More from Ella...

I'm slacking again. I know. I suck.
Lately, when the kids say something funny, I will run to my laptop, and open a new Post-It note on my screen, and type whatever it is that they said. This is the easiest way for me to remember, because, well....my laptop is always open and on. (I have a slight addiction to Facebook. But really, who doesn't?)
So, here's a few of the humorous lines from Ella.

*It's morning, and I've already been woken up by Grayson crawling into my bed. I am trying to go back to sleep, and I hear the pitter-patter of little feet in the hallway. It's Ella.
"Good morning!" she says very loudly.
"Wow," I say. "You sure are perky this morning."
"I was born to be perky," she says.

*I was forced to move our couch to a different spot in the living room, to keep the kids from climbing on it and using it as a ladder to get onto the kitchen table. I asked Ella, "What do you think Daddy will say about where I moved the couch?"
"What the Hell?" she replies.

*When deciding who should read a book to her, Brady or me, Ella says, "You're both really great and I love you. I don't want any of you to be sad that you didn't get to read me a book. So I vote for....Mama."

*Ella: "How do you say, 'go,' in English?"
Me: "Go."
Ella: "How do you say it in Spanish?"
Me: "Vamanos."
Ella: "No, that means, 'let's go'."
I just stare at her for a few seconds.

*I overhear Ella and Grayson talking in my bedroom, while they are watching cartoons.
Ella says to Grayson, "The barber is where you get a haircut. Oh, and you get to play dominoes."

Ella is busy, busy, busy!

This week has been filled with activity....at least for Ella. It was a week filled with tee ball, swimming lessons, and summer camp. Poor Grayson, though, just got to hang out.

Monday's tee ball game was cancelled due to rain. And the rain is another issue for another day. Let's just say Mother Nature and I are on the "outs." Friday is Ella's last tee ball game of the summer. I can't believe she's done already! She seemed to enjoy it, but who knows. She's 5. She changes her opinion every 30 minutes!

Tuesday was the first swim lesson of the summer at Miller Aquatics. She was super excited! She loves the water. However she's still a little apprehensive about putting her head all the way in the water. We made sure that she was in the same session as one of our friends from C.A.R.E. in hopes that it might make it more fun. It's always easier to go into a new situation if you know someone else, right? When we got there, a little boy from her preschool class was there too. She's sorta indifferent to B. Sometimes she says he's nice, but mostly she stays away from him because he's "mean."

Wednesday, Ella had her first taste of summer camp. She is attending Eco Adventure Camp at Homer Lake. It's only one day a week for 1 1/2 hours, but it's still camp. Again, she was very excited, and again, we had a friend sign up for the same class. One of the boys from preschool, Bryson, is also in the camp class. In fact, because his mom runs a home daycare, I offered to take Bryson to and from camp for her. And again, when we got there, we discovered another boy from her preschool enrolled in this camp. What's humorous, is that the other boy, Andrew, is the boy who Ella had decided 9 months ago was to be her husband. Now, she's decided she's going to marry Bryson. (Collin was in between these two, BTW) I'm fine with her new choice. Bryson is adorable, nice, and doesn't seem to be one of those "mean" boys. And the fact that I like his family puts icing on the cupcake! (I didn't much care for Andrew's family).
Today, she had another swim lesson. Her teacher said that she was head-under a few times today. Yes! My hope is that by the end of summer, she'll be able to actually move a few feet under water - actually swimming!

Tomorrow we are hoping to get a playdate in with Ella's best friend, Eleni and her family. It's going to be a hot one, so I'm thinking a trip to the park early in the morning might be our best bet. Eleni's younger brother is a few months younger than Grayson, so both of my kids get someone to play with. It doesn't hurt that Eleni's mom, Sarah, is super-nice too!

There is a summer festival at Ella's preschool tomorrow night. (I probably should stop calling it "Ella's preschool" since she's done with it, but oh well). There is going to be food, bouncies, a dog Frisbee show of some sort, and other random stuff. But with it being the last night of tee ball, I'm thinking we'll skip the festival.

So while Ella is having all this fun, poor Grayson is just hanging out with me. I had planned on taking him on a nature hike while she was at camp Wednesday. However, Grayson injured his toe on Tuesday afternoon. I have no idea how it happened, but he tore a chunk of skin off the bottom of his toe while playing in our backyard. It's bandaged, and is finally starting to harden over, but I wasn't going to chance him stepping in a mud puddle and soaking it. He was not happy about not getting to go on a hike, but he got over it. Plus, he gets super sweaty feet, and no band-aid would have held up to that! I'm letting him out of his "cage" (he had to sit in the car with me today at swim lessons) to run and play tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers the toe will be fine.

It's no vacation here!

Summer vacation is here. Why do they call it that? I'm thinking this summer is going to be in no way/shape/form a vacation for me.

I've listened to moms complain year after year about having their kids home for summer. I've never really understood what the big deal was all about. Unless you are a working parent, and have to worry about getting a babysitter, summer should be a piece of cake! Summer gives you plenty of time to bond with your kids. You can go swimming, hang out outside at the park or the zoo. Unless you have no planned activities, you can just go with the flow. Everyone should love summer, right? Oh how naive I was.

This is Ella's second "summer vacation." Last year, we traveled a lot. Grayson was still a little guy, only being 2, and just wanted to run around outside. He didn't care where we were, he just wanted to run. I made things easy by filling up the swimming pools and letting the kids loose in the backyard. I grilled hot dogs for lunch, and provided lots of Popsicles. Many times, I made up excuses as to why we couldn't go outside to play....on days when I was just not interested in being in the heat.

This summer is a whole new experience already, and it's only been a week! The kids are constantly fighting with each other. Grayson is older now, so he's talking back, and standing up for himself. They've been driving me crazy, and I've been yelling a lot more than usual.

Both kids are already asking to go places other than the backyard - the zoo, a museum, the mall (Ella's asking for this one), the park, a friend's house, the gym.....anywhere that's not here. As much as I love going places, it's not always possible. I've got chores to do at home. Sometimes I'm tired and just want to chill on the couch. Lately, it's been raining a lot. I could let them go outside and get muddy in the backyard, or at the park, but I really don't want to.

With luck, our pool will be finished in a couple weeks, and that might make things easier. But if I know my son, he'll want to be in it ALL THE TIME. Which means I'll have to be in it ALL THE TIME. Grayson doesn't understand that sometimes, Mommy has other things to do. As nice as it would be to lounge in the pool all day, it's not possible.

I'm working on setting up playdates for Ella...perhaps on a weekly schedule. I'll let a friend come over on a Wednesday, if Ella can go to their house on a Friday. My other mom-friends understand and are going through the same thing with their kids. We know that we need to stick together to make it through the next 3 months, or we'll all be medicated by the 4th of July!

I was hoping for a care-free, laid-back sort of summer. That's not going to happen. I need to make a plan, and follow through. Damn it!

I. Will. Try. Harder. Promise.

There are days when I can't believe I wanted to be a writer. I can't even keep a journal or a blog! I need to get with it. I started this to document my family's life....I have not done a very good job. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I am going to try harder. I really am.

Ella is a walking commercial

Ella loves to talk. She loves to sing. She loves to hum...especially at the dinner table while she's eating. It drives me crazy, but it's a little cute too. She makes up her own songs and melodies all the time.

When she was younger, she would sing commercial jingles. At first it was just a few lines from the commercial, then it progressed to the whole thing. One of her favorites is the "Five Dollar Footlong" song from the Subway commercials.

This morning, I heard her reciting something familiar. I had her repeat it, and I almost fell over laughing. I made her do it again so I could get a video, and here it is:

"You cut, rip and tear. But your brownies never turn out square. Need a hand? Now there's brownie pan!"

Happy Birthday Grayson!!

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the slide show I made for Little Man's 3rd birthday!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Joys of raising a boy.

When I found out I was pregnant with Grayson, I was excited to be having a boy. "Now I'll have one of each," I thought. I was a little worried about caring for a baby with a penis though. I had no experience with that. I'd never babysat a baby boy, and I knew there were going to be things I couldn't explain from a personal perspective to this little man of mine.

In his infant years, I remember changing Grayson's poopy diapers and being amazed at all the places the poop could settle. I really had no idea there were so many folds and crevices on a male scrotum. I guess I never really paid attention to it before. But really? I had no reason to.


I remember the first time I saw his morning infant erection. I like to call it his "baby-wood." (I'm horrible, I know.) It sorta freaked me out. I didn't think he could do that at such an early age.


I've tried to ask Brady about certain things, and he's no help. I don't know if he's uncomfortable talking about this stuff, or what. He never urinates in front of Grayson, and so the poor kid really has no idea about the whole "stand to pee" thing.


A few weeks ago, we were at my parent's house. My nephew and niece were there too. I was changing my nephew's diaper and Grayson was watching with interest. It has only been recent that Grayson has realized his pee-pee is different from Ella's. He's starting to discover himself more. I hadn't realized that since this new "discovery" that he hasn't seen another penis. A few days after he saw me change that diaper, he said something that took me a few seconds to figure out.


I was changing Grayson's diaper. He sat up and was touching his penis. He said, "I have it like Lucian." He was saying that he and Lucian have the same parts. I told him "Yes! You and Lucian both have the same pee-pee! Good job." I was excited that he noticed the similarity.


There have been a few times where he is sitting on the potty before bath-time, and after peeing, he pulls on his penis and looks at the head. "Yuck!" he says. Poor kid.


About a week ago, I had him on the potty in the morning. He had a dry diaper when he woke up, and I wanted to take advantage. It was cold in the bathroom, and I wasn't prepared for what I was going to see.


I was squatted in front of Grayson to make sure there was no random flying pee, and while I watched, I saw shrinkage in action. It was crazy. I could actually see one testicle move inside the scrotum, and then the other one. They pulled up close to his body and then the skin surrounding them shrank so quickly I would have missed it if I'd have blinked. I'd never seen this happen before. I knew it did, but I'd never witnessed it.


Apparently it scared Grayson. He looked at me and with a very worried voice he said, "Momma, what happened to my belly?" I touched his belly and said, "Here?" "No, there" he said as he touched his penis. "It's ok," I told him. I had no idea how to explain what we both just witnessed to an almost 3 year-old.


I know as Grayson gets bigger there will be more questions that I won't be able to answer. I just hope that my husband gets over his feelings of awkwardness for talking to the boy about these things. I certainly can't explain how things are supposed to happen or feel.