climber

and then

OUT

OF

NOWHERE

the 14 month old climbs up onto the couch

and steals the popsicle out of your mouth.

we have a climber folks.

send reinforcements.

the you know what part

so this happened.

chase dragged me kicking and screaming on monday by the hair on my head,

DEMANDING underpants.

it was monday.

i had every excuse to talk him out of it,

mitigation, costco day, preschool day, speech therapy day,

almost as busy as a wednesday kind of day.

but the man would NOT be put in another diaper for one more day of his life.

and even though i had to drag him all around and potty train him on the run,

with extra pants and underwear in my bag all day,

by the next morning,

he was potty trained.

{god bless the third child and their ability to do everything on the run.}

i couldn't even believe it.

the man was ready.

i had no idea he was that ready.

i stood there watching him wave to brennan as he left for school the next day,

just like he does every morning,

and i looked at my family, and they all looked a little bit older.

like a new phase of life we'd hit.

no one in diapers.

people in school with homework, and friends, and lunches, and stuff.

it took him another half a day to really get the hang of the you know what part,

the hardest part in my opinion,

but man oh man, i've AGAIN by corrected by one of my boys.

there's a common theme here.

my boys teaching me things about the world that i thought i already had figured out.

like the fact that maybe boys can ACTUALLY be easily potty trained, not just the girls.

who knew?

i'm so glad he made me do it.

and i could watch his little proud face all day long.

i will NEVER forget the look on his face and the hug he gave me when he finally got the hang of the you know what part.

i watched him grow up a little bit right then and there.

and i felt our mother son bond squeeze a little bit tighter.

because we got through it together.

and it wasn't even all that painful.

4 months without ANYONE in diapers.

this my friends, is awesome:)

first time in 7 years i have not been changing someone's diaper.

not gonna lie though, i'm so glad to be having another bum to change on the way.

because i'm just not ready for my family to be THAT grown up and out of babyhood quite yet.

this WILL be the first time i've had a newborn baby without a toddler in diapers.

awesome awesome awesome.

awesome baby man.

thank you my sweet little baby man.

better than 20/20

tall and skinny,

better than 20/20,

and draws like a 6 yr old.

3 time offender {chocolate eclair cake recipe}

1st time out.

we've crossed the great divide.

where "he's just a baby" and "he just wacked her and he knew he shouldn't" slam into each other.

and sometimes that means slamming into your sister's face.

wednesday 9:36am.

hitter.

3 time offender.

and do you know what?

i MAY have ignored it a little bit longer

just because when you're the third kid,

you've got to look out for yourself.

and his punch is still whimpy,

especially when he's the man on the ground,

and i think i was checking my bank statement too,

and she's the gal up in the bistro chair,

and she was a hitter too,

but then i put him in time out.

and max got to take

pride in the

fact

the

world

was

a

fair

place

again

at

last.

hahahahaha.

if only she knew the truth.

oh to be almost 2,

baby man. 

...

MAKE THIS.

like on sunday.

or something.

if you don't have 2pm church.

or if you do,

make it before you go.

b/c i swear to you that it gets better with age.

the longer it sits in your fridge.

it's light.

it's fluffy.

and then there's this chocolate on the top.

OH MY.

just make it.

chocolate eclair cake

INGREDIENTS:

for the cake

1 box honey graham crackers

2 pkg {3.4 oz each} instant french vanilla pudding

2 1/2 cup milk

12 oz cool whip

for the frosting

2 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate chips

2tsp corn syrup

1tsp vanilla

3 tbls melted butter

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tbls milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. mix pudding with milk. fold in cool whip.

2. layer graham crackers, 

pudding/cool whip mixture, 

graham crackers, 

pudding/cool whip mixture, 

graham crackers.

that's 5 layers folks.

two pudding, three graham.

3. melt your frosting stuff in a pan on your stove in this order:

chocolate and butter

corn syrup

vanilla

milk and powdered sugar.

stir it the whole time so it doesn't burn.

4. pour that chocolate sauce all over the top of your cake,

and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or days.

whichever.

TA-DA!

HAPPY FRIDAY:)

CLICK:)

learning to read over here.

exciting business!!!

bat

cat

mat

pat

{grandpa was so excited that brennan can read his name}

sat

hat

fat

nat

{we didn't worry about the "g" there}

then he moved onto

pot

dot

then

mop

top

stop

at which point he told me he was done.

and that a 4 letter word was super great reading.

a BIG word.

so fun to watch him go.

and that darn letter C.

not even individual enough to make it's own sound.

i know, C, sometimes we all struggle with that.

but really, you have to borrow K and S?

at least X combines them both.

i'm having flashbacks of LIT1 in college with missy...

hardest class in my entire college career.

with the greatest teacher ever.

mr. allen.

it was just that it required 6 units of work,

but you only got 2 units of credit.

i still have nightmares that i have to take the LIT1 state exam again,

and i haven't studied for it.

that i have forgotten all of the material from when it took the class.

b/c i took it 8 years ago.

or something.

LIT 1.

traumatizing.

that's we what call that.

boy,

i'm sure glad i had to take it.

and boy,

i'm sure glad linsey's mom dropped off these cards to help me remember why i took it.

because there's nothing more amazing than watching your child learn to read.

CLICK:)

shazam!

1st day of nursery.

not even a kiss goodbye.

set him down at the door,

and he took off running for the bins of trucks and cars.

takes after his big brother.

such a nursery gem those boys are.

second set of double gibbies in the nursery at the same time.

2 yrs apart with spring birthdays will do that to ya.

it's a beautiful thing.

hip hip hooray!

max was looking up at me like, "ma, you're not staying?"

and i was all,

"B-Y-E."

{wink}

that's what i lipped to the nursery leaders across the room.

and then i scooted myself right out to sunday school.

shazam:)

where's the humanity!!??!! {the binky fairy}

we were looking for jessie stuff.

as in the toy story cowgirl--yeeeeeeHOOOOOOO!

pictures to hang on her wall.

or cowgirl stuff.

whatever we could find.

b/c she keeps telling us that she doesn't want to sleep 

in brennan's room anymore with all of the boy cowboy stuff.

'cause she's a girl.

that's why.

except the only jessie stuff walmart had was a $42 doll.

and really,

i did not want to spend $42 on a doll.

so before we left we ran around the corner to the bikes.

and talked about how when santa comes wouldn't it be awesome to give him her binkies for a bike?!

max: can i ride the bike?

me: yes! and we can take the bike home if you want to give santa your binkies!

max: today?!

me: sure! santa can bring you a bike tonight! 

{what? didn't your mother ever tell you the elves work all year long? they do.}

max: i don't want to give santa my binkies.

me: ok, let's ride the bike to the posters to see if there's a jessie poster.

max: ok.

after that,

she

was

hooked.

max: mommy, i don't need my binkies. big girls with bikes like these don't need binkies.

me: so you're ready to give santa your binkies?

max: nope. {in a whisper} i want to throw them in the trash! i still have them at night?

me: nope. if we get the bike there's no more binkies anymore ever.

{she thinks...and thinks...}

max: i throw them away!!!!! let's get the bike.

me: {i'm panicking. this is not what i planned. i thought we had 3 more months of binky bliss!}

{compose yourself, deep breaths, smile}

ok awesome!!! 

you know this means there will be NO MORE binkies.

not even at night.

you can throw them away,

or give them to the binky fairy,

or santa,

whatever,

but the binkies are gone.

max: YES!

me: let's go buy the bike.

max: woohoo!!!

...

so she rode the bike to the checkout,

and out through the parking lot.

when she got home she ran through the house,

gathering the only 2 binkies we have left,

and threw them into the trash.

with a big proud smile on her face.

and for an hour she rode up and down our street.

in the freezing cold.

with minnie mouse and her panda {minus the binky} 

strapped into the pink puffy car seat off of the back of the built in princess seat.

and then after dinner,

she got all into her jammies,

brushed her teeth,

went potty,

and headed for her bed,

and

then

it

hit

her.

she wanted her binkies.

she burst into tears.

told us she wanted her binkies back!

didn't want them gone!

over and over and over again.

with the saddest little face,

and big huge crocodile tears.

but we were in it now.

that was the first thing i thought.

and then i thought, why did i let her throw them into the trash!

why didn't i tell her to just leave them out on the counter?

we could bag it and just get them if we hadn't have thrown then into the trash!

but now those precious binkies were in the blue garbage cans on the side of the house.

sitting among diapers and garbage.

stinky smelly diapers.

WHY OH WHY!?

where's the humanity in that!?

my heart was aching for her.

being an avid thumb sucker until the right bold age of 14 you see.

there was no girl who loved sucking her thumb more than me.

i can still remember how lovely it was.

but there was just no going back to the binkies now.

her little face was just so sad.

and all i could offer was to say a prayer,

and cuddle her until she fell asleep.

{ok, maybe i also gave her some benedryl. 

in my defense, she did have a runny nose. 

and possibly a rash. 

or what looked like a scratch that MIGHT turn into a rash. 

and my pediatrician always tells me,

that a runny nose and something that MIGHT turn into a rash 

are perfectly good reasons to pull out the benedryl.

he is the best, i know.

see, totally justifiable use for benedryl.

and pediatrician recommended. ha!}

so when she was beside herself in my binky is gone agony,

i asked her if she wanted the binky fairy to leave her a note in the night.

and that she would come only when max fell asleep.

and what did the binky fairy look like anyway?

at which point she gathered herself enough 

to choke out her self-made binky fairy description.

white dress.

pink shoes.

purple and pink hair.

purple and pink wings.

blue eyes.

rainbow fairy dust.

then she asked for dad.

sean came in,

i laid under the blankets with brennan in his bed,

and we all fell asleep.

when it was almost 10 sean woke me up,

and i staggered downstairs to clean up dinner.

so grateful the binky fairy did the rest.

did you know binky fairies PEE GLITTER.

i know,

it was news to us too.

she also left her glitter all over the trash cans,

kitchen table and floors,

on max's new princess bike {silly fairy thought she was big enough},

and finally in max's car seat.

i wish you could have seen max's face in the morning.

so proud.

that she'd done it.

me too max.

me too.

DIY=Do It Yourself & Brennan rides a 2-wheel bike

yes, i'm seriously THAT dense.

and i seriously don't think about things like that until a long time after everyone else has.

it's embarrassing sometimes,

but mostly just funny when everything starts clicking and it all comes together for me.

D-E-N-S-E.

{i am not responsible for grammatical or punctuation errors 

while texting and sitting on a couch. or anywhere else for that matter.}

good grief.

my brain and i.

we have a funny funny life up inside of my head.

in other news...

brennan learned to ride a 2-wheel bike.

it's big business around these parts.

B-I-G.

{not notorious b-i-g and p-diddy though, just B-I-G as in big. the word.}

{in case your brain is as funny as mine.}

he is so proud of himself.

i love to sit and watch him ride back and forth between the fence and the fire hydrant.

he seems so much more grown up now.

walks like a man {almost}

you love to stand at the front window, 

ESPECIALLY if it's open with just a screen.

you wave at each car that passes by,

and baby man squawk at people you see.

you will stand there for half an hour 

and not move from that windowsill 

when the window is open.

....

dear chase,
you took your first two steps tonight.
we were at the yogurt shop with grandma and grandpa gibson.
you ate most of max's raspberry frozen yogurt with sprinkles on top.
and then grandma gibson was holding your hands, while you were standing up, across from me.
then she let go of your hands and you took two steps to me with no help.
it was so great.
we were all clapping for you.
so exciting:)
i can't believe that you are going to be walking soon.
you are going to love it.
right now you crawl around outside on your hands and feet with your butt in the air like a walking downward dog yoga pose b/c you don't like the cement to scrape your knees up anymore.
it's hilarious.
also,
when you find an ant,
you stop dead in your tracks,
try to touch it with your index finger,
and then almost fall onto your head following it as it crawls underneath you toward your feet.
you usually fall onto your bum,
and then you try to touch it with your index finger again.
when the ant crawls into the cracks of the cement you try to follow it,
but you just get confused and then move onto something else.
it is so so cute.
you can climb up any slide.
and all chairs.
{thankfully you don't try to climb out of your crib...yet}
you just learned how to climb up onto the flat part of the double slide.
and then you tried to climb through the tube.
backwards.
your arms and legs are so strong.
dad and i can't BELIEVE it.
i adore your little defined arm muscles, and chubby, solid body.
my favorite thing is to watch you crawl around in just a diaper.
i just can't wait for you to learn to walk,
even though it will make some things harder for me,
b/c i will have to watch you more closely on the stairs again.
you are just going to LOVE it!
i am so excited for you.

love,
mom

{above and below: trying to squish an ant--->notice scrapped and red knees/legs/toes/tops of feet.}

book worm

ate my lunch yesterday in peace 

for the first time in what feels like forever.

whatever it takes, LOL!!!

mom-2

chase-6 gazillion

winning!

:):):)

love that little baby man.

capital C-H

 "hey baby, wanna go get some sushi after this?" 

-the baby man 

{a.k.a "lady killer"}

......

we really did talk about going to get sushi.

just for the record.

would you look at that chest?!

THOSE BLONDE EYELASHES!!!

bright blue eyes

chipmunk cheeks

strawberry hair

button nose

billowing thighs

double chin

and perfect upper lip!

23.5 pounds of hunk-a-hunk-a-chubba-chubs burning love.

30 & 1/2 inches tall.

that means that despite our thinking he's a fatty,

he's not,

but he is on his way to gumbi status.

or volleyball.

whichever.

bravest little baby man on campus.

even went to mindee for hugs before we left.

he's bribed easily by pretty ladies.

and batman stickers.

so nummy.

glad those three POWS are behind us.

or pricks.

whichever.

we are officially measles, mumps, and rubella free.

and whatever else the other two are.

chicken pocks?

can't remember now.

C-H-A-M-P.
capital C-H.
TA-DA!

meet coolie, the baby gate

lately coolie is on baby gate duty.

i knew i liked that 6 foot bear.

my poor computer gets the wrath of the baby man.

the router just keeps hanging on by a thread!

coolie's back on the other hand...

i have some mending to do.