Selfish-Momma Moment of the Week

Thursdays are my "date day" with Sullivan.  While Max is off making seasonal collages and frolicking amongst other almost 2-year-olds, Sully and I spend some quality one-on-one time together.  We dance, we read, we look in the mirror, we put our hands in our mouths (ok, that one is Sully only :) and talk like old friends.  Every once in awhile, though, I get an idea.  And it usually goes something like this...

Me:  "Sullivan, let's read 'On the Night You Were Born'.  It makes your momma cry.  You'll like the pictures.  Let's sit in the playroom."

Me (thinking):  Oh the colors of this book look so good against the rug in the playroom.  AND I have that yellow hat that looks so cute on him.  What if I stripped him down to just his little diaper?  THAT would be insanely cute.

Me (to Sullivan, again):  "Hey buddy, change of plans...we're going to do tummy time with the book first!  Let me just squeeze this hat onto your head..." 

Pictured below are the results of a momma, with a camera, taking advantage of her baby's helpless nature...

'Stache

Billy is participating in Movember.  As in "Grow a Mo" for men's health.  "Mo" being slang for moustache. You can learn more here, but from my perspective its just a ridiculous looking tribute in honor of a very worthy cause.

This moustache Billy is growing is quite intriguing to Max. Every time Billy picks him up he points to it, touches it and giggles. "Stache?" he'll ask Billy. And Billy says, "Yes, Daddy has a moustache." I just shake my head and count the days until December 1st when Billy's creep-factor will no longer be off the charts.

Despite the pumpkin drawing on the chalkboard in the background...it is indeed November. I finally changed it to a drawing of a turkey this week :)

I had some leftover moustache stickers from Max's birthday party (click here and scroll down to the bottom pic for a good laugh) so we decided to surprise Dada when he came home for lunch the other day.

Here the boys are showing their support for the cause:


"Sooo...I looks good, momma?"

"Wait...why you laugh?"

 The subtle difference between the two above photos speaks volumes.

"Eeeep!"

Sullivan says: "Brother...that's not where it goes!"
Max says: "How do you know?"

Again, I keep myself laughing all day long with the dialog I imagine they're having :)  Their looks are just so expressive and hilarious I know I can't be too off track.

Love this one, but its so blurry.  Darn iPhone.

Cheers to Billy and all the men out there sporting a killer 'stache to raise awareness.  Bravo.

The greatest adventure of my life.

Dear Max and Sullivan,

I'm not sure if you boys will realize this as you're growing up or not, but your Dad and I are the adventuring type. I bet we'll always just seem like boring old parents to you, but we had many wild adventures in foreign places before becoming your parents. We'll share the stories with you one day.

Those experiences laid a good foundation for who we are as a couple. We still have a list of places and things we want to see and do together...although it will probably be awhile until we're able to get to them. Probably a very long while.

Recently I was with an older (and wiser) friend whose children are all grown up.  He was talking about extravagant vacations and spontaneous trips he was taking with his wife.  I sighed and told him how wonderful that sounded; immediately thinking back on the time your father and I found ourselves randomly near the airport and hopped on a plane just for fun.  In the middle of these thoughts he said something that I will never forget.  He said "Those times will come around again when your kids are grown and gone, but you will never get these little days back.  Ever."  He said it almost painfully.  And just like that the tables had turned in our conversation.  He envied the stage of life I was in as I was envying his.  It made me grateful for the here and now.  Even with the never-ending dirty diapers and spit up and a spirited little boy who loves to challenge me daily...I am living some of the most precious days of my life.  Ones that will make my heart ache when I look back on them someday.  At that moment I felt like the lucky one.  That's when I realized that you are the greatest adventure of our lives.

I look forward to the day your Dad and I are that spontaneous couple again, but I pray it doesn't come too fast.

3 months

Dear Sullivan,

Yesterday I packed away all your newborn clothes.  I struggled with the fact that they're already going back into their lonely plastic boxes.  I hope I get to use those precious baby boy clothes again one day ;)
At 3 months your personality is really starting to shine.  You're already extremely loyal to your brother...giving him your first real laugh and always putting on a smile for him even when you're fussing at momma.  You can't take your eyes off your big brother and will kick and coo excitedly to get his attention.  I imagine that you're saying "Max! Hey, Max! This is cool, right!?"  The brother bond is already so apparent and I love it.

If Sully could elbow Max I think thats what he'd be doing in this pic.  I'm worried that these looks between the brothers will be at my expense in the future...

Max showing Sullivan the art flash cards and telling him the name of each animal.

Sully-Bear, now that its been three months since we were formally introduced let me tell you a few things that I love about you...

I love how your little head fits perfectly in the curve of my neck like it was made to rest there.

I love that looking into your baby blue eyes makes me forget what time it is or how tired I am.

I love that your hair is so effortlessly cool.

I love your easy smile and the way you laugh in your sleep.

And I mostly love that I get to call you mine.

My whole heart,
Momma

When the kids are away, the adults will...

...PARTY! :)

Oh, we needed this weekend.  Our friends opened a bar in Fort Scott and we had been itching to get down there to celebrate their success.   I was still nervous about leaving Sullivan overnight so we invited my parents to join us....and take care of the kids in an adjoining room at the B&B :) 

Even as we were out without the kids we couldn't stop thinking about them.  For instance Max is big on saying "excuse me" when he wants us to move out of the way...except it sounds more like "mee me" most of the time.  All night when we'd squeeze our way up to the bar to order drinks Billy and I kept saying "mee me, mee me" and laughing harder than the joke really warranted.  Proof that we really are just dorky parents now.

So, while we were doing a little of this...

The boys were doing a little of this...

And when we were doing a bit of this...

And this...

The stinkers were doing a bit of this...

We had such a great time with old friends.  It reminded me of the days when we would spend weekends at "the lake" being crazy when we didn't have much to be responsible for.  Except this was even better because when we crawled (quite literally) into our bed at the end of the night we were next to two sleeping munchkins.  They were sleeping off a wild night of their own.

Thanks goodness for grandparents!

A few other pics from the weekend...

Max playing cars in the hallway of our B&B.

Max and Boobo got matching band-aids for their matching owies :(

Max making the best of his time in the car.

Hallow's Eve

Halloween was a huge hit with Max this year.  Last Halloween (click here) was fun, but he wasn't too sure what was going on at just 8 months old.  It's amazing how much can change in a year! 

Check out my sweet babe:

This seems like a million years ago and yesterday all at the same time. 
Thanks for humoring me as I reminisce :)

Anyway, I decided Sullivan would be a rocket ship after wracking my brain for an idea that would enable me to stick him in the baby carrier.  After I came up with Sully's costume I thought it would be cute to dress Max as an astronaut.  And what a pair they turned out to be...

Max and I went to the library and got books on astronauts a week prior to the big day so he could get excited about his costume.  He practiced saying "As-tro-naut" and "Trick-or-Treat" all week.  I love that he'll attempt to repeat everything I ask him to.  My mom asked him to say "Hippopotamus" the other day just for fun. Hilarious I tell you.

 We went to Jennifer and Adam's so Max could trick-or-treat with cousin Annabelle.  
Such a cute little ladybug!

I have to say I've never been a "Halloween person".  I was always the girl that showed up with generic red "devil horns" to a costume party b/c I didn't feel creative enough to come up with a clever costume.  But making costumes the past two years has been so much fun. 

At the first house, Max walked right in the front door...not realizing that we weren't invited to stay.
 I told him "No, just take a piece of candy and say "thanks" 

He took two handfuls then looked at me and then at the home owner to see if we were going to stop him :)  He's no fool.  Put a bucket of candy in front of a guy and he'll take all he can carry.

Seeing him run from door to door in his little space suit made me the happiest momma ever.  I'm worried that he'll now think that knocking on a stranger's doors will yield free candy on any given day.

All the way home in the car Max kept saying "Thanks Mom.  Thanks Dad." with a cute little chocolate-covered mouth.  His sweetness melts my heart.

Also, I definitely can't let a holiday go by without torturing at least one of my children :)   Here's Sullivan earlier in the day as Baby Dracula... 

"Momma, what are you doing with that hair brush and why are you laughing??"