Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Day Two

So I guess we're potty training?

I hadn't planned on doing it this week, but we are day two of Henry putting himself on the potty every morning. 

Awesome.  I don't even have control over this. 

But for Mommies who've potty trained, particularly potty trained boys,  Do I go straight to underwear or do I do pull ups for awhile?  And how long do I have to keep giving him M&Ms.  Because I'm pretty sure that is the only reason he is doing it.  That and he enjoys looking at the Land of Nod and One Step Ahead catalogs while on the pot.

How do I know this?  He walks into the kitchen and says,"Okay, I want a M now, Mommy, so I go sit on potty to pee."  When he did it the first time unassisted yesterday I was taken aback by the song his little potty sings when you do your business in it.  I cheered for him and said, "Oh, Henry!  You went pee pee on the potty!"  He stared at me blankly and said,"I know.  I get M now. Then I brush teeth and get ticker."

Am I even needed for this conversation?

Oh, his tinkle made a jingle in the potty.  Time to go dole out the M.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Show Me the Money

We had a leak in the kitchen a couple of months ago so decided to upgrade the vinyl tile to ceramic tile with the insurance money.  Which made us realize that we'd love a new kitchen island that had electricity.  Which made us realize that if all that other stuff was new, the cheesy eighties faux wood laminate would scream ugly at us everyday.  Which made us notice how yucky the builder grade cabinets were...

So now we're redecorating the kitchen.  Thankfully, Henry is in preschool with the kid of a builder who is loaning us all of his subcontractor info.  He says he doesn't want to work for us as even in a down economy, money is easier to make than good friends.  (What wise friends we have...)  I say redecorating rather than remodeling because the contractor who came today said it is only remodeling if you change the floor plan.  We aren't.  And thankfully, we already bought a new fridge and dishwasher when we moved in and the old oven still works well.  (Like I use it all that often anyhow...)

And so now, we are having a GIANT yard sale.  The yard sale was to finance the adoption lawyer, but we've  found one who will work for a third of what we'd budgeted.  (Shout out to a sorority sister in the Richmond area who adopted last year and has a lawyer husband!!!  Zeta is forever...Ha.)  Now the yard sale is to finance the kitchen.  Which is, admittedly, a huge undertaking.  But...if you've been to our house you'll know that the kitchen is both literally and figuratively the heart of our home.  As in each room in the downstairs is connected to it somehow and you can see the kitchen through the foyer as soon as you open the front door.  And the kitchen island is where we color, eat lunch and breakfast, dump mail, play playdough, and carve pumpkins.


In addition to the yard sale, I've also begun listing pretty much anything that doesn't move on craigslist.  In three hours, I've gotten 2 bites for an Ikea Wardrobe (that is in great shape just is too big for where we have it and we really don't need it in this house) and Henry's old Bugaboo Stroller.  Should these 2 hits pan out...We'll be $300 closer to our dream kitchen. Which should buy us a drawer. Or maybe a lazy susan corner cabinet.  Or 6 square feet of granite countertop...

Pray for me during all of this.  Looking at countertops and tile and all that, while fun, is scary.  Such commitment.  I feel like this is the most adult situation I've ever been placed in.  The most costly decisions I've ever had to make.  Sure, falling in love with Sloan when he lived 2000 miles away, was unemployed, and was living with his grandmother was a risk.  But really, God made that decision for me and I simply followed His lead.  (It also helped that I assumed Sloan's job status and living situation was a sign that he was independently wealthy...HA HA HA!)  And certainly, both IVF and adoption were costly to our both our hearts and bank accounts, but once again, we were in love with our children long before we met them and so the decision was easy.  And it is not to say that I don't believe God cares about our kitchen, it is just that I'm pretty certain he gave me a fully functioning brain for a reason and intends for me to use it.  And I'm never going to be in love with tile.  Which, I suppose, is a pretty good thing.

So if you are in the Midlothian area on April 10th from 8-12, stop on buy La Casa de Phillips.  We've got end tables, a queen size bed, toys, floor heaters, and a bunch of other crap you know you can't live without.  Bring cash.  Lots of it.

Friday, March 26, 2010

For Auntie Robin



And yes, that hot little redhead is my kids' fairy Godmother, and the woman Sloan has been intstructed to marry should I perish.  Ain't it grand to have such cool friends?

Thursday, March 25, 2010

5 months for Super G

Monday was G's 5 month birthday and she spent it as most of us spend our birthdays--overeating.  I think by the end of the day we tallied up that she'd had about 48 oz of formula, 2 tubs of gerber Squash and 1 half of a banana.  Awesome.  She is a champion spoon eater.  Not even that messy.  She loves rice cereal, oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, mangos, bananas, carrots, spinach, applesauce, pears, and peaches.  She really is not a huge fan of peas, but I tasted them and they really are as gross as they look so I don't blame her.  With Henry, I pretty much made all of his fruit and veggie baby food.  With Gracie, it is about 50/50.  Oh well, she'll get used to my lukewarm feelings for cooking early on.

Other than eating, Gracie really enjoys giggling and squinching up her body as she does so.  Even Henry proclaims it is cute.

Gracie chats up her new buddy--the Christening doll Gigi and Papa gave her. 

Besties Gracie and Henry show you what they are doing to their Mommy--making her go Froot Loops!

And yes.  We've checked.  She pretty much is the cutest baby on the planet.  Ever. 

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

How precious did that Grace appear...

God Bless Gracie.
Welcome to the covenant family, my dear.  May you never know a day where the name of Jesus is not sweet to your ears.
Preparing for the big day with Daddy in the kitchen.  Notice she is wearing her ruffly G panties from Auntie Shannon and her "mansie"(aka a onesie with the sleeves cut off).  And yes, this is the same "mansie" Henry wore when he was baptized.  But Gracie did not wear the Phillips christening gown.  She wore her Mommy's.  And like her Mommy, we could not button the buttons...
The grandparents come into town for the big day.  Sloan's folks are standing and mine are kneeling.  The chick that Gracie is staring at is our niece, Gigi Phillips (3).  And yes, I'm pretty sure that is what Henry would look like if he were a girl.  It is kind of scary how much they look alike.  Or, at least, how they both look like Sloan's brother, Marshall.
Margaret Grace Phillips receives the sign of the covenant from Pastors Greene and Shelby.

Afterwards at lunch at The Hard Shell.  And yes, we all wore pink. (The G on Gracie's heiny is pink.)   I'd planned for Henry to wear his navy tie with pink and purple stripes, but according to Sloan, that was a battle not worth fighting.

Just so you know, my darling children,  In the beginning there was God and you were on His heart...You still are.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Hot Pickles

Henry has been sick for the past couple of days.  While it is not the sickest he's ever been (how can we forget his smoked cheddar pukefest of 08?), but it has been the longest he has sustained a fever.  He woke up puking on Monday morning around 5 am.  He didn't puke again until 11 am and in fact, those were the only 2 times he threw up.  The second time he threw up, it was all over our couch.  And then later Gracie managed to spit up on the one cushion that Henry didn't get.  (I see an Ikea trip in our not so distant future and another item being added to the Yard Sale list.)  Henry refused any and all liquid all day yesterday and we almost took him to the hospital for IV fluids until Sloan had the brilliant idea to offer it to him in a big boy cup rather than a sippy.  His highest temp yesterday was 103.8.  After we were able to get some gatorade in him, it dropped down to about 102.5.  Today he began around 102.  Midday he was around 100.5.  Tonight he is back up to 101.5.  He has yet to tell me where he is hurting, and simply says no to all the places I point.  He's also broken out in a rash.  Which is nice, because now he actually has some coloring to go with the dark purple circles under his eyes.  According to the pediatrician, this is going around.

So the role of Gracie's mom has pretty much been played by the swing.  Today, when Henry was behaving a little more human--playing Legos and looking at books, but still not his usual "Full Throttle" self, he did want to cuddle with her so I brought her into the family room for some gym time so he could at least see her.  It puts both of them in distress for them not to be in the same room. When I explained to him that he could get Gracie sick, he quickly backed off. 

He did have more of an appetite today and was able to keep down some dry Cheerios, some saltines, rice, and some graham crackers.  He requested pickles, candy, and popcorn, to which I responded, "Are you pregnant?"  He just stared at me blankly and said, "No m'am."

He has been quite the sweetheart throughout his sickness.  When I tried putting a wet washcloth on his forehead, he swatted it away, saying, "No thank you, Mommy." I was holding him in my lap, rubbing his hair and he said, "No touching hair, Mommy, please.  Thank you for littning."   I just went up to calm him down from what I'm guessing was a fever induced night terror and when I began to sing to him he said, "No thank you, Mommy.  Please no singing.  Just hugs."  He even said pardon me after he puked the second time.  Poor buddy.

I am hoping that the Motrin I just gave him will kick in and his fever will subside.  With Sloan gone for the next couple of days, the nights are going to be rough.  Gracie has decided to go through a growth spurt and eat every three hours and Henry keeps having these danged night terrors.  I slept with Henry last night, but got maybe three hours of sleep for his night terrors and need to have his feet in my face.

All that aside, the past couple of days have sort of been relaxing.  We've watched --- wait for it --- 11 movies. Yesterday we watched Wall-E, Cars, Curious George, Robots, Hero of the Rails (a Thomas movie), A Bug's Life, and Kung Fu Panda.  Today we read lots of books and also watched Ratatouille, Peter Pan, Diego's Safari Rescue, and Horton Hears a Who.  He's slept through some parts of them and we've learned that he needs to be in his Dad's leather chair for clean up purposes.  I've been able to get all of the laundry washed and folded, but seeing as Henry whines if I am not within view, I haven't been able to put any away.  And from time to time I have to simply hold him.  He usually asks to be held about 5 minutes before I discover I need to pee.  And then he falls asleep.  But it has been a sweet sweet time, even if my boy looks like death.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Perhaps

Perhaps I should keep better track of my kids. 

Tonight, Henry was so quiet that I sort of forgot about him and went about my merry way feeding Gracie her peas (not a big fan) and peaches (HUGE fan).  I'm about finished up with the spooning and scraping that is feeding an almost 5 month old when I hear "squeak squeak squeak" followed by laughter.  Forgetting where I'd "left" Henry, I looked in the family room.  Not there.  I look in the sunroom, half expecting him to have colored all over himself since he'd already had a bath.  Nope.

"Henry. Where are you?"

"I in here, Mommy. I squeaking!"  (More laughter.)

"Where is here, Henry?"

"Da potty, silly Mommy."

Oh yeah, now I remember.  Henry said he wanted to sit on the potty. (Simply a ploy to get an "M".) He enjoys sitting on the pot and perusing the Land of Nod and Pottery Barn Kids catalogs. So I had removed his diaper and sat him on his little potty in the bathroom off the laundry room.

Squeak, squeak, squeak.

Well, folks.  Henry had peed on the floor.  And was proceeding to squeak his new Mickey Mouse crocs in his own urine. 

Chuckling,  I rolled my eyes, looked at him and said, "You are such a boy, Henry.  Take off your crocs; they are covered in pee."

"Yes," my sweet son said, "but they squeak!" 

Monday, March 15, 2010

The things Henry says...

"Dang it!"  (And yes, we're telling him not to say this.  But really are just sort of waiting until he gets a new catchphrase for when things fall.)

"Watch out!  She's a maneater."  (Why I now have to be careful what we listen to on the radio...)

"You so crazy, Mommy."

"Wait for it."  (a la Barney Stinson)

"What's that smell?  Oh.  I poopied in my pants."

"Wook.  It's da Cosby show."  (My sweet boy.  I'm so glad you enjoy the Cosby show.  Not every African American family is the Cosbys.  Just so you know.)

"My penis is pink."  (To which Sloan responded, "Why you gotta focus on the color, boy?"  Um, perhaps we should discuss not screaming this in public...)

"I'm a bobot.  Deee dooo dooo deet do!"  (Complete with arm motions.)

And his new favorite thing to do (thanks, once again to the Cosby Show)---to slobber on Grace and say, "I zerbert you!!!"

Friday, March 12, 2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Techno-Parenting

As I type this, I am sitting at the dinner table.   I actually cooked tonight--meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.  (Write it down.)  Henry just said, "Dang it.  Dang it, Gracie stuck" because I literally just had to shake the bumbo seat off her fat body.  (Yes.  He says "Dang it."  Perhaps this is the phrase I should have given up for lent...)
So why am I blogging at the dinner table?  Why is Sloan facebooking on his Blackberry?  Because we have a little boy who won't even try his dinner.*  Not even with the opportunity to dip it in kethcup.  He has, however, eaten 4 spoonfuls of ketchup.  We're not even telling him he has to clean his plate.  He just has to try one bite of each item.  He refuses.  Sloan tried to feed him a spoonful of mashed taters and he drooled it out.  Pit.  E.  Ful.  I'm not trying to be that psyhco mom who makes her kid eat stuff, it is just that I know that he will like all of the things on his plate if he only breaks down and tries them.  We've told him we will sit at the table and wait until he tries a bite of each until it is bedtime.  If he hasn't tried his dinner, there will be no Thomas or Lightning McQueen stories.  Just toothbrushing and then lights out.


But thanks to wifi, a new laptop, and a chubby bunny now sitting in my lap, waiting until your kid eats his dinner just got a whole lot easier.

*I blame my mother for this.  She prayed I would have children like me.  When I was a kid, I could go days without breaking down. My mom would serve me the same food over and over until it rotted.  I will not be serving him meatloaf for breakfast. I seriously never ate cucumbers until college out of spite. Stupid. Cucumbers are awesome. 

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Out of Office Reply

Sorry for the long delay.  Was without computer for four days.  Am now on my NEW AWESOME laptop.
No time for blogging--must catch up on facebook and play outside while it is 70 degrees.
Holla!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Because you won't remember and I might forget...

My darling Henry,
I am writing this to you in such a public forum because by the time you can read this, you'll understand that were I to simply jot it down on paper I'd lose the paper.  Today was magical.
I also want to apologize for my self-pity as of late.  I've blamed being tired and you being two.  But let this be a lesson to you, my son, we are not victims of other people's moods.  You may be cranky and tired and unable to share, but that is no excuse for me to lose my temper with you.  Please forgive me.  You are two and your behavior is on par for a two year old.  I am 32, and quite frankly, there is no excuse.  It is not your fault, nor your father's fault.  I determine my behavior, and since the Bible tells us that Love is first and foremost patient, I have been unloving towards you as of late.  But please know that in as much as my frail heart can manage, I love you.  As unconditionally as humanly possible.  I pray only that you see that God is not finished with me yet and this gives us hope.
This morning, when I went into your room to wake you, you were reading aloud Henry and the Tunnel to Hop Hop.  When you saw me, your face lit up and you said, "Good morning, Mommy!"  You picked out a dinosaur Tshirt to wear--the one from my cousin Margo that says "Big Trouble in a little shirt."  You also wore your "Wocket Ship" shoes--the black sneakers that have flames on them.
After your breakfast of yogurt and miniwheats, you played with legos while I fed Gracie.  Occasionally you would come show her what you had built.  She especially liked it when you rolled the "Cwane train" on her legs.  You told her she was cute.  She is.
We went to the playground at Huguenot Park.  You wore your yellow snow jacket and the silly jester hat that belonged to your cousin William.  Whenever you wear this hat, people always tell you you are cute.  You are.  At the playground, you played in the sandbox and enjoyed burying a Han Solo figurine.  Some man there tried to tell you that it really was Anakin Skywalker but you said, "No sir, this An Olo."  You shared the shovels with two little boys.  You also enjoyed going down the big slides and informed me that you were too big for the baby slides.  We stayed at the playground for an hour and a half.
We went to lunch at River City Diner.  You loved all of the cars hanging from the ceiling and the mini jukebox at our table.  You told me all the letters and were concerned that there was no "I".  I attempted explaining to you how it looked too much like a 1, but I'm pretty certain you didn't understand.  You ordered for yourself.  The waitress looked at you and said, "And what do you want, young man?"  You shouted, "Hot dog, pwease.  And french fries.  Wots of french fries."  I was so proud of you ordering your own meal and also a little bit sad because you are so grown up.  You colored until your meal came and you ate all of your hot dog and most of your fries.  You even tried dipping your fries in Mustard for the first time, but told me you didn't like the "Yewwow Ketchup." 
When we got home, you were not excited about brushing your teeth.  You told me that you didn't need to brush your teeth because Papa fixed your boo-boo.  Helping you brush your teeth is a bit like wrestling an alligator, but at least today you screamed "No thank you" while I was doing it.  So you were mannerly in your thrashing about.  You picked a Charkey sticker for your toothbrushing chart.  While we brushed your teeth, you got your shirt wet and so you took it off.  You played shirtless for awhile and thought this was very funny.  You ran around the house saying, "Wook, Mommy, Henwe has nipples."  I laughed at you and you told me you were silly.  You also found a pen and drew on your Lego trains and told me they all now had silly faces. 
Before your nap you read me Percy and Harold.  You said that Percy got stuck in the water, which made Annie and "Larabelle" sad, so Harold helped him by dropping coal on Percy's head.  Oddly enough, that is a pretty accurate retelling of the story.  We also read the little critter book The New Baby and you told me that the baby's name was Gracie. 
You slept for a long time.  I woke you up from your nap around 5 and we lolled about in your bed for around 15 minutes just talking, me rubbing your back, and playing peek-a-boo with Hop Hop and Dog Dog.  You told me you had fun at the playground. 
I actually cooked tonight.  (Something I rarely do when Daddy is out of town.)  We had homemade whole wheat macaroni and cheese, with pureed spinach thrown in.  This was a gamble as I know you prefer the stuff in the blue box.  We watched the movie "Robots" while we ate dinner.  You thought Robin William's character was very silly and kept asking where Wall-E and Eve were.  I explained that this was a different Robot movie.  You told me it was a sillier "bobot movie".  I let you sit in your Dad's leather chair and eat dinner in front of the TV.  When I was a little girl, I sat in that same chair and watched TV with Papa. At the end of the movie, you started dancing because it was a James Brown song that told you to "Get up off of that seat."  You got up off of your seat.  Gracie was in my lap and I was jostling her around and raising her hands to make her dance.  This made her overjoyed and giggling.  You danced over, honked her nose, and then said, "Gwacie, you are cute!"  But then you wanted me to dance with you and not with Gracie. 
So we decided to have a dance party.  We went upstairs to your bedroom and got down!  I put Gracie in your wingback and you would yell at her over the music, "I dancing for you.  Gracie watch me dance!"  Gracie squeeled with glee and shook her legs.  You told me that Gwacie was dancing too.  I tried to pick her up to dance with us, but this made you upset. 
Let me try to describe to you what you look like while you are dancing.  While you are cute, you sort of look like a fool.  And quite possibly the whitest person on the planet.  Essentially, you run around in circles, shake your head, and pump your fists in the air.  You do this until you fall down.  Occasionally you stop, put your hands on your knees, and shake your fanny.  Unfortunately, I know where you got this move.  At one point, you were shaking your rear so fast you fell over backwards onto your head.  We danced to Jamiraquai, Stevie Wonder, the Blue Dogs, and John Lennon.  I was very proud that you knew most of the words to "Beautiful Boy".  It has been too long since I have sung that song to you.  Towards the end of the song, we played peek-a-boo under the covers.  You also liked it when I picked you up and twirled you around.  You laughed so hard I thought you were going to throw up. 
I read you your two stories (Thomas Gets Tricked and Henry and the Tunnel) and your Biboo story.  We are just at the part where Jesus is born.  You saw in the picture the stable and you told me it was a Baby Farm.  I asked you why and you said because it was "yittle and had a cow and a baby".  Makes perfect sense to me.
I checked on you about an hour after I put you down.  You were still up, legs crossed, looking at the book "Thomas and Big Big Bridge".  I knelt down beside you and was overcome with love for you.  I told you that you were my baby and I loved you.  You said that you had fun at the playground and eating french fries.  I told you that I had fun too.  You reminded me that we also watched a Silly Bobot movie.  I told you that I hoped we could have fun again tomorrow.  
I cannot imagine having a better day than I had today.  I'm sure it would have been lots of fun if Daddy could've been there, but in truth, I am thankful that I did not have to share you.
Thank you for being mine, my beautiful boy.  My life is better because you are in it.