.

I know most of these people are randomly finding my blog when they google something and from the looks of it there are a lot of people in those countries who can't tell the difference between morning sickness and the flu. Can't help you there.

But now that we've started this list, I want to see how many countries we can add. So, if you know anyone who lives in a country not on the list, pass on the link. I would offer a prize if they leave a comment, but we all know that there's no way I'm taking my boys into the post office. Sorry.

Vielen Dank, Obrigado, Gracias, Merci....

I've got your back

At night when I put my boys to bed in their room, they decide which one of them is going to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and cry for mommy. They are kind enough to take turns (most of the time) so that I only have to cajole one back to sleep, usually in my bed, with no hopes of me getting any kind of restful sleep. Bug is usually the culprit, but this weekend when he miraculously slept for almost 12 hours straight, Little Man picked up the slack and made sure that I got my 3am wake up call.

It's nice to know that they're there for each other. Now they just need to watch out for mommy and let her get a full night's sleep... just one this week. Please.

The Rules

A few months ago a couple of my friends and I started a Joy School program for our 2 year olds. We modified it some from the original program because our kids are younger than the normal 3-4-5 year olds who can handle 2-3 hours 2-3 times a week. Plus since we're the teachers too, none of us could handle the thought of the time or energy that would take. One of the we do each week is review the Joy School Rules. In October we had the class here at our apartment, which meant that for the month we had a BIG poster hanging on the wall with the rules. They're pretty simple: no hitting or pushing/ be nice to your joy school friends, walk with quiet feet, talk with quiet voices, clean up the toys, sit still and listen when someone is talking.

A couple weeks after we sent the Joy School poster on to the next home, we hung up our own "House Rules". We had them printed in vinly lettering and hung them in the hall at toddlerish height. We try to review them as often as possible.

A couple days after they were up, Little Man was having an issue of some sort with Bug. I don't remember exactly what is was, but I asked him what the Rules were in our house. He replied that he didn't remember or didn't know. So I pointed him in the direction of the hall and told him to go and look. He walked instead to where the poster had hung and was devastated that it wasn't there. When I showed him the House Rules on the wall, he was so happy to see them there. He pointed at each one and recited his Joy School Rules.

"One! Don't hit. Three! Clean up. One!...."

Zeelightful!

Any of you who have little girls (and I know that's most of you!!!) check out Zee's new esty shop. She's s selling the cutest custom made tutus. They would be great for Christmas, a birthday, or even a shower gift. This is a onesie tutu:

She will also do matching tutus for 12 inch dolls:
She's amazing!

Skary Skeleton

In an effort to get better pictures of Bug in his Halloween costume, I made our bed, got him dressed in his costume and grabbed the camera. This was the result:

The pressure

Quite often as things are happening I'm thinking about the best way to blog the event. It doesn't really matter what it is... Bug's nasty diaper, Little Man's use of the word "shut-up" or that his "tr" sounds like an "f", happy things, frustrating things... you name it. Then I get sidetracked by the next tantrum or cuddle and they never make it up here. Sometimes I wonder if this is really interesting to anyone but me (and maybe Zee or Mimi because they like the pictures of the boys). Then I hear of how someone I've never met or barely know who reads the stuff I write. I wonder what brings them back? What is it that makes them want to read what I post? Do they come back to read about our lives again? How do I sound to people who don't really know me? Do I sound like I'm completely frazzled and frustrated by my boys? Are they coming to see the train wreck? Do I blog enough about the good stuff and the cute things they do? Do they know that I love my boys even when they drive me crazy?

Of course these are completely rhetorical questions. As much as I live for comments and input, we all know that it usually comes down to what there's time and energy to accomplish (which means that sometimes you get frazzled... sorry.) But maybe tonight as I'm trying to fall asleep I'll think of something cute I wanted to post about Bug and how at 8 months he can propel himself out of the bathtub in 2.2 seconds or how when Little Man gets in trouble he tells me that he's "so so so so sorry" in the sweetest voice I've ever heard.

You're gonna think I'm crazy...

If I had $1200 and a place to put it, I would own this chair.

The boys

I'm not sure what this post will tell you about my parenting abilities. Oh well.

1. I was so happy that Bug was playing quietly while I was making dinner tonight, until I realized that he was playing with the light socket. Yep. Sticking his fingers in it. I took this picture right after I found him. He looks way too pleased with himself.
2. I was talking to Jason and Melissa in the hall at church about something cute Little Man said about their daughter. Jason was teasing me about my inability to parent when I realized that Little Man was no where in sight. Someone had found him down the hall, doing who knows what and had kindly brought him back. I think Jason was behind it all.
   
3. Little Man was playing "puzzles" yesterday... but we don't really own any puzzles, at least not the put together kind. He made his own. He took dominoes out of the big box and arranged them into the lid until they fit perfectly. I was totally impressed and a little scared.
4. Bug has started refusing baby food. There are meals when he only wants foods that he can feed himself. Believe me, I have no problem with him being independent. Unfortunately, it means that he's only eating carbs (puffs, cheerios, bread, etc.). Not sure how to handle this one. I can't tell an 8 month old that he can't have his bread until he eats 2 bites of his fruit and veggies.
5. We watched Polar Express (the "train and ho ho show") tonight. I think Christmas is going to be fun this year. Little Man would like Santa to bring him a birthday present.
6. My pump is still sitting next to my bed. Little Man has decided that it's the perfect pretend dr's tools. He uses the tubes, along with a click on LED light, to look for bugs in your ears and hair. I'm still trying to figure out why he thinks there are bugs in our ears or hair.
7. While cuddling with the boys yesterday morning, Bug stood up on our bed to see what was on the headboard. He somehow managed to grab a hold of the cord to the lamp that sits above our bed. I'm not sure how it happened, but the lamp ended up in pieces, the headboard is scratched and we have nice clean sheets. (No one was hurt in the process!)
   
8. Last of all, Bug clapped today!

Fascinating

I went shopping with a friend this weekend to help her put together some new winter outfits. As a thank you for my time and input, she picked up a headband and a fascinator. This is what they look like:
The feathers on the one I have don't stick up as much as they do in this picture. It will get the most use... cause it's a headband, easy to slide on and because it's black. I even wore it to church today. The best part is that Bug didn't even notice it on my head.
I'm trying to put together the right outfit for this one. I picked it because the flowered ones look easy to make - this would be a nightmare with all the feathers. I wouldn't be surprised if it found it's way into someone's suitcase after Christmas.

So now I'm wondering how Sarah would feel if I made one to wear to the wedding....

Sonic vs. Chick-Fil-A

After moving to TX years ago, I got introduced to 2 fast food restaurants, Sonic and Chick-Fil-A. I fell in love with both. However, up here in MD we don't have Sonic, but we have Chick-Fil-A and tonight my fabulous wife brought me home a Cookies & Cream milkshake. It isn't Sonic Good, but man it does fill in when I need a really good milkshake.

The real trouble comes when one of my best friends calls me from his local drive-in. I think it has become one of his favorite past-times. So, when we are in the south, we make it a point to stop once at a Sonic.

Chick-Fil-A, is a great place if you want chicken and milkshakes. Sigh, both are great! I wish we had either in the county, but we don't.

wil

Looking to the future

Am I disappointed in the outcome? Yeah.
Am I worried about how it will effect the future? A little.
Am I really just ready for this to be over so we can move on? Hell, yeah. (Yep. I just made this blog PG-13) I have much more pressing things to worry about. Things like, how to get my Little Man to use the potty so we can cut our diaper budget in half. Or getting Bug well again so we can all sleep. The rest will work itself out.

So I'll leave you with something that is sure to make anyone smile.

I'm not crazy. Really. I'm not.

We made another trip to the doctor today. I'm not happy that Bug has another ear infection, but it was a relief to know I'm not crazy. I'm not imagining the change to his normally happy behavior (look at that face!). The fussing, crying and picky eating is all coming from the same source. With all of the holiday activities and family stuff going on, it's been difficult to see the fine line between the problems caused by the change in routine or something else. But today was the final straw. I knew there was the distinct possibility that I would be paying $100 for the doctor to tell me that everything was fine, but I was determined to have him check everything possible. In the last few weeks, Bug has gone from sleeping through the night to waking a couple times to waking up between midnight and 2 and only sleeping if I'M HOLDING HIM. I love his soft sweet cuddles and it's hard sometimes to give them up. If I don't I'm going to lose my mind. It's nice to know that there's a reason behind the rapid deterioration of his sleep habits. And that there should be decent night's sleep somewhere in the future.

I'm realizing though that this doctor's appointment is leading us down a familiar road. Ear tubes. It's been exactly a month since the last infection was diagnosed. And there's a pretty good possibility that he's had this one for two weeks already. (Bug wouldn't sit still for the last test and we couldn't get a reading.) That means we are starting month 2 of the 3 month process before we will be sent to the specialist. Luckily, we really like our ENT and I know what to expect. Unfortunately that also means that this whole process will fall in the middle of our trip to Texas. Let's hope and pray that we don't have a 10 month old with fluid in his ears on the plane. That would be a nightmare.

Bawk-Bawk-B-Gawk

Dear Mr. Chicken Light,
You may look innocent enough, but you are not. You came into out house as a gift and have worn away at my sanity for the last year with your constant squawking. I'm sorry that you were accidentally lost at the bonfire on Saturday. If I wasn't worried about what you would do to Kristyn's sanity if found by her children, I would leave you there.
Waiting for your demise,
The Mommy

Lazy Sunday . . .

NOT!

So, this morning started like any other, Bug waking up in the middle of the night. Me getting him & Lauren taking care of him so that I could sleep. The 2nd or 3rd time he woke up, I got up for the day. The next time he work up, I took him for the morning. We played and talked and then Little Man work up some time later. He then helped me make pancakes while Bug snacked on Sweet Potato Puffs.

Lauren got up when she smelled breakfast. Bug ate the majority of 4 silver dollar sized-pancakes. Little Man ate 2 and we enjoyed breakfast! Then, I was going to get ready for church . . . until the power went out. Yeah, so, we decided that if it took to long we would make it a family day. So, back into bed for tickling, steamrolling, and cuddles.

Then, with plenty of time for me to get ready . . . the power came back on. So, with a flurry of activity Little Man & I got ready for church. There went the nice fun family day.

At this point, the day has been a good one.

Feeling the Love aka Sugar, Shots and Sleep

I've had two people comment this weekend on my lack of blogging and honestly, I didn't even realize that it had been over a week. There are so many posts that have started in my head that just never made it onto the computer. So here's a quick overview and I'll try to fill in details later.

• I'm supposed to be at church right now, but I'm a slacker. Bug had a bad night and the power was out. Either one would have been enough of an excuse to stay in my lounge pants today.
• We went to a FABULOUS bon-fire last night hosted my our friends at Controlled Chaos. The boys loved it and I lost count of how many times Little Man ran up and down the hill. We can't wait for next year!
• I totally cheated on Halloween. Totally. I didn't take my kids Trick or Treating. We hung out with Grandma, Grandpa and Great-Grandma Elaine and let Little Man help pass out candy to the TWO groups of kids that came to the house. He was super cute though and thought it was great fun. He would run to the door and say, "The kids are coming! I better go say hi!" Once that lost its appeal he would bring the bag of candy around the family room and help us each pick a piece of candy.
• Candy was on sale. Grandpa bought SIX bags of the good stuff. Grandma picked up THREE. And did I mention we only had two groupd of kids come to the house.
• There was a Halloween party at Music Makers on Friday. The batteries in my camera were dead.
• Tuesday was the Trunk or Treat. I love our ward. The boys had a blast.
  
• Bug finally got his six months shots. Also on Tuesday.
• Little Man had a Joy School Halloween Party and the kids were super cute. I'm so glad that my month is over!
• Wil made biscuits. Little Man left one on his picnic table (a TV tray that we sit on the floor) and Bug found it. This was the result:

Also...

Little Man wanted to wear a Little Mermaid pull-up today because it's Linnea's favorite. I let him.

Random Thoughts from a Sleep Deprived Mom

1. My children are conspiring against me so that I will never again get a full night's sleep or even a good 6 hours.
2. I used to take a good night's sleep for granted.
3. Dora's ginormous head is creepy.
4. I miss my sissie. She would whisk my boys a away while I took a nap.
5. I need to learn the spanish word for rescue so when the Diego song gets stuck in my head at 2:30 in the morning I will at least understand what those words are. "To the rescue my friends!"
6. I hate poop.
7. I'm a little bit ashamed of how much TV my children have watched lately.
8. Also, when did my son become obsessed with Doe-ra and Diego?
9. m&m's taste even better at 9:30 in the morning.
10. Dinner last night was yummy. I made these pork chops. Super easy! Except next time I would sear them and not cook them covered for quite so long.
11. We're going to a bonfire next weekend and I've already started to think about what I'm going to wear and how to dress the boys (especially Bug) warmly.
12. The laundry is taking over my house.
13. I think I gave my sissie my best (and only) hoodie. A fact I realized in a sleepy haze this morning when I went to put it on. I hope it's keeping her warm.
14. That was all I could think of and I'm only adding this one because it will bother Zee if there's an uneven number of random thoughts.

Shopping Spree

I was on a hunt this weekend for a dress to wear to Sarah's wedding in January. I was super lucky and found one right away. Also, it was 75% OFF!!! Of course that didn't stop me from picking up a few other things I found on sale. Like this super cute coat at Target: Notice that the sleeves are 3/4 length, which I found a bit strange on a winter coat. But since I'm so short they end up being the perfect length to move around with the kids. I am going to add something like these long gloves...
or these arm warmers...
or even a long fingerless glove to my Christmas list to keep me nice and cozy warm.

What Not to Wear

Pumpkin Patch

Late Saturday afternoon we decided to take the boys to pick out pumpkins. We decided to try our fake pumpkin patch again this year and once again it was perfect! The boys loved running around the lawn and playing with the pumpkins. Little Man decided to move the smaller pumpkins down the hill and line them up as straight as possible. I'm a little concerned that I'm making my kid a little OCD. See for yourself:

the boys playing in the pumpkins

trying to get a picture

(You should really click on that link above to see how much older Little Man looks from last year.)

After dinner we "carved" our pumpkins. A couple years ago we found these awesome Mr. Potato Head parts to decorate pumpkins. It's been perfect for Little Man and it's a lot less mess.

While I was trying to get this picture, Little Man was telling the pumpkin to smile for the camera. By the time I got the camera ready for a video, I had to coach him a little.