Did I tell you...

That I am having a NEICE! I am so thrilled! My sister just found out yesterday that she is having a little girl. I can't wait to meet her and of course dress her up, and talk girl talk! I just know that Jack is going to be so sweet towards and protective of his little sis, and that Lisa and Mike are going to adore having their own little princess. I am so excited that I will get to play Barbies and Easy Bake Oven again, and that my Mom, Sis and I will have a new addition to our "Girls Night Out". I can't wait to meet you Princess P and spoil you sweet!

I am already picturing you in some great clothes like this dress from Baby Gap:

With this adorable matching sweater:

And if your mother would let me, which she won't, an over the top bow like this one:

Welcome to the family baby girl...we have been waiting a long time for you to come! I should warn you though that with an older brother and two boy cousins there is a good chance that you'll spend a bit more time playing with Superheros and Transformers than tea sets and dolls, but don't worry I am sure one day you'll have a little girl cousin or sister to play with!

Lot #3

Lot #3 is where our new house will be starting sometime in Spring of 2010. Surprised? Yeah me too.

Wayne and I have discussed building/moving more times than I can count, but yesterday we signed a deal to build our future...or our future house anyways. It is a huge step, a scary one, but we'll be OK. How do I know?

Well... at the end of the aisle nearly five years ago, I took a huge step, a scary one, from the realm of "me" into the realm of "we"and not a day goes by that I don't feel blessed for that step. Nearly two years ago, I took a step a huge step, a scary step into a birthing room, and walked out with the most beautiful 7lb 5oz baby boy, and not a day goes by that I don't cherish the step that brought him into our lives. And just a little over two months ago I took a huge step, a scary step into a hospital the mother of one son, and walked out a mother of two, holding another precious little soul in my arms, and not a day goes by that I don't relish the step that brought me my brown-eyed boy and one step closer to completion.

So this step, this huge, scary step is no biggy because I already know that come what may while building our dream house, my HOME has already been built, one scary, huge and marvelous step at a time.

They are my HOME, and this is the land we chose to build our house on:
P.S. Please excuse my Popeye face...it was a very sunny day, and I forgot my sunglasses!

Potty Training Elmo...

DO NOT BE ALARMED BY THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS- I PROMISE I LYSOL THIS POTTY DAILY AND BEFORE EACH ELMO/ZACH POTTY-TRAINING SESSION

To my loyal readers it will come as no surprise that Zach's BFF is Elmo, nor is it a secret that we have been working on potty training Zach for awhile now. Zach has his own agenda however when it comes to potty-training. Here he is potty training "Baby Elmo" as he calls him: (Baby Elmo is his original Elmo doll, his Elmo Live)

You can see Baby Elmo is very comfortable on the pot, he looks more like he is lounging that learning

Zach also is working on training "Elmo Two" as Zach calls him, which is his plush version of Elmo that Grandma Alice got him for Christmas. Unlike Baby Elmo, Elmo Two looks more terrified than relaxed, perhaps he's realized he's fallen in:

Zach has a 3rd Elmo doll, "Little Elmo" as Zach calls him. I had to stop Zach from putting "Little Elmo" in the potty, because I was afraid when Zach sat on the potty later he would think of Little Elmo in the bowl and be concerned. Little Elmo is pictured below with his fellow Elmo's in none other than the Elmo tent, apparently even Elmo's hang out in groups:

When he's not busy potty-training the Elmo's Zach takes them on walks(It makes me laugh that his method is to grab them by the eyeballs instead of the hand, but hey it works!):

They all play together in the tent too, probably exchanging potty-training tales:

Zach really enjoys his Elmo's which is why this year he is having a Sesame Street themed B-day!(We will be leaving the potty at home though, sorry Elmo!)

Speaking of days to celebrate, Happy 2 months Matthew! I can't believe how big you are getting and how much joy you've brought to our lives. You better avoid wearing anything red for awhile though, because I have a feeling your brother would not be above putting you on the potty as well....anything to avoid it himself (Hey isn't that a common sibling thing, deflection, it always worked with my brother and sister!)

Peace...

There is something to be cherished in the colloquialism; "Sleeping like a baby!" I guess it's the trade off...Mom doesn't feel like she ever sleeps, but the baby looks beautiful doing so. Maybe that's why I am taking pictures of Matt instead of laying down while the boys are napping. Maybe its because watching them as they sleep gives me a better glimpse into heaven than any of my own dreams ever could! Or maybe it's the fact that my dreams are in front of me when I'm awake...whatever it is, it sure is peaceful here at naptime!

Mr. Cool

Yesterday Matt wore an outfit which read "Mr. Cool":

He posed with his "tough guy" face for the photo, you know the one all men/boys seem to use when they are getting their license photo. (If you don't believe me, check out some licenses, you'll find the majority of men are not smiling in these pics) And although my husband just looked at the photo and said, "Ugh, that is not a good picture" I swear to you his mother has a Marine photo taken of Wayne hanging on her wall with a very similar expression. Alice, don't you think so?I guess its not "cool" to smile for some camera shots when your a guy.

Matt is Mr. Cool in so many ways. He is a pretty content baby, he usually only cries when he is tired or hungry, and he seems pretty tolerant of all of us. For example when Lennie sneaks in a lick he doesn't start panicking, he merely looks at him, when Zach comes over and plays with his swing he doesn't start crying, he just stares at him, like "Dude, what are you doing?" Even the other day when his brother accidentally fell onto his lap (I panicked) Matt just took it in stride. I guess it helps that he is already 1/2 of Zach's weight even if he is so much shorter! The coolest part of Matt is that he is such a smiley baby. When you get him out of his "Mr. Cool" outfit, he really lets himself have fun. Take for example the other night when we was hanging out on the couch, he just thought everything was so funny:

That was until his older brother pointed out that it "isn't cool" to smile so readily for Mom's shots, so they practiced the art of acting aloft and ignoring me:There pretty good at that look....Unfortunately for them, I was able to find this flaw in their tough guy exteriors.See they really do want to smile... my Mr. Cool and Taz!

Sometimes you just need to let it go...

I am not a clean freak by nature (Much to my husband's disappointment I'm sure!) In truth I used to have piles of clothes lying around my room(used to...can some days be replaced with still do) and I could seriously be happy never having to clean again.(Fortunately I married an ex- Marine, so he does a lot of the cleaning around the house :) )I do have my pet peeves though and one of them is clutter(Anyone who has ever seen the TLC show Hoarders will relate), the other is I can't stand dirty dishes in a sink, the third is a battle these days because I like the toys to be organized. I know that sounds crazy with two kids, but I seriously have a place for every toy. (A little OCD you think?) I used to go down into the basement and put all of the toy kitchen food back together and into it's place, but these days I just manage to throw it back into the baskets and call it a day. That was step one of me letting go. Today I reached another milestone. After playing with his Play Doh for months one color at a time, because God forbid he mix up the colors, I let Zach have whatever color(S) he wanted. And of course this is what I found but a few minutes later:I knew when I was handing him the white, it would never be white again, just as I knew he was bound to mix them all up, and I thought to myself..."Let it go...it's Play Doh!" So I did. I remembered as I watched him, how I would play with Play Doh, my Mom letting me mix up the colors
The concentration on my creation:The molding and shaping of something completely my own:The awe of the possibilities:And of course the surprise at my genius:All of these emotions flooded through my son's face yesterday and I realized there was something a hell of a lot more important being shaped by me than Play Doh these days. It was confirmed when I asked Zach what he was making and he responded, "Strawberries...I'm making strawberries." I don't know about you, but I think he must have one heck of an imagination, because here is what he actually made:A ball you say...no it's definitely "strawberries" around here!

Where's Zachary?

Peekaboo!

On any given day at my house you might catch a glimpse of a hazel eye and a dimple peering out at you from a "hidden" location.

If you look inside you'll find all sorts of activity going on. Like Zach playing the drums:

Or relaxing as he prepares for his next piano(keyboard) concert:Some days he even conducts experiments...in this picture he is working on the properties of static electricityThis special place allows him to express his inner thoughts. Take this image where he is clearly looking at me like I am a nuisance for trying to interrupt his sanctuary just to take yet another photo of him:This little spot that is all Zach's(unless an adult mistakenly climbs inside and tears it...sorry to blow you in Wayne) in none other than his Elmo tent...or as Zach says his teeant, for some reason he says tent with a Southern drawl, it's cute but strange since were Northerners. And although Sesame Street markets this tent as "Elmo's world" when my 2 year old climbs inside...it's Zachary's world! Does anyone want to tell Lennie?

Because this was what I saw today:

Maybe I'll need another tent sooner than I thought!

A Footsie Fetish?

When I was dressing Matt tonight I realized that he has a lot of sleepers that have adorable animals on the feet. At first it didn't phase me, but then I got to thinking, how many of these sleepers does one little boy need/want?

I mean we have sleepers with:
Monkeys on them,


Dogs galore (we have about four different outfits with dog feet),


We have frogs,


We even have giraffes,


And no collection would be complete without some teddy bears:


I am sure that when Matt grows up and I show him his baby pictures he might mock the fact that he once wore such "cute" clothes. I am also sure his brother will be happy to point out the fact that that wasn't "cool" which will of course prompt me to pull out his baby pictures and show him all of the cute footed outfits he's donned. Come to think of it Zach is upstairs right now in some footed pajamas that have moose on the feet, maybe I should sneak a picture for good measure!


So as you can see I may secretly be struggling with a footsie obsession since I adore them all. At the moment however I do have a favorite pair. Which is your favorite?

For the moment mine have to be the teddy bears, but that's only because currently the feet in them belong to this little guy:


I'm sure tomorrow when he sporting the monkey feet, I'll love them best! I mean seriously with a smile like that who could blame me?

A new banner!

I am so proud of myself...I just created my 1st banner using Picasa. (So what it took almost two precious hours? It was worth it!)I have to thank the tutorial I found on a blog called Clover Lane for walking me through the process. What do you all think of the new look?

A Snow Story...

What could make this adorable little boy so happy that he'd smile like this?

And this?

And this?

It could only be this...

And this...

And this...

And let's not forget this adventure is extra special because of this...

And this...

And this...

And the story doesn't end there because after sledding there was this...

And this...

And this...

Resulting in this...

And then of course this too...

So how does this snow story end?

Great question.

Well, with a whole lot of this...

Apparently when you are having fun your mother shouldn't worry that your face might freeze. The lesson to be learned? Hot chocolate isn't just a way to warm a child up, it's a way to bribe them to come back in! To bad Zach isn't ready for hot chocolate just yet...maybe next time some M&M's will do the trick!