Brotherly Love

Jamison... just minding his own sweet business.  Joshi... playing with a very scary, very large black rat. Any guess as to what is about to happen next?   

Yep, you guessed it.  Note Jamison's closed fist, he is getting ready to knock this big, scary rat right out should it get even a millimeter closer.  Ahhh, the joys of brothers!

The Great Pumpkin

Halloween has come and gone but my Mac problems have not!  Ugh... is there anything more frustrating than non-working electronics?!?  I don't know about you but I certainly take my connectivity for granted and when it's not working it REALLY irks me.  Anyway, my Internet is working - for now - so I thought I'd get a quick post in.  Luckily, I had already added all the picks which is half the battle.  Clearly, this post was intended for the pre-Halloween time frame but better late than never.

We visited our usual pumpkin patch on a gorgeous day in October.  I think I have this very shot of walking the same pumpkin sidewalk since Jack was a walker.  I'll have to pull of them up one day.  They boys had a great time picking their pumpkins, as usual.  Jack is very particular about assigning pumpkins to each family member.  It is serious business!  Since this was so long ago I'm not going to write much, I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

I love that they are sharing the handle.

1 down, 4 to go!

I've accepted the fact that it is nearly impossible to get a pic with all three looking in my direction.

Why so sad?  Not sure, but you gotta love those lips!

Mr. Happy

Check out those big blues.

Whatchya finding Jamison?

Hey, I don't know about the pumpkins but this sand is pretty cool.

The hay maze.

As usual, Jack was all about pulling the seeds.

As usual, Joshi was all about keeping his distance from the pumpkin guts.  We wants NO PART of that messy business.

"Mommy, I am not touching the pumpkin, ok, its yucky?"

Jamison, on the other hand, was all about the goop.  He would have stuck his whole head in there had it fit.

Cool.

Seed stew

and... the finished products.  

Funny boy

Life With an 18 Month Old

Breakfast in high chair.  

Throw sippy cup to floor.

 Throw unwanted waffle bits to floor.

Mom picks up said waffle bits and sippy cup.  

Efficiently apply shoes and socks to 18 month old (18mo) feet, while still in high chair.

Pull own shoes from closet and apply.

Turn back to 18mo to find one shoe and one sock on the floor.

Ponder how he managed to get the sock off while in big tray'd high chair.  Decide he has long arms.

Apply shoe and sock.

Gather coats and hats.

Grab 18mo to coat him up.  

Much more interested in playing. 

To show his dissatisfaction, decided a backward head butt to Mom was in order.  

Somehow managed to catch my top two front teeth AND my bottom lip, which now resembles Angelina Jolie.  

Spend 3.4 minutes pulling all five fingers through each arm hole.

Apply cute stripey hat.

Let's go boys!

Out the door and into car.

18mo hat that was there 5 seconds ago has vanished.

Back into house.  

Hat found, back to car.

Drop Jack off at bus.

Mom and 18mo head to the doctor (sore ears.)

Open car door.

Both shoes and one sock on floor.

Re-apply shoes and one sock.

And hat.

Unload.

18mo flirts with woman in elevator "Hhhi." If he could wink, he certainly would have.

Enter doctor office.  

Flirt with women behind desk "Hhhi."

Escorted to room.  

"Hhhi, hhhi, hhhi" to anyone who walked by.

Stand on chair (with Mommies guidance, of course) and dance.  Good distraction for 2.2 minutes.  

Unload Mommies wallet.

Doctor enters stage right.

Hi Jamison, how is the little guy today?  

"Hhhi."

Doctor examines Jamison while he simultaneously manages to kick off both shoes.

Doctor makes a funny joke about it. 

Yeah, super funny doc.

As suspected, ears infected.

Doctor exits stage right.

Wash hands and head back to the lobby.

"Bhhy, bhhy, bhhy" to anyone within a 10 foot proximity.

Load.

Drive to Walgreens.

Open car door.

Two socks and one shoe visible.  

Climb into back to find other shoe.

Re-apply socks and shoes.

Carry into Walgreens and load into cart.

Fill prescription and ask for it back "stat" because Mom has a meeting (in a slightly passive aggressive manner.)

Make our way to Children's pain relief aisle.

Bust open box of Advil and dose up 18mo right in aisle.

Wander around while waiting.  

Uh-uh, shoe missing.

Retrace steps to find missing shoe.  

Discover it at the end of aisle 9.

Re-apply shoe.

"Cook, prescription ready."

Open prescription and dose 18mo at pharmacy counter.

Load.

Arrive daycare.

Open car door.

Shoes and socks on floor, all visible.  

This time one wet - impressive considering the drive from Walgreens to daycare is about a quarter mile.

"Seriously Jamison?"

Re-apply shoes and socks.

Head into daycare while juggling a 33 pounder, big pack of diapers, pack of pull-ups, and bag of spare clothes.  

Front desk staff greets us warmly - love them!

"Hhhi, hhhi (again, with the implied wink.")

Enter room.

Good morning Jamison, did you have a good morning?

Yeah, pretty uneventful.

Loads of kisses.

"Bhhy."

Exit daycare.

Didn't even make it to the car before deciding - I already miss him!

Pirates and Puppies and Woody's, Oh My!

Halloween was so much fun this year.  Joshi really understood what it was all about so he was able to keep up with Jack, almost.  We also attended the usual, and much anticipated, Halloween parade at the younger boys school.  I've always said it's my favorite two hours of the year because it's so stinking cute, you can hardly stand it!  Check out our little puppy dog below - so serious!

Coming back from the other direction.  Yep, still serious!  A smile was not in the cards for this grumpy puppy.

Joshi on the other hand, did not stop smiling the ENTIRE time he was on display.  He was so proud of his costume and loved every second of his 6 minutes of fame.  See the horse he's carrying?  Well, his name is Bullseye (of course, right?) and Joshi could not have loved his Bullseye more if he had been a real pony.  He kept saying "look at my horsey."  

This was the first time in 5 years I didn't get to see Jack do the walk of fame so we had to settle for a photo shoot before hitting the streets.  How cute are they?  Jack was FULLY in character as you can see from the pics below.  A big thanks to Grandpa Florida for the costume - so awesome - now we get to use it for dressup!  On a completely different note, check out the size similarity between Joshua and Jamison.  They are exactly two years apart in age with only a 2-pound weight difference.  Jamison is one big boy!

 Alas, pictures were over so we set out to the streets.  Jamison stayed home with Gradmama and Grandpa Bill to hand out candy so Corey and I could tag-team the older J's.  The following shot captures Joshua's state-of-mind perfectly throughout our adventure.  He would run up to a house, say trick-or-treat, gather his goods and run back as fast as he could and loudly announce the new gem added to his bucket. 

"I got enough Skittles for EVERYBODY (which is exactly what he was exclaiming below!")  As far as the running, we were actually a little concerned about it because he kept wiping out - we thought for sure he'd have bloody knee's by the time we were done.  But, he would pop right back up each time and was no worse for the ware.

Jack loved every minute as well!  There was a bit of a bottle-neck at one house with a boatload of kids arriving at once.  All the parents were waiting at the end of the driveway and he came back to the group and announced in a very serious manner "well that house sure had a very big line."  Everyone got a good chuckle out of it.  Of course, par to last year, he opted NOT to take any chocolate offerings.  At least this year he'd say "no thanks" instead of "I don't like chocolate, do you have anything else?"as was the case last year.  Hey, we are making some progress.  I thought for sure he'd want to stay out all night but after 45 minutes or so, he was ready to head-in and be the candy passer-outer - an equally cool job as far as our boys are concerned.  

It's become a bit of a tradition now to TorT with our neighbors.  Check out their beautiful little vampire below.  They also have a son who is Jack's age who didn't quite make the picture.  He was a handsome little vampire.  Thanks for hanging with us Mike & Ang - always fun!

I'm so bummed this shot turned out a little blurry but I couldn't resist posting it anyway.  He is certainly the cutest little puppy I've ever seen!

It was a fantastic day!  The boys have already begun planning their costume plan of attack for next year.  Joshua is certain he wants to be a 'good' witch.  Jack is pondering Captain America - we shall see!

Belly Envy

Greetings Cook Boy Chronicle fans (all five of you ;).  It's been 21 days since my last confession, er, I mean post.  Trust me though, there is a good reason.

Big news on the Mom front.  9 pound baby, 5.8 gallons of amniotic fluid and a 50 pound weight gain (X 3) wreaked havoc on this previously hot little body.  I decided that while I am still somewhat young, I needed to repair the irreversible damage done to my mid-section.  I'm so proud of myself for making this decision and following through on it because far too many people look back and say shoulda, coulda, woulda.  Oh, and there is no way I was going to walk around with a gaping hole in my stomach muscles and a belly that rivaled the Wonderbread factory.  

Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to surgery I go.  (*this is where you may want to cover your eyes if your of the squeamish type - ahem... Corey*)  It was a pretty massive three hour surgery - one hour per baby, I guess.  I have an incision from side-to-side (all skin about an inch above my belly button and below was removed) and three layers of stitches were placed to pull my stomach muscles back together (that were 7 inches apart by the way - no wonder my ribs were rubbing together!)  The stretched and unrecognizable tattoo that previously occupied my stomach is completely gone, all but one tiny corner anyway.  I like to think of that little corner as a sweet reminder of the dough belly that once was.  

Today is 4 weeks since the big day and I'm doing wonderfully!  I haven't regretted the decision for one second, even at the worst of it when I felt like my body was on fire.  Swelling can take three to six months to completely resolve.  When that happens, I promise to post a pic of the beautiful new belly and enviable new belly button.  

A big THANKS to family and friends for chipping in and helping out while I was down for the count.  It wasn't always easy with Mom out of commission for so long, but we all made it through - and now we've got an even happier and more confident Mommy on the backend.