unconditional love

The other day, during a difficult moment with The Mayor, D said "there is a reason why God gives you children as newborns".

I reminded myself of this at least 185 times today.

Thank goodness the second you lay your eyes on that sweet newborn baby you are instantly hook, line and sinker. There is nothing like the unconditional love we have for our sweet babies.

And it is because of that unconditional love that my child is sleeping soundly in his bed and not listed on eBay right now.

this little piggy

We had a huge milestone around here...today was the first day Love Bug wore pigtails. Not that I'm bias or anything, but she is the cutest thing to ever have pigtails...ever. She looked like such a different girl with her hair pulled back. While Meega and I were out on our mommy timeout last night, we picked Love Bug up some cute little barrettes too...so her head had quite the array of hair accessories in it today.

I forgot about this "paint your own race car" that The Mayor received for his birthday back in October, so I pulled that out today and let him go to town. It came with red, yellow, blue and black paint. The Mayor essentially dipped the same paint brush in each color so the car turned out gray. But adorable nonetheless.

quite the messy (but cute) Picasso

Meega and Bennett came over for an impromptu play date. And there just isn't a better play date than an impromptu play date. It is always fun having the cousins together...they occupy each other, Meega and I get to enjoy some adult interaction and before you know it, it is time to think about dinner. So what started out as a day where I had no idea what we were going to do ended up being an awesome day filled with lots of playing.

trying so hard to follow her cousin and climb the sofa

she did it!

classic Love Bug face...scrunched nose

sweet chaos

a mommy timeout

A huge thank you to D for letting me get the heck out of dodge as soon as we were done with dinner tonight. I just needed some time away from these 4 walls and with no involvement in the kids bedtime routines. The past couple of weeks we have just hit a new stage with The Mayor. He is totally re-testing his boundaries and staking his independence. And this mommy needed a timeout.

I got my eyebrows waxed, leisurely strolled through Target and went grocery shopping at Publix. It was so exhilarating not having to say "please sit down" or "please stop laying on your sister" or "if you sit in the buggy then you can have the cookie" or "Love Bug, you are fine, please stop crying" or whatever mommyism I would happen to say at any moment with the kids.

Thanks to Meega for tagging along on the timeout.

And I know, I know, one day I will look back on these times and miss them. Blah, blah, blah.

she's so sassy

Love Bug sported her first two-piece bathing suit today. I sent D some pictures and his comment was "that's cute, but still don't know how your dad feels about that little lady". Ha! I don't know who I will feel more sorry for when Love Bug is 16...D or Love Bug.

We had some friends come to the pool with us and it was perfect. Emersyn is a few months younger than The Mayor and Landon is a few months younger than Love Bug, so they each had a playmate. Emersyn and The Mayor had a blast going down the water slide together, jumping into the pool together and sharing their lunches with each other. Landon had a blast flirting with Love Bug and Love Bug had a blast getting the attention. Another item I am sure D will have an issue with :)

After 3 quick hours at the pool, we came home so Love Bug could nap, The Mayor rested while watching a movie and I got a few things done around the house. Pretty good Monday if I do say so myself.

cousins

We had a great weekend. Bennett came over Saturday and spent the night and The Mayor and Love Bug were so happy. They love it when Bennett comes over. D and I took the 3 kids to The Avenues to walk around and let The Mayor throw some money into the fountains. For whatever reason it is one of The Mayor's favorite things to do. He calls it "going to see the water". Bennett and Love Bug just followed The Mayor around like little puppy dogs and Love Bug stole Bennett's snack. I swear that girl can eat anyone under the table...it will take her hours to do it since she eats as slow as Christmas, but she will be up for the challenge.

After we went to "see the water" we went out to dinner. The kids did awesome. All 3 of them ate their entire meals and behaved like little angels and then we went home to play before bed. This morning I took all 3 kids to get donuts (by myself!) since D was out swimming and riding (his next triathlon is 4 weeks from today so he is in full training mode). It was funny...I got a lot of stares and smiles. I think everyone thought Bennett and Love Bug were twins (they do look a lot alike with the light eyes and light hair). Those 3 ate their donuts like it was their job.

After we dropped Bennett off, we came home for some serious playtime. We played right up until dinner and then went for frozen yogurt. Bath time and bedtime followed with the kiddos asleep by 7:00. That's what I call a perfect weekend.

Bennett and Love Bug "at the water"

D and Bennett at dinner

playtime before bedtime

the "twins"

day 2 on the number 2

Today was much better. Hardly any tears or screams of fear. In fact, The Mayor actually told me when he needed to go and didn't fight the fact that he had to sit on the potty to poop. I found ways to distract him...we would make zerbert noises with our mouths and hoot and holler. He thought this was hysterical but it was actually distracting him and every time he would make a zerbert noise or scream, he would start pushing. So it was a win-win.

His favorite show right now is "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" so at one point we pulled the laptop in the bathroom and let him watch an episode. Totally worked because he was so distracted he forgot that he was afraid to poop in the potty. We are getting there.

Love Bug is making serious strides with her walking. It is now her first mode of transportation. She is consistently walking across the room and is even able to turn around and walk back. She is so proud of herself too. She will make sure you are watching her and acknowledging her as she is walking...such a diva...but she couldn't be cuter.

I did take pictures today, but won't share them on the blog. I want my son to talk to me in 20 years.

poop training

We had one objective for the day and that was getting The Mayor to poop in the potty. The stinker (no pun intended) just holds his poop until he is in a nighttime diaper. And I can't take it anymore! He is over 3 1/2 years old and needs to be completely potty-trained before he starts school in August. Plus it is just plain annoying that he won't poop in the potty.

I have been adding Miralax to his water the past couple of days to help soften his stool and keep him from holding it all day. I had told myself we were going to hunker down for the next few days at home, keep him naked from the waist down so he won't poop in his underwear and just pray that this works.

At 3:00 this afternoon, after hours of tears, screams of "It's scary" and pleas from The Mayor to be put into a diaper so he could poop, he finally did it in the potty. And not to get too graphic, but it was the smallest amount of poop I have ever seen. But it was poop in the potty nonetheless and you would have thought we had just won the lottery with the celebration we had. We made the biggest deal about the tiny poop in the potty. He got 2 M&Ms, lots of hugs and kisses and we made some phone calls to a happy D and Meega where The Mayor proudly said "I pooped in the potty!".

At 6:00 tonight, we had another successful potty experience. This time there were just as many tears and screams of "I'm scared" but we just kept telling him it would be ok. We are finally making some progress. We will continue tomorrow and hope for more success.

monday fun

I had an appointment scheduled between 8-12 to have a chip in my windshield fixed. After the appointment, I was planning on running a few errands. According to the company, I would get a call when the tech was 30 minutes away from the house...so when my phone rang at 8:10 this morning, I was doing cartwheels thinking I would be the first appointment of the day. Wrong. He was calling to ask if he could come between noon and 1:00. Well, there went our day.

The tech arrived at 12:20, but Love Bug was finishing her lunch and getting ready for a much needed nap (she is still recovering from this weekend. Wow. You know it is going to be a tough morning when she wakes up cranky and tired). So needless to say, we didn't leave the house until after 4:00 this afternoon. One quick errand and then we were back for dinner, playtime and now the kids are asleep.

This momma is about to clean up from the day and then enjoy a quiet night at home. D is out of town for a meeting and will be home tomorrow. Too bad there is nothing good on TV tonight :(

he loves putting puzzles together

and she loves helping

happy father's day

If you are regular follower of the blog, you will notice this picture isn't from today but from Love Bug's first birthday party in March. Would you believe, I didn't get the camera out once today? Shameful! I do have more recent pictures of the 3 of them together, but I just love this picture.

D, Love Bug and The Mayor all slept in today. Good thing since the kids didn't get to bed until 9:30 last night. We met D's family in Macon yesterday afternoon for Father's Day and got home way past bedtime. But it was worth it...it was fun seeing Big Daddy, MeMe, Aunt Nat, Uncle Tom, Trey and Luke yesterday. Just wish we got to spend more than a few hours together.

After my 3 loves woke up, we went out for breakfast and ran a few errands. We had a pretty lazy afternoon at home then went to dinner and over to PopPop and Mamie's house for dessert. Uncle J, Meega and Bennett were there too so we had a great weekend with family. Can't believe it is already Sunday night and the weekend is almost over.

I hope my children realize how blessed they are to have D as their dad. I am so blessed to be married to a man who loves his family the way he does and says his favorite place to be is home. D is far from perfect (we all are) but he does love his family...especially those kiddos...and you really can't ask for more than that. So Happy Father's Day D. We love you more than you will ever know.

pool day

Our trip to my friend's pool on Monday with Tara must have given me some serious confidence about taking my two kids to the pool by myself because when I agreed to meet some of our friends up there today, I wasn't the least bit anxious. I was actually looking forward to it. Love Bug is becoming quite the water baby...when I sat her down at the beach entry of the baby pool, Miss Priss kept scooting herself deeper and deeper into the pool. She wasn't happy until she was sitting neck deep in the water...and she would just squeal and laugh. I would panic, pull her up to the shallower water and she would scoot herself back down.

When we ventured over to the big pool, Love Bug would lounge in her shaded float while The Mayor went up and down the water slide. He is becoming so big and independent. I would catch him at the end of the slide and help him "swim" to the stairs, but he would climb the hill to the top of the slide by himself and come back down...over and over. It was a great day with our friends playing, eating lunch together and catching up. After a few hours, I took two very tired children home. Love Bug napped for 3 hours while The Mayor and I just enjoyed the quiet afternoon. Both kids have been bathed and are asleep. Looking forward to many more days like this.

not too long ago he couldn't walk around in this pool without toppling over...now he can run through the water like he owns the joint

Busted! Attempting to scoot deeper into the water

midweek weekend recap and 15 month stats

Is it seriously Wednesday already? My dear friend Tara was staying with us from Sunday night through this morning so the blog was neglected.

We had an amazing weekend. It was the first weekend in several weeks where we didn't have house guests and we were in town with no plans.

We went to Target and bought a little blowup pool for the kids to play in. They stood at the door with such anticipation while they watched D blow it up and fill the pool with water. They squealed with delight when they saw the pool squirted water too. They both took turns drinking from it as if it was a water fountain (well, I guess it was a water fountain...)

We also turned on the sprinklers and let the kids run through the mist. I love this age...entertaining the kids is so simple...and cheap.

On Monday, Tara and I took the kids to one of our friend's house to enjoy their pool. It was nice being at a house with a pool because my friend set up a pack-n-play in her room so Love Bug could nap. It allowed us to hang out at her pool for 5 hours. Something we never get to do with a napping baby.

The Mayor has no fear. I asked if he wanted to jump off the diving board, and he looked at the diving board and back at me and said "yes!". He went to that diving board, walked right to the edge and jumped. No fear. He jumped at least 2 dozen times that day. Now I just need to get him to learn how to swim.

Today has been a blissfully boring day. Love Bug had her 15 month well visit and Meega watched The Mayor so I didn't have to tackle both kids while at the doctor. Love Bug is 50th percentile for length (30 1/8 inch) and back up to 60th percentile for weight (23 lbs 6 oz.) She had lost weight at her 1 year visit so it is good that she packed on some pounds the last 3 months. She got an excellent report. We just need to keep working on the walking and talking. Who knew my daughter would be slow to talk?

had a blast...but so happy to be home

Meega and I pulled out of Aunt Jenny's driveway at 6:41 AM with three somehow oddly energetic children. Given that all three of them were woken from a deep slumber to get out the door at that hour, we just knew they would all take great naps in the car. Love Bug and Bennett maybe slept 20 minutes during the entire 8 hour trip while The Mayor slept for an hour an a half. The three of them kind of got the nap schedule reversed.

About 5 minutes from pulling into our driveway, The Mayor asked me if we could go back to Aunt Jenny's house. He had so much fun.

Luckily we hit no traffic and the drive went by pretty quickly. But I am so exhausted. I slept horribly while in Ohio. I have got some crazy allergy/cough thing going on that makes me so congested I snore like a man and when I finally do sleep, I end up waking up coughing like a smoker. Bedtime can not come quickly enough for me tonight.

No one was happier for us to get home than D. He couldn't wait to get his hands on his babies...thankfully tomorrow starts a weekend so we will have some great family time.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

getting ready to pull out of Georgia...Ohio bound

Aunt Jenny and The Mayor throwing tennis balls with the dogs

running free

Aunt Jenny and Love Bug perfecting her walking skills

The Mayor cheering on Bennett mastering the stairs

The Mayor and me at lunch

messy Love Bug after our spaghetti dinner

messy Bennett

we've got a walker

Love Bug is walking! 2 days before she is 15 months old, Love Bug is walking. I wish I could say it was all me...but it was all Meega. Meega decided to tempt Love Bug with food and it worked. Meega would hold a goldfish out in front of Love Bug, and Love Bug would walk...every time. Love Bug walked about half a dozen times. So proud of my sweet little girl!! Sadly, we are over 500 miles away from home so D won't be able to see his baby girl walk in person until Friday. But I did take a lot of video of her walking and sent them all to D.

After a lazy morning at the house, we put the little ones down for naps and then went into Cincinnati and did some shopping. Oh, I wish I could have said it was all good, but it wasn't. My patience level was in the toilet and The Mayor was just being a 3 year old boy. And this afternoon, those two things did not mix well together. I hate it when I have bad mommy days but tomorrow is always a new day...for both of us.

We will just be hanging around town tomorrow and enjoying our last day with Aunt Jenny. Friday we are homeward bound...and D is ready to see his babies.

hi from o-hi-o

Meega, the 3 kids and I left Atlanta yesterday and came to visit Aunt Jenny in Ohio. With an hour long lunch break, one stop to change a nasty blowout from Love Bug and a stop at a Walmart in Kentucky (yikes) we made it here in 9 hours. The kids hit their limit at hour 7. They were tired of being strapped into a car seat and were ready to be free. And so were Meega and I.

But now that we are here, we are having a blast. We hit a local park this morning and are getting ready to walk around the cute downtown area of this college town for lunch. Tomorrow we are going into Cincinnati to go to the zoo and for some shopping. Going to be a great week.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my big camera; I brought my point-and-shoot camera and I don't have a way to download the photos until I get home. So no pictures until we get back this weekend.

The kids are doing so well, especially given the 9 hour car ride and sleeping in a new place. The weather is hot but sunny and Aunt Jenny is being the hostess with the mostess. Can't ask for better than that.

cheap summer fun

We had the yard aerated yesterday and we forgot to mark the sprinkler heads so D went out there today to test the sprinklers. We found some cheap summer entertainment; the kids loved running through the water. After dinner tonight, we let the kids (well The Mayor, D carried Love Bug) run through the water. The screams of joy coming out of The Mayor were exactly what summer should be. About the time we were done with the sprinklers, Big Daddy and MeMe came rolling up into the driveway.

We are super excited to see Big Daddy and MeMe again this weekend, but saddened for the reason they are here. Big Daddy's younger brother passed away last night; we will miss Uncle Jake. Aunt Nat, Uncle Tom, Trey and Luke should be rolling in any time now as well. This weekend will be a tough one, but we will relish the fact that we are surrounded by family.

did I sleep through spring?

It is June 1st and the temps are already in the mid-90s. So I am assuming the couple of weeks of nice weather was Spring? And now it is over? Good to know...and if it is this hot June 1st, I don't even want to think what August will be like.

Temps like this with a 3 year old and 1 year old means needing to find lots of fun things to do indoors...with air conditioning. It is almost too hot to even enjoy the pool especially since neither of my children can swim. After lunch, we headed to an indoor bounce house place and let the kids run free. Love Bug loved the ball pit and the big blocks. I took her down the slide once and she didn't love it (as you can see from the photo below). The Mayor always loves the slides and did a great job of playing with Love Bug. He hung out in the block section with her and helped her build towers (well, he built the towers and she knocked them down, he would rebuild, she would knock them down...). A birthday party for some older kids started kicking up and it got a little chaotic with all of these older kids and my little peanuts...so we left and got some ice cream.

We've just finished up dinner and it will be early bedtimes for all. We are all wiped out. And I need to think of some creative things to do for the rest of the week. Weather report says it is just going to get hotter...yuck.

jump!

he LOVES the slide...

...she does not

giving her "fishy" face

flirting with her reflection