Pick me! Pick me!!

Oh, I need me a Dyson. I've been coveting one of those vacuums for a while, knowing that we'd never be able to afford one anytime soon. But now I (and YOU too!) have a chance to win one. Check out 5 Minutes for Mom to see how.

Thursday Thirteen- The Sweet Boys

I'm probably the only one that cares about this or thinks it's interesting. But because I have nothing else to blog about it, you're subjected to it as well!

I was watching the Sweet Boys play the other day and I was thinking about how different they are. They're personalities are so different from each other and it's fascinating they came from the same parents just 21 months apart. So here, in honor of their differences and to celebrate who they are, are the 13 ways the Boys are different from each other.

1. Stephen will eat just about anything; Zachary will eat just about anything deep fried.

2. Stephen doesn't care about what he's wearing as long as he's not too hot or cold; Zachary must pick out every stitch that he wears...and giving choices doesn't cut it (for example, a conversation we had just a few days ago : Me: "Zachary would you like to wear the red or the blue shirt?" Z: "Spiderman". )

3. Stephen must know everything that's going on the house, even at night when he's supposed to be sleeping; Zachary, if tired, will lay down at any point in the day and go to sleep. Regardless of what's going on in the house.

4. Stephen wants to be Superman; Zachary wants to be Spiderman. (That makes me smile.)

5. Stephen is absolutely in love with Marc-Adam, almost to the point where he smothers him; Zachary seems to be indifferent with Marc-Adam and only plays with him on Zachary's Terms, and that usually involves the poking of baby eyes and the "honking" of baby noses.

6. Stephen prefers to be near me (or his Dad) just about every second of his waking moments; Zachary is content to sit and play by himself for quite a while.

7. Stephen insists he doesn't need help; Zachary will whine for help can't get down off his chair or the bed even though he can (and has) do it by himself.

8. Stephen jumps off furniture, runs around the house at full speed, and attempts all sorts of acrobatic stunts; Zachary is much less coordinated and tends to run into furniture while just walking to the bathroom.

9. Stephen could watch TV all day long if I let him; Zachary gets bored with it fairly quickly and will wander off from it to find something to do, or to find trouble.

10. Stephen eats as much as a grown person every day (I often hear the words, "I'm still hungry, Mama"); Zachary can get by on a couple of raisins and a quarter of a PB&J for an entire day.

11. Stephen's an early riser (early being no later than 7:30); Zachary could sleep in until 9:00 and still need a nap at 11:00.

12. Stephen is motivated by nothing less than time spent with me or his daddy (or a good movie); Zachary is easily motivated by 2 M&Ms.

13. While they both love their Daddy and I, Stephen is more of a Daddy's Boy and Zachary is more of a Mama's Boy.

So there, now you've gotten to know them much better. I know your life is complete now, right? ;)

The end as he knows it

A post over at 24 going on 40 reminded me of this conversation I had with Stephen a few days ago.

I was sitting with Zachary and looking at his photo album of baby pictures. At one point, I said, "Look Zachary, there's you last Christmas."

A few minutes later, all red faced and tearful (complete with the little pouty lip), Stephen comes to me, throws himself on my lap and through his sobs I hear, "Why is there no more Christmas?" For a second I had no idea what he was talking about.

So I say, "There's more Christmas it's just going to be several more months before we have another Christmas."

"But you said it was our last Christmas!"

Oh, my sweet, precious boy.

All was right with the world again when I informed him that there will, indeed, be another Christmas.

ChewyMama's blog update

For those of you that popped over to say hi to ChewyMama and plan on going back, she had to change to blog address. If you bookmarked or planned on bookmarking her, please use this link. If you haven't gone to check her out, go, now! What are you waiting for?

When playing Duck, Duck, Goose with a 2 year old...

...make sure said 2 year old knows that the game is played by gently tapping the other players on the head. Not by whacking them with a flat palm right across the bridge of their nose.

And when having any sort of interaction what so ever with 2 (or more) little boys, always keep an ice pack handy.

Trust me.

Meet ChewyMama

One of my dearest friends, who has kept up with my blog almost from day one, has started a blog of her own here on the ol' Blogger. I'm so excited about this, even though I kept up with her family website. But she's so smart, funny and wise, that I can't wait to see what she does with her blog.

Anyway, click here, go spread some bloggy love and give her a great big welcome!

Works for Me Wednesday--Tip for burping a baby

Marc-Adam has been the hardest baby to burp. I can hear the air gurgling around in there, but it just won't come up easily. Until one day, I absent-mindedly (that's not a word, is it?) had him turned a different way while I was trying to burp him. I was patting his chest for a few seconds before I realized my mistake, but before I could turn him around, he let out a huge burp. Ever since then, if I've had a hard time getting him to burp, I gently pat his chest for a few seconds and up it comes. I'm not sure if that will work for every baby, but's it worth a try. If you are still having a hard time getting the burp to come up, lay baby down for a few minutes and then try again.

Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more tips (probably not involving gas).

Does your baby have wrinkles or unsightly blemishes?

I accidentally got some of my concealer in my eye the other day. So I looked at the side of the tube to see what it said about that. It said, "Avoid direct contact with the eye." Well. That was helpful.

But then another little tip caught my eye (no pun intended):

"Do not use on infants."

Well, shoot....I guess Marc-Adam will have to wait a few more years to cover up his signs of aging.

I'm all about IKEA!

Y'all...I was in heaven! I know this is so lame to take up two posts about a store, but we spent 4.5 hours there and I still feel like I could go back and touch everything again. And they have a restaurant!! We ate breakfast and lunch....all three of us, my mom, dad and I, ate both meals for under $25--not each, TOTAL! And the food was so good. Definitely better than some of the stand alone restaurants we have in our town. Added with the whole shopping experience, it was seriously the coolest, most fun thing I've done in a while. And my folks bought me the bookshelves and another cool little storage thing for the playroom!

As for the circus. It was what you would expect to come to a town of 5,000. It wasn't held at the Fairgrounds, but at the Knights of Columbus Hall. Apparently, it was an entire family putting in on. They all had the same last name. They were very talented, but it was no Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey. But it was small enough (and there were few enough people) that Stephen even got to get involved. The very first clown (whose make-up looked a bit like Boy George) tried to teach Stephen to juggle. I think Stephen now wants to join the circus. And before I left my parents after the IKEA excursion, I told my mom that I wouldn't think it was a real circus unless they had motorcycles going round and round in a big round steel cage. And wouldn't you know they had the "Glove of Death"....I'm guessing they meant "Globe of Death", but English was obviously not their first language. The kids thought it was so neat. And by kids I mean 2 of my children and my husband who giggled like a 4 year old, when they brought the second motorcycle out. All in all, a fun evening was had by all. Except for the first few minutes when my mother-in-law nearly choked on her gum when they told her tickets were $12 a piece.

Randomness of Friday...

Not much going on in the Sweet Household this week...but I'm gonna talk about it anyway.

We went to the Rodeo on Monday. We left the two older boys at home and just took Marc-Adam. He did great...he just rode in the sling and looked around at all the lights and animals. He was more impressed with the lights. He then proceeded to sleep through the barrel racing and bull riding....two of the loudest events. We really went for the concert, but the sound was so lousy that we left halfway through the second song. Now, I know concerts are supposed to be loud, but I could literally feel vibrations in my head and teeth. I cringe to think of what it did to his little eardrums! The rodeo itself was great, though. I wish I could ride a horse....those chicks that do the barrel racing and all the tricks on the horses just look so cool. The one and only time I've ever even been near a horse, I was afraid it was going to bite me so I wouldn't get close enough to touch it. This was just last year, people.

I rearranged the furniture in the living room. Does anyone else do this on a regular basis? It reminds me that I really should vacuum under the furniture more regularly. There's a little world under there that I'm not even aware of. Apparently, it's also the place where little tiny toy pieces go to die. And while I'm moving the furniture, the boys (being boys) think it's great fun to "fly" from one sofa to the other (or to the coffee table for that matter). That really makes it easier, you know.

I've gotten more than few weirdo hits from questionable google searches. So I've had to trim things here and there and had to remove a blog from my sidebar that I actually do read on a regular basis. But the name of her blog coupled with a post of mine brought more weirdos than I'm comfortable with being here. I know this is the World Wide Web and all and I can't control who takes a peek at my little corner, but I can at least protect it as best I can. Does anyone else get repeated hits from the same (or similar) searches for "things that you don't blog about"? What do you do about it?

On a lighter note, we're headed to Ikea tomorrow. I've been checking the site out for a while and I'm excited to go look at the stuff in person. We're having a garage sale in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping we'll get enough from it to fund an overhaul of the playroom. It's just cluttered and scattered and unorganized. We'll be using it for some real homeschooling soon, so I need to get things under control. The kids don't really even play in there that much anymore. Something needs to change. Anyway, Ikea has some cute book shelves that I think will help give us more room and the table and chairs I want are just darling. And the best part...they're CHEAP! "And on this farm he had a tightwad, E I E I O....with a 'CHEAP CHEAP!' here and a 'CHEAP CHEAP!' there..." I hope we can turn that room into something really cool for the kids. I'm not sure if I want to paint...I was think about painting the bottom half of one of the walls with that chalkboard paint. Any thoughts on that? I think we're going to use a "Things that ZOOM!" motif with bold primary colors. If you have ideas for homeschool organization and/or playroom decorating and organization they are invited and welcome. I need some inspiration!!

The circus is coming to our tiny little town. It's being held at our tiny little fairgrounds. I'm not sure if I'm going yet or not, but my mother-in-law is taking the kids....I think I might go just to see what kind of circus actually comes to this map dot.

So there you go. That's as exciting as it gets around here.

Wordless Wednesday

When Z misses naptime

Love and Marriage...

ksl tagged me for this. I think she knows what a silly fool I am for feeling all special when someone tags me for a meme! ;) I love these...this one's about my marriage.


1. Where/How did you meet? This isn't information I usually offer up since I try to avoid the kinds of looks I get when I tell people, but what the hey....my aunt introduced us. Turns out his uncle is married to my aunt. They married years before either of us were born and we went our entire lives without knowing each other. Then one day she set us up to meet.

2. How long have you known each other?: for a little over 7 years, we met in person on Oct 23, 1999. We had talked on the phone for about a week before.

3. How long after you met did you start dating?: We started dating when we met. Not love at first sight, but pretty darn close.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?: 2.5 months.

5. How long was your engagement?: 10 months.

6. How long have you been married?: almost 6.5 years

7. What is your anniversary?: Nov 4, 2000

8. How many people came to your wedding reception: About 125, I think.

9. What kind of cake did you serve?: A friend of my mom's made the wedding cake and the groom's cake. To be honest, I don't remember what kind...just plain ol' wedding cake, but it was purty AND tasty. In my experience, that's not a common combination in wedding cakes.

10. Where was your wedding?: First United Methodist Church of Houston-Westchase.

11. What did you serve for your meal?: Roast beef, swedish meatballs, vegetable crudite and some kind of potatoes, I think...again, I don't really remember (it almost seems silly now, the amount of thought that I and my parents put into all of it since I can't remember most of it). I do remember the really good rolls, though.

12. How many people were in your bridal party?: 2 bridesmaids, 1 junior bridesmaid, 3 groomsmen, 1 junior groomsmen and a couple of ushers.

13. Are you still friends with them all?: Just one of my bridesmaids, my dearest friend Alison. And Sweet Hubby is still in touch with the groomsmen that he's related to.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?: Yes, he was so choked up that he whispered everything and no one could hear him.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day?: Before we got married, Sweet Hubby and I would watch Mad TV (before it got nasty and vulgar) every Saturday night. The night of our wedding as we left our reception, we collapsed into the limo and watched Mad TV....and then laughed at how sad we were being so tired and watching TV on our wedding night.

16. Any funny moments?: Sweet Hubby danced like I had never seen him dance before (and haven't seen since). I laughed so hard at him....you just have to know him...he's not the dancing type.

17. Any big disasters?: Not that I know of. My mom runs a pretty good interference with things like this. And my dad runs a pretty good intereference for her.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?: Nowhere right away. We had to change the date of our wedding several times and by the time we finally got it settled, Sweet Hubby couldn't change his vacation date from work. Not to mention we were broke. So we waited a year and went to Disney World for our first anniversary.

19. How long were you gone? 5 days.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? I would have had bagpipes play at some point in the wedding. I just love them. And I'll ditto what ksl said, it would have been wonderful to have Gram and Papa there.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?: The side farthest from the door.

22. What size is your bed?: Queen.

23. Greatest strength as a couple?: We have the same values and the same "map" for where our lives and our family is going. We come through problems fairly easily and move on pretty quickly.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple?: Like a lot of people, money. We don't always agree about it and it's been a sticking point for 6.5 years.

25. Who literally pays the bills?: He used to, but I'm taking a much more active role in our finances lately. I've paid the bills that we pay online.

26. What is your song? : It changes a lot...I'm not sure we even have one now.... do grown-ups have a "song"?

27. What did you dance your first dance to?: Oh, gimme a sec....I'll think of it...it's by Keith Urban....OH! "Everything" or "I Wanna Be Your Everything" or something sappy like that.

28. Describe your wedding dress: Sleevless, boat neck with lace and embellishment around the middle. Big skirt with lots of layers, chapel length train.

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?: White and red roses. That's pretty much it.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved? What do they say? Mine's too small to be engraved (I have tiny fingers), but I had his engraved..."All my love, All my life"

Are you a fool for a meme like me? If so, TAG! You're it!

Wordless Wednesday

The many faces of Marc-Adam

Can we call this homeschooling?

The boys and I were sitting around this afternoon just talking and reading some books. Somehow we got on the subject of peanut butter (this is some riveting conversation, people, lemme tell ya) and I asked where they thought peanut butter came from. Stephen looks at me like 'duh, Mom' and says, "From peanuts." I asked how he knew that....his reply? "The commercial told me."

That qualifies as homeschooling, right?

I'm here for the party...

Apparently, I don't follow directions well, or I just got too caught up in all the partyin'. I was supposed to post a party post first and THEN do the Mr. Linky. I just got it all wrong. Oh, well. I suppose I won't be voted out of the bloggy fun for a short moment of stupidity. After all, my blog IS Adventures in Imperfection.

So HELLO! I'm tickled pink that you're here if you found me through the Party. Actually, as long as you're not a weirdo looking for stuff I DON'T post about, I'm tickled pink you're here. My name is Alli. I'm 25, married for 6 years, and have three boys, ages 4, 2 and 4 months (click here for a recent family pic and a pic of the Sweet Boys). I started blogging last summer after my cousins convinced me I need to do this. It's been great fun and a wonderful outlet for me. Not to mention all the encouragement and laughs I get from reading other blogs.

So, come on in, have a look around and if you like what you see, leave a comment and please visit again!

Why the heck not?

I wasn't going to participate in the Ultimate Blog Party, but as I was cruising my blog reading, it seemed like everyone else was doing it. And you know, if everyone else is doing it....

So, if you were going to be a wallflower, too, suck it up, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and have fun!!

Bump!

Stephanie's still coming up with fun photo tag ideas, but because of my sorry scanner, I wasn't able to participate in last week's. But here I am to participate this week and show off my belly when I was pregnant with #3, Marc-Adam. The picture isn't great and since Marc-Adam came earlier than expected I didn't get any good pics just before he was born (except my maternity pics but I can't scan those). This pic is Marc-Adam at about 32 weeks. I had another picture of 35 weeks, but can't get that one to post. I carry my babies really far back, so I don't show very much but I'm in miserable back pain for the last trimester.

Head on over to Adventures in Babywearing if you have a bump to show off!

Still here, still nothin' to blog about

Still not really thinking of much to blog about. But I can't just leave it hangin'.

So I've started on the adventure of potty training Zachary. He's a stubborn child. He's always done things his way and on his timeline. It's been an interesting couple of days, lemme tell ya, but we've had a little success. However, he has this thing for shoes. He likes to wear them all.the.time. And the first couple times he had an accident and we had to change his bottoms, he insisted on a new pair of shoes to wear as well. At one point, he was wearing shoes 3 sizes too big. Today, I've been able to distract him from having to wear shoes.

Stephen's coming to the very sad realization that this family, and alas, the universe, does not revolve around him. There's been much moaning and lamenting on his part and even as I type this, he's telling me that he wants to move to another house far, far away...maybe Dallas, he says. (I have to add that this particular bout of Stephen's self-pity was brought on because I'm not letting him watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas.)

On a happier note, we got our income tax refund in so we will be able to finish off Baby Step #1 and most of Baby Step #2!! We are so excited about this! We can't wait to yell "FREEDOM!" when we are completely debt free!