Opening Day 2009

If you are in our little family and it's Opening Day for baseball - you are THERE - no ifs, ands or buts about it. This is Jon's 4th opening day and the 3rd at the DBAP. His first was actually in the BIG leagues with the Washington Nationals. Si has made 2 so far (unless you count the time while in my belly). Here is 2007 and 2008.

Daddy likes to get to the park early. There is a real buzz of excitement in the air. And the DBAP is such a nice ballpark. But, this year, I had another idea. I felt like we used all up the boys' good behavior before the first pitch by an early arrival. This year, we had about 2 minutes to spare before first pitch.

The plan worked because we made it through 3 innings - a family record! Seriously, there have been years where we are there for about 4 pitches. Josiah probably had a few more innings in him if the hot dogs and popcorn kept coming. Jon Jon - well, not so much. After the thrill of sharing cotton candy with Mommy subsided, he was d-o-n-e, done. Still, we consider the night both a victory for the winning Bulls and our family.

As you see in the video, Josiah deposited his shoe at the Will Call booth. I guess he figured Daddy did not have enough money for the tickets and maybe his new shoe would cover the costs. Thankfully, with a little hoofing it from Daddy, boy and shoe were reunited.

One thing is for sure - baby girl better get with the program. This is a SPORTS family! We'll get her a little Durham Bulls cheerleader outfit! Yahooo!

PLAY BALL!

(special shout out to my sister for this video!)

Boys will be boys

I don't have a little girl so I'm not sure if this phenomen is a boy-thing or if girls also find this incredibly amusing. Potty humor. Yes, the more fart sounds one can make, the better. The more words that can incorporate the word "poop", the better the world would be - according to my big boy (and now my nephew, Mason).

It's actually been a bit of a problem that has improved with the promise of a washcloth and some soap meeting the mouth of a certain three-year-old whom I happened to give birth to. I forgot about this other trick until my smart sister-in-law reminded me - Listerine strips are also handy and equally unpleasant. Next time I'm in the grocery check-out lane, those convenient strips will be coming home with me. Thankfully, I've not had to use the soap method but I'm sure the day will come.

But, today we went to visit Mason and his baby sister, Ella Kate. We celebrated her 2nd birthday and had a great time. I heard loud giggles coming from Mason's big boy room and had to see. This is what I came upon...

"Mommy, I miss you!"

JD told me that when he used to go out of town, his dogs would poop on his bed as a punishment to him. It was their way of saying, "Take that, Daddy!" Well, we had our own version of that upon my return from a girls weekend. Oye!

My sweet sister-in-law invited me to join her and some friends at the Outer Banks this past weekend for some R&R and SCRAPBOOKING! I completed 24 pages - which is quite a lot!

It didn't help that our week started with Jon David catching pink eye on Monday. I thought we were in the clear until Josiah turned up with it Thursday night. And it's not just the pink eye, it's the accompanying cold that makes for a long weekend. Daddy did a great job taking care of two little boys with colds who missed their mommy. When I called home to check on everyone, all sounded well until Saturday night.

"Mommy, I miss you!" cried my big boy on the phone to me Saturday night. Tug, tug on my heart. I was then determined to get on the road early Sunday and make it home for naps. I made excellent time and was there for lunch. My big boy greeted me with a somewhat lackluster greeting. That should have been the sign that we were in for a humdinger of an afternoon. So, suffice it to say, he made his feelings about my absence known quite clearly.

We're slowing getting back to normal and the bad behavior maybe getting a little better (with the MAJOR exception of our mall outing to get haircuts for the boys - that's another post... ugh!).

Are You My Mother?

Are You My Mother was a childhood favorite of mine. I remember reading it over and over and really enjoying it. So, when I saw it at the pediatrician's office, part of me was excited to introduce Jon David to this literary treasure. But, that part of being a mommy where you really KNOW your child kicked in. Perhaps my somewhat sensitive lad would find it sad that the little birdy could not find his mommy. Tentatively, I began reading. The mommy bird leaves the baby birdy in the nest to find food.


A few pages into it, my mommy-instinct was right. This book was too much for my little one. I quickly changed the storyline to be more of the little birdy making friends along the way. That seemed to help some, but the sweet little bottom lip kept a bit of a quiver. Such a tender heart he has.

This brings me to my little bird friend. Maybe someone can tell me what kind of bird he is - maybe a blue bird? He visits me often and sings to me. Seriously, he is tapping on our window and hanging out almost every day for weeks now. I think of the Seuss book and that maybe this bird knows that I'm a mommy. Maybe he wants me to take care of him too? I know - silly, but I see this bird and think he needs his mommy. Why else would he visit me all the time. While I hope for their happy reunion, I am pleased for his company and his sweet song.

---------
Blog update:

So, I was looking at my blog the other day and really enjoying the trip down memory lane. Upon thinking about why my blogging has taken such a backseat to FB, I asked myself - "Are your boys no longer cute?" Umm - NO! Again, talking to myself, "Is it still important to me to 'treasure these things in my heart'?" YES! So, I really want to get back to more regular blogging.

Because I can't do a post without including my sweet boys, here is a picture and a video. The boys are watching Dora and I just love the tenderness of Josiah sweetly playing with Jon's hair.

And Baby makes... Five!

Party of Five! That's us!! Praise the Lord, we are pregnant with our third child. Baby's due date is quite memorable - 9/9/09! Love it! Just being realistic, I'd be SHOCKED to actually make that date. But, with God, ALL things are possible. And we're super excited because we are not going to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. We'll just be surprised on birth day!

The good news is that I'm still feeling LOUSY. That means that the baby is thriving. The bad news is that I'm not sleeping well and feeling lousy. I was blessed to have a third glimpse at our baby this afternoon with an ultrasound. I had a freebie at the local pregnancy center who needed "models" for their techs and then my OB does one at each of my first two visits as standard care. The first time was around 6 weeks and, while wonderful, it was hard to really see much. The second time we saw a beautiful heartbeat. But TODAY, I saw little nubs for arms and legs, a body and a sweet little face - moving all around with a sweet little heart going beat-beat-beat. I could have watched Baby all day. >sigh<>

Si wearing Daddy's boots

Josiah - still a MESS! He's a talking machine! He's either asking about dogs ("Dog Dog???") or demanding a "Nack!" (translation: Snack!). I just could squeeze and kiss him all day. He plays with my hair and hugs me so tight. Such a little lover!

Jon David - such a big, big boy! He is a puzzle champion! I am impressed by his tender heart and desire to be a good boy. Smart as a whip, he is always counting, telling me what time it is or just singing silly songs. He is getting excited about having another baby around too!

Jon Jon getting in on the action.

Snow Much Fun

With so much excitement in his little voice, Jon David bounced into our room at 7:11 am this morning and said, "Mommy, there is SNOW on the ground! Snow!!!" It was just so cute. What fun we had on this special day with probably about 5 inches of that fun, white powdery snow!

Little Josiah was about the cutest thing you ever saw with his little puppy hat. Oh, and he had to learn how to walk in the snow boots. He only wears Robeez (soft-soled shoes) so the chunky boots were quite tricky for our little guy. We stood him up with the boots and he immediately fell flat on his face. Poor guy! But, he's a determined a little fellow and after a good amount of falling, he was able to walk a good bit without toppling over.

In our early morning adventure, the little mittens he had on kept falling off. A friend gave me a tip to put socks on his hands and that was a great trick for our other outings today. But, with the layers of clothes, bulky boots and hands wrapped in a couple layers of socks, Josiah stood no chance (no pun intended) of getting up after falling down. And to make matters worse, he often fell face first in the snow. He even managed to get some scratches on that sweet little face. But, no worries - Josiah loved his time in the snow!

And, and big brother had a great time too! He especially enjoyed having snow ball fights and eating snow cream. It was quite sweet and sad when he got up from his nap with little tears as he told me, "Mommy, I'm so sad that the snow is melting..."

It was also neat to teach Jon David that God designs each snowflake to be different - not one is the same. If God takes so much time and care with His snowflakes, how much more does He care about us!

Mom's Beauty Parlor

Moms - we can do anything, right? I mean, we are nurses, chefs, counselors, chauffeurs... the list never ends. Well, I wanted to add to my resume the role of beautician! My three fellas all get varying degrees of "high and tight" and I wanted to give it a go. I've paid too much money for traumatic experiences at some cheap "salon" at the mall - and with not very good results.

I purchased my kit at Tar-jay for $25 and knew that if I only gave each guy one hair cut, I'd save about $10 - $15. JD was my first brave customer. Truth be told, he just wants to shave his all off since his hair is steadily going away (and not coming back). I figured if I really botched it up, he could get his wish and just lose it all.

I had to do about three touch-ups and there is a weird line above his right ear. But, all in all, it's passable.

On to Josiah, he is so easy. Give him a cookie and he's all yours. His 'do is a little better than Daddy's.

Lastly, I took on my oldest. This was going to be interesting, I just knew. Since he hates getting his hair cut, I had the persuasive argument of telling him that if I did not cut his hair, someone at the mall would. My big error was not putting a towel around him since he started getting agitated when he saw the hair all around him and on his shirt. We finally ended the session with his head about 80% cut. I've since gone back and he's now about 95% done. I just need to do the neck. It's not great but it's not too bad.

So, I'm proud of myself for being resourceful. Truth be told, the cuts are really, well, lacking. But, I bet the gold standard of mommies in Proverbs 31 would have used some clippers for her fellas too!