I Gotta Getta Grippa.

so, starting monday dave will be done with his gone-for-a-freaking-month trips.

HIP HIP HOORAY.

PRAISE THE LORD.

THANK YOU DEAR JESUS.

ahem. sorry. it's been a long few months.

but i have made it through these months...thanks mostly to the help my grandmother IN LAW, lucille. god bless that woman. and not just lucille, but my mom, dad, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and a few choice friends too. THANK YOU ALL OF YOU, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND I LOVE YOU.

but back to lucille.

she has been my crutch through these crazy months. she picks up hallie off of the bus everyday (except monday - thanks barb!) from school and keeps her until i get home with henry around 5pm. most days she will find a basket of clean clothes to fold, or cloth diapers to stuff or hallie's bedroom to clean.

god bless that woman.

and did i mention she makes us supper? everyday? yeah.

GOD BLESS THAT WOMAN.

luckily, i pay her back. she gets to do this as much as she wants:

and then see him do this:

i'd say we're even, dontcha think?

ANYWAY.

dave will be home to pick up hallie, which is great, but it means i will start needing to cook for our family. waaah.

5pm-ish is a tough time at our house. everyone is hungry, i have a baby on my boob and need to get hallie fed before starting the bedtime routine at 6:15. that's 1.25 hours to get dinner on the table. but first i have to nurse henry. always. nursing. henry.

so i need to get a GRIP and start using my crockpot more.

so, all of that to say...

GIVE ME YOUR FAVORITE (easy) CROCKPOT RECIPES.

ones that i can make up the night before, plug in first thing in the morning and have cooked to perfection when i walk in the door at 5pm.

GO.

(thank you)

Milestone: Baby's First Bites...er, Slurps.

we skipped the rice cereal nonsence and went straight to oatmeal. rice has a tendency to be binding - if you catch my drift - and mr. henry doesn't poop very much as it is.

so oatmeal! yes!

he, uh.

wasn't really impressed. and i forgot a bib? what's that all about? and do you see how crooked he is in his high chair? the boy always leans to the left - which is the way he was always positioned in my stomach too!

weird.

Double the Bedhead, Double the Fun.

alternate titles:

Sturdier Equals Funner (ah, grammar)

A Stronger Neck Makes for a Stronger Bond

She Likes Him More Now That She Can Haul Him Around a Bit More and He Won't Cry.

yeah, i would say the last one is the most accurate. now that he is bigger and stronger, i let her hold him more. and he really reacts to her songs and such, so she loves that. now, if she would just GET OUT OF HIS FACE, he could actually SEE her and would probably smile even more at her.

sigh.

My Sleeper.

this little boy likes to sleep, praise the lord god in heaven ABOVE. he sleeps from about 7pm - 6:30am, just waking once to eat around 3am. when he's a little older i will try to cut that out. but he is still on only breast milk, so i think he might need that last feeding for awhile. i'm okay with that.

i shudder when i think about the first few months of hallie's life. sleep was a huge issue for us. like, she didn't want to and i did.

look at his hair in this picture! it was a little on the wild side last night. it's getting so long and he is starting to look more and more like dave.

and then here's miss hallie who wanted curlers in her hair last night again. so i spent all that time rolling them up (okay, like 5 minutes) and then once she got in bed she wanted them out.

love these kids.

PS - dave comes home on monday for a few days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love These Kids.

just try to tell me he isn't the cutest thing EVER. seriously, he is growing up too fast and is JUST SO DANGED SWEET.

and then there's this one.

so sweet, huh? HA. (what can i do about that HAIR?!)

she was actually great in this moment, but stuck out her tongue to make a statement. about what, i'm not sure. but there it is.

she has really started taking off with her spelling and reading. it's amazing to watch. last night she kept saying - mom, give me three letter words. any three letter words.

sometimes it's HARD to come up with three letter words! she spelled them all right except for owl. she spelled it "awl." isn't that cute? try sounding it out and that's what i would probably put too.

this past weekend she made my grocery list for me. i would tell her what i needed and she would write it. she was waaaay off on a few, but they were phonetically correct, so i was pretty proud. her teacher sent home a note to all parents saying to NOT tell them how to spell things, but instead make them sound it out and work it out themselves.

here is part of the grocery list.

(dog food, cat food, apple, cucumber, milk, bread, popcorn)

Before and After.

before.

after.

not happy. it's hard for anyone to be happy at 6:30am, but i thought she would love it. she hated it. this was before i even had a chance to mess with it at all! i could have made it look sooooo cute, but nope. up in a ponytail it went.

and then she loved the curly pony tail. crazy girl.

next time i will do the tighter curlers on the top and work with the bangs a little better. half up, half down would have been darling!

What's in YOUR Garage? Prepare for a Crazy Long Post. With Lots of Words.

because here is what was in mine, last night.

do you see?

no? hang on, here's a better angle.

still not sure?

whoop, there it is.

GROSS.

here's how it went down:

8:30:  as i am finishing up lunches, bottles, etc. i hear thump, thump in the garage. great, the kitties are locked in the garage.

8:31: open the door to the garage, bend down to pick up the "kitty."

8:31: SCREAM

scream

scream

scream

scream

8:35: armed with a broom, i manage to scare it into the closet in the garage. great.

8:36: call dave, who puts me on speaker phone as i half scream/cry/freakout over the phone.

at this point, he is telling me to climb into the closet on the right side with my broom and try to get the possum out - the possum is now hiding behind the white buckets on the left side of the VERY skinny closet. do you understand how close that would put me to the possum?

i may or may not have asked dave at this point if a. he was crazy or b. if possums could jump/climb walls.

i mustered up my courage, balanced on the boards on the right side of the closet and snuck back there. and came running out doing my scream/cry thing because it was just TOO SCARY to be in that close of proximity to a POSSUM.

at this point, i told dave to just pretend i didn't call him, that there was nothing in the garage. my plan was to just leave the garage doors open and pray it goes out all by itself. dave didn't think that was a good idea.

then my darling father-in-law (who was listening to this go down over speaker phone) called my "neighbor" who came over with his 6 year old and they rescued me.

whew. my heart is still pounding!

in other news, i woke up at 7:09 this morning. i normally leave the house at 7:10am, so do you see where this is going?

luckily, hallie wasn't her usual grouchy morning self and enjoyed watching me freakout that we were SO LATE, HALLIE, WE ARE SO LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!

but, i managed to get her dressed/teeth/hair/breakfast, me showered/makeup/wet hair!/no breakfast (sad face), henry changed/clothed/nursed and got hallie to school on time and me to work just a few minutes late! MIRACLE.

it only worked because lucille came over and took hen to irma's, god bless her.

what a crazy night and crazy morning!

weekend recap. a crapload of pictures.

oh, it was a good one. mostly because my mom cleaned my house! and it was a surprise! and it was her birthday, not mine! (happy birthday yesterday again, mom!)

for real, we walked into the house after church/lunch and the house was spotless. and there were clothes hanging from the clothes line and the dryer was drying another load and the beds were made and the dishwasher had been run and the floors were vacuumed and the bathroom floors scrubbed and the bathtubs/showers cleaned and the toilets cleand and moldy vases washed and the microwave cleaned! i mean FOR REAL.

i think having people clean for me is my love language because i sure do love my mom right now! not that my love is conditional, but you know what i mean.

we did other things too.

like...play with henry, pick out pumpkins at the farmers' market, carve/paint said pumpkins, have allergic reaction aka itchy hands from said carving, put said pumpkins on the front porch in apparently insanely bright sunlight, take pictures of our awesome shadows and then light pumpkins. whew!

and then my mom cleaned my house!

while we were at church, so it was even a surprise!

and we ate lunch at barb's after church:

and then my dad came up for the night! and he just sent me a text and was cleaning my oven!

love language, yes!

Dear Dave: 17.

dearest,

last night we went to girl scouts. i was nervous because it was from 6-7pm and henry is usually in bed, asleep by 7pm. it could have been a bad thing, but it actually was great. he did just fine...up until we got in the car to go home. and then he was over the whole thing.

but, i have discovered that he will stop crying instantly (!) when hallie sings the barney song. she sings it like this:

"i love you. you love me. we're just happy as can be. with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you. won't you say i love you too."

henry tried to cry the whole way home, but stopped each time she started singing. pretty funny. also i hate that song now. i love it. but i hate it. you know?

anyway, here we are last night.

we have got to do something about her bangs!

Fun-draising.

we are in the midst of fundraising for girl scouts! don't you just love fundraising? asking people for money, even for a great cause, is SO MUCH FUN!

i just love it so much that i am asking all of YOU! would you consider purchasing something from hallie's girl scount fundraiser? she earns badges for the magazine sales and gets free stuff for the candy/trailmixes sold.

you could either:

1) buy or renew a magazine

OR

2) buy some candy/nuts/trailmixes! there are even a few choices that are only $5. like, cajun trailmix and whatnot.

NO PRESSURE, but if you are in the market for a new magazine or up for renewal or have a sweet tooth like mine, let me know and i'll giv eyou some more information!

i feel so dirty now. I HATE FUNDRAISERS. i get it, they are necessary. i understand. but they still suck.

here's the grateful girl scout now! (extremely blurry!):

Henry is 4 Months! (like, last Saturday).

Oh, Henry.

• You now weigh 13 pounds, 4 ounces and are 25 inches long.
• You are the smile-iest baby I have ever met in my life.
• You also "talk" more than any baby I have ever met in my life.
• You have very nice hair and lovely blue eyes.
• When you smile, your whole face lights up.
• You sleep...pretty well, only waking up once to eat.
• You love to nurse, but are finally, finally taking bottles better at Irma's.
• You love Irma.
• You love Hallie (when she stays out of your face).
• You love to get undressed,
• but HATE to get dressed again.
• You love your baths so much.
• You have a tiny belly button. Even the doctor said so.
• You can roll front to back.
• You love your swing and bouncy chair, but don't love your bumbo.
• You LOVE to watch ceiling fans.
• You slobber so much that I have to put a bib on you every day.
• It's really gross how much you slobber.
• You have very hairy ear canals (according to the doctor).
• You love to be outside.

You are the joy of my life right now. It's impossible to have a bad day when I see you smile at me. You are honestly the best baby ever and I am so blessed that you are all mine! I can't wait to find out what kind of trouble you will get into when you are older, because you have me absolutely wrapped around your itsy-bitsy finger.

• You have adorable fingers.

I love you,
mom aka the one with the boobs

Dear Dave: 21.

dear dave,

we had a pretty good weekend. we spent a lot of time drawing and coloring. she wants me to teach her how to draw everything - elephants, dolphins, dinosaurs and semis. have you ever tried to draw a dolphin? seriously?

here is her rainbow mason sound semi. precious stuff, right there.

 while we colored, henry did this.

he has figured out he can see himself. his poor neck must get tired, but he just looks and looks and smiles. oh so cute.

we also went to the ic homecoming parade. there were a lot of bands, which i loved. however, hallie would say, "ANOTHER band?!" like, where is the candy?!

love you and miss you,
wife

Dear Dave: 24.

dear dave,

we are sorta-sick. I say sort of, because, well, we are sick...sort of. last night hal had a pretty good fever. motrin + sleep and she was back to awesome this morning.

last night my throat was killing me to swallow. i checked it out with a flashlight and found black spots - not good. prompt care this morning told me it was probably FOOD stuck to my tonsils and my throat was just hurting because of drainage from a viral infection.

so to recap. hal was sick, good now. my throat hurts, but it's really nothing. i can't believe i have to use a sick day for this nonsence. at least hallie didn't have school today, so she's not missing out on any of that.

we sent henry to irma's so he didn't get exposed to our yuckies...which are not really yuckies now and i MISS HIM LIKE CRAZY! i have to pump all day now and that sucks (haha).

LOVE YOU,
wife-er

*all pictures are of hallie at prompt care, trying to run from me so i don't take her picture.

Dear Dave: 25.

dear dave,

we wear a bib all the time these days. my gosh the DROOL is out of control. i mean, h-bomb has always been super slobbery, but it has now reached an all-time high. i can almost wring the bib out at the end of the day.

super gross.

also, i think he looks more like you every day. so much for having a kid that looks like me! you must have super strong genes or whatever.

also, henry has decided he just loves hallie when she sings to him. so you can imagine how much she sings to him. all. the. time. barney song (why??!!) all.the.time.

love,
wifey-poo