First Things First

First of all, let me just say that I'm having one of "those kind of weeks" that I feel behind on everything. My house is in shambles and my "to-do list" has now become the "must-do-before-I-lose-my-mind-list." Oh yeah, and the list is about as long as my arm. Single spaced.

So here I sit with my neglected friend, Keyboard and my better known friend, Bowl 'O Ice Cream. I have come to believe that ice cream always seems to make my world a little bit better. Mmmm...

This past week has been filled with many "firsts" for my family. Nothing terribly monumental or significant to report like Lincoln figuring Chinese arithmatic or Elaina eating an entire plate of food, but other random things that are still worth the mention. To kick off our week, on Sunday night we switched Lincoln's formula back to milk-based. It was only 2 months ago that he was seeming to have so many issues with being gassy, uncomfortable and most of all, screaming throughout every feeding. When he would arch his back and scream with pain, we were convinced that it had to be an issue with his formula. Our pediatrician recommended that we try lactose-free formula and see if he presented with the same behavior. That seemed to be the magic that we needed and he drank his bottles with pleasure. Much the same way as me and Bowl 'O Ice Cream. What a relief.

This past weekend he gradually began to demonstrate the same symptoms of discomfort when it came to feeding time. Sunday evening he had a 30 minute crying fit while trying to drink his bottle, that would make you believe that someone was severing his limbs with a dull knife. Absolutely heartbreaking cries that nearly broke me in two. I had to pass him off to Eric to see if he had any better luck. After 30 minutes of this torture (for all of us) I finally ran to the kitchen, preparing a bottle of the free Enfamil (milk-based) formula that the company sends to new arrivals. Either he had just worn himself out from all of his yelling or he actually realized the difference and drank it with ease. Let's hear a big 'ol "Amen" for that!

This has been the first full week that he's been back on milk-based formula and not a single problem since. And just a lucky perk from Lincoln's frugal mom; I'm saving $2 a can!

Moving on, this is also the first time I have had to get both kids ready in the morning and out the door for work all by myself. Eric left very early Thursday morning for the NASCAR race in Bristol, TN. He'll be gone until Sunday, giving me 2 work day mornings to handle by myself. I know this sounds a little bit petty, but Eric is such an enormous help with both kids and we work well together. Seeing as though it is already Friday night, I'm happy to report that I made the best of my 6 a.m. mornings and got the three of us fed and ready and out the door, right on schedule.

This week was also the first time that Elaina's drama queen attitude lasted longer than a day and reached an all time high. Monday through Wednesday, she woke up sleepy and grumpy and early, refusing to go back to sleep. Our mornings included her refusing to eat breakfast, fighting to get dressed, yelling while I did her hair and lots of little diva things that just don't fly in our household. Each afternoon, she came home from Nancy's house and claimed she was tired so that she could lay down with her binkies. Plenty of times she was so tired that we allowed her about a 30 minute nap in the middle of the evening, just to get through the remaining hours before bedtime. I'm pretty much convinced that her 2 year molars are still working their way through and it's a side affect of growing also. Oh, but her behavior! Sheesh! A little less bad would work for me! As luck would have it, Thursday and Friday, I got my good girl back. Sweet!

And my final "first" to report is that I finally made time to really tear into my laundry piles. The first time in 2 weeks, I washed, dried, bleached, folded and put away about 6 loads of laundry. It would be easy not to mention that I still have about 3 more loads that I could run through, but whose gonna tell on me if I don't?

Little Things from my Little Love

3 long forehead wrinkles, arching when he dreams

running my fingers over his soft little fuzzy head

reminding myself daily that he'll nver again be this tiny

the impromptu smiles and grunts he makes while he's sleeping

the opportunity to fall in love and change our lives for the better once again

the way his big grey eyes study my face

how he settles down so quickly once he's soothed

the way he prefers to have his head hang over my elbow when he cuddles in my arms

my lips kiss his forehead and his nose touches my chin

bobbing head when he breathes

laying chest to chest, his cratching little fingers against my skin

remain in fetal position after postion change

baby breath

God I love my baby boy.

I'm a Cool Mom!

Here's a fun story for your amusement-

Like every other morning, during our morning rush out of the house to get the kids to the sitter's house, Elaina stops to pick a little blue flower to take to Nancy. Honestly, I can't believe that there is even a flower there day after day since Elaina picks them all. So, this morning was no different. Elaina picks her flower to take to Nancy, we pull in her driveway and Elaina is poking around her carseat looking for her flower. I find it and show it to her, stating that her flower is "Right HERE" and "Let's go." Elaina seems oblivious to this new development and continues to poke around, wasting time and ignoring me in her seat. I finally raise my voice and announce with a little more authority, "Elaina! Let's go! Your flower is here- we have to go!"

At this point, I am unbuckling her from her carseat belt and digging for her arms buried in the seat cushion. As I pick her up from her seat, in a perplexed tone, Elaina says to me, "OkayOkay Mommy, JustChillOut." Plain as day. My daughter told me to "Chill out."

I asked her, "Did you just tell Mommy to chill out?"

Not knowing if this was the right answer, she buried her head into my shoulder and softly said, "Yes."

I had to turn her around and put her feet on the ground as I began to laugh to myself in disbelief. Oh, she wasn't in trouble. It was too funny to even respond to her in any way.

One might be lead to believe that some parent may advise Elaina to "chill out" occasionally when she strikes up her fragile drama queen attitude. Hmm... is that possible?

Calling all Recalls!

Seriously! Is this the summer of recalls or what?

It's only been three days and I am already experiencing withdrawal. My camera has been recalled. ( Insert the pout face and wrinkled brow of frustration.)

Didn't it all start when they recalled coney sauce in July for fear that it may have contained botulism? Oh yeah, that would have been the very same coney sauce we offered our guests at Elaina's 2nd birthday party that my mom became ill over. And while I'm thinking about it, there were the Veggie Booty chips (salmonella), Thomas the Train toys (lead paint) and then green beans (more botulism) and then Mattel with every-single-Dora -action- figure- known- to- exist and even certain models of Ford trucks. Seriously!

And I'm suffering over my missing camera, forfeiting pictures of my little sweetness children, changing by the day and no one can even offer me a stinkin' coney dog!

Apparently America is selling out our safety to the lowest bidder or the most careless workers.

I'll step down from my soapbox now. Thank you.

We'll have pictures again one day. And then, all will be right in my world. And I'll be content with only ketchup and mustard on my hot dog.

I. Just. Want. My. Camera. BACK.

The Grandparent Adventure

Just how many grandparents can you visit in one weekend?

The answer: 6

Given the fact that Elaina and Lincoln have a grand total of 8 grandparents / great-grandparents, I'd say we covered a lot of ground on our weekend trip to my parents' house and his parents' house.

The reason for the visit was sparked by Eric's grandma coming up from West Virginia to stay with his parents for the week. While she was there, Eric's other grandma came over for the day and we all headed to Eric's brother and sister-in-law's house for a cookout.

Follow all of that? Just in case you're counting, that makes a party of three grandma's and a grandpa all in one place! It was the first time that either great-grandma had ever met Lincoln and they were both surprised at how much Elaina has grown up and changed since they saw her last. Needless to say, they were a lot of hugs being doled out to each of our munchkins.

Just like every other family gathering, we ate loads of great food and enjoyed visiting long past the wee ones bedtimes. While we were there, Elaina enjoyed jumping on the trampoline, riding her cousin Evan's new battery powered 4 wheeler and swinging on the swingset. With entertainment like that, who would ever want to go home?

Surprisingly; Elaina. Apparently, she had worn herself out by all of her recreation and was begging to go to bed by 9:30. The bed we were headed to was at my mom and dad's house. ( Make that grandparent set # 6.) By the time we arrived at grandma and pop-pop's house, she had gotten her second wind and was thrilled to chase around with pop-pop and talk to grandma. Unbelievable. The child who begged for bedtime only an hour earlier, was made to go to bed about 4 times before her daddy finally got her tucked in.

What a great day of visiting!

P.S. Note: Great Grandma and Great Grandpa in Florida- we miss you too and wish that you were within a quick three hour drive away too! Love you! You would have made our weekend complete!

Biographies of the Wee Ones

The Big Sister

Name: Elaina Rose

Alias: LuluBelle, Sweetsie Sue, BabyDoll, Angel

Age: 25 months

Height: 33.5 inches (30 percentile)

Weight: 27 pounds (50 percentile)

Likes: Little brother, "Winkin," binkies at bedtime, books, dancing, swinging at the playground

Dislikes: Healthy food, nutritious food, new foods

Talents: somersaults, sliding, counting to 15, impressive vocabulary, flair for the dramatic

Favorite Toy: viewmaster that Aunt Jan and Uncle Stan sent her for her birthday (otherwise referred to as her "ninnoc-cooyers"

Things she would like you to know: recently had first sighting of new bottom row tooth broken through and bump of another one almost ready to show; Elaina went pee-pee on the potty on Monday night and received 2 M&M's and excitedly did the potty dance with Mommy

The Little Brother

Name: Lincoln Todd

Alias: Sweetie, Love, BabyBoy

Age: 3 months

Height: 24 inches (50 percentile)

Weight: 15.9 pounds (75 percentile)

Likes: holding onto his mommy/daddy/blanket, hanging his head off the bend of mommy's elbow so that she looks like she doesn't know how to hold a baby, smiling, cooing and discovering an almost-giggle in his throat

Dislikes: being hungry or sitting in a soiled diaper

Talents: recently began sleeping through the night like a champ! Consistently drinks 6 ounces at every feeding. Beginning to stand on his strong legs and supports his head very well.

Favorite toy: loves his swing and loves to have something to hold onto

Things he would like you to know: Did I mention him sleeping through the night? He has recently found his thumb and has become a thumb-sucker with the rest of his fingers pressed to the side of his nose.

Weekend Co-Op

It's the time of year once again for our little town's festival weekend. This is the same little festival event that Eric volunteers the majority of his time helping with the fire department food stand and I assist my friends on the same operating committee of which I abandoned almost one year ago.

Since Eric and I do put in several hours throughout the weekend, my parents are always gracious enough to come and take charge of our household operation for the time we are away. It was a pleasant sight coming home from work on Friday evening to have my mom welcome me at the door with Lincoln in her arms and an excited Elaina running in behind her.

While Eric was gone the majority of Friday evening putting in his hours at the park, my mom and dad took the kids to the festival as I scurried around and set up an entire garage sale for the next morning. All in one night. Yes, it can be done. And, well, I might add. Grammy and Pop-Pop reported that Elaina shook her bootie to the music at the bandstand while Lincoln stayed awake, soaking in compliments and attention well past both of their bedtimes.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why our town cannot hold successful garage sales. Saturday morning was a huge disappointment as far as profitable sales. Yes, I got rid of more than I started with and came out ahead with a couple extra dollars in my pocket, but not even close to the traffic of what could be expected. Since I can't shrink my kids to fit their old clothes and I've already run the circuit of selling to resale shops, I priced all of my items dirt cheap to clear my tables. Aside from kid clothes, I had an entire table full of housewares, decorations and even a lawnmower off to the side. No takers! Pooey! I did sell one of my old Coach handbags which was actually easier to part with than I had expected. Woo... now I'm rich.

I had a commitment to volunteering on Saturday afternoon while I let my mom and dad continue to run the show back at home. Afterward, we all headed down to the festival and enjoyed some good junk food and company of our neighbors throughout the town. Every year, I'm reminded how nice it is to live in a small town where we're fortunate enough to have met lots and lots of great and genuine people that we call our friends. When Sunday morning finally rolled around, Elaina was thrilled to still have her Grammy and Pop-Pop with her one more day. We had been telling her that this was the day of the parade and that if she was good and ate all of her lunch, she would get to watch the parade. Around 9 in the morning, Elaina was no where to be found. I searched all of the downstairs until I heard her little voice coming from up above. Elaina had pulled a little stool in front of our spare bedroom window and was perched there waiting for the parade to begin. Little did she know, the parade wouldn't be starting for five more hours and she was facing the wrong side of the house. Poor child.

My second and final commitment of the weekend was to help out with the parade. My job was to help register everyone in attendance and usher them from the field to kick off the parade. Essentially, I got to see all of the parade, only in slow motion. I managed to catch the last 5 minutes of the parade with Elaina and my folks and snap some cutie pics in the meantime. Check out this awesome sign that our neighbors made for Elaina to hold for the parade!Practicing her parade wave with Grandma and Pop-Pop.This is how Lincoln enjoyed his very first parade. Even Elaina's friend, Ali, was able to stop by for a visit, a playground invitation and a share in Elaina's parade candy. Yum!

While I do love my mom and dad plenty, I resorted to sheer bribery in pitching my case to them for one last favor. Since we had all been so busy running around all weekend, I didn't feel like I had hardly any time to spend with them before they intended to leave on Sunday afternoon. I hit below the belt when I offered to take my mom shopping and promised my dad dinner at a great BBQ restaurant if they would stay just one more night. Hooray! They accepted!

We enjoyed our Sunday evening together doing some shopping and eating a great dinner. Even though it wasn't the BBQ that I had boasted, we all enjoyed our Chinese buffet just the same. Better yet, my mom and I got some great buys and finally had some time to visit with one another.

Although we had a very busy weekend, it was one of the best. Thank you mom and dad for running the show in our absence and hugging and squeezing our kids to pieces. Lincoln got to know your voices and your warmth and Elaina was just crazy about having you at her house. A great time by far!

3 Months Old!

It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing a stringy, little 6.6 pound baby Lincoln home from the hospital. Desperate to find clothing small enough to fit his tiny hiney.

Three months ago, our world was turned upside down. In the best way possible. We got to meet our son. A son! For us! Pure joy! To share with us the rest of our lives.

So quietly content that we had to remind ourselves that he was there. Learning his personality, falling love and pinching ourselves that this is indeed, reality. We are no longer without our missing Linc in our lives. He completes us.

The Spread

Let me just say one more time: yesterday was pure misery.

Ugh. I don't remember feeling that sick in a long time. So guess what? Elaina yacked all over herself 10 minutes before we were ready to leave for the babysitter's house this morning. The sad part is that I'm not totally surprised.

Since Eric had already left for work I cleaned her up, called off work, called the babysitter and called Daddy. Elaina proceeded to get sick a few more times before the noon hour, but after a nice long nap, she was happy as a clam. Actually, she was spinning around and flying like an "aiy-pain" and then the next minute, she was busy bzzz-bzz'ing around like a "bummel-bee." Cute.

The only good thing to come of a sick child are the first signs to indicate that they are feeling much better. She's already there!

Here We Go Visiting!

One might assume that while I was off work for 2 months on maternity leave and Eric joining me on paternity leave for 6 weeks of the same time, we may have been able to steal away a weekend to visit with family and friends.

I'm afraid that wasn't the case.

Nope, we sat home and stared at our wonderful boy, played with our little girl and stayed busy every single day without fail. Unfortunately, we just kind of ran out of time to cross everything off of our to-do-list in such a short period of time. So, do you want to know what we do about that now?

We have super-duper-extra-busy weekends all at once! Grand!

For so long, we had planned on going to visit my brother, sister-in-law and Colin. And just for a bonus in our weekend, I really had the best intentions on joining up with Kate's friend Heather and sweetie-blog-star-son, Wesley. Elaina has been a longtime fan of her cousin Colin and Wesley via their blog pictures and videos. As luck would have it, our best laid plans caught a snag early on and made seeing Wesley impossible. (Heather, I'd like to request a rain check for a trip to COSI to get the three little munchkins together before we have to pay adult admission for them!)

So, let me tell you how much we enjoyed our weekend otherwise. Eric and I got on the road especially early on Saturday to be able to take full advantage of the time we had available. Colin welcomed Elaina with a gentle hug while Aunt Kate was busy squeezing all kinds of love and hugs onto her little nephew, Lincoln. We headed out to one of Colin's favorite parks, known simply as the "Bunny Park." Why do they call it the Bunny Park? Quite simply because it has three 2o foot bunnies dancing in a circle atop a giant hill. Aahhh... the bunny park. Better than bunnies, it has jumping water. Elaina had a ball playing in the water and catching it in her buckets. With the temperature stretching into the 90's, it was a welcome relief to get splashed by the cool spurts of water.

After the kids had their fill of drenching for the day, we decided that it was time to head back to the house for some dry clothes, naps and bottle time for Lincoln. While I was tempted to bring Lincoln a little closer to the fountains for the water to splash on his feet, I decided he was more than comfortable just hanging out in the shade of his stroller with his dad.

After naps and warm goodbyes, we were headed off to our next destination. Another set of abandoned friends that we had been desperately trying to arrange a weekend visit with.

Eric has been great friends with Duane since college and we've been close with him and his wife, Jayna, ever since. They have 3 gorgeous little ladies at home ages 4 to 11. When we first arrived, Elaina made her way right down to the basement play area without any prompting or encouragement other than being told that her "friends" were waiting down there to play with her. Just for the record, Elaina hasn't seen these girls since last year when she was about 15 months old. From the minute they connected, the four of them played together like they had known each other for the past 10 years!

We had a great time visiting and enjoyed watching Elaina interact and play so nicely with girls almost 3 times her age.

I'm not particularly sure which dice I played to have such bad luck this weekend, but on Sunday morning, I woke up with flu symptoms. Sheer misery. The kind of misery that lets you heave a little and then leave a little if you get my drift. And at our friends house. Seriously embarrassing. I have to admit that just the little, tiny part of me that was still rational and conscious was a little bit glad that we woke up to rain on Sunday morning and ruined our plans for hanging out by the pool. Without exaggeration, I could barely walk, speak or sit up. I'm telling you: MI-SER-Y!!

By 2:00, Eric managed to load up all of our loot, gather the kids and his decrepit wife and get us on the road for home. While I felt barely human, I did not get sick and didn't even have to reach for my barf bag once. Sometimes it's the little things that you have to find joy in.

Posting Note...

To my loyal readers, this week has been a blur and my blog may reflect the same. I seem to have posted a few entries out of order so scroll back to see where exactly you left off. I may have slipped one in while you weren't looking. Just for fun.

Presenting:

Elaina's "hos-cosch" rug!

Check out this doll house bookcase! Generic $300 Pottery Barn? NOPE! Custom designed by Mommy and handcrafted with by Pop-Pop H. for Elaina's 2nd birthday! He gave this house a home!

Can you spot the big girl in her big bed?

The Big Girl Bedroom!

By popular demand, here are some pictures of Elaina's new bedroom. I still have some finishing touches to make and hesitated to post an unfinished product. I'm happy with how it's turned out so far and am anxious to see it come all together. Her room is missing the dresser mirror, a picture above another dresser and some block letters that spell out her name over one of her closets.

The one stand out faux pas is that her bed is pulled away from the wall. It seems as though I cracked the bottom of her headboard when I helped to pull it out when my friend came over to paint her walls. Eric still needs to bolt the split together and no one would ever know. Except that I just told everyone.

Gypsy in the Making

Elaina has been getting little self into a little bad habit as of late.

She has become a Hoarder.

Like her mom, she likes to have her "stuff" and likes to have it handy. If this means that she has to stand at the bottom of the steps crying because she can't haul her plastic shopping cart full of crap to the top of the stairs, she will. And then, wiping away the tears, she'll try once again to get that little cart to roll up the steps.

Little did she know, being a 2 year- old hoarder can also get you into trouble. It seems as though none of us have slept through the night yet this week. And Lincoln is not to blame. Of course he is waking up for his usual early morning hungry time around 4-5 a.m. but his big sister has been getting up between 5-6 a.m. For no reason. We're talking about the typical 7 a.m. wake-up girl. Before I went on maternity leave, we could almost turn off our alarm clocks and rely solely on her to wake us when 7 a.m. rolled around. Those were the good old days.

For the past couple early mornings and middle of the nights, Elaina has wanted to hoard all of her toys into bed with her. When she first moved into her big girl bed, Buddy the teddy bear and PinkBear, the beanie baby were all that she needed to make her happy. She has since moved on. Her bedtime posse now includes: 2 baby dolls, See 'N Say, Frog the flashlight, Barbie radio, Tupperware apple which the binkies stay in during the day, no less than 6 books, 2 baskets, plastic toy car keys, plastic sand shovel, Lilly the Leapfrog and at least 3 teddy bears. And don't dare forget the 2 binkies; one for each hand.

This is all of the crap that she loaded onto our bed when she greeted us in our bed at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning. It took this child THREE trips to haul all of this loot from her bedroom to ours. God forbid she be content with only one bear and a cuddly hug from mom or dad. NOPE. Our king sized bed was loaded and cramped with little girl loot and barely enough room for the little girl.

And then there was Wednesday night. Wednesday night she tried a new spin on her old trick. Mommy and Daddy both tucked Elaina in before bed while Daddy made it very clear to stay in her bed when she woke in the morning and play with her toys in her room. Apparently, Elaina didn't quite differentiate still being awake with sleeping and then waking. This is what I walked in on:

I cleaned off her bed not only once this night, but three times! After I took this picture, she woke up around 3 a.m. and started over. We heard her shut her door and Eric headed in to put her back to bed. Five minutes later, we heard her talking book begin to play. Daddy took care of her once again. This time he turned off her nightlight so that she couldn't see to play with her toys in the dark. So we thought. At 3:30, her book begins to play again and it was Mommy's turn. I cleaned off her bed while she stood aghast, crying pitiful tears. Mommy was there to stay. I joined her, sleeping in her bed, putting an end to her bedtime party. Sorry toys!

Loveable

Did I mention how much Elaina loves her little brother?

Did I mention how much I love my kids?

Special Moment

Yet another warm and fuzzy Mother-Daughter moment to cherish...

Upon finishing blow drying Elaina's hair:

Mommy: "Elaina, you are everything I always wanted in a little girl. I love you so much!"

Elaina: "Awe, shucks!"


Who taught her that?

Listen Closely

It's just not fair for me to keep these sweet laughing Lincoln pictures to myself.

With his sweet, little face and smiley expression, you can almost hear the cooing and aahing coming from his throaty little "gaah-ahhh-aack".

He's almost there...

The Very Hungry Lincoln

Do you think he's getting enough to eat? The legs on this 3-6 month outifit were so tight that I had to unsnap him just after taking this photo just to restore circulation to his toes!

When "Pop-Pop" Pops In

When either Pop-Pop comes to visit, it's a special day. When Pop-Pop comes to visit and brings Grandma and they just magically appear when a little girl wakes from her nap, her day is even better.Eric's mom and dad stopped by to visit today on their way home from a trip to West Virginia. Elaina was napping when they arrived and was so surprised to see who had come to visit her when she woke up. Since both sets of grandparents live almost 3 hours away, it's not a common occurrence for grandparents just to stop by on a random afternoon. We had lunch together and visited for a few hours before they had to get back on the road, heading for home. While they were here, they were sure to get their fill of little girl hugs and bright baby smiles to tide them over for a while longer until we see them again.

Since Elaina was sad to see her grandma and pop-pop leave, Eric did his best to distract her and make his little girl happy once again. The bubbles seemed to do the trick!

Lip Smacking Good Book!

I think I could laugh every single time I watch this clip!

Elaina still loves her books and has recently decided that she would rather read the books to me than listen to me read. I don't know exactly where the throat clearing and the smacking of the fingers to her lips came from, but the first time she did it, I was nearly in tears trying to keep my composure in order not to laugh at her. She sounded like a 2 year-old version of the slow guy from the movie Slingblade. Hysterical!

And the finger licking? I don't have a clue! Even more funny, I know that she doesn't either! She must have seen someone wet their fingers like this at some point and believes it to be essential in book reading. Sometimes she'll go about her finger-licking-throat-clearing routine several times over before she even gets to the first page!

Needless to say, whenever Elaina offers to read Mommy a book, I always oblige. She is great entertainment!

Thanks, Self!

Amazing!

This week absolutely flew by! Since I've been back to work for almost 3 weeks already, I've discovered that my days and nights just seem shorter than ever. I never feel like I get enough done during the day and at night, I never feel like I am rested enough by the time the another day begins. And the cycle just keeps going and going and...

Last Sunday night, I did myself a favor. I spent nearly an hour putting away the last bit of laundry, picking up toys, and preparing for my week. My preparation and the favor to myself was that I laid out 5 days of outfits for myself, Elaina and Lincoln. As if that weren't enough, I looked at our evening schedule and planned what we were having for dinner for the entire week! Seriously!! If you only knew how anal I am about being organized, this shouldn't really come to much of a shock to you. I was just impressed that I did it and it went so smoothly.

It's funny to think that just putting those little morning and evening hassles at bay for the week, saves such an enormous amount of time and procrastinating when you really need to be getting down to business to get things done.

If you want to know where to find me on a Sunday night, just look for me in my closet or refrigerator!