so, ummm, phone calls

I just want to put it out there. If we don't get to the phone and it goes to voicemail, please don't think it's personal. It's not. We're just either busy with the kids, because they are small and need a lot of hands on time when it comes to bathing them, or putting them to bed and let's not forget diaper changes. Lord knows, that darn phone decides to ring every time I do a diaper change. It's like it's got a sensor which alerts it to the fact I am up to my elbows in poop and wiggly baby.

Case in point, last night's phone dilemma occurred with S. He was on solo duty as I was at my sewing class. When he's keeping the boys, well, our bath time and bedtime routine slightly goes out the window. Anyway, S has just finished giving baby G a bath and put him bed when chaos ensues. S discovers that W has gotten into a tube of toothpaste when the phone starts ringing. Obviously, S has to deal with our toothpaste bandit since W doesn't get the whole spitting it out and Scott has no idea how much W has ingested. (See below for the rest of the story regarding W and the toothpaste.) So obviously, the phone call right in the middle of this gets lost and we don't call that person back.

Today, we woke up to an e-mail from that person commenting on how we always seem to not to answer his calls, followed with a "don't you check your answering machine?" Since this is seems to happen to this one person in particular, I would like to explain to this person with all love and respect:

1. The reason this keeps happening is that you tend to call on Tuesday nights and Tuesday nights aren't a good night for phone calls. S gets bogged down with the boys and I'm not here.

2. The time you call ends up being around the time S or I (if I'm home by then) are putting the boys to bed. Usually we do put them to bed earlier so that time would be good, but with me being in class, S gets a little off track with the boys' schedule.

3. Yes, we do check our answering machine, but it's normally checked the next morning. I don't do it late in the evening, because by the point in the night, it's normally the first opportunity S & I have had to have alone time so we are trying to catch up on each other's day. Plus, we tend to believe that if it's an emergency then the person will call back or try our cell phones.

With all this said, I'm sorry. I hope we didn't hurt your feelings, because we love you and we do want your phone calls. I asking for a little patience and understanding. After all, you did have small children at one point so maybe you remember what it was like.

So, what happened with W and the toothpaste? I arrive home 15 or so minutes afterward to S completely panicked and reading horror stories of fluoride poisoning and telling me that we need to take W to the hospital. Thankfully, I think a little more rationally in crisis and have S call poison control instead while I go inspect the tube of toothpaste to see how much I think he has eaten. The good news is that it isn't much. We give milk as instructed by poison control and stay up with W to make sure he's okay. They call back and all is well so to bed he goes and we pretty much are exhausted and head to bed with the toothpaste put away up high where little hands can not reach it.

a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine

Anyone who knows us knows that W is a die-hard Thomas fan (second only to Lighting McQueen). When we found out that Thomas was coming to town, we decided to take advantage of the nice spring day and go. W was so excited to see Thomas and to ride in one of the cars. Surprisingly, baby G was really enjoyed the ride as well. Daddy, however, was not excited about every hook they threw out at little kids in order to get moms and dads to buy stuff. Fortunately, they didn't know how cheap W & G's daddy can be on this type of stuff so we made it out of there with our checkbook intact.

Here we go!

On the train

Daddy and his boys. Please note that W has entered the age where he is *not* going to smile for the camera. Freaking little turkey.

W goofing off and smile captured before he realized it!

Mama and sweet baby G

Again, W refusing to look at camera and smile with Daddy & G.

Such a pretty day to get out and see some trains!

Mama & her boys

W wasn't too sure about Sir Topham Hat

G on the otherhand was offering him a drink

Too Cute!

Having a ball of fun!

G is thinking, "What is W doing? Brother's funny!"

valentine's day fun with w

I know I'm late posting these but better late than never, right? We actually had a very low-key V-day this year. No cards, no flowers, although I did manage to give out a little chocolate. We did make homemade cards to send to a few friends and family members. So what did we do? We made Valentine's Day cupcakes which were a big hit with W. ;D

Before we get started, must taste the frosting to make sure it's good.

Okay, it was good. Let's get started decorating the cupcakes.

Getting ready to dig in.

Hmmm, pretty good.

Eating the finished product

Finished product

V-day card #1

V-day card #2, especially for the boys

Back of the cards

i have a new obsession

If you know me, you know I have a decent creative streak and that I love making things. Yes, indeedy, I love doing crafts. I painted pictures for W's nursery and got brave and painted a sweet mural for G's nursery. I made the cornice boxes and the window treatments in my dining room and I've been making hand sewn cutesie onesies and shirts for a while now. But the one thing I have never known how to do is machine sew and there are sooo many cute outfits I'd love to make only if I knew how to sew.

The funny thing is that I have an awesome sewing machine, but it is so awesome it almost intimidated me. It stayed in its case for almost a year and half taunting me whenever I'd pass by it. "I'mmm here, sewing moron." "Hey, you, ever gonna use me?"

Well, this week, I handed that sewing machine a big glass of Shut Up juice. I learned how to sew! Okay, just boys pants. But, I did it. My good friend came over and taught me some of the basics to my sewing machine and taught me how to make these really cute pants/shorts/capris for the boys. By the way, my cousin's husband has forbidden me to put my boys in "capris". He suggested that I call them "knickers" since that's what boys wear, but "knickers" remind me of Oliver Twist (lol!) so I guess I'll keep working on finding some other term that is more acceptable.

But the best thing of all is that I felt something I hadn't really felt in a while...excitement! Yes, I get excited for things with the kids, but personally, I just hadn't had much drive to do anything beyond my family and kids. That kind of died with me when my mother passed; however, here it is, this excitement. And for the 1st time in a while, I tasted the sweet taste of personal satisfaction, of looking at something I created and saying "I love it!"

So what's next? I registered for a Beginner's sewing class and the Intermediate sewing class and I can't wait! I'm hoping to funnel this enjoyment into a little etsy store so I can make a little money, but I'm Type A on some things and won't do it until I feel I have the basics covered. Below are some of the thing I've been knocking out this week while the boys nap or when they've gone to bed.

Octopus set - shirt and capris (clam diggers? board shorts?) for W

Octopus shirt close-up

Shorts and pants for W. The shirt is in process. I'm thinking a sail boat for Spring.

Dinosaur shirt and pants set for baby G

Close-up of Dino shirt

My little model

Truck shirt and clam diggers for baby G

Ok, I also made a new flat sheet for W's toddler bed. He's a Cars fanatic but we only had a fitted sheet to go on his bed, and since we are Type A *cough, anal, cough* people, it kinda drove S and I both batty so I had to make him a top sheet.

i'll probably get in trouble for posting this, but sometimes you just gotta let it out

My dad has a girlfriend, although he introduces her as his "friend", but according to my sister, she's his girlfriend. The holding hands kind of girlfriend. (I'm not willing to mentally go any farther than that right now.) My dad is with her every day he's not in dialysis (3 days a week). Oh, here's the real kicker. She has the same name as my mom. *thud* So, yes, that really weirds me out. She doesn't look like my mama, but it is...odd? disturbing?

I know he is lonely and needs, rather deserves, companionship. I don't begrudge him that but it's kind of hard to take. Part of me wants to cry out "My mother be gone only 7 months. Why can't you wait at least a year before you start seeing someone else?" Part of me wants to avoid it. And another part of me is just plain angry about the entire situation as in "Why did my mother have to die?". I wasn't mentally prepared for this reality.

Our relationship isn't exactly close, and where the death of S's mother seems to draw his relationship with his dad closer, I don't know if that's exactly the same case here. And, that really stings. I'd love to be able to talk to him about my mother and what I'm going through and what he's going through, but he closes up when I mention her. Maybe, it's too hard for him, but maybe, it's what I need. So what do you do? I guess, we're at a cross-roads.

snow day

It's not often we get snow in Alabama so we have to take advantage of it when we can. I think W had a great time in the snow though earlier in the day when I mentioned that we were going to play in the snow, he replied "No way. I no like snow." However, once we were bundled up and out there, he changed his tune. Baby G enjoyed it as well. He'd just look and look taking it all in. He tolerated being bundled up as well although he soon got tired of the mittens and tried to take them off by biting them and pulling with his teeth. He is too smart for his own good. ;D Hopefully, it will last a while tomorrow so W can "dig" a.k.a. "walk" in the snow some more and we can make a snowman since we didn't get around to it today.