Innovative New Potty Chair

Just pull up a step stool and wa-la, you have a reclining potty chair! Leave it to a male!

Age- It's All Relative

Reese told me the other day, "I did that when I was younger, 4 days ago." When do days turn into years? I guess days do make a difference when you have only lived 1,277 days as compared to 10,950.

Bad Parents vs Good Parents

On a recent dinner outing with friends we ordered the kids each their own kids meals with a pop and french fries. Our friends ordered a kids meal with juice and fruit. After leaving the restaurant and heading home Randy confessed that that was the first time in his life as a parent that he felt like a bad father. I told him that I have felt that way everyday for the past 3 1/2 years!

Though I know that we are not bad parents, there has rarely been a day since the birthy of our oldest, when I have not worried about what someone thinks about the choices that I have made in raising my children or compared myself to other parents my age. I feel that technology such as Facebook and blogs has increased my feelings of inadequacy as parents my age are constantly posting about their adventures in making homemade baby food, not ever feeding their children fast food, bragging about how long they were able to breast feed, delivering their children with or without pain meds, teaching their infants to read and the ultimate hot topic: staying home versus working moms.

I have come to the realization that not all people are going to use the same methods of child-rearing and that just because I do things differently than someone else, does not make me a bad parent. Though I realize some people are going to do things differently, the challenge is going to be not allowing myself to feel guilty or inadequate when I do not do something the same as others do.

Potty mouth

Lately Aidan has adopted a funny new way to express his anger. Here is the scene:

Aidan is playing with his train table and Reese comes over to stand next to him. She starts playing and her position prevents him from moving around the table in the direction he was going. He gets upset and starts pointing and screaming, "Dump truck!" Reese comes to me to report, "Mommy, Aidan is calling me dump truck again!"

He has a pretty dirty mouth! Haha!

Really, we are going to work on our potty mouths in this house. Randy and I both swear without swearing by using words like fricking instead of f******. I think that we will both be using "dump truck" when we get angry. Not only will this reduce the amount of swearing in our house, but the story behind it gets us laughing and will help to diffuse our anger in stressful situations.

Aidan's 2nd Birthday

"Thomas!............And Friends!" I hear this about 100 times a day. My son is absolutely obsessed with anything and everything Thomas the Train, which is why we decided on that as the theme for his 2nd birthday.

I immediately started looking online for different ideas for everything from invitations to decorations and cakes. I did not see any invitations in the store that I liked, so I decided to print out a picture of Thomas to use on the front of the card. I then added the steam cloud with "Aidan's 2nd Birthday" to mimic the Thomas logo.

The back side of the card reads, "All aboard for Aidan's 2nd Birthday!" I then cut out a ticket shape for the back of the card to write all of the party details. I can't take credit for the creative wording of the invitation as I found that online.


Once the invitations were sent, I got to work on decorations. I did not want to spend a lot of money so I knew that I was going to be making decorations. Because it was train themed, I decided to make miniature versions of signs that you would see along a train track and hung them throughout the rooms we would be using.


I made another birthday sign using the Thomas logo subsituting Aidan's 2nd Birthday. Underneath that I hung up directional signs leading guests to various locations. The roundhouse is a resting place for engines after a days work, in our case the living room. Engine works is where the trains go to have repairs, in our case the kitchen. The wash down is where the trains go to be cleaned, for our party this was the bathroom. Finally the station masters' office was the master bedroom.

I majorly splurged on the Thomas balloon bouquet, but plan to hang the balloon in my son's room long after it has deflated so that he can enjoy it.

Finally, I constructed a Thomas centerpiece out of gift and shoe boxes and toilet paper rolls all wrapped up in blue wrapping paper and various scrapbook papers and ribbon. I read about a woman who made one for her son's party, but did not see any pictures, examples or tutorials for one online.

He really turned out cute though! I especially love the cotton balls coming out of the smokestacks!

Finally, I found a super easy video tutorial for this cake online.

I liked how it was a 2 dimensional view of the front of Thomas the Train Engine rather than a 3 dimensional model of Thomas. Unfortunately the link has since been disabled, but as you can see it involved making a round cake for the face, a large rectangle cake for the base and cutting a funnel shape out of a regular sized cake pan.

Aidan was a little confused by all of the attention as everyone was singing "Happy Birthday!"

It was a great party and so much fun to plan and prepare! I only wish that we could have the parties without him having to get any older!

The other day while driving to daycare Reese and I were having a discussion. She must have been getting frustrated trying to explain something to me because she suddenly exclaimed, "Mommy, I told you that 4 years ago!" I had to choke back laughter as Reese is only 3 1/2 years old! Sorry, I was unable to understand it then as I had not mastered the morse code of her little kicks inside my belly!

The Best Little Stister

The other night while tucking Aidan into bed, Reese ran in to give him a quick kiss. They seem to fight almost constantly, making these moments even more special. She gave him a peck on the cheeck and said, "You are the best little stister!" (No that is not a typo, that is really how she says it). No matter how many times we try to tell her that Aidan is her little brother, she continues to call him her stister.

Why do you love me so much?

This morning as Reese was using the restroom she started shivering and complaining of being cold. The footie pajamas are great for staying warm, except when you have to almost comletely undress to go to the bathroom. I leaned over her and gave her a hug to try to cover her up and warm her. She looked at me as I was leaning over her and asked, "Mom, why do you love me so much?" I was totally taken off guard and almost in tears, so I simply answered, "Because you are my only princess Reese." She immediately replied, "I don't like to be called princess!" That is one of the many reasons why I love this girl!

Picture Perfect....Not Quite

My husband and I are leaving for a four day kid free vacation to his brother's wedding in Jamaica. As I always do when we leave on vacation, I cleaned the house from top to bottom. I do this so that the only thing to do when we get home is to wash the clothes and put away anything that we took with us. This time it worked out that I had a commitment and my husband is taking the kids to their grandma's house to drop them off for the weekend. As soon as he left with the kids, I realized that the house looks exactly the way that I strive for it to look everyday. Everything is in it's place and cleaned up, a rare occassion with 2 children to say the least! Though everything looks picture perfect, as if ready for a magazine shoot, it does not feel perfect to me. It is missing the people that make this house my home, my husband and children.

Kid Free Vacation

Over the past 3 1/2 years we have left the kids in the capable hands of our family members for the occassional quiet dinner for two or night out on the town with friends. Though I usually enjoy these outings and come back to the kids feeling refreshed, I prefer to spend my time with the kids. Tomorrow night we will be taking the kids to my moms' house to spend three days while we fly to Jamaica for Randy's brothers wedding. It will be the first time that we have left the kids longer than overnight. Am I nervous? Yes!!!!! I am worried that the kids will think that we are not coming back for them. I am worried that something could happen with our plane and we would not make it back. I am worried that the kids will misbehave for my mom (she raised 5 kids single-handedly, so my two should not be that difficult, I hope!). I am worried that I will forget to pack something for them. The list of worries is endless, and for the most part ridiculous!
For as much as I am worried about the trip, I am also very excited! I have not felt very connected to my husband as of late, and am looking forward to some time to concentrate on us without the distraction of the kids. I am also looking forward to visiting a new place and flying in a plane (I have not flown in 12 years!) Finally, I am excited to share in the nuptials of my brother-in-law and his future wife.
I know that I am thankful for the snow days spent snuggling and playing with the kids leading up to our trip. I am sure that once the trip has started it will fly by in the blink of an eye. I am also certain that the kids and my mom will enjoy the time that they have together. I know my mom has a pretty full agenda, including taking the kids to see their cousins! I can't wait to hear all of the highlights of their visit from my mom and the kids. I know that it will be good for the kids and I to spend some time apart and fostering other relationships. I know that this trip is going to make me yearn for spring and warmer weather!
Thankfully, just 6 short weeks after returning from the wedding, we will be headed to Pensacola, Fl with the kids for some sun, sand and fun as a family!