Bathwater

Remember when playing in the tub was exciting adventure? Now I'm lucky to get a 1o minute shower without someone busting into the bathroom (ok, mostly Livingston, but that's because Beckham doesn't walk yet) letting all that hot built up steam out and allowing the blast cold air from the hallway in. I have to admit, growing up, we were a bunch of shower-ers (is that how you'd put it?) get in, suds up, rinse off, get out. In order for my sister or myself to soak in the tub, we would need to scrub the tub (because my parents were clean freaks) then we could fill it up to get it. For us, getting to play in the bathtub was a special treat, like going to Chuck E Cheese or a pizza buffet. I remember dragging all of my Barbies and two Ken's into the tub with me, the Barbies would have bathing suits (I especially loved my Malibu Barbie with the tan lines) and my two Ken dolls would just wear their creepy flesh colored built in underwear.

And the bubbles...oh the bubbles! I didn't get to play in the bubbles as much as I would've liked because growing up I had sensitive skin. But when I did get to dump half the bottle of Mr. Bubble in, man oh man...there was a party tonight!

Now a days Livingston showers daily and gets the treat of a soaking bath once in a while...but way more often than I did growing up. I have to say, Beckham, that boy loves his bathtime. I think he could be totally pruney and still not want to get out. He just sits there yet he is probably having the best time he has had all day.

I feel like I need to just soak and relax sometimes but always feel like I can justify it. I always end up winding my brain around something and telling myself I have no time. I think if I could knit or crochet in the tub, I would find more time to do so. I guess even when I try to relax, I'm still trying to multi-task my favorite relaxation activities. They'll need to make waterproof scrapbooking a cardmaking supplies so that I can stamp and glitter out birthday cards while Calgon is taking me away. But as awesome as a handmade card is, would it really be as great if you knew it was made while a person was bathing? It makes me think of that Seinfield episode, the one where Kramer was multi-tasking and made salad while he was bathing. Everyone thought the salad was fantastic...until they found out that he made it in the shower. Yeah, even I'm not that weird. If you ever get a handmade card from me and it has a watermark on it, trust me, it was a spilled drink, not bathwater.

Falling Embers

This evening the boys and I enjoyed dining with nature. Walt and Livingston headed down to the firepit to start the fire, while Beckham and I went to the store to get hot dog buns and beer. Upon my arrival back home, I tried to quickly change Beckham's diaper then pack up only the essentials, plus the kitchen sink:

the hot dogs (7 dogs!)
hot dog buns
mustard
beer
marshmallows
potato chips
3 bottles of beer
a wine cooler
water
paper towels
knit hats for L and B (previously mentioned in my last post)
Campfire retractable roasting sticks
paper plates
paper towels
a diaper
wet wipes
blankets
two hooded jackets for L and B
bug spray
and a Beckham

and can you believe, it all fit in the stroller???

Aaaahhh...the tender crackling of the fire, the flames lapping up the wood and the smell of a campfire, something I didn't really experience as a child but at least my boys will. No, as a child my parents would take us camping at the beach in NC, where my most favorite time of the day was breakfast. That sound of my mother cooking over the pop-up propane stove. Getting dressed without falling down in the tent or camper, while hoping last night's sand wasn't trekked into the sleeping area. I was always amazed at how my mother was able to get up earlier than we did to prepare such a breakfast. Not that we're early risers, my mother always beat us at getting up, but we were on vacation and camping no less so it seemed like there was so much more for her to have to prepare and do for us all. Ah yes, the smell of the crackling bacon and eggs sunny side up with white bread all soft and fresh. At home we usually had to eat wheat bread because it was better for us, so this was a treat...White Wonderbread. Oh...and the butter...the real, no margarine, butter. Full on! Those were the days... I love the sound of our metal spoons and forks on the paper plates and how we would have to anchor down the paper napkins, with OJ that had pulp to my sister's chagrin, to keep them from flying away since we were eating outside. Honestly, I really don't like camping but I have to say that breakfast was always fantastic. Thanks Ma.

I almost lost track of why I was posting, ha ha ha... Back to the firepit "of doom" as we call it. After we ate we enjoyed closing our eyes and listening to "nature". There were sounds of crickets chirping, toads croaking and various other bugs that made buzzy-creeky sounds. We even got to hear the crazy sounding chatter of our local foxes, that surprisingly sounded like owls with a large vocabulary, that were on the other side of the creek. It sounded like this, "Whooo! Whooo! Whooo! Haaa-whooo!!!!" So ofcourse I had to mimic them...loudly. Livingston said that I sounded like an owl or a gorilla, except that gorillas said it with a deeper voice. I would call out to them and a minute later they chattered back, or at least, I would like to think they did. Walt thinks that they noticed the fire, wasn't too keen about it, made sure their buddies knew about it, and kept talking about it as they headed away.

As loud as it can be with all the bugs and animals, crackling fire and trickling creek, it felt more peaceful than a quiet house. All was right in the world, all was at peace. (except for my gorilla-owl howl ofcourse)

Brainfarts of Craft Ideas

Oh my goodness...where do I begin? It's been a few weeks since I've blogged last, I've been checking out a lot of blogs of other people and the craft bug has bit me full force. My sister introduced me to a few fantastic popular blogs and I've been addicted to reading their posts as well as becoming "re-inspired" to craft even more so than I usually do. We, my sister and I, want to test the waters in handbag making as well as apron making, and after seeing all those creative and cute handbags/totes and aprons, it gets me just overwhelmingly giddy. I had just started picking up knitting/crocheting again, I am totally a seasonal crafter. Usually my yearly routine of crafting/creating is somewhat like this (I'm quite the dabbler when it comes to DIY...crafting...not home improvement, I leave that to my hubby):

Winter: Knit/Crochet (random stuff...once I knit a sweater for my sister's bird, when we put it on him, he rolled right off her hand and into her lap because he was too top heavy...it was funny and not, at the same time), Breadmaking, Baking goodies (cookies/candies)

Spring: Begin to look and start for sewing projects for my boys to wear in the summer, Card making, Jewelry Making

Summer: Card making, Rubber stamping, Scrapbooking

Fall: Knit/Crochet (mostly hats, scarves for the winter or Xmas gifts), light sewing or knitting of handmade stuffed toys, making lip balms, soaps and such (for gifts for Xmas also), Breadmaking, Jewelry Making

Year Round: Photography

I can't wait to start making what I'm going to call my "Stuffies", stuffed animals and the like, in the past I've knit and crochet little animals for Livingston as well as sewn a few crazy looking stuffed "beings" for him. He loves each of them because he knows that I made them for him. This year I'll get to work on some for Beckham as well... I think I may have Livingston draw up either creatures or animals and I can see if I can translate them into fabric stuffies. Should be fun! I've already knitted matching winter hats for the boys, I've even seen Walt wearing Livingston's hat around the house, I think I have to knit him one too. It appears that he wants one. When I do, I'll be sure to take a photo of all the boys and post it.

There are so many amazing crafters out there that do such fantastic work, I'm so happy that my sister sent their blogs my way (also checking out etsy.com, tons of inspiration there) because now I want to explore new territories! This week especially, I've been dizzy with ideas. I have to get stuff on paper so I don't forget them for later!

"S"

Comment and I'll give you a letter; then you have to list ten things you LOVE that begin with that letter. Afterward, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own. My sister gave me the letter "S":

Saturdays
Sons (my two boys!)
Sleeping In
Swimming
Strawberries
Sushi
Super Target (does that count? hahahha)
Sunset
Sisters
Snow Sledding (but not walking back up the hill)

Do I Need A Bigger House???

Here is a question that I had to ask myself recently when I was daydreaming of a bigger house, "Do I need a bigger house with more bedrooms when everyone ends up in my room by morning?" Hahahah...It's true...When Walt goes to work, he leaves me with all the space in the world to sleep on in that king sized bed. I can sleep sideways, diagonal, making snow angels... Sounds comfy right? But then why do I get up anywhere between 5 and 6am to bring Beckham to my room when he stirs or welcome Livingston at 7 or 8am when he wakes up and I hear the tapping of his feet from his room to mine? Purely because I love to have them there with me. I may complain about being the uncomfortable and trapped sandwich meat between the two slices of bread, but secretly I wouldn't trade it for the world. What do we do when Daddy's home and everyone joins in the morning ritual? We just shift over.

It's All Relative

This past week I've been running around between the start of school for Livingston and the welcome visitation of family from out of town. We got to all get together and compare our children's growth charts and sit in amazement wondering how the kids got so big, as well as meet (and show off!) the newest members to our expanding brood, eat good food and just hang out. The photo above is of our very own Beckham and his little cousin Hannah, who was born approximately two and a half months apart. We were doing a quick photo shoot of Hannah and both babies were in such a good mood, we decided to put them together for pictures. We're really sad that Hannah and her mommy, Wendy (who is my sister-in-law and one of my very close friends) have to travel back home all the way across the country tomorrow, but are happy that they get to see daddy, who has been missing them for a week while they've been gone. I love the top picture, but the one above totally cracks me up...it's like they're talking about something amazing... could it be about which diaper holds up the best? Could it be the debate over bottle feeding and breastfeeding? Or who has the best snuggly blanket??? I bet they never tell us.

4 Months and One Week

Today Beckham and I went to the doctor's for his 4 month check-up. We sat in the waiting room, for about an hour and some change watching "The View" patiently until we were called. Immediately, our favorite nurse D greeted us warmly with her caring smile and radiant energy as I disrobed the little guy to get his stats. Naked and wiggly, he measured out to be 25 inches long (50th percentile) and a whopping 17 lbs (90th percentile). Boy, was I surprised! I didn't realize he weighed so much because two months ago he was only 12 lbs. My two kids definitely seem to have a different growing pattern this first year. Livingston was on the smaller side in his first year and didn't reach the 50th percentile until he was around a year old. I call Beckham my Caucasian baby and Livingston my Asian baby. Hahahah... Doctor N said that he was very healthy and did a fantastic job tracking his light scope in all directions and did very well on his tummy, everything looks great! Yey!

Unfortunately, he needed his shots so he received two shots, one in each thigh. Oh my poor little guy!!! But I was a good mommy and remembered to give him his Tylenol beforehand so that it would start working to ease his little thigh-guys.

"Mommy, I do good job"

On the eve of Livingston's big first day of kindergarten, I decided to get the video camera and tape ready. But upon figuring out which tape was which, I realized that I needed to label several videos that I had not previously. Walt and I watched a few of them together, footage that we had forgotten that we had made, of special days and many moments that were just lucky enough to have gotten filmed. Here are some of my favorite memories that I got to watch again.

SAND EATER

It was Livingston's first time playing with sand on the beach, he kept wanting to eat it, so I had to put a pacifier in his mouth so that the sand wouldn't be munched on. He had his cute swim trunks on, hawaiian print, just like his dad. Little big man with the pacifier and turtle hat.

MY BIRTHDAY TORTE

It was my birthday and we were having an awesome dinner at my Ma's (my mommy) house. She was cooking up a storm and I was ready to eat! My sister, who was home from school, was so wonderful and baked me a birthday cake. Now, let me go ahead and say this, she is a fabulous baker so this incident was a rarity. Anyhow, she brings me the cake as everyone is singing happy birthday and I smile all goofy looking and was very pleased with it, other than wondering why it was so short. I blow out the candle...then cut into it, surprised at how incredibly dense it is and hard to get the knife to sink in. When I finally get the piece out, it looks really fancy, like a dark red two layered torte with delicious frosting. Unfortunately, when you bit into it, it was like how you would imagine flubber to taste. My sister and I laughed so hard (because we're easily humored with ourselves and are the first to laugh at our own mishaps) and agreed that there must have been something wrong with my mother's oven. To this day, even though she's made many delicious desserts and has NEVER made anything like the "rubber cake" again, the legend still lives on.

EASTER EGG HUNT

We had gone up to Pop's house for Easter dinner and an egg hunt for Livingston. One problem...it was raining outside. They ended up hiding the eggs indoors all over the living room and when they let him loose...he was a mad man! He was climbing and hunting under table cloths, it was adorable seeing him look in every nook and cranny for eggs. I think he found all of them!

CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING

It was the first year we lived in our current home and Livingston was helping me decorate the tree. Until this footage, the videos that I had watched so far, he was too young to do more than babble. In the film I was showing him how to hang the ornaments up and I had given him a few to do by himself. After getting the ornaments hung, he steps back and looks at it and turns to me and says, "Mommy, I do good job." Needless to say, watching it now, my heart melted, I had forgotten how much I loved his broken dialect.

I can't wait to look back at our family videos in a few years and see how much both Livingston and Beckham have grown. I do this with our photo albums regularly, but for some reason, putting in the old tapes and playing them is sometimes tedious. In a few years, I may be blogging about this again. About all the memories that somehow, our minds forget but are forever captured on little black cassettes (which I need to soon transfer to DVD) to warm our hearts with, when we take the time as a family to look back and smile.

My 'Maters

Here is a glimpse from my three tomato plants. My wonderful mother and father planted them for me as well as three yellow squash plants because I have a black thumb when it comes to plants. Well...really my black thumb is because I don't water my plants when the outside temperature is over 80 degrees. Hahahah...

As there is beauty in the beholder (and I am NOT going to "Be Holding" this little guy) some will find this an interesting little catepillar. I took this photo for my father because he gets the heebie-jeebies when ever he sees them. I don't blame him either. But at least you can tell, by the water droplets, that I watered the tomatoes recently.

And then it comes to this little hopper. I think he's cute, look at his little leggies and their striped design. Very retro 80s flashdance legwarmer-esque.

The sweet sound of music

Today we took my oldest son Livingston to his new school's open house to meet with his kindergarten teacher and check out the surroundings. He's usually a pretty confident kid, but admitted that he was a bit nervous about going to a 'big boy' school. I would've loved to bottle up his excitement from our visit, because I haven't seen him that excited over something in quite some time (well, other than when I drove him up to Six Flags and pretended we were going to go on one of my boring business meetings, for him only to realize we were in for a day of 'Mommy and me' fun). After meeting with the teacher, we let him lead the way to the gym for the moonbounce that was brought in especially for today. He bounced for a little bit then was smooshed by a falling bigger kid and wanted to get out of the bounce and go explore his school more. We found the cafeteria, office and library. I got to peek into the computer lab as well...I can't believe how many computers are in schools now. WOW. Even his classroom has about 4-5 computers.

Finally, Livingston wanted to visit the music room, because to those who know him well, know that music is how he breathes and drumming is his heartbeat. We found the nice sized music room and was pleased to meet the teacher who is a lovely Japanese lady with a warm smile. Anyhow, she does knows about Japanese taiko drumming (his absolute favorite type of drumming) and said that she had drums in her class that they get to play also. I think he's in love. I actually think I saw the cartoon bubble hearts floating out of his chest. Drawback: music class starts in first grade...poor guy...one more year of daydreaming of Ms. Y. and her classroom drums.

Right now, all is at peace in the house, everyone is either in quiet time or napping (including Daddy!) and I get to have "mommy quiet time" that I always crave, and alas the egg timer will ring soon, and it will be time to return to my boys of chaos.

Here I go

Ok I admit, I'd been avoiding jumping into the technology revolution as much as I can, but I give up now. It looks too much fun, so here I go...