Sunday, January 1, 2012

Wednesday night, family fun

My Aunt Monica and Uncle John live in South Carolina and come down for Christmas every other year.

This was their year to visit, and with them came their son (my cousin) Johnny and his girlfriend, Amanda whom we had not met yet-- but thought she was super-sweet! 
My cousin, Courtney could not make the trip this year because she is weeks away from delivering her first baby!!  (a sweet little girl)

Though we didn't get to see them every day that they were here, we did our best to make the most of the time we had together.

This past Wednesday night, we had a game night at my mom's.
Tomato basil soup, Italian grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti, and salad made the menu....
along with a delicious banana cake with caramel icing. 

We had some family friendly gambling...
and the boys went hog hunting, with no luck on a pig.

The babies found some tank tops, and converted themselves into super heros...
And the girls....
talked.

All in all, it was a great time!








Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas

It's over.

Well, kind of.

We still have to meet up with Lance's mom and exchange gifts with her.
And I still need to take down the glitter and move my house back into a normal living arrangement.

But the boxes have been broken down, and the toys have been squeezed into the playroom and we can finally *sit* and play.

Christmas....
It is such a funny thing to me...

Every year, I am cursing the madness around the 23rd-- vowing to "change things next year"--  wondering why we have NINETEEN people to buy for (not counting each other or our kids) when there are billions of kids who get nothing-- running around with all of the other procrastinators-- waiting in forever lines-- whining kids-- missed naps-- bitching relatives-- people assuming their time is the most important time--  last minute change of plans-- tears-- arguments--  realizing I haven't bought matching Christmas PJs yet--  wrapping-- working-- schedules conflicting-- my most special present to my mom, not working out-- exhaustion-- too much money spent-- not enough time-- not enough days-- stress. stress. stress.

and then its here.

Christmas.
My sweet husband drives to 6 different stores to buy the pajamas.  I can breathe.

We develop a schedule and realize that "we can only do what we can do"...

We end up making it to almost every place-- despite Lance and I both working Christmas Eve morning.

My mom has my kids bathed and dressed and met me after work to keep things rolling smoothly.

We enjoy great visiting with family, some we don't get to see that often.

Good food.

Good conversation.

Laughter.

Love.

Joy.

Christmas.

And by the evening of December 25th-- all the stress was completely worth it, and that list of crap from above seems totally-totally petty.

Here is a quick view of our Christmas adventures thus far:
(and a condensed version of pictures)

First stop:
Granny Earlene's in Boyd, Friday evening.
[Lance's dad's side of the family]


I stayed the night with my mom Friday evening since I had to work Saturday morning.  My Aunt Monica is down from South Carolina, and I got to visit with her also.
 
Work Saturday morning was fabulous and then we met for lunch at my Mamaw's.
[my mom's grandmother]

By 4:00 we were in Lake Worth at my Nana's.
[my Dad's mom]
As you can see, the boys had to change into their matching outfits... and I had to stuff my face with some delicious food.

A quick run into Target after Nana's (after realizing I never bought stuff to make breakfast) and we were home by 7:30.
The only bonus to missing naps during the holiday madness is that Maddox was OUT when we made it home.  Like, I changed him into his pajamas and made him tee tee, and he never woke up through any of it!

Lance and I set up for the arrival of Santa...
but not without help from a tiny elf named Beckham, who refused to go to sleep!

Maddox came and woke me up around 2:30 and he and I looked through his loot.
Lance swears that I didn't wake him up but the truth is that Lance had a complete conversation with him about his pirate ship but didn't remember a thing.

Around 8:00, we went in as a family to see what Santa had left.
Maddox was mostly excited about his pirate ship (a last minute score at Tuesday Morning for $10 after searching forever and coming up empty handed.  The down side: this particular ship had 4,000 pieces.  Pop helped Maddox assemble the ship and then somehow we lost about 3,000 pieces into the trash?!) and his Ricky Thiebolt figurine that Daddy scored at Big Lots.  (Basically Santa could have been done on $15!)

My parents arrived shortly after the excitement had died down and mom and I (okay, mostly mom) made bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy and Lightening McQueen shaped pancakes for breakfast.
And then they headed back home.

Something new this year, Lance and I had no where to go until dinner time at my mom's.
We were able to clean up-- play with the new toys and take a family nap before heading out.
It was so nice.

I will say, as Lance and I looked through Facebook and saw the ridiculous amount of stuff that some kids got for Christmas, Lance wondered if we did enough.  That made me crazy!  I don't get sad at all when I see the amount of money people spend... it puzzles me, honestly.
My kids have an entire room designated to toys and playing...  and do you know where they are 99% of the day??  -under my feet.  Helping me cook... coloring pictures together... watching tv together... dancing to our tunes... telling jokes... chatting each other up... on. top. of. me.

I spend about $100 each year per kiddo... (well, B was a little under and M a little over) but I honestly think I could give them just their stocking and they would be happy.
[Beckham would have been happy with trash-- and that's a fact.]

I am not saying that I am a better mom than any of these people who shower their kids in gifts-- and honestly, it is really none of my business-- but this is my blog to shed my opinion and I just don't understand it, that's all.

To me, this is what it should be about::
[Maddox's rendition of The Christmas Story]


And... I have to believe Maddox when he told me that he got way too many gifts!
Because he did!!!

Christmas night we went out to my mom's.
Mom has always made a huge deal out of Christmas and this year was no different.

The men made chicken and beef fajitas and Mom made all of the rest.
And it was wonderful.

Ellie tossed her new tutu onto a burning candle and caught mom's dining room table of fire!!  (Inches from the tree and all of that wrapping paper!)  Flames shooting up-- type of fire!!

Luckily Randi is much better under pressure than myself, and she quickly put the fire out and kept the damages minimal!!
[I, on the other hand, screamed Mom!!, as I stomped my feet in one place and did *nothing* to help!]

Like always, Christmas at Mom's was another success.

Yesterday, I spent my entire day rearranging the playroom and putting together toys.

Today we have played.
Put together a puzzle.
Painted a few gorgeous water color pieces.
Played Pop the Pig.
Enjoyed the aftermath...

We need naps-- hence the Buzz Lightyear stuck on top of one of my ceiling fan blades right now-- but once Lance gets home I am sneaking off to pay a bill before I go on call, so I am not fretting over it!  [He can!]

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Milestones and Maddox'isms

Today Beckham turns 8 months old.

Over the past month, he has mastered a few new things.
His pulling up has now turned into full fledged cruising.
Along the couches...
from the couch to a toy...
And today, down the hallway-- holding on to the wall.

He can now walk behind push toys...
and occasionally will let go all together for a second or two!!

He loves to sit on his knees...
and is a fast little crawler.

[this all still blows my mind, since Maddox was just learning to army crawl at this point!]

In the last few days he has cut his 2 bottom teeth, let go of the island and took a step toward me and learned the B sound.

I am not sure if it is just the sound... or short for Bubba... binky... bite-bite... bye, bye... or booby!!

I work daily with "momma" and "daddy"-- but no words have arrived yet.
Just babbles and bubbles, so far.  (and this B business)

He loves to eat.  Anything and everything!!  (and I am far less crazy this go around with him trying things; even not-so-healthy things)

I still feed him baby foods (out of convenience) but he would rather pick up his food and feed himself. So at home I steam him veggies and let him make a mess!

He is such a happy baby, and honestly rarely cries.
We really lucked out... because just like Maddox, people constantly ask, "is he always this happy?"

Unlike Maddox, however, he is a thinker.
I don't think he is as outgoing as Maddox was because he is always watching everyone and soaking it all in. 
He still smiles constantly... you just may have to work for it a bit!

He adores his momma, and loves to shower me with kisses.
{however, he is a bit stingy with them to the rest of the world.}


He likes to be layed in his bed when he is tired, with his binky in his mouth, and snuggy over his face, and left alone.
He still takes about 3 naps a day.
And goes down for bed at night around 10:30... wakes to feed around 4:00... and then goes right back to sleep until 8:00ish.
[although last night he slept until 9:00am!!]
When he is ready to get up, he takes his binky out of his mouth, pulls up in his crib, and chunks the binky out of the bed.
[this is really the only time he will take a binky]

He is learning to climb.
[as I found him today, standing up in his little baby-rocker!]



Again, I feel awkward leaving Maddox out...
but at 3, they just don't change a lot month to month.

One new milestone that he has learned, is that he can now pick out letter sounds within the word and not just the start.
Like, "momma, staple has a P in it.  sstaPle... hear it?"

Otherwise, Maddox is just funny.
Sometimes, hysterical!

Here are a few of his Maddox'isms from the last few weeks or so:

**He comes in with toys tucked all over him, a baseball bat down the back of his underwear, things under each arm and a bowl on his head and says, "everyones going to pay attention to me in this suit, I am fully equipped."

**When frustrated recently, he said, "may I have a word with you?"

**Instead of saying he wanted another one, he said, "I would like one as well."

**He thumps my neck and calls it "get'cha neck meat!"  --I hate it.

**We had this conversation the other night and it got Lance and I both tickled!
"What is my feet, momma?"
"What is your sweet?"
"No, my feet!"
"I don't know what you are asking me, son."
"Like three or five, or what?  It is just how you say 'how tall' in Spanish."
After laughing for a minute, Lance said, "No buddy, you're still speaking English."
And he replied, "English?  I've never heard of it."

**I have been writing his conversations in the notes section of my phone, so that I can remember them but I seriously only remember to jot down about a tenth of the hilariousness.  Or in this case, the embarrassment.
"I am so freak'n'tired."  (all one word, just like his momma says it.  oops.)  or tonight, when he repeated his daddy, "why the hell didn't daddy's show record?"  (bigger oops.)

**Sometimes he tries to talk so old... but he's just not.  "Being great means being really good at something... like caring... or being able to carry 4 things at once."

**And because he tries so hard to be big, I forget and talk to him even bigger sometimes... which always ends up a lost cause:
"Baby, did you know that there are some kiddos that don't get toys at all for Christmas?"
"Yep.  Because they're bad, right momma?"
"No buddy, some kids are not as fortunate as others, meaning that they don't have any money for Christmas presents.  Would you like to buy these kids a present?"
"Yes I would, but they really should save their moneys better."

**"I'm sick of being a super hero, I just want to go back to being your granddaughter."

**Randomly he offers advice, "Sometimes you've just got to breave in and breave out."

**He gets frustrated with me often, "Momma?  Mommmma?  Momma, are you wistening to me?  Unfortunatewy, this is very important."

**But he loves me so much too.  He constantly tells us that he loves us and is the kissing-est little thing.  He and Lance are truly best friends right now but he will not admit to that in front of me.  He says, "We're all best friends.  We're a familwy."

**"If I tell you that I love you with all of my heart... but you say you don't... then that changes my heart, and it is berry breakable mom."
-I have never told him that he doesn't love me and have no idea where this came from?!

**The other night while I was taking call, I had asked him to be quiet while I was on the phone with a patient.  Once off the phone, it stayed quiet for a minute... until he broke the silence, "you want to talk about the freckle on my weenie?"

**He clears his throat and says "excuse me..." when he wants our attention.  [yay for changing 'hey' to 'excuse me'.. not so much for the subtle coughing before hand.]

**He isn't always great for my self esteem, like this conversation...
"momma, sometimes I think you wook like a princess." 
"Awe, that's very sweet buddy."
"But not today.  Today your hair wooks awful."

**and with my job...
"Momma, you're a good nurse at the doctor's office."
"Thank you baby."
"Yeah, but you're not a very good nurse at home."
"What?!  Why do you say that?"
"Because Beckham cried a wot today.  It takes a good nurse to keep him happy."

**He asked me yesterday if I knew what today was... when I asked what (thinking it was going to be a conversation about Christmas) he said, "fall!  See how all of the trees have wost their feathers?!"

**Yesterday he asked Lance where he was going...  "your neighborhood Braums or Japan?"

**He typically is very sweet to Beckham but since he can't throw him off of him, he complains a lot about Beckham crawling all over him.  I told him to stop whining, that Beckham was just trying to play and doesn't mean to hurt him and he respond (rather pissy-like) "well... it feels wike there's a thorn in his belly button... you should wet him crawl on you!"

**Finally, his favorite show right now (besides any Nick Jr show or the movie, Gnomeo and Juliet)  is this military show on the History channel that Lance watches called Bomb Patrol and his favorite soldier's name is Ricky Thibeault.  The show follows a specialized troop who's job is to lead the convoy and search and deactivate IEDs with robots.  Definitely too mature for Maddox but he begs to watch it and it isn't a shoot and kill type show.... so he and Lance record it and watch it together.
However, the other night, Maddox fell asleep on the couch with Lance during an episode.  While sleeping, he started gagging and coughing and holding his chest and I panicked and asked him what was wrong.  I could tell he was a bit disoriented so I asked him again if anything hurt as he still held his chest.  He calmly replied, "Its my froat.  I think I swallowed a pressure plate."
*Maybe* he has watched a little too much Bomb Patrol.  *Maybe*, as in, he chose a canteen to attach to his hip with a carabiner from the army surplus store today, on his boys day with Daddy, rather than a toy.  
In the words of Wonder Pets, This.  Is. Serwious.