See those teeth? Look at how crowded they are already. I see braces in our future for this little guy. By the way...this is the face he makes when you ask for a kiss. He does this along with a humming noise. I hope he keeps doing it for a while longer...I could ask him for kisses all day long simply to see this face.
This week marked the beginning of Colton's potty training, and the end of diapers during the day.
When he woke Monday morning with a dry diaper, I put him on the potty to pee, like I have done before. Afterward, I decided this time to put him in underwear and just remind him (constantly) to NOT go in his pants. We escaped the day without any accidents. But we did go through three pair of underwear. Good old Skid left his marks in two of them.
Tuesday there were two accidents, and since then we've been accident free. I just knew that when he was ready, he would really be ready. He even wakes from naps with a dry diaper (I put one on him for sleep).
I'm sure my brother, who will be watching them for 6 days in the near future, will thank me profusely for not having to change the poopy diapers of a 3 year old. Because, seriously...it's nasty. It is NOT baby poop anymore. Let's face it...it stopped being baby poop when he started consuming something other than breast milk, and just got worse from there.
So. My little man is out of diapers during the day, and I am now making thirty trips to the toilet with one of the children each day. I have promoted myself from professional butt-wiper to master butt-wiper. Sorta like a master chef.
Recently I traveled to Maine to assist another photographer with a wedding there. Well, I traveled to Providence, stayed in Massachusetts and shot the wedding in Maine to be precise. I posted some of the photos I took both here and on my Facebook fan page.
I had a small layover both ways in Chicago. While waiting there on the way out, I received a text message from my husband that he and my son threw away his last pacifier. I did what any self respecting mother would do. I cried. There in the airport, for all around me to see. Tears streamed down my cheeks at the thought of my baby...simply not being a baby anymore.
Now, I admit...I allowed him to have the pacifier far longer than I should have (he'll be three at the end of August). But what can I say? When it comes to this little man, I'm as soft as butter left out on a warm day.
I just love him.
My four year old spent the day today as "Willy." As in Willy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As in Johnny Depp, Willy. No, she didn't dress up. There was nothing going on for which she had to play a role. She simply decided that today...she was Willy. And Willy constantly referred to herself in third person. "Willy's full of this sandwich. Willy doesn't like animal crackers." I honestly didn't even know talking in third person was a skill a four year old would have. I should have known better.
Fast forward to bath time. Colton was already toweled off and went running, naked, out to the kitchen. I was drying off Willy when I hear Colton say to Finnegan (our dog) "wick my bunghole!" Yes. That was the cherry on the sundae that was my day. This is my life.
Saturday is our out to eat night with the kids. They look forward to it all week. After dinner they are allowed to choose where we go to dessert.
So, this past Saturday we are riding in the car to dinner, and Addyson and Colton are talking about which ice cream place they'd like to have. Addyson says Cold Stone and Colton says Frost. Of course. Never could they simply agree. That would be too...well, simple.
Then, Colton, in a voice as sweet and smooth as honey, says to Addyson "Do you want Kona Beri, Addyson?" Addyson says, in a sassy voice, "No!" Colton's logical reply to this is "Well, then I'm gonna fart!"
You bet your sweet a$$ that I found this hilarious!
I have this picture that Andy took of me holding Colton. He was a brand new little guy, and I was in love. So in love that it floored me. I experienced it once before when Addyson entered the world, but I didn't really believe my heart could hold that much more. What a fool I was. The second I heard his cry, my eyes flooded and my heart expanded. God had blessed me with another little soul, and Colton immediately found his place.
When I learned I was pregnant with Colton I was a bit surprised. Not, of course, at the how of it...just at the how soon of it. Andy and I had decided it was time to let nature take its course again...and let me just say, nature had the fast track in mind. I was worried about my little Addyson. She was 9 months old when Colton was conceived, and I fretted over her being kicked from the nest too soon. It broke my heart.
As Colton's scheduled due date arrived I fretted over that too. I had tremendous guilt that my babes needed to be born via c-section. With Addyson, I at least went into labor with her, and was able to give it the good ole' college try. But with Colton, I chose his birthday. I hated that (and I don't usually say hate). What if we were taking him out before he was really ready? Shouldn't he have been the one to say "okay guys...here I come!" It took me a long time to be okay with that.
So, here are two pictures actually. The first is one of my holding Addyson after they wheeled me back from surgery. My eyes (and entire face) were so puffy. It's a wonder I could stop crying long enough to have a picture with her. My little baby...too soon the big girl.
Here she is, so unsure of what is all happening. Only 18 months old. But a brave little face nonetheless. She obviously knew something I had yet to learn. That Colton was a precious gift to her. God gave her a new best friend.
And here I am with my newest little addition. I am looking at my screen through a filter of tears as I remember how I felt then...and how even that doesn't compare to what I feel today.
Thanks, Julie for hosting such a wonderful theme. It has afforded me with some wonderful knew photos, and has enabled me to relive some very treasured memories.
Please go join up with Julie for some more Mom N' Me posts.
I have never jumped on the Long Road to China Train...but today seemed as good a day as any. This, of course, is my little Colton. I originally took this in color, and Andy was in it too. Andy despised it of himself. So I cropped in on Colton, changed it to black and white, and upped the contrast a little bit. Much better. Colton is, 90% of the time, just this snuggly.
I wonder what is going through his active little mind when he looks like this. All the world is still a wonder. Trees, birds, dogs...fascinating, all of them. Often I tell myself I should try to remember to look at the world through the eyes of a child. Seldom I do. How jaded we become as adults. How wary, weary, and burdened. What a refreshing change of pace it is when we can get down on our knees, next to our child, and look at an object in unison. What a wonder when we can rediscover that object and marvel at how it brings light to the face of someone we love so much. In a moment such as this, all else fades away. As it should. Too quickly, this child of mine will grow. Unfairly, time, like a thief, will steal away the innocent way he views the world. That same world will make him wary, weary and burdened. Until he, like I have, gets down on his knees, and looks at the world anew, through the eyes of a child he loves.
Since I am all about feeding my children healthy foods, all of the time, this most certainly wouldn't be photographic evidence to the contrary. This is Colton. At the park. Sporting camo...and the remnants of his very first McDonald's cheeseburger. Sigh. It pretty much goes without saying, he loved it. Oh, and just to be very clear...I didn't wipe his face until we were ready to leave the park. That way, I was certain to be one of those mothers who let their kids run around looking like raggamuffins. As his mommy(ever biased), I do have to say that he is one adorable little raggamuffin!
things look a tad wintry. This is afterall, Arizona and we are not used to this view. Here are a few peeks (and peaks) into what we see from our backyard.
Addyson
Colton
Drew
A wash that runs(in weather like we've had recently) directly behind us...
And how 'bout a Saguaro so we can tell it's still Arizona
Currently, these are the views from our perspective.
Totally just playing with my new digs...more on that later!
This is my baby...for now.
What will I do when this little guy is not a baby anymore? I was just thinking about that while holding him in his rocker today. Soon, like his sister, he will no longer fit just right in my arms. Trust me, I still hold his sister plenty, but that "just right" fit has been long gone for a while. This little man is rapidly approaching that as well, and I am quickly discovering how so many women are able to continue to add to their brood, child after child. It's a fever I tell you, and I fear I may be catching it.
Recently we had the battery in my car crap out on us. Very typical problem in Arizona. Batteries are lucky to last two years here.
It was Saturday (our family out to dinner and dessert night), and we were at Cold Stone Creamery. When we got in the car to leave, the car wouldn’t start. So, I said to Andy “let’s ask that woman if she will jump us.” We did, she tried, it failed.
Sparing the rest of the details…we got it all worked out with AAA and now have a 6 year warranty on a thousand hundred and fifty dollar battery.
Fast forward several weeks to today. Addyson and Colton are playing, and they decided to “drive” somewhere in their “car.” Addyson declares that the car won’t start. To Colton she says with authority “we need someone to jump up on us.”
Apparently it worked, because after that, their car started and they were on their way to get ice cream. I’ll have to remember that next time the car won’t start.
As their mom, I wish I could bottle up every moment with them. Each day they are just a little taller, they talk a little better, they walk a little quicker. Each day they are just a little closer to their own independence. Today, they are mine, and this moment is in a bottle.
Because it’s been a while…and because I like to share…
We were supposed to take the kids to a real pumpkin patch, and Andy even took a Monday off so we could do just that. Instead, the one we wanted to go to was closed on Monday. SO…we went to a little pumpkin stand right in town, and the kids were none the wiser. It just proves what Andy and I say all the time. What matters most to kids is not things, and it’s not places. It’s people. It’s love. It’s being together. So lucky that we have all of that.
Or more commonly known as “pacifier.”
This kid has a very strong, thriving, and unabating love for the “pa-pur.”
It began as a bedtime thing only. Then it was allowed in the car on long trips. It remained that way for a long time.
Then, suddenly, Colton started asking for it all the time. He falls down, and immediately wants the thing to soothe his little soul. He’s hungry but has to wait for the appointed mealtime…pa-pur to the rescue, and so on and so on.
It doesn’t bother me much. In fact, it doesn’t bother me at all. I look at it as a phase he will outgrow, and if he doesn’t outgrow it by an age I deem necessary…then I will take the steps to break him of the habit.
My husband, on the other hand, has a strong dislike for the little plug. If he had it his way, Colton would stop it today. Cold turkey. Here is the major problem with that. I am the one who has to be the bad guy. The one who has to go through all the tantrums that are bound to crop up. Quite frankly, I don’t need to add anymore of those to my already tantrum riddled days.
So…Colton wins. For now. The pa pur is here to stay another day. Eh…it already seems he will need orthodonture anyway, so why deprive him of a little soothing?
Colton had surgery on Tuesday. It wasn’t anything major. He had an inguinal hernia. Apparently, sometimes when a baby boy’s testicles descend, the hole they come through doesn’t close up. Colton was one of these sometimes. All went well and you would almost never know he had anything done at all with the way he is running all over the place.
Before his surgery, I was waiting with him after he was dressed in his little tiny hospital gown. They gave him a medication (pre anesthesia) called versed. While slightly amusing, it was mostly disturbing to see my 2 year old son essentially drunk. His speech was slow and slurred, his eyes were glassy, and he would stare at drool marks he left on my shirt. Really, I was pretty amused. How on earth could I not be? Have you ever heard a 2 year old say “I wuuuv you” in the slurred voice of the town drunk? I suppose I should just feel good that in that state his thought was still to say he loves me ;)
His surgery went well and his hernia is repaired. They say he is no more likely to have a hernia later in life than anyone else. The procedure was outpatient, so he was home the same day, and very sleepy. Now he’s on the mend, and I am just glad to have it fixed. I’m sure he is too, even if he doesn’t realize it.
Why on earth is this kid crying?
Um, simply because he wanted to “see” his picture. Well, I hadn’t taken the picture yet. Which…resulted in this splendid capture.
I do love his hair though. Colton has not had a single haircut in his life, and I am still holding off. I can’t bring myself to snip those little wisps of bleached-golden silk. Why on earth should I? So, I won’t. He’ll simply continue to look as if he belongs on a sandy beach somewhere. Ah yes...my little beach bum.
