my first born's bad habit

Dear Callin: 

 I love you.

A lot.

Love Mom

(I thought about posting that note as a little reminder to myself.  And here is why I need the reminder...)

I walk down the stairs just in time to see this little man just finishing up a little pee into my half drunk Lemon Lime Gatorade bottle.  Seriously?  Is it in the male DNA to have to pee on everything! When I asked him what he was doing, he looked at me and kind of confused said, "Someone peed in here."  It would have been just a little bit funny if I didn't see that happen.  And it was April Fools.  And it was Doug who finished it off!  hee hee!

 

Apparently the whole camping really stuck with him. Especially the going-to-the-bathroom-outside thing.

 Since our camping trip (about 10 days ago) he has:
peed on a crate of bricks at Home Depot,
 pooped (excuse my language) 3 times outside our house,
pooped at the park-like right in the middle of 20+ kids (Bless you Elice),
peed in my neighbors backyard,
peed on at least 1 dozen trees,
and now...peed in a bottle.
 And I should mention that he does a excellent job of removing this shorts and undies before. 

We have talked A LOT about the appropriate places to go and I think he has figured it out.  Every time he now goes outside he tells me, "I won't go poo poo outside mom, only in the jungle."

P.S. Sorry to his buddies who have followed his example and have tried it out for themselves. Boys will be boys! 

P.S.S  Happy Bithday to my dear 'ol (not to be confused with old) Mommy!

post edit: Sorry for the confussion.  No Doug did not drink it.  But it sure would have been funny. 

the santa bunny

I made the mistake of telling Cal that the Easter Bunny is kind of like Santa.  That he will bring us a special prize if he is a good boy.  All he heard was "Santa, Santa. Santa."  Suffice it to say that he was a tad bit let down and is still asking when is Santa coming. Rhett on the other hand couldn't have been happier with his new jammies (shower present) and duckie (recycled Easter present from last year that didn't get much play time).  Yeah that is how this Easter bunny rolls.

the great outdoors

We enjoyed a LOVELY spring camp out at Brazo's Bend, home of the alligators.  Next time we are staying longer. 

D.S. Lewis said, "This is the best tinfoil dinner I have ever had."

Rhett slept better than he ever has.  Horray for all that wedding camping gear that doesn't get that much use.

ps. wow I really have a lot of freckles.

A scary story

I took one day of self defense my sophomore year at BYU.  I have a broken wood board and pictures of a grossly bruised elbow to prove it.  Last night I got to put my skills to test again- in a real life setting.  I had just "closed up shop," which means the downstairs was finally clean, picked up, all three doors locked, and all lights out.  Then I go live upstairs for the remainder of the night.  I start by checking on my sleeping boys, turning off lights behind me and make my way to my bed to read for a bit. After I turned off the lights I found myself in the pitch dark.  Not a big deal.  I know the path from Rhett's room to my room quite well in the dark from the many nightly feedings.  On this occasion though there was a man waiting for me as I passed by the laundry room.  He did happen to be the man that I am officially married to, but rarely see and don't really even remember he is home.  But boy did he get a surprise.  I am not really the "ahh help me" kind.  Instead I am the "hit the man as hard as I possibly can" kind.  And I did.  And he is just lucky that the huge red mark I made was on his stomach.  I will have to work on my aim- just in case it is a real attack I want to be prepared. (And be warned, I learned that hitting "rock hard abs" is going to do some major damage to your hand.)  But seriously who wouldn't be scared of this guy:

(Dougiefresh Halloween '07)

And just so I don't send you off to bed with bad dreams I will tell you another scary bedtime story about someone much cuter.  This chubbers: 

He is now the owner of two Asthma inhalers.  : (

  (I had to air out his fat rolls today.  They are totally raw and red because they never get any fresh air.)  

Five Minutes Peace

Every mother should own this delightful children's book.  Mrs. Large desperately needs a five minute break from motherhood (unheard of, right?), but is loyally followed around everywhere she goes by her three adoring children. Callin is my equivalent to three elephant children.  I do not choose to have a 2 year old in the shower with me, but since he insists on being my second shadow it happens most of the time.  However, the days of us showering together are dwindling fast (and not because he is getting a little too observant.) I like the hot water to be pouring on me.  He likes the hot water to be pouring on him.  He has somehow learned to do a really good body slam to get me out of the way.  And yesterday he was not afraid to do it again and again.

The toilet is another place where I would rather be left alone.  If my every move and action isn't being interrupted by the little shadow than someone else will surely interrupt these quiet moments... The douger has been going to medical school for almost 2 years now.  I like to woo him with my practical medical knowledge every now and then.  He never believes me when I say, "I already knew that," but it's true, as the daughter of Mother Healer herself, I did mostly already know that. Anyway, I was enjoying a "private moment" and perusing through the latest edition of Martha Stewart (thanks Lauren- I am loving my subscription!) when I hear Rhett do a little choke-cough thing in the other room.  He is with his Dad- the medical student.  I keep on at what I am doing... until I am interrupted by the douger who shoves/drops our little guy into my lap, "He's choking!"  My frist thought was, Emergency Medicine is probablly not the path for Doug.  But don't worry, Rhett was actually all done coughing and was just "quietly breathing" so much that it appeared that he wasn't breathing at all.  I guess he really does trust my medical intuition.    
 
And while we're at it, lets give all mothers who just want five little minutes of peace a moment of silence.

A is for Arizona

A- accordion

C- cousins

D- dancing to Papa's "Beer Belly Polka" accordion music

F- family dinners

G- great grandmas (double meaning)

H- feeding Grandma's horses with Uncle Amos

J- off roading jeep rides

K-kisses

L- Lots of Love from Rhett's aunts

M- My Arizona!

S- stream at the top of a beautiful hike

T- train rides

W- walker walks

and Weddings

Z-zoo

My never ending master bathroom projects

The first 4 or 5 months we lived in our house we couldn't use our master bathroom shower.  We finally fixed the dry wall, retiled, yada yada.  A year ago my mother in law came to visit and we pulled all the wall paper off and textured the walls.  A couple months later my really energetic friend Paola and I painted it in one afternoon.  But then quickly realized that the grey-blue color I thought I was getting was really grey-purple and that wouldn't do.  But then life went on and who ever sees your master bathroom really?  

Then my really cute sister came to stay with me after Rhett was born and worked some serious magic.  She found the right color, painted the walls, the ceiling, the baseboards, and the doors. She shopped and installed new towel racks and toilet paper holder.  This might not sound too blog worthy...but after a year of searching for the toilet paper roll every time you use the bathroom and often not having a dry towel to use, this was really exciting.    

 She also found this cute fabric and picture which I love. Mom Lewis arrived the next day and had this sewn within the first 30 minutes. 

 THANKS SO MUCH EMILY!  I failed to mention that she did this all while at the same time cooking, cleaning, playing with a 2 year old, etc.  What did I do?  Sit in the rocking chair and nurse!

Someday we'll get around to refinishing the cupboards!