Pic Download

Today I noticed that I have 758 pictures on my phone and a zillion more on the computer.  I wanted to dump as many as I could into a post so I could start blogging with a clean slate.

It's sort of like the weather lately - out with the cold and in with Spring.  We've been spending as much time as possible outside - the park, the yard, the alley.  I still think it's funny to say to the kids, "Go out and play in the alley with your friends!"  It's even weirder to say, "So the other day I was hanging with my neighbors in the alley drinking some beer..." 

It's a little (just a little) more refined than it sounds.  Anyhoo - here are the pics.

We're All In This Together

All of my babies sucked their thumbs from the time they were newborns. It’s a subconscious comfort technique, and to this day they’ll still often suck away while they’re sleeping. There were many times when people would say, “You need to break them of that habit - you don’t want them sucking their thumbs when they’re in middle school!”

When I was pregnant with my fourth boy and people found out the gender, their most common response was, “Are you going to try again for a girl?!?”

I can’t stop my infant baby from sucking his thumb, just like I can’t decide whether he’s a boy or a girl. There are many things that, as a parent, are out of my control.

Then there are those things that are in my control. What they eat and when, how much TV they watch, what clothes they wear, and how I discipline their behavior. Those are all my choices that as a parent I need to consciously think through.

Understanding those differences are a key aspect of parenting, and one that we often forget. I was reminded of this today when I checked Facebook and read this post:

Sitting in lab waiting room, people watching. Why do people insist on giving their infants bottles full of juice? Does this bother anyone else???

And here were the responses:

•  It doesn't bother me as much as sippy cups full of soda! :)
• That's why more and more kids have cavities. Tell everyone you know...Baby teeth MATTER!
• Um, YES!!! Dental hygienist here!
• Yes, and not to mention pre-disposition to diabetes later. :/
• That is a pet peeve of mine along w/ people who give their babies/toddlers bottles in their crib.
• We always watered down the juice. Also...Don't let the 3 and 4 year olds walk around with a bottle or pacifier! That is just plain laziness on the parent’s part! Wean them at a year old!
• Yes, it bothers me a great deal ...along with so many other issues..like a pacifier, our boys never had them and people wonder why their children are not speaking??
• Agreed...although Porter has a pacifier (only to sleep), if your child is old enough for juice, they are old enough for a sippy cup (with watered down no sugar added juice)!!!
• Bottle gone at 1 year and personally, I see nothing wrong with pacifiers to sleep until at the MOST 2.
• Reminds me of when I was at the laundry mat to wash my comforter....18 mo old walking around with a bottle of Coke, blew my mind.....then again Owen had his pacifier until 3 (only to sleep after a little under 2 :)
• That's ridiculous. Next thing you know she's gonna offer that wee babe a smoke. ;)
• I never gave juice in a bottle. If they are old enough for juice then they are old enough for a sippy cup. And hopefully it is more water then juice!
• How about a mom giving her 9 month old a slim Jim in the ER waiting room? I seriously wanted to get my neck punch on!!!
• [My response]: It doesn’t bother me at all. Maybe the baby needs juice for medical reasons. Maybe she can’t afford formula for all of the feeds. I always like to hope that moms support each other, understand that everyone’s situation is different, and know that we make the best choices we can for our individual kids and families.

Moms: We have to stick together. We have to assume innocence. We have to realize that there may be unknown back stories affecting other people’s choices.

At the end of all of the rants and raves, the original writer of that Facebook post commented a second time:

• Rebecca - You're right. Our job as moms is hard enough without outside criticism. I appreciate the positive thought! When I see stuff like that, though, I hope it is in the best interest of that child. All we can hope is that everyone does their best.

Here's to positive thoughts for us all.

Puppet Show

Not only was the delivery of bunk beds an exciting time here in Kerper land - almost equally as cool was the arrival of the mattresses.  Because they came in a really. big. box.  And boxes are fun for little kids.

The boys asked me to turn it into a puppet show theater - or "Pubd show" as phonetically spelled by our master decorator Cole.

Cole worked dilligently on his puppet - a groundhog named "Groundhog."  The kid's got talent and originality.  Nice.

From there they fought over who would put on the show and who would watch, the puppet's real name (Cole insisted it was "Groundhog" but Ry wasn't buying it), whether the audience (me) should clap before or after the performance, etc. etc. 

So here's all of my hard work (I even gave it a door with a knob) quarantined in the kitchen because I couldn't stand to hear anymore fighting.

Family bonding at its finest. 



Toothie

All of my boys were/are late to get their teeth.  Dean will be 2 in a few months and we're still waiting on some of his chompers to pop through.

For this reason, it wasn't a huge surprise when Ry was late to loose his first tooth.  This didn't come as any sense of comfort to the poor kid, especially when he was the last of his friends to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. 

So imagine our surprise and delight when he lost #1.  Only to be followed by a literal loss because he misplaced said tooth about 5 minutes after it fell out of his face.

So we wrote a note and lo & behold, the Tooth Fairy still came.  Cut to yesterday when he was eating an apple, and out popped #2.  I put it in a plastic bag so we were sure not to loose it.  And whaddaya know - we lost it.

Phil whipped up this note and all was well with the world:



I don't know where all of these teeth are going.  I figure (a) Sammie is stock-piling them for some doggie arts & crafts project, or (b) There really is a tooth fairy scooping them up. 

I calculated that we'll eventually work through 80 lost teeth (I did that math myself).  Hopefully we get this under control before the other boys get into the mix, otherwise Sammie is going to build up quite a collection.

I Like To Say Cheese

I was going through my phone's camera roll and started to pick up on a theme.  Looks like I really enjoy taking pictures of myself with the kiddos.

I'm not sure why I do this, but looking at them all at once is sort of funny.  Like the one where Charlie is hysterically crying and there's Mom, just smiling away like nothing's even happening.

Sort of the story of my life, I guess.

 

Downtime

How many nights have I been lying in bed watching the Real Housewives, thinking “I’m SO tired. Why don’t I just go to sleep?”

I really don’t watch that much TV - but I spend so much time on my phone and computer that I feel like my brain is on screen overload. I can’t realistically shut down the gadgets because I need them for work, so I’ve made a decision. For the month of March I’m not going to watch TV.

There are some important caveats that I feel need to be documented…

1. Being that I work for a television retailer (and have 2 big-screen plasmas in my office) I have to watch that channel. But it will be for work purposes, not entertainment.
2. If the kids want me to snuggle on the couch while they watch a cartoon, I’ll do it. But my main priority will be the snuggle, not the Spongebob plotline.

Other than that I think I’m going to give my brain a break. Focus on some other things in life. Photography, journaling, organizing, exercise.

I’ll miss you Tamara, Vicki, Top Chef contestants, Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, and all you other reality TV personalities. I hope your lives are able to go on without me for the next month.

Overheard

The other day Cole and I were in the car and the song Lean On Me came on. When it was over Cole said, "Mommy - when I'm a grown up, and we don't live with each other anymore, I'll call you if you ever need a friend.  Actually I'll call you every day if you want me to."

So then my heart melted all over the car.

Cut to this morning - we were walking in a parking lot and I was singing a song that was stuck in my head.  Ryan said, "Can you puh-lease stop singing?  You're embarassing me."

Thanks for keeping me humble Ry.

Why Have A Regular Whoopie Cushion When You Can Have A Mega Whoopie Cushion

There are many things that I find amusing about this post/story.  The good news is that Phil is and always will be a kid at heart, which is one of the reasons I love the crazy guy so much.

1. He took Cole to a party at Oasis and claims to have spent over $20 playing some game because it was "addictive".  Note that Phil played this game, not Cole.

2. Once the $20 was down the drain, he gave his tickets to Cole so he could get a Mega Whoopie Cushion.

3. He basically pushed Cole out of the way in this video so he could be the first to give it a test run.

4. The best part was when the boys fell to the floor in a fit of laughter.  Thank you, Mega Whoopie Cushion, for bringing the family together. 

Sad, but true.  I'll take what I can get.

Do You Know How Much I Love You?

On this Valentine's Day, I wanted to write a note to each of the boys about my love for them.  If for no other reason, it'll be a nice reminder to look at when they're driving me nuts. 

Love you all,
Mom xoxo

Wordle

I've been having so much fun playing around with Wordle.  It creates clouds that display which words appear most frequently on web pages.

I wordled our blog and here's what came up.  Of course my eyes went right to: Intense / Ashamed / Scream / Chaos.

But I'm just happy that mixed in with those words our blog also contains: Idea / Appreciate / Dreams / Laughter.

Also I'm happy that the word "pretty" appeared larger than the word "bite" - for some reason this gives me a feeling of parental peace. Try it for yourself and let me know if you have any wordle epiphanies of your own.



One Picture A Day

When Ryan was born we took a zillion pictures.  First bite of solid food.  First step. First trip in the big boy car seat. It was pretty intense.

By the time we got to our fourth, life (and diapers) were keeping us from the camera a little bit.

So last year I made a commitment to take a picture every day and post them on Facebook.  As I looked back on it, I documented the year plus took a lot of great pics of the kids that could have been otherwise missed.

Since it was such a hit, I've decided to try again in 2012.  With one month down I realize that I still love the concept, but need to take less pics with my phone.  Maybe I can spin this as an excuse to get the DSLR of my dreams? 

The good news is that the themes are still the same.  Craziness, chaos, trouble, and laughter...lots of laughter.

Livin' the dream baby!!



The Hills Are Alive

There’s a right of passage every parent must go through…the glorious children's concerts. At our daycare, they like to fancy it up by calling it the Winter Gala – which I have to say I appreciate because it does make the whole thing feel pretty special.

First up was Dean. I have no pics or video because it was pretty chaotic, plus he kept trying to hit the other kids with his sparkly red top hat. I know this sounds pretty awesome but I felt too ashamed to record it.

So next up came Cha. I only included his grand entrance, which cracked me up because he just lit up when he saw me (it’s not often that I feel this appreciated).

Then the grand finale. Cole channeled his inner Von Trappe child and belted it out for his fans. I’ll spare you the whole song – it feels like it goes on longer than the actual Sound of Music movie - but here’s a little snippet to whet your whistle.

The good news – they all performed much better than years past when we were pretty much boo’d out of the room for our unruly children. And since I didn’t fess up to the crowd that Dean was mine, no one pointed a finger at the mom with the hat-hitting-kid.

Score one for motherhood.

This Is The Story Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Charlie is a classic two-year-old with Jekyll & Hyde syndrome. He can throw a mean tantrum, has been known to take half an hour to pick out the specific clothes he wants, and can scream so loud that the neighbors come running.

On the other hand, he's a major lovebug. He'll dish out sweet cuddly kisses, snuggle on the couch for hours on end, and pet my hair saying, "Momma you look so preeeety."

The other day he was feelin' the love, and I was the lucky recipient. I'm thinking I won't get all of this attention when when he's a teenager so I'm soaking it all in now. MUAH!