Twas the night before one...

... and all through the city,
a little boy's screams could be heard
Teething certainly is...

CRAPPY!

Yes, I wanted to say it, but I decided to hold back.

As you could probably tell by the above bit a "poetry", Mattias has finally sprouted teeth, meaning he beat his sister by 4 whole months.

We're not going to tell her that, because she's a tad bit competitive.

If that wasn't enough, Mattias also took his first steps this month. How I have missed that wobbly drunk-baby walk!

The month preceding his first birthday has been the hardest yet, mostly due to the aforementioned teeth. I really don't remember it being this dramatic with Elise, but I'm ready to put Mattias on a 24 hour advil drip.

We have also discovered that Mattias is a bit of a ham. He'll do anything for a laugh, and when he gets on out of you, he'll do whatever it was that made you laugh in the first place over and over again, cackling like a madman.

Hard to believe that tomorrow my little man will be one. I love this little guy to pieces, despite his crazy ways.

Tennis anyone?

Hangin' with Seven


Showing he's man enough to vacuum, with a pink one, no less

Love those baby blues


I love these ones too

Trying to stay cool

Okay, I know that seeing my son climb the stairs with a golf ball in his mouth and the first thing I do is grab my camera is not a sign of good parenting... but come on! How funny is that picture?

Strike a pose

Enjoying a blueberry pancake

Smoooooothie!

I can't hear you!

But I'll blow you a kiss!

Enjoying his smash cake at his birthday party

Pulling sister's hair

Celebrating Elise's birthday... birthday buddies!

Keeping cool at the water park with Avó Teresa

She's 4

Dear Elise,

When you have children, people love to tell you, "cherish these days, they will be grown before you know it." And while you are not yet grown, you are 4. Which is almost the same thing to me. I blinked, and my tiny baby morphed into a pre-schooler. They really must put some sort of crazy hormones in that milk.
Although I do miss you as a baby, you have grown into such an amazing little girl. You have the sweetest heart and I have never met a child that feels so deeply. I honestly don't think you have a mean bone in your body. Thankfully, your mother does and stands ready to give an atomic wedgie to anybody who dares to make you cry.
That's not to say that you are a wimp. Quite the contrary. You are probably stronger that most adults. Perhaps it's because of the diabetes, but I think it's just who you are; strong spirited.
Elise, you are beautiful; inside and out. And while most people comment on your outer beauty, I want you to remember to stay beautiful on the inside. You are kind. You are generous. You are loving and the best big sister to Mattias. I love who you are; a quirky, fun princess with a huge imagination and a heart to match.
Four years have now passed since the first moment I held you in my arms. And I have held you everyday since. It never gets old.

Thank you for making me a Mom. And happy birthday to my sweet little bean.
Love,

Your Momma

Come Eat Mor Chickin with us TONIGHT!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this... but tonight (August 29), from 5 to 8 PM, the Chick-fil-A in Southlake is again donating a percentage of the proceeds from your meals to Team Elise. Last year, 60 of you joined us for dinner (along with 63 kids) and we raised over $400!

We'll be there starting at 5:00... come and have dinner with us and you'll be supporting Team Elise as we raise money to help find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

Click here for the address.

BTW, if you're able to and you haven't made a donation to Team Elise or registered to walk with us, just click here and then click on Donate Now from any page or on Join Team Elise from the Walk page.

A big thank you to Chick-fil-A Southlake for supporting Team Elise again this year!

When pretty is ugly

In the midst of this record-setting heat, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to entertain and occupy my crazy children. Every morning I wake up, take a quick glance out the window, then turn on the news to confirm my fears. It's going to be another scorcher! 1256th day in row! No end in sight!

Sometimes I wonder if this is what it's like to wake up in prison everyday.

With the walls closing in, I'm trying to find fun and interesting places for Elise and Mattias to expend their energy while making a mess I don't have to clean up. This is how I found myself at our church's indoor play area the other day.

Upon walking into the play area, I could see these girls were going to trouble. Let us call them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (or Dee and Dum for short). They had that look. The "I am so cool and better than you" look. And at the ripe old age of 4, they had perfected the "us four and no more" mindset that seems to be so prevalent here in Texas.

Elise immediately went up to them and asked, "can I be your friend and play with you?" I sucked in my breath, because just looking at Dee and Dum, I knew what the answer would be. Sure enough, Elise came walking back to me with tears in her downcast eyes.

"Mom," she said, "those girls don't want to be my friend. They said they wouldn't play with me and to go away."

Now, anytime anyone hurts my child, be they 4 or 44 , my first instinct is to go all mama bear on their ass. Visions danced through my mind of grabbing them by their little blonde braids and dragging them to a corner where I could hiss into their ears all the mean things I could do to them (starting with cutting off those braids) if they ever dared made my daughter, or any other child, cry again.

Thankfully, I am an adult (or at least act like one on occasion), and decided to instead use this incident as a lesson for Elise.

"Elise," I asked her, "why do you want to play with those girls?"

"Because they're pretty. And I like their headbands."

(Apparently looks and fashion are important to my child. I blame Fred).

"Well," I said, "sometimes people can be pretty on the outside, but ugly on the inside. Do you understand? If you act ugly, and treat people not nice, then I think that makes you ugly on the inside. And it is much more important to be pretty on the inside than on the outside, don't you think?"

"Why?"

"Because, how we act shows who we really are. If we are mean, and make people feel bad, then we are ugly. But if we are kind, and helpful, and friendly; then that makes us beautiful. And if we act like that, that will be the kind of people who will be our friends."

Her face scrunched up and I could tell she was putting a lot of thought into what was coming next. "So", she said, "if I want people to be nice to me, I should be nice to other people?"

Do unto others, people. My 3 year old daughter gets it. Then why is it so hard for adults?

Thankfully, another little girl Elise's age came into the play area and was only too happy to play with Elise. Strangely enough, she too was shot down by Dee and Dum.

As much as I hate for Elise to feel hurt, I am thankful for the lessons she is learning. And thankful for a daughter that is beautiful... inside and out.

Like my new shirt?

You know you want one.

photo courtesy of Elise.

This one goes to 11... it's one louder

Happy 11 months to my crazy little boy. Heavy emphasis on the crazy. I love this little guy so much, but oy... he wears me out. I've discovered that if I put him down and turn my back for 10 seconds, he can get into the following:

-climbing the stairs.

-tipping over the dog's water dish.

-finding any bug/crumb/dust bunny/dog fur ball and putting it in his mouth.

-playing in the toilet.

The phrase, "where's Mattias?" is uttered often in our house. As well as; "Mattias STOP!", "Mattias, NO!", and, "WHAT ARE YOU EATING NOW???"

This month Mattias got sick for the first time since he was born. It was a pretty nasty tummy bug, and like all nasty tummy bugs, it started at 3:00 in the morning. He didn't let it slow him down, and we discovered he loves saltines!

His latest thing is giving kisses. And by kisses, I mean he sticks his tongue out and licks you. But it's cute... I promise. Especially when you ask him for a kiss, and he comes crawling at you with the most adorable, cock-eyed grin and his tongue starting to stick out.

He's babbling a lot these days, and as well as saying hi, bye, ola, Mama, and Papa; I'm pretty sure he said "Elise" the other day. While he does his Gollum-crawl around the house, you can often hear him muttering, "bucka, bucka, bucka."

We're still trying to figure out the translation on that one.

Like I said, I love this kiddo so much. He's 100% boy. He makes me tired. And a little bit crazy. But oh my is he ever-so-squeezable! Can he really be 11 months already?

Lunch time! Yeah... that IS a pink bib he's wearing... so?

Playing in baby jail


Trying to get him to sit still for a picture is like trying to herd a cat

He's hatching some sort of plot

That face sums it all up... he's CRAZY!

Watching some TV

Sweet boy

Mmmm, mashed potatoes!

Love his sweet face!

Trying to control the uncontrollable by peeing in a cup

There is so much in life that we are unable to control. And to a person whose eye starts twitching at the mere thought of loss of control, that is a tough pill to swallow.

My life lately has been an exercise in "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." Perhaps there's a lesson I need to be learning here.

Perhaps not.

All I know is, there may or may not be a curse upon our new house. And I seem to have lost my ability to control curses, because nothing is working. Let's look at the facts, shall we?

We move in. I notice that wasps have colonized the outside of our house. I cannot abide by flying, stinging insects. Bugman is called. Pricetag? $180.

Fred tries to use sprinkler system. Sprinkler system does not work properly. Fred calls guy out too look at it. Price tag to fix? $1500. We do not fix it. Fred does. For $4.

Ants have infested our upstairs bathroom. I will not share my house with insects. Bugman is called. Pricetag? Actually free... included in the $180 mentioned above.

Elise contracts a mystery rash. A very BAD mystery rash. That STILL isn't completely gone. Pricetag? Pedi visit + derm visit + over-the-counter meds + rx meds... you do the math.

Big storm causes tree limb to fall on Fred's car doing $3500 worth of damage. Pricetag? $500 deductible.

A car driving by (or something just as insignificant) causes another limb to fall, narrowly missing Fred's car. We decided to rid ourselves of this arbored-menace and have it cut down. Pricetag? $280.

Ants move their infestation to the downstairs bathroom. Bugman called yet again. Pricetag? Included.

Downstairs AC goes out. Home warranty people contacted. Run around given. Three different companies come to diagnose. Days go by. Part ordered from Texarkana. More days go by (apparently they are WALKING the part to Dallas). Phone calls made. Joanne is angered. Temperatures reach 87 degrees in the house. Joanne's head explodes. Eight days later AC is fixed. Pricetag? $134 + so much pain and suffering.

This is all in one month, people.

The latest trial is that there is a mole (or moles) in our backyard, threatening to do damage to all the hard work Fred has put into our lawn. I have been enjoying having a lawn that the kids can play on, as opposed to the obstacle course of weeds, fire ant hills, bare patches and mole holes that was the lawn at our old place.

We're not going down without a fight.

Today on the phone my Mom told me you can remedy moles by pouring urine down their holes.

And I was all, "really? Urine? I CAN DO THAT!"

So Fred got a cup and both of us made a contribution to the cause. We then ran giggling like a bunch of idiots to the backyard to pour pee down a hole. It was so awesome, I can't even begin to tell you. Finally... we were taking control of our own destiny (for FREE) and vanquishing the moles!

It's too soon to tell if it's working, but I finally feel like I've gained a little bit of control back in my life.

And if you're ever in our bathroom, and see a cup with the letter "P" written on it. Please don't use it.

For obvious reasons.

A perfect 10

Happy 10 months to my baby boy! My very energetic, doesn't-take-no-for-an-answer, sweet, crazy boy. Lately his nickname is "Flash". As in, if you put him down, he's gone in a... that boy can move! His latest feat is climbing the stairs. He's going to give me a heart attack before he even turns one.

If possible, he has grown even more heart-stoppingly adorable. And speaking of growing... his doctor is satisfied with his growth rate. He's only in the 8th percentile for weight, but 75th for height, and he's maintaining, so we're happy. He's just a tall, skinny boy!

Ready for some cuteness?

Who can resist that face?

Play time!

Loves to splash

Yup, he's pretty much this happy almost all the time!

I'm gonna getcha!

Love those baby blues

Naked baby alert

Did anyone see the full moon this 4th of July?

Happy Canada Day!

When Elise was 10 months old, I took a picture of her holding a Canadian flag and posted it for Canada Day. It's become something of a tradition, and now I get to take pictures of TWO kiddos waving my favourite country's flag.

Happy Canada Day! As Elise said this morning, "I wish we could be with Canada for the big birthday party".

Me too, Elise.

Happy Canada Day everyone!