Mama's Boys

St. Patrick's Day 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 03:55:00 +0000

In a smooth segue from my last post in August, I bring you St. Patrick's Day 2014.

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite days. Here is how we celebrate:

Geocaching! This is our third annual St. Patrick's Day geocaching expedition. It is our own version of finding hidden treasure :) This year we hid a cache for the first time. Lincoln was super excited!

We do a traditional full Irish breakfast on St. Patrick's Day. Lucas and I went to Ireland the year before Lincoln was born, and every single place we stayed served us a full Irish breakfast: brown bread, bacon, eggs, blood sausage (full disclosure: we served good ol' sausage links...we'll save the blood sausage for our next trip to Ireland...), hash browns, and tea/coffee. I usually make Blarney Stones, too, but am going with a Sticky Toffee Pudding this year instead (not yet made...saving for tomorrow, when we have visitors!)

At school today, Lincoln followed the green footprints and discovered some hidden treasures from a leprechaun! Hats, necklaces, and shiny's for everyone!

More shiny's were hiding in the sandbox (Bennett is holding one up in the picture). Lots of digging today.

My Grandma loved St. Patrick's Day and used to have a green hair piece she wore every year. This year we decided to remember her by donning our own green hair. Mine are extensions I ordered online, and Beebs' are green Crayola marker :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my me and my favorite leprechauns!

Also, this face:

Lincoln Quotes 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 04:58:00 +0000

Me: Lincoln, go find your jacket for school.
Lincoln: Uh, I don't have a jacket. If you don't go get me a jacket, I'll eat your card with my claw.
(follow-up: he went and got his jacket)

About a year ago, I was having trouble getting Lincoln to take a nap. Bennett had crawled over to Lincoln's bookshelf and was throwing the books off the shelf one by one, which Lincoln thought was hilarious. I told him if he went to sleep, he could dream about Bennett and the books! He thought that was awesome and actually took a nap. One year has past, and every single time we have asked Lincoln what he dreamed about during the past year, he says "Bennett and the books." Every time. For a year. We know he has other dreams, though, because he will ask us things like, "Remember that time Bebo fell down the basement stairs but he didn't get hurt and he got the peanut butter and was playing with it and got sooooo sticky and he climbed up the walls and got stuck on the ceiling and Daddy came down the stairs and saw him and said BEEBS!? That was so funny, Mama."

When Bennett doesn't share his toy right away with Lincoln, Lincoln usually says, "Bennett just said he never, ever, ever, ever, ever is going to let me play with that toy. EVER."

Update to the dream recounting:
Instead of "Bennett and the books," Lincoln now dreams every night about a (fill in the blank) eating a (fill in the blank). Today, it was a ceiling eating an ice cream cone. Yesterday, a wall eating a hand.

Talking back has begun. Some examples:
Lucas: "Lincoln, are you listening to me?"
Lincoln: "Are YOU listening to ME?"

Me: "Lincoln, please put your shoes away."
Lincoln: "If you say that again, I going to run so fast into my room and never put my shoes away."

Lincoln can also be super polite.
Lucas: "Lincoln, do you want to go play in the basement with Beebs while we clean up dinner?"
Lincoln: "Um, not right now and thanks. No thank you. I just want to stay up here for now. Thanks for asking."

"This beetle is so clever of himself!"

"This squirrel is more clever than the cleverest beetle!"

After winning a game: "Wow, I sure am lucky of myself!"

"Daddy, it smells like rotten carrots in here. Daddy, Bennett smells like rotten carrots....and, poop."

On the airplane:
Me: Lincoln, is your seatbelt pulled tight?
Lincoln: Yep! It's as tight as a rabbit's pocket! (we laughed for days about this one...)

Playing outside with mama, grandma, and bennett:
Lincoln: "Mama, I need to go potty." (whispering: "when we get inside, I'll tell you what I really want to say...I don't want Grandma to hear me.")

We go inside.

Lincoln: "Mama, I need to go poop. I didn't want Grandma to hear, because I thought it might make her have to poop, too. I didn't want that to happen."

Bennett is TWO

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Bebo (as he prefers to be called) is TWO years old today! He has had an amazing year. This is more of an update post vs. his birthday post...that will come after I actually have birthday pictures.

I have been tracking Bennett's words for awhile, thinking I would make a list on here to show how his language is progressing. That was a couple months ago...now, I think it may get a little long and boring if I write down all his words, so I'll try and keep it to the cutest ones!

Bikes and Kites

Webey (Wembley, our dog), Hepme (help me), pwease (please), honey, woo woo (choo choo), mum (mud), na-na (knock knock), meeeeee! (me), mine, hot dah (hot dog), nana (banana), appoh (apple), dump (jump), bwabee (broccoli), bea (beans, bead), beebeep (get out of my way), caw (car), ding! (toast...because our toaster oven dings when it is ready), NO! (snow), Ha-Ha (trash truck)

2 word phrases (which just happend overnight a few weeks ago. seriously, seeing this language burst in person is so much cooler than reading about it in texts books. the human mind is amazing.):
mo pwease (more please)
no webey (no wembley)
dop it (stop it)
MY (nana, ball, etc.)
eat nana
wiwinc cool (lincoln school)

3 word phrases (which just happened in the last few days):
i want noodos (i want noodles)
rock rock noodo (asking for rock-a-bye noodle)
i wike
biwd eat beed! (bird eat seed)
mo waduh pwease (more water please)

He labels the following colors:
blue (bwu), green (gwee), yellow (wewo), pink (pee), brown (bwow), gray, white, purple (puhpo)

counts:
wuh, wuh, fee, nine, nine, nine! (one one three nine nine nine!)

Knows the letters A B C D and that his name ends with TT :)

He loves art. Seriously loves it. He spends hours coloring with crayons, markers, colored pencils, pens (which may have been on the couch, in addition to his paper...). He loves to paint, too. He concentrates sooooo hard while he is coloring; it is adorable.

He has become very possessive of things that are his, or that he has one time touched (pretty much anything he looks at). MINE! and No! Meeeee! are common phrases around here.

Delicious snow.

Bennett requests hugs approximately 50 times a day. If he gets an owie, if he is frustrated, if he spills something, if he drops something, if Lincoln took something he was using, if he doesn't get something he wants...all are fixed with hugs. Which, of course, I love.

Beebs is a Daddy's boy. He does not allow me to put him to bed at all anymore, nap included. Once he stopped nursing (at 21 months, same as Lincoln), he wanted nothing to do with me at bedtime anymore. If I try, or if I go in when he wakes at night, he screams and pushes me away while yelling, "DADA!". He also likes Lucas to give him extra hugs when he gets hurt, even if I have already given him one. Trying not to let the favoritism bother me (I'll admit, getting a free pass at bedtime is nice; but I do miss the snuggles!).

trash truck (or as bennett says, "ha-ha!")

He sings a lot :)

2 days ago he finally answered us when we asked what his name was: Bebo. When we asked if it was "Beebs," he said, "NO. Beeee-bo." hahaha!

Loves to vacuum. Loves chocolate. Loves Lincoln and asks for him when he is at school. Looooves his bike. Wants to be outside all of the time. Loves to swim. Tries to use the potty chair. Loves cheese. Loves strawberries. Loves to be rocked and snuggled. Does not like it when I try to sing to him :) Favorite books: If You're Happy and You Know It, Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, Knuffle Bunny.

Beebs is full of joy, laughter, and mischief. We found him in the bathroom today eating hair gel (first call ever to poison control; he was fine...). He is very sneaky!

This year has been so much fun. We love you, Bennett, and look forward to all that is to come!

My 4 year old

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 05:09:00 +0000

Lincoln has been 4 for an entire month now, but I still haven't written his birthday post. Today is the day! I did an interview with him to record his current favorites...he is at a really awesome age right now. Hilarious, kind, sensitive. Growing more and more coordinated. Some of the things he says, I have NO idea how he comes up with. Just pure awesomeness.

We had Lincoln's birthday party at a local gymnastics center. He LOVED it! He still asks to go back.

Getting some serious air on the trampoline.

Into the foam!

Lincoln picked chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing (chocolate is his favorite anything). His friends joined us for the party, which of course included a parachute!

His laugh is so infectious!

Favorite snack: Applesauce

Favorite food: Stir-fry

Favorite color(s): "When I was three, my favorite colors were black and green. Now my favorite colors are red and yellow, because I'm four."

Favorite game: Cooties (the board game)

Lincoln's preschool had an art show at one of the local libraries. His picture is the bottom right hand corner: "A Mixed-up Rainstorm with Colors"

Favorite toy: Rokenbok (he got this for his birthday)

Favorite book: "All of them! And, Richard Scarry." (he also likes Pete the Cat books, Franklin the turtle books, and really anything available. he just loves reading.)

Favorite TV show: Busytown Mysteries

Favorite movie: WALL-E

Rokenbok!

My new favorite picture. Lincoln's idea--"Beebs, come hide under here with me!"

What do you want to be when you grow up: "A trash man!"

Favorite friend: Mark (from preschool)

Favorite song: "The oh oh song!" ("some nights" by fun)

Lincoln picks up on everything! Riding in the car, he will be laughing, watching out the window, etc. and suddenly say, "Hey! They are talking about me!"...it will be an ad for Lincoln cars on the radio. He loves running races, riding his bike, playing outside, digging, and going to the park. He is so inquisitive and seems to absorb everything--he still remembers things from when he was 2 years old in Houston that we haven't talked about since he was 2 years old in Houston! Lincoln is very sensitive...he hates to upset us, and apologizes almost immediately if he thinks we are mad. It is very sweet, but we are also working on him sticking up for himself more. He is actually getting better at this with Bennett (although he does still let Beebs take over way more than he should...). Lincoln loves to tell others about things he has done and loves to hear stories from other people. The other night at dinner he turned to me and said, "Mama, did you have a nice day today? What was your favorite thing?" So sweet.

Other things Lincoln loves, in no particular order:

swimming (currently taking lessons and finally putting his whole face in the water!)
cooking with Mama
playing Hide and Seek
Music: "The King" by Piebald, "Rumor has it" by Adele, "Someone that I used to know" by Gotye, "The Cave" by Mumford and sons, "C is for Cookie" by Cookie Monster (this is mostly Beebs...). He also makes up his own songs all the times.
He loves making up secret words: "teeny froony" is the current secret password around here.
He likes to imitate Bennett, especially if Bennett is being mischievous (climbing on cabinets, dumping all the pasta noodles on the floor, etc.).

Lincoln is seriously so awesome to hang out with at this age. We are really loving 4 years old, and of course we really love this kid!

First Day of Preschool

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:37:00 +0000

Let's pretend it's September! Lincoln started preschool way back then, not now, as evidenced by the wearing of shorts, no coat, and last, but certainly not least, the date written on the chalkboard. The picture on the left was on his first day of Mother's Day Out last year, and obviously, the one on the right is him this year. As you can see, he is now a teenager. Seriously, that is a huge change, is it not??

Lincoln LOVES his preschool. L-O-V-E-S it (and so do I!). He asks every day if it is a school day (he only goes 3 days a week), and for awhile he was nearly in tears when we picked him up after school (a good problem to have, I suppose). He attends a play-based parent coop, so there is no formal academic component (which I love), and Lucas or I get to help out in the classroom once or twice a month (which Lincoln loves). They can go outside in any weather (and have...rain and snow just mean bring your boots!). A few weeks ago they were grinding whole grains into flour and mixing up "pies" (water and flour) with their freshly ground flour with the hose outside. There is also a fair amount of ghost and zombie chase, but I suppose that comes with the territory in a class of 6 boys and 1 girl.

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I got these pictures posted and mainly wrote the above text as filler space. So there you go :)

Lincoln Quotes Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:00:00 +0000

L: Mama, Daddy's going to open this box for me!
M: I can do it, Lincoln. Hand me the (closed) pocket knife.
L: No, Mama. This tool is for Daddies. Not for Mamas. You can't use it."

Bennett and Lincoln are playing "sleep" (best game ever-they just lay in bed and pretend to sleep). Bennett gets up to leave. Lincoln-"Beebs, are you going to go downstairs?" Beebs-"uh" Lincoln-"Ok. I will not miss you." Bennett leaves, walks into the hall, turns around and goes back into Lincoln's room. Lincoln-"Beebs, I love you. Do you want to share the covers?"

Waking up in the middle of the night: "Mama, where is the hair book you got me at the haircut store?"

Taking a sticker off B's arm.

L: Beebs wants to trade!

Me: are you sure? It looked like you just took it....

L: Yep.

Me: Well, what are you going to give him for the trade?

L: Um, Beebs could have..... a shoe!

L: Daddy, what's this? (grabs his crotch)

D: Ummm, that would be your scr*tum.

L: My grout? My grout! My grout! My grout!

D: Not grout. Scr*tum.

(10 minutes later)

L: Daddy, that's my walrus?

Lincoln went through a phase where after every bath or any time he was getting dressed, he would look at us out of the corner of his eye and slyly ask, "Do you want to see something new? Just take a look!" He would then expose himself while shouting, "PEN#S and GROUT" as loud as he could. Crossing our fingers we don't have a flasher in the making...

(Note: the above words have symbols in them because I don't want my blog showing up in search results for any weirdos out there)

Bennett comes to the back door completely covered in dirt.

Me: Bennett! How did that happen!

B: uh.

Me: Lincoln, how did Bennett get so dirty??

Lincoln: Oh! I was just tossing dirt on him. That's how.

I am in the kitchen listening to the boys play in the backyard and hear Lincoln say, "Open your mouth wider, Beebs. I can't fit all the dirt in." :X

(After a day full day of Halloween activities)...Me: Lincoln, we are going to make our pumpkin pizza, then get our costumes on, then go trick-or-treating for Halloween! L: HALLOWEEN! I didn't know it was Halloween! (Looks out the back window). Look, Mama....people are driving on Halloween! hahahahaha!"

Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 04:23:00 +0000

We went all out for Halloween this year!

Pumpkin carving:

Beebs thought the pumpkin guts were awesome. He would pick them up and go "Ewwwwww!"

So happy! Pumpkins!

Ewwwww!

Team effort.

We did it!

Bebo and pumpkin

We also painted a pumpkin (and hair, face, and arms)

Hat tip to Pinterest for candy corn parfait, mummy hot dog, and bone bread stick.

This was supposed to be a jack-o-lantern pizza. Lincoln laughed and said "No it's not." Fail.

The costume that keeps on giving. Third year in a row, this year featuring Beebs.

Robot! Antenna, working dial, glow stick panel, and CLAWS.

We got multiple comments while we were trick or treating that Lincoln's was the best costume of the night. Woohoo! They were troopers while trick or treating. We walked since there was no way Lincoln could sit in a wagon this year. It also came to our attention after the first house that he could not reach his bucket because there was a giant box in the way. Oops. Design flaw. By the end of the night, they were both exhausted and whining to go home. At one point, Lincoln actually said, "I just want to go to sleep right here in the grass." Lucas made them power through the last block home. No giving up! It's free candy!

Gigantic pumpkin.

At our local rec center Trick or Treat night. Robot costume wasn't ready, so we improvised with "The Squirrel."

I love that squirrel.

"Some Nights" by Fun. (by Lincoln and Daddy)

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 03:22:00 +0000

I posted this on Facebook, but in case you missed it there...here it is again. Lincoln says this is his current favorite song (replacing "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster the People...at least for now).

"Some Nights" by Fun.
Featuring Lincoln and Daddy

Bebo 16-18 months

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Well, Bennett has reached the year and a half marker and has gained yet another nickname. I'm not sure this kid even knows his real name is Bennett...

Here's Beebs (credit for this nickname goes, once again, to Lincoln)!

Let's see...what has B been up to lately? Well, he has some new words...actually, quite a few. My best attempt to list them: mama, dada, weh weh (wembley), ah duh (all done), muh (more), dehyeh (there it is), uh uh (no), uh (yes), nana (banana), wahwah (water), bah (ball), buh (book), boo (boot), ooo (shoe), woofwoof, waaama waaama (llama llama), dih (this), hi, hi mama (2 word utterance!), hi dada (another one!), dah (dog), moo, buh (bird), kak kak (quack), ooo ahah (monkey sound), ah (off), kuh (corn), koh (cold), pah (pop), and he signs caterpillar the exact same way Lincoln used to (I need to get it on video!). There are maybe more that I am forgetting...

Knows the following body parts, on himself or others: hair, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, legs, feet, fingers, toes, booty.

Loves taking his pants off. He also knows how to take his diaper off, so we do have to keep an eye on that...

Last week, right after bath, he ran into Lincoln's closet, got out the potty chair, sat on it, and actually peed. Totally random, but we'll take it! Not that I have any intention of potty training an 18 month old. That's just asking for a trip to the insane asylum.

We've been working on cutting down the nursing. Bennett was getting a bit obsessed with having to nurse every time I sat down, which obviously didn't fly with me. He has been night weaned since he had his overnight hospital stay (he was so sick he didn't even try to nurse, so it was an easy time to do that), and as of this week, is down to nursing only 3-4 times a day. Lucas puts him to bed at night, so really he just nurses in the morning, before nap, and sometime in the afternoon. Before bed is kind of hit and miss. He sometimes refuses then, so I certainly don't force it...

I think in part to cutting back on the nursing, Bebo has really increased the amount of food he is eating per meal. He has the least amount of intake at breakfast (as in, maybe a bite or two), but eats a good size lunch and dinner. Did you know that is typical for toddlers? They usually have one (or 2) meals that they will just pick at and the other meal(s) eat a regular amount. I've been meaning to do a post about typical toddler feeding patterns since I attended the Food Chaining conference, but keep forgetting. Favorite foods of the moment: edamame, pizza, cheese, chocolate chips, bananas, strawberries, apples, cooked carrots, crackers and peanut butter (he just licks the peanut butter off, though), raisins, grapes, pasta, chicken enchiladas, beans and rice, honey.

We took a trip up to Breckenridge for Oktoberfest. Mr. B had just gotten over a cold, and I think must have had some residual fluid in his ears, because he was MISERABLE on the drive (which took us to 11,000 feet above sea level). He cried, held his ears and head, and was all around a sad baby. He did fine once we actually arrived in Breckenridge and started walking around. Maybe the pressure in the car was too much when combined with the change in altitude? Who knows. He was so sad :(

On the gondola in Breckenridge. Bennett appears to be terrified in this picture.

There's Mr. B helping himself to the rest of my birthday cake in the refrigerator, crazy hair and all.

Lincoln and Beebs have started playing together more, which is awesome. I think it is so hilarious to watch them play. An example:
Lincoln: "Beebs, do you want to play trash truck and recycling center in the basement?"
Beebs: "uh"
Lincoln: "Ok. Let's go do it."
Beebs: "uh." (B then goes and pick up something up a truck and plays for about a minute)
Lincoln: "Ok, Beebs! Dump it here!"
Beebs: (dumps it in a totally different spot)
Lincoln: "NOT LIKE THAT, BEEBS! MAMA, BEEBS IS NOT DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY."

We have been spending as much time outside as we can. The weather has been amazing, and both kids ask to go out constantly. A few nights ago, we were on a walk in our neighborhood and discovered a park that we had never seen before--about half a mile from our house. All this time! A park within walking distance! And we'd been wasting it! Anyway, while we were exploring it, we saw these 2 deer in someone's backyard. They jumped the fence and wandered down near the sidewalk. The boys probably could have gotten close enough to touch them...they were not scared of people at all. Lincoln grabbed Bennett's hand to keep him from running up to the deer. And then I melted into a puddle.

Bennett experienced his first snow in Colorado! It came early (October!), but luckily I had picked up winter jackets a few days before at a consignment shop. Bebo LOVED the snow...he cried and cried when we came inside. Of course, the only fitting consolation prize was hot chocolate...with marshmallows.

It warmed back up about 5 days later, so we are back to daily plasma car/scooter rides, mowing the grass, drawing with chalk, and running into the street because it is hilarious (we have a strong difference of opinion, there). Also, Lincoln looks about 8 years old in this picture.

6 months until I have a 2 year old (again)!

13-16 months of Bebo

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Despite my best efforts (and lack of blogging), Bennett is continuing to get bigger and more toddler, less baby. Sigh. I started this post when he was 13 months and just this week he hit the 16 month milestone. This post is gonna take awhile...

Words:
mama, dada, weh weh (wembley), neh neh (lincoln), nana (banana), guh (go...especially likes to do ready, set, go!), yeh (yes), da (dog), ah duh (all done), ca (cat), wega (wagon), ehwuh (hello), hi, ka (quack) (at 13 months)
add to that: dihdih (lincoln), dee dee dee go! (1, 2, 3, go!), booo (book), boo!, joo joo (choo choo), boo (moo) (16 months)

signs: all done, more, bye, please, dog, fish, airplane (points finger up to the sky and waves it around), snake (at 13 months)
add to those: sorry (unfortunately, he has to use this a lot. lincoln is the poor recipient of much hair pulling and hits to the head), ball, thank you (16 months)

Points to: nose, eyes, hair, toes, sometimes belly (at 13 months)
add to those: ears, teeth, mouth (16 months)

shakes his head yes and no to answer questions (although, still mixes them up sometimes) :)

Sad as I am to admit it, he is a hitter. And a biter. :( Lincoln never was, so I am having to adjust to this...Most of the time, Lincoln is the unfortunate recipient of these attacks, but I have been bitten, too (though he was laughing, so he either thought he was being funny or I have bigger things to worry about...)

(Blurry, but so cute. He wanted to carry his glo-worm around.)

He had a run in with a terrible ear infection following our flight up to Omaha. Had 2 rounds of antibiotics (including one via shot), was pretty much miserable the entire trip, and had to endure allergy meds on top of the antibiotics (this kid HATES medicine).

His eczema and allergies started flaring up recently, so we put him back on the allergy med prescribed while we were in Omaha (Zyrtec). He was on it off and on for a few weeks. During this time, he was in a constant angry state...hitting, throwing tantrums, crying....and making this awful angry face with pursed lips while he breathed really fast through his nose. We attributed it to just feeling bad because of the allergies. When we got to Colorado (I'll save the move for another post), the anger just didn't get any better. Finally, I did some research and found that Zyrtec can have behavioral side effects. We weren't convinced that what we were seeing, but we pulled him off the Zyrtec that day. 4 days later, we have a different kid on our hands! He is happy, sweet, laughing again, back to his usual self. Conclusion: Zyrtec makes Bennett angry and mean. No more Zyrtec.

We call Bennett "Bebo" about 90% of the time around here. About a week ago, Lincoln informed us that we need to call Bennett "Bebowie" instead. So, now we throw that around every once in awhile, too. "Mr. B" still makes an appearance every so often.

Bebo LOVES water. He is not afraid at all, and fights to get away from us in the pool. He will stick his whole face in the water, blow bubbles, and try to swim. This is both exciting and terrifying, as I think he would just dive in if he could run away from us fast enough...

Our new house has 3 stair cases. Bennett thinks he can walk down them--he is wrong about that. He is pretty fast at sliding down on his belly, but that is apparently not the "cool" way to do stairs. He much prefers to stand up and walk down, giving me a heart attack as he tumbles down the last few stairs. You would think after the 6th or 7th time, the falling would deter him, but no....

He loves to get messy. He throws dirt (at his brother, the ground, the fence, the house, on his head...), pours water and sand on his head, eats sand and dirt, loves to play with the hose and make mud, throws rocks, eats leaves, and anything else that allows him to be outdoors and get messy. He is going to love Colorado!

Bennett sweats--a lot. We will get in the car and after like 2 minutes, I will turn around and see sweat dripping off him. The sweat makes his head itch, so he constantly has scratch marks from itching his head. He is just a hot kid.

Bebo thinks Wembley is his best friend. He follows him around and pulls his fur and his tail, which obviously is how you should treat your best friend (ha!). Wembley seems to be mildly afraid of Bennett. We are working on petting him gently, and especially not poking him in the eye.

We have determined that Bennett and Lincoln are super sensitive to detergents and soaps. While Lucas was out of town, I tried a new bath soap with the boys (Johnson and Johnson's Natural Head-to-Toe Baby Wash). Within minutes of getting out of the bath, Lincoln was covered in hives. I got Bennett dressed first so I could put lotion on Lincoln, and didn't notice that Bennett had broken out, too, until the middle of the night when he kept clawing at his chest :( Back to the Burt's Bees. We have also tried almost every Free and Clear detergent in the stores, as well as various natural detergents meant for cloth diapers, and every.single.one makes Lincoln break out in eczema-- EXCEPT for Rockin' Green. I am done experimenting now. We are sticking with Rockin' Green. Since we moved, we had to get rid of all our soaps, cleaning products, detergents, etc. (they don't move those on a moving truck, and we had NO extra room in our car!), so I am determined to keep our house as fragrance and dye free as possible!

(Thanks a lot, "all natural" soap)

Foods: eats most things. LOVES watermelon, grapes, noodles, broccoli, pizza, popsicles, and chicken. Still nurses and won't touch cow's milk (or really any other liquid other than water). Also loves to feed his dinner to Wembley, so we sometimes have to make Wembley wait outside until we finish eating. Says "mmmmm" while eating a lot :)

(Who stole the cereal from the cereal box? Mr. B, that's who.)

Teeth: Has 4 on top, 2.5 on the bottom. He is starting to get the back molars on the bottom, which I think is weird since he only has the middle two besides those. But, teeth are teeth, and new teeth make Bennett miserable.

Starts the night in our bed by himself (used to have an area on the floor that we set up for him, but our new bedroom isn't big enough), then we join him when we are ready to sleep. The plan is to move him into Lincoln's room, once we figure out how to fit a second bed in there...

He can run (fast!) and jump. He is also SUPER mischievous. He will look at us, smile, then run full speed into the street. He will also do that in grocery stores (forget about keeping him in a cart! that should be a game on some game show...try to keep Bennett in a grocery cart for longer than 5 minutes. And, go!). He also isn't big on riding in the car anymore. He does better facing forward (trialed him in Lincoln's seat), but I really want to keep him rear facing until at least 2. However, since we currently drive and pick-up Lucas from work since we are down to one car, I have to weigh that against 2 hours of screaming every day (30 minute commute x 4 per day). Maybe it will get better...

(Bennett was totally the instigator in both of these pictures. Lincoln followed him up there both times because he thought it was funny. And no, there is not medicine in that syringe (it was water from an art project), but yes, they are drawing with markers on the art table. It IS an art table, right?)

He also drew on his stomach and face. Of course.

There is so much more, but this is already a novel.

Happy 16 months, Bebo!

More Lincoln Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 03:26:00 +0000

According to Lincoln, here is how you make fire: gravel, concrete, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Then you call the fire department and say, "Come put out the fire!"

Me: Hey Lincoln, are you hungry? Want something to eat?
Lincoln: Ummmm, probably candy.

Lincoln: Mama, I want a 'nola bar in here now.
Me: Can you ask me in a nicer way?
Lincoln: Please and yes, mama. Mama, have a good day!
Me: Ok. I guess that works...

Lincoln has been writing a lot of songs lately. Two favorites:

Stinky Feet
by Lincoln

Stinky feet. Probably not! Stinky feet. Probably not! Stinky feet. Probably not!

Variation:
Stinky feet. Going up to the space station! Stinky feet. Going up to the space station!

Walls
by Lincoln

Hooked together! Hooked together! Hooked together!
Walls are made out of bricks!
Walls are made out of glue!
Walls are made out of pictures!
Walls are made out of sewing machines!
Walls are made out of grass!
Walls are made out of toys!
Walls are made out of cans!

(this song is best sung while running around in circles on a bed)

What Bennett is thinking:
Lincoln likes to interpret what he thinks Bennett is saying (whether Bennett actually said anything or not). Here are some favorites (note: Lincoln calls Bennett "Bebo" almost exclusively now...):

Mama! Bebo said, "I want to get on the fan and spin around!"
Bebo said, "I want to climb up the door and fall off."
Bebo said, "I want to take a bath and splash around."
While I was chopping bell peppers for dinner: Mama, Bebo just said, "I want to get in that pepper and sweep all the dirt out!" (????)
Mama, Bennett just said, "I want to get in the microwave and warm up."
While watching the Cookie Monster spoof of "Call Me Maybe" on YouTube: Bebo said, "I want to get in the computer and dance with those people!"

Need a good name for your Kentucky Derby bound race horse?
Here are the names Lincoln recently gave his action figure pilots:
-Glub Glub
-Sit on that chair (yes, his name is "sit on that chair")
-Cheese and Crackers

Names given to the songs on Bennett's music player (all well known classical music pieces):
-Whales Eat More
-Whales Eat More Chicken
-That Glass Broke

Lincoln's Current Favorite Songs:
"Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 (sings "moves like tiger)
"Rumor Has It" by Adele
"Someone That I Used to Know" by Gotye (he can recognize this in the first 2 notes if it comes on the radio in the car. he will also correct you if you get the lyrics wrong while trying to sing it yourself...)

Lincoln: What that is on your arm?
Lucas: It's a bruise...like an owie.
Lincoln: How'd you get an owie?
Lucas: I don't remember.
Lincoln: Somebody hit you with a stick?

Having a dance party, Lincoln announced, "I'm shaking my booty! Now it's a real party!"

Mr. B is ONE!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:28:00 +0000

I realized tonight that I never wrote Mr. B's one year blog post. I mean, I wrote it in my head, but I never wrote it here. Along with about 50 other posts. Maybe someday I will just block out an entire day to blog. The kids can just have full reign over the house and I will sit at the computer and yell out "Be careful!" and "Don't climb on that!" and "That's enough whining!" every so often to pretend I am still in charge.

Ha.

Anyway, I am now the parent of two children who are no longer babies. (Although, they probably don't know that since I call them "baby" about, oh, a billion times each day...). This makes me sad. And happy! And wistful. And proud! And a whole bunch of other emotions that leave me crying and rejoicing at alternate intervals.

For now, let's focus on the happy! Because, seriously. Look at this guy.

AAAAAAAAAdorable. Obviously, he loves beans. He also loves: noodles, cheese, strawberries, grapes, bread, applesauce, avocados, and red peppers. He has cut back on his bananas and cherrios intake (he's actually been refusing them...). He eats most things we put in front of him, though. He did go through about a week where he wasn't eating much of anything, but I think we are chalking it up to a bit of a sore throat/teething. Anyway, he ate enough noodles today at lunch that I think we can call him over that dry eating spell...

Drinking! He is still nursing, but we do offer him water at meals (and when we play outside...it is HOT already!). He drinks from a straw cup--he does great until he decides to start spitting it out. Then it is like a fountain flowing from his mouth, all over his clothes. He thinks it's funny. Me, not so much.

Mr. B is quite the little sneakster. He hops onto the back of the plasma car while Lincoln is riding around, hoping for a free ride. Lincoln usually reacts by screaming/crying that Bennett is bothering him, but here is a rare glimpse of him actually taking B on a lap around the house. I think it is hilarious, and sometimes I plop Bennett on there hoping Lincoln will laugh. He usually doesn't--he takes plasma car riding very seriously. Boo.

Bennett participated in his first Easter Egg hunt this year! Here is what he did with most of the eggs. Mmmm, delicious plastic.

With Daddy on Easter. Awwwwww!

And now, the Birthday Pics!

Birthday balloons! We actually took Bennett and Lincoln and met a few friends at the strawberry patch the week before for a small birthday party...but we forgot our camera. These pictures are on B's actual birthday with our family at home.

The birthday feast: mac and cheese and strawberries. You get your favorite foods on your birthday. It's a rule.

Reaching for the flame.

For me??

In it goes! He ate the whole thing. It was amazing. I actually thought they were pretty gross (they were chocolate zucchini muffins that I think went horribly wrong...), but Lincoln and Bennett both devoured theirs.

Happy Boy!

Also of note this month:

Full time walking.

Can go up stairs like a pro, downstairs is still a little tricky, but coming along.

Sleeping....eh. Nothing new to report.

Words: mama, dada, nana (banana), dah (dog), waga (wagon), no (plus a head shake), lots of growling and grunting (which Lincoln has taken up, too. that's pretty fun.), bah (ball), bobo (Lucas has heard this, I haven't yet), buh (bye, plus a wave), ahdah (imitation only for all done).

He loves to run into the street. Thinks it is hilarious every. single. time.

If we tell him "NO", he thinks that means we want him to do it again. We need to come up with a new way of telling him to stop doing something....he is sooooo mischievous!

Loves books--I Wrote to the Zoo is a current favorite. Anything with flaps is also great.

He also loves to dance! He will dance to music on the radio, to us singing, to the sound of a drum...anything making a beat is fair game :)

Happy Birthday, Mr. B!!!

May Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:16:00 +0000

Today is May 1st. I should be putting together my recap of my April goals...except, I didn't have any. Took the month off, apparently. I had no intention of doing that, just couldn't get my act together :)

May will be different!!

Food
Make homemade soft pretzels

Make pomegranate chicken

Books
Read Food Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems, and Expand Your Childs Diet (note: I just attended the Food Chaining conference in Denver. Awesome. I'm looking forward to using the info in therapy!)

DIY
Key rack for the front room

Clothes pin matching game for Lincoln

Finances
Open 2 new savings accounts

Home
Clean tile in bathroom

Replace kickboards in kitchen

Fresh Produce Tiered Jersey Skirt: Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:46:00 +0000

After Bennett was born, I went through a phase during which I only wore jersey knit skirts and tee-shirts. Despite being asked on a regular basis if I had to wear skirts for religious reasons, I persevered with this fashion statement ~~because I am nothing if not a fashion icon~~ because nothing else in my closet fit. Five months later, I finally fit into my clothes and thusly banished the jersey skirts to the back of the closet. I think Lucas cheered.

Recently, I was contacted by the fine people at Fresh Produce Clothes, who generously offered to send me an item from their clothing line to try. I perused their selections, and was drawn immediately to the Tiered Jersey Skirt. My brain screamed at me, "NO! No jersey skirts. It's too soon! You're not ready!" to which I replied, "I'll take one in spring green, please." Take that, sensibility!

I admit, I was nervous waiting for the skirt to arrive. The jersey skirts I wore postpartum were very thin and pilled easily in the wash. I was worried this new skirt would be similar.

Turned out, I didn't need to worry--the material is thick...much like a heavy duty t-shirt, only softer. The skirt features an elastic waist band, which is really comfortable. I also really liked the layers; much more flattering than a single piece of fabric.

I ordered the skirt in spring green. I admit, I was expecting the color to be a bit brighter based on the color swatch from the website. Not that I don't like the color--just not what I expected! The skirt actually comes in a huge range of colors, so if green isn't your thing, there's bound to be something that fits your taste.

Fresh Produce has a lot of great choices. Other items I had my eye on before going with the jersey skirt included the travel skirts (in particular, the On A Whim skirt) and the simple skirt. And there is a great selection of beachy pants/cover-ups and dresses in their summer clothes collection! The Fresh Produce company does ship internationally to over 200 countries, so even if you are not in the states, you can still shop from them.

Here is how I wore it. Also, notice that I only have one pose that I am capable of making. I was not the Beck sibling who modeled for Pa-Mi-Da. Right, Jeff? ;)

Wooden Necklace (thrifted), striped shirt (Old Navy), tiered jersey skirt in spring green (Fresh Produce), brown sandals (thrifted)

I originally attempted this with a brown belt as well, and have since concluded that I should not wear belts. The belt over shirt trend was not intended for us short waisted folk (or, I could be doing it wrong...that's always a possibility...).

Overall, I really like this skirt. It is going to get heavy rotation this summer--I think it would be cute with a floral shirt or maybe even a simple white tee. I'd steer away from red, however, unless you'll be attending a Christmas in July celebration. Then, by all means, pull out the crimson!

*disclosure: the skirt was provided for review by Fresh Produce Clothes. Review and opinions are my own.*

From the Mouths of Squirrels

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Lincoln was watching a video on the Kindle about a toucan. It was singing, "I'm a toucan....so are you!" Lincoln leaned in to the screen and whispered, "No. I a squirrel." Later in the song, the toucan sang, "I have a beak...and wings, too" and Lincoln replied, "No, no, no...I furry."

Me: Lincoln, what's Daddy's name?
L: Lucas.
Me: What's Mama's name?
L: Mama Squirrel

On a walk around the neighborhood, we saw 2 squirrels running around a yard.
Me: Look, Lincoln, squirrels!
L: Like us!

It has come to our attention that Bennett is no longer a squirrel. He is now a ghost (and is referred to as "Bennett Ghost" or sometimes just "Ghost.")

I have also just been informed that Lucas is not a squirrel either. He is now Daddy Monster, or "Monster" for short.

Looks like there are just 2 squirrels left in the house. Huh.

Lincoln fell and skinned his knee recently. He was complaining about it hurting one morning, so I offered to turn on a show to "take his mind off the owie" for a little bit. He burst into tears and said, "I don't want to take my mind off. I just want to weave it on."

Lincoln got his class picture from MDO. I asked him to name all his friends. It went a little something like this: Rowan (not Rowan), Lincoln, Rowan (actually Rowan), Rafael (yep), Rafael (nope), Rafael (no again), Rafael (still no), Rafael (no), Rafeal (wrong), Ayano (yes!), Rafael (and no), Rafael (sigh), and Ethan (yay!!). Apparantly, Lincoln thinks over half his classmates, including the girls, are name Rafael. Interesting, and mostly weird.

Bennett just tackled Lincoln, who responded by screaming, "MAMA! He's trying to take my skeleton apart!" Hahahahahaha!

A rare interview with the squirrel:

And, a spinning squirrel, just for fun:

Easter 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 03:41:00 +0000

A couple week ago, I was trying to remember what we did for Easter and had no memory of doing anything at all. Finally, I realized that was because Bennett and I spent last Easter doing this:

It was only an overnight hospital stay (for high bilirubin levels), but still so so hard to not be able to hold him all the time. My heart breaks for those parents whose babies have more than just a quick overnight stay to endure.

This year, we ditched the UV lights for neon colored eggs!

Lincoln found some "gum bubble"in one of his eggs. He had never had gum before, so we let him try it out while we were watching to make sure he didn't swallow it. He asked us about every 2 minutes if it was time to swallow yet! Ha!

There was a ~~person dressed as a creepy bunny~~ Easter Bunny at this egg hunt. Lincoln was uncertain what to do; he ended up touching his hand with one finger, then backing away. I don't blame him. We've actually never really talked about the Easter Bunny with him, so I guess he may have just been confused. He did somehow work it out the the Easter Bunny is supposed to bring eggs to hide on Easter. When we brought him outside for our egg hunt at home today, the first thing he said was, "The Easter Bunny came to our house!", so I guess we managed to introduce the bunny without explaining anything ourselves.

Bennett joined us in a hunt put on by our church yesterday (he napped through the first one). He was all about putting the eggs into and out of his bucket. Lincoln actually got a bunch of eggs! In the past, he always ends up with maybe 5 eggs, but today it finally clicked that he didn't have to inspect each egg right away :)

Our church also had a festival for the kids following the egg hunt. Lincoln got to ride a pony for the first time!

This morning, we went to church to celebrate, then came home and did our Easter Egg hunt:

The boys in their best Easter plaid:

We had an Easter dinner of pork roast, cheese potatoes, fruit salad, and rolls. (In addition to eating our weight in candy.) After dinner, we worked in the yard until bed time, planting trees and digging out dallis grass. A great day!

Happy Easter!

Update: March Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:20:00 +0000

Didn't do the greatest this month...I'll just carry over for April ;)

March Goals

Food

Make homemade soft pretzels (didn't get to this)

~~Make~~ homemade falafels (done! delicious! make these!)

Blarney Stones!! (done! did any of you try them this year? if not, you guys are really missing out!!)

Books

~~Read Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider~~ (done! really great book. i finished it really motivated to organize our home and have been making steady progress. highly recommend it!)

Re-read The Hunger Games (have to prepare for the movie, of course!) (didn't get to this, but we DID see the movie!)

DIY

~~Not-Paper Towels (really, just prep some prefold diapers to use for cleaning...)~~ (done! we actually did this one without even trying. we ran out of paper towels over a week ago and just haven't bought any more. instead of prepping prefolds, i found some microfiber cloths and old dish towels that we have been using. i do need to work out a laundry routine for these...)

Key hooks for the front room (going on the April list...)

Finances

Open 2 new saving accounts (April, again)

Read How to Save for Retirement Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery by Gail Marksjarvis (I am about halfway through this amazing book. Please, read it. Especially if you are in high school, or college, or your early 20s. For real. Wish I had.)

Home

~~Sort through toys~~ (done! pretty painless, except for the few broken toys lincoln found in the trash...which he pulled out, exclaiming "How'd these get in here? That was an accident...")

~~Price items for garage sale~~ (we did this, then decided not to have the garage sale. now i am un-pricing items to donate.)

~~Hang pictures in front room~~ (done!)

(imagine gray walls, though! freshly painted since i took this picture!)

~~Paint front room, kitchen, and Lincoln's room (sounds ambitious, but my parents are coming to visit and bringing their painting clothes!)~~ (done, done, and done!)

Health

Trying again on the whole "drinking more water" thing... (nope. one more try in April.)

For Keri

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:37:00 +0000

This post is for you, Keri.

My friend Keri has been sharing some of her super cute outfits on her blog. She told me to share one of mine, too, but I wasn't sure anyone would care what I wore last weekend (or ever). To compromise, I am posting this outfit, but not sharing the link on Facebook...which means only you dedicated few people who actually check this blog through a blog reader or actually visiting the page yourself instead of clicking through Facebook will see this post (and google analytics tells me that's like 10 people, so hopefully the 10 of you don't mind!)

I wore this to go to our city's 50th birthday party celebration. It was an outdoor event and we walked around a bit. Since I stay home most days, my "outfits" usually consist of t-shirts and jeans....or pajamas.

Breakdown:
Boots, Etienne Aigner (thrifted from Goodwill), Trouser Jeans (Ann Taylor Loft), Shirt dress by Volcom (secondhand from Scout Dry Goods and Trade in Omaha), stretch cardigan (had since high school...wish I had 10 more), wooden necklace (secondhand from Scout, again), tagua nut bracelet (from a vendor at Scout).

Conclusion: I like shopping at Scout.

11 months. 11 MONTHS!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:51:00 +0000

Mr. B.

Bebo.

B to the Bizzo

Bennett.

(Lincoln is such a good helper...here he is trying to find whatever piece of dirt/mud/lint that Bennett has eaten. Repeat every 10 minutes.)

This has been an exciting month for Bennett! He has joined the ranks of the walkers around here...and he is getting fast.

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit. Most of their time was occupied with "Tornado Rex" (seen above), but Bennett had his share of Grandparent's fun, too.

No spring in Texas is complete without Bluebonnet pictures. Bennett, of course, missed out last year by not being born yet (the nerve!), so this is his inaugural Bluebonnet experience. He thought it was delightful to pick them and subsequently, eat them.

Brothers in the field.

Grandparents, too!

Bennett is quite the eater these days. As you can see, he feeds himself. Some favorites: beans, noodles, raspberries, strawberries, chicken, smoothies, grapes, jelly sandwiches, cheese, olives, and cherrios.

He has also been drinking water from his own cup (and actually swallowing some of it, so that's a bonus...).

He says a few words:
Mama, Dada, Ba (ball), Duh (duck), Dah (dog).
He has imitated a few others:
ahduh (all done), gah (bye?), ***(something unintelligible that was clearly meant to be grandma and grandpa)
Signs:
dog, all done, more, wave bye

He also shakes his head for no and will point to things.

He loves to play "Where'd Bennett go?" When we say it, he covers his face with his hands until we say "There he is!" and he peeks out. So much fun! He also initiates the game by covering his face with his shirt or a cloth when changing his diaper. Awesome.

B also loves to poke people in the face, tackle Lincoln, make sounds with his tongue, and be outside (all the time!). And make jokes:

His favorite toys are balls (he can already throw it a good distance!), a book about babies, the plasma car, and shoes (he likes to try and put them on our feet, or his own).

He likes to get in and out of things (boxes, the bathtub) over and over again...and he also likes to put items into boxes or cups or bowls and then take them out (over and over again). Speaking of bathtubs...Bennett has always loved to take a bath, but he is now currently in a phase of hating a bath. Lincoln went through something similar and it only lasted a few weeks. Strange.

11 months old. Wow, that went fast!

(Mr. B will be ONE in 2.5 weeks. Writing it down apparently does NOT make it more real...)

St. Patrick's Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:39:00 +0000

We went all out for St. Patrick's Day this year. I've always loved St. Patrick's Day. My grandma used to wear a clip of fake green hair on St. Patrick's Day...I need to get one of those for next year!

We started the day with a full Irish breakfast. When we went to Ireland, we ate this breakfast (or a similar variation) every day at the Bread and Breakfasts where we stayed. So delicious.

Our version contained: tea for me, coffee for Lucas, milk for Lincoln, bacon, sausage, eggs, Irish brown bread with Kerrygold butter, and grilled tomato.

Check out that awesome center piece...that pot used to have a basil plant. When the plant died, I just left the pot out on the deck. Apparently, some clovers seeded there. BAM. St. Patrick's Day centerpiece, done.

Bennett is decked out in his green in this picture, but I assure you, Lincoln did change after breakfast. Lucas does not own any green shirts. For shame.

Since we had such a gargantuan breakfast, we went with a light lunch. My intent was for these green smoothies to actually be green for St. Patrick's Day...but the blueberries took over and ruined everything. Seriously, I put at least 2 cups of spinach in these, and not even a green hint remained. Oh, well.

After lunch, we set out on our first geocaching adventure. It is perfect for St. Patrick's Day--we were searching for "treasure," just like the gold at the end of the rainbow. Or something like that. Anyway, it was awesome! We found all three caches that we set out to find. Lincoln loved "finding boxes" and already asked to go back and do it again.

We ended the day with blarney stones, of course:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

(raise an invisible glass...Slainte!)

March Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:23:00 +0000

March Goals

Food

Make homemade soft pretzels

Make homemade falafels

Blarney Stones!!

Books

Read Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider

Re-read The Hunger Games (have to prepare for the movie, of course!)

DIY

Not-Paper Towels (really, just prep some prefold diapers to use for cleaning...)

Key hooks for the front room

Finances

Open 2 new saving accounts

Read How to Save for Retirement Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery by Gail Marksjarvis

Home

Sort through toys

Price items for garage sale

Hang pictures in front room

Paint front room, kitchen, and Lincoln's room (sounds ambitious, but my parents are coming to visit and bringing their painting clothes!)

Health

Trying again on the whole "drinking more water" thing...

Free Pancakes for Everyone!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:21:00 +0000

Yesterday was free pancake day at IHOP! Free pancakes! Yes! Would we go? Of course we would! We would have syrup! We would have butter! We would get out of the house!

When we arrived at the House O' Pancakes, we were greeted by a group of the sweetest Shriners ever. Because free pancake day is also a fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network, the local Shriners were spending the day opening the door for patrons and handing out stickers and coloring books. Lincoln was excited about the coloring book; less so about the sticker (he may have cried when I asked if he wanted me to put it on his shirt. The answer was an emphatic, "NO! (whimper). I just want to save it for later..."). He is into saving things these days--mostly food, but apparently stickers, too.

Mr. B got to try pancakes for the first time! He was a fan. Not of eating them--of throwing them on the floor. Before we left I had to crawl under our table picking up tiny pieces of pancake. Don't let that piece on his face fool you. It probably ended up on the floor, too.

Lincoln, on the other hand, devoured his pancakes. These weren't the tiny, kid size pancakes, either. They were huge, plate size pancakes. Lincoln at 2 of them. Inhaled might be a better term. Before they brought the pancakes out, Lincoln noticed the assortment of syrup bottles on the table. He decided strawberry was the way to go. After eating a few bites, he decided to add some butternut to it (really, it is butter pecan, but mama read it wrong, so butternut it is). BUTTERNUT! AMAZING! He seriously went through about a quarter of the bottle.

After watching him happily eating his strawberry/butternut pancakes, I began to rethink my objection to butternut syrup. How could it be gross if Lincoln was so happy eating it? He just asked for his fourth pour of it! It must be delicious. Butternut syrup for everyone! I then found my hand reaching for the butternut syrup bottle and inexplicably pouring it on my own short stack. And that is the story of how I ruined my delicious pancakes. Ruined. Butternut syrup=disgusting.

Luckily, our fun was just beginning! Just after the butternut ruination, Bennett discovered how to get out of his high chair and began to climb over the side. Once that trick was learned, there was no getting him back in there. I also learned he had no intention of sitting on my lap, so I had the privilege of standing up and doing laps around the table while holding the baby for the rest of the meal. I believe it was at this point when the waitress attempted to sit a man and woman at the table next to us and they requested a different table on the other side of the restaurant. Too bad-I would have shared our butternut syrup.

The rest of the meal was kind of a blur, but went something like:

Lincoln needs his pancake cut up into smaller pieces. In order to do this, I place Bennett down on the restaurant floor and let him look out the emergency exit door. At this point, there is pretty much no one sitting by us, so it wasn't like he was going to crawl under people's tables or something.
I give Bennett a drink of my water. He spits out the water all over his shirt.
Lincoln has stopped eating, but I notice there are 3 bites left on his plate. I tell him that it is ok if he is full...he doesn't have to finish it! That was a giant pancake. He looks worried and says, "Don't fwow it away! I still eating, Mama. Mama, you help me eat?" I then help him scoop his syrup soaked pancake bites onto his fork with one hand while Bennett pulls on my ponytail and I am powerless to stop him.
They never bring us a check, so eventually I just gather everyone up and go to the register. Once I get there I learn that the waitress just cashed us out since all we had was the free pancakes. I had figured we'd still get a receipt or something. Now I know.
We dropped our donation in the box, then stood for 2 minutes in front of the door because apparently, the best time of the day to mop the entrance is right when a mom and her 2 kids are trying to leave.

This probably seems like I didn't have much fun, but really, it was pretty hilarious. We'll totally do it again next year, with the addition of one extra adult (right, Lucas?)

February Goal Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:18:00 +0000

February Goals

(Yes, I am aware I never published these at the start of the month. Let's pretend I actually remembered to do that and say this is an update instead of the first time you are seeing these...)

Food

~~Make homemade hamburger buns~~ (yum, and easy!)

~~Make Lemon Buddies~~ (from Pinterest) (I was very sad that i didn't like these. I love lemon anything...except these. Waaaaaay too sweet. I think it was the white chocolate chips; not a big white chocolate fan anyway, and it kind of ruined these.)

Books

~~Read The Money Saving Mom's Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, and Save Thousands a Year by Crystal Paine~~ (Done! Highly recommend this book. Not only is it a great read with lots of amazing suggestions, but she is donating all the proceeds from the book to fund the Child Survival Program in the Dominican Republic, which offers health care to expectant mothers and children. More details here!)

~~Read How to Declutter Your Home and Your Life by Martha Sinclair~~ (Done. Well, done as far as I plan to ever be. This book was not good and I actually had to stop reading it halfway through because I couldn't justify wasting any more time on it. The writing style was just not what I expected for a published book; it was more like what you would see if you asked someone for a list of ideas for ways to store things in your house. (ex.: get some bins from the dollar store!) This was a "freebie of the day" on Kindle, so at least I didn't waste money on it.)

DIY

~~Freezer paper stencil shirts for President's Day~~ (Done!)

Finances

~~Review current budget and adjust bill due dates to accommodate Lucas' new pay cycle.~~ (Done! Well, mostly. We may need to make a few more adjustments. He gets paid at the end of the month now instead of twice a month, so it is kind of throwing off our bill due dates...)

Home

~~Go through house and throw out junk~~ (Done! It was amazing how much paper we had accumulated that was just sitting around...junk mail, grocery lists, to-do lists, etc.)

~~Go through front room and sort stuff into keep/sell/give away boxes~~ (Done!)

List leftover cloth diapers online to sell and clear out of garage (In progress. I've sold about 12 so far...)

Health

Drink more water (Once again, failure on the health goal).

from recent days...

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:46:00 +0000

I am currently laying next to lincoln in his room waiting for him to fall asleep. his breathing is slowing down, so that's a sign that sleep is approaching. anyway, I brought my phone in with me to help me stay awake and discovered the ability to upload pictures from my phone to my blog and write a post at the same time. so, here are some recent pictures of our days around the house...

Wagon rides. This is becoming a daily occurance. I try to wait as late in the day as possible...usually as a filler during the dreaded 4:30-5:30 hour. Bennett actually fell asleep like that during our last walk. Impressive, considering the quite noticeable lack of shocks on the wagon...

Everyone needs a picture of their kids in the dryer, right? Here is ours. I actually found them like that after I went and put the emptied laundry in our bedroom. We then had a nice talk about never ever ever closing the dryer door while inside the dryer. Ever.

And a hug! Because brothers gotta hug (name that movie...). Brothers also gotta eat grass, apparently.

One last one...Mr. B, taking yet another rest on a random floor. He loves doing this. Now to get him to do this at nap time....

Things Lincoln Says

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:57:00 +0000

(I hope you are able to imagine him saying these in his own voice. Hilarious, this kid!)

"OK. Here's we going to do. We going to get all the monsters and wodats and say "GO AWAY!!!!"

"You pwease come help us, mama? Cause we doin' somfin' fun. You pwease pway wif us?"

"Da pumped up kids, bedder run bedder run"

"I all full, you see my big belly?"

"Dis is my special game. You pwease help me wif my special game?"

"Now let's go to da mine! It's my favorite. It's da hitting mine." (after watching the video about salt mines...)

In response to the mama who asked "What's your name?" at the play center: "Squirrel"

"I just doing wike dis..." (when we ask him what he is doing)

"Tell Bennett say "All done!"

"You want to pet my fwuffy tail? It's vewy soft!" (as the squirrel, of course)

"I sorry for doing dat" (when he thinks he is in trouble)

"Where (....) come from?" (today it was his belly, potty, chairs, and toilets)

"You wanna pway wif dis affer mama and I make a tower, Beddett?" (subbing after for while)

"How'd dat come from?" (meaning where'd that come from)

"Put it in a tuppaware and DON'T frow it away. And DON'T eat it. And DON'T give it to Wembwey." (whenever we ask him if he is done eating and he still has food leftover...)