A Day in October

October 29, 2010

A Day in October

My day technically started at 4:45am this morning when the littlest boy got up to eat. He is my little night owl and will stay up till midnight or later and than sleep till late in the morning. Trying to break that little habit. Trying. Mommy can't go to bed till baby does.

So, on good days when the Hubby has meetings and can leave later, I get to sleep in till he leaves. He takes care of Jack in the morning till I am up. This morning I got to sleep in till 8:30ish. It was wonderful.

I came out into the living room to find this little boy in his striped pajamas with his blankie and monkey still waking up.

( On an entirely different note. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas movie. The most heart wrenching, tragic, beautiful movie I have ever seen. It will haunt you. It will make you re-evaluate humanity and your place in it. It will make you fight to stop anything like that from ever happening again. Watch it...with this warning and a box of tissues.)

Hubby also won lots of bonus points for making coffee. I love waking up and having the coffee already brewed and waiting.

While I drank my coffee and ate my breakfast, Jack colored.

His favorite thing to do is to have me draw whatever animal/thing he wants. I can not draw. Anything. This kid does not want simple stick people. He wants triceratops and elephants and zebras. He wants me to draw all of his friends. It is a very good thing that only my 2 yr old views these drawings. It is also a very good thing that he is not that picky.

After some play time and coloring time, my little happy baby decided to rouse from his slumber.

( Husband is making me move baby into his crib on Monday. In another room. Sob.)



After nursing little one while watching Sesame Street  with the bigger one, we decided to get dressed and go on a walk.

It was a beautiful 64 degrees and sunny. The day before had been humid, muggy and 84 degrees. I was MUCH happier with this weather. Colin agreed. He was excited to wear his new Hanna hat again. Well, maybe not SO excited, but mom was.

This one. This one had to be bribed to get in the stroller and go on a walk. He wanted to see animals. He wanted to see doggies and kitties and pumpkins and elephants and birdies and giraffes and zebras. I was able to supply the birdies and the pumpkins and one lone little doggies. It worked. Barely.



After our walk, it was lunch time. "Moovies" was the request and since I was out of most of my frozen fruit, we made a peanut butter banana smoothie. It turned out pretty good. Jack had to help.

We ate our lunch and our smoothies while Colin kicked around next to us. He decided to fill his pants to exploding while we ate. He was quite pleased with himself. Quite pleased.

After changing and clean up his dominate blow out and than cleaning up the floor and Jack after he decided to spill most of his smoothie down the front of him, I let the boys play before nap time. Colin LOVES his play mat and will happily kick and coo for hours. This little video is what a typical day looks and sounds like. Notice how many times I say "gentle" in a 90 second time period. "Gentle" may have replaced "no" for my most used word of the day.

Jack loves loves to read. These were his books of choice for nap time.

After Jack went down for his nap, it was nurse time again.

Instead of another millionth nursing picture, here is Colin post nursing. I just think his face is funny in this picture...so it is getting posted.

After an unsuccessful attempt to get my non-nap taking baby to sleep, I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to take to a co-birthday celebration with good friends. I may have watched the season finale of Project Runway while I baked.

The finished product.

Next was some more nursing for these little piggies...



...while this little one talked on the phone to his daddy, anxiously asking him to come home soon. He was ready to go see his friends for our evening celebrations.

And this is the section where I failed to take pictures. I had every intention and lugged my DSLR with me, but it just didn't happen. The original plan was to celebrate October birthdays with a group of friends that are like our family here in Virginia. We celebrate Thanksgiving with them every year. The host are expecting twins to add to their brood of 5. That is right, number 6 and number 7. Twins. Well, the momma is 32 weeks and was unexpectedly sent to the hospital with high blood pressure. So, the ladies went to the hospital to cheer her up while the boys stayed home with the kids and played video games.

Needless to say, it was a very late night. The guys did not put the kids to bed and we talked much longer than we thought. Poor Jack was exhausted and up WAY WAY past his bedtime.

When I finally went to bed around 1am, this is the last picture I took.

Sometimes little boys and daddies are just too tired to make it to bed...

And that was our day in October.

Check out other blogger's days here.



Coming Soon

October Favorite 5, 6 and 7

I like getting mail. Real mail. Snail mail.

I like getting boxes in the mail.

I especially LOVE getting brown boxes like these from my favorite store.

The hubby and I went to Richmond last weekend to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday and to do some shopping without a squirming two year old. We both really enjoy shopping and we enjoyed spending time together and with just Colin.

I was able to go to an actual Anthropologie and spend some birthday money and try some things on. I was given an online only birthday discount code... so I HAD to use it.

Getting boxes in the mail from my favorite store AND shopping at it the weekend before.

Major favorite.

Another great October favorite?

Taking little ones to a harvest festival and letting them experience holding a little chicken all on their own.

He was beyond excited.

Definitely a favorite.



October Favorites part 4

CAKE.
CUPCAKES.
 ANY KIND OF CAKE.

It is my favorite. I prefer chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. I like a good store bought kind with the extra sweet frosting. 

I  also have a strong affection for a good fancy gourmet cupcake.

I could eat a cupcake or a piece of cake for breakfast with coffee every single day.

I don't...but I still wish my waistline would allow for it.

Today, my wonderful husband accidentally ordered a 1/2 sheet cake instead of a 1/4 sheet cake.
I like that mistake.
Why is he ordering a 1/2 of chocolate sheet cake with buttercream frosting?

Because I am 29 years old today.

It seems WAY too old.

Good thing I still look like I am barely 21.

Good thing I have cake. Lots of it.

Cake is my favorite and I am going to eat as much of it as I want today.

Because I am 29 years old and I can.

October Favorites part 3

( Sept 2008) 

 This guy is my favorite. Ever.

 

(May 2010)

He is super smart. He works super hard at a not so fun or glamorous job. I can't wait to see where his brilliant, business-savvy mind will take us.

(Christmas 2006)

He is super funny. Really. He is one of the funniest person that I know. Even though I know most of his jokes, he is still the funniest. Guess that means true love, huh?

(July 2010)

He is the BEST father. The BEST. He comes home from work and spends the rest of the night playing with Jack, changing all the diapers, bathing the kids and putting Jack to bed. With out being asked. See. He is the BEST father. My boys are very lucky.

(June 2009)

He is my best friend. He has been since I was 17 years old. We dated on and off in college, but he still remained my best friend through it all. No matter what, good or bad, he was there for me. We talk about everything, just like we did when we were teenagers. Real life is not all roses and romance. It is hard work, uncontrolled circumstances and tiring. It is times like that when it is nice to lean on your best friend, who just happens to be the love of your life. It works out quite nicely.

 

 ( Oct 14, 2006)

This guy is my favorite, has been for a good solid ten years and will be for another good 60 or 70 years to come.

This guy is the man that I love, the man that I married, the father of my children, my best friend, my life support. This guy is my favorite.

Are you watching this?

The Chilean Mine Rescue?

It is incredible.

I could not go to bed last night. I watched them pull that first miner out after 68 days underground. I watched his 7 yr old boy cry and run to his daddy.

I cried.

God is so good.  Whoever would have thought that you could rescue 33 men who were buried 2,000+ ft underground? 

I could not even imagine dealing with what these guys have dealt with.

I have mining in my blood. My relatives came from England to mine in the coal mines in the upper peninsula in Michigan. My grandfather mined in the salt mines in Salt Lake City.

Be thankful for the family that you have around you now and thank the Lord for bringing those men back to their families.

Really. I can't stop watching this. Every miner brought up holds my attention.

Are you watching this?

(photo~foxnews)

October Favorites part 2

One of my favorite things is something that I did not discover until I had children.

It has become one of my sweet little pleasures of life.

The nap cheek.

What is the nap cheek?

It is the sweet kissable cheek of your little who is freshly up from their nap (or up for the morning). It is the blushing pink of the cheeks that are still warm from being pressed into their little pillows. It is the cozy snugglies as you nuzzle their cheeks and neck when they run to you after awaking. It is those few moments of cuddle, when they are still waking up and let you kiss their little nap cheeks.

Those are my favorites.

Nap time is at a premium. No matter how long it lasts, pressing your cheek against their warm little face makes it everything right in the world.

October Favorites

I really like October. It is a good month. It is my favorite.

It is smack in the middle of fall, and when you live in VA, it is just starting to cool down.

It is my birthday and anniversary month.

It is after the rush of the beginning of the school year and before the rush of the holidays.

It is perfect.

Fall is my favorite.

We are almost half way through the month of October.

So, throughout the rest of the month of October, I will highlight some of my favorite things.

One of my all time favorites is a happy, smiley baby.

The cuteness kills me.

O.k. Just one more.

Silly little happy babies are my favorite.



Actually

I decided to skip cleaning the kitchen this morning and take the boys outside to enjoy the beautiful day.

I told Jack to go get his shoes in the living room so I could put them on and we could go outside.

His response.

"Actually, my shoes are in the dining room, Mommy."

And he was actually right.

And super cute.

Welcome to the Bun Show

That's right. We have begun potty training!

Jack is a very verbal child and will let you know his feelings about everything. We have had a potty for 6 months. He refused to sit on it. Most of his little friends are potty trained now. He talks about them going in the potty. I ask him if he wants to go in the potty. He tells me no.

My attempt at potty training has been this.

Me: "Jack, do you want to go sit on the potty for a little bit?"

Jack:" Ummm.... No."

Me: " But don't you want to be a big boy and go potty in the big boy potty?"

Jack: " No. No potty."

Me: " Let's just go sit on the potty for a little bit. It will be fun! Don't you want to be big like Mommy and Daddy and go on the potty. It is so fun Jack."

Jack: " Ummm. No. No potty. Diapers. "

And so forth. No potty and gross diapers has been the rule.

Till we started the bun show.

After a diaper change I just left him free to the world, cute buns showing and all. With the little potty in sight and nothing stopping him... we started.

Day 1. He looked at me funny and ran to the potty. Didn't make it, but told me he spilled his apple juice. His sippy cup was no where in sight.

Day 2. Playing in his room, he got up and ran past the potty and into the kitchen to do his business. At least he knows it is coming now right?

Day 3. I had to work and was going to skip the diaper free time. He got in the shower while I was getting dressed, took off his diaper and told me he was showering. Cute...till he squatted down and peed. At least it was an easy clean up.

Day 4. Success!!! He got it. He went 4 times before we had to leave and put a diaper back on. We danced and sang and cheered and he was pumped to go potty again.

Day 5. No accidents, no spills...straight up potty time!

The key? The bun show. He has to have nothing on to go...otherwise he uses the diaper to his hearts content.

I am at a loss of what to do next. We have the pull ups now and will go from there. I wasn't really expecting him to do this so fast. Any words of advice? Boy moms~ how do you get them to go from sitting to standing? Scary.

So, while it is not complete, it is a start.

And if you get to see a bun show all day.... it is good thing they are stinkin' cute little buns!