thinkin' about it thursday.

my favorite stages.

I've been telling people my favorite stage is the two-and-a-half-year-old stage.  but, I forgot about the rice cereal stage.  the rice cereal stage is definitely my favorite.  I love the birdie mouth right before the first bite, I love the huge, huge mess it makes, no matter how hard I try to "keep it clean."  I love him trying to figure out how to chew (or gum) and swallow, instead of sucking.  and I love the total enjoyment I see when he eats it.

and, in other news:

yep, he's only 4 months and 3 weeks and there it is.  cy was 8 1/2 months when we saw his first tooth.  YAY!  only another year of fussiness........awesome.

thinkin' about it thursday.

potty training.
we've been trying to make cy more aware of the potty.  I'll admit I haven't given potty training a good try yet, because I'm just plain lazy.  (and grossed out by the thought.)  who wants to clean the carpet and the bathroom floor and the toilet and the underwear and the child in the shower and then put on new clothes and then do another load of laundry?  not me.  I will change diapers.  he does go in the potty every night while we are getting him ready for bed and I make sure to praise him a lot.  so, this one morning I know cy is about to make a dirty diaper and I ask him, "cy do you want to go poopy in the big boy toilet?!?!?"
and he says, "yes, mommy!"  
so, I strip him down and he gets on the toilet and tells me to "move."  I go out of the bathroom and give him a couple of minutes and.........nothing.  so, I get a diaper and underwear and say, "do you want a baby boy diaper or big boy mcqueen underwear?"  
he chooses the diaper, I put it on and he has a dirty diaper a minute later.  meanwhile, will is using the bathroom and I tell cy, "see cy, look, daddy is using the big boy toilet." 
cy proceeds to go into the bathroom, raise both hands and yells, "YAY!  daddy!!  GOOD JOB!!"  
yes, yay - we are all glad daddy is potty trained.
and that's what I'm thinkin' about today.

thinkin' about it thursday.

{awesome} moms.
my mom is so, so fun.  I love that my kids get to participate in her fun-ness.  for example, the other day she just decides she's gonna paint flowers on her toes (who does that?)  and that lead to bats and spiders on faces and then the kids' creativity flowed and my mom painted whatever was requested of her.  the kiddos l.o.v.e.d. it. so much fun.  even cy sat there still for 2 minutes to be painted.
I want to be an awesome mom someday.

thinkin' about it thursday.

kitty-cats.
we are not an indoor pet family.  I can't keep the house clean without an indoor pet, how would it be with one?  but, it seems we own one now.  this little kitty-cat likes to be petted and loves to curl up in this particular blankie and 'meow' in the most inconvenient places.  for instance, I have had to step over kitty to get out the garage door, to make dinner, to vacuum (frustrating), to pick up the baby from the crib, and even to get out of the shower.  I do have to admit I've grown quite fond of him, I think we'll keep him around.......as long as he doesn't start shedding. {ewww}
kitty's alter ego playing at the park:

nice, easy to take care of indoor pets: it's what I'm thinkin' about today!

shut the door.

my baby is four! {months old}

at four months old, lane is still not rolling over, but he is so, so strong.  

he is really good at sitting up.

 he likes to stand, rather than sit, when I'm holding him.

he talks and coos a lot, and that's my favorite thing right now, so cute.

he's still pretty fussy, but day is getting better......night is still kinda rough.

he is really good at eating and I can't wait for our dr.'s visit this week to see how much he's grown.....

thinkin' about it thursday.

*just a short note: I never want to open any of your blogs and see my face, big, and center of attention.......but, when you are super cute AND super missed, you get it.

today, I'm thinkin' about this chick:

and how lonely we are without her and her kiddos.  we got to spend the whole month of june doing stuff every day, and now we don't.  :(  cy constantly asks for 'lee', 'jae-jae', 'noah', 'lincoln', 'grandma', 'grandpa', and 'chicken ranch'. {although the last has nothing to do with tilleea!}  we're thinkin' about you, we miss you, and can't wait to see you again.....when will that be?  [sad sigh]

tilleea: the case of the missing barbie is closed!!  we found it.  it could not have been here the whole time, we surely would have seen it, right?!?!?!  but, I don't want to admit that cy found it, played with it and then tried to put it away with his stuff.

summer fun with cousins, good times with sisters and long distances.  that's what I'm thinkin' about today!

neigh.

neeeiiigghhhh! (say it really low while shaking your head back and forth and you will know how cy makes a horse sound.)
in june we also went on horsie rides.  here are cy's cousins all totally loving the horse:

and then there's cy who had to be forced onto the horse but ended up liking it by the end:

he even went a second time with his cousin wilson:

another fun day!

thinkin' about it thursday.

sauced.
ok, I got your attention......I can't help it, we are just a saucy family.
no, really, we like our sauces.  I truly believe ranch dressing can go on just about anything.
it's a good thing cy fits in with us.  this week he has asked demanded to have bar-b-que sauce and ranch with his chicken nuggets. (yes, he will probably turn into a chicken nugget one of these days.  the kid used to eat soooooo great, all his veggies and stuff.  now, not so much.) so, when he sits down to eat (including breakfast this morning, yes, breakfast), he dips his chicken in the ranch and then the bar-b-que sauce and then eat it.  the only thing I can think of as to why he does this is when we went to red robin last month (to celebrate my sister's birthday - even though she wasn't with us) we ordered the onion rings (yum) and they bring you both sauces and that was when me and will were double-dipping (per se).  it's crazy, but almost every day the kid will bring me both bottles from the fridge or constantly says "chicken ranch, chicken ranch, chicken ranch" but will not eat the chicken and ranch without the bar-b-que sauce.  it's too funny, and it's what I'm thinkin' about today.

silverwood.

the month of june was a blast.  we did lots of fun things that I will be blogging about the next few weeks.   first up: our trip to silverwood.  it was awesome!  I strapped the baby on and away we went.  cy was very cautious about all the rides we tried to get him to ride on.  (in other words he screamed, "no, no, no.")  but, we made him do a few and he ended up liking it by the end.  first up was the train.  we had been telling him for a month that we got to ride a real life choo choo train.  but, when we got there he didn't want to go on.  of course, we made him and by the end I'm sure he was glad we did.  he loved it when the train got hijacked - his cousin jaelyn, not so much.......

next up was the carousel, he kicked and screamed and was forced the first time, then climbed right on the second time....

cy wouldn't go on any carnival rides except for the dumbo one.  I wasn't with them, but apparently cy would only go because will could get on with him.  seeing will on a dumbo ride?  awesome.  cy loved, Loved, LOVED the water park.  he also wasn't sure about that at first, but once grandma wendie went down the slide with him, we couldn't get him out.  he kept making will, grandma, and aunt rebecca go down the slide next to him.  we literally had to drag him kicking and screaming out of the water.  I thought, "people are gonna think I'm kidnapping this kid!!!"  we got him changed to his clothes and he almost immediately fell asleep in lane's car seat on the stroller.  now that is a tired 2-year-old!  we are definitely gonna do that again!  (I didn't get one good pic of all the "hot" girls in bikinis....sorry.....maybe next time!  hehehe)

thinkin' about it thursday.

sum.....sum.....summertime.........

we love popsicles:

{don't you love how we color-coordinated their popsicles to their shirts? purely accidental, I promise.}

we love fishing:

{but, we still need to go this year.}

we love trampoline jumping:

we love parks:

we love parades:

we love grandmas who play with us at parks:

{esp. grandmas that feed us!!}

and most importantly, we love our independence:

{and the fact that we get to celebrate with fireworks!}

yep,

have a great 4th of july weekend!!

thinkin' about it thursday.

bikinis.
went to silverwood yesterday and saw lots and lots of people in bikinis.  lots.  99.5% of these people should NOT have been wearing bikinis.  which got me thinking.  did they just not care what they looked like?  or did they just not care what everyone else thought?  here are what other people are thinking.......if you care:  if you're a supermodel - wear a bikini, everyone else - don't.  on the positive side, after seeing all those people yesterday, I feel way better about myself.  :) and that's what I'm thinkin' about today.

one.two.three.

yep.  I have a three month old.  it seems like he was just born.  oh yeah, he was!!   he didn't want to look at me on this day, maybe he was mad because we cut his hair.  live and learn.

thinkin' about it thursday.

leftovers.
I know people who will not eat them.  don't count me among that group.  I love leftovers.  LOVE.  what could be better than being hungry and opening the fridge just to find last nights' yummy meal.  you get to enjoy it all over again, only you don't have to spend all day cooking it!  (who am I kidding?  do you really think I cook all day?  no.)  the only thing better than that is restaurant leftovers.  one of my favorite things in the world is going out to eat and I am the queen of stretching out that meal as long as I can.  seriously, even french fries can be hot and crispy again in the right temp in the oven.  you can enjoy that restaurant food all over again all without have to get dressed.  (I was gonna say you don't have to do your hair and put on makeup, but again, I don't really do hair and makeup these days.  if I have 15 extra minutes, I'm sah-leepin'.)  the only thing not good about leftovers is that one gladware that got shoved in the back and discovered 2 weeks after the fact.  I don't want to waste it, so I try to salvage it and regret it.  every time.  anyway, I had me some yummy leftovers yesterday left over from daddy-o's birthday.  so, happy birthday, dad, and thanks for being born so we could celebrate.  :)
leftovers: it's the gift that just keeps giving, and it's what I'm thinkin' about today.

thinkin' about it thursday.

perspective.

I see this:

a lot.

I see this because on a daily basis cy wants, needs my phone.  he really is super cute and super smart with it.  he knows how to get to certain games and to the timer with all the different sounds to choose, but definitely his fave part is the camera.  I get a little surprise (or lots of surprises) every time I look through my photos.  here's a sampling of his great photography skills:

what is cy thinking when he takes these pics?  
my two-year-old's perspective: it's what I'm thinkin' about today.

thinkin' about it thursday.

bubbles.
bubbles don't seem that scary to me.  first of all, it's just plain fun to say.......bubbles, bubbles, buuuuubbbbbbblllllllessssss........they're light and fluffy and airy and floaty and happy......... get a whole bunch together and it's one big fun party.  a super fun bubble party.  well, my 2 year old does not feel this way.  he screams like a little girl when you pour thomas the train bubble bath into his bath water.  he is sooooooo dramatic - standing up, not wanting any bubbles touching him anywhere.  I think it may be the cruelest thing I've ever done to him.  I know, it's so mean.  is this bubble bath phobia normal? 
bubbles......it's what I'm thinkin' about today.

thinkin' about it thursday.

I had a pretty dark post scheduled for today.  a high school friend decided last week to end his life.  I can't help but wonder how bad things must've been, or what could've made a difference, or just why...............

but, luckily, cy [just being cy] went and did this yesterday (and saved my long, depressing post): 

he put his cars in the fridge.  the fridge?!?!?!?!?!?

I get putting cars in the clothes washer, and I get putting cars in the dishwasher, but the fridge?  what is the point of having your cars chilled?  I'm stumped.  help me out, here.  it's what I'm thinkin' about today.

two 2's.

I have two 2's!  a 2 year old and a 2 month old!  and they are two super cutes.

here is one of the 2's:

he weighs 12 pounds 4 ounces (yikes!)

and measures 23 inches long

he has been very fussy so far, but switched to nutramigen formula and are hoping that helps.  he's been doing better the last couple of days.  {fingers crossed} 

he already wears size 2 diapers and 6 months clothes.

he is super strong, has been holding his head up really well since he was a couple weeks old, and has been using the bumbo for awhile now:

and here are the two 2's together.  cy had to get in on the picture taking.