Christmas 2008 part 2

I won't even begin to complain about all the running and packing and unpacking and hauling boxes and garbage and putting away part of Christmas...because it's a downer and we really did have great moments of Christmas.

Some of the best moments

• Parker giggling with delight and slapping his knee with excitement as he watched Santa stuff his stocking
• being speechless as I look at my Grandmother's Nativity set up at my mom's house on Christmas Day
• Parker being patient enough to open, assemble, and play with the toys before ripping into the next one
• sleeping in until 8 am on Christmas morning (sure to be one of the last year's we are able to do this)
• watching It's a Wonderful Life with my husband on Christmas Eve
• for the wonderful meals we ate with our families
• for my husband surprising me 2 years in a row with an unexpected gift...this year it was my new mom pendant with Emmitt's Amethyst birthstone

Some of the not-so-best moments

• Emmitt crapping his pants during church and the diaper bag is in the car
• Bear and Parker (who was napping) driving around in the car and missing church as a family
• Papa Don missing Christmas Eve because he hurts too much
• hurting for both of our mom's, with this being the first Christmas without both of them

We know that this is just the stage we are in in our lives...the stage where you pack up and run around like maniacs with the kids, but it is exhausting.

apparently he thought it was time for Emmitt to get off his new toy and to try it out himself

Christmas 2008

oh, the tree...I still can't believe we went fake this year...it started by me unpacking my work tree to haul and somehow it ended up in our living room-with lights and decorations and presents and all! We say it was all about Emmitt...he is into everything! I couldn't handle all the needles and him eating them and pulling them off the tree.

Parker had a lot of fun trimming the tree. He was excited about his ornament box and putting them all over the tree. I made a point not to rearrange them after he put them up there. My mom used to do that to us and we always picked on her, but I made inner symmetrical side was screaming to organize, but I left it be. Auntie Tammy taught him how to play eye-spy with the ornaments and we had fun just about everyday playing that game. Before long, he had them all memorized and we couldn't stump him.
Emmitt had fun grabbing at the branches, touching the HOT lights-again and again and yanking an ornament or two off and chewing on it. You think he would have figured out after 5 weeks of this tree being a fixture of our living room that he wasn't supposed to touch it!

The boys had fun with all the other decorations in the house too. Although most of them ended up on the armoire and out of reach. He had extra fun with the jingle bells. Still in the "puppy" phase of carrying everything in his mouth.

sledding on Bronco Hill

We made a few of our Christmas traditions happen this year. One, Parker went skating. And Two, we went sledding...first to Kerry Park hill and then we decided to upgrade to Bronco Hill. Emmitt actually went down a few runs and sort of enjoyed himself. After about half an hour he was done. Part of it may have been that he looked like the kid from a Christmas Story who couldn't move his arms. I had crammed way too many layers on him and then proceeded to shove him into a snowsuit.

The boys and mommy and daddy had fun. We got our exercise that day. Well atleast Bear and Papa Milo did. I mainly stood at the top of the hill with a camera and Emmitt. The guys did the hauling up the hill and pushing down. Over and over and over.
Parker smiled from the first time he went down until the moment he left the hill.

gotcha

so we woke up Christmas morning to no more creatures stirring. as a bonus Christmas gift, we successfully trapped the mouse!

I had gotten up in the middle of the night to feed Emmitt and was in the kitchen and heard something drop to the floor...when I turned on the light I saw a cookie in front of the stove. Well who do you think put that there? So I run upstairs, freak my husband out by shaking him out of a dead sleep, telling him he needs to move the trap. So he does and we put a little Christmas cookie on the trap to attract him and it works!

Throughout this whole time of having a mouse in my house felt so intrusive. It took cookies off my cookie plate, pooped in my stove drawer and crawled on my counters! I am glad he is dead and I don't feel bad about it...YUCK

pansy

the night Emmitt and I were throwing up at 1 am, Barrett had to "take care of us"...or try to. In his defense he did take care of us and get the job done, but seriously?! I was up still at 1 am hugging the bowl on and off and heard Emmitt sputtering in the next room. I elbow Bear and say "Emmitt is throwing up, can you go help him?". Bear actually (or doesn't dare) say a word, he methodically gets out of bed to check on him. Not a minute later, I hear: "oh no, oh no, oh no" gag, gag, gag, stomp, stomp, blaaahhhh...he simply smelled the barf that covered Emmitt from head to toe and the crib bedding and could not stomach it...literally. I have called him, in the past, a sympathy barfer because he truly sees, hears or smells somebody else do it and he follows. So he, as nice as he can, asks. no begs me to take Emmitt while he changes the bedding and gets him a new diaper and jammies. "Sure" I say, as I peel myself off the bathroom floor. I do want to help my baby after all. So I run a bath for Emmitt, who through this whole experience is just staring at us both...and even has a smile for me when I am scrubbing barf out of his hair. I am clutching to the side of the tub for support so that I don't pass out and fall in, getting Emmitt dressed and Bear comes in and says he can't find the sheets or blankets or comforter or bumper for the crib. He is still gagging and rummaging through dresser drawers and closest shelves. It took one look from me and a saying that I have said from day one "if you put laundry away more often, maybe you would know where stuff is!" and then I called him a pansy and told him to suck it up and make the crib! I told him where the bedding was and that no we don't have another bumper and full crib set because those things cost money that we don't have! I sort of felt bad, but I was sick and not in the mood for sympathy. He usually shoots back with "well you are always moving stuff around so I can't ever find anything!" but this time he didn't. I think he could tell that was not going to fly. He made the bed and took my advice to layer the blankets just in case Emmitt had another episode, that way we could just peel off the top layer and continue on. He rocked Emmitt until he went back to sleep. He did it, basically on his own, with only a few choice words from his wife.

The next day I stayed home with the boys and had a jammie party, as I layed around and tried to be a mom that was sick. Funny how all you want when you are sick is your own mom, no matter how old you get. Parker ended up sick all night a day later and two days later Bear had it. None of us went upstairs when he was sick and once in awhile I would shout from the bottom of the stairs, "you need anything babe?"...nope. He made it all on his own.

My sister calls "just to tell me a funny story" and it made me laugh. She went to Walmart to make her photo Christmas cards and her kids had a lot of blue on in the pic so she chooses a blue-ish background...gets home and shows them to the family and they say "we aren't Jewish". She had totally chosen a menorah background and then had written "Merry Christmas" at the bottom! That made me feel better immediately!

So a couple of days ago I got an email from Steph that says, "this reminded me of your husband"
I had seen this video before and laughed and I think I laughed even harder seeing it now after the recent events at our house! And he has been known to gag at diaper changes also...

Haircut

He looks so different now, it is actually hard to remember how long that crazy hair was. I was afraid to get it cut, thinking he won't be my crazy-haired Emmitt anymore. But that isn't the case. He still has a "top-curl" and it simply won't lay flat without some effort of applying hair product.

He went from baby to boy in a matter of minutes...he actually did very well getting his haircut. Parker went first, as if to show brother how big boys can sit still. Tina, a friend and stylist, just got a new puppy that happened to come to work with her that day and that was the ticket for distraction! He laughed at that puppy and watched him play with Parker and sat for a decent haircut.

Not looking to thrilled to have a camera shoved in his face, but a cute little boy haircut nonetheless!

Tagged

Davina tagged me for this...you are supposed to take the sixth folder from the pictures file on your computer and pull up the sixth picture and post it.

Here it is...
This is my grandparents 25th Wedding Anniversary picture. I started this post at about 8:30 a.m and am now finally able to write about it. emotional!

So, I got this picture, as one of many, from when I was gathering photos for a scrapbook I was making for my Grandma. She had turned 90, December 27th, 2006. She decided she wanted a celebration for her Birthday the following April. The celebration actually happened on my birthday weekend. She made it very clear she wanted all of her family at the party. So I got to work and sent out a letter to my entire family to get me all of their information, photos, and stories for a Heritage Album. The mail started pouring in and it was an emotional journey for me to complete the album. I dove in head first and loved making the scrapbook for her. My mom smuggled the pics from grandma's house so she knew something was up. I interviewed my grandma over the phone and then used some footage of another interview she gave to a cousin of mine. Her mind was clear and sharp when she retold me stories of her childhood and the journey she had with my grandfather.

This is one of my favorite photos of my grandparents, I remember sitting in my little room making the album and truly being in awe of this picture. It is and still is simply breathtaking.

This post has been so touching to write because Grandma would have been 92 this December 27th...and looking back at all the years my mom bundled us four girls up and made the 8-hour trip south to New Ulm for her birthday are priceless. In the scrapbook I have scattered some of my families favorite memories of grandma and never put my own in there...so here it is, I loved how her house smelled, the many baths I had with her Caress soap and how slippery her water got when I was in it (she had a water softener). How, no matter how old I got, I could play with the farm animal set in the tub and I was never "too old" to do so. I will forever think of Grandma's house when I hear a cricket chirp~which is why I love "The Very Quiet Cricket" by Eric Carle and cried my eyes out the first time I read it to Parker and got to the end of the book...I especially remember when my grandparents came up north for my First Communion and Grandma and I went for a walk around my neighborhood-nothing special happened on that walk, other than we were together, just her and I, hand in hand.

I love that my boys have wonderful relationships with their own Grandmothers...it truly is something I can't describe.

who are they?

I feel like I am stuck in the song "Who Are They" by Tim McGraw.


Who are they? And why do we let society tell us how to raise our kids? I have really been struggling lately with all the information out there for us parents to absorb (or not absorb) with the best and worst How To's with kids and parenting...

They say you would rather have a Nuk sucker than a thumb sucker. It's easier to take away. Emmitt never had a chance to get attached...but he never really showed an interest. Some nights I wished he had one to suck on to put himself back to sleep.

They say to take away the Nuk around a year old...so I took Parker's away at 13 months. What was the big deal, I am sure he never would have taken it to kindergarten with him anyway.

They say to turn their car seat to the forward facing position at 20#'s and 1 year old. I turned Parker and 20# and 10 months. I am hating that Emmitt is still backwards with his knees in his face but he isn't 20#'s or 1 year. So I guess they win.

They say to breastfeed for a year. It's the best, right? So I did with Parker and you all know what is going on with Emmitt. Somewhere out there was a smart scientist who made formula that is just as nutritious for them. And we are all getting used to this new routine.

They say to go for the natural childbirth experience. So I went for it, until I almost ripped the bed rail off. And it was much more enjoyable with the shot of morphine.


They say to not let your kids sleep with you in your bed. But at 5 am I could really care less about where we are all sleeping as long as we are still sleeping. And I like to snuggle my boys.


They say...They say...blah, blah, blah!


But am I really supposed to teach my kid all his ABC's and numbers and colors and shapes and how to write his name, before he goes to preschool someday? Isn't that what school is for? And if I don't give in to them then am I condemning my child to be the "dumb" kid that doesn't know anything and squashing his self confidence or do I follow along with what they say and "work" with my 3 year old? I don't think so people!


Part of what I love so much about where the boys go to daycare is that it is playtime not sit-down-and-tell-me-how-to-spell-your-name-for-a-snack-time. Can't kids just be kids without being made fun of or teased for not being as smart, cute, best dressed, clean, healthy as the next kid? I really wonder what kind of world it will be when my kids are 60 and worrying about their grand children's future...scary

I just hate that they set us up for "failure" when really we are failing at nothing at all. We are raising healthy, happy, smart, busy, fun-loving, kids in a world with a heck of a lot worse going on in it.

not even a mouse

Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse...

oh wait-we've got one of those.

as Bear was loading up our vehicles this morning a little creature crept into the house, ran past Parker and up the stairs. Parker kept tip-toeing around saying "he's gonna bite me". He said he saw a little thing run up the stairs to his room! Bear went to check it out and sure enough, we have a mouse.

We'll see what the trap does for us today while we are gone...ick!

Watch Me Grow

Watch Me Grow

10 Months

As you can see we got ourselves a big boy haircut. I tried to just trim up around the ears and his bangs and butchered the poor kids hair. So we decided to get him in to Tina. This is the exact age Parker was when he got his first haircut. He was fairly happy yesterday when I took pictures, even though he must feel rotten. Last Wednesday the flu hit Emmitt and I. Friday it hit Parker and last night it got the best of Bear. Now we all just have another head cold.

Emmitt was so calm about the whole throwing up thing...I had been up that night myself and was laying awake at 1 am when I heard him sputtering and gagging in his crib and had Bear go check on him. Of course Emmitt was covered in puke and Bear starts gagging and repeating "oh no, oh no, oh no". He starts throwing up by just changing the bedding! I get Emmitt in the tub and he is smiling at me! Kids are resilient. He was calm as can be and I attempt to clean him up. I'm hanging onto the side of the tub so I don't faint and Bear is throwing up. I think at this point I said "you are such a pansy!". But Bear never did ask me for help changing out the crib, he made it. And Parker? He slept through it all. Bear rocked Emmitt back to sleep and the following morning we felt like we were run over by a mack truck.

Friday night at bedtime I hear Parker running into the bathroom, I go and check on him and he is standing over the toilet. I couldn't believe this kid spared me scrubbing carpets! At 3 years old, he has (sadly) puked enough to know to get to the toilet. So we slept on the pull out couch and he was sick all night.

We managed to feel okay throughout the weekend. Just really weak. Bear and I mustered up the strength to make Lefse all day Saturday, while Tammy had the boys. And Sunday we only left the house for Parker's Sunday School Pageant. He was a sheep and didn't make a peep! The pageant was so cute and Parker had been practicing his Baa, Baa Little Sheep song and knew it by heart...come time to sing it up front at church...no way. He stood there and looked at all the people. But he stayed up there! I was waiting for him to come back and sit with us and not participate at all.

With all the new snow I'll be sure to ski, if it could only warm up a bit now.

I did manage to take the boys' pictures yesterday in their matching sweaters for our Christmas card...I just ordered them last night so let's see how fast Shutterfly can get them to me?! It might be a New Year's card I'll be sending out.

Give Thanks

We had a wonderful weekend...we celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the family. It was 5 days packed full yet very relaxing. I think it was so relaxing because we didn't really have an agenda to follow. We did things on a whim and they all seemed to fall into place. Things like four wheeling in the snow, breakfast out at my mom's in our jammies, the parade, a movie...it was a great weekend. I cooked for Bear's side of the family. It was a quiet year for us there, just 6 adults and my boys. My mom cooked for all 16 of us out at her house. I hosted leftovers again on Saturday...so it was basically 4 days of eating the same wonderful food. It was great to see all the out of town relatives as always. The kids all played great together and we had lots of helpers with the boys. Christmas is really quiet up here since the families have all created their own traditions. Blake and Casey will host Christmas Eve in the newly remodeled home and my mom will host Christmas Day...it'll be fun all over again to be with family.

the things we do

oh, my poor kids...for the record I did not buy this hat and bib...my mother-in-law did.

"who the hell are these people and what is on my head"

Emmitt No No

I think my son has been renamed from Emmitt Jon to Emmitt No No.
Emmitt-no, no-the tree lights are hot
Emmitt-no, no-not up the stairs
Emmitt-no, no-leave the needles on the tree
Emmitt-no, no-don't pull your brothers hair

does the kid really understand what the heck we are saying? Because he is showing me that as soon as he hears 'no-no' that he is going to defy us even more and crawl faster to the tree, yank on a branch, eat it and smile the whole time he is doing it! He has a new middle name and classic second child syndrome!

new found freedom

my new found freedom of not nursing or pumping has lead me into a crazy phase of life...I was up at 5:30 am to ski with my sister...in the dark...it was wonderful to not worry about him waking up and demanding to eat immediately. Parker however was up before 6 am, so him and daddy snuggled on the couch and I put a Christmas movie in for him. I got home at 6:30 and they were still on the couch and Emmitt was still sleeping. Go figure. On the other hand, Emmitt wouldn't take a bottle this morning! He was practically growling at me for food as he watched me eat Cheerios with banana. Eventually I shared with him. What next...

I've been rejected...

it has been 4 weeks since I nursed by baby boy. 4 weeks ago, I nursed him before daycare and I had no idea that would be our last. The next morning we were at the clinic and that was his first ear infection. He hadn't nursed that great that morning and we realized that he is smart! Not like we didn't already know that, but he had figured out it is a lot harder to nurse than it is to suck from a bottle. So when we went to the clinic he was put on Amoxicillan and home we went. That was Bear's first night back home after being on the road and Emmitt still hadn't nursed. Emmitt had spiked that high temp and through the night of crying I kept trying to nurse him. He would not have it. Every time I laid him down to nurse, he would scream. So I pumped and gave him a bottle. I actually found a bottle that is 90 degrees, so I could feed him sitting upright and take the pressure off that ear. He fought the bottle, no surprise there. He has fought that bottle every.single.day of his existence! He has not eaten milk "nicely" since. After a week or so he finally figured out this is the way it was going to be. I can't say I have ever had either of the boys, just lay back and take a bottle no questions asked, consistently. I have no idea how we managed to produce two kids who refuse a bottle. We are lucky Stephie loves us so much! And remember this is coming from 3 years ago when Parker got kicked out of his first daycare for not eating! So this whole time I have been pumping and giving him milk in a bottle. About a week of doing that, it hit me...hard! I cried over my baby not being a baby anymore, about him not needing me to sustain his life, not producing as much milk by pumping as I had been with nursing. Every time I would go to make a bottle I would start crying again. Thankfully my wonderful husband is helping me through all of this without telling me to put by big girl panties on and deal with it. So I had asked the doctor what physically develops between 10 and 12 months in their stomachs and if he thought it was a good idea to put him on whole milk. He said not much changes and to do what I felt was right. So I started alternating with the frozen milk I had stocked up and what I could pump and whole milk. It didn't seem to phase Emmitt. Bear and I talked again and decided that he is just too little to be on straight milk and for now he is still taking a bottle-to a point. So at 6:45 am this morning I was off to the grocery store for formula. You have no idea how hard it was for me to make that decision. I was out of milk and wasn't pumping what I thought he should be getting. I made him a bottle-pew-I had no idea that it smelled so rancid. He took it and drank a few sucks and pushed his eyebrows together and looked at me...then continued to pound 7 ounces. So here's to hoping he continues this highly expensive diet. Again, it makes me sad but also I need to look at my new found freedom. Bear gets to bond with him at bedtime now and I no longer have to pump! Gotta look at the bright side, right?

Goodbye Mr. Dick

Farewell to Richard Phillips...how ironic that I just ran into him.

http://www.ifallsdailyjournal.com/news/deaths/richard-w-phillips-11891#comment-9955

la, la, la, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Ahhhhh, my 30 hour getaway was amazing. Totally bummed that we both (Regan and I) had the opportunity to sleep all night with no interruptions and neither of us did! We both tossed and turned for no reason at all. Both thinking we are keeping the other awake, but didn't. At 7:30 was the latest either of us could lay there! We left about 4:30 on Friday night. A little later than anticipated, but you know I had to wait for my drugs to try something else for this sinus infection...yes I have another sinus infection! So 14 days of Amox and 3-4 weeks of FloNase and if this doesn't work, I get to have a CT scan of my face. So we leave the Falls and head straight for Duluth. Of course we pit stop in Virginia to hit Target and the wonderful New China Buffet that I have heard so much about. It was great...not so new anymore, but awesome food. I hate buffets-I hate the germy feeling I get, all the options, and feeling like I need to eat my money's worth. This is my main reason for disliking Vegas! That town is surrounded by buffets. So we dished up on awesome food and I had to find a bathroom to re-wash my hands since the old guy in line with us kept coughing on his hand and then dishing himself up! I had one word for him that I tell my 3 year old 100 times a day=elbow! But the food was great, even if it was a buffet. So by 8:30 we finally got out of Virginia and headed to Duluth. We checked into the hotel...with down comforter and pillows! Heaven. Super hot, hot-tub was just the relaxation we needed. By 11 pm neither of us could stay awake so to bed it was. Pathetic I know. 7:30 am up for coffee and breakfast and off to shop! We shopped right up until Lunch and were basically done. We managed to see a bunch of people from The Falls of course. Lunch at Applebee's was my pick. Then we gave ourselves time to get down by the lake to ShearKatz salon in the Fitger's complex. Regan goes in a little earlier than I do to start our pampering treatments. So the whole set included, facial, manicure, pedicure and eyebrow wax. The waxing isn't real relaxing but must be done. 2 1/2 hours later and totally dark outside. She picked Olive Garden for supper so we go there and it's an hour wait for a table so we take our little vibrating notifier back to Target to shop some more. It starts playing music part way down the road to Target. I call Olive Garden using Goog411-one of the coolest features out there-and ask if our table is ready...the hostess says no and that we may be out of range! So after our hour wait we get our table and enjoy some of the best food ever! We even split a piece of pumpkin cheesecake, yummm. So after 30 hours of craziness, we managed to get almost all of our Christmas shopping done, pamper ourselves, have adult conversation, and alone time. Well deserved and thoroughly enjoyed.

fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la...I am off for a weekend getaway for shopping and pampering! Mani's, pedi's, facial, sleeping in, hot-tub, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. can't wait!

go put some underwear on...literally

my 3 year old takes what you say literally. Parker still had a pull up on and I said take it off and put on some underwear. He was in the bathroom for quite a while and I knocked and went in and found 20+ pair of underwear on the floor and about 5 already on Parker. I said, just one pair is enough. So out he comes with every single pair of clean underwear he owns on! So we made a counting game out of it.

Watch Me Grow

9 months already! I took these pictures the other day and laughed so hard at this kids expressions. Especially the tongue-sticking-out one. I swear I try to comb that hair down...it has a Harry Potter mind of it's own. He kept grabbing his foot and flicking his leg up and down in the air and spitting at me. He is really into babbling these days and finally does the ba-ba-ba-ba sound when you pat his mouth with your hand. He is standing unsupported for a moment or two. Once he realizes he is standing he sits on his butt very quickly. I am not ready for a walking baby just yet! No real sounds or words though, not even da-da or ma-ma. Happy baby. Last night he played in the laundry basket full of whites for an hour. Still in the puppy or carry-something-in-your-mouth stage. It's hilarious to see him crawling as fast as he can with something in his mouth and breathing fast through his nose. I love this age!

Oh the sickness

Well, 9 months has gone by already! This past month has been full of ups and downs. Emmitt sleeps all night long, all the time. He is usually in bed by 8 or 8:30 and sleeps until either 5:30 am and then goes down again until 7:30 am, or up for good at 7 am. So why am I still so tired? I haven't quite figured that one out yet. It may be that we are yet again...sick!? I brought him in for the classic symptom of tugging at the ear, crankiness, high fever, and he once again has an ear infection. The doctor put him on Amoxicillian for the left ear infection, the right was clear. 5 days into the meds, I didn't see much improvement and wondered if I should wait out the 10 days prescription or take him in again. Day 6, he turned for the better and seemed to be feeling pretty good. 13 days total and all the symptoms came flying back to us. So in we go again, mainly to be sure the infection has cleared...it has in the left ear, but full fledged and pussy (I know that looks like a different word once typed, but not really sure how to spell pus in that way?) in the right ear. So our main family physician decides to try to outsmart the bacteria. Since our kids are in a daycare setting and around lots of kids he decides to put Emmitt on a totally different med. Most kids go on Amox or azythromycin or Zithromax and even at 9 months, he can be resistant to that kind of med already. So we make it a whole 6 days of the Cefprozil and that brings us to this morning of Emmitt barfing all over me, himself, my kitchen floor...I was told to bring Emmitt in today and just sneak him into the clinic, find my doctors nurse and have the doc take a look to see how the ear is looking. How convenient that he is barfing all over me today?! So I drop him off at daycare with all intentions of taking him in after work and I get the call that he is still barfing. So I leave work to bring him in and when I get there the doc takes a look and says, the ear is better, still really, really red, but not pussy (there's that word again). So to quit the Cefprozil since it did do some good, but it is most likely causing some GI upset. Then to stick to the BRAT diet-bananas, applesauce, rice and toast. So I bring him back to daycare, say a prayer and hope for the best. We both managed to make it through the day. I know I am not the only one this crap happens to, but I am certainly ready for the sickness to go away. I am on a totally different route of trying to get better-an inhaler, nasal spray and Mucinex to shake this 10 week cold. Bear's seems to have waned, only to start all over again as a new cold. We have tried hot herbal tea, Emergen C, vitamin C tablets, zinc tablets and lozenges. I think we all need a vaca to a warm tropical place...but for now we keep plugging away. This weekend my wonderful husband is giving up his third opportunity to shoot the big one for me to get out of town with a friend for a pampering/shopping weekend away. And I get to hand delivery baby ski's gift! I promise to launch it off from the vicinity of the street so I don't get anyone sick!

Hatrick=3

Hatrick=3 goals=Parker loves hockey=a really cool 3rd Birthday party

I brainstormed what on earth kind of theme I would do for this year's party. I just about did a plain 'ol Happy Birthday theme and then it hit me. HATRICK! In a hockey game, when you score 3 goals, it is a hatrick. What better than a hockey themed hatrick party?! I couldn't contain myself when I saw the black and white striped party supplies. So I tried to keep it pretty simple with black and white decorations. Black and White star balloons, weighted down with hockey pucks of course, all over the house. Striped tablecloth, plates and napkins. Hockey puck cookies with "black" and gray frosting complete with 3's on them for Stephie's. A double chocolate fudge cake with "black" frosting, meant to look like a hockey puck...topped with a Stanley Cup and 3 candles. I say "black" because the longest part of preparing for this party was dumping enough black food coloring into the frosting to make it black. Which I should mention turns your teeth and lips and any other body part that gets frosting on it a greenish purple color.

The double layered hockey puck cake The 2 referees of the party were of course mom and dad...the center was Bronco Parker.

He thoroughly enjoyed being sung to this year. Last year he was a little unsure of why all these people were singing to and staring at him.

Grandma Audrey in a Russian hockey jersey
Norm and Papa Don came in from the shack for the party. These two are joined at the hip during deer season. Both have their bucks of course. Norm shot the one Bear passed up. And Don of course shot a Unicorn as always. He actually thought is was a doe, but is famous for shooting the little guys...which is why we never have any big bucks at the shack.

The best dressed award goes to this crazy family! Again you'll recall that Derek is unable to take a serious picture. This kid makes me laugh every time I see him. These guys come to the party in old timer hockey gear and jerseys. Scott completed his look by borrowing his wife's eyeliner and marking up his face with stitches. It was super fun for the adults as well as the 3 year old.
Emmitt fit right into the mix of gift opening. He ate the paper and played on the boxes. Parker let him help open and play with the toys he got too.
Derek posing for Auntie

And our baby is 3. Still can't figure out where the last 3 years went but, he is still capable of being a mommas boy and snuggling right in with me.

A heads up for next year's theme...I could hardly make you wait until then to hear about it...FORE! Golf theme here I come...I know you are waiting, full of anticipation. and I have already found the green party supplies!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday baby...my first baby...my big boy. You came into this world pink and screaming at 9:26 am on November 11th, 2005. Weighing in at 7#11oz and 20 1/2 inches long. You changed our lives forever in an indescribable way. I feel like I hardly blinked and 3 very busy years have gone by. You were born in the morning on a cold, wet, snowy, November day. Your birthday is some how full of elevens...7-11 was your weight, born on 11-11-05, our address is 1105...daddy thought about going out and buying a Power Ball with those numbers. You have changed every day of your life. Lately it seems like you say more new words than when you first started talking. You come up with some of the funniest things. Like when I said we were going to stretch our legs after our long car ride and I come in from unpacking the car to find you totally naked doing gymnastic like stretches in the hallway! All this bending and twisting...I asked what on earth you were doing...you said "stretching my legs"! I am guessing you were naked because I had gotten your brother undressed and just stretching his legs out in a diaper. Your favorite word is obviously "why?". I have told everyone around us to give you a reason for the "why" question. It's very entertaining to listen to them try to come up with an answer. Like, "why are you going home now?"...well because my bed is there...why?...because that's where my house is...etc...usually by the time you stump us to come up with an answer, you're pretty satisfied with the previous 20 answers we have given you. Once in awhile we say the inevitable "because I said so". Auntie Tammy gave you a "because that's all you need to know right now" answer one day!
On our way out to the shack one day, I stopped to gas up the car and picked up some licorice for us to share in the car. I passed a piece back to you and said
"here you go honey". You kept asking me "why ooh (you) hunny?"
I said, "Why am I hungry...because my tummy needs food"
"why ooh hunny?"
"I'm not hungry anymore honey, because I am eating licorice"
"why ooh hunny?"
"why am I hungry?"
"no hunny"
"oh, honey?!"
"yeah (geez lady!)
"why are you my honey?"
"yeah"
"well because you are my baby and I love you, so I call you honey"
why?
"because you grew in my belly, so you're my baby"
why?
"because daddy and I made you"
why?
"because we love each other"
why?
"because that's what mommy and daddy's do, we love our babies"

Even if you don't look or act like a baby anymore, you'll always be our first baby. You are growing, even if you rarely eat a meal. You hit 20 pounds at 10 months and are 26 pounds at 3 years old. You are a little over 3 feet tall. You have morphed from a round faced baby into a little boy. You can count to about 27, know all your shapes and colors. You can sing along to many kids songs-like, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Rock a Bye Baby, Pat-a-Cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider and more. You can sing along to a few grown up ones-like, Taylor Swift's Pictures to Burn, Rascal Flatts' Life is a Highway and Keith Urban's Day's Go By.

It doesn't seem possible that 3 years ago we were watching Ben Gordon score his first two goals as a Golden Gopher. Daddy had you all swaddled up and were snuggling you in the chair talking to you about hockey. We had settled in for a long night. I sent daddy home to get some sleep and just you and I stayed at the hospital. You had slept for the first 12 hours of your life, which happened to be during the day, so that left us up most of the night. We struggled to figure nursing out together. I held you most of the night and just stared at you. I was completely head over heels in love with you. Daddy thought it was weird when I kept saying that I was in love with you and that I didn't just love you because you were my baby. He soon got it. I am still falling in love with you, 3 years later. Moments that make me realize just how sweet you are. I love how you bounce your baby pretending to get it to sleep. How you play and interact with your baby brother. How you touch my hands when we read books together. How you ask "ooh otay mom?" (are you okay mom) if you see me crying. How you get excitement in your voice when you tell me about something that you did. How you ask me to hold you in the chair, every single night, at bedtime. How you want just one more hug before you go to bed. How you give butterfly kisses to me. How you crawl into our bed, on my side, when you wake up early, just to snuggle. I know you grow older with every passing day, but you will always be, my first baby and my honey.

On a side note...by clicking on Ben's link, check out the date of the article being published. 02-13-08 (Emmitt's Birthday!) I told you we have this freaky thing with numbers!

last year's post in case you want to be nostalgic...

3 Years Ago

3 years ago today I was laying in the spare bedroom watching Days of Our Lives wondering if I was really having contractions, peeing my pants or leaking amniotic fluid...at 3 pm November 10th, 2005 I would find out that I was indeed in labor and should go home, get my bag and head to the hospital...

Happy Halloween

I was a Pirate Lady at work...most people didn't know what I was. I had a lot of different possibilities, from a Gypsy, to being with the Russians, a yodeler, a German Oktoberfest girl, a dancer of some kind...and the other words for Pirate lady-wench, buccaneer, etc...I had this costume from 3 years ago for Parker's first Halloween. We were a Pirate family-a very sick-pirate family. Bear didn't wear his costume, and Parker and I had come down with our first round of Strep throat. We had gone trick-or-treating that year, but not for long and came home sick. Little did we know that that was the kick off to our illnesses that year-nor that just about every holiday we would be sick?!
After work I decided to ditch the very itchy and uncomfortable Pirate outfit and make use of my Pink Lady jacket. I was supposed to have traveled to Orlando this year for Convention for work but decided at the last minute possible to stay home with my babies. Olivia Newton-John was our guest this year and we were to be her Pink Ladies...but at least I got to keep the jacket! The wig was from a prior years costume. It was terrible and needed a brush but that required time and effort-I had neither. Parker and I had surfed the web about a month ago for lion face paintings and came across a few good ones. He was so good letting me paint his face. It managed to stay untouched for a few pics. And my little Yoda of course. I told you he would make an adorable Yoda.

This is just a preview of the amount of candy my kid was about to consume! The sugar shooting lion!

The mighty lion-the sugar hasn't taken control...yet

Yoda-the hat fit perfectly but the cape was huge. He would get a little frustrated when he was trying to crawl, stand or find his hands.

oh...back to the sickness at just about every holiday including this year's Halloween.

Yoda has an ear infection. I brought him in Thursday to the clinic and it is in his left ear. But it was caught early and the antibiotics, Tylenol, Motrin are being pumped into him every 4 hours. The seem to be doing no good...Thursday and Friday we virtually got no sleep. Thank God, daddy came home Thursday night!

Best buds-Parker the Lion featuring Jillian the Bat. They were finally big or old enough to understand the whole trick-or-treating process. Regan and I have gone every year together. We make the rounds to people we know and those who say they have a special treat for the kids. This year with double the kids, we decided to put the babies in my stroller and the big kids in hers and let them run to the door's themselves and just stick to our neighborhood. We told everyone that if they wanted to see the kids in their costumes, they could come to us! Sort of felt bad about it, for about a minute and then said, screw it! It's not worth all the car seat, buckle, unbuckle in a huge puffy costume, drag the kids in and out of the car kind of night! Neither of us needed that kind of craziness added to our life. I should mention that Brooks had an ear infection and the round of meds didn't work and it turned out to be viral. Viral meaning, it just has to "run it's course" there are no meds for viral! Regan didn't sleep for 2 weeks, so let's all hope Emmitt's is bacterial and not a viral ear infection...

Trick or Treat! The both loved dinging the doorbells repeatedly. When we would ask them "what do you say" once in awhile either of them would say "thank you" instead of "trick-or-treat"...we have them programmed I swear!

Not kidding-at every door we went to, Parker asked the candy-passer-outer "why you got that?" and point to their bowl of candy. And it was so funny watching the people come up with an answer to the inevitable "why" question. Regan and I laughed every time! A happier Yoda moment-there weren't a whole lot of them that night. He did eat a whole piece of pizza when we got home though! Brooks in the monkey costume from Parker. Fit him nicely...he is a big boy. Parker wore the costume at 2 and Brooks is 9 months!

okay...now the sugar has kicked in...here is a mighty roar! Happy Halloween!!!!

PS-the tonsils are still "medium-sized"