Outsourcing

Caleb becomes more and more clever as the days pass. Recently, he decided to outsource one of his tasks. He had just finished naughtily tossing bits of cheese all over the floor. My response of course was to tell him that this is unacceptable behavior and that his options were to either pick up the cheese or to have a time out. He dutifully got out of his chair and knelt down with me as I directed him to each cheese crumb and instructed that he pick it up and put it in the nearby bowl. After retrieving about three cheese bits and depositing them in the aforementioned bowl, he looks up and says, "Mommy do it," to which I tell him I will not be cleaning up his mess, that he must do it. During this exchange, Gideon has crawled his way over to us. Caleb looks up at me a second time, places a piece of cheese strategically in Gideon's path and says, "Baby eat it." While not the most compliant response to my directions, Caleb did derive two logical solutions to his predicament. I suppose I should be proud.

October Wrap-Up a Whole Month Late

I'm slacking. There were several posts I had in mind for October. I just never seemed to get around to writing them. So here is my October wrap-up if you're interested.

Disclaimer: This post is VERY picture-heavy. Avoid if you're unable to handle the sheer cuteness of my offspring. :)

My in-laws came to visit at the beginning of the month. We crammed in two outings in the short weekend they were here. If you want to see a super-excited 2-year old witness his very first dolphin show the very first time he ever set eyes on a real live dolphin while at the aquarium for his very first time, you'll most definitely want to watch this video.

I'm almost certain that the people in front of us may have thought Caleb was a bit too excited, but I thought it was pretty endearing. In fact, I had to sort of choke back tears since I've never seen Caleb (as a toddler at least) that excited about anything before. It was pretty awesome!

Then they took us to a harvest festival. Caleb had a blast pedaling the little tractors, playing in the corn bins, seeing the animals, taking a hayride, and picking pumpkins. Gideon relaxed in the stroller and wound up with his first sunburn. Nothing major, just slightly pink cheeks and nose...not that it made me feel any less guilty for not putting sunblock on him. (Note to self: your children are EXTREMELY pale, use sunblock often and generously!).

Future farmer of America? Perhaps.

Gids and Pop-O. 

Caleb hitchin' a ride on Dad.

Yup, that's a pretty good depiction of us.

Nonna and Caleb on the hayride.

I guess this is how he picks the "right" one?

It passed the taste test.

Cutest pumpkin in the patch for sure.

And that? That's just cute! 

Matt spent some time raking the leaves into a pile one weekend for the sole purpose of Caleb jumping in them. He had a good time.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Halloween by dressing the boys in costumes and taking them for their first trick-or-treat. Gideon was only along for the ride. We did not exploit him to gather candy for ourselves, although we did consider it.

My little knight.

Superbaby. Hard to believe Caleb wore this
last year.

Full regalia.

Double-fist lollipops. He was pumped!

We're still eating Halloween candy. I can't imagine if we'd made it farther than just around the block. And while we didn't take advantage of the offer, the best thing we came across was a family giving out hot dogs and hot apple cider to the parents of the trick-or-treaters. Awesome!

Phew! Thanks for hanging in till the bitter end. October wrap-up is officially complete. Now, I better get on November right away!

It's the Little Things

You know how I know that Matt loves me? I mean other than the fact that he works hard to provide for our family, he cleans the house, he kisses me goodbye every morning and hello every evening, he endures my endless nagging, reassures me when I'm doubting my effectiveness as a parent. Besides all that? 

Yesterday, I was recovering from a nasty stomach bug, one that both Caleb and Matt had just gotten over as well. I had just tucked Caleb in and went into our bedroom where Matt was lying in bed reading. He looked up at me and said, "I know you said you're cold. I put the heating pad under the covers so when you're ready to sleep, it will be nice and warm." I'm pretty sure my heart melted right there on the spot. It's the little things folks! How thoughtful is that? 

I love this man!

It's Cold Now but it wasn't Then

I'm going to pretend that I was super-clever and decided to wait until a chilly day like today to post these pictures. Ya know, as if I had forethought and knew I'd want to be reminded of summer's warmth and the beach. It's more likely however that I just never got around to blogging about the boys' first trip to the beach. So, I'll do it now.

Over the summer, the same weekend as our sixth anniversary, we took advantage of my parents' close proximity to the beach and introduced the little ones to the surf and sand. Even though Matt and I had planned on taking the boys to the beach that day, because I'm neurotic and tend toward being anxious, it took some convincing for me to agree to actually go when the day arrived. I could just picture Gideon eating fistfuls of sand and Caleb charging toward the ocean only to be swept away by a large wave. Or more likely, Caleb running up to a group of people and stealing their sandwiches or their children's toys or even knocking over a sandcastle built by a darling little toddler wearing tiny glasses (I have a thing with kids in glasses, it's like they need extra protection or something).

Of course it was nothing like that. We got to the beach and hung out with little to no drama. Caleb loved it and he was cautious of the ocean so my fear of him drowning was put to rest shortly after arriving. The section of beach we chose wasn't crowded so that helped prevent my other fears from occurring and Gideon stayed planted on the beach blanket so no sandy snack for him. It was a really good time actually.

Headed to the beach.

Matt's disgust at how many pictures I requested he take.

I call this "Little Boy, Big Ocean" 

This one is entitled "Baby on Blanket"

Gideon's first toes-in-the-ocean experience and Matt's
AMAZING farmer's tan!

It was pretty impossible to get him to stand still.
This was about the best I could do.

Yay! Lets bathe in sand! 

What I hadn't anticipated was how long it would take for us to leave the beach! I should have gotten myself worked up over that! We spent the same amount of time packing the kids up, walking down to the bathroom, rinsing the kids off, changing diapers, wrestling/putting kids in dry clothes, walking back to the car, nursing the baby, getting kids snugly in their carseats and then finally setting off for the drive back to my parents' house as we had spent on the beach. That was the stressful part. Thankfully, the making memories part outweighs the stress part hands down every time!

Because I Need a Reminder

I need a reminder that all my hard work is not going to the wayside. I need a reminder that Caleb is two and irrational and impulsive and illogical. And that it's completely normal. I need a reminder that somewhere in his adorable skull, there are synapses forming that will allow him to one day be completely responsible and wonderful and good at decision-making. Right now it's really hard to see that that day will come. Ever. Right now it feels like I'm the mom every other mom is completely thankful not to be since my kid can be so wild and out-of-control. Right now I'm the mom who would have gladly crawled into a deep, dark hole this morning because my kid ran amuck and refused to stop tackling his playmate.

So, because I need a reminder that it's really and truly not that bad all of the time, here's a list of my firstborn's recent cuteness:

-he calls a toucan a 'tooth-can'
-he calls a caterpillar a 'cat-ah-pillow'
-When he has something stuck in his teeth, he looks up at me with pleading eyes and says, "I need floss!"
-When he wants a certain anything he begins with "How 'bout...(fill in the blank with a snack, tv show, toy)"
-He exclaims "Holy mackerel!" at appropriate times.
-Recently, after he fell off of his toy truck, I asked what he was doing. He responded with, "falling."
-When I'm walking up or down the stairs with him and he wants me to carry him he says, "carry you" and holds his arms up waiting for me to pick him up.
-A couple of weeks ago, he would randomly put on Mr. Potato Head's glasses and just go about his business all nonchalantly.
-At 3am this morning when he wandered into our bedroom, he laid still on my chest for a few minutes, matter-of-factly kissed me on the cheek, then put his head back down.

Parenting is a tough gig! I just need to remain cognizant of the rewards even when the challenges seem to overshadow them.

That was a Quick Nine Months

It seems like only yesterday I was holding a 7lb, 3oz baby in my arms and wondering why his nose looked so large and why his ears seemed weirdly flattened against his head (hey, I know it sounds mean but I can't be the ONLY mom who thought her newborn looked slightly um...different than she imagined).

Seriously though? I loved every inch of
him from the moment I laid eyes on him.

But, here he is a whole nine months later and he's SO stinkin' cute and smiley and bouncy and awesome!  You think so too, right?

Gideon on 10.12.11 at 9 months old.

Here's the rundown:
-weight: 22 lbs, 3.5 oz (yow-zah! This kid is BIG!)
-length:  29.5 in. (see above parenthetical comment)
-diet: I'd say at least 90% mama's milk and only 10% table food (Who says nursing babies need solids? ha! See above parenthetical comment)
-teeth: still no teeth, but his bottom gum feels a little rough and I can see the whiteness right underneath so I'm guessing soon
-loves: bouncing, smiling, giggling, and outside
-hates: diaper changes and really loud noises
-milestones: He can independently go from lying down to sitting upright, he army crawls like a champ, he appears to be a Yoga natural (he frequently puts himself in a "downward dog" pose). He has mastered a multitude of consonant/vowel sound combos.

Gideon is such a sweet little guy. It's neat to watch his personality develop and I'm excited to learn what he'll be like as he grows older. I really can't believe that he's only 3 months away from being a year old though. How in the world does time go by so quickly???

As an aside, my mother-in-law sent me a picture of Matt as a 9-month-old. I keep hearing from people that Gideon looks like me. I stand by the notion that he looks a LOT like his daddy. You be the judge.

Cupcakes + Babies

I was looking through pictures with Caleb this morning, we do that a lot recently which makes for one nostalgic Mama. Anyway, we came across this priceless shot from his first birthday. Awesome, right?

His introduction and subsequent reaction
to the cupcake.

So, I have this thing with my kids. I decided when Caleb started solids that I'd wait until my children's first birthday to offer them cake/cupcakes and ice cream. You know, like a rite of passage but more importantly because I'm committed to providing a healthy foundation for my children's food choices...okay and maybe because I'm a little neurotic.

The littlest cutie in residence.

Fast-forward a bit and I now have a 7-month-old Gideon (yes, this story is a bit late in making it to the blog) and we're at my friend's son's second birthday party. Matt graciously takes Gideon from me so that I can eat, mingle, and chase after Caleb without an additional 20 pounds in my arms.

I'm in the kitchen gathering up some munchies and I spot Matt grabbing a cupcake. There he is with cupcake in one hand and baby in the opposing arm. Remember how I said I'm neurotic? Well, I envision Matt either a) offering some of the cupcake to Gideon even though I know there's only about a 5 percent chance he'd actually do that considering he's fully aware of both my neurotic tendencies and my "no cupcakes until first birthday" rule or b) Gideon succeeding in squirming his way to the cupcake and Matt not being aware quick enough to catch him doing it.

In my wifely fashion, I begin nagging. "Matt, don't give him a taste of that cupcake. Don't let Gideon get to the cupcake. Matt, look at him eyeing that thing." Matt assures me that, under his watchful eye, Gideon will not be consuming any cupcake. Here's where the neurosis really rears its ugly head..."Matt, just give him to me so you can eat your cupcake (translation: "Give him to me so I can be absolutely sure there is no way this baby is going to have any cupcake today or at all until January 12th, 2012."). Matt hands Gideon over.

I go to the kitchen to grab a cupcake for Caleb. So here I am, cupcake in one hand, baby in opposing arm. Do you see where this is going? I walk out to the deck to give Caleb his cupcake. I direct Caleb to get up into the chair and, with my hips, I scooch the chair up to the table. As I'm distracted, Gideon sees his opening and SWIPE, he now has a HUGE handful of chocolate frosting and cupcake. Oh no! All my hopes and dreams are dashed! It's five months too early for this baby to be eating a cupcake. And his hand is SO messy. And he's starting to lick it. And now he's touching his head with his chocolatey hand! And now he's touching me with his chocolatey hand! Fortunately there are people around and in my attempt to seem less crazy, I don't totally freak out. Rather, I minimally freak out. Others ask if I want them to quickly wipe his hand off or if I need them to take him from me so I have hands to deal with the situation. I politely decline and act easy-breezy. "No, I'm okay. No big deal. It's only a little chocolate frosting."

Of course, that's the truth. It really isn't a big deal. I think maybe that's one of the jobs of second children. They reveal to parents how very little control we truly have and they help to make us a little more accepting of life's circumstances. While it might be almost doable to manage tiny details of baby number one's life, it's impossible to micro-manage every little thing when you're caring for two (or more) children. But rather than it being a disappointment, I like to view it as 'icing on the cake' (Totally corny pun but I couldn't resist). Coming to this realization gives parents the license to relax a little, to spend less time fretting, and more time enjoying. It frees up a lot of mental space. And if you're a mom, you know that we need all the mental space we can scrounge up!