Salesman

Nick likes to play a game where he's the "man" and I'm the lady trying to buy a pet from him. So I go through my list of wants (protect my house, eat snakes, give me love, etc.) and then the man suggests pets I might like. Last night he offered me a Zhu Zhu hamster for $1. I took it and then he offered up some other pets. After telling him that I didn't want to buy anymore pets at the moment he offered "but if you buy all the pets now, I'll give you free parking!" Wow - how could I pass up that deal?! And where does this kid get this stuff?

Belly

When I was pregnant with Peri and couldn't run around with Nick I must have told him that I couldn't run because my belly was big. The other day Nick was hugging me and resting his head on my belly. Then he said "Mom, why is your belly big but you can run now?" Nice motivation to hit the gym. Thanks for the honesty bud!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Happy Birthday Nick!

With a December 24th birthday, we usually hold his party a week or two before Christmas in the hopes that some of his friends are still around to celebrate. This past weekend we went to a Tae Kwon Do studio. It was an hour and a half of rambunctious 4-5 yr olds learning kicks and punches. That's his best bud Cooper helping him blow out the candles above.

Love the head bands!

Dumb Book

Nick goes to a Montessori school. They have a gift exchange each year to teach sharing and the act of giving. I think Nick missed the point because when I picked him up on Friday he couldn't wait to tell me (in a loud voice) about the "dumb book" he got as a gift. "I gave an awesome gift and I got a dumb book!". And I couldn't tell him "hey, don't say that" because I know how it feels to give a good gift and get a stinkin' one in return. Sigh. I guess we both have some learning to do.

Holiday Pageant

Time for the yearly Christmas pageant. The days leading up to the pageant are a bit chaotic. Buying a pair of black pants, black shoes, red sweater and tie that won't be worn again. Practicing the words to Christmas songs (at least they weren't in Swedish this year). Racing home on a Wednesday night to get two kids dressed and ready for the pageant (dinner usually doesn't happen on these nights). Beaming as you see your little bugger up on stage for all of 10 minutes.

These make me laugh. My technical skills aren't letting me upload more than one video, so 2 more videos/songs to come...

Cat in the Hat

Pop-pop came for a visit this past weekend. Nick was in heaven. Donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast. A Christmas shopping spree in the Target toy aisle. Hours of tv/movies. Life doesn't get much better for a four (almost five) year old. As hard as I tried to clean up after the two kids (Nick and Pop-pop), I just couldn't keep up. It was like the Cat in the Hat had come to town!

Poor Pop-pop opted for a cheap ticket with connecting flights. Many hours later he's still stuck in Atlanta. Good luck PP!

Officially the Holidays!

Every year before Thanksgiving, they have a parade for the Lights Fest. Mickey Mouse leads the parade and all the lights along Michigan Avenue come on as he passes by. We've being going for a few years now and always have a good time. Some years are chillier than others. Peri seemed to enjoy the lights. The crowds can get a bet intense. This year we were standing by a curb that tripped every third person. Some shots of the gang (that's gum in Nick's mouth). Not sure where Papa Jack was hiding for these.

Tracey

Tracey was in town this weekend! We had such a nice time with her and she didn't complain about the cold! Peri and Nick were on their better behavior, until it was time to take T to the airport. Then Peri let it all out. On Saturday, the boys went to a tree farm with some friends. Looks like they had a good time chopping down trees.


Meanwhile, the girls went for a mani/pedi, chicken potpie lunch at cafe Selmarie and a stroll through the Kindemart (warm German donuts!) Below are some laughs we enjoyed with Peri on Saturday before the boys came home. What makes a baby laugh like this? Wide eyed grunts. Oh, the things we do...




*Sorry for the loud background noise - think I had my hand over the speaker

New Voice

Peri has found a new vocal range. It's kinda of a squeaky squawk. Enjoy!

Friends

Poor Nicky has a December 24th bday, which makes birthday parties a little hard since most people are celebrating Christmas with their families. So we try to have his party a few weeks before. Last year we invited his entire class. This year we limited it to 10 kids. We're going to a Tae Kwon Do studio where they're going to learn some moves! How cute!

Nick was helping me with the invites last night and I asked about inviting M. "No, he kicks girls" Nick told me. What?! Kicks girls?! Then we definitely don't want him around! Then Chris chimed in with "kisses". Huh? M kisses girls? Nick looked at me with an incredulous look and nodded his head. Jeesh- definitely don't want a girl kisser there! Too funny. M - we're still trying to get you back on the invite list - we don't hold your kissing against you like Nick does.

Boys Night

You know all about Boys Night. Five boys, four hours and one house. Luckily we learned early on that it's safer for everyone (house included) if you can get the boys outside for most of the time. But winter came early this year, so in October we decided to change it up for winter...we'd all gather (parents and boys) somewhere for an outing (movies, bowling, ice skating...) instead of watching each of our homes getting destroyed after a Sunday night. Bowling was our first outing. The boys lasted about 35 minutes before the draw of video games lured them away. But we did get some fun photos from the photo booth. My favorite (and the reason we had to take 3 more, so other kids could be seen)...

Dead

I've told you about Nick and his love of the camera. Apparently he had a photo session with Chris. Chris can't remember the back story now, but it was something about an alien trying to get him and killing him. I think we might let Nick watch too much TV.

"Oh, hey Nick!"
"Ugh, why'd you use that stun gun on me Nick? Wait, are you an alien?"


"Oh, I'm feeling weak..."


Chris, you are such a good sport.

Parenting

Every now and then (almost always), Chris and I question if we know what the heck we're doing raising two kids. We cheered on Nick's first birthday. Not only to celebrate him growing older, but because we'd kept him alive that long. Yeah!!!! Some days it feels like we're the only ones feeling this way. But then we got this note from C's mom the other day and it sadly made me feel better...

"Chris - when you were two the water meter man left our side gate open and you walked out. Rev. Wilson saw you in the next block east and brought you home. Thank you Wilson"

Have to mention this was written on Rev. Wilson's obituary on the paper-thanks Wilson!

Gobble Gobble!

Live and learn...That's my motto. Or at least one of them. Finally I did learn something. When a baby keeps watching you eat and drooling, she wants something to eat too! So I bought her some rice cereal the other night. We tried it Wednesday night, and she got a few spoonfuls in, but most of it came back out. We tried in Thursday night. Same thing. We weren't going to try it Friday night, but she got herself all worked up while we were eating. So we brought it out and our little girl gobbled it up! Guess what comes with food? Longer nights of sleep! Come on baby!!!!

Tats

Auntie Shannon brought Nick some rock n roll tattoos last month. Nick usually rocks a few, but he went all out this time. Rock on!

Skating...Still

Nick is still taking ice skating lessons. Every Wednesday, Grammy picks him up from school early and takes him to the rink. Wish I'd remembered that this last Wednesday when I bolted out of work, fought traffic, ran through the parking lot in a dress/heels and made it all the way up to his classroom only to be left wondering "Where is his jacket? And why is Grammy's name on the sign out sheet? That's right! Tonight was your "easy" night where you only had one kid to pick up and you picked up the wrong one and now you're going to be late getting her...sigh."

Here's some footage of our ice skater. More talking than skating, but still cute. Before you laugh too hard, remember the first few classes focused solely on learning to stand up on skates.

Screaming baby

So last week was my first week having to add Peri to my nightly school pick-up routine. I ran in and grabbed Nick from his school. Then we raced over to another school to get Peri. Walked in to find her crying. When she heard my voice, she started screaming. For the next half hour. Peri isn’t a screaming baby, so I knew something was up. Totally think she was screaming at me, “I can’t believe you left me here! Where do you think you’re going each day? Did you know they gave me formula?! I do NOT appreciate being dropped off at “school” and I’m going to tell you all about it on the way home!” Of course this was the first time I met her teachers too. Felt like the worst mom ever. Couldn’t calm my screaming kid as I tried to talk pleasantries over her. The next day I slunk in to pick her up and there she was. As happy as a clam. I knelt down to say "hi" and before I could get a word out, she started laughing at me. BIG laughs. Couldn’t tell if these were “OMG! Mom, I’m so happy you’re here that I’m going to laugh at whatever you say!” or “Ha ha! Look kids, my mom is here. Isn’t she the funniest looking thing you’ve ever seen? Check out the faces she does!” or "Ha! Don't try to figure me out!"

Hair

What, you thought this was going to be a posting about Peri's awesome mohawk hair? Ha! No, but I will get more photos of that up. Can't control it! When she was born she had these adorable pin waves like she was straight out of the 40s. Or was that the 20s?

Anyway, this one is about my hair. I firmly believe that dry shampoo was invented for moms. I wash my hair every other day. It’s thick and naturally has some curl in it, so it does better with a day in between. This icks Chris out to no end. So last Wednesday was a “wash” day. Except the alarm went off and I fell back asleep. This NEVER happens to me. Seriously. So 20 minutes later I woke up in a panic, realized I didn’t have time to give love to two kids and wash my hair. A bit of dry shampoo and dry conditioner (they make that now too!) and I was on my way. No one the wiser (at least I hope not). The sacrifices we make.

Apparently it wasn’t the best idea to let Nick have a Ben 10 DVD marathon a few weeks ago. He memorized a few lines. Below are a few snippets that have come back to haunt us (and make us smirk while trying not to laugh):

Chris turned Nick onto the joy of throwing things at the ceiling fan to see what you can hit. Soft things like socks and t-shirts. Chris has a scary talent for being able to toss things at the fan and determine where they’ll land. Mostly in the vicinity of my head. But the one time he missed, Nick yelled out “Nice throw Grandpa!”.

Here’s a photo of Nick in our room a few weeks back. Please notice the binoculars around his neck and his “gun” (that would be a mini goalie stick). He was pretending to hunt a tiger (me) and asked “You wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?” Who is this kid?!

Ghostbusters!

Chris and Nick have been taking advantage of the Netflix instant downloads. Problem is, the pickings are kinda slim. After he exhausted Scoobie-Doo, Nick moved onto Ghost Busters. He was scared and fascinated at the same time. I kept telling him that it wasn’t real and that I didn’t want him to watch if it was too scary. But he insisted he wasn’t scared…until bedtime. Sigh. He and Lewis watched Ghost Busters 2 (or 3?) this past weekend and proceeded to go around the house to see who had ghosts inside of them. They would then "remove" the ghosts. Cute, until Nick starting blaming his bad manners on “the ghost inside of me. He’s making me do bad stuff.” I had a stern talking to the ghost and told him he couldn’t hang around our house anymore. Jeesh.

Mouse

After Nick went through his “stomping on bugs” phase, we tried to teach him that bugs and animals are our friends and we shouldn’t hurt them. He changed his ways and would get so excited to go on the front porch to see his “spider friends” (clue to us to clear the cobwebs). He made a bug jar at school that resulted in several bugs dying from lack of fresh air and food. Guess they didn’t teach him that part. Anyway, Mom-mom was visiting last week and saw a mouse run across our carpet. AGGHH! I hate creatures in our house. I sit on that floor, Nick’s toys are on that floor, Peri lays on that floor, and we occasionally eat off of that floor (5 second rule). Nick got so excited! “That’s my mouse friend that lives under the dishwasher! He’s just looking for a warm house and some food”. Yes, we’d had a mouse last year, but he went away. Seems he’s back. I was in the den last night and heard some squeaking. Icked me out so I ran upstairs to tell Chris. Nick again got so excited! “Mom-help him! He might be stuck. Will you bring him up to me?” Poor Nick. I won’t tell him what that mouse has in store for itself. I still remember the time we had a mommy mouse and her babies under our green/burgundy plaid couch when I was little. My dad came home, scooped them up and flushed them down the toilet (don’t ask) as my sisters and I screamed and cried, begging him to leave our new friends alone.

Mom-Mom

M0m-mom's in town and got some cute video of a chatty baby. Apparently Peri was too busy entertaining Mom-mom to take a nap the first day. We got her back on track pretty quickly. But it left an exhausted Mom-mom and Peri.

Baby School

So baby started school last week. She went for a few hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. They give us little charts showing her feeding schedule, diaperings, naps and activities. What does a baby do for activities? "Made silly faces and tickled", "Rocked and cuddled", "Kisses, peek-a-boo, danced and read stories", "Met her new friends" and "Sang songs". How cute is that?

I told Nick that Peri was going to school and Nick said, in disbelief, "No way! She can't even walk or talk!" I explained that baby school teaches them how to roll over and crawl. When we all got home that first night, Nick asked "So, did she learn how to crawl yet?" Jeesh.

Daycare

So Peri has been on a waiting list for the past six-plus months for daycare. We finally got the call last week that she got in for 3 days a week. Thank God Mary wants some Peri time and is taking over the other two days until we get them. We were so excited! She's in! Then it hit us - our baby is going to daycare :( It's the same school Nick went when he was her age. And they're wonderful there. But my baby going off to school. Sigh.

Sleep

The family that sleeps together sleeps in together.

Our friends live about 2 blocks away on a really fun street. They use any excuse to have a block party. We're trying to get adopted onto this street. So Saturday night after the trick or treaters were done for the night, we headed to their block. Nick was wired, baby was still awake (she must have known something was up because she's never up past 7pm) and we were up for some cocktails. Nick (Snake Eyes) and his friend Cooper (Black Spider Man) immediately joined at the hip and ran into the backyard. We commented on all the decorated houses. About an hour or so later, baby decided she was too tired, so I took her home. This was around 9:30pm. Nick and Chris wandered home from the party around 11:40pm. Apparently Nick was too tired to walk home, so Chris tossed him over his shoulder and carried him like a sack of potatoes.

Nick woke up around 6am and tried to get us to wake up. Not happening. He must have climbed into our bed and fell back asleep because when we all finally stirred, the clock read 9:45am! All four of us were somehow squished in a queen size bed. Chris and I can't remember the last time we slept past 9am. Much less 8am. Wow! And we hadn't even set our clocks back.

I asked Chris how the rest of the night was. Nick and his friend C had gone inside C's house to watch a movie. His grandparents were visiting and happy to stay inside with them. Chris and a few neighbors ended up at the "Columbian's house" doing shots and eating chicken soup. Think they may have stayed longer if C's grandma hadn't called to say "Nick is tired and ready to go home." One of the neighbor's is from Columbia and was having their own separate party on the block. Chris is always the party animal when I'm not around!

Boo!

Happy Halloween! It was fun having Halloween on a Saturday this year, because we could actually spend the day enjoying it rather than the work night Halloweens where you race home, enhale dinner and run outside to get candy before everyone closes up shop for the night. Nick and Chris made the rounds on our street.



I handed out candy with Peri. Nick gave out some candy when he got home. I noticed cute girls got extra candy from him. hmmm. He also ate about half of his bag when he got home. We had to explain it would still be around the next day.

I got one photo of the two of them. Peri is in mid-fall because Nick refused to let go of his sword. We caught her.

Counting

So I haven't written much about Nick lately. Sigh. He's still doing silly things, but he's spending more time trying to start fights with me. Sigh. I had to get our "discipline" book out again to see if I can get the little bugger under control. He's totally fine and adorable around Peri, but if he's not getting full attention or exactly what he wants, total breakdown. So hard being the big brother. And being four years old.

Snow White

Every girl has her favorite princess. Mine was Snow White. I thought my mom looked like Snow White growing up and I always wanted her to wear a big red bow in her hair when she went out. She didn't. But I always drew her with one in her hair. Anyway, I was looking at Peri sleeping the other morning and thought "Oh my! I've got a Snow White baby!" Perfect skin, pretty brown hair and little rosebud mouth. Sweet baby snow white!

Auntie Shannon!

Aunt Shannon came to visit! She loaded her suitcase with gifts for Nick and brought lots of cuddles for Peri. Chris is a little jealous because his torso is too bony/solid for Peri to truly snuggle into. And then Auntie Shannon shows up with a big bossum that screams "baby!" Chris described Peri as a little kitty cat purring and snuggling into Shannon. Peri is in heaven.

Mr. Mom Week 3

Peri and Chris are rocking. He's got her on an afternoon nap schedule. They finally got some good weather this week and made it out on a walk. And guess who's big enough to face forward in the Baby Bjorn now? Rock on Peri! Chris said she was just tickled being able to see everything as they walked. Probably extra tickled because she was 5 feet off the ground. It's nice having a tall dad.

Here are some photos from their first week together. I love the silly look on C's face in the one below. "I'm so excited! I'm not working and I've got a sweet baby to hang with!"

Old or Young

So why is it that a bald head and fat thighs are thought of as negative images on adults, but adorable on babies? Look at those little thighs! I could eat them up! Poor Peri, she actually has hair, but is now one of those babies with a bald spot on the back of her head. Whenever I used to see kids with bald spots on the back, I'd blame their parents for not picking them up enough. Now I realize an active head moving from side to side will wear the hair right off your head!

Marathon

Sunday was the Chicago Marathon. We went out to cheer on our friend Daryl. My friend Tracey taught me how to cheer at marathons. You yell "Looking good runners!", "Great job" and "Way to go ______". Luckily many wear their names on their shirts so you can fill in that blank with a personal touch! Well this year, Nick was being a bit shy and didn't want to yell out, so he was asking me to yell for him. "Mom, tell them "Go Faster!". Ha! Just what they want to hear with miles to go! We'll have to work on his motivation speeches. Or maybe he's learning them from us?!

We missed Daryl, but were able to cheer on some other runners.

Where are my pjs?

Chris and Peri had a great week together last week. Once she realized that the big guy could feed her too, she was in love! I spent most of the day with her on Saturday, while Chris worked on the porch stairs. (I know. They're still going on. But almost finished! In time for Halloween. And they look great! Just need some stain and the new handrails!) Anyway, when Chris finished for the day, he came in and said "hi" to Peri. Boy, the smile he got!

Last Monday I came home to find the smiley girl and melt-down boy. Later that night I couldn't find my pj bottoms. Turns out Chris had put them in bed with Peri so she'd have something that smelled like me. Awwww-sweet and icky at the same time! You think I would have caught on, but this week I was once again hunting for my pjs. Yep, in Peri's room. She usually smells like an apricot to me, but today she had a turkey smell to her. Wonder what I smell like to her?

Homeless

So we have a lot of homeless people asking for money on the streets of Chicago. Nick used to ask "What did that lady ask you?" or "Why does that man stink?" when we would pass them on the street. Usually asked loudly and within hearing distance. I'd try to nicely explain that they don't have money or a house to go to. So now when we pass homeless people Nick will first ask "Mom, do he have a home?" and then say "Mom, he can come to our house!". Wow! I was so proud of him the first time he said it. So thoughtful! I told him that we could use some of our fun/toy money to give it to the man to buy food or someplace to stay that night. "Um, maybe we can just use your money, Mom." Sigh. We'll keep trying.

Mr. Mom

Sigh. Twelve weeks zoomed by and today I found myself putting on real clothes and heading back to work. Nick wanted to go to school early, so the two of us high tailed it out of the house by 7am, leaving this behind...
I won't show you the one that has Chris and Peri in the photo, as I'm not in a mean mood :) And because I never want Chris to take an early photo of me to post for all to see. Just think of a tired pirate face.

So Chris is taking six weeks paternity leave, making it much easier for me to leave our little one each morning. And saving us from jumping right into the double drop off/pickup at daycare. Peri and Chris had a great day. Sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating. Guess she's still growing! I was able to keep my mind mostly off baby by working my way through the stack of emails I didn't make it through while I was on leave. But come closing time, I was ready for my baby! Luckily she was still awake by the time I got home and I got some smile time!

I also got a taste of grumpy Nick time. But turned out he was just overtired and needed a hug. Nothing a bath and some ice cream couldn't fix. It's hard being a big brother.

Sk8er

Ok, so I think that title is more for skateboarding than ice skating, but our little Nickie is learning how to ice skate! He's had skates for about 2 years now and has been out on them a few times. You may remember these photos from last winter.But now it's time for actual lessons. What equipment does one need for actual lessons? A helmet with mask, shin pads, elbow pads, gloves and skates. Jeesh. No wonder he thinks he's taking hockey lessons.

Grammy offered to pick him up from school each week and take him to lessons since they are from 4-4:45pm. When she dropped him off this week after his first lesson he was so psyched!

Narrative from Nick:
"It was so awesome! I falled and then the coach helped me up. And then I falled again. And then I couldn't figure out how to get up. Then I falled. Then I tried to get up. Then I got up! Then I falled. Then I got up and skated a little!!!!! Then I falled..."

All the parts where he "falled" were told with such enthusiasm, that you wouldn't guess he was really falling. Guess I see what they needed all the pads now.

City Woes

I love filling out forms. Something about having the right answers to put in the right spots. Anyway, when Peri was born, they had me a pile of paperwork to fill out, one of them being a form to receive her birth certificate. I filled that sucker out right away. Then sat on it for 2 months because turns out you either need to photocopy your ID and send it in, or go in person to submit the form. Sigh.

So a few weeks ago I was downtown at the County office to appeal our property tax hike. I got right to the correct office and was seen within 5 minutes. They couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. As I was leaving, I noticed the department of vital records was in the same building. But I only saw an escalator. When I asked if there was an elevator, I was told "no" and that I'd have to cross the street to the next building, which is where the escalator leads to. Well, not enough time on the meter for that one, so I left.

Fast forward to last week when I was downtown for Peri's 11 week checkup (she's huge and great!) and thought I'd get this taken care of. So first I went to the "building across the street" thinking I'd outsmart them. Nope, they told me the address I wanted was in the other building. So back to the old building. Found the room. Waited in line only to have a note handed to me (not talking) saying "To obtain birth or death certificates go to Daley Center Vital Records room". Sigh. Rather than ask again about an elevator, I decided to brave the escalator and just get this over with. Me and stroller. Peri was all strapped in, so I decided to go first and pull the stroller after me. Except that left Peri on the landing while I did a Fred Flinstone scramble to get back up the escalator to get her. Some guy came over to tell me I couldn't take the stroller down the escalator. Duh! So the two of us are standing at the top of the escalator as I dismantle the stroller and try to take that in one hand and the car seat/Peri in the other hand down the escalator. Don't worry - she does survive this "dumb mom move". Meanwhile, a woman is at the top of the escalator between me and the guy saying "Excuse me!" Yes lady, we see you and we're trying to move. Finally, we're on our way down the escalator. Guy is still following me to give helpful advice?! And a security guard starts yelling "You have to go through a revolving door down there". So I keep everything dismantled and wait to get through the door except everyone insists on pushing it as fast as possible.

I finally make it to the vital records office. I'm sweating and flustered. And the lady couldn't have been nicer to me. Sigh.

Chicago - your employees in the offices rock! The "helpful staff" directing folks in the buildings - not so much.

And guess what I found on my way out the door. An elevator. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr.

Dinosaur Movie

Nick and my dad watched Jurassic Park 3 while we were in NC earlier this month. Nick had bad dreams about it, but couldn't stop talking about it and saying "awesome!" So Pop-pop sent us home with the movie. And called a few days later to ask if Nick had seen it again. Uh, yep. About 20 times so far. At least. Nick quotes lines to me "Honey, I'm over here."

Photographer

Looks like we might have a photographer on our hands. Nick loves taking my camera. He's so proud to show me what he's shot. And I'm so glad that cameras are digital these days!

Sneak Preview

Pretend you haven't seen these, but Nick decided on Snake Eyes from GI Joe as his Halloween costume. Can you believe he didn't go with Transformers?! Think it's because Snake Eyes has a sword.

What's new with Peri?

Peri's life these days:

-wake up
-eat
-smile
-sleep
-grow
-enjoy bath time
-eat
-grow a few eyebrow hairs
-smile
-grow
-sleep 4-5 hour stretches at night (7 hours the other night and might have gone longer if I hadn't put my hand on her chest to see if she was still alive)
-scream at dad if mom is at yoga
-eat
-sleep
-grow

Peri, I apologize for posting these next photos, as no one likes to be photographed from such a bad angle showing all her chins. And you really don't look as fat as these make you look. But these make me laugh so much.

Stroller Tan

I haven't had a suntan since I was 16 years old. But all this walking with Peri this summer has left me with a little color. Yes, color that will someday kill me by turning into cancer. Funny thing about my tan is that it's on the inside of my arms. I looked at the stroller and realized the handles are at an angle so you have to hold them as if you're holding a bottle upright. Ha!

Nails

What is with me and experiences at nail salons (see Hong Kong blog)? Maybe it's just when I go to places outside of my normal salon. A new place opened up last month near our house, so Peri and I set out to test it out. I got her fed and asleep so she could nap while I was there. Nope, she woke up. The lady running the salon cooed over her and told me about her 2 year old girl and how she could take care of Peri for me while I got my nails done. Sigh. Very nice. Until she started telling me "She's hungry-she wants to be fed now". Uh no, I just fed her. "Where's her bottle and I'll do it." I pointed to my chest. So she brought Peri over and I tried my best to get everything positioned under the blanket. The woman kept wanting to help so I told her she could hold the blanket. What I didn't say was "and peek your head over the blanket and tell me how to position my boob". Sigh. Too bad they did such a great job with my nails.

Hurt finger :(

So I'm pretty good at cutting baby finger nails. Even when they squirm, I can usually do the job. Except for this week. When Peri was being all still as I cut her nails and then she started crying. Yep, I cut off part of her baby finger. Just a tiny bit, but when fingers are tiny to begin with... Oh sweet baby!

Visit to the grandparents

Ahhh, we took a quick trip to see the grandparents last weekend. What does one do in NC? Eat. Chik-fil-A, Sonic, BBQ, fried okra, sweet ice tea. Sigh and yum!

We went to the Apple Fest where Nick and his cousin Emma rode the rides. Nick and Pop-pop did crazy stunts with the golf cart. And Nick examined the bugs in Mom-mom's Garden/Nature Walk.
Peri did a great job with her first flight. No one would make eye contact with us at the beginning. Can't truly blame them. But then as soon as the flight was over, they made an effort to tell us how beautiful and good she was. Uh yah, because she's a rock star like her brother!

More than meets the eye

Chris and I love to go for long walks. Nicholas - not so much. He slow pokes and makes us miserable. His stroller has now gone to Peri. He won't ride his tricycle or Big Wheel so we headed to the store last weekend to look at big boy bikes and scooters. He apparently has my sense of balance because he wasn't comfortable on the bike at all - even with training wheels. So we decided on a Razor scooter. We finally picked the one, but we couldn't get the sucker to unlock. Two of us struggling while Toys R Us employees walked by us. Sigh. So we decided to head to Target to see if they had it. Target was a complete disappointment too, so we decided to head home and try Amazon.com. But poor Nick couldn't leave the store without something, so he and Chris came out with a set of elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards. Nick was so excited and wore them all around the house. Then he realized that when he paired them up with his Transformer pjs, he resembled a Transformer! "Mom, I REALLY am a robot with these!"

Finally, the big day came and his scooter arrived! We got him padded up and took him to the local playground. He was very cautious and not doing so well. So he took off his knee pads. A little better so he decided to take off his elbow pads. Better. Finally he took off the wrist pads and he was off! Zooming around completely unprotected.

At least we know he can use the pads to dress up as a Transf0rmer.

Bless her sweet heart

When you see a baby, you automatically say "how cute" or "so sweet", sometimes when you don't even mean it. I was reminded of this last weekend while in a neighborhood store. A woman saw the stroller and said "How cute!" I smiled and gazed adoringly into the stroller to find Peri staring at us cross eyed. I laughed and explained that she's learning to focus this month and must be focused on something. We both looked back to Peri to find her with these wide psycho-baby eyes. Jeesh! Show the lady how cute you really are! In Texas or the South they would just say "Bless her sweet heart."

Germs are sweet!

Nick loves his friend Lewis. They met when they were three and have stayed close, even when Lewis moved to a new school. So on Saturday, the boys were playing legos, Chris was cleaning out his car (his car resembles a mom's carpool minivan inside with the ridiculous stuff it collects) and I was puttering around not knowing what to do while Peri took a 3 hour nap (how much longer do I have?! Can I clean up the house? Time to email friends? Oh boy!). The boys decided to play soccer while I picked up a gift for a friend. We were going to meet at the hot dog joint afterwards. I finished up early and met them at the park. On my way to the park I stopped in for a strawberry milkshake. mmmmm. Then realized I couldn't show up without a chocolate malt for Chris. Then realized Chris and I didn't want to share with the picky eaters (N & L), so I got a vanilla shake for them to share. Got to the playground to find N, L and another little friend they'd made there. So of course all three gathered around the milkshakes with their hungry little mouths. Potbelly shakes come with 2 cookies on the straw, so first I gave out the cookies. New boy grabbed one up and popped it in his mouth before I could ask if he was allowed to have cookies. Oops! So Chris asked him where his parents were. He looked all around and found his mom and little sister waving at us from the swings. We yelled across the park and got the ok for cookies. The shared shake was then passed back and forth between all three boys. That's when Chris got a bit worried and headed over to ok it with the mom. When you get past the germiness and "I don't know anything about this kid" it was really sweet how they all just trusted each other and shared with each other immediately without thinking. Also kinda scary how kids will eat anything that an adult/stranger gives them. Sigh, but this one was cute.

Photo above is more germs while they shared a drink at lunch.