bday pics

so i never uploaded pics that my frind sarah levit took of the boys party in november. better late than never.

ugh, dentist time

so i finally took mason to the dentist today for the first time(yes i know, he's four. thats when my dentist starts to see them) he did AWESOME. awesome. no problems whatever. he sat in the chair, had xrays, got cleaned and then sat while i had my appointment. i am so super proud of him. we celebrated both of us having no cavities, YEAH!!!!, by having lunch at live oak grill (which had the motorcycle removed. which sucks b/c thats why we went there!)
now i just need to get his dad to go......

we have a toddler....that toddles!

so please humor me and my sideways video clip. stephen has started to stand up on his own & walk the last couple of days! yeah!

we have a wean-er

well after almost 15 months stephen is officially off of the boobie. today is day 3 no nursing. and i am..... kind of sad. i'm also HIGHLY hormonal, which i'm sure will ease up sooner than later. its been a LONG frickin time since i was not either preggo or nursing, holy crap i just did the math - 2 years. wow. so a little whackadoo-ness seems appropriate, does it not?
so i've been a bit nutty, impatient, irritable. but i've thrown myself harder into prayer, meditation, trying to nurse the good thoughts rather than the bad (b/c believe me people, i have bad thoughts sometimes) my stepwork, exercise. posittive things. i tend to focus on negative.
i will leave you with a small gratitude list that i actually FEEL (you know how sometimes you know in your head you're grateful for something but don't feel it?)
- that its thursday. woo-hoo my night out.
- my healthy children
- that i can read/write/talk/dance/run/see/smell/taste/hear/love ..... i guess that i am living
- friendship
- the fantabulous weather we've been having. holy crap its been GORGEOUS!
TTFN

pics

whats new

stephen is in his second month of mothers day out at the church down the street. he is doing very well. he of course cries when i drop him off but has a great time once i am gone, or so they say! we're still not walking, but if i've learned anything its that truly you cannot make your kids do anything! they grow on their own time, and why walk when you have a mommy that will carry you? he is getting much more vocal and communicative. he waves hi and bye-bye. asks whats that? says da-da frequently as well as brother & cat. he shakes his head no. its amazing how much he understands at 14 months old. if he's hungry he goes to his highchair (or reaches down my shirt!) we're down to nursing twice a day and i am really working on breaking him of his nursing in the wee hours of the morning. he has learned to climb up the ladder into the fort in the back yard, goodbye the days of him being in the backyard with minimal supervision. (yes i let me one year old play back there without me. his brothers there, and i check out the window. ok, i probably shouldn't let my four year old supervise the baby. whatever) he has 16 teeth now and loves to bite and hit me. good times. he loves it when daddy chases him around on the floor and has found a "safe zone" behind the side table.
mason is doing extremely well in school & will become an afternoon worker int he spring. this means instead of being made to have rest time he will work with the older children. he is learning to write his name and is starting to draw pictures, rather than just scribble-scrabble as he calls it. he's really into star wars the clone wars and loves to run around with his light saber. he asked me why darth vader is not in clone wars last night. i tried to explain that anniken skywalker is darth vader before he joined the dark side, this really upset him. maybe this conversation was a little premature. it is quite confusing and a little upsetting, even to me. apparently he has been asking mike how he got into my belly before he was born. so we are figuring out how to best explain this to him, without being too graphic, but yet honestly. i feel there is no shame in the birds & bees convo. and why the heck do we say birds & bees anyway?
both of the boys had an awesome time when grandma & grandpa came from a visit a couple of weeks ago from canada. they LOVED having bailey, their golden retriever, here. mason has been asking alot about what happened to sadie after they left (that was our beagle that ran away 2 years ago) he's missing the furry four legged friend companion. one day. just not today, we'll get another dog. maybe when there are no more diapers or nightime feedings happening!
freedom house is rocking & rolling. we've ben open for almost 2 months and have been succesful so far. we're keeping at least a few guys in at a time and have been full a couple of times. the drama is definitely there, which we expected. and know is just the nature of the beast. mike started back to school and will be kept busy taking 9 hours on top of his jobby-job, on top of freedom house. so all in all we're good. i've been in a constant state of funkiness, trying to get out. staying busy with the boys and the service work the man upstairs has been hurling at me. i'm thinking the message is "get the hell out of your own head lady and think about someone else". i'm trying.

my turn

16 things about me, as inspired from brene brown at ordinary courage:

1. i have a crossed eye and used to wear big red glasses all through grade school.
2. you can find me on facebook randomly throughout the day
3. i love lilies (preferably star-gazer) and big, old oak trees. and the smell of gardenias, and my kids after a bath. yum.
4. i want to live in a smaller city one day, either by the mountains or the water
5. i love to sing (and unfortunately don't do it well. mason tells me to stop)
6. when my sisters and i get together we are known to frequently quote old movies and laugh, a lot. apparently we do this extremely loudly
7. i love my children, and they make me insane. i want another child. i really want a girl, but will be grateful for another cutie-patootie boy
8. i love to smoke menthol cigarettes, i know this is not conducive to this "healthy lifestyle" i've been carrying on about
9. i like having shindigs, any excuse to use a fancy serving dish. well, any serving dish.
10. i have a tattoo on my stomach, and used to have a belly ring
11. i like to read PI mystery novels
12. i won declamation in 5th grade for reciting a poem called "Hugs" - i believe said poem came off of a bookmark, or greeting card. (my sister won for JFK's inaugural address - take that over achiever!!)
13. i like to surf fish
14. commercials make me tear up
15. i am EXTREMELY hard on myself
16. i read the twilight series in 4 days, and then re-read them a week later.