two babies

tonight Regan and I get to take care of two babies. We are forcing Lisa and Shawn to get out of the house together for the night. They got a room at the Inn and hopefully will do dinner, hot-tub, full night of sleep (or not) and breakfast. Griffin and Gwen are 5 months old, but came 2 months early. They sleep through the night, so not much work there, but don't really eat well. So we are in for a night of fun! I packed my 4th Twilight book hoping I may get to finish it, but that may be wishful thinking. I'm bringing my camera and hope I can catch some of those toothless grins!

if I had known...

If I had known that someday I would have 2 boys, close in age, sharing the same room...I would have painted it just like these jammies...love them!

climber & puppy

Emmitt is still in this carry-everything-in-my-mouth-phase. It started quite a few months ago and he is still at it. The part about it I am not loving so much is now that he is walking he has a lot further to fall and jab something down his throat with. So now it's still "Emmitt No-No" and "Emmitt not in your mouth" for his name.

I swear we comb this kids hair, but some days it still looks like this. That part in the back just won't go down. It really depends on when he had a bath and then went to bed...

His other new found freedom he has discovered is climbing! I hate it. I find him in some strange places. I don't want to yell at him to get down as part of my reaction, because I am afraid I'll scare him and he topple off of whatever he has gotten on to. We have found him on the toilet seat, the play kitchen, at the top of the stairs, attempting to climb the book shelf, the couch, the coffee table, the list goes on. I love how he actually thinks we are going to let him climb on the table and how he will find something he can stand on and use it to get up to where he wants to go. I am hoping I don't have the kid who we find on the fridge someday. I've heard of those.

Just chillin' on the sink.

Simply trying to get at the big boy toys that are put up high and out of his reach...or so we thought.

new job...

so I think I have officially lost it. in my life right now I am beyond busy and obviously a glutton for punishment. I have taken on a new job. If you live in the Falls or used to, you remember The Spot right? So a friend of mine took it over and is re-opening it as The Spot on 53. Bear was out having Wednesday-night-Wings and my friend mentioned that I should come work for her, like one night a week, to make some money, get out of the house...he actually thought that sounded like a good idea and mentioned it to me at home that night. My initial reaction was "yeah right, like I have time for that". But you know...going back to my roots as a waitress, making some mom-fun-money, getting out of the house, no kids, people to talk to, etc...I thought, that might be really fun. So I picked up an application and laughed my way through it. I almost didn't even know what to write on it. My friend, her name is Krista by the way, and I worked together the summer of 2001-right before I got married. We were hostesses at the Holiday Inn that summer together and laughed a lot. So I actually put down that job in the "previous job" section. Along with that, I put down Sha-Sha and Border Bob's...totally pathetic right? See why I laughed. I wouldn't hire me with an app like that. But thankfully she knows me and knows that I own/run/manage my own "successful" business in town. Whew. So in the "wage desired" column-I put "whatever you pay". In the days/hours preferred-I put only Friday nights and if I want the night off, I am unavailable. Reason for leaving previous jobs listed-I put, because I went off and got married and started the life I have now. Honesty always prevails! So I drop the application off and about an hour after I put the thing in the mailbox she calls and says, of course you can come work for me. I double checked with-are you sure that I am not too demanding in what I want? She says, no not at all, it'll be fun for us! Where would you like to be...the lounge or the dining area? I respond with, where do you see me? She says, the Lounge (where else?) I wonder if I can have a glass of wine while I am working??? Probably not. So, The Spot of 53 is scheduled to open the end of January and I will be working the Lounge section every Friday night (except Emmitt's birthday), so feel free to come and eat, drink and tip me lots!

mr. stickem

mr. stickem can kiss my big butt! in case you are wondering what a stickem is...it's a mouse trap. the inhumane trap that doesn't kill the mouse instantly, but sticks 'em to the trap until the die a slow and painful death while struggling. when Bear was gone last week I "reset" my own traps which meant, I went to Menards to buy the stickem traps because I didn't want to get my own finger caught in the snapper shut one. As we are in Menards, Parker decides to tell the man in the aisle, who is also buying mouse traps, that "we have a mouse and it poop all over our house." nice. so we thought we had caught all the little buggers when I go down to do more laundry last night and find poop in the laundry bins. so as I am picking up each piece of laundry with my fingertips, standing on my tip toes ready to run, I spot Parkers white long sleeved shirt...it is missing part of the wrist cuff. how interesting. I unfold it a little further...more poop and more missing shirt. nice. The shirt had been worn while eating a brat, he had been dipping it in ketchup-the brat and the sleeve. So I took it off and through it down to be washed. Well a week later I get to it and the mice apparently are too stupid (or smart) to come back upstairs and eat the food in my kitchen, they decide to chew holes in my kids clothing! nice. so last night, while Bear is fishing, I stick big glops of peanut butter on the 3 remaining stickem traps and put them downstairs...one on the CD rack by the window-well, one under the basin sink, and one behind the laundry bins. I shut the door and went upstairs. This morning I have Bear go look to see if we caught any. He comes up and says, "I can only find one trap". nice. So I go down, on my tip toes again, and look in the exact spot I had set them out...I can only find one trap. hmmm. so I come running upstairs in a panic and ask "are they just stuck to the trap hobbling around my house or have they stuck themselves part way to the trap and gone and died somewhere?" he replies "probably". nice. so we go down together to investigate and I show Bear exactly where I put the traps and then I spot a trap clear across the room...no mouse is attached to it though, and part of the peanut butter is missing. nice. Bear finds the other trap with the same result. So we either have gigantic mice that are big enough to eat the peanut butter right off the trap without touching it or crappy stickem traps. or both. this is why Bear doesn't like that kind of trap. If he had just told me that they don't work, I wouldn't have wasted my money, but he used the inhumane crap on me that I just wasn't buying into. They are mice, I don't care how they die just as long as they die and are not in my house anymore!
is that mean?

the after Christmas fun

One of our favorite things from Christmas was the marble run Parker got. I actually bought it for $2 at the garage sale all of us had this past summer. It had been Tammy's boys' marble run and has been a huge hit in the house. It took me a couple of tries to get used to setting it up. I was repeating the same run the first few times. I admitted to Bear that I don't really "see" these kinds of things or maybe understand them. I am not sure what part of the brain takes care of the area of architecture, but I definitely need help in that area. So I kept at it and now I feel I am a pretty darn good marble-run-track-maker! It is an art to build it high, long and sturdy. Parker has really accepted that some of his new toys are "big boy toys" and that he needs to play with them up high so Emmitt doesn't get into them. The marbles from the marble run and Hungry Hippos are both big boy toys. So we basically set up the run on table and let him stand up there and play it. So far...no disasters.peek-a-boo through the run.

such concentration putting the final touch on~and one of the best parts~the "spinner-spinners"
Like I said, it didn't take me long to get this thing right, but if I use the storage tote, I can build it even bigger and better!

totally psyched about some marbles! Ahh the simple things.

Watch Me Grow 11

Watch Me Grow 11 Months

I think I need to change this title to Watch Me Walk. It took me many tries to get him to actually stay in the chair long enough for me to take a freakin' picture. Only one more in this series. It is crazy that almost a year has gone by!

He took his first steps at 9 months 3 weeks. Like 2 steps and then the full body dive into your arms. But as this 10 month progressed he got a little more brave each time. In his baby book I wrote down 10 1/2 months in the "started walking" category. Ironically it is the exact age Parker walked at.

"up...not so sure I am going to sit here for ya mom"

"yeah, I am really not going to stay in this chair mom"

"here I come to get you, man this is fun"

Bear was gone for another week to Grand Portage when Emmitt really took off walking. So that Friday night he came in the door and Emmitt went toddling around the corner to him, saying "dad-da" the whole time. We had been working on him saying dad-da the whole week also. I had "trained" him over Thanksgiving to say "ma-ma" so I figured we should work on the other. And he got it! It was as if on cue to walk to daddy and say his name. Bear just stood there and smiled and then asked...did he just say daddy? It was priceless.

I have started a little planning for the first birthday party. I really wasn't sure what to do. But since our crazy families dressed up for Parker's party I figured "why not". I'm creative enough to come up with something...so as I was talking to one-of-my-ladies she mentioned she stuck her kids in the little plastic pool with their cake to smash and eat. Then I got to thinking...how cute would he be in his little Hawaiian board shorts in that pool covered in frosting? WAY CUTE! So we are having a beach party in the middle of February! Considering it was -40F a beach party sounds pretty darn good. So crazy family-get your Hawaiian shirts out and flip flops-we are headed for warmer days!

snow, snow and more snow

Parker has had more fun playing in the snow this winter than ever before. He is finally old enough for us to turn him loose in the backyard and just play. Bear snowplowed trails all over the backyard for Parker to walk around and around and around. If it's warm enough after work and before supper I bundle him up and out he goes.

It's inevitable that he is going to eat his weight in snow each time he goes out to play. His face may be bright red and freezing and he will put snow all over it just to get some in his mouth!

sinus disease?

so New Year's Eve brought the results of my CT Scan. My doctor calls at 6 pm and proceeds to tell me that I indeed have Sinus Disease. I started laughing and asked what on earth that was. Sinus disease? It sounds so...dumb. He tells me that basically what it is, is that 2 out of my 4 sinus cavities are completely blocked. The 2 that are blocked are the ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses. This comes at the end of my 4th sinus infections in 4 months and 3rd medication for them. More than half of the last 2 months I have been on an antibiotic. Currently I am feeling 100 times better, but my doctor, and I really know that I cannot continue going on antibiotics. So I am to continue with the Augmentin until the Rx runs out. Continue with the Flonase (nasal spray for allergies) until that stops working-which it may work forever. IF the Flonase stops working and I get another infection then we explore other options. One being surgery-where they go in and rotor rooter out my sinus cavities which totally freaks me out when I think about it. Or, I can go for the allergy test to see what I am actually allergic to-this one was my idea, since I talked to people everyday all day, I am finding that many that have had the surgery it doesn't work for them forever even and it turns out to be allergies. So, my meds are finishing up this Sunday...we shall see what that brings???

ummm...the cracker

picture Parker hopping around like a frog in just his underwear...Bear and I sitting in the living room watching him play.

got the image in your mind?

"hop, hop, hop...I'm a frog. Watch me hop guys. Hop, hop, hop. (insert toot) Who did that?"

Bear and I look at eachother, shake our heads slightly and answer..."you did".

"oh...hop, hop, hop...I'm a frog. Hop, hop (insert toot) uh-oh somethings coming out"

Bear and I look at eachother again and ask "where is it coming out?"

"ummm here (grabbing at his underwear by his legs) hop, hop, hop"

Bear and I exchange glances with eyebrows raised

"hop, hop (insert toot) uh-oh somethings coming out more"

Bear and I ask again "where is it coming out?"

"ummm outta the cracker"

he does the whites.

for the last 2 years or so Bear and I have been doing our own laundry. It was just easier this way. Instead of me nagging at him to not dry $40 bras or shrink my pants into floods or to not wash his grease and grim filled work pants with my nice sweaters we decided to separate our laundry doings. it has worked out quite well for the most part. If he runs out of underwear then it's his own fault...not mine. but i somehow ended up not only not doing his laundry but i do all the rest of the laundry. the kids'. the towels. the sheets. the burp rags. the whites...So this weekend in my midst of already-running-the-washer-100-times phase, I though I would help him out by washing his clothes too so he could pack for the week. What's 4 more loads anyways right? I did all the laundry and got him to help me put it away and all I didn't get to was the pile of whites that had fornicated in the basement into a humongous pile. He volunteers to do them. Oh...okay I say, but honey do you know how to do whites properly? (meaning my way). He says no and why don't you come show me, I'll learn. Okay (this outta be fun). So down we go and I show him to fill the washer first with the warm/warm water setting, mix the quart jar with half bleach and half water and then pour that concoction into the little reservoir labeled "bleach only". Then add the clothes. He does and it seems like he maybe didn't mind the whole experience. I think it's because he was out of undershirts. So fast forward the night to the point of him gathering his stuff up for the next morning's trip and me upstairs just falling asleep...up the stairs he comes, turns on the light, puts his face next to mine and whispers "I did the whites"...I open one eye and glare at him..."they smell like bleach"...I slightly lift my head off the pillow so I can glare at him with both eyes now..."I think I did something wrong"...I sit up and ask, "what could you have done wrong (a little panic in my voice)?"..."I think I used too much bleach"..."well, how much is too much Bear?"..."just what you showed me, but they smell like bleach"...(insert eye roll) "that's because you used bleach"..."something just doesn't seem right...because they burn my nose"..."..."hmmm, I say 'just dry them ("I already did that"), I am sure they'll be fine, if they don't have holes in them, I am sure they are fine"..."well just smell them before you put them on the kids, they really smell"...
I tell ya, he woke me up at 11 o'clock to tell me that basically "bleach smells"...

house of poop

I have officially been totally grossed out...we live in a house of poop! mouse poop that is. so we thought we just had the one little mouse that ran in through the garage entrance that day. well it seems like he had a friend or four. Four is the total number of mice we have caught. It started New Year's Day, I took down the tree and moved the couch and what to my wandering eyes did I find? poop! So I start freaking out and cleaning like a maniac. Bear was fishing the whole day so I got to keep 2 kids from touching the poop. Poop in the toy box, silverware drawer, cleaning supply cupboard, everywhere! I ran my dishwasher and washing machine no less than 100 times in the past 5 days. I washed every toy that Emmitt could possibly stick in his mouth. The washed all my dishes. Woke up the next morning to find a dead mouse in the trap and more poop. So I did it all over again. Each time we think we caught the last one, more poop appears right where I just cleaned!!! Now Bear is gone for a week, calls me this morning and said there was one in the trap before he left...great...he also says, just empty and reset the trap at night. Oh, okay, no problem, now who can I find to volunteer for that job this week?