Self-portrait Tuesday: Baby Hugs

No time for make-up.

Plenty of time for baby hugs.

On Joshie's Third Birthday

Right before we put the boys to bed on Saturday I decided I should probably get at least one picture of the birthday boy on his real birthday.


Ahem. Well, not the most formal picture of the boy. However, it is very true to life and shows a lot of Joshie's personality at three year's old.

• Summer time - pants optional.
• Potty training - no thank you.
• Yes, it's bed time - but I want to eat my toast from dinner. NOW.
• Dinosaur shirt with stripes - my two favorite types of shirts combined!
• Cheeta spot-like bruises all over legs - why be still when you can RUN?! (And fall!)
  
• Crazy "Daddy" hair (i.e. curly) - but not nice curly, because I have to rub my head all over the couch and in my blanky and such. No amount of hair gel or hair spray can compete.
• Messy face - get away from me with that wet wash cloth, lady.
• Big arms and legs - I'm not as tall as Spencer, but I'm just about as heavy!
• Happy smile - I thrive on attention, even if it's just getting my picture taken.
• Dirty feet - shoes are for the weak.
• Monkey blankie on the floor next to me - I love security objects. (And I love my mom. And she loves me.)

Maps

I love maps. I lurrrve them. You put me in a car or airplane for any length of time, and I'm gonna start rooting around for a map to figure out where we are. Even if I know exactly where we are and where we're going.

I can't help it. This trait was genetically passed down to me from my mother, who got it from her mother. I bet great-grandma Heaton liked maps, too, although she probably didn't have much need for them out in the desert and all.

Anywho, I got tired of all of the preschool artwork hanging on the office walls. It was getting old and the boys kept ripping the paper and it just looked too fussy. I should probably put up an old picture of the office, but I'm too lazy to look for one. Sorry.

So I took down the art and put up two $5 wall maps.


I love it. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It's so much calmer and nicer looking. The maps even match the green of the walls.

I like to stand in the office and just stare; my kids think I'm crazy. They keep asking me what I'm doing and I say "Looking at the maps". When they ask why all I can say is "Because I like to", which gets me a lot of weird looks and then they rather rudely tell me to get out of their way so they can play computer.

Apparently the map gene has yet to be expressed in them.

Fwee!

Today is Josh's third birthday. (Or, as he would say, "I'm fweee!") Happy birthday, Joshie!

We actually didn't celebrate today, though. See, we were supposed to go to the temple in Chicago today. Yeah, we knew it was Josh's birthday, but it was the only free Saturday we had for the next month and a half. So we decided to celebrate a day early. He's three - he wouldn't know the difference or care.

So Thursday night I made his cake and wrapped his gifts and decorated the table. (I like to have a special 'birthday table' for my kids; it's a little like Christmas and very exciting!) So Josh woke up to this:

Balloon! Presents! A dinosaur cake! And waffles for breakfast! It was a day-before-three-year-old's dream!

And then this happened.

And so we decided it was probably not a good idea to go to the temple. (And we were right - Spencer was sick again last night.) (I am so sick of Spencer being sick.) So we really could have celebrated his birthday on his birthday, but the birthday table was already out and there was no going back.

So that's my round-about way of telling you that it's Josh's birthday today but the pictures are from yesterday.

As I said, Josh was way excited about his birthday table. He was even more excited about the fishbowl and fish we gave him.

Three little fish for his third birthday. He refuses to name them, but that's okay. He's been obsessed with fish for months, and we always have to stop and see the fish tanks at the Wal-Marts. (A complete 180 from how he reacted to fish here!)

I don't know how long they'll last, but that's okay. It'll at least save me a good 10 minutes of fish watching during my weekly grocery shopping trip!

Josh also really liked his dinosaur cake. Now, no teasing - this is exactly what he wanted.

I kept asking if he wanted a cake that looked like a dinosaur, or a cake with dinosaurs on it. He said on it. And he chose the dinosaurs.

And you have to admit, the flying Pterodactyl is pretty cool, right?

It was a loooong day. The boys were totally bummed that we couldn't go to Monkey Joe's as planned. But then Daddy came home early and we let Josh open one gift: a new Wii game. (So exciting!)

Can you guess what they did for the next two hours?

While I was making dinner it was all I could do to keep Josh away from the cake. (Poke poke poke.) What a wicked little grin...

Despite Josh's best efforts, the cake survived his attacks and we were able to sing and blow out the candles. (BTW, the candles are lit, they're just really dim. They actually glow the color of the candle, so the red candle flame was red, etc. Cool, right?)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tres exciting, right? Just look at the excitment on Cole's face:

Then it was finally time for the rest of the presents. (Something Josh had been whining about all day. Odd. Three year olds seem to whine just like two year olds.)

Spencer gave him a Wii points card to download Wii games.

Joshie also got a small gumball machine. (Score! That thing will get him to do anything!)

And finally, Joshie's favorite gift:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don't you just love the look on his face? He was so excited. He had been eyeing that dinosaur at the store for weeks. A big dinosaur thank you, Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie!

The boys couldn't get enough of Raptor. Joshie even took him to bed that night. (Comfy.)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I just love it when birthday presents go over so well.

And I just love Joshie. Happy birthday, my big three year old boy!

Boys. Are. Gross.

So apparently Spencer is still plenty sick. He just tried to hide it from me because he really wanted to go to school today. (Isn't that cute? And sad because he couldn't go?)

He certainly didn't act as if he felt sick at all. He snarfed down his peanut butter and syrup-laden pancakes just as happy as could be while excitingly talking to Josh about his birthday presents. (More on that later.) He looked fine, smelled fine, seemed fine.

So how did I find him out?

I went into his room and discovered Joshie's bed covered in Spencer's vomit.

Now there's a sentence I never foresaw writing.

Apparently Spencer had gotten sick while in his bed this morning and couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. Rather than getting his bed dirty (which carries a bit of good logic), he leaned over the side and threw up on Josh's bed.

Erlack.

Poor Spencer was devastated I had discovered his poorly hidden secret. Only a lecture on not giving germs to his classmates and the promise of playing computer games all day calmed him down. (He really likes school!)

After I cleaned up the mess I had this little conversation with the boys:

Me: Spencer, did you throw up when Josh was still in bed or after he got out of bed?

Spencer: Josh was in bed.

Me (trying not to gag): Why didn't you go into the bathroom?

Spencer (looking sheepish): I couldn't.

Me: Well, that's okay. It was an accident and you're sick. You're not in trouble. Why didn't you tell me?

Spencer: Can I play computer?

Me: After your bath. When you're sick you have to have a bath.

Spencer (whining): Awwwwwww...

*****

Me: Joshie, did Spencer get sick on your bed?

Joshie: Yea.

Me: Did you get dirty?

Joshie: No.

Me: Did you see Spencer get sick?

Joshie: Yes, it came down. It was raining!

Me (really trying not to gag): Okay... Why didn't you tell me?

Joshie: Can I play computer?

Me: After your bath. Little boys who get thrown up on have to have a bath.

Joshie (whining): Awwwwww...

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again and again: Boys. Are. Gross.

What, you don't think that's so bad? Well I won't even begin to describe what surprise Spencer left for me in the bathroom...

Sick Day

I was woken up at the unholy hour of 3am to the sounds of Spencer puking in the hall.

Lovely.

I spent the rest of the 'morning' (and I use that term loosely as it was so frickin' early) cleaning the carpet, washing bedding, cleaning up Spencer, soothing him, setting up a bed for him on the couch, and waiting for him to go back to sleep. Once he did, I was so wide awake that I couldn't sleep. I finally did at around 6:30, only to wake up to Lance's alarm at 7:00.

Oh, and I did something I swore as a child that I would never do: I gave my own child a bucket to throw up in. My mom used to do that to me and for some reason I just hated it. But now I see the reason and logic, and the bucket eventually (and unfortunately) was used a bit. And Spencer didn't seem offended by it.

Well, the day dragged on. And on. And on. And Spencer got better. And better. And better. By noon he was begging me for lunch, and he ate all of it and then some.

By dinner time he and his brother were up to this in the hallway:


I'm glad he's feeling better. I don't like to see my kids sick; it makes me feel so helpless. But at the same time, I kinda felt like he should at least act a little sick! If I was gonna be exhausted from taking care of him, he should at least have the decency to be a little tired instead of all riled up.

But I guess he was. I put the boys to bed, went to do something in the kitchen, and went back into the boys' room literally two minutes later. He was sound asleep.

My Brood

Apparently I have been remiss in my duties of posting pictures of the grandchildren. (Or as my dad likes to call them, The Heir (Spencer), The Spare (Josh), and Cole.) So, here for your viewing pleasure (and you know that it is - my kids are cute!), here are a few pictures and fun facts about my growing brood.

For whatever reason, Josh refuses to open the back door when he wants to come in. He'd rather stand outside, whine, and slobber all over the window. When we let him in depends on how much we're enjoying teasing him at the time.

I think we have another blue-eyed beauty. I can't get him to smile anymore because he becomes like a deer in the headlights whenever he sees the camera now.

Cole is the first baby I've had who always pees at the end of the bath instead of at the beginning. Just a little fun fact for ya.

Cole is all about eating his hands lately. ALL THE TIME. He's getting sooo close to getting his entire fist in his mouth.

Obsessed with that camera again.

Lovin' the cheeks, Cole.

A rare shot of momma Madsen. Just before Cole spit up on me. For the fourth time today.

Josh - always moving at the speed of light.

Except for this picture.

More hands in the mouth. I can actually hear him sucking on his hands in a different room.

Spencer also can't seem to hold still - especially right before bedtime.

Josh beating Spencer in a wrestling match - which happens more often than not.