Mommy's little helper

What doesn't kill him makes him stronger (at least that is what I keep telling myself).

Six Weeks

Yes, at six weeks Mia was having a 2 hour photo session complete with three outfit changes. Bode is lying on the changing table in a vomit stained onesie. I have a feeling he could care less.

You will be best friends, and you will like it.

I think our threats have paid off.

Mia and Raegan, New Years 2004

Mia and Raegan, Summer 2006Mia and Raegan, 10 minutes ago

Tagged by Meredith

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (if you don’t have a blog, email me)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I am so tired right now that my arms and legs feel numb - is that normal?
2. I love Diet Cokes with vanilla from Sonic more than any other food or drink on the planet. I also love fried pickles from Flat Tire Burger but I am blaming those for me going into labor (only a few hours after eating them) therefore I am boycotting them right now.
3. I never made Mia cry herself to sleep until she was 6 months old. Bode is doing it right now. I feel like a terrible mother.
4. I love working at OC and really miss it. I feel like my passion is college students. Speaking of...I am halfway through my masters in college student affairs and I am secretly dreading starting up again in the spring, although I will tell anyone who asks that I am looking forward to it (why do I do that?).
5. I love to entertain and cook for others but I hate cooking for my own family. I don't know why. My best guess is that I can usually tell that Andy doesn't really like what I make, although he is always polite and eats it anyway.
6. I swim laps in the OC pool almost every morning at 6 AM. After all these years I am still not used to getting up that early, although I never regret it once I do.
7. My relationships with my friends are vitally important to me. I actually had no idea how important they were until I had kids. If I go too long without seeing them I start to feel depressed.
8. I had always secretly promised myself that I would not do these kinds of posts on my blog. I was trying to do this blog for my kids and didn't want to write a post that didn't include them. But we all know that this blog is really for me, I am just using the kids as an excuse.

And in case some of you are judging me for #3 (you know you are), Bode is sleeping peacefully.

I am tagging Katie McDowell, Andrea Rieger, Amy Carnagey, Elizabeth Mullins, Andrew Silvestri, Tara Hobbs, Tonya Tuggle, and Dara Tinius

His shirt says it all

Here's that face again...I am beginning to get offended. This is Mia after a long day at the office. I asked her what exactly she does at the office and she replied, "I work with paper and a machine." Sounds pretty glamorous compared to my office duties as of late. I work with poop and vomit. I am demanding a raise.

"The princesses came to Oklahoma, by real!"

This is the first thing Mia told me when she got home from the greatest date of her life. Andy took Mia to the fair and bought ring side tickets to see the Disney Princesses on Ice.

Since Mia thinks that all beautiful princesses live in Florida (this was all I could come up with one day when asked), she was pretty excited when Andy told her that the princesses were going on a trip and were stopping in Oklahoma. We told her this the other night at dinner and she responded by saying, "If they do come here, I will give them a bite of my taco." She is always putting others before herself.I swear Mia looks like Andy in drag.Needless to say, Andy is the clear favorite at this point. But what's new.

Reality is a very scary thing

This is the face Bode makes almost every time he looks at me.

Bode, I will try and break this to you as gently as possible: I am your mother and you are stuck with me forever. So let's try and not look quite so mortified, shall we?

Completely uninspired post

I really have nothing to say and these pictures aren't even that great...
Notice how jacked up the little play mat is. That is what we get for throwing it in the attic without even the slightest thought that we might be using it again someday. We really are morons sometimes (everyone knows you have more than one kid). Poor Bode, all his stuff is going to either be broken or chewed to pieces.

Bode discovers himself and is pleased.

Confessions of a sleep deprived lunatic

This is what happens to me when I don't get any sleep what-so-ever: I catch myself standing in the kitchen eating peanut butter out of the jar at 3:09 AM. I really don't think this is something a woman with 15 pounds still to lose should be doing in the middle of the night. When I came to (yes, I have convinced myself it was some sort of out of body experience of which I had no control) and realized what I was doing, I tried to justify it. "I am nursing a hungry baby at least eight times a day. My body needs the protein." But what my body doesn't need is the cellulite that is on my thighs. Why am I ratting myself out on this blog, you ask? That is a good question. I guess I am pretending that if I tell everyone in blog land, it might keep me from doing it again. I have a feeling that won't be the case...

Week Three

Mia at three weeks...
Bode at three weeks...

Bonding, sort of...

The happiest day of my life...

AKA Mia's first day of Sonshine School and my first day with just one kid, which as of two weeks ago seems like a piece of cake.

And I finally figured out how to get all of us ready and out the door by 9:15 AM. It goes something like this:

4:00 AM - feed Bode, get a shower and get ready as fast as I possibly can (all the while running back and forth from the moses basket to the bathroom in next to nothing to make sure Bode isn't screaming)

5:00 -7:00 AM - pump, eat cereal, pick up living room, check e-mail, and I think I might have blacked out at some point

7:30 - go in Mia's room to find her hiding in the closet. Immediately turn into Mommy Nazi and rush her straight to the bathroom to start the long process of getting her ready.

7:32 - Bode screams, try to put him in his sling, he hates it, screams more. Mia screams at me to make Bode stop screaming. I scream at her to quit screaming.

8:15 - plop Mia down in front of TV, get her a bowl of peanut butter and a spoon (her request this time, I promise), start nursing Bode

9:00 - get car loaded, take adorable pictures (see above)

9:15 - get kids in the car, Mia announces that she has to poop and it can't wait

9:16 - get Mia out of car, think lots of bad thoughts that I must repent for later, make decision to leave Bode in the car, plop Mia on toilet, run back to car to make sure mass murderer hasn't stolen my kid, run back to bathroom, make sure Mia is appropriately cleaned, put her back in the car

9:20 - we are finally on our way

See, it is that easy!

The horn on the head goes beep, beep, beep

In case you haven't noticed, Bode has a cephalic hematoma on his head. We have affectionately named it "the horn." It is less than beautiful, but thankfully it is harmless and should go away in several months, although everyone I have talked to whose child has had one of these said it took several years. With the rate of hair growth in our family (mine grows 1/100th of an inch a year and as you can tell Mia's is about the same) the horn may be pretty obvious for quite some time. The cause of the horn was labeled "trauma at birth" although I will challenge him any day on who had the more traumatic experience - him or me.

Anyway, a few people have sheepishly asked about the big thing on his head so I thought I would just clear the air. Andy wants to put a tiny little top hat on it and I realize that some may think that is a little over the line but we say, "Rock the horn, Bode. It makes you unique and cool, so just go ahead and rock it."