Random Thursday Thoughts

We have gnats in our house – badly!  And flies.  They are both everywhere!  Gross.  We were going crazy, so I finally just googled how to get rid of gnats.  Several places said to use apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap in it, and we were desperate enough to try it.  It worked!  I guess the gnats are attracted to the vinegar, and when they take a little dip in there, the dish soap creates some kind of film that inhibits their ability to escape the vinegar.  So they drown.  Poor gnats.  Except not.  I will not tell you how many we’ve caught.  And we have to keep putting more dishes of the mixture out because more keep coming in!  Argh!  I don’t know what to do about the flies.  So far Lee just walks around the house on a mission with the fly swatter.  We do leave our back door open a lot because of a certain 2 year old, so I know that’s probably why we have such an issue.

Speaking of that 2 year old, I need to blog about his party!  We had a barnyard party for him last weekend and it was so fun!  He understood everything, and was so excited for it :)  All day he kept saying “happy!” I need to get the pictures from my parents so I can post them.

I have been getting up at 4:30am to run.  I’m on week 3 of doing this, and so far so good!  If I wait until the evening, I know I won’t do it.  I’ll choose to sit on the couch instead.  I really don’t mind (it’s only 30 minutes earlier than I usually get up) but I do wish it was a little bit light out.  I’m a scaredy cat sometimes, but I’ve been fine for the most part.  Except for that morning where a dog almost attacked me.  True story.  I survived.  Clearly.

Some co-workers and I are going to run a marathon relay in November.  Hence the early morning runs.  We each will only have to run about 5 miles, so definitely do-able even though I’ve never run before!  We are doing a 5k or two before the big run in November, so I think I will be more than ready.  I hope :) I’m concerned that one girl will drop out though, and we could do the relay with only 4 people, but one person would have to run 10 miles, and I don’t know that any of us could do that :/

Lee and I have decided to go to Chicago in August for my 30th birthday.  I’m excited!!  Any suggestions on things to do, places to eat, etc. are very welcome!

I have baby fever.  Actually, I have pregnancy fever, if that’s such a thing.  I want to be pregnant.  Who am I?  I was NOT the most pleasant pregnant person.  But nevertheless, that’s how I’ve been feeling for the past month or two.  Even though in December, I swore I would not be ready for another baby or pregnancy for a looong time.  Don’t get excited, it’s not happening for at least another 6 months. If not longer :)

Speaking of being pregnant, Cooper pulled up my shirt the other day, pointed at my stomach, and said “beby”.  I had flashes of women saying their toddler knew they were pregnant before they did, and briefly freaked out.  Only to realize that “beby” is how Cooper pronounces belly.  Whew.

All of this baby talk may or may not be because I really just want to decorate a nursery.  Not sure.  Ha!

TWO!!

Today you are two years old.  How is that even possible?  This age is my absolute favorite so far.  Of course, I say that with each new stage :)

You are a silly, sweet boy who loves to laugh and make others laugh as well.  You are a bit of a social butterfly and you make friends easily.  You love to be around people, and are enamored with “big boys”.  The times you are shy, which are few and far between, I am always very surprised.  You have made some good friends at school, and you are all very excited to see each other every morning.  You all squeal and say “Hi! insert name!” to each other.  But, Poppa and Naw Naw remain your favorite people.  You ask for them often, and occasionally get upset on the days you don’t go over to stay with them.

You are such a chatter box lately.  It took you a little while to start talking, but once you started, you never stopped.  You will repeat anything we say these days.  You say two-word phrases, mostly saying Hi to people and including their name.  You will repeat three-word phrases when we prompt you.  Just in the past week or so, you have started stringing a ton of gibberish together, along with just one “real” word.  It’s pretty funny.

You have been asking to sit on the potty, and you always go each time you’re on it.  We attempted potty training one weekend, but you weren’t feeling well so we let it go.  I do think you’re ready, but we’ll probably just see how it goes.  You do love your “ewmo peepeee” (elmo underwear, haha :) )

You still enjoy animals just as much as you ever did, and you’ve recently taken a big interest in trains.  In fact, the only show we can get you to watch is Thomas the Train.  You love to dance to the music on that show.  Well, technically you will also watch Barney, but you don’t request it and we are smart enough not to offer it as a choice :)

Speaking of dance, you LOVE to dance, and it’s so cute to watch.  You get so into it that you usually end up falling over.  Sometimes Daddy and I will pick you us and dance around with you, which you love.  You say “deep! deep!” which means that you want us to “dip” you. 

You are completely fearless.  You will explore anything, climb on anything, etc.  You love to climb up the ladder on your swing set and turn around and dangle your foot over the side while smiling at me because you know it scares me that you might fall. Stinker.

You have learned to blow raspberries on people and you think it is hilarious.  We usually end up with a ton of slobber all over us.

Some other things I don’t want to forget:

- You will often, out of the blue, give us a kiss.  Usually when we are just sitting around, you will come and give me a kiss, then go over to Daddy and give him one, and then continue going back and forth a couple of times.  So sweet.

- The way you always, no matter how tired you are, say “Hi Zo Zo” to Zoe the second you walk to the top of the stairs in the morning, because Zoe is always standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for you to torture her

- The way you say “saw saw” (sorry) and pet our cheek when you get in trouble

- Your little bounce up and down dance to Thomas the Train

- The comment we hear most often about you usually has something to do with your hair.  You have a ton of it and it has a mind of its own.  I had it cut short this last time (I think it was your 5^th haircut), but it’s just not “you”, so I think we’re going to let it grow back out and we’ll have to live with your crazy hair :)  At least you like brushing it!

- The many ways you say yes: Yaawww, yeah, yup!, yes

- How every time I ask if you’re excited to go see Poppa, you say “Yeah! Naw Naw?”

- How much you love blankets.  You sleep with 6 of them!

- You love love love to clean things.  We can give you a baby wipe or a washcloth and you will stay busy for an hour scrubbing things down.  You also love to use the broom and vacuum.

- You love to “hewwwwp” me cook in the kitchen.  Often you will just sit on the counter and pour in the ingredients for me.  You have learned how to lick the beaters to the mixer also :)

- You prefer to eat any frozen foods, frozen.  You never want me to heat up waffles, pancakes, or anything else from the freezer.  You even prefer popcorn shrimp frozen, haha!

- You run like a football player.  Head down, chest out, completely serious.  It’s hilarious.

- You love to read.  Your favorite book right now is Mr. Brown Can Moo.  You make all of the sounds and it’s adorable

- You have started saying “no, mama” if I ask you a question.  It sounds so grown up.

- You love to wear my shoes, play in my make up, play with my hair dryer and curling iron, and recently you have started trying to put on my clothes. 

- You aren’t really sure yet what the difference is between up and down.  You used to say down for both.  Now, you say “up down, up down” for them.  Haha :)

- If you think something tastes good, your eyes get really big and you say “YUMMY!!” and rub your belly.

- You are really into babies right now.  Whenever you see one, you run over and say “beebee”.  At Maddox’s birthday party, we spent a great deal of time staring at a “beebee” in his car seat :)  Sadly, when I ask if you want a baby brother or sister, you say “no, mama”

Basically, you’re awesome and we love you so much!

The Name Change

My previous blog name and address {living and loving in the midwest} had no real meaning or relevance to me or the blog.  Really, I needed a new name quickly and it was the only thing off the top of my head that wasn’t already taken.  I never really liked it.  It was kind of a cliche phrase, not to mention the fact that I live in Oklahoma, and depending on who you ask, there is great controversy over whether we are considered the midwest or the south.  I often had visions of people seeing my blog name and then realizing that I live in OK, and snickering at me because they didn’t think that was the midwest.  Yes, I’m completely lame and think about these things.

Anyhoo, I was looooong overdue for a new name.  I wanted something that was meaningful to my family, but that was different.  One day I had an epiphany.  4513 was the street address of our first house.  The one that I was so anxious to get out of and into something I thought would be “better”.  Well, we did get out of it, into a beautiful, perfect-for-us new home.  But, to my complete surprise, I find myself missing that old house almost on a daily basis.  Not like I want to move back, I love our new home.  But I do miss all of the memories that that house held for us.

It was my first house, and I purchased it on my own with my first “real” job out of college

It was the first place Lee and I lived together (yes, we lived in sin, as my mother stated)

We got engaged in the living room

I ‘met’ one of my best friends because of that house; she lived right down the street from me (met is in quotes because we actually were in the same sorority/circle of friends, but never really crossed paths somehow)

I was sitting in the kitchen when I was offered my current job, a blessing if you knew how badly I needed the change at the time

I found out I was pregnant in the bathroom of that house

It’s where we brought our precious, first born baby home

It’s where I learned to be a wife and a mother.

It’s also where I learned that Lee had no idea how to cook, and never cleans the bathroom.  But that’s neither here nor there…

Basically, that house made me and our little family who we are today.  I feel like it will always be a part of us, and totally fitting to be the namesake for this blog.

See, I love it so much, I commissioned a custom drawing of it!

A big, giant thank you to Tiffany of TKC Designs for working with me so much on the new design!  I can be very demanding (nothing you didn’t already know) and she was so easy to work with!

Memorial Day Weekend

Yay, new blog design is up!!  I intend to post more about the name change later :)

I was on Cooper duty for most of the long weekend.  Lee went to the lake with some friends, but I decided not to go and instead stayed home and had some great quality time with my baby boy, who is sadly not much of a baby these days :(

Case in point:

Yes, those are big boy underwear.  Yes, I cried a little when I bought them.  More about that later this week.

Saturday morning we had Cooper’s 2 year pictures.  And of course he woke up not feeling well!  So he fell asleep right when we got there and he wasn’t too interested in smiling, but hopefully we got one or two good ones :)

Lee left for the lake after that and Cooper and I hung around the house and played in the backyard.  He perked up after a little while and we ended up having a great day together.

   

On Sunday, we cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.  Our office, and well, most of our house, if I’m being honest, was a disaster area, so Cooper helped me clean it out and get it all organized.  It was while we were making several trips upstairs that I realized we don’t really need the baby gates anymore, Cooper goes up and down the stairs just fine.  More proof that he’s not a baby anymore…

That evening, my family came over for barbeque and they brought cupcakes.  Cooper is obsessed with cupcakes.  The second he spotted them, he started shouting “Tuptake!! Tuptake!!” and then he started saying “Happy!” (for birthday).  I do believe he also said birthday for the first time, but hard to tell because there was a lot of excitement.

After we ate, Cooper got a cupcake.  My mom sat it in front of him, and he just stared at us.  It was weird that he wasn’t eating it.  Then he said “Happy!”  I said “Do you want us to sing Happy Birthday to you?”  He replied “Yeah!!”  Um, so…we did.  Ha!  We sang Happy Birthday to Cooper and he just stared at us all and grinned and waited until we were finished to eat his cupcake.  Silly boy.

Pretend that he didn’t eat only the icing and then ask for more.

Sunday we did laundry and Daddy came home!  I ran a few errands and went to the grocery store while they played outside.

He loves to swing, and he usually asks for you to sit in the other swing next to him.  He also made me ride on the teeter totter swing thing on the far left a few times over the weekend.  I’m sure that was an attractive sight.

Oh, and as for what the girls did all weekend, you’re looking at it:

Rough life.

Mother’s Day Weekend 2012

Saturday was our niece’s 3rd birthday party, so we travelled to Lee’s hometown to go to that.  We did this a couple of weeks ago, and Cooper did…okay in the car, so we didn’t have high hopes for this time around, although we did try to be more prepared :)

Luckily, Cooper was good this time and we had a pleasant 3 hour drive.

Cooper loves his cousin Cailee, and they had so much fun playing.  My SIL had rented a bouncy house, and since we arrived about an hour early, they got to play and jump by themselves for a long time.  Cooper LOVED it because he has been very into jumping lately :)

 

Cooper had been on his very best behavior lately, I’m not sure why, but I’m not complaining!  He was SO good at the party.  He even sat down at the table and ATE LUNCH.

We have been explaining to Cooper that his birthday is coming up (in June) and what a birthday party is.  When I explained about birthday parties, he responded “happy?”, and he meant the song Happy Birthday.  They must sing it at school when the kids have birthdays.  Anyway, ever since we had that talk, he asks me to sing “happy” all the time.  It’s pretty cute.  So he was in awe when we sang “happy” to Cailee. 

He was also very excited for cake (I’m not sure why, he’s never really had cake before), and he even patiently waited at his seat for a piece, which he completely devoured :)

After some more playing and presents, we headed back home.  Cooper watched a Barney sing a long for 45(!) minutes!  Shocking.  He does love singing though, which is why I got that DVD.  Then he conked out and slept the entire way home.  Score!

Sunday was Mother’s Day and we had decided to go to a restaurant for brunch.  Cooper sat in a booster seat for the first time!  He really enjoyed sitting between my brother and me.  He was so so good!  We usually have to leave restaurants because he can’t sit still, but he was an angel for over an hour and a half.

Don’t be fooled by the grumpy faces, he had a good time :)

Lee had asked me what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day this year.  I said I wanted to go to brunch, and then do whatever I wanted by myself for the rest of the day.  Is it inappropriate to spend Mother’s Day without your child?  Haha.  I was going to get a mani/pedi, but I ate so much at brunch that I didn’t want to sit for that long, so I ended up just doing some shopping at random places for a few hours.  Then I went to the grocery store and headed home.

When I got home, Lee washed my car and vacuumed it out :)  And Cooper had been asking to mow.  The boy is obsessed with mowing.  It’s a family affair because I have to supervise Cooper while he watches Lee mow.  It’s so funny.

I understand that he probably shouldn’t stand that close to the mower, but well, sometimes it happens.  He does wear glasses.

Oh yes, he always has his trusty broom!

I’m sure Lee was happy that he was working hard and mowing while I sat on the patio and took pictures.

Sweeping grass on the patio.

  

All in all, it was a great day!

Weekend Recap

…on Wednesday!  Better late than never :)

On Saturday morning, I went to a baby shower for my friend Lindsey.  I met Lindsey through blogging, and I couldn’t be more excited for her to welcome baby Jack  this summer!  The shower was absolutely prefect and adorable.  She has some great pictures posted on her blog.  It was so much fun and I could have hung around all day chatting with everyone.  Although I don’t think the hostess would have appreciated that :)

The boys spent their morning playing trains

You can kind of tell in this picture that there is a couch and chair in his playroom.  That’s because our new furniture arrived a couple of weeks ago!!!  We are obsessed with how comfortable the new couch is.  I hope to post that soon.

Saturday afternoon, I did some baking, and as usual, Cooper wanted to “hewwwp”.  I let him sit on the counter, and then I gave him the beaters.  Yes I did.  It took him a few minutes to figure out what to do, but soon he was in heaven!

Please excuse the Gary Busey hair.  We had been playing with his water table outside just before this.

   

On Sunday, Lee played golf for most of the day, so Cooper and I got to have some quality time together.  We went to the grocery store (where he shockingly behaved), and played outside after his nap.  We attempted the park but he didn’t have much interest ( who is this child?) so we ended up taking a very slow walk around the neighborhood getting sidetracked by dogs and running into strangers’ garages all while I carried his trike that he just had to take.

We also played in the backyard for a while, where Cooper stared at a fly on “his” broom for a good 10 minutes.  He was mesmerized.

 

Eventually the fly left and I put him to work sweeping the patio.  Just kidding.  He did that all by himself.  This boy loves to sweep…think that will still be the case in 10 years or so?

After Lee got home we decided to work on one of many a project that’s been partially finished for a while.

This project consisted of 6 boards that we were attaching to make 3 groups of 2.  All 6 boards were by the kitchen table, and I carried the first 2 over to where we were going to work.  When I looked up, Cooper was carrying a board over to me!  Clearly he is a genius.  Then he proceeded to carry each of the remaining boards over to me.  So helpful.  Lee was getting his drill ready, and the next thing I knew, Cooper had brought over his toy tool box, and he got out his drill.  I, obviously, thought it was about the cutest thing ever.  Every time Lee drilled, so did Cooper :)

Please don’t ask if this project is finished now.  You should know the answer to that.  We like to drag things out as long as possible, as well as starting new things before we finish old ones.

:)

Arghh Matey

The consistently warm weather we’ve been having lately finally convinced us to bust out Cooper’s water table over the weekend.

He received a pirate water table for his first birthday, and I remember I was so excited for something that would hold his attention.  Umm, negative.  He didn’t give a flip about it.

So, when I dragged it out from under the cobwebs on Sunday, I though, meh, maybe he’ll stare at it for 5 minutes.  I was wrong again, he loved it! 

We poured some dish soap and water in it so that we could clean everything off.  It turns out, it wasn’t actually as dirty as I thought it was, and Cooper was having so much fun (and more importantly, Mama was getting some coveted peaceful moments), that I just let him play in it, dirty dish soap bubbles and all.

He played with this thing while Lee mowed the entire lawn.  I was even able to do a few of my own things, sanding down some furniture pieces in the garage, without having to look up every 3 seconds to make sure he didn’t run into the street.

 

It was awesome.