Happy Birthday!

Chase do you know what today is?

"What mommy?"

It's my birthday.

"What size are you?" His question as to how old am I.

"Are we going to have cake?"

Not today. When daddy comes home we will.

"When he comes home in two days we will have cake."

Yes, honey, in two days.

Brad is traveling and told Chase when he left that he will be back in two days. So everything is in "two days". I just love listening/watching him try to grasp the concept of time. He always asks, "what's after my nap mommy?" Even if it's his bedtime, it's always his nap.

And then trying to get breakfast/lunch/dinner correct as well as yesterday, last yesterday as he calls it. It's too cute.

Even though daddy was gone, I had a great birthday. My bestie invited us over for a playdate which included mac & cheese and frosted cookies, the best kind of lunch. We're so moms.

Gracie made me a card and Katie had crepe paper up for me and a fabulous gift to make me beautiful, well enhance my beauty. Lol. So cute. We had such a great time just letting the kids play and trying to chit chat wherever we could fit in a word. It's amazing though how much "conversation" you can fit in between two 2.5 year olds playing and yelling and chasing two active nine month olds, plus making lunch, feeding them lunch, cleaning up lunch.

But we managed and it was a blast.

Only by the grace of God...

...am I saved and where I am today. The LORD is doing amazing things in my life but I know that I am only here in this time and place because of the grace of God and prayers. An old friend of mine friended me on facebook the other day, a friend from my teen years. I haven't seen or spoken with her since she graduated over 15 years ago. We were pretty close friends but even then I knew she wasn't the best influence for me but I was a teenager and wanted friends and to be "in" and she definitely was fun and crazy.

But I am so thankful that I listened to the LORD and well feared my mother and God because that is one of the only reasons I am where I am today. Of course her friendship wasn't the end of my "rebellious" teen years, but if I followed in her footsteps, I wouldn't want to know what kind of life I would have right now.

By the grace of God I have a wonderful husband of 10 1/2 years and two beautiful, healthy little boys, a great church and wonderful friends and family...but it could have been different.

After looking at her pictures I was, I don't want to be harsh, but appalled and sad. Sad that such a beautiful girl decided to take that path in life when she was certainly not raised that way.

I so believe in choosing the right friends throughout all the stages of your life and of course we all make mistakes and choices that we may regret. But that is what life is all about...choices and there are so many. Thankfully God is a forgiving God and all is in the past and forgotten. That's how I live my life, I try not to dwell on what has happened to me in the past...decisions, actions, words that I might have said or were said to me. I repented of my sins and God forgave me and wants me to grow.

I feel the same about people in my life. Can you imagine what a burden it would be if I held onto every word, action, event that happened to me in my life that caused pain. God is a forgiving God so I should forgive too. Nothing is ever worth dwelling on or to bring it up time and time again. I strive to forgive and forget. I want happiness in my life not to be miserable. I want to be an enjoyable person to be around and happy for my children. A blessing to those around me not a burden.

All this being said, that I am sad that she has chosen that life but I am by no means above her and God loves her just as much as me. We can only pray for those around us and that they make the right decisions in life albeit as hard as they may be sometimes. I can only pray for His mercy on my life everyday.

I'm missing somepin Mommy...

As Chase was getting ready for bed, one of the bedtime routines is to go potty which turns into a conversation time for him. So tonight as he was sitting on the potty because he had to go "poopy" which seems to be every night. But as he was sitting there, he was playing with his belly and discovered that he can grab the skin on his belly and make his belly button disappear. Here is the conversation that ensued...

As Chase is holding his belly to hide his belly button.

"Mommy, somepins missing."

Oh no, what's missing?

" I don't know, somepin"

I then poke at his belly, minus a belly button and he giggles. "Oh no buddy what's missing on your belly?"

"My belly nipple" proceeded by a funny look on his face as he knows this doesn't sound right.

"What's missing buddy?" As I am trying not to laugh.

"My belly nipple." Again weird face. "My belly button!" He exclaims. "I didn't come with one."

He makes me laugh so hard sometimes. Even though bedtime is not necessarily a "fun" time around here and he totally uses potty time as his major stall tactic but these potty talks are always super hilarious. I need to start video taping him.

There so funny because he is trying to so hard to come up with stuff to talk about and just gets going. They are quite the stories I hear during these Potty Talks. Hmmmm...I think I see a children's book in the works.

Happy 8 months Callen!

I feel so guilty my littlest man. You are eight months as of 1/20/11 and this is my first monthly update about you. I did start one for your seven month but never finished and well, today I am determined to finish your eight month update.

I can't believe I just said eight months, where in the world did time go? I barely remember the past eight months, they just flew by and the whole point of starting this blog was to remember the days but then I didn't have time to update or just plain tired.

But that is about to change, it's a new year, a fresh start. And well, let's start with seeing how big and fast you are growing.

My Dearest Callen,

My oh my little one, you are not so little anymore. At your last appointment about a month ago, you weighed in at 17.75 lbs. and hmm, I don't recall how tall you were, will have to check. Let's just say that you are pretty much out of 6-9 months clothes. Actually since about a month ago, you've been in 12 month sleepers and pants, the pants are a little big but just the right length. You are still in 6-9 or 9 month onesies and some shirts but even the shirts are moving to 12 month. 

You don't seem that big to me but you are long, yes, long and lean. There really isn't any baby fat on you, maybe a little chunky thigh. But your brother wasn't chunky either. I don't know what chunky babies are, well, except chunky, big newborns. 

Crawling is your new thing, it's actually kind of an army crawl. You will get up on your knees and arms and rock back and forth, which you've been doing for about a month, but then you will drop and go. Your in the living room and before I know it, there you are behind me in the toy room. 

I know I've mentioned it before but you absolutely adore and love your big brother. He is just the greatest in your eyes. When giving him a kiss, you tend to grab a handful of his hair and give a nice tug, Chase isn't thrilled. "He's pulling my hair mommy. Callen stop."  I have to continously remind him that you are a baby and don't know better, even though you laugh every time you do it. Hmmm...

You also love his toys, especially his trains. There is always one in your month throughout the day, as long as their not his favorites he doesn't mind.  We have a few baby toys out for you to chew and drool all over but your brother's toys are so much more interesting. I see a future of toy sharing already. 

 

Food tasting is exciting to you. Anything and everything seems to be the theme lately. Everyone always said you do everything by the book with the first kid and with the second it's out the door, for the most part. Well, we didn't start you on baby food until six months, which was the same time as Chase. And yes, I do have pictures.  

And the same as your brother, your first food was homemade squash, and of course you loved it. And since then you've probably had everything under the sun, ok, not really. Let's see you have about 40% bought and 60% homemade and you've enjoyed blueberries, apricot, pear, apple, prunes, bananas, peas, beans, carrots, sweet potato, squash, chicken, ham, beef, noodles, avocado, cream cheese and I'm sure some others that I have just forgotten. 

Puffs are your new favorite or these little rice cookie things I found. I usually give you a few puffs while I prepare your lunch or dinner. You love them and of course so does Chase. Every time you have them he has to have them too, usually five. "Mommy I want some puffs too. I want five puffs." And he proceeds to count them as he eats them.

 

The other day you had a sweet potato fry and hard boiled egg yolk, boy is egg yolk messy. Let's just say your tray looked yellow instead of the pearly white. But mommy was able to squish it together and help get in your mouth. Next time we will scramble it.

Oh and well, you are not allergic to peanut butter. I told you you were fast and well, your brother was eating his lunch and set his plate on the floor in the living room while we were playing UNO. Before I knew it, you had a piece of his sandwich in your mouth. Yummy. We will wait to try tree nuts. 

Since you are in teething and discovery mode, everything goes straight to your mouth. Did I say everything? Your brother's Thomas UNO cards, a big no, no; puzzle pieces, trains, planes and automobiles, legos (the big ones), blocks, slippers and anything else you find interesting on the floor. Fun. 

You still only have your two bottom teeth, you've had them forever it seems but your top two are coming in. I swear. We've been saying that for months now and we're not crazy...we can now officially see a very, teeny-tiny part of your right front tooth. Yay! Finally! 

 

And mentioning everything in your mouth, you are infatuated with my water bottle. Really since you were about five months old you've loved my water bottle and always rip it out of my hands with such fervor and start sucking away. Yes, you actually drink out of it. You figured it out quickly, I guess since you played with it so often you discovered how to suck out of it. You choked the first time not expecting something to come out of it but since then you're an old pro, even have your own straw sippy cup.

10/27/10

You've been saying da-da for awhile or more like da-da-da-da, even though you have no idea who da-da is, you do say it on command. You also say na-na, da-da and hey, it's not quite "hey" real clear but more like hhheeeeyyy. 

 

You've been sleeping pretty good, you go down between 7:30 and 8 and then wake up again usually around 4:30/5 but since your teeth have been coming in you have been getting up around 10 but then fuss yourself back to sleep. But when you wake up at 3 or 4 or 5, I just come in and feed you. 

I guess this has turned into a Callen all around update since I've been so far behind, but not anymore. You're an amazing little guy and I want to be able to look back and remember these days as they are so fleeting. But a blink of an eye....

Love, 

Mommy

The Ultimate Cup of Hot Chocolate...

What better than a huge cup of delicious homemade hot chocolate after an hours worth of playing in the snow in 10 degree weather. That is exactly what Chase enjoyed today.

My girlfriend made some delicious cocoa and gave it to everyone as little gifts at our gingerbread house party. I still had some left thankfully because I promised Chase some hot chocolate and little did I know we didn't have any until I remembered Jess's. Thanks Jess!

But with it she also made a chocolate covered spoon and then we added little marshmallows and whipped cream. Chase was in hot chocolate heaven. And on top of that, I found these adorable little snowman straws at Walmart after Christmas for only fifty cents for a bag full. 

 

 Excited about his whipped cream

  

Dropping in marshmallows

 

Getting ready to enjoy!

This just says it all.

 He enjoyed his hot chocolate for at least 30 minutes, dropping in marshmallows and some teddy grahams too. The perfect way to end a sledding day.

Our Sears Family Portraits 2010

 We seem to get our "official" family portrait once a year but the more kids you add to it the more difficult it gets. We had to schedule around naps and for the most part it went pretty well.


We didn't get any real fun out-of-the-ordinary pictures that I like to have but the kids and mommy and daddy were maxed and I took what we could get. Frankly, I think they are pretty cute. 

 

I think this one is funny because Brad pretty much has

Chase in a "hold" to keep him sitting still and his hands down. 

 

My fav of the boys.

 

We almost lost Callen on this one. They have this HUGE platform that they cover in the background to have the boys sit on. It's about 2ft. off the ground. As you can see Chase is holding onto Callen.  Now this was back in December and Callen wasn't quite steady sitting on his own. 

Well,  Brad and I were being such great, watchful parents and checking out the monitor to see if the picture turned out. It was only but a split-second but as they say, that's all it takes. And as we turned back around to get Callen, Chase being a two year old, just let go of him and Callen went to his belly then rolled right off the platform. Brad jumped and grabbed him by the waist of his pants with just a few inches to spare. It all happened in slow motion. Poor kid.

Using one of the awful, fake backgrounds but they are just too cute.

 

My favorite family photo. 

 

Forget the Joneses Project

I get feeds on my Facebook page from Mommysavers.com and this month they are having a challenge called, Forget the Joneses Project. They've been doing it for the past few years but this is the first year I've heard of it and decided to try it out. The purpose is to get back on track financially, simplify, define your goals and add more meaning to your life.  Daily assignments start Monday, January 10th and run through the end of the month.

So it's the 10th and the first assignment.... Put Your Family on a 21-Day Spending Freeze. You can click on the title to learn more about the project and what the 21-Day Spending Freeze is all about. This shall be interesting. Good thing I made my trip to Wallyworld today to buy my paint, which isn't a need, well kind of if I ever want my bathroom cabinet finished. 

But here is a just a snap-shot of what the 21-Day Spending Freeze is about:

What is a spending freeze? To put it simply: no more unnecessary spending. You’re not allowed to spend money on anything but necessities.  Use up the food you have in your cupboards.  Your grocery budget is now limited to what you must buy (milk and toilet paper, for example).  Think of it as “Mommysavers Survivor” except the only prize at the end of the game is the money you’ve saved.
A spending freeze is not a long-term lifestyle by any means. The main goals of the spending freeze are:

• Get accustomed to using up what you have and making do without, which will help exercise your creative muscle and become more resourceful
• Reinforce the difference between wants and needs
• Practice delay of gratification
• Stay out of the stores thereby reducing temptation and finding other forms of “entertainment”

Why 21 days? Research shows it takes approximately 21 days to make something a habit. During these three weeks we’ll be practicing the following skills:...click link above for more info.


So this is kind of a last minute decision, as in last night last minute, but I think it's what we need to do, well Brad doesn't know we're doing yet though but it's only 21 days so he'll survive. Just no going out to lunch....sorry John.

Week in review...

I can't believe it's the tenth of January already. I know I always seem to say that when looking back but boy does time go by fast. I am very thankful though that my word for 2011, contentment, is already showing. We had a great week and I was content to just be home with the boys, we didn't go any.where.

Callen driving his car.

Eating Chase's Build-A-Car

I had laryngitis all week last week, have no idea how in world I got it, it's so strange how it happens, all of a sudden I just can't talk. Now instead of laryngitis, I have a cold and sound nasal, yuck. And poor Chase has a cold too and Callen is teething. So nonetheless sleep hasn't been happening in this house. Have I ever mentioned that I hate teething? Sometimes I wonder why God just didn't let babies be born with teeth, it would be so much easier and more sleep for me. And this is only the third tooth and how many more do we have to go? Ugh.

Destroying his crib.

 

Destroying his crib, then falling asleep in his destruction.

The Ultimate Sugar High...Marshmallow Snowman

So I was doing some a lot of Googling in the month of December trying to find some fun winter activities to do with Chase and to put in an Activity -n- Coloring Book that we made for Chase's bud Gracie for Christmas.

One of the activities that looked like fun and pretty easy were these adorable chocolate covered Marshmallow Snowman. I found the idea at this blog Speckled Egg, her picture and how she packaged them grabbed my attention.

 

Ok, so yes there is absolutely nothing healthy about these adorable snowmen and if you know me I don't allow Chase to eat a lot of sugar or things with sugar in them but they were fun to make and sometimes that is what's its all about.

They were pretty simple to make and I think they are adorable. I found many different versions and fun ways to dress them up but we just kept it simple. I had skewers and just used those as the sticks. I wished we had stick pretzels for the arms, Chase kept asking where the snowman's arms were.

Now ours didn't turn out nearly as nice and fancy but we had fun making them. We only did five since I really didn't plan on eating them or giving them away, plus I didn't have a lot of white chocolate.

After we made them, I let Chase eat the M&M's and then take one bite and that was it. Can't imagine the evening I would've had if I let him eat the entire thing....tummy ache and jumping off the walls.

Here are some other ideas using marshmallows, not entirely as sweet.

Very Best Baking

Sugar Crystal Snowman

After Christmas Cookies

So as the title states these are "After Christmas Cookies" as Brad called them because we frosted them after Christmas. Well, I do get credit for making and baking them before Christmas, we just didn't get a chance to frost them.

Frosting/decorating station all ready to go.

Frosting the cookies with his own knife.

 

The finished cookie.

"Mommy it's a J!" Actually honey it's a candy cane. "No, it's a J."

"Mommy he's broken, you need to glue him."

And there is no need for concern as all the cookies stayed in our home. In case you didn't notice the "show me your frosted cookie for a picture while you lick your knife."

This too shall pass, I think...

I marvel everyday on how God finds ways to speak to me and encourage me if it be through family, friends, His Word, books, etc.

Today was just a normal Monday, I worked, Brad worked and that was about it, until Chase's bedtime.

Chase from the time he was born has not been a simple child when it comes to bedtime. And now that we are in the 'terrific' two's, it's that much greater, mainly the whole going to bed routine, and a routine we have too.

I've come to realize that Chase thrives on schedules and wants to know what to expect. This is so not me, I am more of a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of schedule. But I am so learning how to live on a schedule, difficult as it may be.

So to help mentally and physically prepare him for bed, I came up with Chase' Bedtime List. It's long and it takes about 30 minutes to complete, thereabout. We do the same thing every.single.night, but he loves to know and "read" what's next on his list, even though he has it memorized. It's kind of reverse psychology I guess, he's kind of putting himself to bed.

We go down the list one by one until the very end, Brad or I or the both us say our goodnights, turn off the light and walk out of his room. And no sooner do we shut the door does he yell out something..."sing me one more song, I'm hungry, I have to go potty/poopie." It's usually something that he knows we "can't" say no to, you know potty, we can't have him poop his diaper.

Even after I revised his checklist to combat him trying to squeeze in a last try, he still gave it a try. It's that strong-will of his. Well, without going into full details of the night, we let him scream it out even if he woke up Callen, which he did twice. Poor Callen.

Well as I was downstairs listening him to scream/cry, no monitor needed, I was trying to read my devotions. And well guess what the title of today was...This Too Shall Pass.

The entire post was about an exasperated mother who had been up all hours of the night and questioning..."Do children every sleep through the night?"

The devotion was written around Ecclesiastes 3 and "To everything there is a season..." In a nutshell the author spoke how God puts up through all kinds of "seasons" and there is a purpose for every event and circumstance that God allows to enter our lives. And this season I am in seems to be never-ending but as I read, I was reminded..."But through it all--sometimes after it all--you will look back and see that faithful Creator's hand at work. Remember, creating beauty out of ashes is God's specialty. It's all a matter of timing."

Even though this season seems to be forever, I know God has something wonderful at the end and will get us through without allowing the "terrific" two's to rule. And to help me with our gifted child, I am reading "The New Strong-Willed Child" by Dr. James Dobson. It's a great read so far and very insightful.

So what did we do tonight? No, we didn't answer his every cry out, we didn't go back in his room at all, no matter how much he screamed or yelled. Some may say you're crazy....punish him, cuddle him, whatever. But every child is different and this is what needed to be done. In the hour and 45 minutes that he yelled and screamed, we heard...
...sing me another song.
...I have to go potty.
...I have to go poopy.
...something scared me.
...I don't want to be up hear anymore.
...I'm hungry.
...I don't like my bed.
...I want chicken nuggets.
...throwing his drink.
...hitting the door.

And finally, silence.

 I don't know what we accomplished, if anything, it's very frustrating when you don't know if you're doing it right.  One day, hopefully, I will look at this time and laugh, well smile maybe, and know that no one has the right answer or the perfect answer. Every child is different, no matter what and prayers are daily, but I can't wait to see what God has planned for this precious, strong-willed, smart-as-a-whip little boy. Well, I can wait because time goes by too fast and I will cherish every moment, even nights like tonight.

Gingerbread House making

So I am going to play catch up on all the happenings in December starting with our gingerbread house party.

For the past five years my girlfriend Jess has had an annual gingerbread house/ornament exchange party in December. We have a great time. A bunch of us girls get together, usually kid-free, which is funny in itself since when we first started none of us had kids. Anyway we get together and we make gingerbread(graham cracker) houses. There is no right or wrong way to design and decorate your house. It's such a blast as each year I try to think of a new "frame" for my house. 

After our gingerbread house making we play Dirty Santa and exchange ornaments. We are to bring a $2-3 ornament and wrap it. Then we start on one end and work around the room. If you are first, you can pick any gift and you can't open it. Then the next person can either steal the first person's gift or choose their own. And so forth until all the gifts are spoken for. Usually 3-4 gifts get stolen and re-stolen but then someone will decide to end it and pick the last gift. 

Gingerbread house 2010 after some little hands already got a hold of its goodies.