To be thankful

Oh the joy of going grocery shopping at Wal-Mart the week of Thanksgiving! I thought that with it being Monday I would be safe from the crowds, but that sure was not the case today. When I pulled into the parking lot it was fuller than a usual Monday, just not crazy full. But upon entering the store is when I really should have just turned around and gone back home. That is, if I was a smart lady. But, I needed to get groceries so my family can actually have a real dinner instead of grilled cheese and PB&J sandwiches. My list was very organized in the order of the aisles (yeah, I know I am really prepared), the kids had just eaten lunch and it was a few hours before their naps, plus I made sure Carson had gone potty before we left home. Everything should have gone smoothly, but I should have known better than to expect that. As we are about half way done, I end up running into my hair dresser who is currently on maternity leave. It was nice to see her and we got to chat for a moment, but that is when Carson started trying to poke holes with his finger in the fresh meat section. We quickly moved on to the dairy section and I noticed that Luke had lost a shoe. Luckily a man came up to me and handed me Luke’s shoe – how he managed to find us in the crowd of shoppers I have no idea, but I am thankful for that. So we get down to the last few items I need and Carson insists very loudly that he has to go poop. Just great, “Can’t you wait until we get home?,” I ask. He yells even louder, “No Mom – I have diarrhea!” I could feel my face turning a bright shade of red as we hustled to the bathrooms which, thankfully again were close by. I park the full cart and remove Luke from the seat as we hurry into a stall; all three of us into a very small bathroom stall in which the door opened to the inside. It was a bit of a tight squeeze. A woman was just leaving the handicapped stall so I thought we had the bathroom to ourselves. Carson is doing his thing as I am trying to hold a squirming Luke. Thankfully it wasn't diarrhea, but normal number 2. When he’s done I had him stand up and lean over so I could wipe him. While his head is down by the floor he says, “Mom, I see a butt. Whose butt is that?” Now my face has turned an even brighter shade of red. To my horror the bathroom was not empty and there was a lady with black shoes on next to us quietly sitting on the toilet. I was not only embarrassed for myself, but also for this poor lady whose butt was being looked at and commented on by my 3 year old. I had to get us out of there before she came out as I would have dreaded making eye contact with her. There were a few more items on my list, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to hang around to get them. I had to get to the checkout lanes a.s.a.p! While standing in line I am constantly looking at every woman’s shoes to see if they are the same ones as the lady in the bathroom. But thankfully I did not find the match. After I get all of our items loaded onto the conveyor belt, I notice Carson is messing with the credit card unit that you swipe your card through. So when I go to swipe my card, somehow Carson managed to change it to Spanish instead of English, which I don’t know much of, if any. Somehow I got through it and I got everyone loaded back into the van to head home. Thankfully that adventure was over.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Funny Comments

Today we went to Greiger's to have the oil changed in our van. While we were in the waiting room a man walked past us and was wearing a cowboy hat. Carson looked at him and replied quite loudly, "Hey Howdy!"

The other day while we were in the front room a school bus went past the house. I replied, "There goes the middle school bus." Carson then asked, "Is Taylor is middle school?" I replied, "No, he's in elementary school and you, Carson, are in pre-school and Mommy is in no school." Then Carson paused and asked, "Mom, are you in stores?" I had to laugh at that. I guess his concept of when you're finished with school is that you go shopping. Not a bad idea!

I was getting ready to go workout at the gym and Carson comes up to me with my baseball cap and says, "Here Mom, don't forget to wear your helmet!"

Luke's first haircut

Luke is now 18 months old and I hated to do it, but we finally had him get his first haircut. Goodbye curls in the back! What really brought me to do it was the fact that on more than one occasion people thought he was a girl. Now come on - he is so a boy! I have included some before and after pictures that I know you will enjoy. We went to Locks of Fun here in town. Luke got to sit in a Power Wheels police car and watched Dora the Explorer while the lady cut his hair. He did not seem to mind or wasn't even aware that his hair was being cut. I wasn't too happy with how short they cut his bangs, but that's the great thing about hair - it will grow back. And probably really fast too! They gave us a certificate with an after picture and a lock of his hair (a curl!). So my baby now looks much too old and mature. Did you know he actually has ears! And now the big fat cheeks hang out even more. Love it!

Buttered Popcorn

I love and appreciate the immature humor that my 9 year old son possesses. At his age body parts and bodily functions and sounds are especially humorous. That being said, Taylor (and most boys his age) thinks that making jokes about butts and farts are hilarious. He had me in tears at Wal-Mart tonight - I really got a great laugh. We were going down the chip isle and came to the microwave popcorn section. I was looking over the many different options and couldn't decide which one to get. Taylor put his hand up to the box and said, "Hey Mom, read this." I looked over and he covered up the "er" on the box of popcorn so it now read, "Extra Butt." Maybe I am easily entertained, but for the next few minutes we had a blast coming up with other "Butt" flavors of popcorn. For your reading pleasure here are the ones we came up with:

• Secret Butt
• Jumbo Pop Butt
• Movie Theater Butt
• Light Butt
• 100 Calorie Butt
• Variety Pack Butt
• Butt Light
• Ultimate Butt
• Sweet 'N Butt
• Cinnamon Butt
• Organic Butt
• and my favorite - Old Fashioned Butt

What kind of food is that?

I haven't blogged in awhile and when I told Jason this story he said I had to write it down, so here I am. Today Luke and Carson were playing with their kitchen play set quite nicely together. Carson was making plates of food for Luke to eat. I walk past and Carson asks me if I want something to eat. I ask what he made and he replies, "misstake." He really meant to say steak, but it came out as Ms. Steak. Love it!

Caffeine Withdrawal

July 20, 2006 - Caffeine Withdrawal

Today I have been having withdrawal symptoms. And it is all due to not having any coffee, but I didn’t do this to myself intentionally. I love my coffee. Every morning Jason gets up and makes a pot of Dunkin Donuts coffee for us. Well, little did I know that yesterday was the last of the coffee and no one failed to inform me that we were out. Yikes! Panic and fear set in. What was I going to do? There was maybe 2 teaspoons of grounds left in the bottom of the bag. Could I manage to make a 4 cup serving just to get me through the morning? Well that attempt was just plain pathetic. If you like hot water with a slight brown tint of coffee color then it might be for you, but why did I even bother. It was a very rainy and stormy morning so I did not want to venture out into that. And so began the pounding headache. And it escalated throughout the day. I decided to finally recruit the help of my Dad next door. I popped a few Excedrin’s, drank a little water, and went to lay down in bed in an attempt to sleep it off while the kids got to play with Papa. I felt like I just tossed and turned and I could feel my heart racing from all the caffeine in the pills I took. Sleep was not happening even after an hour of laying there. The headache still remained. So I got up and relieved my Dad and decided I needed to go get my coffee. Just the thought of it started to make me feel better. Dunkin’ Donuts here I come. I ordered my favorite – a small hot caramel latte, no sugar and drank the headache away. I normally don’t like to drink too much coffee after 4pm, but today just had to be an exception. I also stocked back up on ground coffee and will make sure to never let this happen again.

Earlier this morning while Luke was taking his morning nap I decided to jump in the shower. Carson was sitting in front of the TV enjoying the one millionth showing of a movie we rented from the library, so all was good. So I thought! After my shower I hear Luke babbling in his bed and also I hear Carson giggling. At first I thought, “Oh how cute they are talking to each other and having fun.” Then I came to my senses and realized there is probably something mischievous going on and I best go and check on the boys. I walk in the room and see Luke standing up in his crib with a sweet smile on his face and also with a huge blob of baby lotion all over his head. Carson on the other hand is sitting in the rocking chair next to the crib with the evidence in his hands (a bottle of baby lotion) and a sly smile on his face. I asked Carson what was going on and his response was, “I’m getting Luke ready for summer and putting his lotion on so he can go outside.” What a little stinker! He once again proves the point that I can’t leave him alone for more than a few minutes without him getting into some kind of trouble. But, all I could do was laugh (and make sure Carson didn’t see me!) I would have taken a picture, but the lotion was starting to makes it way down Luke’s forehead and I didn’t want to risk it going into his eyes.

A few posts for July

Saturday, July 15, 2006
In the van I keep a changing pad for when I need to change Luke’s diaper on the go. On the pad are trains and the words “toot, toot!” Taylor pulled the changing pad out and laid it on his lap. He asked, “What is this?” And I tell him it is what I use when I change Luke’s poopy diapers. He gets a very disgusted look on his face and replies, “No wonder it says ‘toot, toot!’”

July 2006
Carson likes to watch the movie Toy Story and one of his favorite characters in the movie is Buzz Lightyear. He’s watched this movie a lot. The other day while the movie was playing he came up to me and asked in a very serious voice, “Mom, what’s in Buzz Light’s ears?”

I was eating a Hershey Kiss that my Mom gave me and there were a few different varieties. I put one in my mouth and replied, “Oh – caramel.” Carson spoke up and asked, “Is it a caramel latte?” I must go to Dunkin’ Donuts too much for him to know that!

Pictures from my trip to California

I just recently returned from a trip to California to visit my friend Amanda's sister (Audrey) who just had a baby. We flew into San Diego this past Thursday and returned on Sunday. It truly was a blast being with my 2 girlfriends that I've been friends with since we were kids. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

I surprised the girls with a limo the morning we were supposed to be taken to the airport by my husband, Jason.

A beautiful shot of Seal Beach.


On top of Mt. Soledad


Having lunch on the boardwalk at Venice Beach. Here we could watch all the strange walks of life parade by. Very entertaining!


Taking a break at Venice Beach.


Yes, this is me doing gymnastics at Venice Beach. I fit right in with all the other street performers except no one gave me any money just a few stares!


Us silly girls getting ready to head out for a night on the town. We hadn't even had a drink yet at this point even though the picture begs to differ!


Our fun night out at the Hermosa Beach pier. Yes, we had already had a few drinks when this picture was taken. Notice the name of the shop behind us. The name says it all!


Jenny and I at Hermosa Beach. This was the only real sunny day on the beach that we were able to experience so we laid in the sand fully clothed and attempted to take a nap. We ended up with sunburned faces and farmers tans. Oh well, it's the experience that matters!



Amanda and I up in the Hollywood hills with the Hollywood sign as our backdrop. So cool to see in person!

Running errands with a 3 year old is for the birds!

I've been told that the more one is exposed to an experience the easier and better it becomes. As for taking Carson with me when I have errands to accomplish, it's not getting easier or better. Take for instance today. We had a bit of running to do, but not necessarily a lot of items to purchase. It was mostly in and out of places which I thought wouldn't be too bad. HA! We began with a trip through the Dunkin Donuts drive thru (as usual) to get my small coffee with cream and sugar. Carson (as usual) was full of talk and questions. "Where is that car going? Who is in that car? Is that a car wash? I'm hungry. Can I have a donut? What's that dog's name? Can we play at that park? Where's my sippy cup? Is that a bank?" Literally he asked about 10 - 20 questions in a row. Talk about exhausting! He is so full of curiosity. Our next stop is to purchase salt for our softener. Luckily they too have a drive thru - so convenient! And again there is Carson in the back playing 20 million questions. So far non-eventful, but that's because Carson has been strapped in his car seat the whole time. Next stop, Walgreens. It was all good until we had to checkout. I am paying for my items, trying to keep Luke from grabbing things at the register and attempting to keep an eye on my wandering Carson. Well, sure enough I wasn't able to watch Carson close enough and he walks up to me taking a bite out of an apple. First of all since when did Walgreen's start selling produce and secondly why would Carson think it's a free for all and just pick up food and start to eat it at a store. We don't do that! So I add the partly eaten apple to the rest of the items I am purchasing and get ready to pay. I hear a lady behind me ask, "Are you buying two apples?" I look back and wonder why she would ask me that and then notice Carson has yet another apple and has begun to eat that one too! AGH! So I pay for the additional snack and make sure Carson is squeezed between my legs as I finish paying and get the heck out of the store. Unfortunately I still had 2 more stores to go to before we could go home. Next stop, Best Buy. Carson was actually pretty good in there. He had his ears plugged the entire time and kept asking me if we could leave because it was too loud. We were in and out of there in no time and at last the final stop - Target. By this time I knew Carson would have to use the potty so we stopped in the bathroom and as I am holding Luke and attempting to help Carson with his pants he starts trying to flush the toilet, pull the toilet paper out and lift the lid to the sanitary disposal bins. If he would just go pee and do one single thing it would make life so much easier for all of us. A lady walked into the stall next to us and of course here come the questions from Carson. "Who's that next to us? Does she have to go pee too? Can I look under and see?" Yeah, it was time to leave. So we wash our hands extra good and proceed to get our items. There is one thing that is not good about Target when you have a very curious child which is the service telephones that are posted throughout the store. If I stopped near one or even one that was in the distance Carson could not resist the urge to pick up the phone and begin to have a conversation with whoever was on the other end. This happened 4 different times with 4 different telephones. I am finally finished and we head to the checkout. Thankfully the checkout lady was engaging Carson in conversation which helped distract him so I could pay without another embarrassing episode. Yea, we were done and headed out the door. But Carson couldn't leave without at least one last incident. At the exit doors there was a piece of popcorn laying on the ground and Carson decided that he was going to pick it up and eat it. I stopped the shopping cart in the middle of the doors (unintentionally blocking anyone who wanted to exit the store) and tried to get him to spit it out. Well by the time he did spit it out there was a handful of people bottlenecked at the exit watching my pathetic efforts. Talk about embarrassment! These people probably thought I don't feed my boy if he has to resort to eating popcorn off the ground. I end up having to pick Carson up because at that point he wasn't into cooperating. And as I grab him and attempt to push the cart through the doors it gets jammed into the wall and there is a security panel which resembled a thermostat right at Carson's level. This child has quick hands and wouldn't you know it, he pushed a button on this panel and it made some beeping noise and I noticed it displayed a message that said "sensors restoring". I have no clue what he just did and wasn't about to find out. We booked out to the van without looking back and headed home so I could recuperate from the days errand run. The End. (This really is a true story! That's the sad part!)

More Observations from Carson

Hi everyone. Not much to post about lately and I haven't been on the computer as much as I used to since the weather has gotten warmer. We have been spending a lot of time outside these days. All of the fresh air really helps wear Carson out, but you would think it would help him sleep more sound throughout the night, but he is still waking up almost every night and coming into our room. When is this going to stop?!?!?! I also have had to continue to drive him around in the van in order for him to fall asleep and take a nap during the day. Otherwise he fights it so bad! The other night I peeked into the boys room during the middle of the night and noticed Taylor was not in his bed. He had crawled into Carson's. The next day I asked him why he slept in Carson's bed and he said that he had a bad dream and wanted to be by Carson. How sweet is that. Now if I could only get Carson to do the same thing when he wakes up. I have tried it, but he will stay in Taylor's bed for a few minutes before he comes back into our bedroom. I have heard of parents putting locks on the outside of kids rooms, but I can't bring myself to do that. It seems a little too much! Any suggestions out there?!?!?

Carson continues to repeat any and everything we say and do or that he sees or hears on TV. Just the other day Taylor was upset over something (I can't recall the exact situation) and Carson piped up, "Taylor calm down yourself. I don't want to hear you anymore." Gosh that sounded all too familiar! Do I say that a little too much for Carson to chime it back? It did make me laugh.

Carson also makes me laugh when he doesn't quite get what you said and it comes back out the way he interpreted it. For instance, the other day he told me he had to go potty. So I asked him, "Do you have to poop or pee?" Except I did not enunciate my words so it came out slurred and sounded like I asked "poor 'er pee." Carson looks at me with a confused look and asks, "Whose pooper?" Oh I love it!

Luke got a new drum toy from his Uncle Chad for his first birthday we celebrated this past weekend and Carson has been enjoying it a lot. It plays different tunes and one in particular is a John Phillip Sousa song - kinda of like one you would hear in a 4th of July parade. Well, Carson was so quick to make this observation. He brought the drum to me and said, "Hey this song is in Back to the Future. Save the clock tower!" I had to think about it for a moment, but then I got it. The scene where Marty and his girlfriend are sitting on the park bench and the lady come up to them and yells, "Save the clock tower!" And then a van goes by playing this "marching" music that's promoting Goldie Wilson for mayor. Carson is so observant - he shocks me!