Proud Daddy

We have been teaching Thomas to say prayers, and he loves to say them, all the time. It is very apparent that he pays attention to what we say, and retains it. In every prayer he is grateful for and blesses the missionaries, the soldiers, and the Marines. After kids were tucked in last night Tyler pointed out that Thomas says soldiers and Marines and said that makes Tyler a proud Daddy. Once a Marine, always a Marine. At least it is the good stuff Thomas seems to be retaining. The pictures are from Memorial Day when we taught the kids what the special day is all about. We pulled out Tyler's uniforms and let the kids wear pieces of them. Future Marines?

What a Day!

We've all been there... one of those days that just starts bad and keeps going south. One of those days why you wonder why on earth you even bothered to get out of bed.

Today, Thomas was supposed to be reading quietly while I refused to wake up. Then he comes and tells me that he made an orange igloo. Turns out he found the play doh that we threw in the trash and decided to make an igloo. Yes, nice orange play doh all over the kitchen floor. Luckily, I never saw it. When he told me what he had done, I told him to clean it up before I came downstairs. He did a fabulous job and only a tiny little spot was missed. After Thomas's meltdown over what to eat for our rushed breakfast it was time for me to teach. While I was teaching piano, the kids ran everywhere and got into everything. They were dragging the vacuum around by the cord and Jerry was trying to eat the attachments or sing into them. Next thing I know Thomas is telling me Jerry is taking his diaper off. I ignore it for a time, until Thomas informs me that Jerry has pooped on the floor. Mind you I am still trying to teach. Turns out it was just a little spillage from the diaper he took off, but a mess non the less. Next adventure. Jerry climbed onto the table (nothing new there) and dumped the end of the bag of Cheerios onto the table and floor. Then he thought it would be fun to take the videos that were on the table and crush the Cheerios. By the time I was done teaching at 9:30 I was ready to move to the zoo. Things had to be more in control there. I put the boys in their room to play while I put myself in time-out. We had more ups and downs throughout the day, but the worst was over, except for the contact that got lost in my eye for over and hour and a half and finally came out folded over itself three times. Can you blame me for moments of questioning why on earth I am having another (yes, I know it is a little late for that one)? Ah, the joys of mommy-land. Join us next time for the next adventure from our house. Does our day make you feel a little better about yours? If it does, or if our misadventures put a smile on your face, this blog has done its job.

Delayed Beach Post

This post is dedicated to my Aunt SJ, who so kindly reminded me that it has been almost two months since the beach and there is still no beach post. This one's for you.

The beach was fantastic, no surprise there. We had lots of family and friends there and we all had a great time. The weather was even pregnant-friendly. I spent quite a bit of time outside reading and watching the boys play with sand, hoses, and in the pool. Both boys had a blast with the sand, people, and water. We even had a visit from friends who happened to be four houses down the same week we were there.

Thomas identified everybody new as "that man" or "that girl" and described what clothes they had on the first day. Nathan was that man with the funny hair and the red shirt. My favorite part of so many people was Thomas and Jerry had plenty of new friends to play with, which meant a break for me. WOOHOO! Thomas had a great kite this year (pictures on someone else's camera). It was the cutest kite with a penguin on it and a tail of little penguins. Can you guess who picked that one out, hmmmmm? The first day he was flying it, he discovered that if he shook his hand back and forth, the string let out really quickly. He would laugh and laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world. We thought it was an accident at first, which it probably was, and we all laughed at him and his excitement. Then he discovered it was funny to let the string out and it was funny to have everybody laughing at him. Thus commenced a fantastic game for Thomas. Later in the week, we were flying the kite and Lolly attached it to a chair so nobody had to be holding it. A certain little baby managed to get it off the chair and it took off before anyone could stop him or catch the kite. Who would have thought that a grocery store kite would fly so well. It went up, over to the house next door, started going over the top, then we thought it might get caught on the side, but no, it kept on going over. I made a run for it, maybe more of a waddle, to try and catch it (sorry, no pictures or video of that one). In the end, I found it tangled in a tree, across the street, and three houses down. How I managed to find it is still a mystery. I untangled the kite and we all went back to playing like nothing had happened. The things we do for our kids.

Jerry discovered the water. You would think that an ocean millions of times bigger than he is, and water that keeps moving would scare a kid of 16 months. No, not my kid. Any time we let him down on the sand, he was making a run for the water. Several times he was knocked over and fell face down, but still he didn't get scared. One night we brought him in soaked from head to toe and with sand in all sorts of odd places. Happy babies, cute babies, what more could I ask for. Maybe tired babies that sleep so I can catch a break. Nice!

One of Thomas's favorite moments I was reminded of by the best picture that was emailed to me today (thanks SJ!). As tall as I am not, my cousin Nathan is tall. He is well over 6 feet, and helped Thomas walk on the ceiling. A four year old with his feet on the ceiling, sounds like Abe Lincoln to me. He also thought it was great fun to spread his towel out on the beach next to all the big people and lay out after playing in the water. Amanda or mom got pictures of that one, but alas, my camera was still in the car across the street at that point.

So there you have it, a post from the beach. If I can ever remember to get the pictures from everybody else who took them while my camera was in the car, I will post more fun photos later. If you have any fun pictures of our growing family (notice I said growing family and not growing me), please, send them our way. Family in Arizona loves as many pictures as I can send them. For now, this will have to do.

Go Go Gadget Baby

Yes, I know, this is not the beach, but it also didn't involve loading pictures.

For those of you who have not had the experience of having Jerry reach something you thought there was NO WAY on earth he could possibly reach, this story is for you.

I am sitting my little, ok, not so little right now, self at the table eating some leftovers. I hear a noise behind me. Next thing I know, Jerry goes running past me with the bread knife in his hand, happily waving it around for all to see. My legs may be twice the length of his right now, but that kid can move when he wants to. Off I go, chasing a little not yet 17 month old through the kitchen, into the living room where he hits one couch with the knife on his way around, and across to the other side of the room where I am finally able to corner him. Then, what does he do? He turns on me with the knife! Little stinker. I got the knife from him and promptly put it in the sink. Last I checked he could only reach up, not up, over, and down again. You may now commence falling on the floor laughing at the situation and the mental picture of what just happened. Oh well, short moment of excitement, but absoultely not one I had in mind for tonight, much less ever.

No, I did not leave the knife where he could reach it, just in case you thought I might have a moment of pregnancy brain so bad that I would do that. Somehow, he reached his cute little arm up to the middle of the counter where I had earlier been cutting a loaf of bread I made yesterday. This is not the first time he has reached something unreachable. For more stories on Gadget Boy, feel free to ask. And remember, NOTHING is safe from him, even the top of the fridge!

I am a hypocrite, and more

I feel the need to apologize to Evelyn. I keep giving her a hard time about not posting, and it has been quite some time since I did any posting of my own. Perhaps it is because her life sounds so much funnier than mine does. C'mon, I'm not the one who falls and steps on my ankle while attempting to put up drapes when I have a brand spankin new baby and a less than 2 year old who depend on me for everything. I also don't have a little girl who insists on wearing a swimsuit over her pants and shirt with a ball cap turned backwards. See, her life is far more exciting than mine, or would traumatic be the word. Really, if you haven't recently, go click on her link and be prepared to laugh at her daily predicaments. Evelyn, sorry for harping on you about not posting for 2 weeks. Sorry to the rest of you for my being so bad about posting on our blog. LOVE YOU E!!

Anywho... Last week I sang at the Mudcats game. Can I just tell you how much fun it is to do those games!!! The high temps for the day kept dropping as the week went on. By the time I sang, it was around 70, a cool 70 at that, and breezy. I got the best day of the season for a pregnant girl to sing! Thanks to all the family who came out to party with us and made it so much more fun. Thanks to Aunt Jewel, or Grammer as Thomas now calls her along with her grandbabies, for providing plenty of sugar and junk to all the kids. Cotton Candy could make you any kid's best bud, and wipes a parent's best friend for that matter. Also, thanks to Lolly for the yummy dots that Thomas is now in love with (Jerry likes ice cream no matter what shape or form, no, Jerry just likes food). I feel incredibly blessed and honored to be able to sing the National Anthem at any event. The song is so important to so many people, and it has so much meaning and significance for our country. Any time I sing it, I hope that I can do justice to the song and honor the personal meaning it has to each individual as well as our wonderful country as a whole. Again, thanks to everybody for coming to support me and have fun with us at the game. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people who love me and support me in all my crazy and public adventures.

Coming in the next post.... a flashback to the beach. Yes, I am slow to post (we have been home 2 weeks already). I just can't seem to make myself sit down and upload the pictures to make the post exciting. Not to mention my camera was left in the car, forgotten, for the first few days, so I need to bum pictures off my family.

Congrats to my cousin Nathan who just went into the MTC yesterday. We will all miss him, but are proud of what he is doing, and look forward to seeing how he grows during his 2 years on a mission in Paris, France.

Quick update on the Holmes troops, I'm fine and growing bigger. Baby is big normal, as usual, and will be delivered the first week of October, or earlier if I have any say about it. Tyler is still doing electrical and the job is going well. Service work is what he loves and what he is good at. Call (us) Waco Electrical in Garner for all your electrical needs, and ask for Tyler to come do the work (shameless plug to make him look even better at work). He will have paid vacation by the time this baby arrives, YIPEE, unlike with Jerry. Thomas is a nut and wants to go to school so bad he can hardly stand it. Everybody cross your fingers that he gets assigned to the first year-round track next year so he can start mid July and not the last track in late September. He is forever telling me "that's my school" and "I need to go do my homework." Jerry is a cute little bugger. He is into everything and everywhere, nothing is safe from him, really, nothing. First he learned to push the chairs around, then, a couple days ago the stinker figured out he can climb onto the kitchen chairs and then onto the table. The little rascal knows when he is about to get in trouble, so he smiles and laughs and sometimes runs away. What can I say, I have good kids who keep me busy and laughing, and frazzled too. What more could a girl want, except temperatures in the low 70s for the rest of the summer.

Have a good one, and we will see you soon............

Ultrasound Wonders

WE had the wonderfully fun ultrasound appointment May 9. Raise your hand if you predicted girl (majority vote), now raise your hand for boy (Rachel and Tyler and baby Jerry). It took a little while for us to get a real good confirmation, but after some playing around and a fun trip down the 4-D ultrasound road, we got a definite.

Welcome to Testosterone Central. Yes, another boy! Not that the average person can read an ultrasound picture, but in this one I think the legs, boy parts, and cord are pretty clear, you can also see the flailing arms and blurred head. I also just think the 4-D is fun. This kid is already on the move. When we started looking at pictures he was breech, but by the end he was head down. Good to know this kid has room to do all that, for now. I am hanging in there and surviving, doing pretty well, actually. Definitely not looking forward to the hot and humid summer ahead. 18 weeks and 1 day down, 18 weeks and 6 days to go, thank goodness for sumo babies that get scheduled early.

Now we can let the name game begin.... We are thinking Ben, what do you think? We already have Tom and Jerry, why not Ben and Jerry too :)

Save the Date

I just wanted to let everybody know that my date to sing at the Mudcats game is confirmed. I sing Thursday, June 14. The game starts at 7:15, I believe. I found out that there is no specific place where they put the anthem singers this year, just somewhere available in box seating. Those of you interested in coming, let me know and I will have them block out seats for us. If I could know by June 1 that would be fantabulous. You can just call or email and let me know who and how many. Of course, you can always just show up and get your tickets and hope you are near us, or just sneak on over at some point if you aren't. Also, Thursdays are "Thirsty Thursdays" and drinks (fountain Pepsi drinks included) are just $1. We would love to see anybody there, so let us know if you want to come! The games are a blast, and the more the merrier. Just click the title of this post to go directly to the Mudcast site.

See you there!

Adventures in MommyLand

Can I just tell you how nice it is to wake up to the sound of two cute little boys laughing away in the other room. Friday morning the boys were doing just that. I lay in bed enjoying the wonderful sound of my happy boys. Then I started hearing "Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry," followed by laughter. This happened several times. Finally I dragged myself out to go investigate the cause of the "sorry"s and laughter. Upon entering the room, I found both boys in Jerry's crib, not an unusual sight around here. But the exciting part, explaining the "sorry"s, was the black marker all over Jerry. Yes, my dear, sweet Thomas had climbed his way into the crib with a black marker. Upon arrival in the crib, he decided that Jerry makes a wonderful art canvas, head, hair, arms, legs and all. What can you do but laugh, and take a picture? Later Thomas told me he had also written on the crib. Sure enough, in nice little black letters was his version of his name across the end of the crib. All was easily cleaned, and many laughs were enjoyed by all, and Thomas got a little talk about we color paper, not Jerry or the crib. Oh yes, and all markers went in the garbage, buy the hand of Thomas, no less.

As I shared the story with mom, she pointed out that such adventures are just a part of Thomas's genes. Bradford had a fascination with black (just ask mom about that one, but all I have to say is I'll take the markered baby over B any day), and I had a thing with writing my name on everything in sight.

Moral: When you hear laughing and "sorry, sorry, sorry" close together, just enjoy the laughter and be grateful it isn't silence. After all, isn't the worst trouble when you don't hear them at all?

Shocked

I am totally shocked. I got an email from the Mudcats the other day. OK, so not so shocked, they said I made it. They will contact me with my dates, and I will be sure to pass them on.

Meanwhile, I sit here listening to my wheezing baby laughing like there is no tomorrow as he carries books around the room. Who would have thought that carrying and dropping books could be so funny. Now he is looking at a book "Babies" that he picked out at the library yesterday. Are we bad for not telling either of the kids (like Jerry cares) that we are having another?

Creature of Habit?

Yes folks, I did it again. Saturday I auditioned to sing the National Anthem for the local small ball team, the Carolina Mudcats.

Tyler was working 2 hours away, so the boys got to go with me, fun for all. As we got close enough to see the baseball water tower Thomas said "It's the baseball place!" A good friend of mine was one of the judges, so I tracked her down and gave her a hard time for not letting the pregnant lady with 2 small kids go first. Oh well, it was worth a shot. The boys ran around and impressed everyone with their royal cuteness and had a grand time. Thomas kept asking where the "baseball men" were. After almost an hour and a half of auditions and screeches it was my turn. Thomas stood on the field with one of the coordinators, and I held Jerry. Jerry decided that he wanted to audition too and helped me in several places with his sweet baby harmony. When I was done, we turned around and Jerry blew kisses to the judges (my friend and two other mommy-type ladies), and Thomas waved. Really, who wouldn't melt at a cute little bugger blowing kisses at you, MMMMMMMMMMMMMWA?

I should know this week if I made the cuts (um, I don't see it being a problem, and I don't say that as a snob). Once we have game dates, you can bet we will post and invite everybody to come listen and have fun. Just ask the people who came last year, it's a blast. Besides, you can point and laugh at the big fat pregnant lady singing in the ridiculous NC heat and humidity. You may now all start saying prayers that they ask me to sing at the very beginning and the very end of the season, to avoid the worst of the heat.