Body image

So Will's at that stage when he's starting to notice body parts. Sometimes to amusing results.



Case in point: lately, he's been waking up with a bit of an erection (and I hope I never have to make note of that again) which he's noticed when changing his diaper in the morning. The first time Will saw this, he exclaimed "Whoa! Big penis!".



The other day I got out of the shower and Jason let Will into the bathroom to see me. When I opened the door of the shower stall, Will looked at my crotch and said "Ew! Dirty!". Although lately he's been wanting to wipe me when I'm peeing, so it must not freak him out that much.



I guess he's ready to start potty training?

Will eats!

I feed my child.

I feed my child:

Chee-tos

Yogurt

and bananas.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Another birthday post, folks!
Janice (aka Grandma) turned 50 this past Friday and Robert asked Kristy to put together a small party. And I helped!

We decided on a game-night theme and Party City helpfully obliged.



I'm a lame decorator. This is nothing new. Janice loved it, so that's all that matters.

Robert was in charge of flowers and he COMPLETELY rocked his role (heh). He got a bouquet for Dora (she was in charge of Kylie that day so Kristy could get stuff ready), one for me (obviously) and one for Kristy (even more obviously). The ones above? Those were for Janice. Those f-ers were heavy.

And a shot of the birthday girl. We all know I can't take a picture worth a crap so I posted the best one I've got. Don & Marsha surprised Janice by making the trip in and everyone had a great time playing Dominoes (Jenny and I should never sit next to each other)

Happy Birthday Abba!

Today is Mom’s birthday.

The past two years with Will has made me really appreciate my mom (and y’all know how much I already appreciate my mom). I’ve realized I need to get a move on if I’m going to half as awesome as my mom is/has been her entire life.

My mom made the birthday book for my elementary school library. Every child in that school got to choose a book in honor of his/her birthday; the child’s name and the name of the book was recorded in this… what I can only describe as the precursor to scrapbooking (which makes me laugh now knowing my mom’s thinking on scrapbooking). Anyway, there were balloons or presents or cakes or whatnot to transcribe each child’s name/book, but there was only one pink balloon. One pink balloon that had been reserved for Courage, Dana for Jill Calonico because I loved pink balloons.

My mom put notes in my lunch bag every so often, even when I was in high school.

My mom would make me a turkey bacon sandwich every morning if I asked her to (and sometimes I didn’t even have to ask).

My mom apologized and let me cry ran she ran over my first cat. Then, covered in kitty blood, she laughed with my friends and me when she told me she’d run over the second cat (both lived, btw, and went on to have very long kitty lives).

My mom took me to Fuddrucker’s on her 40th birthday because she didn’t want to be home when her birthday Strip-o-Gram arrived (and I’m not sure if I’m supposed to remember that or not).

My mom continued to let me wear my Strawberry Shortcake shoes even after they started smelling so badly they had to left outside at night.

My mom let me drive her fun little red sports car whenever I “needed” to.

My mom made me a Gloria VanderButt jean skirt when I was a kid.

My mom didn’t let me get too scared when I had a large, scary cyst removed. She took care of me.

My mom let me take care of her when she had a small, even more scary lump removed. She still didn’t let me get too scared.

My mom made my homecoming and prom dresses. She made my best friend’s wedding dress when her mom couldn’t.

My mom lives farther away than I’d like and I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like to. But she always answers the phone when I call and will tell me to suck it up when I’m being ridiculous (which is often).

My mom was always my mom when I was growing up, but now she’s my friend, too.

Happy Birthday, Mom—I love you.

Hodge podge

No real rhyme or reason to this, just pictures.

Will refused to get out of his chair, although he'd finished his snack. So we decided drawing would be the best use of his time. Ah, to think back to the hundreds of (collective) hours amassed on this kitchen table (to those who don't know, this is the kitchen table from my parents' old house. I inherited it when they moved. For my birthday this year, my parents hauled themselves up here and worked for hours [in May, in Texas, in my garage] sanding and staining this table to my precise specifications. I'm not all spoiled).

These shots are actually a couple hours after the previous ones. Will's eating again. On the counter.
After dinner and bath, I put Will in his Halloween costume (I do this so he gets used to it. He's not normally a big fan of hats, but he's making an exception for Halloween).
He's going to be a pirate, although the above shot reminds me of Oliver! "Please sir, can I have some more?"
"Food, glorious food!"

Actually, here you can really tell the pirate-ness of the costume. It comes with spats to go over his shoes but I didn't put them on yet. That disembodied hand is me holding Pirate Pablo which inspired Will's love of pirates (not Captain Feathersword).

After Dark in the Park

Today I realized that the Metroplex area turns into Stars Hollow when the weather gets "cooler" (meaning under 90 degrees) and we have umpteen different festivals going on. I'm pretty proud to say that Jason and I have been getting off our duffs and partaking in many of these.

This weekend is the annual "After Dark in the Park" festival, which we also attended last year with our good friends, The Harpers.

Will's favorite part, without a doubt, is the fire truck. Luckily, we got there before the fire truck was called away for fire-truck-ly duties, and we got the requisite picture in front of it.
Then we realised that, instead of waiting in the long line to sit in in the back seat and have your picture taken, we could go around the truck and immediately have Will's picture taken in the front seat. So we did.
Will helped himself to pushing a few buttons. Relax, he got permission.
We headed over to the pumpkin patch where Will picked out some of his favorites, then proceeded to roll, kick or throw them to other children in attendance. I really, really thought he was going to launch one at the baby in the corner of the above photo, but that crisis was somehow averted. Baby's mom was very cool about the near miss though. Thanks, Baby's Mom!
It was a long night and Will was very tired by the end of it. He just needed to stop and take a little rest for the long hayride back to the car.

Seriously, we turn into Stars Hollow.

Putting the hurt in yoghurt (British spelling)

Will helped himself to some yogurt (or yoghurt, for my English brethren)
"No Momma! No help"
Going.
Going.
Gone!

A(nother) look into the future

Thursdays are spent with the Greats; Will looks forward to this every week because not only does he get his dose of Grandpa and Garbage Trucks, he also gets to wear his backpack.
Which he loves.
He also loves his pirate shirt. I went to put clothes on him this morning (after a dirty diaper that was so massive he had to go straight into the tub) and he saw this shirt and insisted on wearing it. Thanks, Abba.

Story time

The ultimate Jason Story (the one that started Jason Stories) involves his boyfriend, Phillip H. Screwdriver. Jason used to have an old Corvair and one hot summer day, his dad asked Jason to move the car out of the driveway so they could play basketball (or something). So Jason, still in his swim trunks and nothing else, hops into the car.

Forgetting that he'd left a screwdriver (fat end up) wedged in the seat of his car.

It managed to get caught on his swimsuit as he did the aforementioned hopping and wedged itself elsewhere in his anatomy.

Being the loving wife I am, not only have I never let him forget this, but I also post about it on a blog for the whole wide world to see.

I thought I looked okay today...

But someone just asked me when I would be starting my maternity leave.

A few of our favorite things

With one major exception, I've gotten all the thank-you cards out, but wanted to call some people out for their excellent gifts.


Up first, we have The Godparents They supplied the Inflatable giga ball which carries it's own weight in awesomeness. Thanks, Dave. Also, the completely rocking airbrushed t-shirt, complete with sparkles.

It took Jason an entire air compressor to inflate the Gigaball enough for maximum viewing and playing. I've been trying for the past 45 minutes to upload a picture only to find out it's not a picture I have but a 4 minute video. I love y'all too much to make you suffer through the screeching heard on that clip. You're welcome.

Funcle Matt got Will a jackhammer (complete with earmuffs and gloves--safety first!). I love that toy a bit more than Will at this point, but give it time.

Finally, Abba & Poppa came through with the Black and Decker tool bench. Will and I both love this thing (actually, Kylie does too--apparently the screwdriver is good for gums). The little mini-circular saw actually has little gold flecks so when the saw spins, it looks like it's shooting out sparks.

I had a bit of a pity-party for myself on Will's actual birthday, but getting to open this stuff up w/ Will and seeing his little face light up when I told him something was from Violet or Funcle just made everything worth it. Thanks, guys.

Sundays with Kylie

Jason's been a bit short-handed at work the past week or so. He had a store on Sunday and recruited most of the family (it sounds so tawdry--like The Godfather) to work with him. So I got the pleasure of hanging with Will & Kylie on Sunday morning.

We watched some Pablo and drank some milk. Kylie chewed on a screwdriver. No big deal.

Oh no, I'm sorry--the picture above is what's tawdry. I'm not quite sure what's going on there. Either Kylie shat a cup of milk or Will's trying to sodomize his cousin. Fitting, considering the ultimate Jason story.

This post just took a really bad turn. Let's move on to something a bit more wholesome:

Ah, baseball. That fits. Go Rays!

Birthday party

Sorry these posts are so delayed. The week between Will's birthday party and actual birthday was an emotional one; everything's gone as back to normal as we can expect in the immediate future--with everyone home and tucked safely in their beds--so I've finally gotten around to loading and posting some pictures.

In a break from the usual posts, there will be no witty captions between shots.

Janice and Robert (Grandma & Poppy) gave Will a tricycle, which was a big hit at the party. Colton's giving Will a push while Madilyn patrols.
OK, except for this one. I look awesome, don't I? I haven't taken a decent picture in well over a year, but I'm loving myself in this one. Jovie just wants to know when she can get a damn cupcake.

Sorry, one more: please notice the arrangement of cupcakes. Janice spent a good twenty minutes arranging them so no cupcake papers of the same color were placed together. Perhaps I shouldn't have pointed that out?
We got so super-lucky with this party, by the way. First of all, the weather was awesome: I don't think I even sweat (as evidenced by my fabulous picture above). All the truck decorations were on clearance at Party City for fifty cents. I didn't cry once during all the prep work, nor did I swear at Jason. I remained relatively stress-free until Mom and I tried to assemble the Tonka truck centerpieces. FYI, there was a reason there were twenty left at fifty cents a piece: they put the (pain in the) ass in assembly.

FINALLY!

How've you been? Haven't talked to you in a while, hope you're well.

Come on in!
Have a seat! (Daddy built, Momma painted)

I've decorated just for you! (Also, please note that you can see the roll of TP travels entirely down the hall into the bathroom. And I haven't cleaned in a while)

Good night!