S.O.S.

You know when your eyes are burning, your kid is screaming from his crib at top volume, you have managed to log 3 hours of sleep thus far, and your other kid is shooting foam bullets at Tom & Jerry and you don't really care?

You don't?

Well then come on over to my house and babysit so I can take a nap.

Happy Baby, Happy Mom!

Grandpa Update

My grandpa has been in Milwaukee for the past six weeks having chemo and radiation for his malignant brain tumor. It has been diagnosed as terminal, but with 5-10 years of good living if he responds well to treatment. He was scheduled to come home this Saturday, but started having seizures yesterday. He's been admitted to the hospital for more scans, but says that no matter what they find he is coming home this weekend. He's so out of his comfort zone down there. He needs to be out in the woods and ice fishing on his favorite lakes. Pray for good news, and for strength no matter what the scans might find.

Baby Sitter

Max has mastered the art of sitting up on his own!

He's become much less wobbly over the past few weeks and now loves to sit in a big pile of toys for hours on end.

We still put pillows behind him in case he rockets himself backwards, which he does several times per day.

Liam is very concerned for his brother's safety and helps to adjust the pillows if Max wiggles away from them. Max loves being down where Liam is playing, and gets into trouble once in awhile, but Liam is very good about sharing toys and making sure Max is happy.

He also has many of his own interests he is pursuing at this time...

Kids are funny...

Liam had a few pretend coins that he was playing with on the couch. I heard him counting, "One, two, three, four!" I came in and asked him what he was up to and he said, "I'm counting my blessings!"

Around Christmas time, after many readings of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", Liam would often refer to Max as his "sweet little tot"...!

Mother Angelica and the sisters were saying The Rosary on TV. Liam was playing in the living room and I came in to see most of his sticky darts affixed to the tv right over her face! I'd be concerned for his salvation if it weren't for the fact that he'd sticky dart a picture of my face just as easily...

Liam tends to make up titles for movies when he's not quite sure of the actual title. Some of my favorites are:
"Risky Cats" (The Aristocats), "Robin's Hunt" (Robin's Hood), and "Emmet Rotter" (Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas).

I heard Liam doing something in the kitchen, so I went to investigate and found him in the fridge. He can't fit his entire body inside, mind you, but he had found a comfortable seat underneath the deli drawer. "What are you doing, crazy?!" I asked. "Oh, I'm just colding myself up!" he said.

I love that guy...

Aaron didn't have school today, so we ran some errands and ended up at Target. Liam was exploring the baby aisles with me as I got some food for Max and was in the way as a couple tried to pass us with their cart.

"Can you move for a minute, please, Bud?" I asked.

"Yeah, you don't want to get run over!" said the guy pushing the cart.

Liam moved out of the way and the couple started to move past us.

"I love that guy!" Liam said loudly.

The guy heard him, made eye contact with me and started cracking up! It was pretty cute.

6am Pursuits...

I'm usually up between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning with my wide-awake baby. This makes me both furious and exhaustedly happy. Max is always smiling when he wakes up, and he's so darn cute you can't be mad at him. I've taken to trying to get things done at this hour. Sometimes I do the dishes, usually I get breakfast ready for both boys, sometimes I make coffee (lots of coffee), and today I...

made chocolate chip cookies.

Next Week...

Liam got a lot of great new clothes from Grandma Karen and Grandpa Richie for Christmas. He needed them, but he didn't find opening gifts that were mostly clothes all that fun. He was very good and said thank you for everything, but then he opened his last present. He received a pair of Star Wars flannel pajamas. He loves Star Wars, and he loves the pajamas, but he said "Ummm, next week I want to open some Star Wars toys, ok?" It was pretty cute.

Everything with this kid is "next week." It's so adorable. No matter what it is he wants, or doesn't want, to do he prefaces it with "next week."

""Oh, next week I want to eat some of that broccoli, ok mom?"

"Ummm, how about next week, ok mom?"

"Next week I will be a baby and Max will be a grown up, ok mom?"

"Next week I will drive the car to the store and buy a lightsaber."

"I don't want to wear my brown shirt today. How about next week I will wear it?"

And the list goes on. I'll have to add some more...next week.

Hat Box...

Liam wanted to put his Curious George puzzle together, while wearing the box as a hat.

Quite fetching...and I'm getting better at taking pictures with one hand!

Playtime!

The boys are so cute about playing together.

Liam knows that Max can't play with small toys, so he gives him "medium sized" toys

so he can still be a part of the fun!

Here they were building a "dinosaur village" together!

Crazy Christmas Eve!

I love this freaky smile.

It was waaaay past bedtime, but we still had Santa's cookies and the carrots for the reindeer to put out!

Cute.

Christmas With the Ones We Love...

Granpda Howard, 3 weeks into his cancer treatments, spent Christmas at home with all of us.

We were so glad to have him back!

Liam was especially glad...because he got to help him open presents!

Love ya, Gramps!

Read the sign, punk!

Liam helped to pick out the letters for his name on this sign.

He also decided that the only person allowed in his room is...Jesus!

This is both hilarious and adorable. I love my kid.

Santa Babies

My sister Kimberly had a drawing done for us of the boys wearing their Santa hats for Christmas! Our good friend Dane did the artwork and we think he captured both boys perfectly! We love this gift. Thanks, Sister!

The Wearing of the Green...and Red!

The boys had red and green turtlenecks to wear for Christmas Eve.

 I loved this idea - economical and cute!

They are captured in a variety of inspired poses here:

Popples' Pajama Party...

Does anyone remember that book "The Popples' Pajama Party"? I used to love that story. But, this post is more about pajamas than popples...sorry! The boys get pajamas every year on Christmas Eve. These presents are from Mom and Dad, and they get to wear them to bed and then keep them on for all of Christmas Day! Liam got dinosaur pajamas this year, but for his first Christmas he got what we affectionately refer to as "butt-flap pajamas". He received his own personalized butt-flap pajamas with "Poopernickel 2006" emblazoned across the rear. This was his nickname soon after birth, so we decided to record it for posterity.

This was Max's first Christmas, so he got his own pair of butt-flap pajamas! His had "Scarpatula" embroidered on the flap, a name coined by Grandpa Howie while I was pregnant. He tries to come up with good baby names, but usually fails. We liked this one enough to put it on pj's, though...

Liam was only 2 months old when he wore these...!

Max's are significantly larger (12-18 months!).

Happy First Christmas, Maxwell!