So it's been a while since I have posted last. Lets see...Nov. 20th was my last post....UM YEAH.

I have tons of pictures I will post tonight from Thanksgiving and some pictures of Brian of course.

Can you believe it's almost Christmas? Wow, where does time go? It doesn't seem like Christmas to me, and maybe thats a good thing since I am one of the biggest BAH HUMBUGS. To me Christmas is bigger than gifts, shopping, and starbucks. I would rather spend this time with my family, have a great meal, sing songs, play board games and just enjoy the time together. But instead it's fighting with family about a TV board game, lemon meringue pies not turning out, endless spending of money we all dont have to try and get the perfect present, and my moms addiction to egg nog lattes. Can everyone all together now say...BAH HUMBUG.

Like I said, maybe it's a good thing this year that I don't seem to feel the stress of Christmas and the hustle and bustle of all the crowds. Knock on wood right?

Brian this past month has bloomed. All I can say is WOW. Brian has always been a fast learner and develops fast. He has always had a big vocabulary and has always been overly independent. This past month he has probably doubled his vocabulary. He is more outspoken these days....YES, I can proudly say he does not get that from me...he gets that from Grammy.

Brian has just reached the "Why" stage of his life. He now asks "Why" about everything....
"Why grandpa are you putting your shoes on?"
"Why mom must I pick up my lego's?"
"Why do I have to keep the lid on my sippy cup?"
The list goes on. But when you answer his "Why" question it than follows with another "But, Why?" you than answer that "But, Why" and than he replies with his hands in the air and cocks his head and looks at you with this I don't get it look...."But Why?"

If I ask him "Brian wheres your shoes?" he 90% of the time looks at me like i'm a moron and says "I don't know". I look at him sometimes and I am just amazed at what he's becoming and growing up to be.

Brian can sing his ABC's, he sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, You Are My Sunshine, and Jingle Bells...and I can't forget he that he can sing Taylor Swift songs. We are now working on learning colors. He's my little rock star!!

Sesame Street...

Today I was reading an article in the New York Times Magazine, and I was quite taken back. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-medium-t.html

I don't think there is one person I know who doesn't remember Sesame Street. I remember sitting at Grandma Elenore's house after school and watching it while eating a peanut butter and butter sandwich in the kitchen.

I loved Sesame Street when I was in Elementary School, though I loved learning when I was little all together. I enjoyed counting cookies with Cookie Monster and seeing what the letter of the day would be. It was a very educational show, and it was entertaining to the younger audience.

The article was saying how the earlier shows are pretty much bad for your children now days. They were saying that just because Cookie Monster ate so many cookie's hes on the verge of Diabetes, and because Elmo has so much energy he must be put on Prozac. It's just a children's show teaching a child numbers, counting, letters, problem solving, sharing etc.

I don't know any 4 year old who is going to sit and watch an early show or even a newer show of Sesame Street and say just because Ernie likes his rubber ducky he's slow or weird. A four year old is going to be so engrossed in the program that, that is the last thing on their mind.

I sit and think when did a show like Sesame Street become so bad, when you have shows on Nick that are so nasty and awful and horrifying that I would never let Brian watch them. If they want to rip apart and dissect a learning show, please take a remote and flip through 95% of the shows out there that are targeted to children and tell me how bad Sesame Street really is.....

Next thing I am going to read is that Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow and Thomas the Train are bad for your kids.

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!

Thanksgiving Week

This Thanksgiving week will be a good one...Brian and I are headed to Uncle Mike and Aunt Connies on Thursday. He will love it of course...seeing his Guncle Mike and all.

Thanksgiving morning Kira and I will be doing a 3.4 mile walk...I'm not quite such yet why we are doing it in the morning since we won't be burning all the calories we will be eating :)...yeah were smart ones huh?

Friday I am taking Brian to the parade and than that night we will be going to the Tree Lighting. He will love both events.

Saturday is our BIG Thanksgiving with the whole family. That is what I am NOT looking forward to since my mom has to work on Friday and I will be stuck doing all the prepping and cooking. PRAY FOR ME!!!

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Two weekends ago Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie took Brian and MacKenna to Amity to an annual activity at the local elementary. I will download pictures tomorrow for you all to see. He had a great time.

Little Frankenstein!

Isn't Little Frankenstein SUPER scary? Heck No...He's super Cute!!!!

Last night was so much fun. Brian had such a blast and thoroughly enjoyed himself. I had been asking him whats he going to to say when you knock on the door and he would reply "Trick-or-Treat, knock on door"....funny funny.

We left at about 6pm to go Trick-or-Treating and we went over to the Overlook area, they had like 2 flights of stairs to get to the door of their house....gave Brian and I a real work out. We only did one block and than went over on Willamette where we went last year and did another block and a half. As soon as we got to the doors I would knock and he would yell before the door opened "Trick-or-Treat" and than when the people opened the door he would very quietly say "Trick-or-Treat" and than get his candy and very politely say "Thank You".


I am very glad that my mom the last month of so would take him down the Halloween aisles at the stores so he could see the scary masks and all the Halloween stuff so that way he wouldn't be so scared when Halloween did come around. Lets just say it paid off. He loved all the Halloween stuff at the houses. There was one house that this guy dressed up really scary looking and was in this long black witches cloak and had the bowl on his lap and as soon as Brian and I were approaching i was thinking "Oh S***, Brian's going to freak"...but to my shock, Brian went up there and was so amazed and didn't want to stop looking at him. This other house had a whole bunch of scary looking dummies on the porch and he wanted to be right up with them and the owner was shocked on how little and interested Brian was in it all. He said almost all small kids are scared. Not mine...I was very proud!!

For only doing 2 1/2 blocks, he got a lot of candy. My mom and I had a lot of fun with him and to hear him say "Trick-or-Treat" and to say "Thank You" after he got the candy made me so proud. We got lots of compliments on how cute he looked and what a good looking chap he is!! I was such a proud Mommy last night. I had a lot of fun with him and to see the smile on his face all night was so great. He really got the hang of it.


The poor little guy was pooped out, so we went and grabbed a bite to eat and headed home to eat it. When we pulled up to the house he was sleeping in his car seat. He was so worn out.

Brian was being such a pain on letting me take some photos so here are a few decent ones I was able to capture.

Look Mommy I have a leaf

I would tell Brian "Say Cheese" and he would scream "Cheese" and this is what I would get!

Silly photo...

Hillbilly Child..

We all know that my son is VERY hillbilly...

The pictures below prove it.

Popsicle Mustache

Rubber Boots

Snow Hat

No Pants On...Actually that normal for Brian

and To-Boot his boots are on the wrong feet

How great are those.....YUP THAT SUMS IT UP!!!!

Carving Pumpkins

We had so much fun the other nigh carving pumpkins. The older Brian gets the more fun he and I have doing stuff like this.

He's only pretending to carve it out....

He only carved it out on his own for 3 minutes....He didn't want to get his hands dirty.

Here's the finished product. I wonder who his mom is...she came up with such a cool design for his pumpkin.

He liked me pretending I was puking up all the insides and pretending I was sneezing it out of my nose more than actually carving it out....I know I know that's so nasty, but hey, I gotta act act like a boy every now and than too right?

I think his moms pumpkin turned out pretty cool as well If I say so myself....

So Josh bought this huge 126lb pumpkin. We all know he has to have the biggest of everything. It was like 4 inches thick and the poor guy had such a hard time carving it.

They were even able to stick their heads in it.....

But all in all I was able to put my artistic ability to it and I drew Josh an evil looking face to carve out.

I even got some cool pictures of Brian on it before they carved it. Look on the side of the blog.

PUMPKIN PATCH

This last weekend was our Annual Pumpkin Patch trip.

We went to Roloff Farms - I'd have to say if youre there to ONLY get pumpkins than yes go.

But if you want to have a fun time and do some activities....PLEASE DON'T GO!!!

But all in all we had a great times. I love spending time with my family and seeing them, they are the most importnant people to me and I so enjoy them.

I love this family :)

Which pumpkin do I want Mommy?

Do I get them all?

I'm such a cheese ball!!!!

Aren't I super cute!!!

Goofy Grandpa!!!!

CHEER'S & POPSICLES....

So at dinner each night Brian has this new thing of taking his drink or his fork and say's "Cheer's Mom" and than he hits my fork. Than he says "Popsicle's Mom" and does the same thing.

Where did he learn this from? That is a mystery I can not solve. This has been going on for about two weeks now. He did this to my mom the other night and she was like huh...I said "just hit his fork and say cheer's" She of course obliged and than looks at me and says..."You teach him the weirdest things." I looked at her of course with my mouth open and of course said "I didn't teach him that."

I am in such shock STILL that my mom thinks I teach my son WEIRD THINGS as she puts it. I don't teach him weird stuff. I can not believe she thinks that. Tell me what the heck kind of weird stuff do I teach Brian?

it's going to be a good day.....

Today I feel like a Super Mom. I know I'm a Super Terrific Mom, but I'm talking about a SUPER MOM!!! You know the one who can do anything and be anywhere with the snap of her fingers.

I woke up this morning thinking to myself "just because Brian woke up at 5am, don't make it a bad day, it's going to be a good day". When I finally crawl off the couch 6am and somewhat coherent I realize Brian is coming down with something, so while I am getting myself ready I am having to deal with my soon to be sickly child. I again think to myself "it's going to be a good day".

I give Brian his medicine and I try and get ready for work. I get him settled with his cartoons and his sippy and I tell him "I'm going to go take a shower, you watch Manny and the Tools and I'll be back", his reply "OK". As I'm stepping in the shower Brian is yelling "MOM". I know that he is obviously up to something or has done something...but I scratch that out of my head cause HELLO, folks this is my son...He IS up to something and he HAS done something.

I am a champ on 5 minute showers in the morning, I can shave, shampoo and condition in 5 minutes. So I rush and out of the shower I fly.

I headed to the living room still hearing Brian yell "MOM".
He sees me and says "Hi Mom"
Me: "What's wrong Bubba
Brian: "Look" as he points to the couch
Me: "What did you do
Brian: "On blankie"
Me: "Whats on your blankie?"
Brian: "Milk" as he holds up his sippy with the lid off of it
Me: "Did you take the lid off?"...Stupid Question!!!
Brian: In the happiest voice you can imagine and snot running from his nose he tilts his head and raises his hands in the air and says........."YEAH!!!!!"

There I was this morning looking at the clock, 6:25am still wet hair and no clothes for him and I, standing there and telling myself "it's going to be a good day".

I hurry up and get dressed and do my hair than I get Brian dressed and i tell him "OK Bubba lets go to the bathroom and brush our teeth". he hops up and heads to the bathroom walking like he owns the joint (what am I saying...he does). He walks to the sink and lift him up and I grab his toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it. He grabs the toothpaste tube and before I could grab it he squeezes it and on my tank-top it goes. I grab some water and some soap and I scrub until it comes out.

After I drop Brian off at Day Care I get into work and all before 9am immediately I am hit with the following from the employees in my office...

• Kristin.....The Email fax is down
  
• Kristin.....The tray on the Copier isn't working
• Kristin.....The fridge isn't shutting because the freezer is iced over too bad
• Kristin.....The machine that is hooked up to the copier isn't working

All i can say is I feel like Super Mom...Not only am I a Mom to a 2 year old but I am a Mom to 6 individuals in my office ranging from 23 to 50+.

Not only am I a Mom, but I am a...

• Fridgerator Repair Girl
• Copier Repair Girl
• Fax and Email Repair Girl
• Chef (cooking dinner every night for 6 people)
• Personal Shopper (buying groceries every week for 6 people)
• Maid (cleaning up after 6 people every night)

So in the midst of it all I feel like a Super Hero (not as good as I thought it might feel). As I am telling my boss that I am not the Fridge Repair Girl he looks at me and says "Yeah but you're damn good at it...." That's just so reassuring (and I say that VERY sarcastically)!!!

Last but not least at 11am I am saying....IT'S GOING TO BE A GOOD DAY!!!!

Random Brian....

Wanted to show some pictures of Brian and what CRAZY things he does....and YES it's all him, nobody is telling him to do them.

So my mom bought these new fold up bags to carry her yarn in when she is crocheting, She unwrapped it and popped it up and was showing everyone. She put it on the floor and we went to chat about something else. About 10 minutes later I look over and Brian has balled himself up in the bag. He does this stuff ALL on his own.

Brian decided he wanted to be a big boy and take off him shirt all on his own. He kept saying watch me mommy, watch me. So as I'm standing there watching him he gets himself stuck!!!

He finally gets him shirt off and decides to take his pants off....this one he gets all on his own!! But why the heck does he want his clothes off????

YUP....so he can go Potty NAKED!!!! But wait there's more.... he runs around the house naked holding his butt...why you say...we'll the only logical answer I have come up with is that he thinks poop is going to fall out his butt if he doesn't have a diaper on. I have pictures showing this BUTT (get it....BUTT!!! ha ha ha) I don't think it's quite appropriate for my blog showing my naked son!!

Sunday Brian decided to take a cell phone antenna on one of my moms old cell phones and unscrew it and proceeded to stick it down his ear. YES, that is my son!! As you can tell I am SOOO proud :) If a child is going to do crazy things, it is going to be mine.

PAINTING....

Brian's wonderful sitter bought him a Turtle Bank to paint a few weeks back. So we decided about a week ago to pull it out and paint. Brian's first time with paint. Brian loves art...wonder who he gets that from :)

Brian did such a wonderful job and I was so proud of him for painting like a Big Boy. He had to make sure EVERY white part of the turtle was painted. After he was done painting his turtle (which he cried hen I took it away to dry) I let him paint on paper :) I love that he is so interested in coloring and drawing and now painting, all of those things are one of my passions in life, though I don't get to do it much unless I'm drawing or coloring with Brian. Glad he is taking an interest.

Fun Time At The Park

This weekend we had such a great time at the park. We were in McMinnville and there is a new park by my Aunt and Uncle house that not only Brian loves to go to but I love to go to. I wish they had a park like this when I was little.

Here's Brian and MacKenna playing on the slide.

Brian swinging...

Brian in the tunnel of the train...

Brian peeking through the hole....

Here's Brian Rock Climbing all by himself. He watched MacKenna do it and of course he wanted to be adventurous and do it all by himself.

As you can see we had a great time at the park and can't wait to do it again!!!

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday I had a convention to go to for work and one of the speakers was a friend of mine who every couple of month here and there as she use to work for the company I work for. I seen her before summer and she had mentioned to me her and her husband were having difficulties having a baby and they were in the process of adopting a baby from Hawaii. She and her husband are Hawaiian and this was wonderful for them. when I chatted up with her yesterday I asked her how everything was going with the baby and she said it fell through. My heart was breaking for her. She seemed great, but deep down you know better.

Had lunch with some friends today I hadn't seen in a really long time. One of them told me she was expecting (17 weeks along). I was so excited for her as her and her husband have been trying for a while from what I gathered. She was beaming and she was so happy as she mentioned this has been a great thing since she has had 3 miscarriages before.

Coming back to the office today and thinking about the past two days, it makes me more grateful for being able to have a normal pregnancy with the minor complications I did have. Being a parent is an amazing thing and an amazing accomplishment. It's so sad that some can have children and some can't. I won't say that I think every woman and man should experience pregnancy and parenthood by any means, but for most people I wish they could.

It baffles me some times when you see some of these drugged out people having children who shouldn't have children and than you see people like my friend who would be a wonderful mother and she either is having trouble getting pregnant or just flat out can't get pregnant.

Being able to get pregnant and have a handsome son, it makes me that much more grateful for what I do have. What an amazing thing it is, and what an amazing accomplishment. I don't think it being a parent gives your life purpose, because life in general is purpose, but it does give you a better sense of understanding life.

doodlebops VS. wiggles

VS...

Anyone who knows Brian can agree that he is a HUGE Doodlebops fan. He loves the Doodlebops. Anytime he gets a chance to watch TV he wants to watch his Doodlebops DVD.

This morning I thought I forgot to clean out my ears because I turn on the Disney Channel as I do every morning and he watches "Stanley" than "Handy Manny" and than "Doodlebops" this morning when the Doodlebops were about to start he freaked out on me. "NO MAMA, Wiggles".

Was I hearing things? Oh no, he repeated himself about 50 times while I am trying to convince him that the Doodlebops would be on in. I finally changed the channel to The Wiggles. Yes, he was a happy camper now.

I'm on the Max this morning trying to come to terms that Brian didn't want the Doodlebops, he wanted The Wiggles. I cant understand why the heck I am trying to justify the Doodlebops to The Wiggles. Both are equally annoying and both are equally creepy, but for a young child they are GOD and to me at times, Yes, they are a GOD sent.

So this morning, the Doodlebops lost and The Wiggles won. Maybe this is a new transition for Brian, maybe this is a new step in his life.....BUT maybe it's just me over analyzing it...YUP I think that's it :)

Mr. Independent

Brian has always been VERY independent through out his life, but the last few months has been another story...

He is even MORE independent. I hear all day "I do it".

• Brushing his teeth..."I do it"
• Brushing his hair..."I do it"
• Changing his clothes..."I do it"
• Putting his shoes on..."I do it" (and on the wrong feet most of the time)
• Pouring liquids into his sippy..."I do it"
• Buckling and unbuckling his car seat..."I do it"
• Pushing his stroller..."I do it"
• Turning on the TV..."I do it"
• Turning on his Doodblebops DVD..."I do it"

I am all about letting him do things on his own. I think it's so important for him to do them like a big boy, but I think I have created a monster in the sense that now I can't help him with virtually anything, except for wiping his butt. The luxury of doing that is oh so exhilarating!!

If I try and do something for him and he says "I do it", I usually let him do it, as it's a case of "picking your battle's", and with a 2 year old....this is so crucial.

Is it going to hurt him wearing his shoes on the wrong feet for a few hours, NO, it might be uncomfortable and look utterly ridiculous, but it's not hurting anything.

Is using the DVD player by himself a good idea, if he's by himself NO, but if I'm there watching him why the heck not let him do it? One less thing for me to do right?

Is letting him pour stuff into his sippy by himself a good idea? Probably not, but with my help it's OK, and if I'm there watching him who cares. He spills most everything he tries to pour, but why cry over spilled milk.

He's two and he is searching for his independence, he is searching and feeling for all the boundaries. There are certain things I don't let him do, but for the most part he can do it on his own. he has to learn sooner than later. I've even started letting him help me cook, he helps me pour the ingredients and stir...THAT'S IT!!!! :)

I am proud to have such an independent little guy!!!

ALS Walk

Sunday we had the ALS walk. My family and I did a 3.4 walk to help fight ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). What a great walk it was.

We had a great time. Brian had fun and enjoyed kicking back and watching everyone. we started at Omsi and walked to the Steel Bridge where we walked across it and than traveled down the waterfront and walked across the Hawthorne Bridge to end up at Omsi. It took us about 45 minutes to an hour to complete. YEAH FOR US!!!!

It was a blast and a great cause. Looking forward to next year. We will have t-shirts with Tim's picture on it for sure next year.

Pictures....

I was downloading pictures that I had on my mom and brothers camera this morning and my mom had pictures of Brian on her camera from a year ago....


It makes me so sad to look back and think, where the heck did time go? I use to sit and think gosh I wish he could walk, I wish he could talk, I wish he would hold his bottle on his own. I knew time would come when he would do all those things, I just didn't know how quick he would do those things and than some.

As a parent you don't realize how fast your children grow when they are that little. You take the things you had to do for them for granted and at one time in your life you look back upon pictures and you sit and think gosh I wish they could be so little again.

As I look upon newer pictures of Brian, I am amazed on how big he has gotten and how fast he has grown. It makes me want to savor every moment of him so when I look at pictures next year I can appreciate what I have done with him even more.

Labor day weekend was a good one for us....We went to Multnomah Falls and Bonneville Dam. For any parent who has little boys, boys in general, you need to take them to Bonneville Dam. It's free and so much fun. It's a beautiful place to walk around in and see tons of fish and very educational...better yet it's FREE!!!! Brian had a wonderful day and had such an amazing time.

Fun weekend...

This is the big Labor Day weekend. I've decided that each day this weekend I am going to do something fun....

Saturday - were going to Multnomah Fall and than head up to The Vista House and than maybe hit Rooster Rock before or after.

Sunday - Were going to go to Sauvie's Island and were going to go pick some berries and just trot around.

Monday - Were going to the Zoo in the morning (to beat the people) and than that afternoon maybe we'll head over to Jamison Park on the way home.

Monday is Labor Day, it's for the American people to take a day off and hopefully appreciate what they do. I am going to take that day an appreciate being a Mommy, the best job ever.....

Weekend

* Sunday I went an seen a movie with two girls who mean the world to me...Stephanie and Kira. I don't get to see them as much as I would like to. They are my best friends in the whole world and I would do anything for them, but sometimes I don't think I'm as great of a friend as I should be. It's so difficult to come home from work, play outside with Brian, start cleaning, get dinner going AND chat on the phone or hook up with them after work with the kids. It gets kind of hard. I know I need to make more of an effort. We got together on Sunday for a movie and than we went home, too short of a visit together.

* Brian and I were outside playing yesterday and I was sitting on the porch reading my book. Brian runs up to me pulls my hand and says "come here Momma, Come here Momma" I look at him and say "What Buddy" he says "Come and play Cah Cah"...yes you heard correctly!! I look at hime and say "Play Cah Cah?" and he nods his head and says "Come on Momma". I get up and walk down to the front yard, I follow his lead. He points to the first set of dog poop and says "Theres Cah Cah" and than he points to the second set of poop and says "More Cah Cah"....YUCK, GROSS, NASTY!!!! I thought I was going to lose it. I looked at him and said "Thats nasty Brian, go play with your truck" I went and got a plastic bag and picked up the "OLD HARD POOP". I knwo he is a boy but geez, play Cah Cah....who does that?

ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease)

A few years back my dads best friend died of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). This year we have started a team, and will be walking in his honor/memory. My mom will be making t-shirts for all of us to wear.

If you would like to join our team and walk for a good cause, it doesn't cost anything, just go to the link above and join us for a fun day....good exercise too.

Update

A little update on my cousins....They are both doing very well. My cousin Tina is out of the hospital and doing great, my cousin Angelina is still in the hospital and had surgey yesterday. They will have to do surgery again this coming up Monday and will have to do skin graphs. But all is well!!!

Thought for the day...

So one of my employees in my office brought me this saying today...

Handle every situation like a dog.
If you can't eat it or screw it....Piss on it and walk away!

I'll leave you to ponder!!!