Dare I Say

… that we are a diaper free household?!?!!? 


When we jaunted off to Target to replenish the baby’s night time diaper supply, he pitched a royal fit right there in the aisle – professing himself a big boy and dismissing the need for any more diapers.  Sooooo… I put the twenty dollar box right back on the shelf and steeled myself for weeks worth of wet sheets and middle of the night accidents.  (Okay, really for a couple of days worth because after a night of changing sheets I would have slapped a diaper back on him so fast he wouldn't have known what hit him.)  You see, while potty trained during the day for over a year now, he was still waking up with a soaked diaper every single morning. 

Well, I happily admit that I underestimated the sweet child.  When he sets his mind to something he does it!  It’s really quite remarkable and something I’ve noticed about him from as early on as the days of rolling over and smiling.  He’s had just one accident in the last two weeks!!

Sweet friends Emmy and Lyla delivered some of their momma’s divine salted caramel chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the occasion!



And while I can hardly bear the thought of my baby growing up, diapers are one hallmark of baby-hood that I most definitely will NOT miss!!

Congrats big boy – we’re so very proud of you!!
xoxo

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A Few Gems from the Doctor

I feel like a trip to the doctor with two children is some sort of nefarious parenting test – one where doctors and nurses secretly conspire to see how the unsuspecting and likely harried mom handles her offspring while locked in a germ laden three-by-three cube with nothing but a spinning stool with wheels and a bench from which a fall would be catastrophic.  They probably sit back and watch our every move on surveillance cameras and write notations in cryptic shorthand on their strange little tablet devices as we try to tame our beasts in our nicest possible mean voice.  I really should ask my childhood pediatrician friend KRB about all this…

As for yesterday, the littles’ seemingly innocuous annual trip to the doctor ended with me not knowing whether to laugh or cry.  They were clearly out to rattle and shame me.  Here are a few gems from our visit:

When the nurse tells the boys to strip down to their undies John yells “OH  NOOOOO!” I’m thinking he is just embarrassed for her to see.  But no, he continues “I think I’ve had these same undies on like all week.  Definitely all week and they haven’t even been washed.”  I assure you this is not the case.  I mean, y’all know me.  Well, not really know me, but surely you know me well enough to know that I bathe my children and wash their clothes.  We put on clean undies and clean clothes every.single.day.  I mean, unless it’s PJ day.  But six out of seven days the child has on clean underwear.  Cross my heart.

And it just got better from there.  Like when John claimed he didn’t know his age or grade in school (I duly professed his brilliance as only a mother can) and when the baby danced Gangem style when asked to hop on one leg (I feigned ignorance.) 

Oh… I also loved when Dr H asked the baby about his favorite activity in school – W: centers; DR: which one?; W: legos; DR: what do you build?; W: GUNS!!! (and he proceeds to pretend shoot the doctor)

Much to my surprise and relief, Dr H proclaimed them “normal and healthy based on everything seen today.” (Which leads me to believe he must see some truly bewildering creatures in his day.)

To top it all off, the baby was due for vaccinations.   Is it just me, or do you hate having to hold your child down and look into their eyes as a nurse just out of their line of sight sticks them in the leg with an insane number of shots?!?!  It has always broken my heart and I dread it every year.  This year, the baby screamed out in sheer terror “I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!” and he jerked his head up looking startled to find ME there holding him down.  He asked me countless times after why I hurt him so bad.  Bless his heart. 

Just like that I forgave them for acting like complete dolts and promised the baby anything he wanted for supper.  He chose hot dogs and s’mores roasted on the porch and, once again, all was well with the W family :-).







Next year I’m totally going to rehearse before we go and pay for good honest answers…thank the lord this is a once yearly event.  :-)
xoxo

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Chess Champ

After much begging and pleading (he gets that from his momma), we let the PCP enroll in an after school activity for first semester.  And he picked chess, of all things.  I cannot lie and say that I wasn’t quietly thrilled with this scholarly choice.  Much to Honey's horror, I cannot claim to know the first thing about the game myself (other than it makes a nice decorative addition to the basement.)  He won third place in the 1st & 2nd grade tournament (which I believe involves three different types of chess) and is over the moon with his trophy.



Per usual, I had to blink back the tears when he went up to receive his award.  It’s hard work keeping those mommy emotions in check, but I am determined not to purposefully embarrass the child :-)

xoxo

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“Yes!” Day

We wrapped up a long and luxurious (in the pj wearing, game playing, tv watching kinda way) Christmas break this week with “YES!” day.  You know… the kind of day where I say “Yes!” to all of their requests. 

Can we have biscuits and jelly for breakfast?  Can we have two oreos EACH for breakfast dessert? Yes! and Yes! (what on earth is breakfast dessert???!!!!)

Can we play Sorry and drink hot tea?  Yes!  (I’ll be the first to admit that they are unique.  I call them “rare breeds.”)


Can we leave the TV on all day long and never turn it off?  Yes!  (currently the baby is enthralled with the SJP Seasme Street episode)
  
Can we have mickey mouse chicken nuggets, bell peppers and TWO MORE oreos for lunch and lunch dessert?  Yes! YES! and Yes!


Can we play dominos until you want to pull your (dirty, unwashed and uncombed sick) hair out?  Yes!
 
Can we sword fight?  Yes! (as long as it’s outside and as long as you don’t make a scene seeing as I have on PJs, have not showered in I lost count of how many days and have vapor rub all over my chest and feet)


Can we play more games when daddy gets home?  Yes!
 
(After bubble baths (Yes!) and new clean PJs) Can we get all the legos out and have the biggest battle ever?  Yes!


And… can we take all the pillows of the beds and make a fort?  Yes!


How this is different than any other day I am not exactly sure.  That being said, I sure am going to miss these days…


I suppose I’d best get to it.
xoxo

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Musings

I’m still under the weather – but thankful that nobody else around here seems to be fazed by any sort of cold bug.  I caught Country Strong last night on some cable network and it was so darn good I couldn’t stand it.  I was completely shocked by both Gwyneth’s and Leighton’s songs.  And I spent the whole two and a half hours swooning over Garrett Hedlund (whose name I’d never heard before last night.)  There’s just something incredibly attractive about a country boy that can croon.

While on the topic of the good old tele, who else is just over the moon with excitement for the Downton Abbey Season 3 premiere tomorrow night??  I will be positively despondent if Mary and Matthew don’t tie the knot and I simply cannot wait to see how things unfold for the Bates’.  (How is it that I feel like I know these people?)

While Honey and the baby did some work around the house, the PCP beat me fair and square in a marathon two hour plus game of Monopoly this morning.  No offense to Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, but I’m thrilled to finally have some real games to play.  (That being said, Memory and Whack-a-Mole are still two of my all time favorites.)

Speaking of the PCP, last night he dazzled me with this little gem of what’s to come:  “I can’t wait to be an uncle when aunchie’s baby hatches.  I’m going to teach her how to wrestle and do ninja karate.”  Love that he a) thinks he’s going to be an uncle and 2) calls the birthing “hatching”.  Just a few more weeks…

 

Have y’all seen this floating around on Facebook?  I seriously… SERIOUSLY… thought the year 2013 was eons away back when Daddy-O took us to see this movie at the good old Victory Drive cinemas.  Eons away AND that I’d probably be in a nursing home by then.  Hard to believe that day in the future was yesterday.

I pinned this chair this week and can’t get it out of my mind.  Y’all know this girl loooooves some pink!  These eyes are peeled for a junk store version I can remake.  Gorgey!

Lastly, I want to ask y’all to send prayers to bestie Ron of Uptown Acorn.  Complications from the flu he’s been battling have left him in ICU for the past two days.  He’s one of the best friends a girl could ask for and I can’t wait for him to be back to his old self – I miss coffee tawk and our daily texts, emails and debriefs on matters of utmost importance (ie. cocktails, decor and crafts gone wrong.)  Much love, Ron!!! xoxo

The sweetest four year old face I’ve ever seen just popped back in my room after I thought he was long gone for the night.  I suppose I’ll have to lie down with him.  Such a shame :-)

xoxo

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HO HO HO {Free Printable} + The Baby’s Party

I sent the PCP to school with a treat for his teacher and a handwritten note recognizing that coming to school and caring for her room full of first graders this week was probably just as hard as it was for us to send him off to school each day. The gift bag was simple, but contained some of her favorite things – a Coca-Cola and a bag of Oreo’s!


The red bag is from WalMart and I printed the label on full page label paper.  These could be cut down if you need something smaller.  To download the FREE printable HO HO HO tag (with and without the Coke and Oreo message), just click here!

Changing gears, the baby’s class held their sweet little holiday party yesterday and dazzled us with all sorts of Christmas songs. As usual, Whit actually sang nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

He did smile sweetly pretty much throughout the show…

…went ahead and laid down when all that smiling evidently exhausted him…

…and finally joined in with the class as they wrapped up the show with Rockin Around the Christmas Tree!  (He almost successfully completely hides himself behind the little one in the red vest the entire time.)

He was terribly proud of his performance afterwards :-)

How his teachers finagle shows like this with a crew full of three and four year olds is “one secret I’ll never know”! (To steal a phrase from the infamous and sorely missed Gossip Girl.)
xoxo

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Seeing Santa

Earlier this week the littles donned their holiday finery and we trotted off to Phipps for a visit with the South’s most renowned Santa.  It’s amazing how far we’ve come in the last seven years… you know, from lists hastily scrawled by mommy and cheeks wet with tears to lists topped with “my two front teeth” and giddy smiles abounding.






Our time with the jolly elf himself went off splendidly.  The littles chattered non stop as he carefully perused their wish lists.  Oh, to have heard the intimate details of that conversation!
        
He really is a gorgeous Santa and we always look forward to this tradition when Christmas rolls around.

Seeing as our photo session went off so swimmingly and the littles were occupied with their candy canes, Mother and I couldn’t help put peek in the windows at Tiffany.  That first little vignette… *swoon* … and the Tiffany wreath *love* …
   
At this point our excursion was so perfect and the littles were being such dolls that we popped into the Lilly store.  We settled the littles into chairs and I was nearly walking on air with my good fortune when things went completely haywire.  I am approximately two feet away from the baby when he says “I’ve gotta go potty” and just starts going.  Right there in the gorgeous tufted chair in the middle of the Lilly store.  A little part of me died at that moment.  I really can’t recall being that mortified maybe… um, EVER!  The Lilly ladies were sooo gracious and immediately started relaying stories of their own children’s accidents but Mother and I insisted on cleaning it up ourselves.  What really gets my goat is that I take the baby into all sorts of lovely places (think the WalMart or Citgo or even the playground) on a regular basis and he’s NEVER EVER EVER had an accident in public like that.  I seriously may never show my face in the Lilly store again…  (Much to Honey’s pleasure, I’m sure.)

*still blushing*
xoxo

See last year's visit here...

And see all the rest of our Santa pics here!

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The Baby’s Portrait + Ramsign Winner

Do y’all remember back in September when I dolled up the baby for his three year formal portrait?  Well, Mother and I picked it up last week and I am just speechless.  It perfectly captures his precious personality and fleeting innocence, and I can’t help but smile every time I walk past it in the dining room.  We’ve been anxiously saving his spot for three years!







John’s portrait was done at the very same age, in front of the very same fence, in a very similar outfit (I wanted them to each have one to pass down) three short (but so long in many ways) years ago.  I will treasure these.  Always.

And while I have the baby on my mind, I have to share an exchange from earlier in the week...  While he was cutting paper at the kitchen table (a "job" he takes very seriously and performs so many times a day that it's a wonder I have anything left to write on), I reminded him that we need to clean up the play room before bed.

To which he replied in his practiced and most authoritative voice "Mommy I very busy and I not a octopus."  And I'm outsmarted by the baby.  Again!

Lastly, I want to thank everyone that entered my Ramsign giveaway!  I loved reading what numbers you'd choose and what styles were your favorites.  So, without further ado, the lucky winner (by way of random number generation) is... drumroll please...

Christine of Sweet Girl Design!!  It just so happens that I adore her choice (not that it's binding or anything) "Love the Metropolitan - that blue is gorgeous! I would get "4" for my 4 boys - it would be terrible to leave such a pretty sign behind if I ever moved!! :)"  

CoNgRaTs!!!  Look for an email from me lickety split!
xoxo

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Seven Years Young

It sounds cliché, but it seems like yesterday that I was at Emory Hospital birthing eight pounds of joy two weeks before his scheduled arrival.  I marvel each and every day at how on earth I could be so lucky as to call this child my own.  It is such a tremendous gift to love him, protect him, dote on him and to show him the ways of the world.  He’s precious, he’s as smart as a whip, he’s strong willed, he’s abundantly self confident, he’s a loyal friend, he’s energetic (bordering on wild), he’s dramatic, he’s a leader (or ringleader as I like to call it these days), and I love him with all my heart.  I have enjoyed these last seven years more than any in my life, and I pray that I am blessed with at least seventy more with him :-) 

The birthday boy awoke to a bunch of balloons tied to the end of his bed.  I love for their first waking moments on their special days to be special!

We started our day at the crack of dawn with our requisite birthday pancakes (Honey makes their name and age on their birthdays) and hot chocolate from the hot chocolate station.  Per usual, I read from his Happy Birthday book and we had a grand old time before the sun was even up.

 




Now, this is the first year that the PCP’s big day has fallen on a school day and he was BEYOND ecstatic!  The baby and I were also pretty thrilled to cart these birthday cake popcorn cups off to school.  The recipe is coming very soon!

We had so much fun watching the class sing to John in their special tradition - Mrs. B does the conductor arms and, at the birthday boy’s request, they added in “cha-cha-chas” and an “eat more chicken”.  Afterwards, they enjoyed the popcorn on the playground at recess.



At the birthday boy’s request we enjoyed a special dinner at the Japanese restaurant.  He was mighty proud of himself for catching the flying egg before anyone else at the table!

And we ended the day by adding a SEVEN YEAR OLD mark on the growth chart.  I love this nook in our upstairs hallway and all the ages and stages it represents.

I think the PCP would agree that it was one pretty fabulous day.  Happy birthday, baby!
xoxo

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