Watch Me Grow, Dad

Outside! Water! Pool! Bike! Ball!

I think we are in love...

our cute kid

here is a good laugh i got off SLOcountymommies

Potty Talk A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's restroom stall. By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we're in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window.
People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume. It's always fully cranked. There've been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.
Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall:
"Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?"
At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full … 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.
Cade continued, "Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh … Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh! I see dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!"
I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me. Where is a screaming newborn when you need her? Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, "Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some!"
"No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh! Mommy!" He started to gag at this point. "Uh oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!" As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: OK. There are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.
"Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going stinkies! Get up! Get up!" He grunted as he tried to pull me off. Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door.
"Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at, Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?" More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation.
"Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy." He started pounding on the door. "Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!"
I saw that my "wait 'em out" plan was unraveling. As I sheepishly opened the door, and found an open sink, I thought, Where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my privacy?
But as my little herald gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.

Warm Day

A day with Daddy

Here are picks from our walk to the park and then dinner at the new Chilis in Paso.

This last picture, Nehemiah is looking at a little girl named Brooke. Casey and I met Brooke's Mommy and Daddy in our birthing class. Brooke's mom took her older twin sisters to a big sister/brother class that French hospital puts on and they used 1 day old Nehemiah to show baby finger and toes. It makes you realize how much time really has gone by.

One Amazing Family

Over the past week I have stumbled on a new blog. Its called noahsteven.blogspot.com. It is blog of a family whos tiny baby boy is in the hospital and then recently it has become a tribute to him since his death. Althogh the story is so super sad, i am more drawn to how God has blessed them through this time. This is an amazing family.

www.noahsteven.blogspot.com

Hey Jess you'll get a kick out of this....

Two little kids are in a hospital, lying on stretchers next to each other, outside the operating room. The first kid leans over and asks, "What are you in here for?" The second kid says, "I'm in here to get my tonsils out and I'm a little nervous." The first kid says, "You've got nothing to worry about. I had that done when I was four. They put you to sleep, you get lots of Jell-O and ice cream. It's a breeze." The second kid then asks, "What are you here for?" The first kid says, "A circumcision." The second kid replies, "Whoa, good luck buddy, I had that done when I was born. Couldn't walk for a year."

The Phone Call

My husband called tonight at a stop over in New York. I was so excited to hear his voice and know he is on his way. The most exciting thing about the call is that we will have no more 3 second delays in our phone conversations. So he could be here as early as late, late, late friday night. WAHOO!!!!!!!!

He is on his way HOME!!!!! oh my gosh i could pee my pants

Wahoo!!! I thought this day would never come. Casey has left Afghanistan and hopefully will never return. Right now he is Asia somewhere and should land in North Carolina on Monday. Then he could be back in California in as little as a week.

Super cute kid

Josiah came to visit...

and he played...

and then a MIGHTY flood came (by means of a little boy grabbing on to a 3 gal fish tank) and then his mommy and i cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

here is Nehemiah's fish in a temporary location, as of this post he is still alive since his stressful ordeal.

To end it all Josiah cried and cried while we cleaned and cleaned. Jess kept telling him he was ok and to stop crying. When we had soaked up enough we stopped for a moment and changed him out of his soaking wet clothes. It was then that we realized the poor little dude hurt his foot.

one more thing...Jess, my lawyers will be contacting you shortly to arrange a settlement of a can of carpet freshner and a smoothie from jamba juice.

Good song

Click on the middle of the empty box

My baby has a fat lip

Nehemiah fell on the playground by Nana's house and split his little lip, which made it big...really BIG.

Nehemiah and the cracker

Another trip to the park

Our Living Room

Nehemiah loves Uncle Chris' fried chicken

Before the weather turned butt cold

we have a yard for him but he would rather play in the driveway.

The park by our house

I would have taken more pictures but my battery died. We didnt stay long because it was on the freezing side of cold. We also have a library in walking distance, and as soon as it warms up a little we will check it out.