Rocking

I’ve been told stories about how as a young infant I loved being rocked or left in a swing. Stories like how I used to go to Tues/Thurs school at a church and that I would be put in the swing because that’s the only thing that would make me happy. A few hours later my mom would pick me up- I’d still be in the swing and have huge red marks on my legs from the seat. While I’m sure the lovely women watching over me took me out to feed and diaper me, I have no trouble seeing now that I probably was only happy in the swing, so that’s where they put me- very frequently.


As a teenager, I vividly remember many evenings where our family was all watching TV together in the living room and my mom would finally exclaim “Stop rocking!”. I LOVED the rocking chair. If I was sitting in the big, fancy La-Z-Boy, I was rocking in it. I much preferred it over sitting on the stationary couch.

Well, fast forward 20 years and I am a first time mom who has read all the “books”. There’s no way that I’m rocking my sweet Anderson to sleep- that would spoil him! Yes, I rocked while I nursed him to 14 months, but I was cautious to never actually rock him into deep sleep in fear that I would set in stone bad habits and have a child that needed rocking until he was in 4th grade. (Insert big roll-of-the-eyes here)

Well, along comes my sweet Everett. Tonight I rocked that little boy, one year old and all, into a deep sleep. The whole time I kept thinking to myself that I wanted to ingrain in my memory the smell of his freshly bathed hair, the feel of his sweat against my cheek, the weight of him on my chest, the rocking in the glider. It was Heaven. Literally Heaven. I couldn’t put him down. When I finally did, the sweet Baby (because that’s what he is to me!) sacked out on his back with his arms spread wide, which is totally unlike my little belly-sleeper.
Most nights I am jumping at the bit to put Everett in his crib and then have Anderson asleep. Tonight was different- I just wanted to rock and rock and rock.

Please, moms of “old” children- please tell me that you can still remember and FEEL those moments of rocking your babies.  Because…if that Heavenly feeling fades, oh goodness, I don’t want time to move!

Muffin Tin Monday

In the online world of stay-at-home-Mommies, I found a cute idea for lunch.  Muffin Tin Mondays!  Basically, it's exactly what it sounds like~ lunch from a muffin tin on Mondays.  I've found it's a great way to get Anderson to try some different foods and a good way to clear out the fridge after a weekend.  A little of this, a little of that.... makes a great lunch!  Basically, I make the tin for him around morning snack time.  He munches on it some before it goes back in the fridge until lunch.  Then I pull it out and fill in holes as needed- easy-peasy!  :)

Kisses For A CUTE baby!

Everett Walking

Here's a short clip of Everett showing off his walking skills.  He LOVES pushing things, but is starting to take more and more steps alone in between things.  I must make a disclaimer that the beautiful, brotherly sharing that takes place in this clip is in no way representative of the norm around here!

Everett's Second 1st Birthday Celebration

On Everett's actual birthday (April 26th) we wanted to do another celebration just for him since his party was shared with his friend Matthew.  I really wanted Everett to have a number one-shaped cake like Anderson had for his first birthday, so I put on my brave "I'm a mommy now" panties and made it myself.  I took Anderson to the store to pick out the cake flavor and of course he chose sprinkles/confetti cake. 

Here's the cake before the frosting;

Here is the finished product:

The amazing part to me (other than that it actually looks OK) is that I did most of the decorations while the boys were both awake and playing around me in the kitchen. 

Anderson was thrilled at the prospect of having another 'party', so we had to put up some decorations and wear some party hats.  We sang to Everett, watched Anderson blow out his candle again, and then proceeded to watch Everett cry about eating his cake one again.  While he's normally a bottomless pit when it comes to eating, this boy does not want any birthday cake, under any circumstances.  Crazy, huh?  He loves fruit, cookies and other sweet stuff, so I'm not sure where this comes from- maybe it's the bright colors?  Anderson has no issues with eating cake except that using a fork just slows him down.



Out of Anderson's Mouth...

....literally come the funniest things.  I'm sure most 3 year-olds are the same way, but man does this cutie pie make me laugh (when not driving me up the wall!).  Yesterday, Anderson blatantly knocked over his big basketball goal that's in the playroom.  Luckily, no one was injured.  I was just about to give the little 'big man' a 'talking to' regarding the dangers of knocking over such heavy equipment when Everett decided to just crawl right under it like it was just another bump in the road to bigger and better things.  Then, Anderson exclaimed very proudly: "Everett's playing limbo!".  I literally doubled over laughing at this completely random, yet very sensible, realization that Anderson had.  It was like all of the sudden everything fell into place   YES, the enormous basketball goal was meant to be laying on the carpet JUST SO Everett could play limbo.  Of course, silly Mommy!

If only I had enough time to stop and write down all of the hilariousness that comes out of Anderson's mouth.

Another Boy, The Same Bear, and An Even Faster Year

(This is cross-posted with Facebook since there are a few people out there who aren't on FB- Gasp!)

I made (with much more ease the second time around) a short video compiling the monthly "blue bear" pictures that we take.  I made one very similar for Anderson and it's been fun seeing the comparisons.  I'll see if I can dig up Anderson's video too (it's been stored on our external drive, so not convenient to just grab).