Monday, November 23, 2009

Scarfing Every Moment

Today, I created a Pandora radio station based off of the song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by Barenaked Ladies (featuring Sarah McLachlan). Then, I grabbed up my two, little munchkins, squeezed them in my lap, and practically sobbed at how awesome that moment was. They won't always fit in my lap like that. They won't always want to sit in my lap like that. I'll never have that moment back, and I sat there in that moment and absolutely scarfed it—every stinkin' second. (And yes: I am still tweaking said station.)

As I look out the window to my neighbors' house across the street (they're home this week decorating their house for Christmas and blasting Christmas music all the while), I can't help but wonder if they pine after the memories like the one I just created. (They have two kids, a girl and a boy, and the daughter is a college sophomore and the son is a high school freshman.) I'd like to think that they're still making some awesome memories with those kids, but I'm not even nearly ready to start thinking about how my relationship will change with my kids by that time of their lives (and my life). If I stop to think about it, it'll be here, and then I'll have missed all their snuggly sweetness.

Christmas is going to be so freaking sweet with these little rascals and my hubs this year. I have so much for which I am thankful.

If I could be with my little family all of the time, I'd be in heaven. Alas, we have to be able to make a living to feed these little rats, we have other obligations in life from time to time, and dramaliciousness from outside our little world will rear its ugly head around us (ugh). So, heaven has to wait most of the time (if only I will be so lucky to go to there when I cash out, too). When a little bit of heaven shows itself around here, I absolutely have to scarft it. Every. Single. Moment. And I'm so glad and grateful I can.

Dilly out.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Lunch Interview with Nora, Part IV-a and b



The phone always rings during lunch time!The faces are really what make this so fun.

Facebook link.

A Text Entry About the Kids (for Once)!

Willis got Nora out of her bed this morning before he went to work, and when he brought her into our room, she pointed to everyone and said who they were. She said, "Mommy. And Henry. And Hobbes."

Then, she turned, saw the cat and said, "A NUT!"

Man, am I glad I don't call him other names (you know: the names that I want to call him that have, like, four or five letters).

She also says, "penguin," now, and you can actually understand it when she says it.

When Henry cries, she'll go, "Henry sad," and she'll say it with a sad, little voice.

Nora also has begun requesting naked time. She'll say, "Neked!?" or "Nakey!?"

It cracks me up! When she's naked she's a happy camper, too. I just wish she were potty trained so I didn't have to worry about chasing her with a cloth diaper to sop up any messes she might make (and she hasn't made any messes in awhile). She's too young and uninterested in that yet, though.

The other night, we went to the I Street Tavern (our favorite local restaurant), and we realized that we may be at a point where we can't go out to eat with her (at least not for a good while). She went a bit nutty. She's almost two, after all. That's a bummer for me because sometimes, going to the I Street Tavern is the only time I might leave the house in a week or two. Sometimes I go to the grocery, I guess. Woohoo. It is what it is, though.

Little Henry is really cooing up a storm lately. He's such a sweet, happy little baby! As I'm typing this, he's a-hootin' and a-hollerin' in his play gym. He's telling the little animals what for, I guess. So funny!

He's been sleeping so well lately, too. I knew it would get better. I just had to wait for it. We're on our way to catching up, now! (We've still got a ways to go: we're still recovering from that labor!)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Molly's Birthday Party

Here are some pics from my niece Molly's birthday party.



Check out Henry's kicks! Thanks Bergrens!




A large chunk of the "Dill cousins." We're missing all the Rainbows here (all five).



The birthday girl and Henry.



Henry, Molly, and Bailey.




"What's up, sugah?"



So cute.



Some sort of Lion King/Michael Jackson thing happening here.



Aunt Marlene and Henry.




The following pics are from Jerm and Marlene.



Nora loves balls.




Willi and the boys playing video games.



I love to smell his head.



Uncle Ben's goatee, Uncle Ben, and Henry. Teehee.




Willi with Henry.



His Nike kicks are SWEET!





Aunt Jody and Bailey, and Ben and Henry are in the background.



KICKS!



Willis Peyton Manning Brown.



Nora and her ball collection.



Killian and Liam pile and Willis talking to Jerm in a tube.



Nora tackles it.



Daddy holds all the kiddos. (Nora's doing the thing she does with her penguin, only she doesn't have her penguin.)



Mmmm.



Jody's cupcakes were tasty.



It was, like, 70 degrees outside.



Nora and the Dora ball.




"Let me out."





Man. You can really tell Jode and I are related here.



Daww.


Friday, November 13, 2009

Insult to Injury

I just opened a package of underwear that I picked up for myself at Walmart. I unraveled the first pair of underwear to throw it into the wash, and I found myself unraveling for quite a bit longer than I'd have anticipated. Then, I discovered that I was opening up a tent, basically. I could seriously get some, like, stakes and some poles, and set those bad boys up for Nora in my living room.

So . . . now, I need to take a pack of giant underwear back to the store. I didn't realize that underwear sizes were, like, complicated now. I guess it's been awhile since I bought some for myself.

I only needed, like, FOUR THINGS. I have now needed to go back to the store for half of those things! Sheesh.

Speaking of My Brain Being Goo . . .

I went to Walmart today to grab a few things. One of those things was a 35 gallon tub (for storing my trophies from high school and whatnots). I remember thinking, "Self, let's be sure to grab the correct lid. Grabbing the wrong lid would be bad."

And it was bad.

I somehow managed not to grab the correct lid. In fact, the lid I grabbed was, like, at least six inches longer than the tub. I have no idea how I managed to screw that up even though I was forcing myself to focus on grabbing the correct lid.

One would've thought that I'd have noticed my mistake as I was checking out at the register. No. One would've thought, perhaps, that I might have noticed while putting the tub in the car. No. Instead, I was in my driveway at home when I made the discovery. I went to place the lid onto the tub to carry it into the house, and voila! Instant headache.

I'm just glad the kids were still sitting in their car seats (asleep) when I discovered this so that I didn't have to go and put them right back into the car for the return trip. That, my friends, would've been sick.

Instead, it's just stupid. Hilarious. But, stupid.

Nora Dances for Henry



I totally say, "Henry smiled for his little sister today."

My brain is goo.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Nora Pants: Sweet, Little Bugger

Nora's getting to be a really sweet, big sister. She always tries to cheer Henry up when he's crying, and today, she made music play on Henry's bouncy seat so she could dance for him. It was really neat to see.

She gives him kisses and will pat him sometimes. I really am surprised at how much she seems to accept and love him now. I wish I could get her going, "Oooh, beebee," on tape. It's so stinking cute—she says that when he's crying (because sometimes I say that when he's crying).

I said, "I love you, Nora" today, and she goes, "I love you!"

That was pretty cool. She hasn't ever said it back quite like that before (not without being asked to say it back).

Nora also likes to dip pretzels in mustard like her mother does. Oh, she's going to be a fan of condiments yet! (Condiments are how I get this kid to eat these days.) She goes, "Diiip? Diiip?" when she wants some ketchup, mustard, or barbecue sauce.

She's saying so many things now, and she's really starting to talk like a little person instead of just a toddler. It's so crazy to watch this happen. (The other day, I heard her going, "Ready!? Set!? GOOO!" while she was playing with a ball.)

Oh, and she actually knows the colors green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and red, and she can say them. She just started getting those all right in the past day or two.

She's been a fantastic sleeper and napper lately, and I am very thankful for that. Henry's working on it, of course. He could be worse with sleeping. I have to remember that.

She still loves to carry things around and sort things and move things and organize things. I do wonder sometimes if she's going to be a bit OCD. She does like to play with the broom, dust mop, and whisk broom and dust pan I got for her. That's pretty fun. Maybe she'll help me clean this place for real in the near future! Is it bad that I'm already looking forward to when I can teach her to do her own laundry? She needs to grow, like, several feet first, of course, but it'll be nice, anyway.

Oh, and Nora's totally been grabbing those Asian beetles and throwing them into the toilet. (I did it once, and now she thinks that's where they go.) I'm totally okay with that. We've got about a million of them in here.

I can't believe she's already 22 months old (for those on the home team, that's a year and ten months). She's a sweet kid. I'm lucky to be her mom.

Beebees


Nora gave me one good smile before she went and wrecked her hairdo.



This is how she wrecks her hairdos.



Henry's not the biggest fan of tummy time.



He's fussin' pretty good here.




He looks so like his sister.



Oh, his poor, wonky eye. I think it has plateaued.



He loves that pink elephant—just like Nora did.

Henry's Naked Time & Nora, Human Dust Mop


Hide and Seek . . . Sort Of


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Trying to Catch Henry Cooin'

It's so hard to catch this kid when he's really goin' to town. He coos so much now, and he always stops when I start recording him! Gah!


He's two months and one week old here.

Tommy Boy




Teeheheheheheee.

You like that, little goat? Yeah. Nice goat.