handsome

I think he's entering the years where his body becomes more awkward than adorable, where people stop telling me that 'your son is so cute', where I look at him and see him closer to being a teenager than to being my baby.

Two teeth, gone.

Somehow it's changed the whole way I look at him.


Now, I need to change my definition of being handsome.

More Wordful Wednesday

a smelly giveaway

Smelly in a good way.

Wyatt has issues with sensitivity. He's overly sensitive to being (even just the tiniest bit) wet, to bumpy socks, to too long pants, to anything that smells stinky; which is why he loves his (not at all stinky) Scentsy Buddy.

There are 6 Scentsy Buddies to choose from; Roarbert the Lion, Penny the Pig, Ribbert the Frog, Lenny the Lamb (Wyatt's), Mollie the Monkey and Ollie the Elephant. Scentsy Buddies come with a zippered compartment that you put a Scent Pak into. There are 15 scents to choose from, from French lavender (perfect for sleeping) to vanilla cream, the one that we received, and a lot in between. It's weighed on the feet and bottom so it doesn't flop around, it sits well. It's not too small, but easy to carry around. It's quickly becoming Wyatt's newest BFF.

Seriously, he has slept with it every night since we got him.

Bonus for me, when I open the door to turn off his light before I go to bed and I get to smell donuts.

Yum.

We both win.

And you can win too! Leave a comment and you are entered for a chance to win your own Scentsy Buddy of your choice. If you follow me, leave a comment for another entry. Twitter about this giveaway, leave another comment for an additional entry.

Obviously, I was gifted a Scentsy Buddy. I shared with Wyatt because I'm nice like that. All opinions are my own, or his, however you want to look at it.

baby toes

She rubs her feet together when she's excited. I can hear the sound of her shoes, the leather on leather, right now. We call it her 'foot fire', like we had with the boys before her.

But unlike any of them, she likes to eat her toes. She will curl her plump legs, stretch out her little fingers and catch her foot in a palm. It seems to surprise her, but then she sticks her toes to her mouth and it's comfortable, like it's been there 2,374 time before.

Because it has.

More Wordful Wednesday

the book of me

My boys discovered some of these books that I wrote when I was in the third grade, which I loved the third grade. I had a group of friends that we'd huddle around in a circle sitting outside on the cement of the playground making fliers for our very own Babysitter's Club (which we never actually started, and by the way, as a mother I would never hire a third grader to babysit, even if the flier was stellar). I thought we were pretty awesome though. We'd walk around chatting with the teacher on recess duty, Mrs. Roffman, about our super awesome babysitter's club.

OK, looking back, we *might* not have been the coolest group of girls in the third grade.

Anyways, back to the books. These books have become some of my kids' favorite bedtime stories. My husband is the one who reads at night, so I'm not sure if they think these books are the bomb or they are making fun of me, I prefer to pretend believe they love me with all their hearts and would never make fun of me because, well... I was literary genius (yes, this is dripping with sarcasm just in case you are new here) especially with books like this one.

Let's take a little look at a few pages from one of my first 'publication'...

(And why were golden birthdays such a big deal when we were kids, did we expect gold plated gifts... I just don't get it?)

I especially love how I drew pictures of earrings and their backs (yes, that's what those silver things are suppose to be).

Don't go hatin' on me because of my awesome canopy bed; it was fluffy and white and prinessy and I loved it.

Obviously, I really enjoyed sharing a room with my sister (and dumb is spelled 'dum', ironic).

More sibling love...

The End.

Yep, I write about my sister being a brat (and a hog and a pig, umm hello... my parents really should have talked to me about image issues), about my older sister yelling at me and my brother who kicks me out of his room and then The End.

Talk about ending on a happy note.

At least I drew hearts and a flower.

And I can tell you how happy I am that my kids are getting such a positive message from their bedtime stories?

Go me.

please tell me how

The thought of giving birth to five children seems almost out-of-body, worthy of an Oscar for best birthing capabilities. I envision me in a wheelchair getting pushed down the hallway with nurses and doctors applauding me between contractions as I roll into 'my' labor and deliver room, my name stamped on a gold plate screwed into the front door.

Giving birth to five children seems insane. Like really insane.

But here I am wondering how people can sit and tell me how they just 'knew'. That their family was complete.

How do they just know?
(please tell me how)

I'm feeling like I'm on the other end of the spectrum, as I jumped for joy with every new milestone Henry hit, I'm crying inside over those of Edy's.

Her firsts are my lasts.

Yes, it's selfish of me.

I should be equally as excited to see her roll around, babble 'ma-ma-ma-ma' over and over, have her take her first bites of real food, but I'm not.

Of course, I'm happy, but (and I can't explain it any better) I'm sad. Every change makes me yearn for that newborn... that two month old... that little girl of just last week.

So I come back to the question, how did you know when your family was complete?

Or if you aren't there, how *will* you know when your family is complete?

Edith and her first tooth

from his teacher, please use the FART sign

Originally, the plan was for Henry to learn Chinese so that he could save us come the time when China will ultimately take over the world. My husband and I have visions of Henry speaking Chinese softly in the corner to one of his superiors saying something along the lines of "they are good people; one can scrub your floors, the other can wipe butts".

I'm teasing (sort of).

Actually, one reason we picked immersion for Henry because it so physical. They learn what Chinese words are by hand gestures, by pointing things out, by moving pictures on the smart board.

So, we get an email from Henry's teacher...

4. Please ask your child about the Fart Sign in our classroom. A lot of things happen in school but we learn how to deal with it together. Please have some FART manner, Dads. Some of you are setting very bad examples for your child. :P ( I have the name list. Please use the FART sign.)

That's right, they have a hand gesture for farting. It turns out, if a student needs to fart, he raises his hand showing the symbol and then they are given permission to go out of the class, into the hallway and fart.

Henry has demonstrated the fart sign for you here:


I have a sneaking suspicion that this symbol might mean 'something' more significant years from now, maybe some other kind of gas... run out of the room if you have knowledge of the fart sign kind of a thing.

I'm teasing (sort of).

WW - the shirt told me to do it

And of course, I know that it's Thursday. You can't expect me to be punctual all the time.

Edy eats

We were sitting around a table in a middle school cafeteria talking about our favorite foods while we waited for a volleyball tournament to finish. (No surprise that I was sitting there and not playing anymore, I sucked at volleyball. I thought the knee pads were smelly and nothing was worse then the sound of your skin rubbing across the linoleum floor of the gym.)

It came to my turn at the table. I said with ease "I love tuna fish sandwiches with apples in them."

At that age, I thought *everyone* loved tuna fish with apples... I didn't think what I was declaring was anything out of the ordinary, but staring back at me around the table were the looks, the mouths' open with disgust, the multiple 'eeewws'. From that point on, I've learned to say something a little more standard like lasagna or pizza (though I do love a sauerkraut pizza more than most).

But now, I'm sort of known for eating anything. Even my husband peers into a Tupperware and says 'you would eat that?' with a look of curiosity and slight disgust on his face. I shrug my shoulders and say something like "probably... if it doesn't smell".

So, the gene for eating anything has been passed on to Edy. Nothing is safe in a 2 foot radius. Her hands are like that of a ninja (just as we told the boys she would have).

Lick the carseat, sure.

Take a bite out of your handbag, Mommy? Yum.

Are you finished with this? 'Plate' was exactly what I wanted.


At least she looks slightly guilty.

mark your calendar

“One of the statistics that was really telling is that fewer than half of the kids who qualify for free or reduced price breakfasts are actually taking advantage of that,” said Kellogg Senior Brand Manager Trinh Le – "one reason Kellogg is working with Action for Healthy Kids to help fund programs that would remove the stigma of accepting free breakfast."

That's the thing that stuck with me the most from TheMotherhood virtual breakfast with Kellogg and "Share Your Breakfast".

We need to help get over this stigma. That it's somehow better to go hungry.

Tomorrow's the day. National Breakfast Day, where you could do something good in just a few minutes,

share your breakfast.

www.shareyourbreakfast.com

(a picture that I shared)

Other ways you can help...

find out which schools in your area participate in breakfast programs by visiting the Food and Research Action Centers website: http://www.frac.org or the Action for Healthy Kids website: http://www.actionforhealthykids.org.

Comments closed, go type in your breakfast instead, because it's just as easy.

Seriously, go do it.

*

Once again, I have been engaged by TheMotherhood and Kellogg. Thank you.

lucky rabbit's foot

My tax appointment is on Saturday,

I really hate being self employed this week.

I don't use the word 'hate' very often, only like once a year.

Wyatt slipped in his own vomit running to the bath.

I'm the one who told him about trying to make it to the bathroom.

Henry threw up on the bus ride home from school.

It was exactly 2 days later.

Like clockwork.

Edy had her 6 month shots, a horrible cold and getting her first teeth,

simultaneously.

My laundry pile hasn't been put away in nearly a month.

(that's embarrassing to type)

Lucky, of course though, just look at those little foot in pajamas.

good things come in pairs

My sister had fish. I don't remember much about them, just that she had a tank of fish and that one Sunday we came home from a weekend away and they were gone. Funny enough, I don't remember what scenario from my older brother's party led to the demise of the fish, either A) they drowned in a tank that's ratio was more alcohol than water or B) they were flushed down the toilet or C) they were eaten... I'm just saying, this was a possibility.

Along with a few other pets; we had a dog or two that lacked the 'I'm a dog, I'm not a car' brain cells.

Moving on.

So, I'm not thrilled about the idea of getting a pet in the near future. Of course, if my children beg, bother and bribe me for the next couple of years or so, I will not deny them the chance to have a pet of their own... I suppose.

Last week, Wyatt came home from preschool all excited about making his own Humpty Dumpties. I offered drawing on plastic eggs. I offered blowing out the yolks of eggs. The only idea the seemed to satisfy him was hard boiling eggs.

So I did.

And we drew cute little faces on them.


Wyatt put them in little cups. He put Kleenex in the bottom of the cups for little beds. He tucked them in at night inside the refrigerator because 'Mom, that's where eggs sleep'. He was the perfect little caretaker.

Then one got a crack in it.


Wyatt, the perfectionist, was surprisingly OK with this, because to him it 'helped his Humpty Dumpty sit up better'.

But then I started to get worried about shells getting everywhere, little pieces of white eggshells between the wood floors, in the carpet.

So I ate him.

And now I feel a little guilty, like I just ate his pet fish.

Lucky for me though, he wasn't really upset at all, because he 'still has another'.

*

I see a future filled with pairs: two turtles, two hamsters, two lizards... you get the picture.

Really lucky for me, since I was already super excited about having pets.