she's bald but beautiful

So a little over a month ago my precious Love Bug had a full head of hair (remember my post on her first pigtails??) Now she is sporting one large bald spot on the back of head. She has recently started pulling her hair out in her sleep...I think it is a way to soothe herself. According to the pediatrician and friends I have asked advice from, this is just a phase. But it still makes me sad. Oh well...she is still cute as a button.

We are enjoying our last full week at home before The Mayor's preschool starts. It will be nice to get back into a routine. And Uncle Bobby arrives in town tomorrow so we will have fun this weekend hanging with the family.

drama, drama, drama

You would think from these pictures today was a tough day, but actually today was a great day. These pictures were taken a few minutes before bedtime. Love Bug was mad she couldn't reach her cup and The Mayor had just fallen over a bucket. I took a quick second to snap the photos...thought they were funny. And The Mayor was fine...no blood.

I gave myself an attitude adjustment and today was a much better day. The Mayor still ended up in timeout a couple of times today but I handled it all with a much cooler and level head. It made it so much easier to get through. My sister finished reading this book on parenting and now I am reading it. It isn't even the book that has really changed my attitude (although there are some great tips in it...but I've only gotten to the 2nd chapter) it is the page on Facebook I found regarding this book. Last night I started reading all of these parents requesting advice on the page's wall and it just started making me feel so much better. Parenting can really feel like a lonely deserted island when you are going through a tough phase with your child. And it doesn't matter how many times friends say "it's a phase, it's a phase" you still feel like your child is the only one struggling. So when I was able to read all of these parents struggling with similar situations with similar aged kids (and sadly, some much more serious issues) it made me 1. grateful (grateful I was only dealing with what I am dealing with...could be a lot worse) and 2. relieved (because there isn't something wrong with my kid. It really is just a phase).

I also embraced his independence and put it to work at the grocery store. The Mayor was my big helper today. He helped push the cart, get things off the shelf, put things in the cart, and put the items on the conveyor belt. The shopping trip went without a hitch and everyone was happy.

i love him

The Mayor was the first unconditional love of my life, Love Bug was the 2nd. It is so true, you do not know what love truly is until you have a child. And I am sure I have written that statement a couple of times over the life of this blog. I can, and actually have, stayed up nights crying over my children. Tears of worry about their futures, if I will be able to protect them when they are in school and not under my constant supervision. All of the unknowns in this horribly scary world...literally keeps me up some nights. I love my children and I only want the best for them.

But The Mayor is really testing us. The past couple of weeks have been really difficult with our spirited 3 1/2 year old. If you say apple, he will say orange. If you say yes, he will say no. If you say sit down, he will stand up. All of the things that never used to be battles are now battles. Putting clothes on, eating dinner, washing hands, getting into the car...oh, I could go on and on...are battles. I fully expected and anticipated our growing son to stake his independence and test us to our fullest at some point in his young life...I just didn't expect it to happen all at once and literally over night.

So to my son, my first born and first unconditional love of my life...I love you with every single fiber of my being. But when you look back on this blog 20, 30 years from now and wonder what the heck is going on with your own first born...just know that sweet angel, my grandchild, got it honest.

always...

always a lady...

...always so silly...

...always so sweet...

well, most of the time

mickey and minnie

Up until recently, my kids didn't know any shows or characters except those on PBS (and of course the movies we have on DVDs). But most importantly, my children had no idea who Mickey or Minnie Mouse were. I want to take the kids to Disney World in the next couple of years and I figured now was better than ever in getting them familiar with the characters. So a couple of months ago I started recording Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and it is now a favorite in this house. At night after we read to The Mayor, he likes to sing the theme song before we kiss him goodnight. Love Bug loves dancing when the songs come on the show.

Tonight after dinner, we ran a couple of errands and ended up at Target. We just walked aimlessly around for about an hour and ended up walking out of there with a new Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse plush toy. The kids were BEYOND excited. Love Bug would not let Minnie out of her clutches. Needless to say, those animals are asleep right next to our children.

If they are this excited about a stuffed toy, I can't wait until they are old enough to see Disney World and the life size characters!

The Mayor telling Mickey to say "cheese" for the camera

Love Bug kissing Minnie

We found The Mayor reading our fence estimate while going potty...it starts so young

monday funday

We had a great day today. We woke up, bribed The Mayor to get clothes on, hit Chick-fil-a for breakfast and then Publix for groceries. We were like Old Mother Hubbard up in here, beyond desperate to get food in this house, thus Chick-fil-a for breakfast. I literally had nothing to feed the kids for breakfast. After Publix, we came home for lunch and naps. Love Bug took over a 4 hour nap, I cleaned the rest of the house while D did some yard work. The Mayor bounced around from keeping me company and playing in the playroom. After Love Bug woke up, we took a quick trip to Target and came home for dinner. Today was just a simple, fun, good day. Everyone was happy.

We are just a couple of weeks away from The Mayor starting preschool. He will be going 3 days a week this year. I will really miss my boy but am looking forward to the one-on-one time with my girl. It will be weird having The Mayor gone 3 mornings a week. It is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that my baby boy isn't a baby anymore. He is going to be 4 years old in a couple of months! How is this possible? I feel like I just had him. Time really does go so quickly.

Just a couple of weeks left of our summer. Need to soak it up while I can.

captain underpants

The Mayor hasn't worn clothes all week long. We are in the "no clothes" phase, which is awesome for the laundry load, but quite annoying when I have to bribe him to get dressed if we have to run errands. And this week, all the errands that we have run that didn't require him getting out of the car, he has been in just his underwear. I follow a couple of blogs where the writer has a son around The Mayor's age and a lot of the pictures they post on their blogs, their sons are just in underwear as well. I guess this is a normal phase for a 3 year old boy?

We had dinner at PopPop and Mamie's house for my birthday. Since we have been out of town the last 2 weeks, we celebrated today. Dinner was amazing! PopPop made homemade stuffed shells and homemade blue cheese dressing for the salad and Mamie made an awesome poundcake with cream cheese icing for dessert. And the best part, the leftovers came home with us!

Bennett, Love Bug and The Mayor had a blast playing together tonight. Those 3 crack me up when they are together. Just amazing, innocent, laugh-filled chaos...the best kind of chaos there is.

So happy today is only Saturday and we have another day left to our weekend.

A cute story I don't want to forget: when you tell Bennett and Love Bug to give each other a kiss, they walk towards each other and bump foreheads. Every time. This is how they kiss.

D and The Mayor wrestling

The Mayor and Bennett being silly

PopPop, Love Bug and Mamie

so sweet...checking out the birds outside

Bennett and Love Bug "kissing"