Different

So I celebrated my 36th birthday today and I was reminiscing about how different life is now than it was say 6 short years ago.

On my 30th birthday weekend I;

   *  Enjoyed a fancy dinner out with some girlfriends and was surprised by a hubby that flew in from  Boston to wish me a happy day.

   *   Got my first and only tattoo.

   *   Flew to Boston and went to my first Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

   *   Before the game, we went to dinner and a bar...which oddly made me not able to remember parts of the aforementioned game (oops).

   *   Helped the hubby pack up the Boston digs and ride 5 million miles, at least that is what the trip from Boston to Atlanta felt like in a four wheel drive pick-up truck with my short legs propped up on a snowboard and a blender.


My 36th looked like this;

   *   Another Red Sox game, except this time no trip to the bar prior and the cutest player out there was my firstborn.

   *   No more ink, but there was some fun chalk and bubble play.

   *   The only roadtrips were within 10 miles of our house, thank goodness!

The years have definitely changed the shape of our celebrations but every single year I am reminded of how incredibly blessed and loved I am!

Riding the Potty Train...oh yeah!!

After trying and stopping , and trying and stopping, and trying and stopping....you get the point. 3 weeks ago IT TOOK. Everyone kept telling me it would click and it did!!! I am excited, for so many reasons, buying diapers for two was getting ridiculously expensive, Kimber trying to "help" when I changed Matt was comical...kind of, Matthew's need to "see poop" when changing Kimber...well...not so comical.

So my firstborn is now streaking around the house in underwear which is cute but bittersweet. I catch myself still thinking it is weird to hear the toilet seat going up or down when Willie is not home. I bought him some boxer briefs last week and after seeing his little booty in them really just wanted to return them immediately, he looked at least 5 in them and I am SO NOT READY for that!!

Tee-Tee was our first step and wasn't too awful hard. Poo-Poo was the part I dreaded. See Matthew is a "pacer". Some kids hide and poop, some kids sit and grunt, my kid performs a fast pace to get the job done. For months I have been baffled at how I would get him to stay still to poop when he has been pacing to poop for nearly 2 years. We came up with the idea of a PUSH PRESENT and we let Matthew pick out a big Buzz Lightyear at the store with the understanding that he would not get it until he pooped in the potty. We put it up within his line of sight but way out of his reach. After church on Sunday he kept asking for a diaper to poop. Every time he asked I took him to the Buzz Lightyear and reiterated the fact that if he pooped in the potty he could get Buzz down, well it worked!!!! I was thrilled, who knew I would be this excited about another person's bowel movements.

Once again, parenthood is never what you expect it to be, much harder and more rewarding than anyone ever lets on!

Front flowerbed makeover

So, we inherited a truly obscene amount of monkey grass when we bought our current home two years ago. Yes, it has taken exactly TWO years, we moved in over the Memorial Day weekend 2008, to get this bed done....but it looks so much better, at least in my not so humble opinion.

While no flowerbed is ever done at our house as the design in my head is constantly evolving. It is a good start and I was able to incorporate the rod iron fence I have been dragging across the country.

Before

After much digging, tree removal, trimming, planting and mulching.......WAA LAA!!



Now, to get to the other 10 beds...that is the real challenge!!

shhhhhhh.....church

We have been trying local churches recently and have been taking the boys into the worship service with us. As you can imagine, there is a lot of shhhhushing that occurs during the service, so much so that as we drive by the church Matthew points and says "Shhhh-Church".

I think next week we are going to take advantage of the nursery, maybe they won't get shushed quite as much?

OUCH!!

I am pretty sure I was never let in on the fact that parenthood is quite a painful experience. I am not referring to the emotional roller coaster we step onto at the moment of conception, I am talking about the physical pain.....it beings with contractions and childbirth then continues with nursing, being utilized as a jungle gym, hair pulling, biting and climbing. While most of this abuse is completely unintentional, it hurts nonetheless.

Add in the complete lack of sleep that has characterized my life since becoming a mom just a couple of years ago...and well....I am so not the person I once was.

That being said, mommyhood agrees with me and I would not trade it for the world.

Changes

Matthew has been decided that Kimber's carseat is quite a fun toy and it is funny to me to see this big toddler sitting in this seat that was once so big.....

At 4 days old.......

At 2 years old......

They really do grow up so very fast!