The Little Man & I “played” Scrabble while Daddy relaxed.
Concentrating
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So serious
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Gritty (effect)
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Finding Our Words
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More Weekly Winners at Lotus’s place.
Photos 1-3 use the “vignette” effect. Photo 2 was “sharpened” under the general fixes, since it was a little blurry, but I loved it enough to ‘fix’ it. Photo 3 also has the “gritty” effect. I only added a watermark (text, overlay) to photo 4.
I use Picnik Premium (that I paid for myself).
My New Year’s Baby turned 3, and on Saturday the 2nd, we had a little party for him.
He started the day wearing Mommy’s necklace.
Ethan "The Little Man"
His best friends came over.
Aidan "The Big Guy"
Chloe "C.C."
He got some help blowing out the candle.
I paid WAY too much for this cake…
…but I guess it was worth it.
While the kids burned off the sugar high by racing around the dining room table…
…I loved up on Baby Odin.
They wrapped up the party by attacking Daddy B (Aidan’s dad) with party favors!
It was pretty much the perfect party.
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Find more weekly winners at Lotus’s place.
Today marks the second anniversary of Madeline Alice Spohr’s birth.
Today I weep a little more than usual for my friends, Heather and Mike.
Today I weep for the loss of my son’s friend, Maddie.
Ethan and Maddie
Today I reflect on how extremely lucky I am to have had a second birthday with my own preemie.
Snoozing and sunbathing in the incubator
Today I hope and pray for Baby Binky Spohr, growing steadily inside of Mama Spohr, to be born healthy, happy, and not too early.
Today I ask you to give what you can to the Friends of Maddie Foundation — for Maddie, for Ethan, for Aidan, for all of us parents of preemies who spent far too long in the NICU, for all the babies who fight daily to survive because they were born too soon.
Under the lights in his incubator
November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Please join me in donating to the Friends of Maddie Foundation TODAY to celebrate Miss Maddie Moo’s life and the success of my own preemie baby.
Five days old - precious time out of the incubator
My big boy now ~ nearly 3 years old
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Especially when asked if we’ll be having more children. So very thankful for the one I DO have.
In good news, I went back to the Endocrinologist yesterday and my crackah-ass thyroid is FINALLY back to “normal” after nearly 3 years of messing with medications. I’m not going to hold my breath that this lasts.
Have a good weekend, everyone! A huge THANK YOU to our Troops & Veterans on this early Veteran’s Day Weekend.
Aka, recapping my long gone vacation (see part one). Cuz um, what else do I have to do right now? Right. Don’t answer that.
Okay scrap the recap. Just look at my kid. Yes, his lips are ACTUALLY that color.
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Titi’s new (back then) haircut and a new face he’s taken to making quite often.
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Titi definitely had a fun trip (while it lasted). We turned down the heat in the hot tub so that we could “swim” in it, we took Sasha for walks, and found the most easily accessible beaches for Warrior’s broken foot. (Yeah, he was on month three of wearing his “Big Black Boot” during August. The fun never stops for the Cracker Family.)
Stay tuned for part three that includes the requisite beach photos! Woohoo!
Let’s go back in time to August 8, 2009. Back before the broken ankle, back before the surgery, back before the miscarriage. Back to a Happy Place.
Saturday, August 8th, we left on our ill-fated family vacation. Life was good. All we had to worry about was the CrackerDog Sasha banging around in the back of the Volvo and climbing on top of our suitcases. Ah, the good ol’ days.
The Little Man fell asleep in the car on the way there, after having spilled water on his shirt (which he, of course, freaked out about).
Sasha on the luggage
VDog & Little Man
CrackerDog Sasha
So that was the first day. It was fun while it lasted.
There’s been much giggling and talk about the Go Girl. It’s a female urination device that allows women to pee standing up.
As you probably know, Go Girl was one of two major sponsors for the Room 704 Party. They paid for your drinks, the “Go Girl” as we named it, since it was pink like their product. We have not received any cash money from Go Girl (although we’d like to, heh), and this review is totally unbiased and not paid for. Enjoy.
My son was enthralled by the Go Girl from the minute he saw it. He thinks it’s like, the coolest thing EVAR. What *I* like about it is that there’s no more peepee on his underwear or pants when we have to use the women’s room or the great outdoors for his bathroom breaks. (Sucks rollin’ with Ma — no urinals! LOL)
As you can see, we’ve been using the Go Girl just for fun off the deck on our vacation. The kid loves using it, I love less mess, I call it a WIN-WIN.
Now just to be thorough, I tried it out myself. I pulled down my clothes past my knees, stood over the toilet, and then got ready to pee standing up. I placed the Go Girl to my body and made sure it was secure by holding the front and back of it in place with a thumb and finger.
Then I went.
Pee.
In the toilet.
While standing up.
It was kinda awesome.
I would definitely use the Go Girl in nasty bathrooms and for camping, marathon running, skiiing…Oh who am I kidding?? I’d likely just use it for nasty bathrooms and ‘uh oh gotta go’ roadside moments. The only problem I see with the Go Girl is remembering to bring it. I also could not fit it back in the canister (cuz I don’t know origami well enough?? I dunno.) but it does come with a handy dandy resealable bag that I’ve been putting it in.
Verdict: For $7 (free to me as I was one of the lucky ones to get one at our party) I would say it is well worth it. For the potty training pleasure ALONE. Never mind the penis envy!
Dear Little Man,
I can’t believe how much you have grown in the year since I stopped Mommy Blogging (Let’s face it — I totally let this ship sink. But can you blame me?? You are WAY more work now. You just. don’t. stop. (Moving on.)).
I love that you still say you are “Mama’s baby.” You make sure I know, and Daddy knows, that YOU are MY baby and Daddy’s Big Boy.
You have a smile that will excuse most of your sins. Flashing that grin and trying to win us over to avoid a time-out? Pretty sure you learned that trick from Mama.
One day a few months ago, you told me that you wanted to go pee-pee on the potty. I was compliant, as usual, but VERY surprised when you actually wanted to pull down your pants and diaper and then proceeded to PEE! ON THE POTTY!!! Like, WHOA, dude.
Since then we’ve had our accidents and what are clearly NOT accidents, but you pretty much potty trained yourself at two and a half. Pretty cool, dude. We’re proud and stuff, but it’d be okay if you still wanted to piss in your diapers. But the pooping on the potty thing?? FUCK YES. Thank you sweet baby Jesus.
You are clear about wanting a baby brother and NOT a baby sister. We’re not sure what that says about your relationships with your friends, but we’re hoping you’ll like a baby sister just as well if that’s what you end up with. We’d like to be working on that project, but DANG KID, you could go to bed a little bit earlier, mmkay?? Help a mom out.
You started “toddler school” in June with your best girl friend, CC. At first you hated being left, but now you LOVE it. We even had one of your teachers babysit last night and you were like, “Later dudes!! Get the eff out cuz I gots a hot date with my fave teach!!” and we were all, “Well OKAY THEN!! We’ll LEAVE!! Love ya, bye!!!” So we went out and had a fabulous time.
If I could make a request it would be that you quit the ugly face and whiny voice. That shit is TOTALLY annoying. CAN. NOT. STAND. IT. And don’t try to work that smile on me, baby! NOT WORKING THIS TIME!!
One incarnation of the Ugly Face
No matter what, I love you, my Big Boy. Don’t worry, you’ll always be my Baby.
Love,
Mama V
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