A little Catch up!

The Adventures of Mommyhood. It’s a new adventure everyday, but it’s not always a good adventure. We have good days and bad days at this house. I like to think it’s common. Show me the family who has great days all the time and….. Nevermind I don’t want to know them! I haven’t written/blogged in a while. YES I am planning on staying with it, just got a little busy for 5 months or so (and by busy I mean I didn’t want to). So today I shall blog about a few of the quirks we’ve gone through lately. I have to make sure I get some of this in writing so the boys can read it one day!

WAL-MART: This is where we buy our groceries. Most of the time I go ALONE while My hubby watches the boys. This week I decided I would do it Monday with my 1-year-old curly top. He’s gotten better in the last 6 months. He’s started to talk a little bit so communication is better, which means frustration is down. UNFORTUNATELY, he still finds ways to embarrass me whenever he can.  This trip consisted of him being a “grabber” and saying one phrase the entire time we strolled around the store….What was the phrase you ask??? Well……. it was this,  “Ewwww…..Nasty” It seems pretty harmless but when you have a toddler saying this every time someone walks by, it’s not so funny. I don’t think the strangers at Wal-Mart found it very funny either. Although it is funny that so many people can get offended by a toddler, obviously just saying whatever he wants and not directing it towards anyone. He wasn’t pointing at people and saying it. Just saying it as people passed by. So as I shopped and apologized for 30 minutes, I obviously left the store flustered. This one will go down in the books as a good one. I laugh every time I think about it! But I wasn’t laughing while it was happening!

I NEED A EASY BUTTON: It seems that I spend most of my days repeating myself. “No, Don’t do that”….”Get your finger out of your nose”…. “Stop hitting your brother” … “Get out of my bedroom”…. “Put that back in the trash”…. “My couches are not your trampoline” ….. “Quit Screaming” … “Quit Running in the house”…. I’m guessing you get my drift by this point.  Constantly repeating yourself has the ability to drive you crazy.  Still, I do this on a daily basis.  Sometimes it’s in a nice tone, sometimes I’m screaming at the top of my lungs….but NEVER do they stop picking their noses or running in the house. I don’t think it’s bad parenting. They have a lot of cooped up energy at the end of the day, I get that. My curly top is so excited to play with big brother after school, completely understandable. I’m curious if there is any way to re-wire those “Easy”Buttons you find at Staples… The one’s that say “That was Easy!” with so much enthusiasm when you push them. It would be so much easier to have a button to push to take care of this for me! Then I won’t find myself repeating the same phrase over and over and over…. EVERYDAY!

UNATTENDED OREOS: Now I know I am not the only one with a oreo thief in the house. The other day I found my little guy sitting in his room being VERY Quiet. Come to find out, he had stolen the Oreo’s out of the pantry and was licking the cream out of them all. In his defense, he was putting the cookies back in the package. And I have to admit that I almost just let him lick oreo cream to his heart’s content because at least he was happy. At least he was quiet. At least he wasn’t picking his nose and eating that!

JACK THE GENIUS: Now I have a 6-year-old. He’s in the first grade. He’s been doing very well. He gets a kick out of Tangrams. He can build almost anything out of Legos, He uses the word “Unacceptable” all the time. He loves to read. He gets good grades. And come to find out none of this good stuff was coming from him.  Apparently he has a little genius living in his head named “Jack” and that is why he loves Tangrams and Legos and Math and Reading. And here I thought It was him! Silly me! I should have known!

ONE, TWO, HAAHAAA: If you are a parent, I’m almost certain you have done the countdown with your kids. You know, the “Pick that up…One……TWWWWOOOOO…..I better not get to THREE” I find myself using the old school tactic way too often. It doesn’t work. It never has. It just switches things up every now and then. However, It does NOT work when you say “ONNNEEE…TWWWOOOOO….” and your toddler says ” THREEEE….YAY MOMMY” Defeats the whole purpose! And then ruins your Mean mommy look when you start laughing. Sometimes I use it just to hear my curly top say THREEE in his sweet toddler voice!

Until next time..

I’m too young to be weird!

It’s a rainy and gloomy Thursday! I say that with complete excitement (hence the exclamation point) because we haven’t seen a day like this since last year.  Overcast…cool….but the appearance of water is what makes me smile today! There has been a ton of talk about running out of water, we are in a serious drought. My 6-year-old is somewhat of a worrier, so he is constantly asking me what we will do when there’s no more water.  He never pays attention to the news, unless they are talking about the water problem! And me being the mother who tries to make it all okay, explains to him that wewill do exactly what Rango did! We will go out and FIND the water! I usually don’t get much of a response, just a simple eye roll and then he leaves the room.  That is usually followed by “Mom, sometimes you are weird.”

This leads me to realize that my 6-year-old son has already come to the conclusion that I am embarrassing. Really? At 6 years old, I’m already weird! That makes no sense at all.  On the first day of school, I was more than prepared to walk my little guy to class… It was the first day of school, isn’t that what you are supposed to do? Instead, right as we walk out the door he asks me to just drop him off. “I’m in the first grade now Mom, if you walk me into my class it will be embarrassing” Wow! I should be happy that I have an independent little guy who doesn’t fuss much about me being around. But it’s actually really sad. I thought I had a few years at the least before this started happening. And why isn’t it embarrassing when Dad is with him? Why is it just me that is weird?

He doesn’t mind me being around when it’s time to clean his room and he wants a little help.  He has no problem with me being there when he needs something. So why all of a sudden am I an inconvenience? Don’t get me wrong, he is a loving little boy and lets me know how important I am every day, as long as we aren’t out in public.  Just a part of growing up I guess.  He came home the other day wanting to join Boy scouts. Nothing against the scouts, but baseball is about to start. I think we should focus on one thing at a time. And when I asked him why? His response was, “Mom, we get to shoot guns and bow and arrows and we get to go camping without out parents” Well whoever went to the school and made this little club sound so glamorous should be kicked! My 6-year-old is not going camping with some stranger while I sit home and worry about him. Don’t worry, It was Dad to the rescue (as always) when he tells him that he doesn’t need to join the boy scouts to shoot a gun. We can go buy one this weekend…. YAY!  That was a great idea!!!! (true sarcasm there).

I try, but when I told him that I would play catch with him since Dad was busy working…He was all for it. I throw the ball to him and he underhand tosses the ball back to me….All I got out of it was “Mom you’re a girl, and I don’t want to hurt you” GREAT! Now he’s a chauvinist who thinks girls aren’t tough. I tried to explain to him that girls play softball, he says “Yeah with a great big yellow ball to make sure they catch it.” I had nothing after that.

Over the last 6 months or so I have been enlightened by my precious 6-year-old.  Girls can’t play baseball or football, we aren’t tough enough to handle it.  Girls can’t drive as well as boys.  Girls shouldn’t use tools, they don’t know how to fix things and might cut their finger off with the saw.  Girls can’t kill snakes or bugs.  Girls can’t shoot guns, it’s too dangerous.  Girls are never the boss.  The list goes on and on and on….

Unfortunately the battle is already lost. Three Boys vs. me, all the time. I think I’ll strategically pick my battles from now on!

It’s been how long?

Yes I have been on a blog vacation.  My son was out of school for the summer and our days were full of craziness.  School has started again, which means I have the opportunity to blog again! Love It! I have a list of things I can’t wait to write about. Adventures of our Summer Vacation, The How and Why’s of a 6-year-old, the beginning of a 1 year olds ramblings…… I’ll get to them all.  But for now, 10 year class Reunion!

Yes, that’s right! I have officially been out of High School for ten years. Great memories, great friends, great town! Sure I got a lot of the “Why would you want to go to your High School Reunion?” and ” What a waste of time!” I’m going to simply start with the fact that I had more fun there, with old friends talking about old times, than I have had in a long time! I had a small group of friends in high school, although I like to think that I was a genuinely descent person (Which one classmate pointed out that I wasn’t!) but Hey, I like to think that! Many of us hadn’t actually had a conversation in YEARS, and kept in touch with each other like the rest of society… Through Facebook. But get us all together and it’s like we just picked up where we left off. We had more to talk about than what we were going to do Friday night, high school drama, and which class we wanted to skip out on. We actually had great things to share! Adventures, Families, and Spouses! And of course we were able to meet at a bar, no hiding in someone’s garage this time go round!  It’s strange how some people who are so important to you when you are young, kind of disappear from the picture when you journey through life. When you see them again, you are reminded of how important they are again. It somewhat all rushed back to me like it was yesterday.  Many people say that the friends you make in High School are just something that you will pass by. You will forget most, and the people you meet in your adulthood will be the one’s who really count.

I can’t disagree with that more. I have yet to find many friends in my Adulthood. People who I really want to be around. People who I really want to know how they are, how their parents are, how their kids are doing. I have 2 or 3 great friends where I am now, but hardly get see them.  I might have lost contact with some of the people I saw this past weekend, and we all came to the conclusion that we are awful at keeping in touch, but it works for us because we are all bad at it.   I know that If I were where they were, I could call them and see them.

Highlights of the Reunion, I think So!!

1. First one that comes to mind, Kristen…. was it really a good idea to show a slide show of everyone Drunky Face from the night before while the small town preacher waited to give the opening prayer? Hilarious! Yep, it was a pretty good idea!

2. So sorry that one of my Best Friends, Becca had to witness my 6-year-old fall off the money bars and break his wrist during the family picnic! She was a trooper and sat with us through the Emergency Room and X-rays. She hadn’t seen my 1st grader in YEARS and never met the baby. I could tell she loved them. That’s one sign of a GREAT FRIEND.

3.  We took it wayyyy back, went out and bought school spirit gear and went to the homecoming football game! I loved it! Unfortunately football team got killed. I saw people I haven’t seen in forever. Nothing like walking through the stadium and running into people, Love small towns!

4. Homecoming parade had more Oilfield equipment than floats! Typical

5. You know who..calling me a snob! Thanks KC!

6. Celeste….nuff said! Some people are forever awesome kinda people! She’s one of them!

7. My son wanting Dr. Jayd to do his X-rays…Jayd isn’t a doctor but he does wear scrubs!  That’s all that counts to a 6-year-old.

8. Walking home after a night at the Elks club and taking a picture with Jesus. Maybe not so funny to most people, luckily we aren’t most people!

9. Decorating to the exact specifications of Ina! I will never forget that! I’m not going to lie I was scared! What if my thumb is shorter than yours????

10. The breaking of the forks at dinner was sooo funny! I think everyone did it once, at one point it had a nice musical ring to it!

The list goes on and on…. My husband was awesome through it all. Even helped me and the girls serve dinner without a single complaint! the group picture was almost impossible but it got done! Karaoke was fun, trying to figure out who Armeine (spelling?) is was hilarious.Driving down Main Street and seeing the endless Bulldog flags lining the road.  Realizing that good friends  have been right in front of me all this time without me even knowing it.

Thanks for the good time everyone!

Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kiddos!

Summer….Already?

Summer is officially upon us! We will be hitting the road for a Memorial weekend trip to Ruidoso this weekend. Ruidoso is a much-needed vacation, but all the gloom of the ending school year is hanging over my head today! It was the last week of school, that means lots of “functions” and fun days! Trajan had his award ceremony for Kindergarten. Noah wasn’t too happy about it, but when is he happy about having to be strapped in his stroller. Trajan happily walked away with the Shining Star award for Excellence in the Classroom and also got ANOTHER acknowledgement about his fundraising for Jump Rope for the Heart. He took it very seriously. But they keep commending him on a job well done! Hopefully if he gets anything out of it, he gets the importance of being a good person.

We had field day. And although the Kindergarten t-shirts were PINK! Trajan had a good time. Yes, we had to have a talk that Pink is cool, and guys wear Pink! Dad wears Pink! Pink can be a boy color too…. yeah…..kinda.  I’m just glad all the Kinder classes were wearing the same pink shirt. Made it all that much easier. I took a million pictures of all the kids. And between all the kids and all the madness…I start thinking about how fast the year has gone by! How fast my baby is growing up! How much I am going to miss going to the school, it was always nice to do something productive outside of my house. How I am going to miss “Running into” the other Moms at the school. And most of all, how much I am going to miss Trajan’s teacher.

Three cheers for TEACHERS! I never knew how great one person could be until my son ended up with one of those amazing teachers. She taught him everything he needed to know and more. She prepared him for things I would have never been able to prepare him for. She had patience, she was understanding, she was strict, and she was great! Leaving my son at school for the first time ever was a little hard in itself. She was a true blessing for what she did for the kids this year! I think I am going to Miss her more than Trajan is going to miss her!

So I am dedicating this post to all those AWESOME Teachers out there! Huge thanks for everything you do. For creating such a perfect environment for the kids. For doing it all when there’s too much to do! Trajan’s teacher is a very special part of his life. How lucky is he that his first experience in school was such a great one! I feel like I was never able to tell her how much she truly meant to my family, how much we honestly appreciated what she did day in and day out,  How grateful we are that she stuck by Trajan when he was still trying to figure it all out. He has grown so much as a little person this last year. I know I owe some of that credit to her!  And now we move on to another summer full of fun, boredom, and adventure! We look forward to next year and can only hope that it is as Amazing as this one has been!

Green Eye Booger Face and Gabe! Ugh!

Another week has started! Thankfully we got through our Monday morning free of any and all incidents which may have deterred my good mood for the day! Could this be due to the fact that our weekend, although full of activities, also allowed for down time? Sleeping in, watching movies, playing outside! It was fun.

Although we had planned on leaving town for the weekend, those plans fell through last minute. We all wanted to go, but I was extremely thankful for the change in plans come Friday about 3:00 p.m. As we are waiting for Trajan to get out of school, I look down at my sweet Noah to see a little Green eye booger face! WHAT! As soon as I would wipe them away, the little green eye boogers would be back. Enough to make his eyelashes all sticky from the gooey! And when he refuses to run around and play, and opts rather to be in my arms whining….I figured it out…..and it was Inevitable. Noah was sick! We pumped him full of medicine. By the time we got home, he was running a fever. How can you get sick in 10 minutes? He did alright but had a hard time falling asleep Friday night. He was feeling pretty crappy!

Rise and Shine! It’s Saturday morning now. Noah wakes up happy but when I open the door to grab him from his crib, he is sitting there with his eyes closed. Looking around aimlessly like maybe his sight will come back if he’s patient. I was happy that he wasn’t screaming bloody murder about it. The green gooey mess has his eyes pasted shut. We cleaned that out right away and other than a low grade fever and stuffy nose, he was alright. Trajan woke up happy! I love when everyone is happy! Trajan and I went to Victoria’s birthday party, while Michael volunteered to stay home with the sick gooey eyed baby! He was pretty quick to volunteer too! And we had a blast at the party! Something about a room full of Trampolines and fluffy padded surfaces has a way of transforming you into a kid again! Trajan got a kick outta Me playing with him on the Trampolines! I also realized that after giving birth to two children, your bladder IS NOT as strong as it used to be! I was able to avoid any mishaps, but jumping up and down was scary at times! Mom and Dad came to town for the party too. Always great fun when we get to see them!

And now for those “little moments” that happened over the weekend.

Why does Noah run screaming to my Dad when he walks in the room? Fake crying and hugging on his neck? Looking at me like, for a lack of better terms, I was trying to beat him or something? Like My dad was the hero of the day for rescuing him? I wasn’t even doing anything. I wasn’t even looking at Noah. I was actually cleaning up the kitchen. Dad thought it was funny.

What is my son doing in the garage? Possibly making something special, and I overhead that it was for me! How exciting, I love little gifts from my son….Wait…..Why are Michael and Trajan talking about Duct Tape? And why are they talking about putting it over my mouth??? That’s a scene right out of a horror movie! Apparently Trajan and Michael were building a BOX….To put me in….and Duct tape my mouth shut….They thought it was funny! Me…Not so much! Hahaha…. NO!

And while we are sitting at dinner…I was awakened to the point of disgust that some things are completely out of my control. Not my boys….Other boys….At school. Ugh! Here’s how the conversation went…

Trajan: Dad, what does Gabe mean?

Michael: What do you mean Trajan? Gabe is a name. Is that what you are talking about?

Trajan: No I’m talking about Justin Bieber. Do you like Justin Bieber?

Michael: Yeah, he’s alright. He’s a singer right?

Trajan: Yes. I like his songs, Dad. But there’s a kid at school that says Justin Bieber is Gabe. What does that mean?

Michael: Son, don’t say that word. That kid is being mean and calling people names. You don’t do that.

Trajan: Okay Dad,  Because I really like Justin Bieber!

Me: silent…but in my head….”ARE YOU SERIOUS! There’s a Kindergartener at school using that term!!!”"”" AHHHHH!! And if you haven’t picked up on it yet, The little kid at school was saying Gay, not Gabe. Trajan heard it wrong. THANK GOD!

I wanted to scream, I wanted to find the kid and find the kids parents. But I let it go. I sit and realize how lucky I am to have such a good little boy, who will not repeat that word. I hope that I can teach him that using those terms is wrong and unnecessary. That there’s no reason to have any kind of hatred towards people. That we are an open-minded and accepting family of all things! And to those parents: ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS! Kids hear it all, and repeat it all! Let’s chalk that one up as Lesson Learned!

Happy Monday to Everyone!

Grumpy.

I’ve been having a small problem this week. I’m not sure where it all stems from, but I’ve already had a few grumpy days. My husband, who notices these things right away, was quick to ask me about it. “Is everything ok? I can tell something is bothering you…. and so on…and so on”. I greatly appreciate the fact that my husband is observant. He notices when I’m not 100% and usually knows the answer as to why before I give it to him. And usually, I do have an answer. Most of the time my boys are driving me crazy. Noah has been very temperamental this week. Trajan has slipped on his behavior a few times. But, Nope, that’s not what’s bothering me. I can handle these boys, no problem! Yes I get frustrated but usually get over it. But I guess that could be it.

We are taking a trip this weekend, that means 12 hours of driving with a screaming child in the car. That means feelings of wanting to jump out of a moving vehicle. But then again, it’s nothing that I haven’t done before. Nothing that I can’t handle. But I guess that could be it.

The house isn’s a mess. It’s great! The laundry is almost done. I don’t need to go to the grocery store (which can sometimes be a traumatic experience). I didn’t spill my coffee. And since those are all things which usually get to me. Nope! That’s not it! It’s warm and windy outside, which beats cold and windy any day of the week! Yes the cat keeps bringing “surprises” to my back door. But this morning there were only feathers. Hmmm……

We’re going to miss a big weekend here at home. First, my niece’s birthday party and Second a big festival that will be taking place in town. But we’ve missed things before. And most of the time it’s not very enjoyable because when Noah’s unhappy, we’re all unhappy! He has a way of setting the mood for us. Get-togethers are always fun. We usually have a handful of people who help with the boys. Like I said, it’s not the first time. But I guess that could be it.

There are a couple of other things weighing on my mind, definitely not something to blast all over my blog considering who my readers are. But who doesn’t have a few “things” to deal with every now and then. But I guess that could be it. Maybe my mind is ahead of me, maybe I am reacting to something before it ACTUALLY happens. Or maybe I’m just grumpy. Everyone is entitles to a little bit of grumpiness every now and then right? Maybe this week is my allotted time to set aside the constant happiness and feel a little bit down in the dumps. But I don’t feel down in the dumps, Just Grumpy!

I will use good music as my form of therapy for this problem. Maybe a bowl of ice cream at the end of the day. But my biggest problem is that I’m Grumpy! And i don’t know Why!

My conclusion: I’m Grumpy. and this too shall pass. Last week I was pretty sick. I’m going to chalk that one up as Sneezy. Because I was sick, I wasn’t able to sleep well, that means Sleepy is out of the way. And by next week, I’m going to work my way down that list (hopefully not in the order I chose) so my options are:

1.Grumpy

2. Sneezy

3. Sleepy

4. Dopey

5. Doc

6. Happy

7. Bashful

Music is what feelings sound like???

Have you ever sat and really watched the cartoons our kids are watching these days? Sometimes I turn them on and leave the room, but there are also times when I sit with the boys and watch cartoons with them. It kinda makes you miss the Tom & Jerry days when there were a few sounds effects but no voices. I think those cartoons at least made you sit and think. “What’s going to happen next?” “Will the cat Finally get the mouse?”. Today’s cartoons have good stories. And yes I do appreciate the songs that teach Noah that “We don’t bite our friends” and “It’s fun to brush your teeth”. These types of songs will maybe get through to Noah one way or another ( I hope). Maybe if there’s a fuzzy little green monster telling you “Try it….You’ll like it!” then he won’t be so picky about his food. Maybe if the there’s a little Monkey teaching him Spanish, he’ll pick up on a few words. Maybe he will listen to Wow Wow Wubbzy “Don’t lie..Don’t blame it on the other guy” It will keep him front pointing his finger at everyone else when he does something wrong. Is it possible? Can I depend on these crazy little characters to teach my son good lessons? Can I use this a “reason” to let him watch more TV?If they sing it…Is it true?  I can see the wheels turning in his little head when they are singing to him.

Or maybe the fact that he sings and dances to Bob Marley’s “Three little birds” has a better way of foretelling his future? And when we get in the car and he hears J-Lo and Pitbull telling him to “Get on the floor” his eyes light up. Is it just the beat of the music that makes my little man bob his head and tap his foot? Hmmm… imagine the possibilites! Trajan has always taken to country music. His favorite artist is Jason Aldean. When he hears one of his songs he immediately sings along. And he goes with the part. He always has his boots on, he has his cowboy hat, he even twangs a bit when he talks (Thanks to Texas). He’s a little cowboy. He likes to ride horses and he answers you with “Yes Ma’am”.  He sings along to Easton Corbin and George Strait. He tells me that he’s a country boy. So did Jason Aldean shape my five-year-old? Or at least teach him that it’s cool to have a “Big Green Tractor” or “Laugh until until he cries”? Those are good thoughts. I can deal with that. He did learn a little bit about inflation from Easton Corbin telling him that he would pay 18 dollars for a gallon of gas…”Someday when I’m old”. Trajan picked up on it pretty quick. Asked me what I pay right now? Asked me why it would go up? Asked me how much it was when I was little. Brad Paisley taught him that he would most likely have to be “Waitin on a woman” and get “Mud on the tires”. I can deal with that. His father is always waiting on me, and my truck is always dirty! There’s no shame in that.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a music lover and I dip into many genre’s to satisfy my wandering ears. My list of favorites varies from Jason Aldean, Staind, Blake Shelton,Patsy Cline, Linkin Park, Eric Church, to Metallica and everything in between. I love finding new songs to listen to and as long as I can decipher what the words are, it’s worth listening to before I make a decision to like or dislike it. Did any of the music I listen to shape me in any way? I will be one of the first to say that Music is an awesome gateway to self-expression. Are you feeling sad about something? That’s  nothing a good country song can’t take care of. Have a bad day? A little Rock should take care of that. Hanging out with friends? Some good Pop music can absolutely set the scene for you! I listen to music from the time I get up until we sit down to have dinner. I listen to music when I clean and while I cook. Noah is always with me, I have introduced my 1-year-old to many artists over the last year.

Noah likes to Jam out. I’m talking anything with a fast beat. So when he’s shaking his booty to “If you’re a party freak then step on the floor” I can’t help but laugh. He likes “The lazy song” by Bruno Mars:

I’m gonna kick my feet up then stare at the fan
Turn the TV on, throw my hand in my pants
Nobody’s gon’ tell me I can’t

I’ll be lounging on the couch just chilling in my Snuggie
Click to MTV so they can teach me how to dougie
‘Cause in my castle I’m the freaking man

and anything Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj, I don’t think I need to give you lyrics for those.  So while Trajan is obviously my “Country Boy” with a “Dirt Road Anthem”, Noah might just be more of my “Little Lion Man” with a with a Cee-lo attitude of “F You”???? Hey, It makes you think doesn’t it?

To cut…Or not to Cut???

Well Baby Noah is officially 1-year-old. Although all the festivities were this past weekend, Monday was his ACTUAL birthday! Now most of you might be questioning why I have yet to cut my son’s hair. It’s a curly mess. It’s always stringy, fuzzy, and in his eyes. It’s perfect length to pull into a little pony tail, but My husband would kill me. You see, it is Michael’s fault that my son looked like a shaggy little puppy. Somewhere, Sometime, Someone in his family decided that you shouldn’t cut a child’s hair before their first birthday. And although I have a heard about this “folktale” from random people I run into, and explain to them that YES I brushed his hair this morning, YES I know he needs a trim, and YES his hair blows in the West Texas wind like it has a purpose….I never did get to Why? Is it bad luck to cut his hair before his first birthday? Who knows, But I stuck with it because my husband doesn’t ask much from me and I figured that I can humor this for him. Now a year has come and gone. I couldn’t wait to get my little Noah a trim! He needed it so badly. I tried putting a hat on him occasionally for the last couple of months, but that hat never lasts long and his hair would end up even messier than it was before. I had to “brush” it at least 3 times a day. Funny how his HAIR managed to collect little pieces of lint, food, and tangles throughout the day!

On top of having to fish small things out of his hair, people (usually older folks) would come up to me and tell me that My daughter was so beautiful! Really? Are we looking at the same kid? And it never failed that every time someone called him a girl he was wearing a shirt that said something like “Tough Guy” or “Little Brother” you know what I’m talking about! I dress him like a boy. But what can you do? And lets not forget about the time I was at the Natural Foods store when a lady walked up to me, she had a little girl on her hip. She was dressed in pink! And begins to tell me how all the cute curls are WASTED on boys! She seemed angry that Noah 1. had so much hair and 2. had pretty curly hair! Her little girl (about the same age as Noah) was bald as can be!  That one made me laugh.

First things first, we made an appointment. I say “we” but really it was Noah’s Godmother. Noah’s Godparents were still in town from the Birthday and Baptism. They decided to stick around for the haircut too! She scheduled the appointment with her friend. I couldn’t have been more appreciative. I was going crazy picking up the house from the weekend and running around hunting down “Teacher Appreciation gifts” for the week. His appointment was at 1 o’clock. It was exciting. Noah seemed to be excited. And when it came down to it. IT took all four of us (Me, Mike, Bot, and Mary the hair cutter!) to keep him still enough to cut his hair. He twirled around, he flung himself from side to side. I was so worried that Mary was going to cut off her finger in her attempt to “even out” my son’s mop head! We gave him crackers, he played with the spray bottle. He pulled all over Mary. He threw himself back in boredom. My son cannot sit still! Not for 5 seconds….definetely not for 5 minutes! But We got it done, HUGE THANKS to Mary who was overly patient with my little guy! she even gave us a Ziploc bag so we could scoop up some of his fuzzy curls that were thrown all over her station, and keep them! She was great! Noah’s Godmother took a million pictures of it all! I love that she is always ready with camera in tow to make up for the fact that I can never manage to get the pictures and keep the kid happy!

It was a complete success! Noah got a haircut and looks oh so handsome these days….

Before and After!!! What do you think?

We don’t splash in the Holy Water

Sunday was an ugly West Texas day. There was a cold-front moving in. I hate the cold. The wind was of course blowing like crazy. Imagine that! If I had nothing to do today, I would stay inside, watch tv, keep warm under a blanket, and have a toasty cup of coffee. BUT we did have something to do. Noah was getting Baptized (insert the Dah Dah Dummm… noise you hear in the movies when something scary is going to happen!).

The day started off pretty good. The Baptism wasn’t until 2 o’clock. That was a more than enough time to wrangle up my boys, try to get them clean and presentable, and get out the door with a few minutes to spare. That gave me enough time to put Noah down for a nap before we went, and feed the boys lunch. MORE than enough time for me and hubby to get ready to go. MORE THAN ENOUGH time meant I was still going to be rushing around, because , well…. It wouldn’t be my family if we were calm and timely.

Noon comes around, and I’m ready. Trajan was the next to get ready. As I’m getting ready to make him get out of the shower I realize that I forgot to take his pants to the cleaners! So I whip out the ironing board and spray starch on those pants, enough to make my hands sticky, in an effort to trick my 5 year old into thinking his pants were taken to the cleaners. It worked, he was happy, squeaky clean, dressed, and ready to go! Noah was next. I got him in the bath, tried to get his hair under control. Michael got ready next. We didn’t get Noah dressed because he was having to wear his “Holier than Thou” white baptism outfit. We weren’t going to take any chances with that one! And when the Godparents show up, they have all the little necesities, all but the pristine white outfit! Noah’s Godfather leaves to go grab it. And when it’s time to get Noah dressed, he is all but amused with our attempt to put the little bow-tied outfit on him. But he looks so adorable when it’s all said and done. And we were out the door!

When we get to the church, it’s packed! They are having Mass for the First Communion and Confirmation kids today. It’s running late and Michael begins to tell me that he thinks the Baptism’s are at 3 o’clock and I might have missed something. Really? It has to be my fault? After we ask someone about this matter, we figure out that Mass is running late today, there were lots of kids making their First Communion, and yes the Baptism’s will be as soon as it’s all done! Happy Dance that I got something right! Most of the time it is my mistake or miscommunication…But NOT TODAY! We have a good showing of supporters and it’s nice to see them there for Noah’s special day! But….wait….just a minute….the photographer is the Godmother! How are we going to do this? Trajan my sweet boy to the rescue! He agree’s to use my camera and take pictures! Which he did in full photographer fashion, not sitting for a second, moving throughout the church to get the best view, waving his little hand in the air while focusing the camera trying to get our attention. I loved every minute of it!

And then it was time to dip the baby! They don’t dip, they just pour the holy water over the kid’s heads. Noah wasn’t sure about this either. He’s the kid that puts his face in the water and blows bubbles. I would just die if my son starts to “Splashy Splashy” in the fountain of Holy Water! We don’t Splash in the Holy Water!  And when Michael asked him if he wanted to take a “bath”, he looked confused, which is a good thing! After a few tries, we sucessfully poured the Holiness all over him! And as we make our way back up to the front of the church, Noah is trying to wipe it off. He’s rubbing his head, making ugly faces,  pulling at his hair, Not happy at all. But it’s done. Unfortunately Noah begins to act like the Holy water is melting him away. Everyone in the church is chuckling at his reaction. I didn’t bring any snacks. We have to grin and bear through the rest of it. We’re shuffling him back and forth between the four of us, trying to entertain him with bracelets, earring, ANYTHING!  He did great! He did try to eat the Baptism candle but we caught it in time. His curls were all wet and smashed after the pouring. He tried to run away swerving through the church pews, but he just wasn’t fast enough to get away! I’m so glad we finally got it all taken care of. Happy that my little man has received his first Sacrament. Thankful that he didn’t scream during the process.

The after party was more than perfect! His Godparents set it all up at the perfect place. They bought him an amazing gift. They even got a Baptism cake made for him. We ate, we laughed, we chased Noah. When we got home we were exhausted from the weekend. Ready for Bed. Thankful everything went as well as it did.  Here are some picture’s that Trajan took  at the Church! My brother in law also came to the rescue. He took pictures at the church too! But these’s are all from Trajan. Some of them are fuzzy…What can you do? We love them!

Birthday #1

Saturday rolled around and we had a full day of activities planned. Of course we started it all off with breakfast, Noah woke up around 6:30, like he usually does on the weekends. We managed to get ready and feed the boys pretty early in the day, and good thing! The morning was Hellacious! Mr. Jumper Man came and brought the Jumpity Jump for Noah’s birthday party early. He was supposed to be here at 11:30. He rings the doorbell at 8:30. Three hours free of jumping time, We’ll take it! Then we started getting ready for Trajan’s baseball game. And lo and behold, we can’t find his blue belt! Imagine that, we have to be there in 15 minutes and we can find that dang belt! After letting Noah in the room, I was so frustrated that I couldn’t stop looking for the belt and get Noah out of the room. Noah found the belt. Under a pile of shoes and boots. Good Job Noah! Trajan did great at his game. The Birthday party was soooo much fun, which I will write about later and follow-up with a few pictures of the birthday boy! Baptism on Sunday. When we woke up we noticed that it was freezing outside and the wind was blowing about a millions miles an hour. Hmmm…. The good Lord knows that he is taking in a hell raiser today, I wonder if this has anything to do with that? Anyway, During all of the party getting ready (lots of thanks to Mom for helping me out! Greatly appreciated!) I stopped a couple of times to take a breath.  There is so much commotion, so many people, lots of excitement, pictures being taken, food being eaten, and so on and so on….. “I’m not a good party Mommy!”

My sister is a Party-Mommy. She chooses a theme. The plates, cups, napkins, and balloons all match! I had plates from Sams.  Red plastic Cups! Napkins from my pantry. My sister always has decorations GALORE at my niece’s parties. Not Us. No balloons. No streamers. Those are a choking hazards after all! Thats my justification. I didn’t have a theme. Our theme was eat food and jump in the jumper. That’s it! No special party hats, no “designated place” to put gifts when you walk in the door.  No fancy punch or cutesy snacks. You can buy little platters of fruit already cut and put together! It’s Awesome! My sister managed to squeeze in the “You aren’t a good party planner” discussion a few times in the previous week. I know I’m not. My invitations went out the week off the party. I don’t even think my sister got hers. The fact that I ordered Invitations was progress.

Seriously, Thank God for my husband, my mother, and my grandmother for really helping out so much this past weekend. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am unable to be under pressure and still fully function as a Party Mommy. I get crazy, I feel like there is way too much going on for one place at one time. I feel like everything is going way too fast. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that my baby, the last little one I will have is turning 1….right now!!!  The year has gone by in a flash, i can’t believe it! Noah went from a squishy little newborn to a crazy haired, bad attitude toddler….and it seemed like it all happened in a matter of minutes. Maybe the fact that as I sit and stare at my boys, realizing how lucky I am, noticing how many people they have who love them like crazy, and then coming to the realization that they are plain and simple growing up to fast!

Back to the matter at hand, I’m not a good party mommy. I don’t make the cake, I buy the cake. I actually didn’t even want to use a candle on the cake, Noah is crazy….Chances of him burning himself, trying to eat the candle, or catching something on fire, pretty high. Luckily… None of that happened. Whew… Still, I don’t order party favors months in advance, I only do those little kiddie goodie bags last minute (day of party) because I feel guilty that I didn’t buy a bunch of crap for the little party go-ers. I don’t have a schedule of activities. We don’t do little party games. It’s not that all that stuff isn’t Fantastic. I’m just not a good Party-Mommy!

I did manage to get a jumper rented…. the week of the party! Had it not been for my mother helping me make the grocery list, I probably would have been forgotten everything on the list. I had a small list of duties…and that included picking up the cake and a few extra items from Albertsons. What happens? I get home and although I had a list to follow, I don’t get everything. I forgot the lettuce for the burgers. The LETTUCE! Quick save, I had a head of lettuce in the fridge that I didn’t even know was there! The only homemade anything we had (aside from the burgers and hotdogs) were little cake pops my sister brought over….and those were yummy!  And when it’s time to open presents, but my 1-year-old really wants nothing to do with it, I get frazzled. When it’s time to cut the cake but I’m trying to clean up my 1-year-old because he already tore into his…I get frazzled. I’m not the kind of person to run around and give everyone a hug and thank them for being there….I’ll tell you later….maybe. I love that so many people came to wish Noah a happy birthday but my mind is unfortunately telling me to pick up that empty bottle of water or Swiffer vac that mess in the kitchen, check the bathrooms for a mess (and because we had a good showing of kids) make sure the toilet was flushed from the last little person in there.

So planning is not my thing. I’m lucky we had a get together, had enough food for everyone, didn’t burn the house down, didn’t run out of toilet paper, and didn’t have to send away any small children with a broken arm. It was tons of fun! Noah had a blast, and got oh so dirty in the process! We will do it again in August, for Trajan’s birthday. Maybe I can be a Party-Mommy by that time.