Happy New Years!

We have had a good weekend thus far as Gabe's parents are here visiting.  Last night we celebrated Christmas with them.  Today we all hung out.  I had basketball practice early this morning.  Gabe and Glen went and ran errands while I was gone.  When they came back,  we had lunch and then Susie and I went and did a little shopping downtown.  Graham has been busy all day playing with all the toys he has acquired from Christmas.  Kamryn is now running circles in her walk around toy.  Needless to say, they are both busy little bees.

Graham plays his drums and his guitar all the time!  It is hard telling, at this age, what a child is going to be interested in as they grow.  Right now, Graham is so interested in music and puzzles.  Of course he loves playing with his trains and his tool workshop but he really enjoys his music.  When songs play on the radio, he will comment on what instrument he hears.  "Do you hear the drums mommy?  Do you hear the piano mommy?"
A couple weeks ago, I checked out a 51 piece USA Map puzzle that says it is for 6 years and older.  I got it anyways because Graham likes to be challenged.  After putting the puzzle together with him about 3 times, he can now put it together by himself.  He knows almost all the states as you have to in order to piece that puzzle together because it's not a jigsaw puzzle...it is the states cut out as they are.  I am losing my mind/memory but as I sit here and type, I think I remember posting a story about this puzzle in my previous post...oh well, just go with the flow.

Tonight, just before bed, and after Grandpa Glen read Graham the stories "Oh the Places You Will Go" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" I said, Graham lets say our prayers.

He helped me with the sign of the cross prayer then said "Bless us..."  (like he was going to say the before meal prayer and then forgot what came next) "for the sick..."  I asked, should we pray for all the little boys and girls out there who don't have mommy's and daddy's and for those kids who did not have gifts to open for Christmas?  He said, "thank you mommy for the paper.  thank you mommy for mickey mouse." ( I was coloring his Mickey Mouse coloring book with him today)

I went down a list of things and people to pray for and I asked Graham if we should pray for Grandma Susie since she wasn't feeling well and had a headache....his response "you get Grandma Susie a bandaide?"  His response made me smile :)

Not a day goes by but what I don't thank God for giving us two healthy kids.  We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to raise a boy and a girl!  Watching them grow each day is the most amazing experience of my lifetime thus far.  Everyday, I see life come full circle...things that my mom and dad used to say and do make alot more sense to me now then they used to.  Traditions my parents established in our family have inspired me to have traditions of our own.  I am not a big baker but every year at Christmas, I bake 4 dozen mint peanut butter cookies.  This year, I had Graham help me bake them and we had so much fun together!  He LOVED helping!  He pulled a chair up to the counter and followed instructions that I gave him.  Graham stirred all the dry ingredients and unwrapped all the peppermint patties.  When I was done mixing the batter, I let him lick the beaters...he kept trying to lick peanut butter off of anything he could :)  How could I blame him when I wanted to do the same thing?!  We spilled flour, had chocolatey hands, but that was all part of the fun.  I look forward to doing this with Kamryn also!  My kids have resurrected my attention to all the joy that such little things can bring to life.  I am so thankful and so blessed to be a mother......to be a wife to a loving husband and good father.  I could go on and on and on but I will stop here for the night.  Happy New Years...may 2012 bring great experiences and memories...as the journey continues!

Christmas update

I am so behind and hope to get back on track soon!  We had a great Christmas with the kids!  Graham had a little better idea of what was going on this year.  The ol "you better be good or else Santa is not going to bring you anything" line worked temporarily.  He has been pretty ornery.  Graham had asked Santa for drums...because he had not been listening very well at all, Gabe and I were going to go with that and tell Graham that Santa didn't bring him drums because of that.  AMAZINGLY...Santa came to Nana and Papa's house while we had Christmas with them and guess what Graham got........not just drums...Graham got drums, a tambourine, a flute, harmonica, maracas and a couple other instruments.  Gee, thank you Santa, you are the best!  I thought the gift should stay at Nana and Papa's house so that Graham would have lots to do while he was there, but the whole band ended up in our backseat when we left the house.

Kamryn was so much fun!  She is sitting up by herself so she was able to pick at the bows and pull some paper off the gifts.  She was her smiley self and had a great time!  Last night, Kamryn discovered that she enjoyed playing with the maracas!  Graham will now have a 2-man band.

Christmas morning was rushed since we had to leave for the Heinen Christmas in Axtell, but Graham still had a little bit of time check out his gift from Santa.  He got a fully supplied work bench!  Now he can be just like his Papa.  It was fun to see the excitement on his face!  As for Graham's Christmas quotes, he had so many of them that I am drawing a blank as to what they all were.  I have little notes all around the house of things he has said...just a matter of finding them.

Well, we sure hope ya'll had a joyful Christmas!  And our journey continues....

Princess

Graham is still going through a stage of trying to figure out independence.  He likes to disagree with me and tell me what he is going to do.

This morning, Graham woke up in a good mood....I told him we needed to change his diaper, so we did.  I got a shirt for him and helped him put it on.  It was a long sleeve shirt, which seemed reasonable to me since there was snow on the ground...ya know a little chilly outside.  After he had his shirt on he started freaking out on me and said he wanted the shirt off.  I insisted that he would still live if he wore long sleeves and eventually he decided the shirt I had picked was good.  Now on to the pants.

Me:  Graham, do you want to wear sweatpants or jeans?
G: I don't want to wear jeans.
Me:  Ok, we'll put on your sweatpants.
G:  I don't want to wear sweatpants...I have my "banquet" (blanket)...see mommy...

With his blanket draped under his armpits and around his body he says:
G:  "I'm a Princess!"

Immediately, I thought, oh dear and said, "How about a King?"

G: Nope, I'm a princess.

And the journey continues......

"Karen"

Ok so I ended up going to the evening session of Cross Fit.  I should have taken advantage of my child being sick!  That workout kicked my tail!  The Workout Of the Day (WOD) was "Karen."  Karen is 150 wall ball shots for time.  I used a 15lb Medicine Ball and finished in 11 min 6 seconds.  By the end of the workout, I wanted to kick Karen to the curb and tell her she had no business ever coming back!  BUT, I am always up for a challenge which is why I do Cross Fit....with that said, thank you "Karen" for handing my butt to me.  Awesome.

We had another good game last night!  Large margin victory once again for the Bullpups!  I rarely check out the crowd during the game because I have never liked knowing where people are sitting...it's like I can feel their eyes in the back of my head.  I made an effort to look in the stands last night b/c I was trying to find my son, as I promised I would.  He told me he would sit next to the "Tubas" in the band :)  I looked several times and he wasn't there.
After our game was over, my dad found me and informed me that Gabe and the kids were on there way into the game when Graham got sick outside the door.  He said Gabe thought he was going to be just fine.  Anyways, I arrive home and Gabe told me about his circus adventure with both kids.  When Graham would throw up, Kamryn would need something.  To Gabe's credit, he did a very good job of keeping up with things although I am sure he didn't feel that way.  After I got home, Graham decided to cling to me.  I understand, when you are young and sick, it feels natural to want some "TLC" from your mama.  I tell you what though, I felt like the fire hydrant that a dog sees while out on a walk.  Each time Graham had to throw up, he came walking up to me, and would bear hug my legs, then throw up......I did my best attempt at the cheerleader like, split pike jump to get out of the way, but I didn't manage to do a good job.  You know everytime I wash my car, it rains.  Two nights ago we shampooed the carpet.  The next day Azzi celebrated by whizzing all over it.  Yesterday, I finally got the oh so nasty looking tile floor in the kitchen scrubbed...such a relief!  And then Graham gets sick all over it.   It happens, I know...what can ya do about it really.? 
Moments before Graham's final erruption of the night, Graham told me this:  "I need tacos.  I need bell.  I go to taco bell, get tacos."  Well son, I don't think tacos are the answer to this situation, just sayin.  Where in the hay he came up with that proposal, who knows.
Since Gabe has a big day at work today, I told him I would stay up with Graham.  Graham and I had a Mickey Mouse Marathon...and then I got him to lay down in his bed at 12:45am.  He slept until 7:45am today and seems to be doing ok, but we shall see. 

Early yesterday afternoon, I finally got my Christmas cards in the mail, so I instantly started addressing them so I can get them in the mail.  I'm sitting downstairs doing this while Graham was playing trains and Kamryn was asleep.  I'm busy writing when suddenly I hear Graham,

" Uh oh...somebody colored on the wall."

Me: "Oh no, who did that?"
Graham:  "Graham. (pause) I did it."
Me: "Why did you do that Graham?"
Graham: "I love my crayons."
Me:  "That doesn't mean you need to color on the wall.  Are you supposed to color on anything but paper?"
Graham: "No."
After another pause ......"uh oh, somebody colored over there too!"........"I need to clean my office, right?"
Me: "Who did that?"
Graham: "Graham."
           "(gasp) look!  I did the Christmas tree all by myself!"
Me:  "Graham, you are not supposed to mess with outlets!"

He had plugged in the tree lights and I didn't even notice.  The coloring on the wall had been there but this is the first that he has officially brought it to my attention.  Nobody better turn me in for child neglect.  That was not my intent.  I was just a bit excited about getting my cards finished...and needless to say, they are not finished but I will get there soon.  I will pay more attention next time.


I was so excited to go to my Crossfit class this morning, but looks like Motherhood won that idea.  I will have to fit my workout in some other time today.
I am definitely a rookie in this blogging business...once I figure out how to post more than dialogue, it may be more exciting.  That's all I have right now...and the journey continues.

Contains some Ranting...

It has been awhile since I have posted.  Trust me, I have not had any lack of subject matter to discuss, just haven't found the time I need to blog about these experiences.
As I sit here and type, I have my laundry all caught up, house totally cleaned and picked up, toys are all in their place, a weeks worth of meals all in the freezer, grocery shopping done, bottles cleaned, kids are snuggled in their beds for their afternoon naps, hair and make up are done, and I am dressed and ready to go whenever I need to.  OH WAIT, sorry, I am getting really good at typing in my sleep!  Sorry, I was dreaming.
I'm almost positive we had a tornado on Tombo Ct last night....my house is a disaster, our master bedroom is where the tornado started it's destruction...laundry is going, the mailman just delivered me 3x as many bills then Christmas cards, Graham is not staying in his bed....every time I walk in there to check on him he is sitting in a new spot and hurries to either put a blanket over his head or covers his eyes with his forearm b/c by golly when he does that, I have no flippin' idea where he is...cough cough.  Kamryn, bless her heart, is actually sleeping....probably will be until Graham drops his steering wheel/ dashboard like musical toy on her head like he did the other day...and then of course she woke up screaming.  Hell I would too if it felt like I was sleeping and the sky was falling!  I still haven't showered, put make up on, or changed my clothes since my workout this morning that ended at 10am....at least I started the day wearing clean underpants...that has to count for something!  We cleaned our carpet in the living room last night...looked so good!  On my way out to the kitchen this morning, I stepped on a wet spot, which consisted of Azzi's potty....my mother in law had cleaned up most of it by the time I got out there, so that was nice :)

Anyways....on with the non-ranting (improper English I know) portion of this post.  Kamryn is getting to the stage where she loves to laugh.  Baby laughter is one of the most innocent, enjoyable sounds I believe and I love it!  She is not crawling yet but getting there...right now she rolls to wherever she wants to go. 

Mr. Graham has kind been a little mouthy the past week.  He is very much into figuring out independence.  I am told this is normal so I will try to go with the flow for now.  Yesterday when Gabe's parents were here, Graham was trying to play with a remote control dumptruck.  The truck kept spinning in circles and it doesn't respond well to the remote so Grandpa Glen asked Graham to bring him the truck so he could try to fix it.  Graham hands Glen the truck while it is still running and Glen asks,

" Graham how did you turn this thing on?"

  Graham looks at him and says,

"with my fingers!"  

LOL true, but I think he wanted to know where the power button was located :)

Prior to the arrival of my inlaws, I had taken the kids to Wal-Mart so we could get a few things for meals and such.  As usual, Wal-Mart was busy.  I was pushing both kids in the cart and there were people in front of us...I had told Graham we were going to have to hurry (I knew we were pushing nap times)...so what does he do?  He says,

"EXCUSE ME!  EXCUSE US...They are blocking our path, right mommy?!?" 

For heaven sakes, I darted to the next aisle.  He was totally correct but didn't need to be so vocal about it...at least he was polite :)

Last week, I hurt my back while lifting...embarrassing to admit since I teach people how to lift and haven't had an injury with my clients in my 6 year career as a trainer....then I get hurt, but anyways whatever....so I took the week off.  We went to the Y this morning and I was so excited to exercise again!  I promised Graham that we would go to the library after my workout.  After I finished, I picked him up from Toddler Time, had Kamryn in her carseat, and we walked across the parking lot to the library.  I make it a point to remind Graham that he needs to use his quiet voice in the library but we know how that usually goes.  We get in there and he took off running towards the toy checkout department.  I told him he could pick out one thing but that was it b/c we needed to return the puzzle he already has checked out.  He kept pulling boxes off the shelf and taking the toys out of the box (which there is a sign saying PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE TOYS FROM BOXES IN THE LIBRARY!").  I am trying to be somewhat discrete and telling him to stop and that we needed to go.  Well I have an idea, I will give him the library card so he can check the books out himself...he usually gets a kick out of giving the librarian the card...so he marches up to the counter, gives her the card, stands there for a second then runs off....meanwhile, Kamryn is getting vocal, I'm trying to find her "plug", I am trying to hurry b/c I know Graham likes to press the handicap button which opens the door heading out to the parking lot......I get the library book and new puzzle he picked out in one hand, and I get Kamryn/carseat in the other, and then I look over towards the door b/c I heard some noise, and it was Graham...he was trying to pull the fire alarm!!!!!!!!!!  Not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR TIMES!  The librarian is still trying to talk with me, I take off running and by this time, this mama isn't using her quiet voice either! 

"Graham Wesley!! get back here!" 

He curls up in the fetal position on the floor and won't move!  So I have to almost drag him out of the corner so he would stand up....and then we left!  EVERYTHING IS AN ADVENTURE!   Lord have mercy!

9: Same S#%* Different Day :)

So there I was feeding Kamryn...Graham ran to his room and shut the door.  I got up, poked my head in and told him that I was feeding her then went back to the livingroom.  Shortly after I sat back down, Graham shut his door.  My thoughts were, fine whatever.  Kamryn decided to kick her legs and rip her hair bow out then pushed the bottle out of her mouth...so now I was like, what is your problem little miss Kamryn?...Usually, when Kamryn refuses to eat, she has filled her pants.  I took her to their room to change her diaper and sure enough, she did her business!  Graham was hiding behind the chair so I didn't even have to ask what he had been up to...both of their internal clocks were up to the same thing.  So I started changing Kamryn and was talking to Graham at the same time when Kamryn kicked  her foot out of my hands and used her "goo" as a stinkin (no pun intended) ink pad and put her foot in it!  Lovely....so I cleaned that off and she thought it was so fun the first time that she wanted to do it again!  Finally got her finished up and then it was Graham's turn.  Because I have waited so long to post this today, I don't remember his remarks exactly so I will just leave that alone.  Obviously, ya'll can see that just about every diaper changing experience is an adventure around here....almost seems like that's all I write about lately...I'm tellin' ya, "sh*%" happens.

Graham just woke up from his nap and I asked him if I could change his diaper.  His response,

"No, I'm good...you changed my diaper last night."

Well alrighty then!  He asked me if he could go to his room and get a toy and I told him to be quiet b/c Kamryn was sleeping. 

"I need to be quiet, right?  Which way am I going?  As he points..."

  Well Graham, how about you tell me.  What way are you going? 

"South, I'm heading South.  BYE!"

  Well I'll be...yes, he had to go South to go to his bedroom!  He came back from his bedroom with a toy....and the adventure continues :)

8: Graphic details of a disasterous week...FYI before you read...

It has been a few days since I last posted.  We have had a crazy week at the Prescott Palace!  Monday, I went to the YMCA and dropped Graham off at Toddler Time.  I was 5 minutes into my CrossFit class when a lady came running downstairs to inform me that Graham had just thrown up.  Nice.  So I left Kamryn in CF class and ran upstairs.  I walked into the play area and Graham came running up to me and said,

"I dribbled mommy." 

 I said, Graham I am afraid you did a little more than just 'dribble.'  He was in a good mood and acted fine but I had to take him home.  So we went down and got Kamryn, loaded up, and drove back home.  The next couple of days Graham had issues with "the other end."  Kamryn maybe got a touch of it but seemed fine.  She is still smiling and being her content self.  Last night, when I got home from our first basketball game, Gabe informed me that Kamryn had "spit up" and made a big mess.  I never thought much about it...big deal.  She spit up.  Today we were invited to a birthday party for one of Graham's friends.  After we arrived, I decided to feed Kamryn.  She wasn't eating much at all which is unusual but I figured she was distracted with all the noise and just wasn't interested.  As I sat there holding her and visiting with a friend, Kamryn threw up more than I ever thought possible from a little one that size!  It was EVERYWHERE!  Kamryn's reaction...well she had a  look on her face like, this is nasty mom, then she smiled as I changed her clothes.  When she has no temperature...doesn't fuss...how am I supposed to know she is sick?!?!  So Gabe's version of "spit up" should have been explained as "throw up."  After he saw what she did he told me that was what he was talking about last night...well crap Gabriel!  Spit up does NOT require 2 bath towels, a burp rag, and a bag of baby wipes in the clean up process!  Not to mention a clean set of clothes for both Kamryn and myself!
After we got home from the party, Graham played a little bit then went into hiding...I could hear a little grunt and then I saw him....he saw me...so he covered his eyes (which makes him feel like he cannot be seen!) and poohed his pants.  As I changed him he said,

"those are rolling poop balls, right?!" 

For heaven sakes!  I had to laugh and said, sure.  Sorry for the nasty details!  I was just excited that he had a "solid" performance ;)  If you know what I mean :)  Hopefully my next post is not so graphic.....have a great day!

7: Thanksgiving 2011

Blessed!  That is how I feel not only today but everyday!  I feel so fortunate to have married a wonderful, caring man, and to have two healthy children.  Living so close to my parents and brother is also another blessing.  My inlaws are great supporters and loving people.  We have jobs.  A roof over our heads.  Amazing family and friends.  I could go on and on........as I sit here trying to type a semi-serious, thoughtful blog, my son is sitting next to me with a bowl of goldfish crackers singing,

"Red solo CUP, I fill you UP, lets  have a PARTY!"

So there ya have it folks, while most toddlers are singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," mine is singing lyrics to a beer drinking song....awesome.

We had bath time already tonight.  I had shampoo in Graham's hair and I always tell him to tip his head back so that whenever I rince out the shampoo, it will not get in his eyes.  Do you think he listens???  Tonight, I just decided to dump the water on his head without saying anything first and Graham said,

"Are you kidding me?"

LOL, all I could do was laugh!  No son, I'm not kidding you, just didn't feel like asking you to do something that I knew you would fight me on in the first place :)

Kamryn is already sleeping for the night.  She is reaching such a fun stage of her life!  Laughter is great medicine...it is even sweeter to hear laughter from a baby!  We are so blessed to have such a happy baby!  She wants to crawl so bad.  I am sure she will reach her goal sooner than later.

Another side note on Graham, he is putting together 24 piece puzzles entirely on his own right now.  It's so fun to watch him think and problem solve!  His wheels are always turning!

Well, that is all I have for right now...who knows what Graham will say five minutes from now.

6: #2

So we were all sitting in the living room watching a tv show when Graham hid behind the chair.  You know that whenever he is 1) QUIET and 2) Hiding, that is not a good combo.  We asked him if he was pooping and he didn't answer.  A couple minutes later, he comes out from behind the chair, puts his hands on his bottom and feels around and says,

"Thats a football poopy, right?!"

LOL, must have felt like a football???  who knows :)

5: Random Post Nap Conversation

Graham woke up crying after his nap today.  I walked in and asked him what was the matter and he said,

" I need a different shirt!"

He had removed his pants and thrown them on the floor...taken his arms out of his shirt and pulled the shirt down to his waist.  Because I didn't feel like fighting him, I went and got him a different shirt.  We put the Thomas the Train T-shirt on and he said,

" I need Thomas pants too!" 

Well we don't have Thomas pants.  He continued to fuss.  I asked him why he had been acting like this lately.  I told him I was sorry he was so sad about his pants but that's just how it is.  He said,

"I have to listen to you better, right mommy?  So Santa Clause will bring me a new shirt for Christmas.  I get my blankets (prounounce as 'banquets') b/c I'm strong! Right mommy?" 

 So I told him I would get him out of bed and change his diaper.  He gets out and I told him that my back hurts.  He says,

"Whats happened mommy?  Here I rub your back ok mommy?  I will get you a bottle too right?"

  I told him we would get Kamryn a bottle and him a snack...he was excited about that.
This is just part of our random conversation...I couldn't keep up with all his rambling!
I better go feed Kamryn...Graham just told me that I need to get off the computer b/c it's dangerous.  I'm signing off for now...

Brief Christmas List

Graham just came running upstairs...out of breath he says, "I need a level, a drill, I make hole with the drill, hammer, and level and drill for Christmas!"  Needless to say he was a little excited!

A little while ago, Gabe put him in his crib for a timeout and set his timer for 2 minutes.  About 20 seconds into it, Graham came walking out into the living room with this monkey pillow (so yes, he bailed out of his crib) and said,

" I need to listen better, right?!" 

He is such a pistol!

3. Manners

At breakfast this morning, Gabe made pancakes and scrambled eggs.  Graham had his mouth plum full of pancakes and started talking.  I told him, "please don't talk with your mouthful...that's rude!"  Graham's response:

"thats not rude"

  I said, yes it is!  With a big smile and his mouth full he said,

"It's a happy rude!"

2. "I'm Stuck"

Keep in mind that Graham is very much into his imagination right now.  He has conversations with just about anything.
I am upstairs working in the kitchen I can hear him talking away...

"Bye!  See you later! So long...Have a nice day!"

 So I hollered downstairs and asked Graham who he was talking to. 

"My monkey pillow!"

I left the kitchen because Kamryn was getting tired so I held her for a few minutes and got her to sleep.  As I come back to the kitchen I hear,

"HELP!  I am stuck!  I need a bandaide right?  I need bandaide." 

So I walk over to the steps and wonder what is going on and there lies Graham across the third step to the bottom...holding his monkey pillow...He looks at me and says,

"I'm stuck.  My leg broking.  You need plaster cast on my leg right? I need plaster cast b/c my leg is broking!"

A few weeks ago, we checked out a library book about a character named "Maisy."  Maisy fell and broke her leg, so he remembered how the doctors fixed her.  About an hour ago, he was roaming around at the top of the stairs and I told him he either needed to go downstairs or get away from the stairs b/c I didn't want him to fall down and break a leg.  Apparantly, he put two and two together...My word, its not even 10:30am...he is full of 'P and V'

1: Unintentional " bragging "

I have been (we have been) extremely blessed to have two healthy, beautiful, and active kids.  Graham is turning into a "Little Einstein" slash "comical character."  He is very observant and does not forget much.  Early on, we discovered his desire to learn and his ability to recall detail.  I absolutely love to learn and I feel Graham is the same way.  At 18 months, I began working with Graham on the alphabet.  By 20 months he was able to identify every letter in the alphabet.  His ability to remember people's names absolutely blows me away!  He calls our friends, his friends, my parent's friends, etc. by their first names.  Since Graham catches on so quickly to new material, I try to challenge him consistanly otherwise he gets bored.  Like most toddlers, when he is bored, he is trying to stir up some trouble!  I decided to start teaching him the 50 States by using a map.  We have worked on them for one week and he knows 29 states thus far! (he is 27 months old) I am not trying to brag on my son...actually more than anything, I am using this tool as a journal for him to read some day...I want this to be a way he can look back on his progress and hear stories about his developing character.
The same will hold true for our daughter Kamryn (4 1/2 months).  She is babbling constantly...rolling over...and smiling!  We have been so spoiled with Kamryn as she has slept through the night since 8 weeks old...has been extremely laid back and very healthy.  We are looking forward to seeing her develop into her own person!
I have been posting Graham's "Quote of the Day" on Facebook and have had requests for a blog.  I liked the idea and am going to give it a whirl.

Graham's Quote of the Day:
Tonight, moments prior to getting ready for bed, Graham waived to me real big with his pumpkin basket over his shoulder and said, "Good BYE!  I'm going to work...going trick or treating at Uncle Jared's!  See you later!...Uh oh, gotta find my keys right?...so I can honk at you!  Good night!"

I will continue to post his quotes as often as I possibly can.  Stay tuned!