Form Over Function

Months ago caught up in the second half of my pregnancy and my long list of things to buy, I set out on my search for the perfect crib. Not to frilly, but not boy-ly either. A natural neutral color that will go with any decor, and quality construction to last long enough for future little ones to rest in. Note that nowhere on this list is anything about ease of use, and that would explain my current backache. At this point I would trade my beautiful crib for the paint peeling, teeth mark covered, broken slatted one discarded in a dumpster somewhere, IF.. it had a drop down side. Let me paint you a picture of me trying to lay an almost sleeping baby down into his crib. The top of his crib hits me just above my waist. At a place in my body where I don't naturally bend. So when I get up from the rocking chair and creep over to the crib. I then have to perform a gymnastics act, mixed with the grace of ballet to lay him down without waking him all the way up. I raise up to the tip top of my toes to a place where my body will bend. Then I stretch my torso out and extend my go-go gadget arms, while keeping them strong to hold Wyatt's weight, and gently lay him down. If I want to kiss him goodnight once he is laying down I create an almost teeter totter type scene balancing my body on the edge of his crib, on leg off the ground trying to tip my body in the crib towards Wyatt all while trying not to fall in on top of him! And right now since Wyatt doesn't move in bed, the crib is on the highest setting, what the heck am I going to do when I have to move it to the lower setting? I'll be climbing in there with him I guess, and forget goodnight kisses on the forehead unless I want to end up in the crib too.. what's the weight limit on this thing again??

Baths, Birthdays, and Blast Off!

Yay! Bathtime! For the past seven months we have been taking a bath with Wyatt, and while we do enjoy it and it's a lot of fun, since it is part of his bedtime routine, Justin and I are starting to get a little wrinkly. So Wyatt had his first bath by himself! He loved it despite Maggie trying to drink his bathwater and steal his toys. The only problem is his new favorite thing is to pull himself up on EVERYTHING, so he kept trying to climb out of the tub!




Maggie is trying to steal his toys out of the tub!

Here I come!

UP!

Check out our bathtime fun and a little slip in the tub, which suprisingly doesn't bother him!

On another note, in a few short days we will be going on vacation! We leave Monday morning to fly to Minnesota for Justin's cousin's wedding. I have met a lot of Justin's family, but it will be nice to meet more and see those again who I met last summer. I have to admit that the idea of going to Minnesota has never thrilled me, but it will still be a great trip. Wyatt is such a lucky kid that in his short 7 months this is already his second vacation! And....we have two more planned this summer. It really is too bad that he won't remember these fun trips and meeting everybody for the first time. But I always make sure to take plenty of pictures so that he can see he was there and all the fun that we had.

P.S. Saturday is Dad's birthday, Happy Birthday DAD! And Monday is Uncle Larry's birthday, Happy 70th Birthday Uncle Larry!!

Big Boy Pajamas

My son wore big boy pajamas to bed tonight. You know the kind with no feet and a separate top that you can pull up to tickle and kiss their little belly? Those are the ones. No snaps up one leg and down the other, no zipper from head to toe. Just genuine big boy pajamas.




I feel like I want to put one hand on his top and one on his bottom and squish him back down to newborn size where he seemed to fit so perfectly curled between my chin and my chest. I recently held a newborn, just slightly larger then Wyatt was when he was born. She felt like a doll in my arms. A fragile glass doll that required 2 steady hands for every move. I feel Wyatt was never this small, yet he was smaller. Tonight I tucked my little bean into bed with his feet less pajamas, and went and curled up on the couch next to my husband. My mind drifted to Wyatt's first morning home from the hospital, and how I got up before Justin to enjoy the silence and stillness of the autumn morning with my new baby in my arms. I couldn't imagine him smiling, or crawling, jumping, rolling, wearing big boy pajamas...yet he is. At no other point in our lives do we grow and change at this incredible rate of speed. We would all be super genius giants if this were the case. So here he is, just jumped into the deep end of life and into a whole life filled with many adventures, and many nights of cold feet in his feet less big boy pajamas.

God loves weed too

Just in case you were wondering...

And he is watching you where ever you go

Hope these get a laugh or at least a smile out of you:)

Hippety Hoppety Easter's here today

We had a wonderful Easter day, spent with family & friends. Wyatt also seemed to enjoy Easter. His eyes really lit up when he saw his Easter basket and quickly started rocking on his little bum reaching for it. He took everything out and of course taste tested it to make sure it was ok to play with. We then went to Grandma & Grandpa's for lunch, and Grams and Papa's for dinner! It was so delicious. I think I'm going to start buying elastic waist jeans so that I can eat like that everyday :) ...Diet, moderation, what's that?Yay!

Take it out Mom!

Yum book

hmm...not sure about these teething biscuts - Maggie sure was though. She was on it like white on rice, as soon as Wyatt set it down, she scooped it up. It does resemble a dog treat though so I can't blame her.


My little bunny

Hello Hindsight

Awh hindsight, isn't it so wonderful. Never has the phrase, "hindsight is 20/20", rang so clear to me. I took a little trip up to the University earlier this week to register for classes, yep that's right, after a much enjoyed year off, it's back to school for me. Anyways though I'm sitting patiently in the advisers office while she types in my ID, pulls up my account and peruses my records. She's mumbling and giving the occasional "hmm" or "oh!" while I sit there and twiddle my thumbs. Then she turns to me and oh so nicely kicks me in the gut. She says, "You know if you had been taking classes full time these past years, you would be graduating this year." I wanted to smack her smile off her face! Thanks for rubbing it in that at 23 instead of graduating with the rest of my peers, I am only halfway through my sophomore year credit wise. I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about how nice it would be to be finishing up right now, and kicking myself for not applying myself earlier. Well at least I am going back though, even if more kids come along and I don't actually put my degree to use, it will be nice to have. I always appreciated that my Mom did not work while we were growing up She was always there for us when we came home from school, made dinner every night, and we never had to compete with work for attention. I hope that I might be lucky enough to stay home with my kids, instead of letting someone else raise them. Now that she is back on the job I am sure it is nice for her to know that the years she took off were worth every unearned penny because as I know now, children grow so fast and that is time that you never get back. Anyways - trip down memory lane aside- I'm jumping back in the saddle and taking on school once again. Wish me luck!

Up Up and Away

Wyatt has never really been a cuddler. He would rather be up looking around and playing with you. Here I caught a rare cuddle moment, with Dad none-the-less - even more rare.So sweet, melts my heart!

So besides being his sweet usual self, Wyatt is trying to get himself going. He obviously has a very strong core to hold himself up like this, but for some reason he has the stiffest legs. He will not bend at the knees unless you force him, and even then it is hard.

This is Wyatt showing off his new favorite thing to do...pull himself up. Forget crawling, walking here we come!

The Price of Children

This was shared with me and I loved it so much I thought I would pass it on. It just shows that with children we really get a good return on our investment.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock!

That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,

* $741.38 a month,

* $171.08 a week.

* A mere $24.24 a day!

* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is: don't have children if you want to be 'rich.' Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

* Glimpses of God every day.

* Giggles under the covers every night.

* More love than your heart can hold.

* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.

* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate..

* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.

* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,

* carve pumpkins,

* play hide-and-seek,

* catch lightning bugs,

* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,

* watch Saturday morning cartoons,

* go to Disney movies, and

* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck.

You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,

* taking the training wheels off a bike,

* removing a splinter,

* filling a wading pool,

* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and

* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

* First step,

* First word,

* First bra,

* First date,

* First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great-grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match..

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love and enjoy your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren!!!!!!!

It's the best investment you'll ever make!!!!!!!!!