Happy Mother's Day 2010

We are in the midst of a phenomenally beautiful Mother’s Day weekend. May marks the beginning of ridiculously long days in the Pacific Northwest.  8pm bedtime for Grey feels like late afternoon. 

I was trying to remember what we did on Mother’s Day last year so I checked my blog (I am aware of how lame that sounds, thank you very much).  In May of 2009, I wrote about our visit to the park and Greyson’s official transition to ‘potty trained’.  I find that quite ironic today, given the fact that Grey came downstairs this morning with an obvious guilty face and admitted that he just pooped in the bathtub.  Take note that he wasn’t taking a bath at the time.  He just climbed in, took a dump, and covered it up with a foam letter “H”.  He should have picked a letter with less gaps.  Maybe an “M” for MAD MOM.

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Have you seen this You Tube clip?  Greyson loves it and has been reciting it word for word, with the accent.  He’s recently begun putting his own finger in Graham’s mouth.  Lucky for him, Graham is still toothless.

I’ve been lamenting the fact that our Greyson is no longer a baby.  He is all boy and is demanding his independence, his own voice and his space.  But I can’t go to bed without watching him sleep, tucking his quilt around him and brushing the hair off of his face.  And sometimes I’ll risk waking him with the flash of my camera when I feel like capturing a moment like this one – head on his baseball pillow, monkey blanket tucked securely under his arm…he’s still a baby to me.

Speaking of babies…Graham is cool, calm and collected.  The antithesis of Grey in every way.  He’s moved beyond rice cereal and into the realm of peas, carrots, avocado, sweet potatoes and apples.  His doctor tells me that a local pediatrician started her own organic food line that supposedly expands a baby’s palate. I say ‘why not’?  If a jar of Japanese-inspired puree increases the chances of Graham eating grilled fish tacos with a homemade pineapple salsa on a warm May night when he’s 4 years old, I’m game. 

GREY*isms*

• Me: (after returning from a business trip to Toronto) “Tell me about your week!”
• G: “I put a leaf in Graham’s mouth…and he puked”

GREYSON’S AMERICAN DICTIONARY

Cropernating (Cropper-nate-ing):  Don’t touch anything!

Happy Mother’s Day!

"I Know You Want Me"

We replaced our dinosaur of a home PC (LONG overdue) which allowed me to download our Flip videos from the past 8 months or more. I couldn't resist sharing this.

What Makes You So #%&?@*! Perfect?

Here’s proof that Mike and I are far from perfect:

1. Greyson watches TV and can easily tell you everything you need to know about Shrek, The Polar Express, Casper, The Goonies, Willy Wonka (the original and Johnny Depp versions), Toy Story, UP, Scooby Doo, Curious George, Little Einsteins, Imagination Movers and Back to the Future*.  He has recently adopted the George McFly laugh and believe me, you’d pay to hear it. 
2. I gave him peanut butter at age 1 without instructions on what would happen if he went into anaphylactic shock.
3. We lecture him on the evils of processed foods and food coloring and secretly eat Cheetos when he’s not looking.
4. I pay him $1.00 to try everything on his plate.
5. When he sasses us, we skip the timeouts and go straight to Worcestershire.  One spoonful goes a long way.
6. I drank coffee every day of my 2nd pregnancy and post-partum while I breastfed.
7. I stopped breastfeeding after 3 months because I wanted to drink more coffee.
8. I have used the evil monster voice (think the Gargoyles in Ghost Busters) if Greyson fights me at bedtime.
9. I have occasionally used the evil monster voice when Graham is fed, changed, slept and still won’t stop crying.
10. I feel sorry for myself when the kids are demanding 100% of my time while I daydream about a day at the spa, a tour of wine country, Ultimate Frisbee on the side lawn or a road trip to watch a college football game.

And then I see my boys on the floor together in the morning while I’m getting dressed for work.  Graham topples over after showing off his ability to sit all by himself and Greyson says “It’s OK. I’m here”.

*List has been condensed as author recognizes her readers have limited time.

GREY*isms*

• G:  (After praying before bedtime) “Great-grandma is in heaven and OJ is too?”
• Me: “Yep, she sure is. I bet she’s laughing and dancing!”
• G:  “She can’t dance!  She’s in a box.”

Back in the Game!

I recently realized that I’ve been blogging regularly on Sundays and apparently am spoiling my family who now expects a post when they wake up on Monday.  I failed this past week, and boy did I hear about it.  Next time, I’ll see if I can whip up some wit with my keyboard while scrubbing a toilet, blowing bubbles with Greyson, whisking a vinaigrette, ironing Mike’s shirts and spooning cereal into Graham’s cute little mouth.  (OK, I don’t iron Mike’s shirts…but I do make a mean vinaigrette!)

Since I have not much to share this week, I’ll encourage you to check out the blogs of friends who also juggle a million things and still manage to put words to paper (or screen, as it were).

1. www.hollyvanzeeland.blogspot.com.  Holly and her husband Nate are now a family of 5 after welcoming baby Owen to their family on March 29th.
2. www.mrsmouthy.com.  Mrs. Mouthy is a friend in Seattle and if you want to laugh regularly, I recommend that you bookmark her blog.  She’s published; deservedly so.
3. www.goehlerfamily.blogspot.com.  Brock and Becky are dear friends who are enjoying Year 1 with their beautiful daughter Reese.
4. www.thepiotrowskifamily.com.  Kristin and Chris welcomed a baby girl to their family on April 1st.

No blog post is complete without pictures of my boys.  That is, after all, the reason our aforementioned families even stop by.  It certainly isn’t to listen to my incessant rambling.

Graham & Daddy enjoying a moment

Playing Games…Always!

Greyson is starting to use his own language and is quite adept at making up words and when questioned about their meaning, giving a very straight-faced answer.  If you see these in a future edition of Webster’s, you’ll know where the credit is due:

• Ironterial (I-rahn-tearial):  “It means I falled out of a tree and got hurt”
• Planeded (Plane-did):  “It’s a word that boys can say- 2 planes is planeded”

So there.

Happy Easter!

When we say our prayers before we go to sleep, we always try to remember to thank God for providing.  All glory belongs to Him so although we enjoy the bunnies and the chocolate and the toys, Greyson thinks the fact that Jesus came back to life is pretty cool.

Spiderman lives with us.  Sometimes he unmasks himself but it’s a miracle we got an Easter picture without the suit.  (A big thank you to Uncle Nate!)  We had lunch at a friend’s house on Saturday and an Easter egg hunt next door today.  Our neighbors, Marilyn & Doug, are the grandparents of 4 and they know how to do it right.  They hid over 40 dyed eggs in their backyard along with personal Easter baskets for each of the kids and toys and pinwheels and money-filled footballs and basketballs.  The kids went crazy and it was just as much fun to watch.

“Peter Parker”

These snapshots are from April 3rd and 4th; Easter weekend 2010!

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Graham is 5 1/2 months old and started rice cereal for the first time this week.  His little mouth opens like a bird’s when the spoon gets near him.  He chats constantly (mostly “da-da” to Mike’s delight) and is always smiling. 

Spiderman sure is a big helper!

Here’s a couple of shots from Easter morning.  Should I tell him that he’s sitting in his trash can?

GREY*isms*

• Sara: “Grey, do you remember my friend David? It’s his birthday today!”
• Grey: “Yeah, he bounced with me in my bouncy house. He has REALLY big ears!”

Happy Easter!

Quickie

Greyson wanted to wear his pirate underwear for the 2nd day in a row.  Mike and I tried to explain that they were dirty and probably smelly so I suggested that he take them off and smell them himself and if he thought they didn’t stink, he could keep them on. 

• (He removes his underwear, smells them and crinkles up his nose)
• Me:  “What do they smell like?”
• G:  “Cheese”

Coming off of an awesome family weekend with home cooked meals, movies from the comfort of our living room and the first un-assisted roll from back to belly and back again.  Life is good.

April 15th is right around the corner!

A Successful 4th Birthday Bash

We are so blessed.  Today, March 21st, is Greyson’s 4th Birthday.

Greyson and I have nasty colds and Graham’s a little congested.  I sat down on my deck yesterday afternoon, exhausted after the last party guest left, and just felt---thankful.  We had a beautiful 70-degree sunny day for Greyson’s 4th birthday party, a houseful of spirited kids and great conversation with their parents.

• Tanner Johnson called to sing Happy Birthday to Greyson a few minutes before his party started.  What a great start to the day!
• Greyson’s nanny, Sara, was the first guest to arrive.
• Then came Tegan and Ryder, Jayden and Vincenzo…Santino, Michael, Sarah, Carson and Kayla.  (and their siblings- 2 Coltons, a Beckett, Ethan, Emily and 2 on the way)
• The Spiderman bouncy-house was a HUGE HIT!
• Despite Greyson’s cold, he was the host of all hosts, leading his friends in pirate swashbuckling and bouncy-house slide dives.
• Graham napped through 1/2 of the party and smiled for the rest of it. As Greyson likes to say, he behaved “like a real boy”!

He wasn’t feeling well, but the cake made him smile

The friends we’ve made in the greater-Seattle area have restored my faith in friendship.  They’re genuine, fun and most of all really easy to be around.  We’ve missed the ease that comes with real friendships and after a year and a half, found it in a few who thankfully have kids of similar ages.  Greyson chose the guest list and his mommy and daddy couldn’t have been happier about it.

Posing in front of the house before the party

Giving the bouncy house a test run

‘I may be into Spiderman, but I’m still a pirate at heart’ 

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy Greyson.  We love you for who you are today and for the boy you are becoming.  You made this past weekend the best yet! 

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GREY*isms*

• G:  (after watching the men deflate the bouncy house, roll it up and cart it away)  “They’re taking my bouncy-house…and I’m not even upset about it!”

Odds & Odds

Happy Daylight Savings.  Let us welcome the beginning of our new nighttime ritual whereby it will become increasingly more difficult to get our eldest to sleep by his 8pm bedtime because “it’s not dark yet!”

GREY*isms*

(After washing my face and moisturizing, I walk into Greyson’s room to say goodnight while Mike is reading a bedtime story…I lean in for a kiss)

• G:  “Mom, you stink”
• Daddy:  “Grey, that’s not nice”
• G:  “But, she stinks”
• Me:  (smiling) “Good night Greyson”
• Daddy:  “Tell Mom you love her”
• G:  “I love you…stinky”

GREY*isms*

(while listening to “ABC Dinosaur” on my iPhone)

• Book Narrator:  “F is for Fossil”
• G:  “That’s not a dinosaur! It’s just an old bone”

You’re getting a short post this week because the pictures deserve to be front & center.  These boys are just too damn cute.  Happy Birthday to Jake, Greyson, my dad and Mike’s dad.  March Madness it certainly is!

I Spy a Basketball Player…not so much

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Greyson’s been into “I Spy” for quite some time.  It almost always comes up at the dinner table, particularly when he’s not a fan of what’s being served.  What’s not to love about marinated spare ribs, garlic mashed potatoes and a baguette?

The first time he played, we were eating breakfast and he didn’t quite have it down:

• G:  “I spy with my little eyes…a sausage”. 
• Me:  “you don’t want to say what you’ve spied, you just want to describe it”
• G:  “Oh, OK…I spy with my little eyes…something sausage-y”

So, that was a few months ago and since then, I thought he had gotten the hang of it.  “I spy with my little eyes…something blue” and so it went.  We recently learned that he has, in fact, been cheating:

• G:  “I spy with my little eyes…(pausing and looking around the kitchen- eyes landing on the orange colander on the counter)…something orange”
• Mike:  “is it the colander?”
• G:  “Noooo”
• Mike  “Oh, really, then what is it"?”
• G:  “Ummmm”….(looking, looking)" 
• Me:  “Grey, you can’t change the object after the game starts!”
• G:  “I was just kidding”

Quick, what are we up to?

1. Graham is 14lbs 10oz, 25.5in and
2. We’ve hosted friends for dinner every weekend for the past 3 weeks and went out to dinner without the kids twice this week.  Life is no longer about survival- we’re finding ourselves again. 
3. We’re finally done with the string of classes we signed Greyson up for through Kirkland Parks and Rec.
4. I’ll be in Orlando and Toronto this month for work
5. Greyson will be 4 on the 21st of this month.  Like every parent out there, we’re asking ourselves where the time went.

This is the team photo from Greyson’s basketball class. Can you spot him?  I didn’t get the memo that the kids were supposed to wear red t-shirts until the morning of.  At least I found something with red in it (and that’s better than the parents of the kid standing behind him). He participated in class for about 20 minutes.  Every class afterward, he stood on the sidelines and watched.  Glad we dropped $75 on that!  

GREY*isms*

• “Do you remember the time the puppy followed me home with my wagon and then he took a dump in my backyard?”

What’s Your Status?

Why Facebook is the bain of my existence, but like a mosquito to a porch light, I can’t stop looking.

1. Why do my “friends” insist on posting inspirational quotes as their status on Facebook and don’t credit the original author?  Here’s a status for you “He who can’t be original can be annoying”

2. Help me understand a status like “I’m so happy about a decision I just made” and the first comment says “can you share it” and the author’s response is “not on Facebook”.

3.  Why are women posting their bra colors as their status in an effort to confuse the men in your network?  Don’t we confuse men enough as it is?

4.  Can we boycott the sappy, my life is amazing, no one has a better family, car, house, kid or pair of jeans?  Let’s be honest people. We’re all just voyeurs hoping for a bit of juicy gossip.  No one cares how hot your husband is.

5.  If I work with you, don’t update your status with how busy you are.  Seriously. 

6.  Don’t even get me started on Mafia Wars, Farmville, Ice Cream Scoop Town, Hearts of Love blah blah blah…I’ve blocked all of you and will continue to block you so quit wasting my time.

7.  If you friend me and don’t at least say ‘hi’, I’m going to de-friend you.  I do not want to be a statistic that helps you win the “I have the most friends contest”.

8.  If you attempt to friend me and I do not know you, I’m sorry.  I will ignore you.  I do not care how many friends I have.

9.  I have friends, who are mothers, who have professional full time careers and somehow they manage to update their statuses multiple times a day.  How is that possible?  And…why?

10.  As much as I complain about it, I still visit it, and I enjoy the fact that my parents (both of them) are on it.  I especially enjoy seeing my parent’s friends comment on how cute my kids are.  I get to catch up with great friends and acquaintances, co-workers and friends of friends.  It might be the best invention next to Shrinky Dinks.  For those reasons and more, I’ll keep coming back.

GREY*isms*

(In the kitchen after Mike returned from the “Big V” (‘Vasectomy’ for the laymen out there)

• G:  “Daddy had surgery?  How come?”
• Me:  “Well, it was more of a procedure”
• G:  “For what?”
• Me:  “Well, you know how we have you and we have Graham. We decided that we don’t want to have any more babies.  We just want you and Graham”
• G:  “So you don’t have to have 5?”
• Me:  “Exactly”

                      Our two (not 5) children:

Overheard:  When he didn’t know we were listening, Greyson told Graham about all the fun they were going to have together “playing pirates”, “playing golf”, “playing shooting” and “follow the leader”.  When Graham woke up yesterday morning, Greyson said  “when Graham bees bigger, maybe he wants to sleep with me”.

(Sigh of content)…Have a GREAT weekend!