Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Natalie-isms - the drama edition

Yesterday, Natalie was running through the house and being super crazy. Running in the house never ends well for my kids (Timmy ended up with stitches from running in the house last summer). She happened to hit her hand on the wall and I'm sure it hurt, but with Natalie everything is three times as dramatic as it needs to be.

I snuggled her in the recliner and asked if she was okay.

"I wanna move to a new house!" Chris and I were trying very hard not to laugh. I failed. "I wanna move to a new house! This house has bad walls!"

Classic.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Timmy at Five

So, my itty bitty baby Timmy is FIVE now. He turned five on March 13, and thinks he is the coolest kid EVER now, especially since he is older than his two best friends, Andon and Parker. So...Timmy at five...what to say. He is sitting next to me now, so I can ask him some questions.

Favorite Food: Mac n Cheese
Favorite Movie: Cars 2
Favorite TV Show: Twisted Whiskers (aka Twisten Whiksers)
Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Foote
Favorite Color: Green and blue
Best Friends: Lucas and Ryan and Parker and Andon
Best GIRL Friends: MacKenzie, Marcella, Presley, Paige V, and Kennedy
Favorite Game: Cars 2 Video Game & Tackle Daddy
Favorite Drink: Orange Juice
Favorite Song: Abba - Dancing Queen (Thank you, Lord)
Favorite Adult Friend: Mommy & Lindsey
What do you want to be when you grow up?: A Fireman, I ride in the back seat by the ladder
What's your favorite thing you like to do with Daddy: Play Cars 2 Video Game
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy?: Snuggling (Melt my heart)
What's your favorite thing to do with Natalie?: Play Cars toys with her
What's your favorite thing to do with Sammy?: Watch Gabba with him
Favorite Animal: Bear
Favorite Sport: Basketball
Favorite Car: Lightming. (Yes, Ming)
What's your favorite thing to do in the summer: Go to the cottage and go tubing with Peter and Andrew.

Words Timmy still can't say the right way: Lightming (Lightning), Oitmeal (Oatmeal)

He loves to watch Ghost, Space, and Weather shows with me.

He is stubborn, moody, aggressive, and mean on his bad days.

On his good days he is affectionate, compassionate, patient, mannerly, and snuggly.

He is very social and loves to spend time with his friends. He is just someone who craves attention and loves to lavish his attention on you. He's just a very smart, clever child.

He is approx 41" tall and 41lbs. He's a square.


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Grocery Shopping with Natalie

It's a rare that I get a chance to grocery shop without all three of the kids in tow, so when it was just me and Natalie, I took advantage. It was a couple weeks ago and in order to remember the events that unfolded in just that 90 minutes, I sent myself texts so that I wouldn't forget the adventure.

First, it was a trip that included bringing back bottles. For those of you that don't live in states where you can return pop and beer bottles for a cash refund, this involves shoving your cans, plastics, and glass into machines that will add up the amount for you. This is nice, but it's kinda sticky and gross. Remember when you had to count them up ahead of time and then the cashier would add them up and yeah, it was okay if you were one or two bottles off, but if you were off by more than that, those dimes mattered and you'd both recount all of your bottles? Classic times.

Well, it was a Saturday...a busy Saturday, complete with samples at the of every aisle, and other families trying to cash in their bottles too. Natalie wanted to help me with the bottles, but it already took every bit of geometry and puzzle knowledge I had to fit the bottles into one cart so that I could get them, and us, inside the store safely. All I wanted to do was get through the bottles quickly, but Natalie wanted to help so she would hand me bottles and of course, we would both end up covered in an icky corn syrup goo...really, that right there should cut me of my caffeine habit...

We finally got done with bottles and Natalie said she had to go potty. Okay, that's good. We head to the front of the store only to be reminded that the store is under construction and that the restroom was in the back of the store...by the toys....

We are now in the bathroom, the handicap stall so that I have room to maneuver with my not-yet fully potty trained child. I decided I better get my potty on while we were in there, so while I sat, Natalie decided that the handicap bar would serve as a good ballet bar and danced. Well, that was until she noticed that someone was in the stall next to us. So she kept peeking under the walls to see who was there. Awkward...

Finally, we head back to the front of the store to get a cart to finally do our shopping. That was when Natalie noticed someone. "HEY MOM! LOOK!! THAT GUY HAS NO HAIR! WHY DOES HE HAVE NO HAIR!?" Said bald man and his two tween sons turn and look at us and I flash an exhausted smile. They do not return this smile as Natalie continues to yell about the bald man with no hair.

I manage to actually have a pretty decent shopping trip until Natalie sees a kid with an Angry Bird hat. "MOM! LOOK!! AN ANGRY BIRD HAAAAT!!! LOOK! LOOK!!!! LOOOOOOOK!!!!! DID YOU SEE IT!?!?" Yes. I did. As did everyone else in the 50 yard radius of our cart.

We also had to stand directly under a speaker so that we could listen to the song "Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne, in it's entirety. Unfortunately, we were in the busiest row in the store. Who knew so many people would need sugar at that exact moment?

While we were checking out, we saw a preschool friend - James. It was a relief to see a friend - because there was a glimmer of hope that someone else was experiencing such a joyous shopping experience.

Despite all this, I'd still rather go shopping with her than the other two.


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Samuel at *Almost* 21 Months

This Boy. This Samuel Harrison. I cannot begin to even describe this little guy. He is one of the most laid back, mellow, affectionate little boys I have ever seen. Most of the time. The rest of the time, this kid is  climbing. Everything. EVERYTHING. He is HILARIOUS too - the way he rambles his gibberish, his expressions, the things that he does with toys...too much.

He is starting to talk a lot more and show likes and dislikes in all areas. He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba (just like his bubba and sissy!) and can't get enough of Brobee. He loves to eat and would all day long if we let him. He loves animals and babies and his favorite toys are cars, Nat's My Little Ponies, Cabbage Patch Dolls, books, and anything small that he can just carry around all day with him.

Some of his words are: Bow-beh (Brobee), Goggy (Doggy), Bye, Hi, Mama/Mommy, Dada/Daddy, Nini (what he calls his doll), Baby, Jump, Gabba (For Yo Gabba), Abbey (our cat), No, Deez (Please), Muk (Milk), Boat, Shoes, Eat, Nana (Banana), Coat, Socks...lots of words! He also "sings" along with music in the car or on TV.

He is obsessed with light switches, shoes and socks, and Brobee. He is starting to play with the other two, but still more of a parallel playing style. He loves any toys that make music and light up and with lots of buttons to press.

He is about 25lbs and 32" tall. Squatty boy. His eyes are really hard to tell what color they are. They are dark blue on the outside with a ring of hazel in the middle. I bet he'll go dark the way Natalie did. It took her two years for her eye color to change to green. His eyes are so round and expressive and he knows how to roll them already.

Some big news in his life is that we are in the process of figuring out some food allergies. He spent the entire winter with a terrible case of Eczema on his face, legs, and bottom. Nothing would take care of it. He also had a chronic runny nose, nasty poos, and would be irritable at bedtime. I took him into the doctor last week and she was 99% convinced that he has a dairy allergy. We have completely cut any and all milk/dairy from his diet. He is actually on almost a Vegan diet because he doesn't like to eat a lot of meat so I have been looking up a lot of Vegan recipes. I'm also learning that there is milk or milk proteins in so many foods I'd have never suspected - which makes me wonder what else is being snuck into food that we don't know about. While all of this is a pain in the butt, it has really inspired me to really think about the foods we are putting in our bodies. I've started making a lot more things at home so that I know what is going into them. I made some almond butter that Timmy says is better than the store bought peanut butter we have. All that is in it is almonds and a pinch of salt! I also bought cashews and peanuts so that I can make some other things that are high in protein that I know my boys love. Natalie, on the other hand, can't stand any type of nut or nut product.

We've had to switch his diapers (he is now using 7th gen dipes, but I am considering switching back to cloth because those dipes are insanely expensive.). We can no longer use the soap and detergents that we have been with him. I made a fresh batch of laundry soap for the entire family so that we don't have to constantly sort out Sam's clothes. I plan on making a dryer ball out of wool yarn so that I can get rid of dryer sheets.

I also have to limit/cut out as many citrus and acidic foods as I can, like certain fruits and veggies. I am learning so much from my friends who have had to deal with food allergies - and I'm glad that my sister dealt with this as a parent because my nephew had a LOT of food allergies when he was small like Sam. I think he has since outgrown most of them but may still have a few allergies.

If anyone reading this has any advice, tips, recipes, etc for children with dairy allergies, I am all ears! Thanks!

And now I leave you with a few cute pics of Sammy.

Eating lunch with Brobee

Reading, one of his favorite things to do

Gotta have a Brobee shirt!

Wearing Timmy's shoes

Swinging at Riverside Park



Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Timmyisms: The Buffett Edition

Timothy Philip, age 5

"This is MY song, Mommy!" ~ while listening to Margaritaville in the van.

"Look, Mom! Eyeballs!" ~ while shopping in the laundry aisle and seeing the Tide pods.



"Look, Mom! That guy is wearing a bra!" ~ while looking at the ads on the side of Facebook.


"Mom, I wanna go outside and use my lookers to look at things that are really far away!" ~ after opening up binoculars for his birthday.