Tall & Thin

As promised in my post from earlier today, I'm updating after Little Man's check up. This was really a dual visit. We had already scheduled his well baby visit for today, and he also needed to have a re-check to make sure his ear infection cleared up. As it turns out, his right ear is still infected. He is such a layed back, easy going, happy baby, that we didn't even know he was still having a problem. Other than the infection, everything else is great. He weighs 18 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 29 1/4 inches tall. That puts him in the 25th percentile for his weight and the 89th percentile for height. That is about where he has been charting all along, so it looks like we have a tall, thin boy on our hands.

As expected, McCutie was quite impressed with all of Little Man's accomplishments over the last few days. He seems to think there is a good chance we'll have a little toddler by Christmas. I did not bring up the Renesmee reference to McCutie. I decided I don't want him to know what a complete and total dork I really am.

So, we go back on December 8th to check on the ears again, and then we don't have another check up until Little Man's first birthday. I can't believe we are that close to his birthday already.

Thank You, Pajama Mama!

As I reported yesterday, when I went to check on a fussy Little Man who was refusing to nap, I found him standing in his crib. Unfortunately, my fuzzy brain didn't remember that I had left my memory card in the card reader attached to my computer, so I was certain that I had missed the picture of this first. Pajama Mama suggested I check my camera to see if it had stored the picture because her camera does have space to store a few pictures without the memory card. I spent a few hours thinking that my camera didn't have that capability. Then I remembered......WE HAVE THE SAME CAMERA! Duh! So, I plugged my camera in this morning, and there he was. Standing in his crib like it was no big thing.

And now I'm off to get ready to take him in for his 9 month well baby visit. I'm sure Dr. McCutie will be just as amazed with his growth this past week as I have been. I mean the past week has been rather Renesmee-esque. (Twilight reference for those who haven't read those books.....and you should!) I'll report back later with his stats.

Not Me Monday

So, right off the bat, I did not promise myself that I would keep a running tally of things I did not do all week, and then I most certainly did follow through with that promise, which of course means that I am not sitting here on a Monday morning trying to recall all the things I did not do this week.

One I vividly remember is that I did not lay in bed on the one morning my Dh was actually home and actually wanted to let me sleep in, worrying about what my Princess might end up wearing to school. I did not eventually get up and find her in brown corduroy carpi's, a grey t-shirt, beige knee socks and pink sparkly mary jane type tennis shoes. I did not gasp when I saw her, and did not laugh when her daddy said, "She's a Christmas elf." I did not hand the Little Man over to his daddy while I helped the elf find a more appropriate outfit for a very cold morning. Her daddy did not say she still looked elfish in the green skirt, off-white leggings, purple, green and off-white striped shirt and black knee boots I put her in, but at least she matched.

Oh, and I did not force her to let me brush her hair before letting her go out the door.

I did not ask my little brother to come to my house and be my Mr. FixIt in lieu of him buying me a Christmas present this year. I did not thoroughly enjoy having my brother and his two boys here for the weekend. I also most definitely did not laugh when while fixing the light in my closet, the chair on which he was standing broke, and to prevent serious injury, my baby brother grabbed onto the bar from which Dh's clothes were hanging thereby almost doubling his to-do list.

I did not go check on my baby boy after putting him down for a nap only to find him STANDING in his crib. I did not tell him to stay right there while I ran to get my camera. I did not tell him to just stop with the new stuff already and try to be my baby just a little while longer. I did not then take him out of his crib and lower his mattress again. And most of all, after taking the picture of him standing like a big boy in his crib for the very first time, I did not come downstairs only to find my memory card stuck in the card reader on my computer, and I did not almost cry when I realized I took the picture with no memory card!!!

And finally, I did not have any difficulty writing this post. I did not have to go back and re-read several times adding and removing "nots" and hoping this makes sense to anyone but me. I do not often think that by having kids and being a stay at home mom, my brain cells are slowing dying, and I do not worry that by the time my son starts Kindergarten I may have to re-learn everything right along with him.

Now, go over to MckMama's blog and read a more articulate version of Not Me Monday!

P.S. I am not totally frustrated with blogger and the fact that my spacing is never the way I intended it to be. It looks great until I hit "Publish Post", then it goes all screwy.

More Firsts

My Little Man's firsts are a little bittersweet for me. I am so excited to see him growing and learning and doing new things, but I know they are my last firsts, so it makes me a little sad. His first step will be the last first step I get to see a child of mine take. I just sometimes wish he could stay my little baby a little longer.

However, Little Man sees things a little differently. He seems to be on a mission to grow up the last few days. He has been sitting up when we put him in that position, and then Sunday night, he was rolling around and suddenly sat up all by himself. He has been rolling and scooting everywhere for a while. He has also been pulling things off the coffee table. If there is a piece of paper hanging over the edge, it will end up on the floor. Then he started trying to pull himself up. If we sit him in front of something, he will grab it and pull with all his might trying to get into a standing position. We finally gave in and just stood him up. We don't leave him alone, but he can stand for quite some time. Now he can pull himself up onto his knees. I think it's only a matter of days before he'll be pulling up to a standing position.

Then on Monday, he decided to crawl. He has only done it twice, and both times were only for me. I've tried to get him to crawl when someone else is in the room, but he won't do it. He also wouldn't do it when I had my camera.

Monday night's bath was a first too. It was his first bath in the big tub without his baby tub. I know he should have been out of that thing a long time ago, but honestly, he just loved it so much, I hated to take him out of it. But he had started trying to pull himself out, so I knew it was time. One more baby thing gone! He loves the big boy bath just as much as the baby tub.

We have also started giving him some more food choices. Actually, we have been working on this for a while. He just did not like anything with any texture, and he wouldn't feed himself anything. I could put food on his tray, and he would play with it, but wouldn't try to put anything in his mouth. Now, if he had found it on the floor, that would have been another story. He has finally started to experiment a little more, and tonight I gave him some green beans after he finished off his sweet potatoes. I managed to capture the whole thing. I think it was a success.

And finally, he has developed a new grin that is just to die for. He started doing it anytime I would smile at him, and when he did it for the camera, it just cracked me up. I know the picture is blurry, but I had to snap it quickly, and then my battery died before I could try again.

Not Me Monday!

I did not turn on the wrong burner on my stove thereby melting a plastic Cracker Barrel take out container and filling my house with a rather toxic smell. No way would I ever do such a thing, I always pay close attention to what I am doing. And I most certainly did not turn on the same wrong burner the very next night and almost re-boil already steeped and ready to mix tea. What sort of inattentive, distracted mom would do that?

I did not find eight new Facebook friends I haven't seen or heard from in ages. They are not all my husband's fraternity brothers, nor are they mostly from the pledge class for which I was sweetheart. I did not spend hours I do not have sitting at my computer looking at pictures of their families and catching up with their lives. I did not call my husband in from the other room on several occasions saying, "Guess who that is!" A grown woman with a pile of laundry and a floor that needs mopping would never waste precious time on something like Facebook for crying out loud.


I did not try to open my Kodak Easyshare software only to find that it would not open. I did not immediately feel nauseated nor did I panic because many, many of my photos had not been saved anywhere else. I did not spend the next half hour chatting with Peter, the tech support dude at Kodak. I did not panic once again when Peter told to remove the software from my computer and then reinstall it from the Kodak site. Never once did I doubt Peter when he said I would not lose any of my pictures by following his advice. I did not sigh a huge sigh of relief when I realized he was in fact correct, and I did not spend the rest of the weekend making sure ALL of my pictures were saved on Kodak Gallery so that I would never face that nauseating panic again!

I did not wake up this morning and immediately wish that the kids did not have school so that I could spend the entire day in my house in my fuzzy robe and slippers, and I am not in any way looking forward to Thanksgiving break so that I will have at least a day or two to do just that!

And now, please go over and read what MckMama did not do this week. I did not laugh out loud as I was reading her post.

Slight Resemblance!

The Princess:

The Little Man:

Not Me Monday

I have not been reading MckMama's blog for months and saying I should do a Not Me Monday post each and every Monday. I have not been procrastinating about actually posting a Not Me Monday post.

I did not have a tooth pulled last Monday. I did not cry when the sadistic oral surgeon gave me shots of Novocaine. What sort of baby would do that? I am in no way anxious for the bone grafting to heal and the implant to be in place, nope, not me. I rather enjoy being able to remove my front tooth at will.

I did not enjoy my night away with my hubby while my kiddos stayed with their cousin Jess. Nope, I missed them like crazy and wished that I was the one cleaning baby poop from the Little Man, his clothes, his big sister's clothes and the kitchen floor.

And I most certainly did not spend the entire time I was away from them showing off pictures of them and talking about how super adorably cute they are. Nope, not me. I am most certainly not THAT mom!

I think I'm in trouble

If this is what he's like at 8 months old and barely mobile, what are toddler years going to be like?

Yes, that is the cabinet where the cleaning supplies are kept. Yes, he got over there all by himself.

And of course, it's followed by the sweet innocent "who me?" look that I'm sure will save him many, many times. (And of course, he has a cold, making him look even more pitiful.)

In Memory of Maddie

Ten years ago today, a little 8 year old girl named Madelyn Rae Clifton went missing from her front yard. After being kissed by her mother, Maddie had gone out to play as her 11 year old sister was inside practicing piano.

My firstborn was 15 months old at the time. I held her close as I watched the news coverage every day hoping and praying that Maddie would be found alive. Maybe she was hurt and just couldn't make it back home. Maybe someone had her, but would let her go.

I took fliers with her picture and put them up around the condos where we lived at the time. I looked at every child I saw, hoping to see Maddie and help get her home.

And I prayed. The whole town prayed. The whole town searched.

Maddie's family was on tv begging for her return.

One week after Maddie vanished from her yard, her body was found stuffed under her 14 year old neighbor's water bed. His own mother found her there and had to turn her son in to the police. He was later tried as an adult and is serving a life sentence.

And the whole town moured. We mourned the loss of this precious little girl. We mourned the loss of innocence. We mourned for the two mothers who's lives were devastated that day.

I went to visit Maddie's grave after the funeral was over and her family had left. I signed the guest book. I don't know exactly why I needed to do that, but I felt it was something I just had to do. I held my own daughter, and I felt the loss and grief that Maddie's mother must have been feeling. Must still feel ten years later.

I am an extremely overprotective mother. I worry sometimes that maybe I am too protective. Maybe I need to start letting go a little. Then I remember Maddie, and I just can't.

I look at my daughters, almost the exact ages of Maddie and her big sister on the day Maddie vanished, and I cannot imagine my life without them. Just as I can't imagine their lives without each other.

And so, I hold on too tight, and I pray for the wisdom to know when to let go.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Trick Or Treat

It was the Little Man's first Halloween. Isn't he the cutest little horse you ever saw? I thought it was only fitting that he be a horse since he has a cowboy bedroom. We thought he was absolutely adorable.

Sweetpea's joke: What did Little Man say when he fell down? I've fallen, and I can't giddy-up.

The Princess has outgrown her princess ways. For a few years, the only question about her Halloween costume was which Disney Princess she would choose. Then two years ago, she decided to be a witch. An adorable little witch carrying a cinnamon scented broom. Last year, she was a perfectly cute little cheetah. This year, she was a Pop Star Witch.

Sweetpea couldn't really decide at first if she wanted a real costume. She thinks she's getting a little old for trick or treating. That makes me sad! In the end, she saw this red devil costume, and decided to give it a go. She was beyond cute, and I had the most fun teasing and spraying her hair. She said it looked like a horror movie when she took a shower that night. I said, "Like Psycho". She said, "Huh? What's that?"

We had beautiful weather to start our evening. Not too hot, not too cold.

Beautiful sunset.

By the time we were half way around the circle, it was starting to rain. Our Little Pony was snugly warm and sleeping in his costume, plus his cowboy blankie his Aunt Jeannie gave him.

The Princess got to trick or treat with her very best friend in the whole wide world. These two have spent every one of their seven Halloweens together. I hope they have many, many more.

The girls both got way too much candy.

And then we went home to put our tired Little Pony to bed.

And after he spit up on himself, Sweetpea said, "He has a little cud on his shoulder."

Oh, that girl!