August Days in Kentucky

Today was a perfect day for the following activity:Splish splasher had a great time. It was so hot. All the water on the carport led to this:
>:( No, not really. Tim cleaned it up immediately. It was actually sort of amusing to have these big muddy footprints all over my kitchen floor. Sort of.
This is the baby boy whacking away at the piano. He was longingly stretching up to reach it, so I helped him out. Guitarist? Check. Drummer? Check. Piano player? Apparently.
After some energetic piano playing, Israel was ready to help Daddy give Gabe a bath. He loves to be part of what everybody else is doing.

Gamma and Gandaddy

Gamma and Ganddaddy came to visit last weekend, which is always a great time.
Gandaddy and Gabe had to have some special boy time where they traveled to the Tractor Store and Lowes and all sorts of fun boy places. Gabriel had to call Nana Carol on his pretend phone while they were out and about, so as to get all the beloved grandparents in on this exciting weekend. :)
Gabe "weading" his books.
The other cutie patootie wandering the premises.
On Saturday night we went to the Barnum and Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus at Rupp Arena.
It was pretty nifty. I had never been to the circus before. I could have bought a lemonade for $8, but I didn't. I could have bought a snow cone in a plastic elephant for $12, but I didn't. I could have bought a cool little light swirly thing for $20, but I didn't. Man, I missed out.
Gabe liked it, but got a little squirrelly at the end. Israel wiggled his way madly through the entire performance.

I wouldn't want to be a circus performer. But if I were, I'd be one of those dancer people. Maybe next year.

The Fam

(This picture was taken for our church directory a little while ago and I just now got my sweaty little palms on it. )

Wibbit

Tonight Gabe was being a frog on the kitchen floor. Daddy picked the frog up and carried him off to bed. "Wibbit," said the frog as he traveled down the hall. "Wibbit." :) :) :)

Today Gabriel and his mommy had a shopping-intensive day, causing Gabriel to sleep the hard sleep of the zonkered:Apparently you don't need to be actually laying on the couch to sleep. This morning I found this child snuggled up on the rug in his room, once again out of his cozy bed onto the hard floor, fast asleep. Silliness.

Tonight Gabriel and Gabriel's Mommy traveled to Mallmart, where Gabriel got to sit in the Spiderman Car. He was pretty intrigued by Spiderman sitting next to him, and studied him intently, laying a gentle hand on his Spidey arm. Then he raced off to "drive" the boats.

Tonight Gabriel's Mommy bought Philadelphia Ready-To-Eat Chocolate Dream Cheesecake Filling for the irresistible price of $3.78, which she is currently eating straight out of the container with a table knife AS WE SPEAK. "Tasty", my friends, is not EVEN the word.

Snapshots of Life

Shots of the past week:
Gabriel and his One Man Pan Band. He can make a delighted racket with this ensemble.
Baby Israel and his sweet sits. This is how he always sits; one leg bent backwards and one forwards. Tim's Grandma Polly said is how Carol always sat. :)
Israel "helps" Mommy load the dishwasher.
Fireman Gabe and Tim read a Dr. Seuss book on the couch. Gabe was playing with his fireman hat the other day and informed me that his name was "Daken". :) He's really into pretending games right now. Today he had some long involved conversation on his little red handset, where he talked to Granddaddy, then to Grandma, then to Uncl' Qintin, then to Travis (?), then to Smokey, Emmy, Katie, and Moxie. Then he hung his phone up: :) :) :) Is that cute or what?
Busy Boy Gabe busy busy busy at the bathroom sink. There is all sorts of pouring and washing of hands and brushing of teef's and what-not to be done here. Keeps a boy busy for a while. The other day during his bath I opened the bathroom door to find him sliding around on the bathroom floor in a bunch of water he had dumped out of the bathtub pretending to be a frog. Mommy was not convinced of the importance of this game and said boy was reassigned jobs.
Little Squeezer in the bathtub. I love love love his hair right now. Devoted sigh.
Gabe and Mommy one night after a "baff". :)

And then after all the 'precious' pictures, here's a snapshot of real life:
Gabe lying on the bed crying about some vague injustice as Israel busies himself at the bedside amongst shoes, diapers, and other sundry things that need to be picked up along with the rest of the house. Life with my baby boys. I love it.

10 Months

• Has 4 1/2 teeth (top and bottom two, and then one partially in on his top left)
  
• Gets up on knees in the middle of the floor
• Will sometimes pull himself 1/2 up, legs straight, but bent at the waist
  
• Crawls speedily and busily
• Stands with his feet flat on the floor when you hold his hands (he used to just be on his tip-toes)
• 23 pounds 10 ounces
  
• Size 5 diaper
• Eats like a champ; can chew small pieces of soft foods. He LOVED blueberries when I gave them to him. I figured there are limited times in life when I find myself tediously chopping blueberries into 4 pieces. :)
  
• Say's "Mom-mom-mom-ma" when he is trying to get my attention
• Makes very interested little "Dhttttt" noises when he is looking at something new and fascinating
  
• Turns his head to look at you when you say "Israel"
• Claps hands with hands open
• Sometimes cocks his head over to his shoulder and gives you a coy little grin when he's playing "bashful". Also wags his head back and forth in a very Indian-like movement sometimes when you are looking at him. :)
  

I read this story today in Glamour and it affected me so much. It's a hard story to read, but raising awareness is one thing I can do, because I certainly can't turn around and pretend I didn't read it. Somebody somewhere has to do something... Let me know if you have any ideas how to help me help them in addition to the options listed in the article.

http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/08/reallifedrama

My Barking Seal

I was driving to work early this morning when I got a phone call from Tim that caused me to make a quick U-turn and speed back towards home. Israel had woken up with the scary scary stridor noise that comes with croup, crying because he couldn't breathe, unable to drink his bottle because of his difficulty bringing in air. We thought he might have to go to the ER for the second time in his short little life, but Tim flew out to the kitchen to put water in the humidifier, turned off the AC, and by the time I got home he was still breathing noisily but was calm.

I took him in to the doctor later and fussed until she gave me a low dose of steroid for him - I don't care what anyone says, although some say this and some say that, there are studies that show that children with croup who are treated with a low dose oral corticosteriod have a decreased incidence of return to ER visits.

It's just frustrating when a doctor acts a little patronizing towards my "mommy gut"; I, who have had two children go through multiple croup episodes and have seen what has worked and what hasn't for my children - listen to me!!! She did, and so I was somewhat mollified, but sort of annoyed when she instructs me on the way out the door that he will probably be croupy until evening, and I am like "Did you not hear me talk about the fact that my children have both had croup?" She told me about her friend who called her at 2 AM one time whose 2 year old had croup, and he was saying "I -HHHNNHHH. CAN'T-HHHNNNHHHH. BREATHE-HHHNNNHHH." And she was like - "See! He's fine! He can talk! He can breathe!" And I'm like, "Woman, you have not had a child with croup." I am really grateful, though, that she did defer to my concern and let me have what I wanted.

Here is the little Tylenol stained man this evening. Fresh out of his bath, fresh onesie, sputter goes the baby, splatter goes the Tylenol. Sigh. He is still croupy, but sounds a lot better this evening.

************

Gabe and I had somewhat of a Mommy and Gabe day today...I've been feeling like we need one. Somehow life gets so busy and all of a sudden the day is gone and I've worked on lots of other projects than my baby boy. We went to the lib'wawy and MallMart together and then all four of us walked to the elementary school and Gabe and I played on the playground together, and we had a "goot time"!! :) What a sweetheart he is.

The Dog Days of Summah'

Hat Buddies.
Lil' Cowboy.
I love pictures like this. Busy truck stilled for the evening. Note that the sand involved is far, far away from the sandbox. Sigh.

It's hotter n' snot here. Bpplech. Last night I was driving Mr. I-can't-sleep-I'm-so-cranky-and-snotty-and-have-a-fever-and-I-won't-nap-but-like-one-half-hour-the-whole-day around in a vain attempt to get him to sleep, and it was 91 degrees at 10:30 PM. Sickness. For me, this is hot.

I am reading "Bringing Up Boys" by Dr. Dobson, in an attempt to figure out how to best raise my squirrelly youngsters, and came upon the phrase "excess energy". Ah, my, does this describe my elder son or what? We're having quite a time with it being almost too hot to go outside, yet how fair is it to cage him up in the living room and tell him to be quiet because the baby is sleeping? He simply is virtually unable to be very quiet for very long - it all builds up and comes bursting out. I need a big house. My next house is DEFINITELY going to have a nice big, fenced-in yard for both little boys to tear around in and work out all sorts of energy. And it's going to have, like, 4 bedrooms and a huge master bedroom and bath and a kitchen with lots of cupboards and a non-skinny bathroom that has a place to put towels and probably a sunken tub and a big wrap around porch and a music room with soundproof walls and a playroom and a tennis court and definitely a swimming pool and maybe a separate garage for my cars. All of them. And a movie theater. Phew.

Israel pulled up halfway today - he made kind of an 'L' with his legs straight and him bent over holding onto the chair. I'm so proud. :)

Hon and Such

As the chicken breasts bubbled away in their savory sauce of mushroom gravy and sour cream, wrapped in salty dried beef and bacon strips, and the mashed potatoes sat waiting on the stovetop, swirled with sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream, and butter, and the homemade chocolate chip cookies found their way from the spoon to the baking sheet, I grinned a grin of self-satisfaction and turned to Hon, making iced tea at the sink. “Hon”, I says. “Hon, you done one thing right.”

“What’s that?” Hon says, turning to me.

“You married yerself a Mennonite girl,” I replied cheekily, puffed up with savory smells and anticipated tastes, and quite rightly so.

“That’s right,” Hon answered. “You can microwave store-bought frozen peas with the best of ‘em.”

This drew Hon quite a glare from the addled wifey, who responded icily “You feel free to drive yourself to McDonald’s for supper, then.”

Hon quickly recanted, and all was well in the 347 degree kitchen with the herds of flies careening from hither to yon, the Gabe-Son licking cookie batter off the spatula, and the Chloe-Dog being ratty and snoochy as usual. I love my life. :) Actually, I really do.

Belch. Rub of tummy. ‘Twas a mighty good meal. Sometimes I can be quite a good cook, and sometimes I am real good at opening a frozen pizza and sometimes I am real good at driving to McDonalds. :)

So I haven’t blogged much recently. I’ve been quite uncreatively minded. My baby boys have been quite sweet, however. Israel started clapping. He claps with his hands closed and a big delighted grin on his face. That kid is too cute for words. He gets 4 billion squeezes a day. Gabe is up to all sorts of lisping cutie-pie-ness himself. This was him today with his cowboy hat on. He was "helping" Mommy make cookies today. Man, he is a GOOD helper! :) And man, does my hair need highlights!!! Blecch.

Tim is finally officially done with all things school. HIP HIP HOORAY!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!! :) Now, off to find a job. Hmmm. And sell a house. Hmmm.

A Breather

So right now Tim and Gabe are in IN for Tim to go to CMC conference. I kept see-sawing back and forth about going, because I really hate to miss out on everybody having fun without me, but there is this squawking 9 month child I have that HATES traveling, and who I get to entertain as we hurtle down the road and who I have been on two LONG successive road-trips too close together in the past several weeks to allow much excitement to surface about just one more. Whew.

Gabe could hardly wait to get going. As soon as he heard that Daddy and he were going to go see Nana Ca’wol and G’ampa and Aunt Nanette and U’cle Wusty, he was ready to get in the car and was quite disgruntled about having to pack first. He sure does love his extended families!!

As the boys backed down the drive, a feeling of elation flapped happily around me – TIME BY MYSELF!!!! Ah, man, I’ve been making great use of it. I’ve watched four score and seven movies by now. :) And slept in, and cleaned up around the house without having to pry two-year-old off of 9-month-old. And often, there is just simple, peaceful silence resounding throughout the house. Wouldn’t want it all the time, but it’s just a nice change for a bit. I’ve also drank lots of McDonald’s Sweet Tea and eaten homemade freezer strawberry jam (thanks, Mom) straight out of the container. Heh heh heh. That’s a tasty combo, now, I don’t care who you are! :) It’s my vacation. I'm off to go warm myself by the TV now as the baby slumbers quietly. Ahhhh. This folks, is the life.

Boyz

Some of you lovely readers out there have been unwittingly included in all sorts of fascinating dialogue of late…ie. “Gabriel, you remember to tell Mommy when you have to go, and you can go poopy in the potty!!! Big boys go poopy in the potty; ______ goes poopy in the potty, _______ goes poopy in the potty, _____ (fill in your name in any preferred blank) goes poopy in the potty…” ad infinitum. :) Heh heh heh. Didn’t know you had such a useful contribution to the upbringing of our child, huh? Next time we see you, Gabe will get a spark of recognition in his eyes and say “Hey!! I know you!! You’re the one that goes poopy in the potty!” :)

Speaking of potty training, Gabe is getting it!!! YAY!!! I took Janice’s idea (thank you, Janice! :)), and we made a Potty Chart with delightful farmer stickers and then he gets Potty Candy if he goes. I find that he does especially well if he isn’t wearing a diaper – which he thinks is great. The other day, he went on his own initiative a few times when he wasn’t wearing a diaper. What a good boy!!! :) It’s just sort of funny how well charts work. He loves the stickers, and his paper that has his stickers…it’s certainly a tried and true method, but I often don’t think of something like that, for some reason. Still no poopy in the potty though – he doesn’t seem all that big on that idea.

ALSO, (this is very significant) we have waved bye-bye to the beloved pacifiers. Gabe was so tired that he fell asleep without one the other night, and so I carpéd the diem. :) I am throwing them away whenever I find them. The first nap without one he screeched his head off, but actually not for that long, and then that night he fussed about it a bit, but still fell asleep alright. If I would have thought it would have been that easy, I would have done it before this. He also gets “pac-ey presents” in the morning here for a little bit when he makes it through the night without one – this is a stage of many presents in Gabriel’s life! :) Potty presents, paci presents.

On the Israel front, he is now cutting two more top teeth, so is a crank-a-frank, drooly little bugger. I’ve been giving him Tylenol at night to help him sleep. He is such a sweetie pie – and is currently into EVERYTHING!!!!