In the running for Mother of the year?

My friend has an excellent saying
"...And then, I accepted my Mother of the Year Award"
(insert sarcasm font between quotation marks)
For all those times you say or do something to your child that makes you feel like maybe they should require people to get a parenting license before having kids.

I had one of those moments last night...
It's been a fight with Nathan for the past 3 bedtimes, whether he should be required to wear pajamas. The first couple of nights he has gone to been in the pajamas but also in tears.
The fight started again last night, trying to avoid a temper tantrum I changed the tactic.

This was the conversation...
"Mom, I not wear pajamas"
"If your going to bed you wear pajamas"
"NNNNOOOOO, I want to wear my clothes!!!!"
This is the point where the whine started and the eyes are brimming with tears.
"Nathan, if you want to sleep in your bed you wear pajamas. If you want to sleep in clothes I guess you need to go out and sleep in the goat barn."
There is a looooonnnnnngggg pause, as he absorbs this information. Then tries to decide if I'm serious.
"MOM, Don't be silly"
"Nathan, you don't be silly. Put on your pajamas or you'll have to sleep with the goats"
At this point he decided to go find some pajamas, rather than see if Mom was serious.
And me?
I went off to accept my Mother of the Year Award.
I'm sure threatening to make your child sleep in a barn in the dead of winter would at least get you into the finals, for such an award.

My Peeps

It was a pretty exciting day around here, We finally got the chicks...

Nathan absolutely loves them. "go see MY baby chicks?" I heard all day long.

I was pretty surprised with how gentle he was. I still need to catch one for him and put it in his hand or he attempts to pick up up by the head. But once they're in his hand he's so gentle and calm it's pretty great.

Although my favorite part of the day didn't just make me laugh out loud, I was howling it was so funny. On the way to get the chicks we had this conversation...

Mommy: "Do you know where were going?"

Nathan: "get chicks"

Mommy: "that's right baby chicks, do you know what sound a chick makes?"

Nathan "......"

Mommy : " Chicks say peep peep peep"

Nathan: " Mommy, what that sound?"

Mommy: "what sound? peep peep?"

Nathan: "yes, mommy, that a microwave"

Only my kid

We were in the grocery store a few days ago. As I was bagging groceries the kids were parked in the cart at the end of the register. Nathan was busy talking away. Pointing out the signs to anyone who would look at him.
"see that?"
"what's that?"
An older grandmotherly type stopped beside him bent down and said something to him quietly. Then she stood up and smiled and walked away.
a Second later.
Nathan screams down the aisle after her.
"I think your cute"
I'm sure that's probably what she said to him. But only my child would scream your cute at people in the middle of a grocery store. He's working on becoming such a little Casanova.

The Acreage Search Begins

We met with a Realtor this afternoon and got to see 2 properties...so our acreage hunt had officially started!!!! YAYThe first on was at the high end of our range, and had so many out building that were a little scared the maintenance required will be too much for us. But at the same time, it's a property that has the potential to grow with us instead of being out grown! ~ We need to do some serious thinking about what the purpose of an acreage is for us, and whether we want to create some extra income by allowing storage on the land or renting out whole buildings or if this is just a family place????questions, questions and a little soul searching.

~this was however Nathan's favorite- mostly because it had a kitty, that wanted to play with him! The kitten (again it was young, like the kitty from a few days ago) allowed Nathan to follow her around, and he was petting it nicely. I ducked into check out the barn and when I came out Nathan had decided to "cuddle" the cat. He had picked up kitty and had the poor thing upside down by the hips. He wasn't hurting it, obviously, because the cat let him pick her up another 4 or 5 times and would just go limp in his arms no matter what angle he picked her up. It was pretty funny to watch because the kitten was obviously quite an armful for him. I wish I'd had my camera but it was in the van at the time! Darn

The second property is actually considered by the county to be a dog kennel, which we thought may or may not be an interesting source of income too, if we're willing to do the work.
But as soon as we walked through the house I knew it was the wrong place for us. There was nothing really wrong other than having a small kitchen...but you know when a layout of a house feels funny, and you have such a hard time imagining your stuff in there that you just know a place could never be home???

New Jeans

Well, I don't feel quite as bad about myself as I thought I would!

Which is great thing!

As I mentioned in a previous post I've had 2 of my favorite jeans DIE on me in the last month...and this has left me with few options other than to go shopping*sigh*

I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

To be honest I haven't bought a pair of jeans since I had Nathan, and I knew my hips had widened a bit.

Turns out I can still fit into the size I was ;)

in fact the bigger size looked goofy on me!!!

I was trying on the larger size thinking they felt a little more comfortable at the waist. But...I don't know how much sympathy I'll get for this but everything is to big in the thighs.

It's actually really frustrating to have a much bigger waist and slim thighs, because all the jeans have extra material bagging out right under my hips down to my knees and looks really silly.



More to the point... Nathan was totally cool in the dressing room (Chris is of course at work so I had no choice but to take Nathan)

He was actually really funny, I walked into the change room took off my boots- Nathan looked at me for a sec and then took off his boots too! I striped off my jeans and had to reassure him that he could keep his clothes on.

He busied himself with the small stool in there climbing up to read the signs on the wall.

And then got bored and found my wallet,

he sat taking out all the change and putting it back- I guess trying to decide if Mommy could afford New Clothes:)

Making animal sounds

So I was taking Nathan out of his Carseat yesterday and all of a sudden he says
"cow"
I laughed and said "I don't see any cows, what does a cow say?"
he told me right away
"Moo"
"good boy, your very smart a cow says moo that's right"
"dog"
I guess he was going to tell me all the animals he knew,
"Okay what does a doggie say?"
"moo"
"no a doggie says woof, woof"
he thinks for a second
"so what does a doggie say?"
"moof"


I guess your never to young to learn how to compromise???

Wednesday ReDo

This was Nathan on Wednesday- for some reason I didn't get them posted.

Makes you think I need a girl next huh?

I swear he asked me to do this! It's not just evil Mommy torture- although it will make excellent pictures to show girlfriends or at his wedding someday. But he actually found them in the bathroom and started trying to put them in his own hair.



Actually I bought a whole package of them at the dollar store the other day.I saw some hair dresser on TV saying if you put the clip right at the scalp when drying your hair it takes all the weight off the hair and gives you nicer curls. Which is true. It gives you really nice curls. But- it's a pain in the butt to take the clips out after!!!!

Too Cute for Starbucks

Mommy had to stop at Starbucks when we were at the mall tonight for her favorite treat!

But Nathan got the best end of the deal! Notice the little Christmas Reindeer beside the drink?

It was already 50% off... but the Starbucks lady was so in love with Nathan, she asked if it was going to be for him (which it actually wasn't, but I just kinda shrugged) and she gave it to us at another 30% off on top of the 50%.

Plus when I ordered a dougnut, She gave us 2 for the price of one. So he could have his own. SPOILED SPOILED SPOLIED


Makin' sure he got every last crumb of his good karma dougnut!

corporate monster

My two year old is going to get me in trouble...

I think we may have used the McDonald's playland as a winter weather play option one too many times.

As we were driving home from the mall last night we passed a McDonalds, I don't know if the glowing golden arches just stood out more in the dark or what...
but from the backseat came a small voice
"Fries"
which is actually pronounced f-why-z

It just killed me that he actually associated the McDonalds sign with Fries and he's only 2. Not to mention it's a McDonalds that we have never ever been to.

My Mother in law is going to kill me.
I swear I don't actually feed him McDonalds all that often. He's just a really Smart Kid!!!!

Cakes...

That's the other thing that was new around here.... I made 2 cakes last night.

Not that impressive, since they were just out of a box.

but I made a heart shaped one for Chris, I wrote "I love you, I miss U" on it with those little get icing scribblers. The drew hearts and swirl designs.
with the rest of the batter, I just made a round cake and then free handed Elmo as best as I could on top. The general shape of Elmo's head wasn't too bad, but without enough red gel in the scribbler to completely fill him in, I thought he might be unrecognizable.
But first thing this morning I showed the cake to Nathan, and asked him who was on the Cake?
He told me "Elmo" without missing a beat.
Now I wish I'd taken some pictures before we cut it up.

Nathan was pretty funny with the cake too.
He really wanted some
I told him he had to stay at the table.
When he finished he came out into the living room... "more please"
"No, Nathan all done"
"Cake"
"all done"
so he brought me his empty plate and demanded again "more please"

It was cute and pretty good talking for him, but he still didn't get any more till after dinner.

One of my goals this year is to try and make a fondant cake.
I bought all the "supplies" and a book on it awhile ago, but I've yet to try to make one.
I'll make sure to get some pics before anyone cuts that one. especially since they sound quite intricate and time consuming to make!

You can dance to your own beat, and still follow the crowd.

When Grandpa Zoom was here, he took us all out for dinner at Apple bees.

Being a 2 year old waiting for your food is a long experience. Although Nathan did pretty good. He colored and drank all of the creamers for Barbs coffee, and generally sat pretty good for most of the wait.
But eventually he was restless and needed to get up and move a bit.
So we went to the bathroom to wash our hands.

The bathroom is down a hallway which runs along the side of the kitchen. As we walked back from the bathroom, 2 of the waiters came out with a piece of cake clapping and singing. Nathan stopped stunned for a second and stared up at them. I grabbed his shoulder, since about 4 more waiters were coming out and I didn't want him run over. but by the time the rest of the waiters came out clapping and singing. Nathan was pretty sure he had this idea figured out!

He started Clapping- which was pretty funny in itself. Since the waiters were clapping to a beat and Nathan, couldn't clap that fast so he just clapped as fast as he could, and then he'd stop and start again.

But he fell in line behind the line of waiters and danced his little stomp dance all the way up the isle behind them. Dancing and randomly clapping it was hysterical.

In fact he was the hit of the restaurant.
Anyone who could see Nathan, was watching him and pointing his antics out to the rest of their table. Which I have to admit he is cute, and funny when he starts dancing- there is just such joy in his face and his moves- Children truly know how to live in a moment

I guess partly because they really know how to dance like no one's watching!

Grandpa Zoom comes to visit, Nathan gets spoiled, and Mommy gets to hold New Baby Malcom

BRRRRRRR....It's Cold!!!
It was - 28

and with the Windchill

-40

But like a trooper, Grandpa Zoom and Grandma Barb, came through the snow anyways.

Of course Nathan was thrilled to see them, he always lights up as soon as he see's Grandpa, who's his best buddy. And of course they came through the door with arm loads of presents (we didn't get to see them for Christmas, so they came prepared with stuff from them and Uncle Brian) Nathan first had to show off Thomas the train, and his shiny new collection of hotwheels cars to Grandpa. But they were almost as excited as he was to open his presents. So pretty quickly my living room floor was again covered in wrapping paper.

Uncle Brian went wild again, with some of the coolest gifts ever.

Nathan got a little Home Depot Welder set complete with gloves, face shield, flint spark er thingy and welding torch- which is soooo cool because it lights up and vibrates. He's runs around the house pressing it up to everything- the stove, the window, the wall- I think because it make different noises on each surface. I think Uncle Brian has decided to start training his apprentice as early as possible!?!?

And then just in case that was enough, he gave Nathan the coolest Dump truck and Digger (or excavator) set that I've ever seen. There remote controlled, and about the size of the big old metal Tonka trucks everyone used to have.The truck goes forward and back with a simple joy stick maneuver, and then it will turn (or it suppose too- but may have to go back to the store). And actual raises the back of the truck and dumps it's load with the third control.

Nathans kind of getting the hang of it, although we have to tell him constantly to use the controls instead of just dragging it like it's on a leash. (I'm worried he'll break all the wiring)

but he seems to have the hang of it going in one direction- forward or back. ANd that's got to be pretty good considering it's a 3 plus toy.

We all went out for dinner at Apple Bees and then finally got ahold of my cousin Leslie, so we made plans to go over to Leslie and Jason's after dinner to Meet New Baby Malcolm. He was born December 19th- and is 2 weeks old- I sooooo miss holding a little little baby.

I don't think this is the best picture ever taken of any of us- Chris being the worst of the bunch...I keep trying to convince him to get his haircut, but his long work hours make it hard to find time- although the one pic is pretty cute obviously Nathan and Grandpa are busy hamming it up.

Greasy Monkey

Vaseline

Everywhere- Everywhere-Everywhere

Nathan went to bed tonight, Or a least I thought he did!

I went to check on him and...

I Guess he can reach the top of his dresser now...

He pulled the diaper basket down...

which also Contained

VASELINE

WHICH got put by the handful into his hair,

on his face, legs, hands, pj's all over him

not to mention the wall, the carpet, the dresser the diaper basket, a book everything

I threw him in the tub...

scrubbed his hair twice with dish soap, and it was still so stiff that it was standing up in spikes like this without anything in it.

I washed it again with shampoo and stuff , but it still feels nasty greasy.

but I couldn't help myself from giving him little devil horns with the shampoo

I've created a small monster

For obvious reasons I've spent a lot of time cleaning in the last few weeks...and Nathan has picked up on this. The other morning I spent his breakfast wiping down the kitchen counters, as soon as he was let down from the highchair he grabbed a sponge and started wiping the window and the table, it was pretty cute...
but tonight was a whole new phenomenon.
At a showing last week some idiot broke the child lock on the cabinet under the sink, its caused other issues like a monkey being able to hit the garborator switch...but... tonight I was washing something in the sink and Nathan zip past me pulled open the side with the broken lock and reached across to flip open the garbage lid on the other door and slipped something in.
I was quite proud of him to know where garbage goes...
but then I realized the whole house shouldn't have any garbage we'd had a showing only a few hours ago...
curious to see what he was throwing out I opened the garbage...
he'd thrown out a seasoning package...the problem is he'd pulled it out of the spice cupboard himself, and then after he'd crumpled it he decided it was garbage and threw it out unused.
I looked through the rest of the garbage thinking it shouldn't be as full as it was, since I emptied the bag just this morning...apparently he's been doing this all day...

awwww too cute...

Time for some parent gushing...
I was so amused with Nathan tonight.
He was dancing (which consists of stomping his feet really fast) and spinning in circles till he got dizzy and fell down.
So I went over and took his hands. The I started singing ring around the rosie, while slowly spinning with him. At husha husha they all fall down, I'd fall on my back and kick my arms and legs in the air. It took two rounds for him to see the game in this...and then that was it! We must have done it 50 times tonight. and everytime I'd fall down he'd giggle and get up, come over and take my hands to get me up to do it again.
I'm so excited he's getting to a stage where he wants to play actual games with me!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

It was kinda sad we didn't get to spend Daddy's Birthday with him, but in honor of his Birthday we went out and got Sundae's at McDonalds- Nathan really enjoyed his!mmmm...sticky!