Make A Wish

Last weekend, as I was tearing up the turkey carcas to boil it for soup, I accidently cracked one side of the wishbone. It wasn't broken all the way through, but it would never hold up to making a wish. But I kept it anyway and let it dry, in hopes that Nick wouldn't notice it. So on Thursday, before I left for choir, I held the wishbone up to Nick and said, "Make a wish." (Of course I gave him the broken side, knowing I would get to make my wish!) Unfortunately, he caught on before we started pulling on it for real. I had a good laugh!

Yesterday, when we were playing in the snow, my son displayed his brilliance once again. He made a hand print in the snow, with his mitten on and said, "Look, letter Q" And sure enough, with the mittens on, it kind of did look like the letter 'Q', a rounded top and a tail off to the side (from the thumb!)

However, he is not showing himself to be that brilliant with his new habit of sticking his tongue out at Mommy and Daddy when he is upset! Too bad it's so cute. I might be a more effective disciplinarian if I wasn't chuckling at him, while trying to tell him "NO!"

There are a couple more pictures I wanted to share, but there is something wrong with the site and it won't give me the toolbar that has all the options on it. I will keep trying.

Today, there was a knock and the door and Joey gets real excited and says, breathlessly, "Grandma Mary?" No. "Nanny?" No. "Grandpa Chucks?" No. "Papa Buddy?" No. I was so tired of telling him all the people that it wasn't, all I wanted to say was "Yes yes yes yes!" I can't wait until next summer when I can finally tell him that we actually get to see some of his most treasured loved ones.

Snow Angel

Here is the promised video of Joey making his snow angel! He is so precious. He got really good and moving his legs, but his arms still need a little work. Also, we will need to work on being able to move both the arms and legs and the same time! He had so much fun in the snow. Here's thing of you, Aunt Angie (in Texas!)

Snow Ball

Bubba is trying to make a snowball. First, the mittens are too big, but they don't really come any smaller. And who can move their hands in mittens anyway? Second, the type of snow we get up here is not the greatest for making snowballs. Basically, Joey just picked up a handful of snow and called it good!

Playing In The Snow

Here is Joey's tiny snowball. It started out with lots of snow, but the snow is so soft that the more you try to pack it, the more it falls apart. Then, trying to hand it to a boy with mittens on that are too big, just made the snowball smaller!
Here is the snow angel I promised for Aunt Angie in Texas. This was Joey's first attempt and I must say he did a great job....video coming soon!


This is how we bundle Baby Nick, inside Mommy's coat. I'm the only photographer here during the day, so I tried getting a picture with my arm extended and not looking at what I actually got...not too bad.
He is so cute, even from this close up. Again, it is kind of hard getting a good picture while he is bundled right up against my chest.
Big smiles. He's so happy to actually play outside for a change! It's usually too cold.
Mommy taught him that eating certain snow is okay, as long as Mommy or Daddy is with him. He loved it! He said, "That's delicious."
I love snow on trees, I think it is so beautiful!

The First of December

It's hard to imagine that it is already the first of December. Only 30 more days of 2006. Some things I am most looking forward to in 2007 are the vacations of my Mom and Dad, my brother Josh and his family, and my uncle and aunt, John and Cindy. Why? Because they are vacationing in Alaska...which means I will get to see family!!! Of course, not until summer, but I can still start counting down the days!

The choir only has four more rehearsals before we perform our Christmas program. It is going very well. The tree has been put up in the sanctuary, and I believe it is 35 feet tall! I hope I can request a low "branch!" Pastor wants to start recording on Tuesday so we can have CD's for people so they can continue to enjoy the music. We are also filming the performances so videos can be made as well.

Last night at practice, Tina (the lady I went to college with) asked me if I were going to the Women's Tea tonight. I hadn't even heard about it. It's a potluck, and Tina insisted that I come and sit at her table. It was so nice to be invited. I had more fun at choir last night than I ever had because Tina sat next to me...it was just like old times in choir in college. Not that we sat next to each other in college, but it was the connection, not only to my past, but to something familiar that was so nice. I get so little connection to anything familiar up here.

Nick is on call this week, so if he gets a call tonight while I'm at the Tea, I will have to leave so he can have the van. I pray that if he does get called, it won't be anything that he has to leave home for. I could really use this time to be with other adults. I love my kids, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere but home with them during the day, but sometimes, I just need a little more grown-up conversation.

It snowed last night. I don't know how much yet, but at least we have a nice pretty covering of white again. The days are noticeably shorter now. The sun didn't rise this morning until 9:46am! No wonder my kids sleep in until ten or later. They are still asleep now, and it is almost half past ten. The sun is scheduled to set at 3:52pm, so we are only getting six hours of daylight. That's still enough for now, but I know the days are just going to keep getting shorter.

I should go check on my kids, make sure neither has rolled out of our bed!
Have a fantastic Friday and enjoy this first day of the month!

Little Dipper

Joey loves to dip any food that he can...french fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, etc. He dips in ketchup, mayonnaise/mustard dip, ranch, and he new dip "bye-guh-boo" sauce. Yes, that is barbeque sauce! He also knows that when grilling, the bye-guh-boo is hot!

He likes to watch the preschool aged cartoons on the Disney channel, and one of his favorite shows is Handy Manny. It's about a handyman and his tools who help out their friends around town, fixing things. The tools are Turner (a flat head screwdriver), Felipe (a Phillips head screwdriver), Rusty (a wrench), Dusty (a saw), Squeeze (pliers), Stretch (measuring tape), and Pat (he's a hammer). Joey will play Handy Manny around the house. He has a wooden tool set and when he uses a particular tool, he'll say, "A screwdriver like Turner." The other day, he started talking about "Oh leapin'" and I couldn't quite figure out what he was trying to say. Finally he said, "A screwdriver like Oh leapin'!" He was trying to say Felipe! I got a good chuckle out of that one. At least now I know.

I don't want to jinx myself, but Baby Nick has been sleeping through the night for about a week now. He starts out laying on my chest, and when he is asleep enough to move, I transfer him to his bassinet. He is turning out to be a tummy sleeper like his brother, which is funny because he still doesn't like being on his tummy when he's awake. But it seems to be working during the night. When he starts waking up in the morning, I can usually put him back on my chest and he will give me another hour or two of rest! One of these nights I will try walking him into his bedroom and laying him in his crib to see if he will still sleep through the night.

Stand Up

Most of you know that my kids are some of the most precious, angelic kids that you can know. However, Joey is two and a half, and with that comes some normal behavioral quirks. Let's just say that he is very good at being two!

This video has no sound, so I will explain. This is what we go through every night trying to get Joey dressed for bed. Nick is asking Joey to stand up in order to put his pants on.....it takes several tries!

Translation

If the picture is still too small to see Aubrey's translation, this is what she said:

Jesse's translation (just in case!):
"Hi my name is Jesse. I like you Trinity and you are a joy to be around." The dashes are spaces and he is a little confused about his new favorite symbol "&". He doesn't quite understand that it replaces the entire word "and".

Precious Words

I had a good birthday. My kids were fairly good, my husband and I enjoyed our time out, and I got to talk to Megan, Mom, Aubrey, Grandma Dooley, and my Dad (Scott). This morning, Megan was the first to call...she called about 9:00am (which was 10:00am her time) and said that she called as soon as she woke up! Oh, the wonderful memories of sleeping in until 10am! Just as we were getting off the phone, my Mom called. I only got to talk to her for about a minute, because Aubrey was ringing in on the other line!

So I talked to Aubrey for awhile and she told me how all weekend she had been telling her kids that Aunt Trinity's birthday was on Monday. Then yesterday, she told them that my birthday was tomorrow. So this morning, Sarina tells her mom that it is Aunt Trinity's birthday today! How sweet to be remembered!

As we were leaving to drop the boys off at Randy and Cheryl's, we stopped at the mailbox and I got a sweet card from Aubrey and her family. I posted it so you can read what Jesse wrote. It will be easier to see if you enlarge the picture (double click on it). And if necessary, Aubrey provided a translation in the upper right hand portion of the card. Sarina also wrote her own message, and even though Aubrey didn't offer a translation, I can tell that she wrote "Happy Birthday Aunt Trinity. I love you and miss you. We are not going over to your house anymore." What a sweetie!

House of Goof Balls

We are a house of goof balls. Nick tries to claim that I am the biggest goof ball, but I think that in his short life, Bubba has far surpassed me! Last night, Nick was in the other room with Joey, when Joey came in to deliver a message. He looks at me and says, "Mommy, I'm a goof ball." I was chuckling at him when I heard Nick yell from the other room, "No Joey, you're supposed to say Mommy's a goof ball!" Well, I guess Joey knows best!

Baby Nick is getting so strong. He is working on rolling over from his back to his tummy. It might still be awhile, but he is getting closer. He arches his head so it seems as if it may touch his back, and will roll over almost all the way on his side. It is only a matter of time before he gets all the way over.

I get to go on another date tonight! This will be the second date since Bug was born, and it hasn't even been four months. That is pretty impressive. Tonight, Nick and I are going to see a movie for my birthday. We got two tickets for our anniversary from Randy and Cheryl, so we thought we would use them for my birthday so we wouldn't have to spend any money. We are going to see The Santa Clause 3. I love Christmas movies. Because it is my birthday, I get to choose the movie, and Nick has to happily see whatever I want to see! He's good about seeing movies that I want to see.

Bug just woke up from a nap, and Joey just fell asleep in the recliner, so I better put Bug down and carry Joey upstairs.

The Verdict Is In...

Joey has pneumonia. Just a little. So he was given an antibiotic that he has to take for ten days. I don't know if it was the medicine, the orange drink he had with his Happy Meal, or a combination of both, but he was bouncing off the walls until well past midnight tonight. It is so nice to see him feel better. It's as if he wanted to make up for all the playing he missed out on in this one night.

We'll still keep an close eye on him over the next few days, because the doctor said he may run a slight fever tomorrow as he is starting to heal, but if he still has a fever by Sunday they will want to see him again. She also wants us to keep an eye on his breathing. Right now, he is breathing faster than he normally would, but she wants us to look for him struggling to breathe, as they would want to see him then too. So far, I have been very impressed with this pediatrics office. We saw Dr. McCartherr tonight, not our pediatrician. In the course of the conversation, we found out that she is from Eugene and did her residency in Oregon! Both doctors that we have seen have had an Oregon connection.

Hopefully, Joey will be able to sleep better than he did last night. Once we all laid down, it didn't take more than five or ten minutes for him to fall asleep. I wish I could do that. But, once again, all my boys are sleeping and I am wide awake aching to be able to sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. I know that this year, I haven't done my best at thanking God for what I do have...I have been much better and being bitter about what I don't have; my family nearby. Forgive me.
Here are my handsome sons, whom I am forever thankful for. Their outfits are courtesy of Grandma Mary. Thank you so much Mom. I missed you this year, missed making an apple pie for you.

Poor Bubba has had a cold for the last week. This one is really bad. We are taking him in to see the doctor this evening on the advice of the advice nurse at the doctor's office. Usually I wouldn't have called because of a cold, but he has also been getting at least one fever a day for the last five days or so. Hopefully, it will be nothing but a cold, but if it turns out to be something else, I would rather know and be able to treat it. (It's kind of reminiscent of when Nick got bronchitis last year.)

Bubba has had little appetite the last few days and has hardly had anything to drink either, so there is also the concern of him getting dehydrated. He has done better this morning, but if he doesn't start drinking more, I will go get some popsicles, because I know he will eat those! I am encouraged that he has already eaten 2 dinner rolls and some mashed potatoes and gravy this morning and is almost done with his first glass of juice. (That may not seem like much for being a half past noon, but he has only been up for two hours!)

I also set up an appointment for Baby Nick's four month check up. It's hard to imagine he will be four months in just a couple of weeks. He's starting to reach out for things, such as the Pooh Bear that hangs from his Pooh mat. He love laying on the mat, he laughs all the time. Although, right now he is screaming because Mommy is taking too long, he's very tired and will probably be asleep as soon as I pick him up.

I had to pause in my blogging because I heard Joey putting his juice cup in the dishwasher. It was amazing, he put the lid in the silverware tray and the cup on the top shelf. Unfortunately, he screamed when I had to take them out, not understanding that the dishes in the dishwasher were clean. So I had him help me put the clean dishes away and load the dirty ones up and start the dishwasher. All is well. Now it is time to make things all well with my Bug.

Looking Forward

Ever since Sunday, when we told Joey we would be going over to Cathy's for Thanksgiving, he has been looking forward to it. Every few minutes, Joey will remind me, "See Cafee, Sink Gibbon, be fun!" My response, "Yes, it will be fun to see Cathy on Thanksgiving!"

It is hard to get Joey to understand that sometimes we don't have what he wants. A typical breakfast conversation goes like this: "Wanna pie tart." "We don't have any poptarts." "NO! Wanna pie tart." "Sorry, Joey there are no poptarts left." "Wanna zert." "We don't have any dessert, and you need to eat something for breakfast first." "NO! Want apple pie." "I'm not making the apple pie until Thanksgiving. You can have cereal, toast, or a waffle." "Zert?" "No. You can have a waffle." "Peanut butter and seer-up?" "Yes, you may have peanut butter and syrup on your waffle."

Oh the pleasure of speaking with a toddler, almost exclusively!

Daddy Popped Lellow Balloon

To encourage good behavior while getting his haircut, the stylist blew up a yellow balloon for Joey. Joey loves balloons and he carried it with him throughout the rest of the day. When we picked Daddy up from helping Randy and Cheryl move, Daddy just had to play with the balloon too. Joey kept asking for it, but Daddy had to hit it up in the air just one more time. Well, the inevitable happened. Instead of giving the balloon back to his son, Daddy popped it!

As Nanny and Aunt Aubrey well know, Joey has a very long memory (for months, Joey kept talking about the time Rina hit him on the head with a hammer!) So, for the last three days, Joey keeps talking about Daddy popping the balloon! Nick came home for lunch today and Joey said to me, "Daddy popped balloon!" I'm sure that he will be scarred for many days.

Joey is getting excited to have Thanksgiving over at Cathy's. All day he has been asking to see Cathy. (He doesn't quite understand that Thanksgiving is still a few days away.) I am trying to get him to say "Thanksgiving" and finally he got it. Joey says, "Happy Sink Gibbon!"

The Blessing of Family

As we were frantically trying to get all four of us ready to get our family pictures taken today, I got a phone call from Cathy, my second cousin who lives here in Anchorage. I had tried to reach her before, but because of circumstances in her life, it is very difficult to reach her. I had left her a message about a month ago, but she was just now able to get back to me.

She called to invite us to have Thanksgiving with her family! She said her boys (ages 17 and 18) were pumped to have our boys over (even before we accepted the invite.) Since we had just bought our Thanksgiving fixings last night, I told her I would bring our small turkey and mashed potatoes. She is going to get another small turkey (they are each about ten pounds) so that we have enough to feed four teenagers. She also asked if I knew how to cook candied yams, so I told her I would bring them too. I will also bake an apple pie. I couldn't bring myself to just buy a dessert if I were going to be a guest at someone's house. I would have made a pumpkin cheesecake, but they will already have pumpkin pie.
This picture was taken to show you how young my son is, and already starting to get "fresh" with the ladies. Of course, its just Mommy, so maybe I shouldn't worry too much.

I Miss Lanette

Yesterday, we got Joey's haircut for the first time since moving to Alaska. Up until now, Joey has only gotten his haircut by one person, Lanette. (With the exception of the one time my sister-in-law cut his hair while she was on a visit from Texas, and she did a fantastic job.) Picking a new hairstylist is just as nerve-wracking as choosing a new doctor. So I decided to go to Great Clips, where Nick gets his hair cut. (Also, I didn't have time to set an appt.) This was supposed to be a place where professional hairstylists work. I have never been so disappointed! This is what I got.
The lady who cut his hair even asked me how I like it cut, and she didn't do anything that I said. Granted, Joey was having a very hard morning and wasn't as cooperative as usual, but that doesn't mean she had to do a poor job. For the sides and back, she used the clippers instead of scissors, which is fine, it was much faster (and since Joey was already crying, it was good to go fast.) However, she didn't even take enough time to make sure that it was even. It doesn't look as bad as the front, but I can see the unevenness. In regards to the front, the lady who cut his hair did just about the opposite of what I asked. I realize that when combed over to the side, the hair doesn't look as uneven, but Joey's hair does not stay combed over to the side all day long, so when it falls forward, as it is in the picture, it looks horrible. And I don't comb his hair over to the right, as she cut his hair, I comb it more to the left. Lanette and Angie had no problem understanding what I liked to do with his hair and were able to do a handsome job even with my limited capacity to make myself understood. I MISS LANETTE! I suppose next time we need his hair cut, I will just have to fly my sister-in-law up from Texas to cut his hair! (I wish!!)
This is why we call Bug, "Puke Boy!" He is constantly spitting up, and then before we can get him cleaned up, he rubs his face in it, spreading it from ear to ear, and often, from forehead to chin! What is more, he usually looks up at us with the goofiest grin afterwards, as if knowing that he is too adorable to get upset at! (This does not bode well for the future....his brother is still like that!)

Well, today is spring cleaning day! Nick and I have to be whirlwinds to get everything done today. That should be interesting with the boys, they still haven't learned to cooperate at the same time. Hopefully Joey will feel in the helpful mood and be of more assistance than hindrance. Better get going....lots to do, little time.

Potty Training Update

Well, Joey is still not potty trained. We have relaxed on the "training" and just let him lead us. We still keep him in pull-ups. He will ask several times a day to go potty. That is encouraging. However, he still hasn't gone on the toilet once! He does at least try, though. Every time he goes into the bathroom, he'll sit on the toilet, put one square of toilet paper in, and then say, "Done trying. I'll pwuhsh." Then he gets up, flushes the toilet, and goes about his day. My hope, is that one of these times, he will actually go, even if he is not intending to, and will see how easy it is and we can go from there.

Baby Nick is getting so strong! He is working on pulling his head forward, even when he is already in an upright position. He still doesn't like tummy time on the floor, but at least he is doing better at playing on the floor as long as he is on his back. I try to give him tummy time every day so he gets used to it, but he either rolls over immediately, or screams until I put him back on his back. I guess I shouldn't be too much in a hurry to get him used to being on his tummy, because he will probably find out pretty quickly that he can move around that way, and once he starts, there will be no stopping him!

Nick stays very busy at work. He has at least 10-12 hours worth of work to do everyday, but he only gets 8 hours in which to complete it. Needless to say, he is always trying to catch up. I wish there was something more I could do to help him. They should be getting new computers by the beginning of December, and maybe that will help speed the process up, even if it doesn't make less work. Right now he is working on a computer so old, it reminds me of our old Commodore 64! (There were some fun games we played on that computer though!)

I can't believe Thanksgiving is just six days away! I would love to say that I am looking forward to it, and I am very thankful for so many things, but I dread not being close to any extended family. I'm sure we will have a fine day, with just the four of us. It's hard to think about fixing an entire Thanksgiving feast for only two and a half eaters. Although, it won't be an entire feast, I think we are only planning on a few dishes, leaving out some of those traditional favorites we both look forward to. I'm even contemplating buying a dessert instead of making one (which is a huge change for me.) I get offended by Nick any time he volunteers me bringing dessert somewhere and then suggests I just buy something! But here I am not seeing much point in making some fancy dessert for just us. (Horrible, isn't it?)

My mom and sisters are having a girls weekend at the beach this weekend. I pray they are all kept safe and have an awesome time of fun and bonding. I wish I were there with them. I'd even trade my sister-in-laws' 40 degree weather in Texas for my 12 degree weather here! With my two hot water bottles of sons sitting on my lap, I am still freezing! Oh well, just five more months of this weather!

Where Did He Learn That?

For the last couple of days, Joey has been "washing dishes", which is to say that he will take his dishes up to the counter! I would love to take credit for him learning that responsibility, however, I can not honestly take the credit. I haven't even ever asked him to bring the dishes to the counter. He is so special.

I hope that all the things in his life that he will learn without my knowing where he learned it will be this positive! (Keep dreaming, right?)

Here are all my men, sitting together, loving on each other! It is such a joy to see.

To tell you how baby Nick is doing, I will list some of his situational nicknames; Truly Drooly Boy, Puke Boy, Stink Bug...and so forth. But isn't he just the cutest? (I think we will keep him around for awhile longer!)

Futile

Ever wonder why "child-proof" means more hassle for the adults and no problem for the child? I remember my cousin Gregory helping his mom opening the "child-proofed" medicine bottles when he was just a toddler.

We have put child-proof door locks on a few select doors in our place; the front door (because Joey can reach and unlock the deadbolt), the downstairs bathroom (more for privacy of the occupant and to save toilet paper), and the coat closet which is where we have our DVD shelf. Joey loves to tear apart that shelf, and since I have our movies alphabetized for easier locating, I don't like him to have access to them. As of yesterday, the door locks have become futile! I have personally witnessed him opening both the closet door to choose several movies at a time, and the bathroom door when he want to try to go potty! He hasn't as of yet tried the front door...if he ever does, I may need to get an extra lock for higher up on the door. Although, I think that he can only open the doors when the child proof lock is in exactly the right position, so I may have some extra time.

Joey and I have been working on his meal time prayers. Usually, he repeats after me "Thank you Jesus, for this food and bless it to my body. Amen." He prays in a whisper. Tonight I had him pray all by himself for the first time. He was so cute. In an almost inaudible whisper, he said, "Taintoo Jesus for a food, bless da body. Amen" What a good boy.

I have only six minutes before I am supposed to leave for choir and I still have to eat dinner, brush my teeth, and put my shoes on. I better hurry!

EWWZZZAT?

Joey has really been enjoying my sister-in-law's blog lately. She has posted lots of pictures of her amazing family and even a couple videos. Every time I sit down at the computer, he asks to see the pictures again and watch the videos. He will sit on my lap and point to each picture asking, "Ewwzzat?" Then he will answer himself, "It's Sassy!" or "Uncle Paul." He can even recognize and name Abby and Rony!

Bug has been more vocal lately, in a positive way. Right now, he is laying on the floor on his play mat just talking up a storm. He is so cute when he laughs! He is at the stage now where he recognizes Mommy and Daddy better and smiles every time he sees us. He is in the bad habit (my fault) of sleeping only when he is being held. Lately, even at night, as soon as I lay him down in his bed, he will wake back up. So I am either up all night, or I have to sleep with a baby on my chest. Bug will sleep just fine that way, he sleeps all night, with the occasional search for his pacifier. But I, on the other hand, have to stay conscious enough not to let the pacifier fall off the side of the bed and be able to pop it back in when he needs it. So, needless to say, I am getting even less sleep than before. I am starting an experiment today that I hope will help. I am going to put an electric blanket in his crib to warm his mattress...then when I am ready to lay him down, I will remove the blanket, and hopefully the mattress will be warm enough that he will stay asleep. We'll see if it helps. I want to start transitioning him from the bassinet in our room, to the crib in his room. Maybe if I can get Baby Nick in his room, Joey will want to sleep in his room too. Wouldn't it be nice for Nick and I to have our bed back?! Although, we both agree that we will kind of miss Bubba in bed, he's so snugly and lovable.

The weather is getting colder. It's currently 4 degrees outside, but we are experiencing high winds, and with the windchill, it feels like 13 below zero! Any time I walk outside, I can't take a full breath because the cold air hurts my lungs. We have had very little snow compared to what they consider normal, and it doesn't look like its supposed to snow at all this week. Nick really wants it to snow more. The only good thing about it snowing more is that the clouds would come in and it would warm up a touch. Although, I still don't think that 20 degrees is all that warm, but it is a whole lot warmer than 13 below!

Keep warm today, for my sake! :)