Holy sleeping babies, Batman!

Drummer Boy

He's surprisingly good....maybe he'll support his mama being a musician!

Garbage, er, garage sale

We had our second ever garbage sale today. These things fascinate me. I like garage sale-ing. I like going and trying to find good deals...especially on kid stuff. But in this area, the pickin's are slim. Most of the stuff people sell out here really is garbage. But I've had all this stuff in our house accumulating for about 2 years. Most of it hasn't been touched, looked at or thought of for that long. To me, it's just taking up space and collecting dust. It's my junk, trash, garbage. And so when I price it and set it out for people to paw and pilfer through, I can't imagine that anyone wants my old junk. Why would they? I don't. But after 2 half days (8-1 ish today and yesterday) we made $209! TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS! I was just hoping to crack a hundred just to be able to fix my garage door and paint Stephen's room. We did sell all of the baby gear that we didn't want anymore and quite a few baby clothes, but everything else just quarter and half dollar stuff. We were swamped at one point yesterday...we could hardly keep up and people were coming back two and three times! I just can't wrap my mind around people PAYING me to let them take my junk off my hands so it can go take up space in their house. That's fine...whatever you want to do with it...it's yours and I don't have to look at it anymore. We actually closed up shop today earlier than we had intended and took all the stuff that was left down to the resale shop down the road that benefits battered women and children. Part of me feels kinda selfish and greedy that we didn't just load it all up and haul it off to that place.

It was a really hard couple of days, but I feel so great about it! I know it's been said a million times, but I'm finally realizing the wisdom in it...one man's trash really is another man's treasure!! In this case, one mom's junk is another mom's "big find"!

My first meme!

Okay, so it's not actually MY meme, but it's the first one I get to do, and I'm silly enough to be excited about it. Thanks to ksl (and Bubby, Firecracker and Cream Puff) for tagging the Sweet Boys.

Three Things by Stephen (from his own words)

3 things that scare me:
last night I went tee-tee and I was afraid there was a dinosaur outside
thunder...that scares me
the dark

3 things that make me laugh:
when Mommy tickles me
Zachary spinning around with me
Jubilee licking me...that makes me laugh

3 things that I love:
Mommy
Daddy
my friends

3 things I hate:
some people angry at me
Jubilee biting me
The Koala Brothers

3 things I don't understand:
myself
why you keep asking me these questions (he didn't really say that, but that's the look he's giving me)
why daddy stays home some days but leaves on others

3 things on my desk/table:
books I read during yesterday's nap
Mommy's clip
my lamp

3 things I'm doing right now:
watcing Doodlebops
talking to Mommy
drinking rice milk

3 things I want to do before I die:
Outlive mama...that's it. (he didn't say that, but I'm not about to ask him that question and that answer is sufficient)

3 things I can do:
spin around and jump
stay in bed all night long
cut blue and purple and yellow paper

3 ways to describe my personality (in Mommy's words):
funny
silly
laid back

3 things I can't do:
write my name
reach the very top shelf where Mommy puts everything I want to play with
go to work

3 things I think you should listen to:
Between the Lions CD
my blue CD
mommy singing

3 things I think you should never listen to:
lions roaring
Zachary screaming
your Mommy asking you a million "3 things" questions (again, not what he said, but the look I'm getting says it all)

3 absolute favorite foods:
yogurt
applesauce
not tomatoes
chicken and dumplings

3 things I'd like to learn:
how to drive a car
how to read
how to make mommy quit asking me these questions (the look)

3 beverages I drink regularly:
rice milk
water
orange juice

3 shows I watched as a kid:
Little Einsteins
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
VeggieTales


Three Things by Zachary

3 things that scare me:
rain
moonwalks
my brother coming at me with pointy objects

3 things that make me laugh:
my dog, Jube (short for Jubilee) licking me in my mouth
taking a head dive off my slide
Mr. Brown Can Moo by Dr. Suess

3 things I love:
my brother, but I never want him to know it so I pretend to hate his attention, although I have to do EVERYTHING he does
mommy reading me books
daddy wrestling with me and throwing me on the bed

3 things I hate:
when people visiting us leave
when brother plays with a toy I haven't looked at in days...I was going to play with it in just a minute
anything that remotely looks like, smells like, feels like or might at one point have been a fruit or vegetable

3 things I don't understand:
why when Daddy's home we have to take his van all the time when Mommy's van is the one with the CD and DVD players
why mommy starts making funny noises and starts waving her arms when Jube licks me in my mouth...it's funny, Mom.
why brother can have this thing called gum and I can't

3 things on my desk/table:
colored on and torn up pieces of construction paper...I plan on using it later
the latest stack of books Mom just read me
Spiderman clock

3 things I'm doing right now:
sleeping
sucking my two middle fingers
holding my lovey very close

3 things I want to do before I die:
There's just one thing...outlive my mom.

3 things I can do:
count to 10
sing "You are my Sunshine"
make mommy giggle really hard when I make myself so dizzy I have to lay flat on my back before getting back up

3 ways to describe my personality:
so sweet
so stubborn
so goofy

3 things I can't do:
play with brother without getting hurt
eat sweet potatoes without painting myself with them (what is it with that?)
run fast enough to keep up with brother

3 things I think you should listen to:
Me
brother if he wants the same thing I want
VeggieTales Sunday Morning Songs

3 things I think you should never listen to:
the music with the funny people singing that mommy always makes me listen to
brother if he wants something different than I want
scary thunder and rain

3 absolute favorite foods:
waffles (with syrup, not like Mommy makes them with peanut butter)
ketchup
chicken nuggets

3 things I'd like to learn:
how to talk well enough so brother doesn't always talk for me (he always tells mom I want something when I don't)
how to get naked by myself
how to make Mom understand that juice and milk is MUCH better than ice water

3 beverages I drink regularly:
water
rice milk
orange juice (someone once told me it used to be a fruit, but I don't believe it because it's much too tasty)

3 shows I watched as a kid:
Charlie and Lola
Higglytown Heroes
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

I have no one to tag as everyone in the blogging world that I know has already done this!! Will a piano fall on my head for breaking the chain?!?!?

Anger Management

This evening, I was doing something in the kitchen and Stephen came in and asked if he could do something....I don't even remember now what it was. I told him no and he asked again. I told him the answer was still no. He's had a quick temper lately and he immediately gave me his angry face and said, "I'm going to SMACK myself!!" I guess he figured this was the closest he could get to talking back to me without having to get ugly (and then subsequently disciplined). And I suppose he thought that that would cut me to the core. It kinda made me giggle, but I couldn't let him see me do that. But then what could I say to that? He wasn't threatening me or anyone else. He wasn't really disrespecting me...just showing me he was mad. And I've been working with him on better ways to handle his anger. So I let it go as he walked out of the kitchen and I said, "Whatever you think you have to do..."

This situation tonight reminds me of something he said to me the other day....I wouldn't let him play with play-doh because we were getting ready to walk out the door. He was mad because I had told him he could play with play-doh earlier in the day but then we just ran out of time. I could tell that he really was mad and after he went to his room to holler and scream and hit his bed (the "better" ways of handling his anger that I mentioned before), he yelled through the house, "MOM, I am YELLING at you!!!"

Bless him...

Alli wants

My cousin Kelli did this on her blog (and THANKS to Kelli who helped me to learn how to do that link!). I've done it before, but thought I'd try again since it's been a while and last time it was really fun. Try it for yourself...google your name and the word "wants" to see what comes up. Here are my interesting ones.

Alli wants to put sixth grade behind her and finally stop being invisible. She wants to be popular and have a breakout year in seventh grade.

Lord Alli wants the soap still to be based around a 'strong matriarchal character' like Meg Richardson, played last time by the late Noele Gordon.

Alli wants to help, but doesn't know how. But Jamie knows what to do. These ladies are unclean. They're filled with vile humours, and Jamie swings into....

Alli wants nothing more than to be popular, but fate keeps conspiring to make her totally uncool. (hee hee....see my last post)

Alli wants the toy and is barking for it. (no wonder I can't be cool)

Alli wants everyone to do great and has dress up days for the different decades so that you can earn extra credit.

These weren't near as funny as I remembered them being....but this was still fun!

Still holding my status

I've never been "cool". I never traveled in the "cool" group in high school and I'm not the "cool" friend that everyone wants to have. I've always been okay with that...the cool kids didn't have anything I thought I wanted or needed and my friends don't like me for my cool factor. That sort of status has never been a goal of mine (as reflected in my hair cut and wardrobe). But this morning, Stephen came up to me and said, "Mom, you are a cool grown up". I never thought that being "cool" would mean so much to me! I feel privileged...like I'm "in". I get to sit at the cool table at lunch and hang around the cool kids at the mall (at the playarea, but still, I'm at the mall with the cool kids). So, it's good to know that I'm still holding my status in his mind. I haven't yet embarrassed him by kissing him or holding his hand in front of his friends. I haven't yet made him roll his eyes because I'm so uncool because I use words like "cool". He hasn't yet felt like he wants the ground to open up and swallow him simply because of my existence. I think when that day comes, though, I'll be okay. Still, being cool isn't a goal of mine especially in the overall span of motherhood. But somehow, I feel cool...simply because my 3 year old, who changes his mind on all things just about every minute and a half, told me so. Somehow, that's more validation than I ever wanted or needed in high school. And somehow, I still feel young, because my kid thinks I'm cool. How cool is that?

Life is never boring...especially at the grocery store.

You know what they say about praying for patience....well, I have been. And I got more tests today at the grocery store than I usually get in one whole day.

Stephen has discovered the little kiddie baskets at the Kroger. He knows that if he behaves well at the store then he gets to use one at the next visit (and he never forgets). He got to use one today....I'm not sure who invented the little kiddie basket, but I'm fairly certain they never had a 3 year old boy. And I'm fairly certain they've never had the backs of their feet run over by a kiddie basket-wielding 3 year old. At least Stephen has good enough manners to say excuse me when he runs me over or runs into someone else in the store. At one point, as we neared the section where they used to have his rice milk, he yelled "RICE MILK!!!" and started careening down the aisle, nearly taking out a stand up display of panty hose. And there were countless times of him leaving the basket in the middle of the aisle when something caught his attention. By the end of the trip, my 5'8" husband was pushing the 2' cart around....Stephen told him he could. I was wishing I had my camera.

And Sweet little Z was not about to pass up an opportunity to test Mommy's patience. As we stood in line to check out, Stephen wanted to go to the water fountain to get one more drink before the trip home. Knowing I wouldn't get far without him, I took Z out of the cart to take him with us. After being in the cart for about an hour, I thought he'd appreciate walking. And he did. But he didn't care anything about walking to the water fountain and cared even less about holding my hand so I could guide him in the right direction. So, as I grabbed his hand, he layed himself across the floor in the middle of the Kroger. I scooped him up (screaming...him, not me) and proceeded to the water fountain. He began contorting himself in all different ways so I couldn't hold him. I asked him if he wanted to walk, he did, so I told him he had to hold my hand. I set him down and he took off....I took his hand and he again lays himself across the floor (a friend of mine calls this the "Ghandi protest"). All the while, Stephen's whining about how thirsty he is. So again, up like a sack of potatoes went Z over my shoulder. Again, he contorts himself in to ways that I can't hold him (keep in mind my weak and pregnant belly). Again, I offer to let him walk but he has to hold my hand. He takes off, I take his hand, and on the floor he goes.....this is all BEFORE actually making it to the water fountain and we still have the whole trip back. Thankfully, God granted me the patience I prayed for and I was able to laugh and keep on going...ignoring the hairy eyeballs I was getting from people to old to remember what it was like to have a child nearing 2. After playing that game all the way to and from the water fountain, we finally found their daddy. He must've noticed (or heard) the struggle Z and I were having...he quickly took him from me. Miraculously, Z immediately lost interest in wanting to walk.

Today, I found this excursion fun. Any other given day, and I might have found good reason to put them both in a kiddie basket with a "Free to good home" sign. But with the tests God gave me, He gave all the patience I needed....even if I have to finish the day off with a couple of chocolate chip cookies AND a candy bar....

Out of the mouths of brothers

Stephen has recently started an obsession with sticks. I don't let him bring them in the house (can you imagine stepping on tiny sticks and twigs in the middle of the night?? must be something like stepping on legos or Barbie shoes). So anytime we leave to go somewhere he plays with his sticks for a few minutes. Today, he took a stick with him in the car. I watched him play with it a few minutes... then I watched as a light bulb seemed to go off and he turned to Zachary and said, "Wanna bite?"

(note to self: add this to the things I never thought I'd have to say--"Don't feed your brother sticks!")

Random thoughts...that's all I have these days.

I have nothing profound, funny, significant or insightful to say today. Not that I normally do anyway, but for some reason, I feel the need to put something on my blog today. We have our occupational therapist coming in a little while and here I sit in my jammies, with one child still in his jammies and the other still in his crib. And you couldn't walk two straight steps in our playroom if you wanted to (that's where we usually do our "therapies"). The kids won't even go in there now....that's how I know when it's time to clean it. And yet, I sit here with no motivation to do anything. I'm not even sure if the OT will show up because we had an appt on Monday for her to come....I was in Dallas with that Sweet Baby Girl and my kids were at my parents house. I forgot we had an appt and I never called her. I had intentions of calling her later in the week (before today) to apologize, but I didn't. That's something the "normal" me would do....is it terrible that I really don't care?

I had a doc appt yesterday. Nothing exciting to share from that. I've gained 10 pounds. I've forgotten what that even means. Is that good? Bad? I gained 23 in the entire pregnancy with Zachary and 33 with Stephen. I have no idea what "10 pounds" means when you're 22 weeks pregnant. I have to make a decision which hospital to deliver at. The one I had Z at is closer, but the other one is bigger and I've heard has gotten better ratings for L&D. Neither can promise me a private room. I hate that.

I think Zachary is hitting the terrible 2s....it just so happens to be at the same time Stephen is hitting the terrible 3s. I don't think we ever really had the terrible 2s with Stephen. I've heard 3 can be worse than 2....up until a couple weeks ago, I had no idea what that meant. He's always been such a relatively easy kid. I feel like I'm in a house with a couple of teenagers and their raging hormones and mood swings. I sure hope this changes before November.

I also have to decide what day to have the baby. November 1st or 2nd. I could have him Oct 31....but I don't think so. I'm trying to decide which day has a better ring to it.

I think I'm nesting. I cleaned out Stephen's closet on Wednesday, and went through a bunch of Z's stuff that doesn't fit anymore yesterday. Today, I plan to clean out Z's closet. I'm planning a garage sale. I'm *thisclose* to opening our house and saying that anything that isn't bolted down can be sold. I'm so tired of the clutter.

Well, I suppose at some point I should go do something. That is what's expected of me. I would love to sit here and have diarrhea of the fingers all day. I could go on and on.....

The Miracle of Babies

My dearest friend, Alison, gave birth to her first baby yesterday. She went into labor at 1 in the morning and labored for 15 (I think) hours-without epidural-before they decided that baby wasn't coming out through pushing. Just a bit later, Elizabeth Nell entered this world via c-section weighing a healthy 10 lbs 6 oz!! No wonder she wouldn't come out...she couldn't! Alison was a trooper and was the hero of the day yesterday to everyone in the waiting room waiting for little Elizabeth. Elizabeth is an angel and so beautiful....she has no idea how much she was wanted, anticipated and how much she is loved! I hate goodbyes and hate that I can't be with the people I love and I always cry when I have to leave Alison....this time I held it together till I got out to the car to leave, but I still cried. Today I had to leave Alison and that sweet little baby!

Elizabeth is a miracle and I am so glad she is here!

Just to be fair....

I realize that I've neglected posting many pics or stories of Sweet Boy #2 (and #3 for that matter) so for good measure here's a few of them....Z with his lovie, Z with one of his favorite things to do and Sweet Boy #3, Marc-Adam, at 21 weeks gestation (I'll be the first to admit that I had to clean the mirror before taking and publishing that picture).

Love Hurts

Ok, so I know this is a silly subject to write about, but my kids are my life so whatever happens in their life is huge in my life.

Stephen's first "lovie" had to be retired. He literally loved that thing till it's guts would fall out all over the house. His name was "Baby Animal Baby Bear" but we called him Baby Bear. Stephen actually stole him from his Nonny's house a little over a year ago and since then has hardly gone anywhere without him. From the quality of love he received Baby Bear developed hand, neck and stomach wounds (in addition to a loose eye and a scuffed up nose). When I kept finding pieces of Baby Bear scattered around the house, we went to Hobby Lobby. They have the supplies to do a "Build a Bear" type thing (for wayyyyy cheaper) and we built "Super Bear". Stephen seems to love him just as much as Baby Bear and now Baby Bear is now sitting high on a shelf to avoid any more injuries (other than the inevitable layer of dust it will receive). So, RIP, Baby Bear....thanks for the memories.