What Was I Thinking?

Going to the bathroom, leaving the boys unattended for three whole minutes?

That would be crushed up Chex cereal all over the chair...and Deacon's head. Lovely.

And speaking of lovely, we had a great time this past week. As you know, my dear friend Sara came to visit with her daughter, Lily. You can read a day-by-day, play-by-play on her blog starting here. I will just highlight the visit with a few pictures and notes of my own right quick.

Here I am, teaching Lily how to play World of Warcraft.











Lily sure was fond of Josh. I think he needs a daughter of his own.













Deacon was more than happy to have another mouth to feed.















And Lily just couldn't figure out Zeke's obsession with the TV.

Two of the days they were here, my dad and Karen came to visit as well. Once I get things a little more organized on my computer, I will put the pictures from this fun time up on my Flickr page. Maybe after the weekend. In the meantime, here are some pictures from my dad and Karen's part of the visit.

Here's my dad wrestling with the boys.











Karen kicked Josh out and took over bathtime, which he was more than happy to let her do.












Zeke has rediscovered his love for coloring and made sure he let Grandpa in on the good time.











Here are all three kids waiting not-so-patiently for Karen to open up the new toy she bought for the boys.

All in all, a good week. And while I am so thankful for all the visitors, and I had a great time seeing my family again and plowing through the entire first season of "Arrested Development" with Sara, I am thankful to have an "empty" house again.

Am I the Weird One?

So, Tuesday morning I went to MOPS. The speaker was someone from the group and she brought in a video about nutrition, then discussed the video. Basically, what I got from this video, is that you are only supposed to feed your child fruits, veggies, nuts, and fish. This lead to my first question, "Where's the meat?" This question was left unanswered.

The other main thing this video taught was that kids are grazers and should be raised as such. In other words, let your kids snack (on fruits and veggies) all day. They suggest getting out a muffin pan, filling each of the cups with some other kind of food (carrot sticks, pretzels, strawberries, etc) and leaving that out all day long so the kid can just come and go and eat as he pleases. Now, I do sort of like this idea for Zeke because let's face it, the kid is a snacker, and not so much a meal eater. But I posed the question to the lady leading the discussion, "Does this mean the kids don't actually ever eat a meal?" She responded with, "Pretty much." So I asked, "Well, what about family dinner time?" And do you know, she looked at me and said, "Well, family dinner time is kind of an impractical thing. Toddlers are too little to ever sit still at the table, and as they get older, their schedules fill up and no one's around for dinner anyways."

WHAT?!

I'm sorry, but I think family dinner is a very important part of life. And a toddler will sit at the table for a good 5, if not 10 minutes. Sure, that's not enough time to eat dinner in, but at least he's there for part of it. And I look at Deacon, who is not a grazer, and he would starve if we didn't have set meal times. I really couldn't believe this woman said this. What's more, is that a majority of the women there seemed to agree. So, am I the weird one? Is it just me that enjoys sitting down as a family and eating together? Is it just me that likes meat and thinks it's important for my kids to eat it?

Then I had to laugh at the other ladies there. One woman was saying how her 7 1/2 year old only eats saltine crackers, Vienna sausages, cheese sticks and pickles. My thought? "Yeah, so? That's a good lunch for my kids once a week or so." Am I the weird one?

Another woman, and this just about killed me, goes, in as disgusted as a tone as you can make, "So, last night I made the mistake of leaving without feeding the kids first. Do you know what their father gave them for dinner? First, he had to go to the store because we don't ever have any of this stuff in the house, but he went and he bought hot dogs (pause), macaroni and cheese (pause), those baked beans with the little hot dogs in them, and pop (you know, soda). Can you even believe it?" Wow. Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese is what we have for dinner every Monday night. So I ask myself, am I the weird one?

Sigh. Luckily, all the other delinquents in the room were at my table so we had a good time laughing at ourselves and the things we feed our kids. I guess I'm not alone if I am the weird one. And my kids seem pretty healthy right? Let's take a look...

No, I think they look fine. So, maybe I'm not the weird one. I mean, I appreciate that what works for some doesn't work for all, but I sort of felt bad about my kids eating habits afterwards. Then I got over it. But, the more I think about it, the more I might try the grazing thing with Zeke, keeping it on the dinner table since Deacon can't reach up there (yet), and just keep doing meals with Deacon. I'll still have Zeke sit at the table with us for as long as he can make it, but I don't know. I guess I have some things to think about.

poll by twiigs.com

Oh, It's Going To Be Fun!

It's going to be a crazy week here in Walterland. Tomorrow, my dear friend, Sara, and her darling daughter, Lily, are coming to visit for a week. Also tomorrow, my father and Karen are coming for a quick, two day visit. They don't land until 11:00pm so they will get in their rental car, drive to their hotel, and we'll see them Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening I am planning a big spaghetti dinner for us, our guests, the Starlings, and the Starling's guests) Joni's parents are coming in on Tuesday as well). Thursday, Josh goes to Arkansas for two days for some training. Friday, my dad and Karen leave. Friday evening, and here is your "official" invitation Joni, we'll probably have a "chick flick" night after the kids are in bed. So, Joni, grab your mom, your new baby girl (if you want) and come on over for some popcorn and probably some Colin Firth. I can't make any promises on him, but I can vouch for the popcorn.

And that's as far out as I'm thinking right now. It's going to be crazy, but it's going to be fun. I am looking forward to it all. That being said, if you don't hear from me for awhile, you'll understand why.

Now, to help tide you over until I do get around to posting again, here are some pictures and some videos of those boys we've all come to know and love...

Oh, and I am putting up all my pictures from the month on Flickr.

WOOT!

I did it! It took me a video camera, three computers, two different movie making programs and days of nonsense, but I FINALLY DID IT! I made a Christmas video that will play on my blog! And I'm not saying anything else. Here it is...

Okay, I will say something else. The song is "December 5 or 6 B.C. (Oh Holy Night)" by the Apologetix. It's a parody of the song "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)" by the Four Seasons. And if you're interested, the words to the song are this:

Oh, holy night
Late December 5 or 6 B.C.
Was a special time in history
In Bethlehem oh, holy night

Oh, holy night
You know we still don't even know the date
The time of year or month when Jesus came
Celebrate it every night

Oh, I -- I got a funny feeling that the Lord ain't amused
When we fight
about which holidays we all should use

Oh, holy night
It's not timing that's the vital thing
Jesus never changes seasonally
Late December or July

Why raise a fuss about which holy days are better?
Those things are shadows now and Jesus is all that matters

Oh, holy night

(FIRST RAP)
Scholars ain’t sure 'bout the birth of our Lord
It could 6 B.C., 5 B.C. 4
The current way we figure out time was not designed
Till 500 years after Christ arrived and died
And the guy who tried to find the right time when Christ had died
And design the time line with B.C. and A.D.
Should get a B, C, or a D for sloppy math
And maybe a new abacus on top of that

Oh, wow, Co-loss-i-ans 2:16,
"Let no one judge you
In regard to sabbaths, holidays or what's good food."

Oh, holy night
Put the tinsel on the tree tonight
Read along in Romans 14:5
Celebrate it when you like

(SECOND RAP)
Frankly in the valley of death
He's a powerful shepherd in December
Or whatever date the calendar sets
I think I counted 11 months without it and yet
The Christmas holiday gets a vast amount of attention
So I thought I would mention that we don’t know just when the
Holy blessed event took place
It might have been May
The Bible ain’t specific about the month or the day
With Orthodox Christmas it’s January 6th
For the rest of us Christians December 25th
But the most important thing is that Christ is Lord and King
And that’s all the more reason to lift up the Lord Jesus
In all the four seasons

The Christmas rush may be over in December
But up in Heaven they'll be praising the Lord forever

Oh, holy night

Take It Away, Bing!

Oh, you must have been a beautiful baby.

You must have been a wonderful child.

When you were only starting


to go to kindergarten

I bet you drove the little boys wild...

Yes, you must have been a beautiful baby,

'cause, baby, look at you now.

I think it's pretty easy to see where my boys get their good looks from. Feel free to agree, if only because today is my birthday. And, for those who didn't figure it out, the words above each picture are from Bing Crosby's song, "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby".

Medical Mayhem

Let's see...who shall I start with? How about Zeke?

Zeke has been diagnosed with his first ever ear infection. Now, this isn't to say he has never had one before, I'm sure he probably has. They just haven't ever been bad or bothered him enough that I noticed he definitely had one and should take him in to have it looked at. However, Wednesday morning, we were playing in his room and I noticed a trail of little golden spots across his pillow. I looked at both of his ears and saw this:

A nice golden ring of wax around his ear hole. Niiiiice. (And yes, I am one of those weird moms who finds wax and snot sort of fascinating, hence the picture.) So, the doctor confirmed an outer ear infection and now we're doing the ear drop thing. I will say this, I am SO happy that thing burst. The night before, Zeke was a bear. Nothing made him happy (except for "Wall-E" - he about had a heart attack from excitement when I put that movie it - which you should see if you haven't), he wouldn't eat, play, or do anything except whine and stick his finger in his ear and in his mouth. Which led us to believe he was teething, but obviously, that was not the case.

Thursday morning, Deacon and I both woke up with awful head colds. Well, I'm assuming based on how awful mine is that Deacon's is equally as bad. Clogged noses that run (how is that even possible?), coughing, sneezing, droopy feeling, not sleeping (which isn't fun for anyone when Deacon doesn't sleep). There is so much snot in Deacon's nose I must have aspirated him four times already in the 40 minutes we've been awake this morning. Lovely.

Then, there's Josh. Josh, for those of you who don't know, had knee surgery in college after tearing his ACL (or something like that). Well, his left knee has been bothering him a lot the past, oh, five years or so, and he is finally trying to get it taken care of now. However, they are more concerned about his right knee at the moment. Apparently, it's a little worse off than he thought. So much so that they don't want to operate on his left knee yet because they are worried his right knee won't be able to support him while he's on crutches. Yeah. SO, now he has to go to physical therapy for two weeks to try and strengthen his right knee until they are sure that it will indeed hold him up when it's all he has to hold him up.

I thought about including in here about how little I think of the Army's medical system and about my current frustration with them, but it's over and I've moved on, so whatever.

I will include in here how Zeke seems to be on some sort of wrecky emotional rollercoaster since turning 3. I have no idea why, but wow. One minute he's laughing and playing and having a good time. Then, if I read a specific book and Deacon doesn't play along properly or something, he's having a major meltdown all. over. the house. He's still great, but he's slightly unbalanced at the moment. I guess turning three was a bigger deal for him than I originally thought. Sweet boy.

And now, now the boys are playing in Zeke's room, as if they know Josh is trying to sleep still, and they want him to get up but don't want to just walk in and wake him. The muffins I'm baking for breakfast are almost finished, and I just heard Deacon sneeze which means there is probably some nose-wiping that needs to happen now. All of that is to say, that I must go. But let me leave you with this reassuring thought, even though he's an emotional mess these day, Zeke is still taking time to balance himself out by continually letting his OCD take over by lining things up...

Oh, How They Grow

In honor of Zeke's birthday, here are a few pictures of the boys from the past few years...

Zeke at two weeks old, on his 1st birthday, and on his 2nd birthday.

Deacon at two weeks old and on his 1st Birthday

both boys this morning at breakfast

Doesn't it just make you smile, yet break your heart all at the same time? I mean, where did my babies go? (And by the way, Deacon has decided that he is not a baby anymore. If I call him my baby or anything of the sort he looks at me with this look like, "Who you callin' baby?" and then says, "No" until I correct myself and refer to him as my big boy. Go ahead, Deacon, just break my heart.) Maybe it is time to start thinking about #3.

Can You Even Believe It?

I know I can't. My son, my oldest, my sweet boy, my Zman, my Cubby, my baby is three. Three! Three years old. Yesterday was his birthday. His third birthday. Three. Wow.

So, yesterday was Zeke's third birthday, and we had a great day here. As usual, I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. After his morning "rest time" he opened his gifts from my families. This is the face he made upon opening all of his gifts...

Isn't he sweet?

This is the face Deacon made all morning as Zeke opened his gifts and refused to share his new toys (which, since it was his bday, we didn't make him share either)...

SO, Deacon and Mommy took a little trip to Wal-Mart to get him out of the house and away from Zeke's new toys.

After their afternoon naps, Joni and Sammie came over to play outside for a little bit since it was 75 degrees and sunny here...

Uh-oh Zeke! Looks like your lady is making moves on your brother. That, or she's trying to get at Deacon's snacks. You know, whichever.

After Joni and Sammie left, we had one of Zeke's favorite dinners, chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. I believe that is the same menu as last year, but what can I say, the kid loves it and it's one of the few things he'll actually sit at the table and eat these days. After dinner, the Starling family came over for cake and ice cream.

For Christmas, Josh's mom got me the most awesome cake pan. I used it for Zeke's birthday cake. I think it came out pretty well, if I do say so myself, and Josh and I had a blast decorating it. Here's the front half (the whole thing and all the other pictures will be up on Flickr soon)...

That's right, it's a train! With individual cars! How stinkin' cute is that?!? It was loved by all and tasted super good. As we sang to him, Zeke picked off the M&M tires on the one car. Classic.

And, just in case you were wondering how all that sugar affects 2 and 3 year olds, here are some videos of the "aftermath" if you will...

All in all, a great day for a great boy.

Title Block

That's what I have. I know what I want to say, but I don't know what to title it, so there you go.

Happy 2009 Everyone! I am pleased to say I was able to stay up until midnight last night. First time in, oh, three years? Four years? I'm not really much of a night owl anymore. Not really much of an early bird either for that matter. Hmm. Anyhoo...

I'm still not committed fully to Blog 365 (see my previous post for a link to it if you want to know more about it), I think it would be fun, but I also don't want to overload my readers with posts every. single. day. But I am going to just take it one day at a time and see how it goes. The "official" theme for January is "Change." Boy is that appropriate, huh? I like it! But I'm not going to address any of the changes here today.

Today, I am going to address the Christmas video once again. Sigh. I made it. It's groovy. It's 7 1/2 minutes long. And it's stuck in my Photoshop video program. Well, not entirely. I got it onto the computer and onto the blog here. BUT when I posted it here, the resolution was terrible and the sound was wrong. You could hear the original sounds playing along with the music. That part isn't that bad since it is kind of fun to hear the kids "talk", but you couldn't see anything. Ugh. So, now I have to play around with it some more, I guess, to see if I can't fix that. If I can't, then I guess y'all will have to come visit us to see the video in the program all nice and clear and whatsit.

Until I get the video up here, you'll have to make do with the pictures we took, which I will be putting up on Flickr, once I publish this post. BUT, before I do that, here is a picture I took of my sweet boys, this first sweet day of this sweet new year.