Two Years Ago Today

(Get ready for lots of pictures in this post!)

Two years ago today I had no idea that on January 29th, 2010, I would wake up and see this little boy on my bed in his jammies ready to open his birthday presents. Two years ago today I couldn't imagine my baby as anything but a baby.

But I am ever so grateful that this is what I woke up to this morning.

I love our snuggle time in mommy and daddy's bed every morning. Two years ago today I loved snuggling with you too.

Two years ago today I dreamed about what type of personality you would have. I had no idea you'd be such a happy, joyful, excitable kid! I love that, and so many other things about you.

Two years ago today I couldn't wait to see you smile for the first time. Now, not only do I get to see you smile every day, but I also get to see you're excited face - and so many other fun expressions you make!

Two years ago today I longed for you to be a happy person. To be happy to belong to me and your daddy. Today there's not a doubt in my mind that you're happy.

Two years ago today I prayed about teaching you about Jesus. I continue to pray about your relationship about Jesus (and I always will) and today I got to give you your first devotion book.

Two years ago today I had no idea that by your second birthday you would know the words to Jesus Love Me and be able to sing it with me and your daddy. Nor did I know that when I'd ask you where Jesus lives you'd be able to point to your heart and say "Right there!" I pray that I'll be able to continue to teach you just what that means.

Two years ago today, I didn't know how quickly you would go from my baby to my little boy. I love you little boy.

Two years ago today I couldn't even imagine the amount of fun you'd bring into our lives.

Two years ago today, I had no idea how much you'd become my little buddy and how loud and busy my kitchen would get with your precious presence.

Happy 2nd Birthday Munchkin!

Mommy and Daddy love you more than you can imagine.

Thank you for being you.

I can't wait to spend another year with you!

Although these last two years have been the hardest of my life. You're worth every second. I can't wait to spend another year with you!

Love,

Mommy

What's That???

Yep. It's started. "What's that?" is the question of the day around here. It officially started on Friday while we were reading a book.

I don't know how much I'll blog this week. It is going to be pretty busy around here. Tonight was the only night we don't have something going on. And let's face it, Munchkin doesn't give me a lot of time to blog during the day. I know I've posted during the day before. But that only happens during nap time or if I have prepared a post in advance and get a quick minute to put it up here. I post in advance quite a lot - usually on weekends or after he's gone to bed. If I didn't do that, let's face it, I probably wouldn't have a blog. It amazes me how much energy one kid can have.

On that note, he took an extra long nap today. And instead of doing other things while he napped, I slept too. Two glorious hours. Two hours!!! It was incredible.

Here's hoping I don't lay awake until 2 in the morning because of it.

Good night!

Home Sweet Home

I feel so blessed to live where we do. I'm not talking about living in the U.S. with all our freedoms (although I do feel blessed about that) but I'm talking about living only a couple of hours away from where I grew up. It is nice to be able to not have to board a plane to go "home." It feels comforting to know that if I need to run up "home" for a day, I can handle that trip.

It is also comforting to know that it is at least two hours away from "home." I mean, I love my family and all, but I don't want them living next door. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I truly believe I cherish the time I get to spend with family more now that I don't see them every day.

But ever since becoming a mother, the tendency to want to live in the same town as my family has increased. I don't think about it every day. I don't even think about it every month. But once in a blue moon, I just wish I could call up my mom and ask if she could come over. Or I wish that I could just load up Munchkin and go visit grandpa and grandma for the afternoon. I really felt that way today. I think what triggered it was the encounter I had with Mason's mom a couple of days ago. Munchkin and I were playing outside and she came running by. (Literally, she is a runner. Like 16 miles a day people. Crazy.) I asked her where Mason was and she said she sent him to grandma's for the day so she could get a good run in and then get a bunch done around the house. I have one word to describe my reaction: jealous.

Actually, at that moment I thought man, that must be nice and then I moved on with my day. But today full blown jealousy hit. I'm not sure exactly when it happened. Maybe it started when Munchkin was literally throwing himself on the floor screaming in Target. Or maybe it was when he found a back scratcher and started wildly, uncontrollably swinging it around the kitchen knocking things off the counter. I suppose it could have happened when he asked me to sing just so he could scream over me. No joke here. He would ask me to sing and as soon as I would start, he would scream.

So although it was a pretty typical day for us, my plan was to get the house clean today. (You now have my permission to laugh.) I knew I wouldn't get it done, but I thought I might at least get one toilet cleaned. Nope. Nada. Nothing. Never once did a Clorox Toilet Wand or any other cleaning product touch my fingertips today. Bummer.

My new plan is to clean the house when he goes to college. Consider yourself warned: you may want to start using the bathroom before you come to our house!

Is it the fact that I didn't get the house cleaned that I was jealous of Mason's mom? No. I know I'll clean eventually. I think what made the little green monster surface was the fact that all I wanted was some time at home. Alone. By myself. Without anyone else here. Peace. Quiet. Ahhh.

But alas, I'm a mommy to a soon-to-be two year old little boy. The chances of me ever experiencing peace and quiet in our house are slim to none - at least within the next 16 years. And I know that once I do get to enjoy that experience, I'll miss my little screaming, on-the-floor-trantruming, constantly-on-the-go little Munchkin. So rather than ship him off to grandma's for the day, I'll just hug him a little tighter, kiss him a little more and tell him I love him a little more often.

The last two days

We've had a pretty normal past two days here. Yesterday morning Munchkin and I ran errands (which we do most mornings. It helps if we get out of the house at least once a day!) Then we came home and played outside for a bit.

Last night was Mom's Night Out for my MOPS group. They have one once a month. I usually don't go, for various reasons, but decided to last night. It was actually quite fun. We ate and SPIN (a pizza place). I know so many people that love it, but to me, it is just ok. But I still had a good time because of the company.

Today I had a MOPS table leader meeting. We also got a new entertainment center and a new tv delivered today. Out old tv was breaking down. It was a hand-me-down tv and worked really well for us for 5 and a half years of marriage. But after Christmas, we came home and everything was neon colors. Then it started going half black and white/half neon. So Hubby is super excited to have a new flat screen tv!!!

Munchkin is still having some trouble with sleeping which may be switching from being the result of teething discomfort to a habit. We'll give him a little while longer and then see if we need to crack down again on the sleep schedule. It is just so hard to know when he isn't big enough yet to tell us what is wrong.

Tomorrow I take Munchkin to get his 2 year pictures taken. He turns two a week from tomorrow!!! I absolutely cannot believe it. Where did the time go?

The little every day things.

There are many days when I let the every day routine get to me. Sometimes I think that there must be more to life than changing diapers, washing dishes, cleaning up toys, etc. Don't get me wrong. I am so thankful to be able to stay at home. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I remember when Hubby and I started praying about whether or not to start trying to have children. I was almost in tears over my desire to stay at home raising our babies. I loved teaching, but it wasn't my strongest desire anymore.



But sometimes when I'm in those moments of wanting to give up, wanting to be anywhere but home, wanting to take a five minute break from being Mommy, that Munchkin will do something that makes my heart smile and I am brought back to my love of being Mommy.

I mean, who else could make doing laundry this much fun and look so cute?

A few random things...

Munchkin is getting all four of his two year molars. They have really been hurting him. Poor guy. At least we're getting all four at once so we can get it over with! Unfortunately he has been having some insomnia with his teeth. Some nights it takes us a couple hours to get him to sleep. Other nights he wakes up at random hours - like 4:00 or 3:00. Knowing it is his teeth makes it more manageable for me. At least I know this won't last forever. Last night as I was trying to get him to sleep I just rocked and rocked with him - cherishing the moment with my little guy. He won't be little forever; nor will he let his mommy rock him forever.

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Papa and Mamma, thank you for the new hat and gloves.

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Great Uncle and Aunt Sefrt, we exchanged the train for these cool crayons. Munchkin is in love! They're stackable and in the shape of animals.

How to Build a Snowman

Yesterday Munchkin and Hubby went outside to build a snowman while I made lunch. I loved watching them out the kitchen window as they worked in the backyard.

Here's Hubby trying to tell Munchkin how to make a snowball. I wonder how well that worked! Ha!

Hubby making a snowball.

Munchkin standing around looking cute while Hubby made the snowballs. :)

Munchkin sitting there looking cute as Hubby builds the snowman.

Munchkin deciding that maybe he should help.

Putting the finishing touches on the snowman.

Notice the pipe? Ha!

Munchkin and the Munchkin-sized snowman.

Child Labor???

Sometimes Munchkin likes to help me do the laundry. Do you think I'm overworking him???? :)





He emptied the laundry basket, lay on top of the clothes, and said, "Night night."








But alas, he rested only momentarily and was then off and running again. He put this shirt around his neck and kept walking around the house saying "Frosty the Snowman. Frosty the Snowman." Hugh?

And what does the screwdriver have to do with anything?

I have no idea.

The post formerly titled "Wordless Wednesday" but henceforth is being called "Awake Since 4 a.m."

Just say "No"

***Sidenote: Guess what I found out today? I found out that our new flooring shows broken glass a lot easier than our old flooring. Sigh.***

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I love Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can't tell you the number of times I have read the series of Little House on the Prairie. That's right people, I said I can't tell you the number of times I've read the series. I've also been to her house in Mansfield, Missouri.



It is probably no surpise, then, that I'm also a fan of the show. I can remember watching it sometimes growing up, but it isn't like I've seen every single episode, like I have with I Love Lucy - but that's another story.



So since I own every season of I Love Lucy I thought I'd ask for Little House on the Prairie seasons for Christmas. Now I will be able to watch every. single. episode. But I only have season one, and I'm already halfway through it. What am I going to do until next Christmas???



I digress.



Anywho, I needed to trim Munchkin's nails before his nap. I needed something that would keep his attention away from me, but not mesmerize him so much that he wouldn't need to sleep. So I put in an episode of Little House on the Prairie. He got into it right away because in the first scene there were horses. Perfect!



After I got done trimming his nails, I left the room. I heard his feet in the kitchen and went to look. He went right to our drawer that has our measuring cups. He took one out and put the handle in his mouth. At first I thought that his teeth hurt and he wanted something to chew on since he is getting his two year molars. But then it hit me...Pa smokes a pipe. I went and looked at the tv, but at that time, Pa wasn't smoking. I went back a couple of scenes, to the ones I had missed while I was out of the room, and there was Pa smoking a pipe!!!

Making Cookies

We didn't go outside much last week because of the cold weather. So we decided to make sugar cookies.

Ok, I decided to make sugar cookies. I got some cool new sprinkles for Christmas, and thought this was a perfect opportunity to use them. They were blue sprinkles, sharks, sea turtles, and topical fish. The plan was to keep Munchkin entertained for the evening. But before long, he moved onto more important things. - like emptying my kitchen cabinets.

The final product.....mmmmm good.

Disclaimer: Not as good as my mom's though!

I let Munchkin pick what color of icing he wanted. Of course I made white, but in an effort to make it more fun for him, I thought we'd made a second color. He is such a boy. Out of every color I offered, he wanted black.

New toy

One toy that Munchkin got for Christmas was a new workbench - just like his Papa's. Here he is helping daddy put it together.

I had to get a picture from this angle too, to show you Hubby was actually using the instructions! Ha! (See in the lower left hand corner?)

Playing with the finished product. What fun!

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day we headed up north again for two more Christmases. One with Hubby's mom's side of the family, and the other with Hubby's dad's side of the family.

Munchkin playing with his cousin, Baby G.

Munchkin wearing Hubby's elf hat and passing out presents.

Opening presents.

Thanks cousin Ben!

Great Gpa and Gma V. got a new TV!!!

Passing out presents...again.

Opening presents...agian.

After supper, Munchkin discovered toothpicks. He decorated his cookie with them.