Green Beans!

Tonight was our first attempt at baby food. I say “our” because Grandma Benna already fed her yogurt and Mamaw Connie a gummy bear and a marshmallow bunny.

(Dear future grandchildren: I promise to not feed you anything before your mommy and daddy have and I promise not to give you junk food. You may not like me for it, but someday you will understand.)

So needless to say Liddy wasn’t real thrilled with the idea of eating green beans!

(I really can’t say that I blame her.)

She was all about it at first, she almost came out of the seat!

But then she tasted it.  I really can't say for sure how much she actually ate.  I am pretty sure she had more on the bib, her clothes, the seat and the counter than she actually kept in her mouth. 

Maybe we will try again tomorrow night.  I did notice that Travis didn't attempt to eat the left over food.  Which is something he tried to do with Titan.  Even he, "Mr. I can't let it go to waste" couldn't eat the baby food!  You know it must be bad if that is the case.

I learned a lesson, but he didn’t

So the story starts a few weeks back when I called Travis on the phone and asked him to pick up some windshield wipers for my car on his way home from work. He didn’t. He said that he needed the car to be able to do it. Well, I knew better than that but I went along with it even though that voice in my head said to just do it yourself. “I’ll take the car up Saturday and get new ones.” He said. Well Saturday came and went and I still had no windshield wipers on my car. Luckily it hadn’t rained and I hadn’t thought about it again. That was until Thursday morning. After driving to drop the kids off at the babysitter’s, on the worst road in the county, in the pouring rain, I not only had remembered the windshield wipers but was furious that he hadn’t changed them. After a slight argument with myself where I was torn between you should have just taken care of it yourself and NO WAY, he should have to be responsible for SOMETHING! I dialed Travis’s work phone,

Me: “Put the keys in your car, I am trading you cars.”


Travis: “Okay, Why?”


Me: “Because you didn’t change the windshield wipers and I can’t see a thing.”


Travis: “Okay”


Me: (Okay?! No, I’m sorry, I forgot, no nothing….) “Okay”

After telling me where he parked the car I got off the phone. That’s where I start to realize that my plan wasn’t such a good idea. You see in the moment I thought, I’ll show him, but really the only person who got “showed” was me.


Here I am, already late for work, pulling into his work to switch cars. It is still raining, and I have 2 bags in the car to transfer over to his. There were no other parking spots so I had to pull his car out and then pull mine into the same spot. Needless to say after this ordeal I was slightly wet and getting madder by the second. (knowing he was just inside that building with not a care in the world)


Settled in his car, and once again on my way to work, I realized what a pain it is to drive a car that someone else has been driving. Nothing is in the right place and everything on his car is opposite mine, so when I was trying to turn the windshield wipers on I was turning the turn signal on and so on. The seat isn’t where I would have it etc. etc. So I turned up the radio and tried to forget the message that was creeping up in my head. “You should have done it yourself and you aren’t hurting anyone but yourself”


Pulling into the parking lot at work another fact hits me…I left my keys to the building in my car! UGH! This little exercise was supposed to be a lesson to Travis not a hardship on me! So the rain is still coming down and now I have to walk twice as far to the front door since I don’t have my key. Soaking wet, mad and feeling defeated I learned my lesson. Just do it yourself and don’t try to prove a point. It just makes it harder on you.


To pour salt into the wound I called Travis at the end of the day to remind him I had a hair appointment and I wouldn’t be home till later. He asks me, “Did you switch me cars today?” “Yes,” I said. Clearly, my switching cars did not bother him for one single second. I learned a lesson, but he didn’t.

"She looks like a boy."

So today I dressed Liddy in what I thought was a very cute outfit. It was blue and white. Tonight when she was sitting in her blue bouncy seat that was a hand-me-down from Titan, Travis and Titan both said, “She looks like a boy.” Really?! I thought, the blue and white outfit had butterflies and bows on it! I would have taken a picture so you could judge for yourself, but before I could grab my camera, Liddy did what Liddy does. Made a mess of the clothes she was wearing. Since there is already one picture of my daughter in poopy pants on the internet (Life By The Mill) I decided to not post another! And let’s just say that might have been the first and the last time she wears her “boy” outfit. I must admit however, at a glance from across the room, with no bow in her hair, she did look just like Titan! 

Liddy's Moving!

She's moving!  I put her on the mat...she ended up with one leg under the couch, in less than two minutes.  I almost panicked when I walked into the room and she wasn't still on her mat!

I can't believe how big she is getting!  Looking just like her daddy! (slobbers and all!)

Farming

Farming season has begun.  This means that we will now be late to everything we attend, if we make it there at all, and I will be playing single mom for the next few months.  For the past couple of years Travis has been helping my dad, farm.  I really can't complain because he is helping my dad but it does get old quick.  So from now till all the crops are in the ground, Travis will be in the field every night that it isn't raining and every weekend.  Here is how the first weekend went.

Saturday I woke up to Titan and Travis arguing about the size of Titan’s shoes. Titan is saying, “But daddy they are too small, they hurt my toes.” And Travis says, “But those are your farming shoes the ones you can walk in the mud in.” Titan, “But they are too small.” So out of bed I go, into Titan’s room to find him a pair of shoes. Where are you going I ask, I get two responses from Travis, “to the field.” From Titan, “to Pa Hauger’s” I wondered who was going to win that battle?  Travis and Titan always go to the field but somehow Titan always ends up at my dad's.  Sure enough later that day I had to go pick him up at dad's. 

That night we decided to try to take Titan to Thunder over Louisville. This would be his first trip. There is something about Thunder over Louisville and small children that just doesn't seem to appealing to me. However, Titan is older now and we thought he could handle it. But because it is now farming season, Travis was gone all day, and yes we were running late. 

I had explained to Titan that Liddy was to little and the sound of the fireworks might scare her so she was going to stay at Grandma's.  He wasn't real thrilled about this.  I would like to think that it was because he loves his sister and didn't want to go without her but something tells me it might just be that he was a little jealous of her getting to stay at Grandma's. 

Anyway, we made it down to Jeffersonville in time to get a bite to eat and find a place to park.  By accident we found a small open field where several cars were pulled off.  We decided to follow suit.  Instead of fighting the crowd and the cold we decided this might be our best option.  I snapped a picture of Titan while we were waiting for the fireworks to begin.  He just looks like he is up to something, doesn't he?



Next time we try Thunder we won't watch from the car.  It just isn't the same.  It is just one of those things that if you are going to do it you have to be all in or stay home.  Of course about half way throught the fireworks Travis had to hit the road, to avoid the traffic.  Both Titan and I were a little disappointed but we did miss all the traffic. Titan was asleep about a mile into the drive, but before he drifted off he said, "Liddy could have come, it wasn't to loud."  Maybe he does love his sister. 












Sunday was more farming, suprise, suprise.  This time Liddy and I were asked to participate.  We took the boys to the field to move the equipment. You know when your are driving 10 miles an hour there isn't much to do so I took this photograph.  Notice the tractor in the mirror, that would be the boys. 



















 (I don't even remember signing up for this job, I guess you could count this as one of those "How Did I get Here?" kind of moments I was talking about.)

How did I get here?

Driving home today I had one of those, “How did I get here?” kind of moments. I’m not talking about the, “I know I just drove home and I don’t remember it moments”, but rather a kind of moment where you stop and say, “I never saw this path for my life and I am not even sure how this all happened.” If you haven’t had one of the moments then maybe I am just crazy. I am not sure if it is because how fast time flies or just some other reason, but it seems that sometimes life just catches up with me and I have this overwhelming feeling of awe at how things happen. Regardless of how it happened, or my lack of vision of it, I am glad I am here. Glad I am living this life, with my kids and my husband.

Just my deep thought for the day (Maybe it is the lack of sleep catching up with me! Between my fussy baby, my snoring husband, and my overwhelming urge to drink caffeine right before bed, I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep all week!)

"Ferty!"

On the way home tonight Titan asked what number he had to count to so that we would be home. I said 100. Titan has been able to count to 100 for some time now, however, he has had one little issue. The number 30 and the number 40 were both pronounced forty. So when counting it sounded like he went from 29 to 40. Then you would hear 47, 48, 49, 40! So a few days ago Travis and I tried to teach him how to say thirty. On the way home tonight it went something like this. Twenty nine, ferty, ferty one, ferty two, ferty three, ferty four, ferty five, ferty six, ferty seven, ferty eight, ferty nine, FORTY! I wonder if I could get him referred for speech therapy now?!

“WE ARE NOT HAPPY!”

One of the things I should have learned from being married to Travis for nearly 6 years is that we think in vastly different ways. But yet, I still have those “what were you thinking” kinds of moments. When it comes to Titan, and I am sure Liddy one day, I pick my battles, I avoid known controversy. Travis doesn’t. Here is one example.

Friday night we were driving past a fast food restaurant. At the last second Travis decided that he would pull in and go through the drive thru. Titan immediately said, “I want chicken nuggets, french fries, ketchup, and a juice box!” I really didn’t want anything anyway but as I was checking out the menu, thinking I might get something Travis proceeded to order. He ordered 5 things off the dollar menu. None of which were chicken nuggets or a juice box. As Titan proceeded to come to a near meltdown in the backseat, seemingly out of nowhere Travis says, “I am just trying to make everybody happy.” Titan immediately says, “WE ARE NOT HAPPY!” I probably should have been a good mom and punished him for talking to his father that way but I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh, and agree! How he thought that going through a drive thru and not ordering what Titan wanted would make him happy is beyond me.

I forgot...again!

So I won’t be receiving the “Mother of The Year” award this year. (or ever) Titan had preschool today and I left his backpack and folder at home. Oops! I guess you could consider this good since it is April and it’s the first time I have forgotten the backpack. I said “could” because if you factor in all the other things I have forgotten, it is not good. Let’s see, a quick rundown of things I have forgotten for Titan this year: Socks, underwear, pants, shirts, shoes. That’s just clothes. (So glad Jaxson and Titan are the same size, I don’t know what poor Liddy is going to do!) I also forgot that it was umbrella day at preschool, for the day they learned the letter U. Luckily Carri stepped up and gave him a beautiful pink umbrella to take. I am so glad it is just preschool and the kids haven’t figured out how to make fun of him for having a pink umbrella…yet. These are just the things I can remember that I forgot. I am sure there are many more that I will never even know about!

When I asked Titan tonight if he forgot his backpack today he said, “No, you did!” I said, “I know buddy, I am sorry.” He said, “It’s okay mommy I don’t need a backpack.” I think his reassurance made me feel even worse as I pictured him walking into preschool with the IU reusable bag that I pack the kids stuff in to take to Carri’s. Poor kid. I guess it’s time to teach Titan to get his own things ready. He would probably have a better chance of having what he needs that way!

The Easter Egg Hunt

   

Shopping for Easter

I spent the morning shopping for the kids Easter baskets. This proved more difficult than I expected. First, I went to Walmart. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve! Nuts! I couldn’t decide what to get them, you see the grandparents in our lives go slightly overboard when it comes to holiday gifts. Since some of them will be reading this blog, I will leave it at that. ;)

For gifts for any holiday I try to focus on something they need. The problem, they don’t need anything. Next, I focus on something cheap this is due to the questioning I will receive when I return. The first question is always, “How much did that cost?” Now it comes from not one but two, Travis and Titan! The next obstacle is finding cheap stuff that is somewhat meaningful and doesn’t look to cheap.

So here is how it started. I found Liddy a teething ring. It met my criteria:


1. Need. Check.

2. Cheap. I found one for $1, slightly concerned about the fact it was made in China but…Check

3. Meaningful. Check.


Next came Liddy’s formula. This almost made the criteria. She needed it, but it wasn’t cheap. However we were going to have to buy it anyway so why not pass it off as a gift. I mean if it was good enough for Santa Claus it should be good enough for the Easter Bunny!

Right now Titan is all about John Deere Tractors and T-ball. Since I know that we must own every John Deere Tractor ever made I decided to focus on the T-Ball. I found the baseball section and picked up a few T-ball’s for him. I just recently learned that there is a special ball for T-ball. I wonder if there truly is a need for a different ball or just a way for the baseball manufactures to make more money? My guess is money!

Here is where I didn’t live up to my criteria. Cutting down an aisle to get to the egg dye section I came across a stuffed animal section. This is absolutely something that neither of my kids need. Titan already has: bear, puppy, doggie, lamie, baby and blanky to gather up before bed! But that’s when the designer in me came out. I saw an adorable black and white striped bear that would look perfect in Liddy’s room! As I picked it up, putting it into the cart something caught my eye. It was the color green, not just any green, but the color green that has been in my head, the color green I was in search for! Except it wasn’t sheets, it was a stuffed frog! Dumb, Dumb, Dumb, I thought to myself, knowing that if I bought this frog, it would be one more stuffed animal that I would have to track down before Titan would go to bed at night. I walked away. But, then I walked back. So tonight the Easter Bunny will leave Titan a stuffed frog and from now till the time Titan gets big enough to think sleeping with stuffed animals is un-cool, every night at bedtime I will be cursing the day I bought this frog!

Liddy is Five Months Old!

I need a pause button! Liddy is 5 months old today! I can’t believe it. She is growing so fast and time is flying by. Over the past week I have seen 3 newborn babies. I thought Liddy was still a newborn until I saw them. How do they grow so quick?!