Big Giant Baby on the RAMPAGE!

When Jake was little, he used to go on what I called "rampages". He'd get this fire in his soul and just tear around the house. It seems as if these rampages have passed on to his baby brother. Only Justin prefers to do his rampages buck nekkid. I'll be in the middle of changing his diaper when he'll wriggle and wriggle till I can barely finish cleaning him. Before I even get the chance to put the fresh dipe on, he's off and running. Lemme tell ya - there's nothing like a naked baby butt waddling down the hallway while his big brother screams "BIG GIANT BABY ON THE RAMPAGE!"

Hoppy Easter!

OK - so I'm about a week late (and more than a dollar short!) - but I had good reason. Steve was away on business - riding a sub to train the crew on some new equipment - and I didn't think it was wise to broadcast the fact I was home alone. I'm not sure who all reads this anyway - but better safe than sorry, right?

The original plan for the day was to have the merry bunch down our way for dinner - but seeing as Steve was away and I was lonely (sniff sniff) the boys and I trekked up to Ellington. It was a beautiful day! The drive up there is usually quite boring - but the sun was so bright, it really warmed your soul. As usual, my dad was the chef for the day - so we feasted on a delicious ham with pineapple, butternut squash, peas, potatoes, homemade applesauce, and biscuits. After dinner I attempted to take some pics of the boys - which is always an adventure! This was the best I could get with them looking at me:

But then I broke out the "duck" - this duck has been in our family for years...and it REALLY needs to go away!

Here's Dana and his girlfriend Jen - she's an amazing photographer!! Obviously she didn't take any of my pics...hahaha.

After we digested dinner, we devoured dessert. Mom made this fantastic trifle of pound cake (Absolutely Almond Pound Cake from Tastefully Simple - ask me how to get some!), vanilla pudding, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. It was devine! Then it was time for the hunt - the Easter Egg hunt! Mom and Dad set up a little hunt for Jake in the back yard, and he had a ball searching for all the goodies. His favorite part of the "booty" was the "circle money" (coins) for his Dunkin Donut treat.

Anyone who knows our family knows about Egg Wars. Even if you haven't participated in Egg Wars, you must know it's the highlight of the Easter Holiday. Basically, we take hard-boiled dyed eggs and pair off. We peck at each other to find the Last Egg Standing. Kinda like March Madness. With eggs.

Welcome Steven Micah!

Well, it looks like Jake's first prediction was right on the mark! Baby R was a boy! Steven Micah arrived Friday morning. He's such a beautiful baby - with a little pixie nose and an impish little mouth. He has a habit of sucking in his lower lip on just one side - making him look so thoughful. I can only imagine he's already pondering ways to keep Mommy and Daddy on their toes.

I got to see the new family the other day - and I hadn't even gotten to the room before I had tears in my eyes! Of course I knew I'd be emotional seeing a new baby - so close to Justin's birthday, it was like seeing his first days all over again. But I knew what Hannah and Mark had gone through to become parents - I knew the long and hard road they took to welcoming Steven to the world. In a way, it was almost the way I felt when my boys were born.

There's nothing like the joy a new baby brings to the world. In our times, with all the negativity surrounding us, babies are proof there is still goodness around us. The name Steven means "crown" - and this little man is certainly the prince of his castle.

Welcome, baby!

The Easter Bunny Cometh

Wednesdays are usually "Play Group at the Church" days. For whatever reason, we were the only ones at Play Group this past week! I'm sure Rev. Lou wouldn't have minded if we stayed to play and snack - but Jake was in need of more than mommy to keep him entertained. So we headed for the mall. If you know Jakers, you know there's never any predicting his moods. This day happened to be a pretty good day - thankfully! I decided to take advantage of that and make the Easter Bunny excursion.

I wasn't really sure how the kids would react - I mean, what little kid wouldn't be afraid of a giant moving stuffed animal? But both boys were FANTASTIC! Jake ran up and gave the Bunny high-fives - and Justin was all smiles.

Justin had so much fun with the Bunny, he just sat there for an eternity after the pictures were taken!

As it seems with most 3-year olds, Jake could live on pizza alone. Seeing as he was so good for the pictures, we headed to the food court for "pizza lunch" (Jake-speak). Both boys were sporting the ears the Easter Bunny gave them. Jake wasn't keen on stopping his lunch for a picture, but he was a good sport and humored Mommy.

And of course, Justin was all about the food!

Conversation with a 3 year old (part 4)

Apparently my son has a gift for predicting baby genders. At least, he seems to think so. Over the weekend, we had Paul and Kate over for dinner. Kate is #3 in the line of our friends to give birth - and when we reminded Jake of this, he became all excited. All of our friends have more spines that we did - and aren't finding out the gender until birth. So I asked Jake what his opinions were on both Paul and Kate's baby and Hannah and Mark's baby.

Jake believes Hannah and Mark are having a baby boy. Seeing as Baby R is due March 28th, we'll soon see how accurate Jake is.

As for Paul and Kate, Jake says they are having a baby girl. We'll have to wait until July to find out if he's right on this one. And we'll also have to wait to see if they chose his preferred name for Baby M.

Paper.

Good thing I didn't let him name Justin!

Gotta love the big mouse

A few Mondays back, mom and I took the monsters to Chuck E. Cheese. At first I was a bit hesitant to go - but Jake's been begging (thanks TV) so we gave it a shot. I was fully prepared for an overstimulation meltdown of epic proportions. But to my surprise, both boys had a blast! We stationed ourselves in the "preschooler" section, and while we waited for lunch, the games commenced. Nana spoiled Jake with fistfulls of tokens, so he bounded from game to game to ride to ride. He became quite a pro at air hockey - think we might need to ask Santa to consider this as an option!

Justin romped like a champ in the baby area - he seemed particularly fond of the climber they had. He got himself up to the top, but became real confused at the Plexi-glass window. But, as to be expected, his favorite part of the day was pizza time!

Where's the hot water?

Some of you may remember this time last year... I'm umpteen weeks pregnant and miserable - and our water pump goes... well - here I am, same time, a year later, calling the same plumber (only I'm not pregnant!).

Rewind to last week - when I got back from my overnight stay at mom and dad's after my face plant, I smelled this odd fishy/electrical/general icky smell downstairs. Well, I mopped and swept and vac'd and cleaned everything I could find - the smell got better, but was still there. No biggie though - I figured it was most likely the cat box (she's had a bladder infection).

This morning, Steve does some routine maintenace on the hot water heater. In the process of doing so, he finds the source of the smell - the electrical wire leading into the hot water heater! So I call an electrician - he can come monday, but suggests we keep an eye on the tank just to be careful. Just as a precaution, Steve decided to kill the power to the heater while we took our first expedition to the bowling alley (more on that later). And it's a good thing he did - when we came back, he checked it out a little further - only to find the tank had been leaking on the circut panel thing! The insulation and plastic cover were FRIED. Black, charred, and crispy. I can only assume that if we had left the power going to it, we'd have come back to an electrical fire.

Needless to say, we passed on the electrician and went right to the plumber. He was pretty adamant about keeping the power off to the heater - and there's no argument from us! It's pretty dang inconvenient not having hot water, but I'd rather try to figure out how to get Justin and Jake to sit still for bird baths than trying to gather the remnants of a burnt out house. Hopefully their schedule will hold up - we're on the docket for first thing Monday morning for a new hot water heater.

Guess what we're doing with our tax return....

Walkin' Man...

As promised, here's the Walkin' Man... 10 1/2 months! (My apologies for the quality of the video - I'll put up a better one when I can!)

Call me Grace...

So mom and I went to see "Blast" Friday night at the Bushnell - if you've never seen it, GO! It was one of the most AMAZING things I've ever seen. But it was pouring rain when we left - so I went ahead to get the car. I went to take a big step over a huge puddle - and the next thing I know, I'm on the sidewalk! I don't remember what happened - but I can only assume my ankle gave out (because it's still pretty sore). I ended up landing on my face. I nailed my left cheekbone, cut right outside my eye (from my glasses), chipped a tooth, cut the heck outta my knee, and did a number on my glasses. Mom and I figured it was a good idea to go to the hospital - so we left my car in the Holiday Inn parking lot and she took me in. I'm ok - just hurt my pride I guess. But after all the hullaballoo, I stayed the night at Mom and Dad's in the hopes to sleep well and feel better in the morning. Unfortunately, I missed my babies so much I tossed and turned all night. When I got hume Saturday morning, there was a bit more mess than usual - but Steve managed to tame the natives and keep the peace.

I really need to figure out a better story to tell, because this one just makes me look like a goon!

My kid just ate a ladybug...

I think Jake is forever traumatized. He found a ladybug in the living room and has been checking on it all day - talking to it, trying to feed it - calling it his "ladybug friend". I was in the kitchen getting some food, and I hear Jake SCREAM at the top of his lungs. I come running into the living room, fully expecting to see blood and other carnage. There's Jake - in tears, and Justin - smiling and smacking his little lips in pleasure. "He just ate my friend! He ate my ladybug friend!" was all Jake could say. And the whole time Justin is just looking as pleased as can be.

If that was his dinner, I hate to imagine what dessert is...