I'm Not Bad

Quick story for this morning, and then this weekend I'll have photos to share from this past week.

We went out to breakfast on Sunday morning. Since Hudson is not in diapers anymore, we take him to go potty quite a bit. As soon as we got to the restaurant, I took him with me to the women's restroom. He is fascinated with the door locks. Not fun when I'm USING the restroom, and he is in there with me opening and closing the locks.

We ate our breakfast, and then Hudson decided that he needed to go potty again. This time Eric took him to the men's room. After about three minutes, Eric comes back alone. He said to me that as they were leaving the bathroom, Hudson darted away from him and was in the women's restroom...alone!

I jumped up and ran to go get him. I walked in the bathroom, and all was quiet, but I could see him in one of the LOCKED stalls.

I said in my sternest voice, "You open this door!"

"No!"

Nasty words raced through my mind, but I just yelled at him to open the door again.

He did unlock the stall this time and said, "Sowwy Mommy." I opened the door to find him sitting on the toilet pooping! Oh my gosh! He locks himself in a stall and USES it properly! I wiped his butt, and off we went.

Once we got outside we told Hudson that it was bad for him to run away from Daddy like that. He pipes up from the backseat and said, "I not bad. I said sowwy Mommy. I not bad."

And I have a feeling that he truly believes his misdeed was canceled out by his saying sorry. Little stinker. He so knows how to work us. He uses kisses, hugs, and sorry's in a very convincing and cute manner. Lord help us.

Birds

I was planning to write this whole big blog post about my mom and her luck (or lack of) when it comes to dealing with animals.

However, I am not feeling very witty tonight. The bird flying down the chimney and St. Bernard stories will just have to wait until tomorrow.

It just seems like everyone under the age of 5 who lives here has been crying off and on since we got home. I'd cry too, but I'm too tired.

Embarrassed

I embarrassed my five-year-old last week. The telling of this story is much funnier in person because it involves me making hand gestures, but I'll do my best to get the "funny" part across.

The entire school was at Mass, and it had just finished. My class sits directly behind the kindergarten class, which means I was about five pews back from Evan. He happened to turn around and look at me, so I flashed him the "I love you" sign in sign language.

Evan looked at me with a look of utter horror and embarrassment. He shook his head "no" several times and tried to avoid my gaze.

I was stunned that he was refusing my heartfelt gesture of "I love you," so I did what any rational mother does who has been rebuked...I poured it on thicker! I "re-sent" my sign language "I love you," but this time I threw my arm out with much more force, just in case Evan misunderstood me the first time!

This time, Evan looked at me with a rather pitying look on his angel face and simply turned around.

I sat in stunned disbelief that my firstborn child was turning his back on me! He was ignoring my message of love. He wanted no part of the good feelings coming out of my heart!

See if I offer public displays of affection anymore! And by that I mean that I'll just double my efforts!

What can I say? I just love my babies.

Sprinklers

The weather has been in the high 80's lately, which in our book is HOT! The grass in the backyard was dying, so Eric did some work on the sprinklers today while the boys enjoyed running through the water.


The slide was super slippery once it got wet.


It looks like Hudson was crying, but he was laughing in this picture. He kept bouncing onto the grass on his butt and jumping up for more.


Evan did the same.


Hudson was starting to get cold from the water. At least he still has his Swimmie on here. At some point in the afternoon he decided to remove it and run through the sprinklers nude.


When did my baby get so big?


And when did this one turn into a little man?

Turns out the grass was yellow because two little boys, who shall remain nameless, were messing around with the sprinkler wires near the pipes in the corner of the backyard. The littlest one is probably to blame. He has a knack for breaking things.

Mother...I changed the main picture for you. Is it "summery" enough? And you should be happy because I have posted for like five days in a row. No complaining!

Brothers

I have to say, the boys played pretty well together all day today. It is almost time for bed, and we are winding down the day. Evan is playing his DS, and Hudson seems content to sit beside his big brother drinking his milk. Evan, miraculously, doesn't seem to mind his brother's presence in the chair next to him.





Or maybe I spoke too soon. As I loaded these pictures on the computer in the office, I could hear the two angels yelling at each other. Oh well. At least they look content in the photos.

Running Water By The Full Moon

When I was little, my mom used to tell me that my Indian name was Running Water By The Full Moon. She always loved watching cowboy and Indian tv shows and used to say she wanted to marry an Indian and have a papoose baby.

Well, I wasn't exactly a papoose baby, but maybe Hudson can fill that role. He put his pajamas on by himself tonight, but sort of missed the boat...or canoe! Besides wearing one long sleeved and one short sleeved shirt, he stuck both legs through one leg hole and pulled them all the way up to his waist. The effect is a baby loin cloth.

Maybe I should call him Little Baby With A Full Moon!





Oh, I can't wait until he gets married, and I can share these pictures with his future wife!

May Crowning

Every May we have a special prayer service at school to crown Mary with flowers. It is a really sweet prayer service where all the kids are asked to bring flowers to school to lay before the statue of Mary.

This year the kindergarten class was in charge of the prayer service. Evan had a line in the litany and did a great job.


Evan in my classroom before school started with the flowers for Mary that I actually remembered to buy the night before!


The kindergarten kids sitting in the choir area at church waiting for the prayer service to begin.


Evan reading his line.


The statue of Mary after all the school kids adorned her with flowers. So pretty.

Once the service was over, all the flowers were passed out to all the teachers! I now have some beautiful roses sitting on my desk. Those pretty peachy roses just to the left of the statue are now mine!

The Lunch I Made

This is the lunch I created for Mrs. Vela, the music teacher at my school. I went to Dollar Tree and all the red, white, and blue stuff was front and center right as you walked in the door. I think it turned out pretty cute.

For lunch, Mrs. Vela had a Togo's sandwich, Cheetos, Fiddle Faddle, lemonade, M&M's, and a bowl of strawberries and blackberries with whipped cream. Plus, she got to take home her entire place setting! You can't see it in the picture, but she also had three balloons tied to the little centerpiece in the middle. It was quite a festive place setting!

Sister Monica drew my name and made me a beautiful Hawaiian place setting. I had a delicious sandwich from Panera, a salad, soup, and dessert from Eddie's Bakery. Can't beat that for a great lunch!

Still Coughing/Teacher Box Lunch

I am still coughing. It hurts.



Another teacher dubbed me "The Little Black Raincloud" a few weeks ago. I kind of like it. I'm going with it. I tend to be dramatic in thinking of worse case scenarios, but I'm not a dreary person. I'm rather peppy. It's quite contradictory.

Today was the day we all drew names out of a hat and provided lunch for that person at school. I did a red, white, and blue theme for the music teacher. Sister Monica drew me and did a Hawaiian theme for my lunch! I had a delicious sandwich, soup, salad, pastry dessert, Pepsi, tea, and I got to bring home all my goodies including a beautiful vase with a chocolate rose!

I love the box lunches. So much fun. I should have taken pictures.

Hudson took his diaper off in the middle of the night and woke up wet. Go figure.

Evan found a softball on the sidewalk and threw it back over the fence to the softball girls. Then he left his folder and lunchbox on the sidewalk. Nice.

Eric was tired this morning.

I didn't want to cook or do laundry. We need towels. Eric threw a load in the washer.

Evan has a part in the May Crowning of Mary tomorrow. I did remember to buy flowers for Mary. Do I get points for that?

Mother's Day/Sick

I'm sick. A sore throat started on Friday afternoon and got progressively worse. I saw the doctor on Saturday morning. A swab for strep turned up negative, but I felt pretty crummy all weekend.

Mother's Day was nice. I was served a mimosa in bed, and later received a yummy home cooked breakfast. We met my mom, sister, and nephews at the Old Spaghetti Factory for a mid afternoon lunch.

I came home and proceeded to take a long nap on the couch. Being sick bites.

Still don't feel good today. Throat, chest, and back are killing me. Hopefully this passes soon.

Bedtime and Potty

I wish I had some pictures of Hudson wearing underwear. But I don't. I'll have to get some photos of him to post. Because I'm one of those moms who lives to embarrass her kids.

In any case, Hudson has decided to start potty training himself. I really wouldn't have minded if he had decided to stay in diapers for longer. He's not even three. But he has other ideas.

On the weekend he runs around without a diaper and has not had any pee accidents. Unfortunately, there have been some poop incidents. The kind where you stick the kid in the shower, clothing and all.

We are sort of following Hudson's lead on the whole potty issue. If he wants to go sans diaper, fine. If not, I'll slap one on his tiny butt.

As for bedtime, we are toughening up when it comes to his night time shenanigans. Eric had a late meeting on Tuesday, so I decided to be "tough mommy." I used The Nanny approach and just kept putting him back in bed without speaking. I must have put him back in bed 30 times. He screamed and cried and made my heart hurt when he begged for hugs I refused to give. He lasted about an hour.

Last night he lasted 45 minutes. Tonight he's lasted over an hour, but he has only gotten up a handful of times. I think we are making progress, but I don't want to jinx it. Eric and I just have to stay strong on this one. I refuse to have a 2-year-old who is a "night owl." Two-year-olds don't need to be night owls. They need to go to bed.

Sorry for the ramble. These are the two biggest issues in our life at the moment! Hopefully I'll get my act together soon and get some photos of the wee ones.