First taste

Marc-Adam had his first taste of real food this morning. On the menu was avocado mixed with breastmilk. I'm glad that he doesn't have associations with how food is supposed to look, because otherwise, he wouldn't have eaten it.

I think he thought the act of eating was fun, but I'm not sure he was impressed with the avocado. See for yourself.

And he has learned (the same day he got his tooth) to roll from back to tummy. Now he's rolling all over the living room. He's just developing so fast!

And as I type this, Zachary is taking his first sleep in a toddler bed. Where has the time gone?

Because we should all have a place at the table

Yesterday, the boys and I ate our afternoon snacks and caught an episode of Blue's Clues. It was the one where Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper (or Mr. Pepper and Mrs. Salt, I can never remember) have a baby, Paprika.

Afterward, Zachary was lovin' on Marc-Adam and calling him his baby and telling Marc-Adam he loved him. Very sweet. So I asked both the boys if we should have any more babies (I'm still very much on the fence about whether I want any more, Sweet Hubby is pretty sure we're done). Zachary hestitantly shook his head yes. Stephen gave an answer I wasn't expecting.

"If we have any more babies, we won't have enough chairs."

Yes, sweetie, I guess you're right.

So I guess the real decision is whether or not we want more chairs.

6 whole months

I was thinking of a post I might write today about it being Marc-Adam's 6 month birthday (or half birthday as we like to call it). I was thinking about how I can't believe it's been six months and how it feels like I wrote this post yesterday. I thought about how in a blink of an eye, he's no longer a newborn, but a sweet little playful baby with his own personality. I thought about how in another 6 months he'll be a year old and about how I can't even remember what this house or our family dynamic was like without him. I wasn't sure how I was going to write all this or even what exactly I wanted to write. And then....he gave me something to write about....

Ladies and gentlemen....

We have a tooth.

What a better way to start off the next six months with lots of "firsts" than with his first tooth. I'd take a picture, but I think it must have just broken through this morning because I can feel it more than I can see it (when he actually lets me look).

It's so bittersweet to say goodbye to those gummy grins.

The offending butterfly

I just had to add these pictures of our butterfly experience. The one of him looking at the camera with a funny look is about half a second before the screaming commenced.

Who's afraid of the big bad....butterfly?

Stephen's been on a kick in the last week or so wanting to learn everything about all kinds of bugs. It started with bees one day. He loved talking about bees so much that the next day we had to do spiders. And then grasshoppers. And then ants. And then butterflies. Let me tell you, this has been a week of riveting education. But he's enjoyed it and he's been excited about it, so who am I to stifle his natural curiosity. So I've found everything I could about whatever creepy crawly he wanted to learn about.

The science museum here has a butterfly center where there are thousands of live butterflies flying around and landing on people and nearby plants. My mom mentioned that it would be fun to take the kids there since Stephen's been so fascinated by bugs. So we loaded them up Saturday and headed in to town to the butterflies. Stephen got his card of the different species and the first few minutes he was so excited about all the different butterflies. We even got to see one land on a flower and drink the nectar. It was so cool. Zachary was fascinated by the hundreds of different species of puddles.

At one point, a guy next to us had a butterfly on his hand. Stephen couldn't take his eyes off of it and the guy asked if Stephen wanted to hold it. He did and they guy transferred the butterfly (which happened to be a Blue Morpho, Stephen's favorite from Diego) to Stephen's hand. We got lots of pictures and Stephen was getting lots of attention. He then turned to me to ask how long the butterfly was going to sit on his hand. Before I could get one syllable of an answer out, he lost all calm and composure he had and f r e a k e d out. If you came from another planet and didn't know one single thing about our gentle friend, the butterfly, from watching Stephen's reaction to one sitting on his hand, you would think that butterflies are deceptively beautiful and that they are actually tiny terrorists that suck all the blood from our children and replace it with toxins that make them crazy.

He then flipped out every time a butterfly looked like it was thinking about even flying anywhere near him. And Zachary, being the little monkey see, monkey do brother that he is, proceeded to do the exact same thing (unless there was a puddle that needed to be set straight).

The entomology portion of his curiosity has now passed.

And I'm so disappointed.

The big 1 double 0!

*Updating my last post about all our germies: Marc-Adam does indeed have an ear infection. I took him in yesterday because I didn't want to wait until today. I just hope he hasn't had it since Tuesday and the doctor missed it and now my baby's been in pain needlessly since then. He's on antibiotics now and should be back to himself soon. Moving along...*


It's my 100th post!! And in honor of the 100 pointless things I've rambled on about for 10ish months, here's 100 more pointless things all at once...with very little rambling.

100 Things About Me

1. I've never lived more than a couple hours from where I was born.

2. I am the "baby" of my family, but the only child between my parents.

3. My sister is from my mom's previous marriage and she is 10 years older than me.

4. My brother is from my dad's previous marriage, he's 6 years older than me.

5. I was only the one living at home after I was 9.

6. I consider myself an only child.

7. That's a title I love.

8. My parents spoiled me.

9. They still do.

10. But only because I appreciate it.

11. Most of the time.

12. Most people who know me don't even know my first name.

13. Alli isn't it.

14. It's not even my middle name.

15. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

16. I met my husband when I was 17.

17. We got married when I was 18.

18. When we told people we were getting married, many asked when the baby was due.

19. There was no baby.

20. And I hated that question.

21. I didn't go to college.

22. I got accepted to a college in Dallas.

23. But decided not to go after I met Sweet Hubby.

24. I can't imagine how different things would be if I had gone anyway.

25. I wouldn't be married to Sweet Hubby and I wouldn't have the 3 sweet boys.

26. I can't imagine my life without them.

27. Being the only female in my house (besides the dog), I'm the queen of my castle.

28. I love it and am actually afraid that we'll eventually have a little girl and I'll lose that title.

29. I plan on going back to school when my kids leave home and/or aren't as needy.

30. I'd love to be a nurse.

30. A labor and delivery nurse.

31. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a teacher.

32. A music teacher.

33. I'm glad I didn't do that.

34. I don't like other people's children.

35. But I love music.

36. I sang a solo in our Easter Cantata at church.

37. It was a song about how Jesus' mother Mary felt about the crucifixion.

38. I love to sing.

39. It annoys my children.

40. Apparently, they don't share my love of music.

41. Neither does Sweet Hubby.

42. Sweet Hubby doesn't read my blog.

43. It bugs me that he doesn't.

44. I guess he figures he gets enough of me in real life.

45. I like to talk. A lot.

46. He probably does get enough of me in real life.

47. I'm a very forgiving person and usually move past issues I have with someone pretty quickly.

48. I think life's too short to spend it in a huff.

49. I'm very sarcastic in real life.

50. I call it a sense of humor.

51. But I think it annoys other people.

52. Sometimes I say things in a sarcastic way, and realize afterward that the person I was talking to probably took it the wrong way.

53. And then I vow to try to shut-up more.

54. But then an opportunity for a sarcastic joke comes up and I can't help myself.

55. I love it when people laugh at my jokes.

56. I think my parents are the only ones that always laugh.

57. I love laughing at my own jokes.

58. But sometimes it's awkward when I'm the only one laughing.

59. But that doesn't stop me.

60. I really love it when I make Sweet Hubby laugh.

61. Especially when he laughs out loud.

62. I love his laugh.

63. There's been a few times I've had to tell him to go to the other room to laugh because he laughs so loud that I'm afraid he'll wake the kids.

64. I suck at housekeeping.

65. I also suck at time management.

66. Neither of those things make for a very good housewife.

67. So I make sure my title stays "stay at home mom" instead of "housewife".

68. Housewife sounds old to me anyway.

69. Stay at home mom sounds much more fun and interesting.

70. Especially when you add "to three boys..."

71. "...4 and under."

72. I realized after I had Stephen that the name of my biggest crush in high school was Stephen.

73. It took me a while to admit that to Sweet Hubby.

74. And then I realized recently that Adam was the name of a guy I was friends with in high school.

75. I had a small crush on him.

76. I've never known anyone named Zachary.

77. I only have one friend from high school that I'm still close with.

78. She's my best and dearest friend.

79. Even though I don't get to see her often, I love her and her family like my own.

80. I don't wear my heart on my sleeve and my feelings don't get hurt easily.

81. Because of that, I think I might be a little insensitive sometimes to other people's feelings.

82. But I really do try to be a nice person.

83. I'm a news junkie.

84. I watch way too much Fox News.

85. If you ask my kids what my favorite show is, they'll say Fox News.

86. I'm also a chocaholic, I try to eat healthy, but I will eat anything with chocolate.

87. I've never weighed more than 105 pounds except when I was pregnant and the month or so following.

88. I think I'm too thin.

89. I've never been able to give blood because of my weight.

90. I think I looked great and healthy when I was 9 months pregnant with Stephen.

91. I gained more in that pregnancy than the other two.

92. I was diabetic in my last two pregnancies.

93. I'll most likely be diabetic later in life.

94. I'm not sure if we're going to have anymore children.

95. We do plan on fostering/adopting, though, when our kids get older.

96. I try to keep an optimistic outlook on life and remember all my blessings when I start feeling sorry for myself.

97. I've been paranoid this whole time making this list that I've been numbering my list wrong.

98. I honestly didn't think I would have 100 things to say about myself and now I feel like I can keep going...

99. I'm actually getting ready to finish this while I only have 89 posts.

100. I just wanted to make sure I had time to finish it all!

On the road to recovery

Most of us are starting to feel much better now. I was feeling purty crummy for a while there. I'm reluctant to take much in the way of medicine, but there were a few times I just broke down and took a Sudafed. I was so miserable.

The boys are at about 90% now. They're still coughing, but not as bad as the beginning of the week. And they're back in their usual moods.

Poor baby Marc-Adam, though. He just can't kick this. He's had a fever since Monday (that I know of) that the Tylenol just isn't really helping. He had a temp of 102 this morning. I took him to the doctor Tuesday (who was a fill in for our regular pedi and who poked in Marc-Adam's ear with--I swear--a metal stick) who said it could be roseola. Hmmmm, maybe, but from what I've read roseola comes a fever of 103-105 and this morning was the highest it's been. Plus roseola also comes with decreased appetite. But he's been eating like a madman the last several days. Around the clock. And he's been really sleepy. We should find out if it's roseola when the rash shows up. We have an appt I made a few weeks ago with our regular doctor for a well-check tomorrow. I'm so glad.

About this fill-in doctor (I keep calling him the substitute doctor, but I hate that name because it sounds to me like someone who got his MD in a weekend crash course or something). Marc-Adam seemed to like him at first. He was an older gentleman who wore a beat-up Mickey Mouse watch and made cute whistly noises. I thought, "I think I like him...". Then out came the metal poking device. I was wondering what in the world he thought he was going to do with it and then he proceeded to dig around in Marc-Adam's ear with it. And when Marc-Adam started to scream, the doctor said, "Sometimes the tissue in the ear can be sensitive." Well, excuse me, sir, but I think any tissue is sensitive when you poke and dig at it with a metal stick. And then while he's holding Marc-Adam's head to the side to dig in his ear, the ears on his old Mickey watch were poking Marc-Adam in the eye. I had to move his hand several times. I asked if he could do that while I held him and he said no. I wanted to say, "But Dr Clarke lets me."

And after he examined his ears for forever he finally said, "Well, they look healthy." Well, they were before the poking device.

We won't be seeing the fill-in doctor again.

A day of great joy

Zachary and Marc-Adam were baptized this weekend. It was so special to us. Especially since we've really gotten to know the people in our church and they have embraced us and loved us (and they especially love our kids and have been extra sweet to them).

Some humorous moments (mostly having to do with Stephen): Stephen was playing around while we were singing the song that we sing when kids get baptized and he fell down. Loudly. A few minutes before that he just sat down right in front of the altar. When I gave him the "hairy eyeball" he stood up....using my loosely fitting skirt for leverage. I thought he was getting ready to pants me. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Then he proceeded to love on me by hugging my leg and rubbing my heinie.

Zachary wasn't feeling 100% and wouldn't let the pastor hold him. Then in the middle of the song we were singing to him, he said (in the only volume he knows: LOUD), "Mama, ho-uld me!"

While the pastor walked around with Marc-Adam showing him off to the congregation, Marc-Adam decided it was a good time to continue his experiment on just how far can he shove all four fingers into his mouth without gagging. The problem is, he hasn't quite figured out when to stop.

All in all, it was a great day spent with the family. Again, for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures. Including a pic with the pastor and what Marc-Adam thought of the special day (this time with his Nonny).

No rest for the weary

The problem with having a family that spends as much time together as we do is that when one gets sick, we all get sick. Sometimes, I'm able to dodge catching the kids' colds, but not this time. And somehow, I seem to have it so much worse than they do. They're almost over it while I'm still dealing with a nasty sinus infection. And poor baby Marc-Adam is no exception. Normally, he's a great sleeper at night, but last night he was up for 3 hours. And I was just.so.tired. I stood at his crib with my hand on his back just sobbing because none of my usual tricks were working, and I just wanted him to go to sleep so that I could go to sleep (note to self: crying does not help a sinus infection!). I know I'm not going to kick this if I can't get any rest. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, either. I'm afraid he might have an ear infection, but it could just be teething. I'm hoping it was just a fluke night and that he'll sleep better tonight. At least the kids were at my in-laws so they were able to sleep better. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if they are all up tonight.

Ok, whine over.

Today or tomorrow I'll try to post about our weekend.

Finders Keepers

For my own memory....

Marc-Adam found his feet this week. It's so very cute. And ever since he discovered them, the toes of his jammies have stayed wet. And I'm amazed at how he seems to fold himself in half.

And yet more pictures--Wordless Wednesday

In ca se you're not tired of pictures of my kids....pictures from our family Easter including the five of us, the boys' spoils and what Marc-Adam thought of all the festivities (seen here with his Papa).

Pictures!

We had the boys pictures taken last weekend. The more children I have the more I realize that a really good picture is one that has them all not crying and all looking in the same direction. Other than that, my standards are much lower. But aren't they cute?

Yet another meme...

My sweet cousin Kelli, who knows I'm a fool for a meme (only 'cause I say that every time I do one) tagged me for this.

10 FAVORITES

1)Color: Purple
2)Food: Good ol' fashioned southern comfort foods.
3)Musical Group: Casting Crowns
4)Song Right Now: Does Anybody Hear Her by Casting Crown
5)Movie: If I had to name one, Wedding Singer
6)Sport: Baseball
7)Season: Winter
8)Day of the Week: Saturday
9)Ice Cream Flavor: Birthday Cake @ Marble Slab
10)Person: well, we're not going to leave all of my other almost favorite people out by naming names here.


9 CURRENTS

1)Current Mood: Cranky, I wasn't planning on doing this meme right now, but I am because I need some distraction.
2)Current Scent: Baby drool and Suave Shampoo, I think. Not in the habit of keeping track of my scent.
3)Current Clothes: Gray t-shirt I wore yesterday and my new favorite pair of jeans.
4)Current Desktop: A nekkid bath picture of the boys coloring in the bath tub.
5)Current Ringtone on Cell Phone: I don't know, some factory ringtone. It's pretty music.
6)Current Music: The background music to a new show the boys have found about Monster Trucks.
7)Current Time: 1:57 pm
8)Current Surrounding: My bedroom, and my boys.
9)Current Event Happening Today: Laundry, play-doh, lunch. Tonight is the Easter Cantata at our church. I have a solo!


8 FIRSTS

1)First Best Friend: Stephanie who lived across the street from me.
2)First Kiss: I don't really even remember, I don't even remember his name. It was a blond kid in ninth grade. I think I've blocked out most things like that.
3)First Screen Name: alligirl, a nick name my family had for me when I was a kid.
4)First Pet: Taffy, a dachsund.
5)First Piercing: I don't remember how old, but I think I was 6 or 7. Obviously, it was my ears.
6)First Crush: Oh my gosh. Do real people even remember things like this? The first one I can think of was in fifth grade on a boy named Brandon.
7)First Music: I'm not quite sure what this question is looking for...*sigh* I'm remembering that I have a terrible memory.
8)First Car: A 1999 (or was it 2000?) White Dodge Neon. I loved that car.


7 LASTS

1)Last Class: Hmmmm...I took Financial Peace University, our last class was on March 10.
2)Last Drink: Ice water with lunch
3)Last Trip: We went to Louisiana when last year sometime....July or so, I think.
4)Last Kiss: When Stephen woke up from his nap about 20 minutes ago.
5)Last Movie Seen at the Theater: Oh gosh, ummm...I was pregnant...I'll have to get back to you on that one....*updated* I think it was X-Men 3.
6)Last Phone Call: Sweet Hubby
7)Last CD Played: The rehearsal CD for our Easter Concert at church that we're putting on tomorrow.


6 HAVE YOU EVERS

1)Have you ever dated one of your best guy friends? I was really good friends with my first boyfriend before we started dating.
2)Have you ever broken the law? I've been pulled over for speeding a couple times, but that's the extent of my brushes with the law.
3)Have you ever been arrested? No
4)Have you ever skinny-dipped? No.
5)Have you ever been on TV? I got interviewed by the local ABC station once when the circus came to town and we went to watch the parade.
6)Have you ever kissed someone you didn’t know? No. Never been in a situation where I might have to.

5 THINGS
1) 1 thing you’re wearing: again, the shirt I wore yesterday.
2)1 thing you’ve done today: put on makeup..that doesn't happen but once or twice a week.
3)1 thing you’re bothered by: Stories like this one that I just heard on the news.
4)1 thing you can’t live without: chocolate, I'll have to keep that answer the same as Kelli.
5)1 thing you do when you’re bored: Boredom is a luxury, but as soon as there's a lull in my activity and I'm not on the computer, I flip to HGTV, thanks to my mom who's gotten me hooked on it.


4 PLACES YOU HOPE TO TRAVEL TO
1)DisneyWorld again.
2)Washington DC again.
3)England
4) Italy


3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO

1) Sweet Hubby
2) Alison, my best friend
3) my mom. most things. (same thing as Kelli again)


2 CHOICES
1)Black or White? Black, I guess.
2)Hot or Cold? Hot chocolate, on a cold night.


1 THING YOU WANT TO DO?
There's lots of things I want to do, but what's been on my mind lately is moving out of the town we live in to live closer to where my family and our church is.

Wordless Wednesday

I had some cute pics I was going to post here today, but when I went to get my camera to upload to the computer I realized that Sweet Hubby took the camera to work with him today. So I went digging through what I had on the computer and thought this was a sweet picture. It's my grandfather and Marc-Adam at Christmas. Happy Wordless Wednesday!

They've added humiliation to their inventory

While visiting my friendly, neighborhood Wally World yesterday, I decided to try on a dress that I had been eyeing for a few weeks. I would like to have a new dress for Easter and this would have been a good one. So while Sweet Hubby took the boys to go look at boy things, I grabbed the last one of my size and made my way to the dressing room.

The dress zips up the side and the front is very similar to the back. I thought I had it all figured out, and I put it on and zipped it up. But something wasn't right. It just looked funny on me. That's when I realized that I'd put in on backwards. Silly me, I thought and I went to unzip it. But the zipper was stuck. STUCK.

So there I am, in the Wally World dressing room with a dress on backwards like my 4 year old dressed me and it ain't coming off. And my only hope at being able to keep my dignity and getting the dress off is on the other side of the store looking at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys with my children. I was afraid I was going to have to rip the zipper or gnaw the thing off like a wild animal. But then my conscience would make me pay for the dress, and then I'd be stuck with a dress I can't wear and not enough money left over to buy a new one. Before panicking, though, I gave the zipper one more good tug. It finally came free. I turned the dress around, already convinced that I wasn't buying it because of the potential humiliation it almost gave me. Which was okay, because it looked just as weird with the front where it actually belonged.