Strange Dream

Emerson has recently realized that she is having dreams. Obviously she's had them before but she's never vocalized what they were about until now. Most mornings she gets up and comes to see me while I'm putting on my make up and she tells me about her dream from the night before. This morning was no exception. She comes and plops down on the rug in the bathroom and says:

"Last night I dreamed that my kids (she thinks she's a teacher) got tattoos. They all took their shirts off and put them in their cubbies and got tattoos on their backs. I painted (she did her raised eyebrow 'wow' look and said it with added inflection) the tattoos on their backs and they had to wait for them to dry."

Is it just me or does that seem a bit odd? Emerson is a 4 year old aspiring teacher/tattoo artist. If this is what she's dreaming at 4 I shudder to think what 14 will bring!

Goodbye Nemo

Last week I started to notice that our beta fish was looking a little pale. I thought maybe he was cold or old or a combo of the two. A few times I noticed him hanging out in his bowl sort of catywompus (as PaPa would say). I would get his attention with a gentle nudge on his bowl and he would start swimming. Then finally the other day I came home from work and was getting supper ready when I reached for the fish food to feed our dear friend only to realize that his little grey body was resting peacefully on the bottom of the bowl. I just left him there for the time being not wanting to have to address it with the kids. I thought I had made it through the evening without anyone noticing when all of the sudden I see Cullen pulling a stool over to the counter for his daily fish feeding time. I rushed over to him as he was dragging the bowl towards him. He was looking for Nemo and kept repeating his normal request "I wanna feed the fish, I wanna feed Nemo". I grabbed the bowl and told him no and of course he cried. I told him Nemo couldn't eat right now. Thankfully Emerson's hearing is affected to the point where she didn't hear me and no questions were asked. After our normal bedtime routine I tucked the kids in and sauntered back to the kitchen where I knew I would have to address the bloated fish. In a very brave moment I poured the fish into the net, did a quick exam, why I don't really know? I guess I thought I was working for the fish CSI lab or something. No, there was no internal exam given! I wasn't about to fillet a beta fish the size of my finger. Anyway, I didn't know what to do with him and I actually briefly thought about putting him in a box and letting the kids bury him. Then I pulled from my own childhood experiences with fish deaths and remembered exactly what we did. . .send him to the big toilet bowl in the sky! Yes, I flushed Nemo! But just like the movie I told him "all drains lead to the ocean, go be free!" Not really, I actually just held my breath and flushed. The next morning rolled around and no mention of the fish. Whew, I thought I had dodged a bullet. Then after work we got home and about an hour went by and Emerson came up to me and asked:
"Where is my fish?"
Me: "huh?" complete avoidance, I thought this tactic might work
Emerson: "You know, my fish, the one named Nemo?" which means "duh, Mom, the same darn fish we've had for a year"
Me: hesitantly "well, Emerson, actually Nemo died"
Emerson: "What did you do with him?"
Me: "ummmm. . .(I was really searching for something but I'm not a good liar so I just said it) I flushed him down the potty" oddly enough I sort of chuckled, how morbid?! Maybe it was one of those "not supposed to laugh at death moments"?
Emerson: "You flushed him down the potty? Which one?" Not sure why that's important?
Me: "mine"
Emerson: "okay" she turns to walk away and chuckles and says as she's walking into the other room in her growny nonchalant way, "You should have just put him in the trash."

Lesson learned: Don't sweat the small stuff, just put it in the trash!

Cullen turns 2!

Cullen turned 2 on October 2nd. I really cannot believe that 2 years have flown by. It has truly been a blur. I hope that the next few years slow down a little so I can have time to soak it all in!

Cullen is amazed by the candles!

Blue icing is the best! Playing with the loot. . .Go Diego Go!!!

Better late than never

I finally took the time to upload a few new pictures. These were taken about a month ago. Here it is 2 weeks into November and I'm just now getting around to posting pumpkin patch pictures. At this rate maybe I'll have up Halloween pictures by Christmas, Thanksgiving pictures by New Year's and Christmas pictures up by Easter!!!

Emerson does this silly smile that cracks me up!

My favorite pic of the day!

Boys and Boogies

Warning: Descriptive boogie story to follow!

Tonight I was sitting on the couch reading a very sweet bedtime story to the kids when I noticed Cullen becoming restless. He usually sits in my lap very peacefully and quietly while I read the bedtime story. (Emerson is my wiggle worm.) Cullen scooted over away from me and I spied him out of the corner of my eye doing something with his hand close to his face. I turned just in time to see half of his finger buried in his right nostril and then I watched as he pulled his finger out of his nose, held it out, took a good look and then WIPED it on the couch! I just sat there staring at him during the few seconds he took to find the culprit of his breathing obstruction, bracing myself for the moment he shoved his dirty little finger in his mouth (mind you all of this happened in a split second) and as he wiped his finger clean on the couch all I could think was

"Thank goodness he didn't eat it!"

I was kind of proud and disgusted all at the same time. I mean, he is a boy and tasting odd things comes naturally so when he smeared his boogie on the couch I was almost impressed with his self-discipline! He may yet prove me wrong about boys just being boys! ha ha However, he still did rub it off on the couch which is gross enough and if he were a girl he would have held out his finger for me to wipe. It definitely shows his independence and resourcefulness though. He's probably thinking "why use a tissue when you have a perfectly good surface to clean your finger"? But now I'm wondering if I should do a boogie check on all of the surfaces in the house. Better yet I'll just spray everything down with Lysol and call it a night!

One day. . .

. . .I'm going to post some more pictures, but it's not going to be today. Unfortunately I can't get the pictures to load on the computer. I'm so disappointed because there are some super cute pictures from this weekend's adventure to the pumpkin patch. As soon as I get the computer problem fixed, I promise to post them!

J U M P!!!

There is the coolest place called Monkey Joe's close to our house and we decided to take the kids one Saturday to jump and jump. It was cheap and loads of fun. You should take a kid there just so you have an excuse to go down the gigantic slide!

This is when Emerson still had in her hair bow!

This is really hard work on an air-filled giant balloon (note: no hair bow and we've only been there 15 minutes)

Here's the gigantic slide, SUPER FUN!!!

Wee, let's do it again Mama (someone had to hoist him all the way back to the top)!

Slip sliding down!

Yes, he did this on purpose without anyone giving him the idea first. . .Boys will be boys!!!!

An ice cream to finish the day! Don't you just love their expressions, it's a combination of shock, exhaustion and exhilaration!

(YES, that is pink eye shadow on Emerson from her play make-up set and NO it does not come off easily. Why don't they make that stuff parent friendly since we're the ones scrubbing it off the kid's eyes as they scream in pain and agony that you're ripping their eyelids off?)

The story

I figured after my last post it might be fun to explain my adoption story to you, the reader of this exhilarating blog! When I was about 8 or 9 I suddenly realized that there were hardly any pictures of my around the house. There were a couple of school pictures and then maybe 2 or 3 of me as a baby, mostly with my brother in the picture but no wall or shelf devoted to me, the little sister who was a whole 5 years younger than my brother. Instead the hall walls looked like a shrine to my brother, "the chosen one"! I began in typical dramatic girl fashion to inquire into the case of the missing pictures. I meticulously questioned each member of the family and a few family friends about my birth and babyhood. When I asked my then teenage brother he lead me to believe that I was adopted. Since I didn't look exactly like my parents and I kept wondering where I got my nose I started really thinking he could be right. I started analyzing each picture of myself in comparison to pictures of my parents and brother to figure out whose eyes I had, whose nose I had, etc. I was truly obsessed and would even ask my grandmothers if I looked like other people in the family I had never met. Finally after what seemed like forever I finally broke down to the point that my mother brought out the video of my birth. Now, you have to understand something about my mother, she is a free spirit, independent and not worried about what people think of her. When she gets an idea in her head, it is not easily changed. When I was born there was apparently a movement of women wanting to reclaim the birthing process and my mom was front and center. She decided after a very horrible birthing experience with my brother 5 years prior to my own that she would go through Lamaze classes and have a natural birth. Thank goodness for her that she has a high pain tolerance, that her labor was quick and most importantly I was relatively small! She gave birth to me in a hospital, probably because my Dad wouldn't agree to a home birth and video taped the actual event. So since there was actual proof of my birth my mother, in her infinite wisdom, decided to teach me 2 things when she showed me the video #1: Sex will do this to you. #2: Don't ask a question unless you really want to know the answer! As I watched the video, which I'm not sure I've ever seen since I realized that I wasn't really adopted or at least they loved me enough to show me the pain that my mother went through to give life to some baby. Even then I remember saying as I saw the video "how do I know that's me?" All my mom could do was sigh. My poor parents, if I'd been the first I'm sure I would have also been the last! Unfortunately I've always been WAY too analytical and even when I see proof I question it. But as I've gotten older and started looking more like my brother (you should see the male yearbook pictures I did, YIKES!) I finally came to terms with the fact that my parents are truly my biological parents and my brother only really psychologically tortured me once and after all he was only doing his older sibling duty! One day Emerson will be trying to convince Cullen that we found him on the side of the road (what my brother told me about myself) and that we felt sorry for him and picked him up. Of course that's when I will break out the video of Cullen's birth, which is G rated, for my son to learn the same lessons I learned all those years ago. However, the most important lesson from the whole experience that my parents probably didn't even realize that they taught me was. . .TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR 2ND CHILD!

Here it is

I thought I should post the picture that I used in my yearbook photos. Everyone keeps telling me they don't believe that it is me, but it really is my face. Tripp took the original picture and still didn't believe it was me in some of the photos. My own mother didn't believe it was my face and she gave birth to me, or so I think?!! That's a story for another time, my brother had me convinced I was adopted! Anyway, for some real proof here is the picture of me without my glasses on. Since no one ever sees me with my glasses off it really has confused everyone.

So, here it is. . .

Just one more

Somehow I managed to miss posting this picture previously. I have laughed so hard at this picture that I had to share. The hair, the shirt, the earrings, oh how fun it is to look back at the styles and wonder "why?" Once again this woman was a teacher at my middle school and I think she might still be sporting this hair style (and probably the blouse to match). By the way, I did not upload pictures from my past yearbooks so the peoples faces who have been erased with mine replacing are not people I know personally. Oh and yes, I look completely different without my glasses. It's throwing everybody off, even my husband!

Prayer time

Like all children, Emerson is a creature of habit. Each night she recites the same bedtime prayer but then peppers in her own little thoughts. She sometimes surprises me with her kindness and thoughtfulness when she prays for a friend or someone who is sick. The theme of her prayers lately have been about her classmate's mother who is in the hospital waiting to have her twins. Tonight I was expecting more of the same when she started her "God bless. . .," she started to whisper, at first I could hear her rattling off the names of her favorite people but then the whisper became indistinct. After a couple seconds of that suddenly she said aloud "Susie the dog, I don't know any dog named that?" I couldn't contain my laughter and then she started giggling and needless to say the prayer stopped there. Where does she come up with these things? Every day that child makes me laugh at something she says. Her little mind is always turning and who knows what's going to come out!

Another good laugh

Although I truthfully hesitate to post any more "yearbooked" pictures of myself, I do so for my own amusement. It seems that I have been made aware by many that I look quite manly. Well, that really is my face which apparently means I'm much more masculine looking than I ever thought. However, it is my face and at least I can laugh at it. So laugh with me, it's good for the heart!!! :)

1980 There was a teacher at my middle school with the same hair, scary!

1984 Is it a woman or a lion?!

1988 I have a 5 o'clock shadow!1990 Same do, more hairspray!1992 Has anyone seen my chin? 1994 I can't lie, I wanted this hair in 94!1996 Wait, I went to school with this girl, no really, I'm NOT kidding! 2000 Definitely the most hideous picture of all but I had to include it because I can't stop laughing at it. Was this really the style in 2000? I guess I blocked it from my memory. This picture explains exactly why I can NEVER be a blond!

Hopefully this silly little adventure with photo shop was fun for everyone. I am now finished humiliating myself, for now anyway! HA!

Through the years

Check out www.yearbookyourself.com, it's addicting! Here's the 50's, 60's and 70's of me. I'll post the 80's and 90's tomorrow!

1950

1958

1968
1970

I kind of look like my brother in drag!!! 1972

19761978 This one's my favorite!!!!

Bugs

This picture is for all of you who have never gotten to experience the joy of GA mosquitoes. I squished this mosquito while it was enjoying the delicacy of my O- blood. Unfortunately for it I ended its dinner and sent it on another more eternal journey! Caterpillar update: Here are the only pictures of the cocoon/raccoon that held our little friend. I snapped these the day we saw it. I was completely amazed by the metallic sheen and especially the gold spikes. It was freakishly beautiful for its 1 inch body. However, as nature would have it it provided nourishment for a bigger and hungrier predator. It had fought so hard to stay alive placing its cocoon in reach of 2 toddlers. Emerson managed to forget it was there one day, about 30 seconds after looking at it, and wrapped her arms around the column and squished it or so we thought by the dark residue leaking from its safe home. It clung to the column for a few more days and I realized it was still alive. I saw it wiggling around one morning and was so thrilled by the fact that we might actually get to witness a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Then the next morning came and I walked outside with an extra bounce in my step hoping the see the new creature. As I walked out the door it looked as though the cocoon had popped open. I did a great big smile, walked even faster towards it and saw that something had taken a big bite out of our friends cocoon. My face immediately fell south and I felt a empty feeling in the bit of my stomach. Then as I took the kids to school (they didn't notice the partially eaten cocoon, thank goodness) I thought about all the things I should have done when I saw the cocoon in the first place like build some sort of contraption around it so that it wouldn't fall victim to any predators. I felt so guilty that the little guy had been eaten and then I suddenly Elton John's song, The Circle of Life started playing in my head and I started humming and reciting what I think are the words at the beginning but since I'm not from Africa I just sound like a redneck trying to be "cultured" as my Grandma would say! Cheesy or not, in a sort of ridiculous, curious and somewhat neurotic way I realized that our little caterpillar friend who never got to spread its wings was still doing its part in becoming part of the circle of life! I'm sure whatever ate it thanks it for the meal!!!

Random new pics

"Happy Mom" :) This is what happens when you leave Cullen alone for more than

2.5 seconds! He discovered his Daddy's powder!

He's doing "high sign" from the Little Rascals.
Showing off her tattoo!
Being silly on a tractor ride.

Writers block

The title of this post makes me sound like some arrogant writer, which I'm not. Just giving myself the title of "writer" seems a little ridiculous to me BUT when I thought about this post the title I chose was the first to come to mind so I went with it. Hey, I'm working on limited time so don't blame me! Anyway, just wanted to say sorry for my lack of recent posts (that sounds arrogant too like I think all of you reading this have been waiting with baited breath for the 1st glimpse of my newest piece of witty literary works). I have just been too exhausted to even start to write a post and truthfully my fatigue has limited my already limited brain capacity leaving me with a writers block of sorts. Of course I'm not even sure if it could be considered a writers block since there are no thoughts there to even block. I think about the silly things I want to write a post about and I mentally begin the post but after about the 1st line I stop because my brain literally feels too tired to finish the thought. However, it seems that my brain is semi-functioning at this minute since I have seemed to write a fairly lengthy post considered my current state of mind. So, if anyone has any brilliant ideas for getting my brain up and moving again, along with my body of course, then I'll be all ears. I'm so tired of being tired. I don't drink caffeine and I limit my chocolate intake which leaves me at even more of a loss for energy because unlike the majority of America I'm unwilling to jump start my body with "poison"! ha ha Don't take offense if you're a caffeine addict, I understand your pain from past experience, I was a soda sipping maniac about 10 years ago! I digress. . .not too surprising for me.
Here's the point:
HELP, I'm in need of some motivation!!!!!!!

Sounds like. . .

A caterpillar attached itself to one of the columns on our front porch and decided to go through metamorphasis for an up close and personal science lesson for the kids. I showed it to Emerson and Cullen and they were pretty fascinated. Then we went to my Mom's and Emerson said,

"Nena, there's a caterpillar on the porch that is turning into a raccoon and then into a butterfly."

Power

Here's a brief rant spurred by something I saw on TV tonight.

Everybody likes the feeling of power. And people get ridiculous when they get media fame. No matter how insignificant, brief, or even negative the attention is people relish in their 15 minutes of fame it because it gives them power. And it drives me nuts that the media takes every advantage of those types of situations to then exploit the person to get ratings. ARG, how irritating!

However, in the media's defense that type of exploitation is exactly what everyone wants to see. Case in point-The Jerry Springer Show!

Best Brother EVER!

Here is an official thank you to my favorite brother in the whole wide world! Your comments on my posts made me laugh and that's just what I needed today!!!! You're the best and I love you! :)

*Your sis, the NERD*

Red Head

The night before I had Emerson I dreamt she had red hair. Then when she went bald and her hair started coming back I was convinced she was going to be a strawberry blonde. Her little eyebrows had a hint of red, or so I thought. Apparently Emerson has the same wish now as I did then because tonight as she was getting ready for bed this is what she said to me:

Em: "Is my hair red yet?"

Me: "What? Why?"

Em: "You know, from that strawberry stuff."

Then, as I'm laughing, she proceeds to get into the tub to get her bottle of strawberry scented shampoo to show me what she means. Holding it up she points to the picture and says "See?" The picture on the front of the bottle is a cartoon of a girl with red hair. Next she turns it over to pretend to read the back and says "See, it says it turns your hair red, right?" All I could do was laugh and by this point Tripp was there to witness the conversation. He replied "those are the ingredients" to her question about what the bottle said and she just said "oh" and went on to bed. I guess Tripp thought his reply made sense to a 3 year old and I was just so tickled by the whole thing I didn't think to tell her that she wasn't going to wake up tomorrow looking like Strawberry Shortcake. She's been washing her hair with the shampoo for at least a week and probably dreaming every night of her new red hair and tonight is going to be no different. If she were older she'd be ready to sue for False Advertising by now!!!

Ta-da!

Aren't you wondering why I posted a picture of a KitKat? And more importantly why does it look a little odd? Well it's not a new Kit Kat premiere. Brace yourself. . . it's a nut free Kit Kat!!!!! Woohoo! Can't you just hear the violins and angels singing?!?! Since I'm allergic to peanuts I have had to be careful about reading the allergy warnings on foods. Surprisingly or maybe not, most candy bars are made in a facility that manufactures peanuts, on equipment that processes peanuts or my favorite (haha) warning, "may contain peanuts". (Kit Kats in America are no exception to this rule.) I never really gave that warning much attention until one day when I was pregnant with Cullen and snacking away on M&M's and heard a crunch and I mean more crunch than when you bite into the sweet candy shell. Suddenly I tasted peanuts, next I started itching and then I was downing Benadryl all for a little chocolate fix. Since then I've been a lot more careful when eating and tonight I decided to do a little investigating to see if I could find foods/candy that are nut free. Thank goodness for the Internet. It's at times like this that I don't know how I ever lived without it. Come to find out there are tons of great products out there for people like me. And thanks to soy butter I can now enjoy a PB&J again or rather a SB&J (Wal-Mart even sells it!). But the BEST news yet is that Nestle has a facility in Canada that is completely nut free and they make Kit Kats, Mars, and Aero. So, if you want to know what I want in my Christmas stocking this year you can refer to the above picture! I'm so excited I feel like it's already Christmas. Just knowing that I can enjoy Kit Kat's again without worry makes me hear sleigh bells!

YAY for Nestle and YUM for me!!!!!

Can you hear me now?

Somebody, anybody please comment on my posts. I'm beginning to get a complex!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because

Okay, okay, I know my blog is supposed to be about my adventures in motherhood but I had other things on my mind tonight. Plus, I like to randomly throw out my crazy thoughts and see what kind of reaction I get! hahaha :) Read my political babble post and then leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of my overanalyzation of a political figure!

Political babble

The past 2 nights my TV has been bombarded with the Democratic Convention. Tripp and I are still living in the dark ages watching free TV from the antenna mounted in our attic. We don't have cable so there's no way to escape all the political campaigning. Out of sheer curiosity I decided to watch Hillary Clinton's much anticipated speech last night at the Democratic Convention. Surprisingly enough I found myself appreciating her speaking skills and obvious intelligence. Truthfully I am not a Hillary supporter but after hearing her speak I understood why so many others were, she is quite a compelling speaker. Then tonight I saw her go out onto the floor at the Democratic Convention and actually make a motion to officially nominate Barrack Obama on the Democratic Bill and suspend the formal proceedings of recounting the votes from the primaries. Now, like I said before I am not a Hillary Clinton advocate but I have to say that I was sort of wowed by her ability to put aside her personal feelings and make a nomination for her opponent. Seriously it really takes a big person to make a generous speech for someone they have fought against for months on end. And how humbling to not only "lose" to your opponent but then endorse them in front of the whole nation. I realize it's all part of the "game" of politics but I am very amazed at the position that Hillary Clinton has been put in trying to unify her political party. I guess I sound like a Democrat but I will neither confirm or deny such allegations! haha If you know me well then you can probably guess which way I lean but if you don't then I won't indulge. One thing that I've learned is to not discuss politics because it tends to elicit strong feelings and sometimes erratic debates. However, this blog isn't really about politics or partisan views but rather just me analyzing a person trapped inside the twisted world of politics. As an outsider and a "critique-er" of people I see on TV I often find myself minimizing their human existence and only seeing them for the face they have to wear in their profession. However, due to the circumstances of this Presidential nomination I found myself pondering how Hillary Clinton as a person must feel giving up what she has so longed hoped for and swallowing her pride publicly as she nominated someone else for that role. Not that she cares what I think but I feel badly for the place she now finds herself.
This whole blog just proves what a softy I really am! I feel sorry for a woman who is powerful, holds a seat in the Senate, is a former 1st Lady and most importantly makes enough money to buy a small island in the Caribbean to escape from all this and probably play darts with a giant poster of Obama's face!!!!!

Quick Wit

Emerson never ceases to surprise me with what comes out of her mouth. Tonight she and Cullen were playing in the den when I heard her suddenly say "I'm sorry" to Cullen and then repeat herself over and over as the 2 of them ran towards the kitchen where I was. Her apologies got louder and more dramatic as she approached and then she started her girly cry. Cullen started walking back to the den without saying a thing as Emerson came into the kitchen. I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. I asked Emerson why she was upset and she told me she had "bited" Cullen. I asked her why she was crying if she was the one who did the biting. Her answer was that he hit her so she bit him. (Note I didn't say Cullen did any crying because he didn't. I've concluded the overabundance of testosterone interferes with the ability to feel pain when engaging in physical combat! haha) Apparently all the crying was because she thought she was going to get in trouble for biting. Of course I was going to get on to her for biting but I wouldn't have normally given her a big speech since physical aggression is usually not her way to get her point across. She generally sticks to the very annoying crying and whining characteristic of estrogen! But since she is now in daycare and next year will be in school I had to give her a speech about how biting was not acceptable at home or anywhere else, especially at her daycare where they have a NO biting policy that states your child can be expelled for such behavior. Yes, actually expelled from daycare! I told her that she was never to bite anyone again and definitely not at daycare because it was against the rules (I was hoping mentioning the "rules" would get my point across since she's a big rule follower thanks to being the 1st child). I told her that her teacher (who she adores) would have to call me if she bit anyone and she would be in big trouble. And this is where her response surprised me. She said without hesitation, remorse or worry,

"She doesn't have your number."

Seriously, this kid is getting too smart for me!

Love

Love means a lot of different things. To children love is expressed in numerous ways. I know my children love me by more than their words. Their actions speak louder than anything they vocalize. However, lately I’m beginning to wonder if they are trying to send me a not so subtle hint! A few weeks ago I asked Cullen if he loved me and he said “I love football”. Then last night we were asking him if he loved Granddaddy (my dad, who Cullen adores!), me, Daddy, or Emerson and to each question his response was “I love Nena”. Well, I guess that shows me where I stand! Then today this happened:
We were in a restaurant with my parents and my brother’s family. Emerson was trying to convince my Mom to let her go home with her, partly because she wanted to play with my niece who she thought was also going to my parents and the other reason is just because her favorite person in the whole wide world is my mom. Just to demonstrate exactly, here’s the conversation from this afternoon.
My niece talking to me: “I want to go home with you.”
Me: jokingly “You want to move in with me?”
Niece: “Yes.”
Emerson: “I want to go to Nena’s house.”
Me: “You do? Are you just going to move in with her?” (She had been there almost the entire weekend)
Emerson: “Yes.”
Me: “But what would I do, I want a little girl?”
Emerson: pointing to my niece “Here’s a little girl for you!”
So as you can see my children have made it clear that I rate under football and grandparents. I thought that kids were still supposed to love their parents at this age. Apparently I’m losing ground with them already. I’m going to have to start doing like the grandparents and bribing them with candy, ice cream and prizes!!!

Paul Bunyan's Kid

Daycare continues to be rough for Cullen. He got strep throat (no big surprise) and was out 2 days this week. The day he went back Tripp took him and of course Cullen was NOT happy about it. Cullen has stayed very firm about where he stands on the issue of daycare--opposed! However, apparently he does enjoy some of it. I called Tripp after he dropped Cullen off after his days out and asked how it went. Tripp said that it was rough as we expected but then he told me a very comical story. He said that Cullen had cried and acted very dramatic as Tripp left which made Tripp feel horrible and on top of that Emerson broke down when he dropped her in her classroom, her favorite classroom with her favorite teacher (I personally thinks she likes to play on Tripp's emotions!). So there's Tripp thinking he's abandoning his children and that they are just crying their little eyes out for their daddy. He leaves and drives to the bank to deposit a check then drives back past the daycare on his way to work (it's within walking distance to both of our jobs!) and sees kids on the playground. And this is how he described what he saw--

'Cafreene, I looked and saw all these little babies playing on the playground. They looked so tiny running around I was thinking they must have been a group from the baby room. Then I spotted Cullen's red overalls and all I could think was how much he looked like some lumberjack running around with a bunch of midgets.'

And then when I got home from work Tripp did a visual demonstration of what he saw. He took the trashcan from our room and set it in the middle of the floor then held up his arms like a giant and ran around the trashcan saying (with a giant's voice, of course) "you want to play with me kids?". I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to wet my pants. Really, Cullen is so much bigger than the kids in his class that he looks like we've been doping him with baby steroids. And it doesn't help that there is a little girl in his room only a few months younger than him that is so tiny that Tripp has affectionately named her Thumbelina. So in comparison to her Cullen honestly does look like a giant.

I'm beginning to think he is really Paul Bunyan's kid!

Seriously, we were relieved to find out that although Cullen pretends to hate daycare he does enjoy parts of the day--stomping around making the ground shake for all the other kids and of course snack time!!!!!!! :)

Thank you daycare!

The kids were dramatic the last few days of the week but overall they are doing better. Emerson really likes it but she likes to try to see if you won't drop her off in the morning if she acts pitiful, complete drama queen style. But the daycare workers say that during the day she is having fun and playing. And Friday she got moved to her real room where they will be having short lessons each day. She's very excited about that! Cullen is having a harder time than Emerson but they did say Friday that as long as he was busy he was fine. And he's talking to the workers a lot which really surprised me because he is usually very quiet anywhere but at home. Tomorrow will probably be rough after a weekend at home but hopefully they will be soon get used to the routine.

One thing I was not looking forward to with daycare is the yuckies. I knew that the kids would get sick from being around other children all the time and you know how they are not concerned about sharing their germs with each other. So, after 1 week of daycare, guess what?! Yep, Emerson got strep throat. Apparently it's making the way around her room where 4 cases were confirmed before the weekend. Now it will be 5 when we add Emerson to that list. Thankfully I knew about the bacteria making it's way through all the kids immune systems and when Emerson woke up Saturday morning with a runny nose and crying that hair was stuck in her mouth (she was pointing to her throat) I went ahead and took her to the Dr who confirmed that yes indeed she was the newest victim of the yuckies! All I can think to say is THANK YOU DAYCARE!!! :-/

Day 2

The drama continues. Poor Tripp got the honor of taking the kids this morning. Emerson did well once again but Cullen was not so happy about being there. He cried when Tripp left him. Tripp called the day care back a few hours later to check on him and the director said she had been in and he had settled down and started playing. When Tripp went to pick them up this afternoon he asked his teacher how he did and her answer was "he's had a rough day". He didn't want to eat anything so they got one of the older kids to come to his class and try to convince him to work which worked (I thought it was actually a pretty good idea). Then he was the 1st to go to sleep again for nap time but the 1st to wake after only 30 minutes. Then he cried on and off the rest of the afternoon again. It breaks my heart to think of him wandering around looking for us and thinking we've left him with a bunch of babies and a couple of adults who he doesn't even know. :(

Fast forward to this evening: Emerson was riding with me to pick up pizza (yes, I didn't cook, I haven't worked out a supper system yet!) and we were having a conversation about her playing on the playground. She has decided that boys stink (yes, her words) and that she only wants to play with girls. So she doesn't want to play anywhere near boys because of their stinkyness and the fact that she says they could knock her down. I told her she could play with them and run around like all the other girls and boys but being the hard headed child that she is she told me she wasn't going to do that because girls should play with girls and boys should play with boys. Then she says this to me (and I quote with emphasis exactly where she said it)
"Well, you're not supposed to leave me at school all day anyway because I will cry for my Mama elsewhere."
Okay really, what 3 year old uses the word elsewhere? That child never ceases to amaze me with the things that come out of her mouth. And there I am just looking at her little face in the rear view mirror feeling the mountain of guilt that is piling onto my conscience and wondering how to respond. I couldn't think of anything great to respond with so I just lead the conversation in another, more positive, direction which was the promise that her Nena would pick her up early from day care tomorrow and she would get to play with her before I got home. That seemed to really perk her up since Nena is only 1 her most favorite people EVER.

So now that we're on day 2 of day care and day 3 of work for me things are looking bleak but I know things usually get worse before they get better. . .just like a bruise. I guess we'll just have to wait it out and just see how long this lasts. I sure hope I have enough strength to endure it.

Day Care Day 1

Well, we survived the first day. It was uncharted territory for both kids but they didn't cry when I dropped them off, hooray! And the most impressive thing is that I didn't cry either. WOW, huh?! I was amazed myself (at both things!). Emerson was so ready to get there and have me leave that she didn't want me to even kiss her goodbye. Apparently I'm already cramping her style at her age of 3! After I dropped Emerson off I headed to Cullen's room and he was already thinking it was a bad idea. He wrapped his little arm around mine, clung to my waist with his chubby legs and started saying "I wanna go home, Mama" over and over on the way to the room. I felt so bad and I just knew he would cry but he surprised me and when the teacher got him he just looked around. He didn't see me slip out but he was so overwhelmed by all the other very short individuals mulling around that he forgot to cry. However, the teacher said that he more than made up for it in the afternoon after nap time when he cried on and off and asked for his Mommy and Daddy. Talk about breaking my heart!!! Tripp and I went together to get the kids after work and Emerson was happy to see us and gave me an extra long squeeze but she's already excited about going back tomorrow. Cullen didn't cry when he saw us but before the teacher even told us we knew he had been judging by his swollen little eyes and the pitiful sniffle he does after he cries which he continues for an hour sometimes for dramatic effect! Anyway, I don't think I'll be getting away tomorrow morning without some tears from him but hopefully he will begin to adjust.
More to come. . .along with some cute pictures! :)

Winds of change

The winds of change have hit our house. I started to full time work on Friday and the kids begin daycare on Monday. I'm nervous about how these winds will change our family dynamics. Up until now the children have been with me since they were born. It is going to be quite an adjustment for them as well as myself. I would go into more of how I feel about the whole idea but I don't want to sound like a complainer and I'm just too tired to write right now. But just wanted to mention our little transition to let you know that the posts may once again become sparse as I learn to manage my new schedule.

As for now, the winds are blowing my exhausted body into the bed. I bid you all good night and sleep tight! :)

Just today

Just thought I would recap a few funny things that my children have said today. Before nap time I always read them a book on the couch. I told them to go sit down and the phone rang. While I was on the phone I heard this argument:

Emerson: "1,2,3,4"
Cullen: "1,2,3,5"
Emerson: *louder* "1,2,3,4"
Cullen: *louder* "1,2,3,5"
Emerson: *even louder* 1,2,3,4"
Cullen: *louder still* "1,2,3,5"
Emerson: *screams* "1,2,3,4"
Cullen: *scream back* "1,2,3,5"
This just shows you how hard headed they really are. Neither one is willing to budge on their version of counting and they are both willing to scream their convictions at the top of their voice in the hopes of breaking the other. I had to stop the scream fest because I was afraid it might end in blood shed. And, by the way, Cullen is convinced that 4 is a nonessential number, he refuses to say it or even repeat it!
Then I put them down for a nap which neither child seemed to be interested in. Cullen jabbered away in his crib for a full 30 minutes before going to sleep and Emerson got up at least a dozen times thinking of new ideas on how to avoid her nap. One of those trips out of her room I told her to go back to bed, lay down and read a book, her reply "Mama, I can't read yet." Duh?! What was I thinking??? haha

And then again tonight as Emerson was avoiding bedtime I told her to go to her room and get her pajamas on. She starts tiptoeing as slowly as possible from the room and says "well, you know I walk very slowly." Oh, what a kid!!!

Boy on the beach

More pictures of my little man hanging out with me on the beach in moment, but first let me explain why there will be no pictures of him enjoying the surf. . .


We got to the beach on a Sunday afternoon and after we unpacked all the cars and "moved in" for the week we decided to take the kids down to the beach. It had been a year since either of them had been to the beach and played in the sand. I really thought that Cullen would love it this year since he's so active and loves playing in dirt and water. We got down to the beach and I could tell the surf was rough (there was a storm in the Bahamas causing some serious undertow) so we walked along the beach holding hands and looking at the water. We decided to go walk where the waves would barely cover our toes when whoosh a wave crashed and came rushing towards us. I grabbed on tighter to each little hand and held on. (Bear in mind that the water was only a couple inches deep when it got to us.) Those couple of inches of water combined with the rough seas and shifting sand was quite a match for my 2 little ones. All of the sudden Cullen fell and was rolled by the very shallow water and Emerson had fallen but my grip was so tight that her little legs were going one way and my hand was pulling her tiny arm the other way. The poor child probably felt like I was ripping her shoulder out of joint! But poor Cullen got the worst of it since we couldn't quite hold on long enough. He was soaking wet and covered in sand. He had sand in every crack and crevice of his little body. His chubby cheeks and hair were covered in sand and he was terrified from the whole event. The next day we tried getting him onto the beach but he was hysterical. Every time he even saw the ocean he would start crying and shaking and saying "the water get you, Mama". He was breaking my heart. I don't think he ever got out of a lap the next day at the beach and it took him until the last day until he was brave enough to come within about 20 feet of the water. So I don't think he is going to be doing any surfing any time soon! But despite the traumatic experience with the ocean, Cullen did manage to have a good time playing in the sand and he loved the water at the pool (I'll post those pictures later).

My favorite picture of him on the beach. He's just so darn cute!!!

See how far we are from the water!

Holding up the umbrella really makes him thirsty. . .haha!

And hungry!

And here he is trying to escape back to the safe haven (aka really nice condo)!

PS Yes, I know he's really far away in the last picture but I had to show his great escape from the scary beach! I watched him walk almost all the way to the walkway back which lead to the condo. It was a pretty good distance from us but there was hardly anyone around and I wanted to see just how far he would go, which was apparently to the elevator of the condo! When I realized he wasn't planning on coming back I stopped him before he stepped onto the walkway. I yelled out his name and told him to come back and he did. He started be-bopping back as though it was no big deal. One of the funniest things was that a couple with their 2 very small children stopped to watch the whole event when they didn't think anyone else was. I saw the lady looking very concerned and walking towards Cullen when I stood up so she would realize a parent was around. When the lady saw me she just smiled and probably tried to memorize my face so she could call DFACS when she got back to her condo, hahaha!!!

Drum roll please

The moment you've all been waiting for. . . more pictures of 2 of the most adorable children ever! :)