turning two!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Dear Lolo,

Happy 2nd Birthday, my sweet baby! I can't believe it's already been 2 years!

Sometimes it amazes me how your personality hasn't changed much over these two years - you're still the sweet little guy you have been since the day you were born. Of course, you're learning the fine art of the tantrum now - thank you, Terrible Twos.

All those times that I told Ethan that you would get him back someday for all the times he beat up on you are coming back to haunt him - you definitely hold your own when he picks on you, and I've seen you start it at times, too. I can't help but smile and think "sweet revenge!" before I break it up.

Your vocabulary is exploding lately, and I absolutely love hearing new words for the first time. You pick things up so quickly, and are quite clever when it comes to finding ways to get what you want. At least once a day I have to put the chairs back in the dining room after you've hauled them around the house to climb up and get into things.

You're such a good little helper around the house - I can't do a load of laundry during the day without you helping me put clothes in the dryer and pushing the button. And of course, you have to look in the washer before we close the lid. Every time Daddy gets his tools out, you're right there to help out, and sometimes you run for your little toolbox too! I hope you're always this helpful.

The best parts of my day are the times you come up and give me a kiss or hug without me even needing to ask for them. Even if the hug is followed by a quick nose wipe on my shoulder, or if the kiss is sticky with whatever you're snacking on. :)

I am sad that your baby days are behind you - you and I were so inseparable for the first year, due largely in part to your boobie addiction. :) But now you're so independent, and sometimes I wish we could go back to those days of constant cuddling. I'm so glad you still let me cradle you and sing Bye-Oh, playing 'baby' as you call it. And it melts my heart when you rock your baby doll and sing Bye-Oh to him.

Happy Birthday, my Lolo bug. I love you so much, and I am so lucky to be your momma.

Just overheard...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Logan was fussing on the floor, so Ethan got down on the floor and gave him his pacifier. Didn't help, so E got his Leapster and gave it to him. "You can play my Leapster if you want!" Awwwww..... :)

It's been a while since I've updated. Bad Lacie. January was an exciting month in the D household - I turned 27 and Logan became mobile. :) Well, kind of. He's not crawling, but he rolls to get where he wants to go, and nothing is safe anymore. He's been very chatty the past few days, too - it's a constant YA YA YA YA YA YA! Love it. :)

Ethan started pre-preschool and is having a blast. Absolutely no separation anxiety, unlike a lot of his classmates. He is so ready for something more than what this program is, but his damn birthday just gets in the way. September birthdays suck. At least they offer an advanced 3s program next year that focuses more on science/problem solving. The regular 3s focuses on letters/numbers/shapes/colors and that sort of thing, and he's had those down for a while now.

Shawn is still employed, thankfully, and his job doesn't appear to be in any danger. Knock on wood, cross fingers, and all that jazz. We have decided to stay in our current house for another year, as much as I really want to move into something bigger. We'll make do with what we have. I'm still grateful that we didn't decide to buy a house in the last few years - it's nice to know that if Shawn does get laid off, we can pack up and be out of here in a month or two and not have to worry about selling a house.

I've been contemplating ways I can bring in some income, and I'm feeling a very strong pull toward birth photography. I've wanted to be a doula for years now, but the logistics of possibly being gone for days for a birth is just not feasible at the moment. So enter birth photography. I would still get to participate in births, plus, I would get to give others something I really wish I had, which is good photos of their birth. All the photos I have of Ethan and Logan's births are either blurry or just not very good. Sigh.

Anyway. That's the update for now. I need to do pictures sometime this week, and maybe a video or two. :)

Pictures! At least, I hope so!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Rather than post all the pics individually, I'm just going to post the link to my albums on Facebook, since I put all the pics there anyway. It's supposedly a public link, so hopefully you won't have to be a member of Facebook to see the pics. Let me know if you can't. :)

November
December
December, Part 2
January

Cute things Ethan says...

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Just want to write this down - Ethan got a Handy Manny radio thing for Christmas. It "breaks" and you have to fix it. One of the parts that breaks is the circuit board - or as Ethan calls it, the Circus Card. :)

I have a bunch of pictures to post, just need to get them resized and uploaded. Maybe I'll get to that tonight. :)

My favorite time of day

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The best part of my whole day is the 15-ish minutes after Logan wakes up. I usually get up before he does, so I'll go in to check on him, and if he's awake, he'll look over at the door and instantly break into a huge gummy grin. I lay down beside him, and let him out of the swaddle, and he stretches and yawns, and smiles. We 'talk' to each other - I tell him how adorable he is, and how much I love him, and he smiles and coos back at me. We usually lay there for a good 15 minutes - until either he decides he wants his diaper changed, or until Ethan crashes the party and climbs all over us and gives Logan kisses and hugs. He sure does love his little brother, and Logan loves him right back. :)

Catching up

Saturday, December 20, 2008

It's been too long since I've posted - maybe I should have done Holidailies? Ah well. Here I am now.

It was a monumental day in the D household today - Ethan filled up his potty chart! He's been doing SO well going poop on the potty - he's only gone in his pull-up twice this week, and he poops at least twice a day, so that's doing really well! Oh, I am so, so proud of him, and he knows it, too. :) The other night when I was out at my cookie party, he said to Shawn "Mommy and Daddy are really proud of me!". Awwww. :) So the reward for filling all 100 squares was a special trip of his choice, and he's been begging to go to Chuck-E-Cheese all week. So as long as the weather cooperates, we're going up to Cedar Rapids tomorrow to celebrate. :)

We're back in Iowa for Christmas from now until next Sunday or Monday, I'm not sure when we're going back yet. Here at MIL's until Wednesday morning, then at my parents' for the rest of the week.

Logan had his 6 month appointment this week, and he's not gaining much weight - only 8 oz. in the last 2 months, bringing him to 14 lbs. even. He is gaining length and head circumference, though, and is meeting his milestones (though slower than Ethan did) so our ped. isn't worried about the slow weight gain. Now that he's started solids, hopefully he'll start chunking up a bit. When I told him not to grow up too fast I didn't expect him to take me so literally. :)

Solids have been going really well - he's had avocado, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, oatmeal, and peas. Didn't care for the peas much, though Shawn said they were really thick and it may have been a texture thing. We haven't tried them again yet, so we'll see how take 2 goes. He does love the others, though, and is eating a serving of oatmeal mixed with a whole (small) jar of food at a time. He doesn't like to eat when I feed him, though - I have a feeling he's thinking to himself, screw the food, gimme boobies! :)

On the way over here tonight, Ethan grabbed my Boppy and 'fed' Bear-Bear with his boobies. It was way, way cute. :)

Logan is getting really good at sitting up unassisted - we still use the boppy when he sits, but if he gets tippy, most of the time he can right himself without falling over. He's still very content to just sit and watch what's going on. He's mostly a very happy and smiley boy and I love him to bits. :)

Ethan finished his fall semester of preschool last week and I'm sure he's already ready to go back - he LOVES going to school and seems to have a really good time there without me. He did have a bit of a pushing/hitting problem one day, but hopefully it was a one-time thing.

I am constantly amazed at how smart he is - he got a thank you card from one of his teachers in the mail the other day, and he was able to read almost the whole thing to me. He loves pointing out words when we're out and about - it's definitely beyond having words memorized, he is reading them. He's also started to take an interest in telling time - he's always looking at the clock and telling us what the hands are pointing to, and he knows that when the clock points to 10, it's time to go night-night. (Though, here it is, 1am, and he's still going strong playing with the dogs. Ah well, it's a special night.)

I'm sure there were other things I've been meaning to write about here to remember them, but of course I've forgotten. Whoops.

Message board assholes

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I'm all in a tizzy tonight because I got in a fight with someone on OLU. Fight, me? Noooo... *shuffle* This bitch I hate anyway helped her friend with her newborn and had SUPER DOULA as her usertext. I sent her a PM saying it was insulting to actual doulas. She flipped out, I fired back, yadda yadda yadda. There goes another year off my lifespan. *sigh*

Logan had oatmeal for breakfast this morning, and LOVED it! It's so cute watching him eat, he tries to help with the spoon and fails miserably, and it's just adorable. I can't believe he's almost 6 months old already.

We went out and bought new lights for the Christmas tree tonight - faceted C6 LEDs. They're gorgeous and I love them. :D We got a new sparkly silver star topper, too. No ornaments yet - I'll have Ethan help me with those tomorrow, and then I'll take a picture. :)

I really need to get pictures uploaded. The oldest pictures on my camera right now are from Halloween. I've been a slacker.

A bittersweet day...

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It was a bittersweet day in our house today. My baby boys are growing up. *sniff*

Ethan started "big-boy" preschool today - I've been going with him all semester, but today was the first day he went by himself. I don't think he even noticed I was gone. LOL I barely got a hug and kiss out of him before he was off running around with his friends. They made a Froot Loop necklace for their craft today, but he was apparently more interested in eating the Loops rather than stringing them, and the few that did make it on the necklace were history by the time we got home. :)

Logan had a big day today as well - his first solid food! He went to town on some avocado and did really well - no tongue-thrust reflex, no gagging, nothing! He was definitely ready to start. I almost cried afterward, though - for the first time in his life, he ate something that didn't come from me. *sniff* I'm so proud of us that we've made it this far with exclusive breastfeeding, and I have no intention of stopping any time soon. I'd like to make it at least 6 more months so we can wean straight to milk instead of to formula, and I have no problems going longer than that, until he's ready to be done.

We put up our Christmas tree tonight, but of all the strands of lights we have, not a single one of them fully works. So I need to peruse the ads tonight and see if anyone has a good deal on lights. I'd love some faceted C6 LED lights, if I can find them cheap enough. They're $11/box at Target and we would need at least 2, if not 3 boxes.

I got my latest Bag o' Crap from Woot today, and I made out pretty well! I got a Crock-Pot, 4 universal car chargers (without the tips), a Mr. T read along book that has a vinyl record for the audio, and a digital camera bag. Not too shabby for $8!

Home, at long last

Sunday, November 30, 2008

I was just discussing this article with Shawn and made a comment about how parents apparently missed the lesson where the word starting with N and ending with O was taught. Ethan started saying "starts with N, ends with O" and I asked him what N-O spelled.

CROCODILE!



Logan has started reaching out for me if someone else is holding him. It's so nice to be loved.

We are home. More later or tomorrow when I am not one-handed.

Minor Excitement

Saturday, November 29, 2008

I made my first sale on Etsy! Woohoo!

Chris's (BIL) birthday is Tuesday, so I'm being a good SIL and making him some chili and sweet/sour meatballs to put in his freezer. Well, Shawn is making the meatballs, but I'm reading the recipe off for him. LOL

Shawn is taking one of the garden tractors home to use as a snowblower/lawn mower. It's just sitting around and rusting here, and his mom won't ever use it, so he figured he might as well take it. So Chris is bringing it to our house in the back of his truck tomorrow. We really should put a hitch on the back of the Aztek. Or just buy a new vehicle that has one. Like a minivan. :D

Didn't do much else today. We ran to town tonight to get stuff for the chili/meatballs, and I stopped at Joann's and got 5 yards of black felt for a photo backdrop. Can't wait to use it!

We're heading home tomorrow! I'm excited to get home and start decorating for Christmas!

Damn.

Friday, November 28, 2008

I forgot a Thanksgiving post. Damn. Ah well.

We rocked the Black Friday sales today. Got almost everything we went for.

Still at MIL's house and bored out of my mind. Usually there are other assorted family members around, but this year it's just us. And I forgot my pump so we can't even go out without the kids.

Don't really have much else to say.

Survey time! (Stolen from Kirsten and Gina)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

[ONE] Who was your last text from?
Don't remember - I don't text much.

[TWO] Where was your default pic taken?
Do I have a pic on here? I don't think I do.

[THREE] Your relationship status?
Married.

[FOUR] Have you ever lost a close friend?
Yes.

[FIVE] What is your current mood?
Good, a little tired.

[SIX] Whats your brother(s)/sister(s) names?
Katelyn

[EIGHT]Where do you wish you were right now?
Taking a nap.

[NINE] Have a crazy side?
Yes

[TEN]Ever had a near death experience?
No

[ELEVEN] Something you do a lot?
Nurse my kid.

[TWELVE] Angry at anyone?
Not really

[THIRTEEN] What's stopping you from going for the person you like?
I went for him and married him.

[FOURTEEN] When was the last time you cried?
The other day when Ethan was throwing a mondo tantrum and I just couldn't take it anymore.

[FIFTEEN] Is there anyone you would do anything for?
Yes, two of them, actually.

[SIXTEEN] Who do you think about when you are falling asleep?
Logan, mostly, because I'm trying to make sure he isn't getting squished.

[SEVENTEEN]Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
My mom, I think.

[EIGHTEEN] What is your favorite song?
I have a lot of favorite songs. My song of the moment is "Looking for a Good Time" by Lady Antebellum.

[NINETEEN] What are you doing right now?
Sufing the web on the couch

[TWENTY] Who do you trust right now?
Quite a few people

[TWENTY-ONE] Where did you get the shirt you are wearing?
Wal-Mart

[TWENTY-TWO]Have you kissed someone in the past week?
My husband and kids.

[TWENTY-THREE] Who is your friend that lives closest to you?
Hmmm. I think Rachel lives closest to me, maybe.

[TWENTY-FOUR] Describe your life in one word?
Happy.

[TWENTY-FIVE] Who are you thinking of right now?
Kirsten, because I'm reading her answers as I delete them to type my own.

[TWENTY-SIX] What should you be doing right now?
Not a gosh darn thing. Well, napping, if I knew what was good for me, but I don't. LOL

[TWENTY-SEVEN] What are you listening to?
Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Ethan playing.

[TWENTY-EIGHT] Who was the last person who gave you a hug?
Ethan

[TWENTY-NINE] Who was the last person who yelled at you?
Ethan

[THIRTY] Do you act differently around the person you like?
Nope.

[THIRTY-ONE] What is your natural hair color?
Dark blonde.

[THIRTY-TWO] Who was the last person to make you laugh?
Probably one of my kids.

[THIRTY-THREE] Who was the last person to make you sad?
Hm, I don't know.

[THIRTY-FOUR] What do you hear?
MIL talking on the phone.

[THIRTY-FIVE] Is your hair curly or straight?
Straight.

[THIRTY-SIX] Has anyone ever called you "scrumptious" before?
No

[THIRTY-SEVEN] Do you have a best friend?
Yes

[THIRTY-EIGHT] Held hands with the opposite sex in the past 3 days?
No

[THIRTY-NINE] Do you use smiley faces on the computer?
Yes, all the time!

[FORTY] Have you ever changed clothes in a vehicle?
Of course!

[FORTY-ONE] Are you happy with life right now?
Yes.

[FORTY-TWO] Are you currently jealous?
Always a little bit.

[FORTY-THREE] What jewelry are you currently wearing?
My wedding and engagement rings.

[FORTY-FOUR] What were you doing Friday night?
I don't remember. Nothing noteworthy.

[FORTY-FIVE] Have you ever had your heart broken?
Yes.

[FORTY-SIX] Have you ever broken someone's heart?
I doubt it.

[FORTY-SEVEN] Is there anybody you're really disappointed in right now?
Not really.

[FORTY-EIGHT] What was the last reason you went to the doctor for?
Bronchitis, last February.

[FORTY-NINE] How late did you stay up last night and why?
2-3am, I think. We were watching Without a Trace.

[FIFTY]Have you ever dated someone longer than a year?
Yep

Starting solids

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

So we've been waiting until 6 months to start solids with Logan. However, I think he's getting to be about ready. Shawn was just munching on some Froot Loops and Logan grabbed one out of his hand and got it just inside his mouth before we caught it. I think he licked the sugar a bit and got all excited. It was really cute. :) That's one of the signs of being ready, right? Grabbing for food and trying to feed yourself? I'll have to do some more looking and reading up. He's 2 weeks away from 6 months, so it's not like we're starting THAT early.

We're back in Iowa for the long weekend. Not sure what we're doing tomorrow - possibly a trip to Iowa City, we'll see. I want to eat at Sonic. :D Yummy, yummy Sonic. I can't wait to get one at home!

Short post

Monday, November 24, 2008

Quick post tonight, I just got Logan nursed down to sleep and realized that I needed to post yet. We went to Woodfield tonight and checked out the new play area. Pretty nice! Ethan seemed to enjoy himself. It's really big, which is good in that it can accommodate a lot of kids, but bad in that it's hard to keep an eye on your kids amongst all the others.

Tomorrow is my last day of preschool! Woohoo! LOL Starting next Tuesday, Ethan will go all by himself, and I can't wait! It'll be a nice little 90 minutes of time with Logan. I'm glad his school is so close to our house - I can drop him off and come home and still have a good length of time before I need to go back.

We're heading to Kalona after preschool tomorrow and staying until Sunday. I have a feeling I'm going to forget to post. Only 6 more days of NaBloPoMo!

Woohoo Ethan!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Ethan pooped on the potty tonight! WOOHOO!! *twirl* He hadn't pooped all day, which is very unusual for him, so before bed I asked if he had to go. He said yes, insisted on sitting on the big potty (thank heavens!), sat down, and pooped! I think this is the third time he's done it? So, so proud of my boy!

I made a big Thanksgiving dinner today - turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, Jello salad. It turned out really, really good and I am stuffed! It was a 20 lb. turkey so we have a TON of leftovers! I'm going to make turkey dressing when we get home from MIL's next week, and we'll have hot turkey sandwiches tomorrow night for supper. There should be at least 2 quart size Ziplocs of turkey leftover after that. I'll probably use some of it for baby food when Logan is ready for meats.

Speaking of Logan, he's awake, so I should go get him. :)

Go Hawks!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

We kicked the crap out of Minnesota today. Go Hawks! Here's to the bowl gods looking down upon us in favor and giving us a January bowl berth. :)

No Red 40 today and Ethan was really good! A few minor squabbles, but no possessed devil-child behavior. Yay!

Logan is extremely tired but refusing to sleep. Not fun. Let's hope he's saving up for a good night's sleep. One can hope, right?

This NaBloPoMo stuff really wears on a person. LOL

Discovery

Friday, November 21, 2008

I'm starting to suspect that Ethan's behavior issues might be tied to artificial food dyes, specifically Red 40. He had a great day today...until he had a few Mike and Ikes. Within a half hour, all hell broke loose. So we're going to eliminate it for a week and see what happens.

Don't know much else today.

Gas, Crap, and Power Outages

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Gas is $1.99 across the street! Woo! We didn't get any because we get shitty mileage with that brand, but still. It's the principle of the thing. LOL

I got a Bag o' Crap from Woot today and I really wasn't even trying. I was feeding Logan in the bedroom when I heard the sirens go off. Took me a second to realize what it was, and then I came out to see if I was too late. The buy page hadn't come up yet, so I kept refreshing, and eventually got the order screen. Tried in vain to get 3, but the button was broken, so I just hit the order button. Got an error because I forgot my CVV number. Submitted again, figuring there was no way I would get one. A billion server errors later, I got logged in to my account, and sure enough, my order history was Crappy. Score! A highlight to my otherwise shitty day.

Ethan was hideous today. We almost didn't make it to preschool because he just would not get ready. He just shuts down sometimes and it's infuriating.

Our car is leaking coolant. You know, because we have just a ton of extra cash laying around right now. I have two friends whose husbands are mechanics, so if it's something Shawn can't do himself, at least maybe we can get it done cheaper. I'd like to just get rid of the damn thing, but we're $2k upside down on it so that probably won't happen.

Shawn is on call this week and has been paged every night. Sucks. But on the bright side, he won a free phone in a raffle at work today so at least there's some kind of reward. And he's on vacation now until next Monday, which is awesome.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day, I don't think I can handle worse. Sigh.

Cheater cheater pumpkin eater

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Double posting to catch up, but I'm cheating and just posting a contest link. :D Go here to Or use the HTML code:
win 20 Pairs of Baby Leg Warmers from babySNAZZ!

Crap, again.

And then I went to bed early last night and forgot to make my second post. Dammit.

Last night was good - we went to the library. Ethan played with the trains, and Shawn, Logan, and I played Guess Who. Fun game. We should get it. :) Ethan came over and played a little, too.

After that we got groceries at Target. We're doing our own little Thanksgiving this weekend. I'm making a 20 lb. turkey for the 3 of us. :D I want a lot of leftovers to make turkey dressing. Yum!

Ethan is driving me up the wall, what else is new. Today has been particularly trying. He threw a fit because I wouldn't let him pour apple juice, because I didn't want to clean up a spill. It was such a fit that he threw my nursing stool across the living room. He finally calmed down and I decided to just let him pour. He did great, didn't spill a drop. Put it back in the fridge for me and everything.

So then he wanted a PBJ. I opened the fridge to get out the jelly, and the juice fell out, the cap popped off, and half the bottle went all over the floor. FUCK. Sometimes I just can't win.

Both boys are 'napping' at the moment (Ethan isn't sleeping, but he's in his room playing quietly, which is something, at least) and I'm finally eating something for the first time all day. Gosh I love being a mom. It's super fun.