Saturday, December 27, 2008

LIZARD.




Eeek. I know. Gross. It was my luck that I was awake after Mike and Will returned from an early morning walk to Starbucks. It was so cold this lizard didn't even try to fight them when they picked it up. It had no opinion when they concocted an elaborate scheme wherein they would put the lizard on my pillow, next to my sleeping head, and take pictures. It said nothing when they then decided that after that escapade they would put the poor lizard in the fridge in a pie tin with a bit of saran wrap over it so that when I opened the fridge later I would scream. Fortunately for the lizard and for me I was awake.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

A Small Selection of Christmas Cheer






My goodness. There are no words for how long it takes a two year old to open 70 or so presents. I know you think "surely she's exaggerating, there couldn't have been 70." I don't think I am. At the very least, it felt like that many presents. Course, William loved it, was completely over-stimulated and enjoyed himself immensely.

It took two hours.

We didn't even finish opening all the gifts.

We even decided to save the one we got him for his birthday. Hah!

Anyway, a big "Thank You" to all Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas and Grandpas and friends out there who donated to the crazy day we call Christmas.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas Eve Eve





For Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Murphy came to celebrate with us - this is Grandpa meeting Sissy, and holding Sissy for the first time. (Course Dad has a stop watch to time his holding duties??)

Monday, December 22, 2008

Will takes his job seriously.





If there is one thing William is, it's serious about his desire to help me. He often brings Sissy her pacifier, donates his blankie to the cause of helping her calm down, or shakes keys in front of her to keep her happy while I cook dinner.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Effective Birth Control

[Note from the author: I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures included in this post. However, given the subject matter, I thought the potential photos might offend the senses and knowing that many of my readers have quite active imaginations I thought it unnecessary to expand on what can be pictured mentally.]

Having worked in the field of sexual education I understand the challenge of finding ways to explain to teens the perils of early sexual activity. The following should prove more than adequate in deterring youngsters from engaging in baby-making activities.

Nap-time. A blessed time. A time in which, even if children do not actually sleep, the expectation is there, and it is entirely within a mother's rights to leave her toddler in his crib whilst she takes the much needed rest. Today William woke up an hour into nap time - and only a half hour after Sissy had begun to snooze. Having not even begun my own nap, I stumbled to his room to tell him "It's still nap-time. . ." and lie down on his floor with a blanket and a pillow to prove it.

An hour later, we wake. William is cheerful, I'm cheerful. All seems well.

In reality, all is not well. As soon as we turn off the white noise Will sleeps with, and leave his room, we realize that Sissy is screaming as if she'd been tortured by wild men from Borneo throughout the entire time we slept. I run into the room, apologies already on my motherly lips, and pick my dear, sweet child up in my arms. She has screamed so hard she smells as though she has spit up. "Oh, honey," I croon, "I'm so sorry, I slept, I didn't know you needed me." She stops crying immediately, but still smells. I sniff at her collar, her blankets, not realizing what should have been obvious.

Seconds later, I realize what I should have known all along. She is covered in her own poop. Enough that her entire pair of pants (cute ones, I might add - this being the problem with girls - their clothes are cute and therefore I mourn more when they get spoiled) are covered from waistband to ankle with shit. Yellow, mealy, awful, milky poo that stains regardless of what amount of Shout you use to pre-treat, soak, and after-treat the laundry. Not only are her pants covered, it has seeped out of her clothes and into her wonderful pink flowered blanket where it is so prolific that it sits in pools on the bed where I have laid her in a fit of disgust at having carried her around in innocent ignorance of the poop situation.

Seventeen wipes later. Two loads of laundry later. (Both of which contained the offending pants and blanket, and neither of which got either clean.) And we have effective birth control not only for the teens in our audience, but possibly also for the married, sane, adult people who know better than us breeders that children produce poop. Lots of it.

I'm off to buy wipes. We're out.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Putting our ducks in a row. . .

Why is William like a border collie? Because he likes work - little jobs make him feel useful. Like putting his ducks in a row. Unprompted by us, this is what Will chose to do in the bath tonight (the best photos have been selected out due to the censorship of his father who believes we wouldn't want to embarrass our poor son with pictures of his buttocks posted on the internet). He set them all in a row, then straightened them to make certain of their fitness for this photo shoot.


Rainy Day Activities. . .

What would you do if you were a little boy trapped in a house all day by the weather? Stuck inside with your mom? Who, while incredibly interesting to many adults, leaves little left to discover when you are two and she is mainly useful for food and comfort in case of bonks and bruises. Would you perhaps. . .

make some important phone calls. (Ashley, he's been calling you all day!)





take a nap in your sister's basket?



take a walk in your mother's shoes.

The "I love the Christmas Tree face."




Lately if you ask William how he feels about the Christmas tree, he will give you this face - a look of pure, if slightly canned, adoration. So, even though it might also provoke a polite "DIE!" these days, the tree also instigates great glee.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

"Die, die, die. . ."



So sometimes moms make mistakes. Sometimes they do things they later regret (like showing children how to stand on chairs simply by changing a light-bulb). Sometimes the pressure gets to be too much and they say something they shouldn't. Sometimes they get lucky and the child doesn't notice, file away the information and repeat, repeat, repeat the heck out of it. But sometimes they do.

Last week - Michael out of town, me with the children for 3 days by myself - and William with all the energy of a border collie puppy. Elizabeth screaming in her car-seat as if she is in imminent peril, and me trying to run out the door with both kids to beat some strange time crunch I shouldn't have had.

Christmas tree up. Lights off. William loves the lights on. Thinks that it might stop Sissy crying if he plugs them in. I look over and William is about 2 centimeters away from plugging in the Christmas tree lights. I don't know if he was holding the metal or not. I don't need to know. I know he is in danger. I yell "William Knotts - NO!" in the most authoritative, scary, danger-stranger voice I have. This stops William. He looks surprised, but not upset. Then I burst into tears. Not because I'm mad, but because I was SO scared for him.

This makes him LOSE it. Tears, chin quivering (Elizabeth still screaming in background), shaking, sobbing. So I explain how Mommy wasn't mad, she needed him to stop because electricity is HOT and there are so many lights on the tree that it would really, really hurt him to do what he was going to do. In fact, he could even die, and that's why Mommy is crying.

So now, fast forward a week. William, with all the logic of an almost two year old, keeps pointing out the lights on the tree to me and saying "Die, die, die. . ."

As I said, sometimes moms make mistakes. Mea culpa.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Swing Repeat





We took these same photos with William. I can't remember if it was at the same age, but this girl looks surprisingly chubby-cheeked compared to our skinny William munchkin. William also screamed anytime we put him in the swing - something about having his arms waving frantically for no apparent reason made him freaked. Sissy pretty much gets plunked down anywhere I can put her when William falls, screams, tries climbing his scooter, etc. So she's way more flexible. The other day she actually fell dead asleep in the middle of the living room (with William running around like a banshee), un-swaddled, on her back and without blankets. Now that's a commitment to sleep that I like to see in a kid!

Snow Hat!

We found this hat that William could wear if we ever make it somewhere cold - snowboarding in Tahoe, anyone?? Of course it's like 70 degrees here today. . . oh well! ;)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Cinnamon Smelling

Will likes to smell our spices. What happens when you smell cinnamon??




Friday, November 28, 2008

Sunday, November 23, 2008

The New Addition - One Month Old!







Mom and Dad with Little Sissy on her first month birthday.

Gosh, we love her.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tie Dye Happiness - Thanks Zenz!





A friend sent us this cool shirt for William. I have to admit that all day I was a bit jealous of his stylishness. He seemed to know it was a special shirt, because it's still clean after a whole day of wear, and that NEVER happens.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

BIG Brother!




Was William EVER this size?? Elizabeth and William hanging out together.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Tickle, Tickle

No photos here - just a funny anecdote. While I was making dinner, I heard William giggling in the background (incidentally it's the same chortle that Mike makes when something strikes him as silly). I look over and there is Elizabeth, feet uncovered, squirming up a storm (she had been asleep). William had just stopped tickling her feet, and was giggling as he ran to the other side of the room. My goodness, I'm going to have to keep an eye on this boy!
:)
But at least we know where his sense of humor comes from! ;)

Friday, November 7, 2008

Oddly Enough

This is how Elizabeth gets the gas out best. . .

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Frilly Things Make Mommy Happy!







GG Francesca - Here's the photos of the frilly things! :) I'm very happy now - it was awesome to go buy all the things I've been looking at for a year and a half waiting for my little girl (yes, I looked at girl stuff before Will was born just on the off chance he was a girl)! My absolute favorite is the little brown jacket - it's velvet and has the cutest little pink polka dot waistband.

Love you! Shan