Memorial Day 2009

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and it was kind of bitter sweet. This time last year, seth, Elem and I were in Florida, celebrating Memorial Day on the beach with a margarita, and getting ready to be married the next weekend. This year we did things a little differently. No Florida, and no margaritas, but still good time with family and some happy time out doors. And we each got an extra day off of work, so that is always a plus!



While trying to find something fun to do, we went ahead and put together one of Elem's birthday presents, a riding motorcycle. LIttle late, but we didnt realize how long it was going to take to put together and we were so crunched for time on his birthday, we decided it was a good day to get a present! And boy did he love it! Elem is super obsessed with motorcycles these days and he is a riding freak. He would ride that thing all day if we would let him. So once the motorcycle was ready, Elem and I went to Cecilia's house to make some Memorial Day cookies. I walked and Elem rode, and he rode the whole way around the block and up the street, all by himself. We made some fabulous Memorial Day cookies and Elem and Cecilia decorated them wonderfully. ALthough the decorating was only fun for about 10 minutes, then the fun was over. We headed back to the house for a nap and were on a mission to find something fun to do when Elem woke up.

Thinking about how obsessed Elem is with motorcycles and bikes, Seth had a great idea and found out that just a couple miles away, there was a Memorial Day bike parade and festival. So we headed that way as soon as Elem was up. After all that fuss about riding his motorcycle, Elem took the smart route and chose to take his "wooter" as he likes to call it, his 4-wheeler. It is battery operated, so he made a smart decision. :) He rode up to the bike festival in style and got lots of compliments on his 4 wheeler. This was a great x-mas present from Santa, it gets used every single day, several times a day.


We met Ali, Dustin, and Sissy there, and Seth brought beads for everyone.


Of course my little man was too cool to wear the beads. He is just all boy. The second he rode up, he was ready to play him some games. So we grabbed a spiderman frisby and he was sold. Look at that form. He is a frisby master. I love this picture, it really captures how Elem looks most of the time. Always moving number one, but then always with some silly little grin number 2.


Grammy and Poppa even got out for a little bit and met us at the festival. In an attempt to get a good picture, Elem decided I was taking too long and was off. At least they are all in the frame. Better than nothing.


After some time in the jump house with sissy:


Some more frisby with Ali:

And some horseshoes with Daddy:


The day was coming to an end. We didnt really stay too long, but just long enough to have a fun Memorial Day. I am so thankful for my family and how we can have fun pretty much everywhere and anywhere we go. Although Florida would have been nice, the new subdivision in Bryant, and their little neighborhood Memorial Day festival was just fine. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and spent some time with your families.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Well I eventually WILL get caught up with my posts. I am not to far behind, but I didnt want to skip out on my birthday! I mean it is the last one of my 20s so I had to dedicate at least a few minutes to the celebration of a new age. :) On May 20th, I happily turned 29 years old, and this is one of the first birthdays I remember in a long time that I was actually thinking about the age! I love birthdays, but I usually just spend the day being excited that its my birthday, have some cake, and move on. However, next year I will be the big 3-0. Can you believe it?? I am getting old. Yes I totally am getting old.

Oh well, I guess there is no use in pouting about it because it is inevitable, we are all going to get older and older so I might as well have fun and try to look good doing it, right? This year my birthday was pretty low key, because it was on a Thursday. A couple of days before my actual birthday, Seth gave me the best birthday present ever! Well the best present for me that is. I am one of those-not so into cell phones kind of people. Meaning that I dont ever have a really nice one, I dont really like to talk on them, and I dont ever care if it is working or not. Haha. I usually use some sort of hand me down phone, and have been using one that my brother n law let me borrow for about 6 months now. I guess my husband and family got sick of me never answering the phone, and me never knowing really how to use it, so Seth got me my very own brand new Blackberry. I feel very up to date now, and I actually LOVE the phone. Ali has one too so she has been showing me all the ins and outs. It is super cool and such a great gift!

On my actual birthday, I went to work just like any other day, and my awesome co-workers and friends, had a little party for me during the kids nap-time. They even got my favorite-ice creme cake-so that was a nice surprise. And I was even happier that Elem woke up just in time for the party. Sleepy eyes and all he still LOVES birthdays, and with all the fuss about his birthday recently, he does know that birthdays=cake! He thought it was another birthday party for him, but he was cool with it being for mommy. Grammy picked up Elem for school for me, and Seth and I headed to meet each other down town. We tried a few bars just to grab something to drink on the patio, because it was a beautiful day! Atfer going several places we ended up right back where we always do, at my good old stomping ground-The Flying Saucer. Never fails that when you wait tables somewhere, it is always more fun to go back there to hang out! A few Free drinks, the hook up on good service, good company, and you always see lots of people you know.


After the saucer we headed to go pick up Elem, so we were in by 10pm. Oh the days of staying out late and uninterrupted, when did they pass us by? But it was worth it because as soon as we got to Ali and Dustin's house they had a cake for me, so we blew out the candles and ate more cake with Elem. To make it even funnier, Elem and Cecilia got tired of waiting on me and Seth to get home, so they dug into the cake before I even saw it. It made it even more special . haha. The things we do to keep our kids happy. I had such a great birthday and yes, I think by the time next year roles around, I will be ready for the big 30. However, I better be having some HUGE birthday bash with everyone there, or I better be on a beach somewhere. I need to embrace by 30s in style.

Mothers Day 2009

Belated I know, but I just wanted to say that I did have a great Mother's Day this year. It has seemed to really creep up on me every single year because Elem's birthday is always just a day or two prior to Mother's Day. I must admit, that when I first had Elem, and literally a few days later was Mother's Day, the day developed a completely new meaning. I have always thought of Mother's Day as a day to honor our Mother's and show appreciation for all that they do for us, but as a Mother is actually has a little bit of a flip side. More so than wanting to feel appreciated or respected for bringing life into this world (although that is pretty amazing if I do say so myself! :)) is the feeling of being so proud to call your self a "mom" to this little person that you created and are raising every day. I feel more honored than ever to have been given the opportunity to BE a mom, and even more so that I have been given Elem Zane with his crazy bubbling personality, raspy voice, and occasional slap to my face to raise. I really do LOVE it!

This Mother's Day was great because my mom and sister came in town the day before for Elem's birthday, so even though I didnt actually spend Mother's Day with them, I did get to spend the day before with them. My mom is such a great mom, always worked so hard to give us everything, and has always gone without just to let us have more. I really want to do that for my family and I have learned a lot from her. My sis is a great mom too, very aware of ALL of Wyatt's needs, she is loving, and protective and all the things a good mom should be. So to my mom and sis I am so glad I got to see you and actually tell you Happy Mother's Day in person rather just on the phone. That means a lot to me.

I woke up on Mother's Day tired from the birthday party craziness and stress, and really was happy just for a calm and relaxed day. It was cloudy and rainy, and cool outside, a perfect day for rest and relaxation. The morning was very chilled, Seth and Elem gave me flowers-I love flowers :). We headed to Aunt Nancy's for lunch with Seth's mom's side of the family, had a quick bite to eat, and headed back just in time to all catch a nap. It was a peaceful and nice day, just how I hoped. And above all I spent the majority of the day being sentamental and telling myself how lucky I really am to have a healthy and happy little boy. I love being a mom, it is the highlight of my day.

Elem's 2nd Birthday Bash

I am so behind on my posts, so I know this will seem such a long time ago, but I still want to remember Elem's 2nd Birthday Party, and all the things that made it so special. So even though it was May 8th, this post is a must. I seemed to be way busier this year compared to last year when I was preparing for the party. I had great intentions of getting an earlier start so I could make some home-made decorations, and some picture decorations again, but before I knew it his birthday was like 3 weeks away and I didn't even have invitations ready yet. So... I quickly headed to this Invitation place in the Heights called "By Invitation Only". I was randomly in the area, and had never been there before, and instantly fell in love with their stuff as soon as I walked in. They had invitation ideas galore in there, and were so ice and ready to help you decide what would fit your event. I only spent about 15 minutes choosing my paper, the add on, the font, the wording, everything, and I was done. And happily in just about 3 days they were already completed-I couldn't believe it. I actually got the invitations out just in time, and it gave me the idea for the theme of the party as well. FireTrucks! I was having a hard time figuring out just what would be the perfect fit for Elem, but when I saw the little Firetruck add on, I knew I could make it work. From then on, I planed to do a little bit of party planning every day, but before I knew it, the party was only a few days away. We asked one of Seth's friends from work to see if his wife could throw together some kind of Firetruck cake for Elem and some cupcakes too, so I did have that underway, and then we also ordered one of those huge bouncy blow up things for the kids to jump in, since Elem loves stuff like that. And of course we planned the whole party outside, because we figured it would be a beautiful May day! LIttle did I know the day would unfold so differently.

Here is the invitation for those of you who didn't get to see it. I was really excited about them because they came out so cute for being a little late on time.


The morning started out kind of like any other, Elem slept till about 7:30 am, he ate some breakfast, and we started off running a few errands. From the beginning of the morning it seemed like we had so much time to get ready and get the decorations up and what not, so I wasn't feeling rushed just yet. I had a few things I really needing to get done, including returning our internet modem to Comcast because it had been out for over a week. So Elem and I took it back, and then ran into Babys R Us to grab some juice and candy for Elem being such a good boy! :)All while, the weather is reporting rain and major thunderstorms in the afternoon, but was looking sunny right then. I still HAD to get some balloons, so we prayed for the rain to hold off till after 5 pm and headed to a new party place in Bryant placed the order for the balloons. At that point Seth was helping Dustin get the blow up bouncer ready in the back yard, and then Elem started to get a little board with the errands. He was not wanting to ride in his car seat, or buckle up, or anything. And those days make things so hard when he gets in that mood. I still had to go pay our water bill, and then go back to pick up the balloons, so we barely made it without any major crisis from Elem, although a few tantrums did occur. In the mean time Seth called me and let me know that the girl who was making Elem's cake had a slight problem. Their power had gone out, and there was no way she was going to be able to make it. I must admit, I was completely devastated at first, and was getting really frustrated with everything. He of course, reassured me that it isn't the cake that was important and she had actually already made enough cupcakes for the party, so he would have something to blow out. It wasn't perfect, but at least there would be something. :) We finally made it home, and it began to rain. Seth and Dustin moved the bouncy into the garage, I put Elem to bed for a nap, and my sis and mom finally made it in.

While Elem was asleep, we took turns getting the food ready, wrapping presents, etc. Just as we dropped everything off at Ali and Dustin's for the party, the sprinkling rain turned into a major thunderstorm. Looking back I can only laugh, but at the time it was not funny at all. On a happy note, Rebecca's husband showed up with the cupcakes, and they were AWESOME! I mean insanely awesome. She made a bunch of yellow cupcakes with yellow icing, and put a chocolate fire hat on top, with the yellow number 2 on every single one! I mean they were better than I could have ever imagined. After I saw the cupcakes, I started getting excited for the party, and despite the rain, I didn't really care, it was still going to be a fun day surrounded by friends and family. I headed back to the house, to wake Elem up, which is never a good thing. The boy does not like to be woken up at all. I was happy to see that he was immediately excited to see my mom and sister sitting in the living room, with presents for him of course, and his frown quickly turned upside down. :) Nothing like getting showered with presents 2 minutes after you ope your eyes from a long days nap.

And the fact that Elem loves my mom, he thinks Memaw is the best and everything in our entire house came from Memaw. She is like the queen of all gifts. Haha. I quickly got him dressed, and we were out the door, with about 1 minute to spare. Thank goodness I live 1 street over from my sis in law.

I open the door, take one step in, and fall to my knees. Literally fall to my knees while holding Elem because my flip flops were soaking wet. No matter, I got right up and told myself this was still going to be a great party. At least Elem didn't get hurt right? Or at least he wasn't the one to fall. From that point on, it was all party, and no worries. Everything worked out perfect, and despite the rain there were still like 30 of our closest friends and family, who battled the down pour to help us celebrate Elem's 2nd year! I couldn't haven't been a more proud mom. And it even gets better!

A little shy at first, and not quite sure what was going on with all the people here....he just thought he was getting some cake!


Elem quickly saw the cupcakes, and the excitement of telling him it was his birthday and he got to eat his cake was getting to him, so he wanted to eat it right away. We sang, he blew out the candles all by himself (which I somehow list the cool number 2 candle I had bought, and we improvised and had to use 2 of Cecilia's pink candles), and then he ate the awesome chocolate hat on top. He loved it. He seriously loved it.
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you"

"Mmm...cake. mmmmm...mmm....cake! I love the chocolate hat!"

"You're right Elem Zane, the chocolate hat is super good"


And then he was off! The kids jumped like crazy, in the almost dungeun like room. The bouncy barely fit, but it actually was super cool. Poppa joined in and chaperoned inside the bouncy, while we all hung out inside. We were kind of glad there werent too many kids there, because any more than we had, would have been a little scary. Lets just say Elem is not the sturdiest when it comes to uneven surfaces!


Just a moment of rest time! Enough for a quick pic with mommy, and a little bit of ranch and carrots. What could be better?

We eventually got around to opening presents, which is so crazy with a 2 year old. He LOVED opening the presents, but wanted to play with every single new toy he got, right then! So we tried to let him have a few minutes with each toy so he would really enjoy the time rather than just getting it over with quickly. Everybody was so cool about being patient, and Elem totally racked up. I can not thank you enough to all the friends and family who came. Elem got more than he could ever need or want. And to those of you who purchased baseball or golf items, I still love you, even though my face and body have taken the brute of the hits. haha. Seriously though he got the BEST stuff. And to top it all off, my mom came through with the gift of the day! Elem opened up a huge box with the train table inside and has been talking about choo choo trains ever since. It is the best gift ever!!!!! And it is plastic which means nobody gets hurt. Even better.

After most of the gifts were opened, I kept hearing people say the big surprise was here. And I was like, I didn't plan anything else, what in the world is here? Till I looked outside and saw red lights flickering everywhere, and glimpses of something big and red. Uncle Dustin had called the fire department and had them bring a fire truck out to Elem's party! And they even came in the rain!!!! I had so wanted to call them and ask them to come but I thought it would cost a lot of money and then honestly I just forgot. So Elem got the super hook up! About 4 firemen came and they let the kids get inside the fire truck and see the lights, everything! It was soo cool. And they even brought Elem his very own fire truck toy, AND they brought fire hats for everybody! Another thing I had meant to do and just ran out of time. It was seriously sooo cool! Elem was a little overwhelmed because it was raining, and he didn't quite know what to do, but he still loved looking at the big red fire truck, and seeing the lights whirling around, and the big latter on top. He only got on for a short minute, but he LOVED it, and hasn't stopped telling people that a big fire truck came to his birthday party. Thank you Ali and Dustin for such a great memory for his party! He is lucky to have such a cool Aunt and Uncle!

Poppa with the kiddos in front of the fire truck...in the rain!

Aunty Steph and Aidan, one of my bestest friends and her little man.

Cecilia and Canaan-Elem's favorite girl cousin, and his favorite friend from school!

The fire truck left and more jumping and playing with the new toys was so much fun!

Eventually, the party was coming to an end and I was sad to see my sister and mom leave, but they had a long drive ahead of them, so I understood. I love having them come in town because I dont get too see them as much as we see our family that lives in Little Rock. Elem talks to them all the time on the phone so it makes it even better now, because he really knows who he is talking to when he gets to see them in person. Thanks for driving all that way just to celebrate Elem's birthday! He loves you so much. :)


After everyone was gone, I could not stop thinking that it was such a great party! It didn't even matter that I didn't have tons of cool and cute decorations, or that there wasn't some huge cake, it just mattered that everyone showed up, and that Elem had fun. I couldn't have planned it to go better if I tried. I was glad to see the night come to an end, and just take a minute to catch a breather. We ended up taking advantage of the 24 hour rental of the bouncy that we had and spent the night letting the kids bounce as much as they wanted! We actually all got in-Sissy, me, Elem, Seth, and Dustin.



Still silly after a long day of birthday party fun. Nothing can keep these two apart. They are 2 peas in a pod and can giggle about nothing-forever!

He had so much fun, and didn't stop having fun bouncing till about 9:30pm that night. But I didn't even care. We all went to bed that night tired and thankful that the day was over, but it had been a great day.
Birthday party number 2 started out not so great, and ended up so wonderful. I can't believe that Elem is 2 already, but I am so lucky to have such a happy and smart little boy. Birthday parties are so special and I look forward to all the birthdays to come. Maybe one day I will start the planning super early, and the day itself wont be quite so stressful. But that is a long shot, so we will have to see! Thank you to everyone who came, and made the day so special! I love you, and Elem loves you, and we will be loving the toys that you brought him for at least the next year! I'm kind of pumped I shouldn't have to purchase any new toys for at least that long! :)

What I Love Most Mondays

Kids and music. And lots and lots of it! Anybody else ever noticed how many silly kids songs there are out there and how much every single kid in the whole world love them?? And how much every single kid in the world LOVES musical instruments-from guitars, to harmonicas, to drums. Which leads me to what I love most today, on this wonderful beautiful, most perfect weather Monday. Elem has a huge obsession with guitars and harmonicas, but even more he has an obsession with drums these days! Mostly because my brother in law-Uncle Dustin, plays drums and have a set of drums at his house. I look forward to seeing this excitement any time we go over to Ali and Dustin's house: it always makes me happy, and I of course see nothing but true talent....

Happy 2nd Birthday Elem Zane

This post SHOULD have been written on Elem's actual 2nd birthday, Friday May 8th! But I had technical difficulties, and the modem to our computer decided to go out on us, so we have been without internet for over a week. Elem is officially a 2 year old and he is embracing his new age with all smiles and non stop chatter! I feel like, the day he turned 2, a little ticker went off in his brain that said, okay start learning triple time now! Because he has been a super sponge over the weekend and this week. I read recently that the average 2 year old learns up to 8 new words a day! And I believe it. I don't think Elem has stopped talking for one second, other than during sleep, for the last few days. He is just rambling, and rambling, and asking questions, and more curious than ever. The common trend for 2 year olds of course is the terrible 2s, but I actually LOVE this age!!! And am more excited than ever to be teaching Elem new things, and see him repeat it right before our eyes. This is going to be a truly amazing age. Although I do not like the temper tantrums and the yelling, but we will get over those-I hope :) ANd stick to the more fun and more exciting and loving aspects of being a fabulous little 2 year old. I will be posting on his birthday and the events of Mother's day over the weekend, but for now, I wanted to do a little 2 year Milestone post! I kind of jumped off the band wagon on the milestones, I went so strong for about 21 months and then the last 3 months have just been killer for me, and so hard to find time to sit and blog. So I wanted to start age 2 with fresh milestones so I could remember just where Elem was while entering this year.

Stats:
Weight: 31 pounds
Height:
Shoe Size: 7 and 1/2 -8
Teeth: 16, back molars are going to cut any day now!
Diaper: 5

Language skills:
-currently repeating everything we say, anything you would like to hear,he will give it a try
-speaks in 4-5 word sentences on average, sometimes a couple more sometimes a couple less
-at least 65-70% of what he says could be understood by someone other than me
-can name the following 20 body parts: hair, head, eyes, cheeks, chin, nose, lips, mouth, tongue, shoulders, tummy, belly button, back, booty, leg, knee, feet, toes, fingers, thumb
-names and identifies people from pictures and then usually recognizes them in person
-names and identifies some animals and animal noises
-verbalizes and understands words like, too big, too small, too tight, don't fit, etc.
-asks lots of questions, like what is that? what you doing? where my daddy at? we going to sissy's house? huh?
-does not have any stuttering



Mentally:
-Spells his name :) I am very proud of this one, because he picked it up so fast!
-knows that he is a boy, and knows genders of the people around us every day
-is about 1/2 potty trained. He can go anytime he wants to, but I have to really stay on top of him and sometimes trick him into going
-plays pretend with babies, instruments, strollers, play food, books, and talks out loud to himself while playing
-express his likes and dislikes-usually his dislikes :)
-can have conversations with you on the phone
-enjoys talking to his shadow on the wall and inviting it to play
-understands some time limits...like-in just a minute, we will go in a little bit, tomorrow, later, and is pretty comfortable with them
-can do simple puzzles, but gets sidetracked pretty quickly
-talks about himself, what he has at home, what he did today, etc.
-knows the names of his friends and teachers at school
-recognizes his name from others
-remembers words from several books
-can count to 10, although currently he likes to skip to seven, eight, nine-those are his favorites
-knows and can state his age, and hold up his 2 fingers



Socially:
-loves to go to school
-enjoys playing with older children for most of the day, rough housing with them
-is aware of babies, and talks to them softly and is kind to them, nurturing
-pretty rough and aggressive, will push, and hit if he feels threatened or someone is bothering him
-shares about 50% of the time/ has a fit the other 50% because he does not want to share :)
-still very clingy, and is whiny pretty often if I am around
-very happy and giggly most of the time
-communicates well with other children, carries on conversations with them, without the interference of an adult
-will talk to strangers if mommy or daddy is there, still pretty timid around people he doesnt know
-not a morning person
-has good table manners and manners in general, uses thank you and please on a pretty regular basis
-is very protective of mommy at school, and tends to push other children away if they are too close to me



Top 10 Likes: (other than mommy and daddy)
****Blankey**** nothing compares to the ole "bank-mey" it will forever be superior
1. sports-current favorites are baseball and golf (go figure!)
2. sissy (Cecilia)
3. "bire-tuck", "moto-kykl", "choo choo trains" and 4 "wooters"........firetrucks, motorcycles, choo choo trains and 4 wheelers
4. powder when you change his diaper! and lots of it (he loves this!)
5. singing: Brining Home a baby bumble bee and take me out to the ball game
6. skateboarding
7. watching himself on video
8. Ranch and popsicles
9. Wearing basketball jerseys
10. art projects...painting, gluing, stickers, etc.



Dislikes:
1. Hates getting his hair brushed
2. being told to go to bed or take a nap
3. having to come in from outside
4. taking a toy away from him that he thinks he should have
5. getting dressed in the morning. he would rather keep on the same clothes all the time
6. riding in a shopping cart for any length of time
7. riding in his car seat/ and the seat belt (this is not a good dislike for mommy. it makes my morning very difficult)
8. holding cold or wet things-he is very sensitive and needs mommy to wipe things off numerous times, or get a paper towel
9. most foods-just like mommy, we are 2 of the pickiest eaters ever!
10. Washing his hair!

There we have it, the 2 year milestones for Elem Zane. My how he has grown since he first came into this world weighing in at a whopping 6 pounds 8 ounces. He still melts my heart every time I look at him, and I still catch myself watching his sleep in complete awe of his perfection. It is almost mind blowing that he has developed into such a wonderful little boy, and is really practicing the things we have worked so strongly to teach him. I love spending time with Elem and I admit I am over protective and I do have one spoiled little boy. But I wouldnt have it any other way. He knows that we love him, and although he has his moments of fits and aggression, his loving personality still shines through every day. I love his silly laugh when he thinks he is being funny, and I love to hear him scream and giggle when he is being tickled. I love to see him try to persuade me to get him a drink of diet coke every chance he gets, and I love to see his excitement when he sees an airplane or helicopter go back. He is so genuine and intrigued by the little things, that it makes me love him every time I see him excited about all the little things. I could never ask for a more beautiful baby boy, or anything more perfect. I dont know how I could ever love anything more than I love Elem. He makes our family complete.

What I Love Most Mondays

This week has been one of the busiest if not THE busiest week I have had in a really long time. Work is crazy and we have about 16 kids in the child care, over half of them living in the shelter. That makes it so tough because each family is going through their own personal crisis and there is always the need for lots of attention for each and every member. With the high number of kids, I haven't been able to do any kind of administrative duties, but have to focus on teaching, disciplining, and changing diapers for the whole day. Add to that, that one of my good friends and co-workers, Sheire, the one who runs my nutrition program and cooks all the meals, and supervises the after school children, had a 4 year old in the hospital last week, so she was out, leading to yet another hat I needed to wear for the week. Elem had the fever virus towards the beginning of the week, and Mother's day was coming up, Elem needed a haircut, our modem was fried, so we had no internet and me being the name on the bill, needed to run WAY out to exchange them, and not to mention my house needed cleaning! All that said, and all I wanted to do was focus on Elem's outdoor birthday party which was on Saturday, and the for-cast never stopped calling for rain. I really needed to be about 5 places at a time, and the pressure never let up, and by the time Friday night came along, I couldn't have been more ready for the weekend. Although I knew I had not prepared at all, and felt very stressed with what all needed to be done.

.....I will blog on the party, the haircut, and the weekend over the course of this week. :)

But for now, I want to take a few seconds to be thankful. Thankful for the joys Elem can find in the most random of moments, and even in the weirdest of places. On this day, the focus was on a book-I just love children's books. All of them, they are so great. Last Friday I was so stressed, but when I got home, Elem wanted to read a book, his favorite book, "No David". It is written by David Shannon, one of the actors from Saturday Night Live. The book is pretty basic and each page shows a picture of a little boy David, and shows him doing something bad, and his mom says No David. And those are the only words to every page..until the end. So the boy is told no for picking his nose, for banging the drums, and for going outside naked. So I of course fill in the pages with some additional words, just to make the book last a little longer. And Elem LOVES this! He adds in his own little words, but we always say the same thing for each page just about every time we read. Towards the end of the book, David has to go to time out for breaking something in the house, and after time out is over, the mommy tells him its okay and gives him a hug and tells him she loves him. I love watching Elem read this book and just when I thought everything happening was so stressful and there wasnt enough time in the day to even take a second to breath, I sat with Elem and Seth for just a couple of minutes to read No David. It was just the stress reliever I needed, and what I needed to ground myself.

I am just so thankful for reading with my little boy. Books are so relaxing to me, and I love reading with Elem. He loves just about every book, and it is such a special bonding time. Hopefully you can understand Elem's chitter chatter in this video. Listen closely and you should be able to pick up the gist of the book :)

Happy Monday!

What I Love Most Mondays

Even though it is Tuesday..I have a really good excuse! I did have a very sick baby suffering from a fever virus that I was holding on top of me..sweating out his fever. However, all is good now and I can make up for missing my What I Love Most About Mondays! This week-a moment in pictures-

"Sissy, can you believe we are at this baseball game?...and on top of that we get diet coke?"


"You like a diet coke sissy? I like it"


We really try not to keep any cokes or anything out in the open at our house, because my sweet little son, is quick to jump on the bandwagon of wanting to gulp some down! And he doesnt miss a beat. :) If you know me at all, you know that I am a diet coke lover-and I have to have my morning caffein before I can really get my day going. Which is a little difficult when you tell your kid they need to drink water and milk and all that good stuff, just as you pop your top and take a few sips. So it is always an extra special treat for Eem to get coke and sprite when we go out for special occasions. But boy does he love it!
he gets a good amount of those tasty treats while at the ole grandparents house, but other than that-its straight water, juice, and milk-no sodas at all. So when he gets a hold of it, it is soo funny to watch him take the first sip like he loves to drink it, and then see him blink his eyes and hold his breath like it was so much to handle for just one sip. :)

Thank goodness for diet coke-for mommy. The good part is-we never ever offer him any kind of soda in his sippy cup (minus the grandparents) so he usually has a great big cup that he realistically only takes about 6 sips of. So not too much.

Hopefully I can sidetrack Elem Zane before he realizes how addicting cokes are and realizes even more that it is so not good for you! So this monday I am so thankful for MY diet cokes. :) but I am also thankful for how excited my kid gets and his reaction when he gets a tiny sip on his little boy taste buds.

Happy late Monday!

6 days till the big birthday

I can't believe it is almost here. :( Elem is going to be 2 years old in 6 days. Although I am in party mode and working on getting his birthday party ready, I have mixed feelings about exiting the "1"s and entering the "2"s. To be truthful, Elem really hasnt been a baby in a long time. Looking at him over the last 6 months and watching his grown, listening to him talk, and watching him show off all the many things he knows how to do is truly bitter sweet. He is pretty big for his age and rambles on like he is already grown but still he needs his mommy and daddy, and in the midst of encouraging him to do things for himself and be a big boy, deeply, I am so going to miss the baby age. So..I am trying to prepare myself for accepting that he really is a toddler, and he really has been a toddler for quite sometime, that the age really doesnt mean all that much. I love my little guy and I am trying to pump myself up for seeing the last little bit of baby-ness fade away.

While I have been secretly getting sad about the birthday creeping up, Elem always seems to cheer me up, and I quickly am thankful that we have such a happy, healthy, smart, and good natured little boy. He is just perfect. Minus a few fits of course. :)


The last few weeks he has really been picking up with the talking and each day I am shocked at some of the things that come out of his mouth. Yesterday, he told me, "you not my friend". I was HEARTBROKEN when he said that! And as bad as it hurt me I had to discipline him, and let him know we dont talk like that. Still deep down, all I could think was, How in the world could he say that to ME??? So rather than think of those not so nice words that came out of his mouth, I chose to jot down sweet and kind sentences that he said all day long, so here goes, in an effort to counter the ugly one.

"I take my med-cine good boy mommy"
"I wipe it off my bank-mey, dat better"
"I want some candy rite up der mommy"
"Your hair wet, you gon dry it?"
"Just a wittle bit mommy...kay"
"Sage at back door"
"Come here sage...kitchen...come see us"
"Let my in sunshine, let my in"
"I hear dat tunder, you hear it?"
"My chocut mulk on table in dare"
"You call my name mommy?"
"It broken now"
"I wan go sissy house, play sissy"
"Daddy at work, I wan daddy"
"Mommy hold you"
"I wan go night night mommy bed"
"I don wan go night night elem bed...not yet"

Ahh those are more like my little boy. Much better. I love my sweet Elem Zane.