Day 2 of no boppy

Day 2 without a paci went pretty well. No major blow ups or breakdowns. Only cried about 5 minutes before he fell asleep. Not too bad...so far!

E

And so it begins...

Night one of no "boppy" or paci has commenced.

Only cried about 10 minutes and then went right to sleep. Hopefully it only takes a few days to ween him off of the paci cold turkey.

E

Dear Cash,

We need to have a serious mother to son talk. Here it goes:

You are such a sweet boy...when you want to be. You give hugs and kisses almost every time I ask. You kiss mommy's "boo boos" and seem generally concerned when I hurt something. You say please and thank you. You smile at mommy all the time and repeat "mommy, mommy, mommy" to get my attention.

But, you also have a slight temper on you. You are very much an independent little boy and really don't want much help doing anything. You have started throwing fits whenever you don't get what you want or if I take something away from you. Most often, your fits last about 20 seconds. But sometimes they drag on for minutes at a time and you can get a little physical when you get really heated. You have started a phase where you will either hit or pinch me. Not everyone, just me. I try to tell you "No, that hurts mommy", but you really don't seem to care. So we have resorted to other forms of discipline. After you get in trouble, you walk over to me and either give me kisses or give me hugs and tell me "hold me".

How am I supposed to stay upset when you do things like that??

Love,

Mom

A new way to fight

It is no secret that marriage is hard. And I think hard could be considered an understatement. The littlest things bug me. I can get bent out of shape about some of the dumbest things and lose my cool for no good reason. And that is precisely what happened.

I was mad at Noah for something. I don't remember what it was. But it obviously wasn't that important because I don't even remember it know. Anyway, instead of getting into an argument about it, I opted to take the high road. And buy NERF guns.

Here is the note I left him that read:

"Welcome home. 2 things: This gun with ammo is yours. And two, I have one too and your are under attack as of NOW". And I proceeded to shoot about 20 Nerf "bullets" at him. He will tell you he won, but I am sure we all know the truth.

Now we bring out the guns whenever we are heated about something stupid and can't seem to get over it. Or just when we feel the need for a good gun fight.

Love,

E

A visit to Great Grandmas

After Christmas and after everything slowed down, we made a trip to Checotah, OK to visit my grandma. I absolutely love my grandma and how much she enjoys seeing Cash. I love that she is in his life and makes sure I know that she wants to see him. There are so many memories that you can make at your grandparents house and I can't wait for Cash to be able to make them with his great-grandma.

Cash loved his time with his great-grandma. They read books and rocked in the chair and played with all the noisy toys she got out for him. It was perfect and he soaked it all up. I remember a story my grandma tells me to this day. She said I used to sit in her lap, just like Cash in this picture, and I would sing "Jesus Love Me" to her over and over. She said I had the deepest singing voice of any little girl she had ever met and she knew at that time that I was not meant to be a singer.

Funny how grandmas know these things :)

E

A visit from family...

Noah's sister, Kaitlen, and our nephew, Luke, came for a weekend trip to Oklahoma! It was such a sweet gesture because we know how brutal the drive to and from Houston can be, so we really appreciated it. And Kaitlen surprised us with a special guest! We had no idea Luke was coming, but it was such a sweet surprise.

The weekend started with a great Friday night dinner and spending time at home with everyone.

Saturday, we went to Cuppies and Joe, a cupcake and coffee place in OKC. Super delish! We splurged and got 5 guys for dinner and watched Tim Tebow try to pull out a win. No such luck.

Sunday we went to church and we took Luke to a fire station to see everything that goes on. He loved it! One of my best friends husband, Tony, is a fire fighter and he offered to take Luke on a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the station and trucks. It was so sweet of Tony to take time to do that.

Monday, well I don't want to talk about Monday... because they left. We had a blast with them and can't wait to see them again.

Just eating breakfast and watching cartoons in their pj's...

Of course Cash found the only basketball...

Love,

E

Whew...

Cash Ryan,

You are my greatest adventure. You drive me bananas one second and then completely melt my heart the next. You are very loving, when you want to be, yet very rough and tumble. I could not imagine my life without you now that you are immersed so deeply in my life. I think back to before you were born. Before you were ever a thought. And I am amazed at how filled my life felt. I never knew how filled me heart could be before you were born. You are my crazy little man that never sits down and is constantly making some kind of noise. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. And I mean that. I never knew tired until you came along, but every ounce of fatigue and sluggishness is worth it, if I get to spend my time with you.

Love,

Mom

I sure love these boys...

These boys truly have my whole heart for my whole life.

17 month update

Cash updates now that he is 17 months along in this world.

• Makes cow, horse, dog, cat, lion, and snake sounds
• Can sing "A, B, C, D" but that is as far as we have gotten
• Still loves anything Darth Vader
• Knows and says all family members names
• Still eats anything and everything, including broccoli (finally)
• Still sleeps through the night and is almost down to one nap a day
• Only gets his "boppy" when he is sleeping
• Loves basketball. I mean loves basketball
• Likes to give "sugar" and "knucks"
• Has accomplished saying "water, boog, hot, bath, teeth, bite, more, please, thank you, night night, boomer, mickey, back-pack, hold me, help me, sock, shoe, ewwww, snack, horse, and outside" I think that is almost all but I may have left some out
• His biggest thing has been telling me "poo poo" and running to the potty to use it. It isn't very consistent right now, but he has gone poo poo in the big potty about 10 times now and gets an Oreo after he does.
• Loves to flush the toilet after he is done
• Loves bath time
• Loves to climb up and down forts and slides

He is all boy, all the time. Never sits still unless he is in bed. Doesn't really like to cuddle, which breaks mommy's heart. Is fearless and will jump from anything. Super happy kid that loves to laugh and be around other kids.

New Years Plans...

This year our intentions for New Years was to stay at home and watch football and basketball games on TV in the comfort of our own home. But my mom had other plans. She not only treated me to a much needed mani/pedi, but she also bought the entire family OKC Thunder tickets for the game vs the Suns. How could we turn that down?? So Thunder Up we did.

The game was a blast and we were able to get out of there without any problems with traffic. Cash fell asleep on the way home so he was a New Years Eve party pooper. But Noah and I made the best of our alone time we had together.

It's amazing to me the energy I once had to pull together a bunch of New Years plans and stay up late and have a grand time with my friends. Not that it wasn't fun, because it was. But it was a different time in my life. I am much more content with a more mellow way to ring in the new year.

I sat in bed with my husband as we counted the ticks down to midnight. No streamers needed. No big celebration. Just a gallon of ice cream, two spoons, a tv, and wonderful company to make me feel like my New Years went just as planned. We talked about resolutions and how much different this New Years was but how neither one of us was disappointed with the way we spent it.

I can appreciate the simplicity of a quiet New Years because the amount of "quiet time" we get these days is few and far between. We love our noisy house but have come to cherish our time together even more because it seems that our time is divided now with the addition of a son.

Enough rambling. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. Make it great.

E