Saturday's Top Five Laughs

My friend Melissa over at The Mommyhood Chronicles started writing her "Saturday top 5 laughs" a while back. I loved reading them and would always comment my "top 5" on her blog. Well, now she has it as a blog hop and I'm so excited to participate. Of course now my mind goes blank about the top 5 funnies this week!!

1. Kadence dressed up for "park a boo" last night. She wore a supergirl costume, but insisted she was wonder woman. Here's a picture of her after I mistakenly called her supergirl.

She was visibly upset...who am I kidding, girlfriend was PISSED. All night if anyone said, "Hey supergirl!" She said, "No, I wonder woman!"

2. Gavin has been joking with me lately. He will try to give me something, then take it away and laugh hysterically. I'm still trying to figure out if he's being cute or mean. ;)

3. While this is a serious thing she said, it still had me cracking up, because I don't know where she got it. She tried to get in my wallet, and I said no. She said, "There's money in there. Money is a chokin' hazard." I guess her school or babysitter taught her that.

4. Gavin learns so much from his big sister, even how to be clumsy. We were at my grandparents house and the kids each had a chocolate chip cookie. Kadence dropped hers, so I said, "Quick, pick it up" (you know, the 3 second rule). Gavin proceeded to drop his intentionally, say "uh-oh" then pick it up real fast.

5. I think I could write a book on the stuff Kadence says.  I'm approaching the 3rd trimester, so lately I've pulled the "pregnant" card. Kadence has caught on apparently because I asked her to do something yesterday and she replied, "I can't. I'm too pregnant for that."

Wordless Wednesday (my first)

Ouch!

And it looks worse today. Believe it or not, after all that happened with Gavin Sunday, Kadence hurt herself on a playset yesterday afternoon. I sure feel like Mother of the Year, folks. Both of these incidents happened while I was watching them. Of course stuff happens, but really? REALLY? Two days apart, two playset injuries. Thankfully, it's only a surface wound and she didn't even cry too much, but still. I'm glad it wasn't worse- I'm pretty sure the ER would've called CPS on me had I gone in there again with a second busted kid in 2 days. She was climbing a wooden ladder (that she's climbed several times), lost her footing and hit her face on the edge of it. Poor girl.

My biggest scare as a parent thus far

Sunday afternoon, Luis had a photo shoot at a park. I thought "Hey, why don't we ALL go, and I will play with the kids while you photograph the family and we can meet up after." My plan was to go to this one area and swing them, but that area was jam packed. So, we went to this other play area- one with big kid stuff and little kid stuff. I kept them near the little kid stuff as long as I could, but after about 30 minutes, they really wanted to explore the larger play set. I didn't want them to because there were so many older kids just running around. I didn't want them to get hurt. I figured I would just go up with them, guide them to the slide a couple times, and that would be that. Boy, was I wrong. Right when we got up the steps, Kadence turns right to attempt to go down this spiral pole that she certainly would've fallen off if I had let her. I stop her, and Gavin keeps going. I see him heading toward the bridge while I'm getting Kadence. Suddenly, Gavin takes a sharp left and FALLS FACE FIRST off the edge. It's about 5 feet off the ground. I fly down the stairs to check on him. He's crying, but he appears okay. I rush to get Kadence and tell her we're leaving. At this time, I'm not sure if I should take him to the hospital or home. On one hand, he got up almost immediately and has no visible injuries. On the other, that was quite a fall, and if he has internal injuries there's no way for me to tell. So, we head to the hospital.

After waiting for what felt like forever, and disobeying the nurses request not to feed Gavin (he was crying and starving), he was taken for x-rays. I know this sounds crazy, but I worry about my kids being exposed to radiation, and though I thought it was necessary, I was still sad that my not even 2 year old was getting x-rays on his head. Thank God, everything came back normal. We followed up with the pediatrician yesterday, and aside from some scrapes and a tiny bit of swelling, she said he's perfect, and that he "bounced".

I know it all turned out well, and I'm unbelievably thankful for that, but I keep picturing his fall. I keep seeing  him just laying there, arms spread, face down. I keep thinking about what if he hadn't gotten up right away, or ever. I'm so so grateful to have my kids. I was reminded that their life is precious and fragile and a gift from God. I also learned just how resilient they can be. I hope and pray this isn't the beginning of a series of ER trips. I hear that happens with boys.

Things you shouldn't attempt while 27+ weeks pregnant

Being pregnant with number 3, and having a blissfully easy 2nd trimester have made it quite simple for me to forget I'm pregnant. Of course, I always know I'm pregnant, I just forget my limitations. This is a list of things I've tried to do the past couple weeks; it's a reminder for me, and a warning for all you preggos out there of what not to do:

1. Climb to the backseat of your car from the front seat. I succeeded, but it was quite difficult and uncomfortable.
2. Allow my 17 month old son anywhere near your belly. He thinks it's a trampoline.
3. Walk around for 3+ hours in 90 degree weather with two toddlers in tow. Thank God Luis was there, too.
4. Ride a carnival ride- even a kiddie one. I didn't think twice about riding with Gavin, and the lady looked at me like I had 3 heads. "YOU can't ride this!!" She exclaimed. Whoops.
5. Squeeze by a small space. Your ass or belly will hit something or someone.
6. Shave your bikini area- at least not without a mirror.
7. Wear your non-maternity shirts; they officially make you look like People of Walmart.

I'm sure this list will grow as my belly does.

Oh, boy...that's my BOY!

I have had this post swirling around in my head for a few days, and was so excited to see the topic of Toddle Along Tuesday this week is "Something you love about your kid(s)".

 I've been fascinated watching Gavin learn and grow, and that kid is "all boy". He's so rough and playful...he never stops! He's just a little ball of energy. He's always trying to figure out how things work and how to do things- it's amazing, because stuff like that never interested me. Luis says Gavin has the mind of an engineer. Who knows! He's just been so much fun lately. He squeals with delight when I get home from work! He can turn any toy or object into a drum. He will swing all day long if you let him. He loves playing outside with his ball, playing with mud, then tasting mud, and finally spitting out mud: lather.rinse.repeat. He's just so fun to engage and watch.

He's also had a bit of a word explosion recently. In a week, he's added 4 new words to his vocabulary: Dora, OW!, Bobo (which is elmo), and Dough (his build a bear..smells like cookie dough, hence the name). He said Mama once, but every time I try to get him to say MA-MA he laughs and says, DA-DA. He'll get there.

Last night, Kadence was playing with play-dough, and Gavin kept doing the sign for "eat"; I finally gave him some to see what he would do- he immediately put it in his mouth and took it right out. It's been a while since I've tasted playdough, but I believe it's pretty salty. We ended up sitting him at the table with her, and he did great playing with it! I felt so bad that I didn't have him up there initially. I figured he was still too young. He amazes me with what he's capable of- the boy can whistle! Luis was whistling and Gavin just watched him for a second, and he figured it out. I still can't really whistle!! I love my son so much- all the things he does that make him unique, make him special, make him- HIM.

I guess that's more than one something I love about that kid!! I'm glad to have a place to document all these little things, because I'm sure to forget as they grow.

Oh, one more funny thing- well, it may be one of those, "you had to be there" moments. I'm not sure. Let's see:
The other night, Gavin was tired and sitting on my lap with his paci in his mouth. He reached out for the cup (not sippy) of water in front of him and proceeded to take a sip...without taking out his paci! He soaked his shirt and got upset. Mother of the year that I am, I laughed and laughed...then of course I changed him. If nothing else, it's funny to me. :)

My Rockstar Princess is THREE

Sunday, October 2nd made three years since my daughter was born. I have now been a parent for three whole years. In a few minutes I'm going to go read her birth story and cry. I'm going to cry because it was such an amazing moment; I'm going to cry because my "baby" is growing up; I'm going to cry because she will never be two years old again; I'm going to cry because I'm so proud of who that little girl is and is becoming. But not right now. Right now, I'm going to share the awesomeness that was her 3rd birthday party!!

The day started great. She got to open some gifts in bed, and we all ate cake for breakfast, which is our family tradition. The kids enjoyed it so much, they climbed on the table for more. Being the fantasic parents that we are, we opted for a photo rather than get them to safety. It's not really a far fall though. ;)

After stressing out so much over the past two birthday parties (K's 2nd and G's 1st), I made it a point to take it easy getting everything ready and not let anything bother me that day. We cleaned, Luis baked; I sent the kids to my grandparents so we could get things together. It was (mostly) a smooth day. I schedule their parties for 4:00 in the afternoon so all the kids will have napped, and so I have more time to get things together. We did a really good job of planning ahead, so we didn't have to do so much the day of the party.

I love how everything turned out:

Do you see that cake? It looks professional, no? My husband, who had never worked with fondant before, made it. It not only looked beautiful, it was one of the best cakes ever. I get to take credit for the from scratch buttercream icing, though all I did was follow this recipe. I'm so proud to be married to someone so talented- and I'm only a little jealous of him. ;)

Luis also designed the logo for her t-shirt and we used an iron on transfer. I think it came out pretty cool. When I showed it to her I asked what it said, she replied: "Rockstar...cause I'm a ROCKSTAR!" It was so cute. And her bow was again designed by the super talented Natalie at Piggy's Place

Here are some other pictures from the day. The "photo booth" was a huge hit!

Happy Birthday Dear Kadence; Happy Birthday to you!



 PRESENTS:





Oh, and did I mention she got fireworks for her birthday? That's right. My sister in law knows how much Kadence loves fireworks, so she bought some around 4th of July and saved them for her party. How cool is that?! I want some for MY birthday.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of K and her girlfriends. No one told them to pose like that- it's just ingrained in us girls, isn't it.

And this, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Her friend Jack, our best friends' little boy, is four years old, and he made this card for Kadence. I know they'll probably grow up being good friends and it will be too weird for them to date, but I kinda hope they get married one day. Isn't this just adorable!!

The day was a huge success, and even if something didn't go right, it was okay. Kadence had a great time, as did everyone else I believe. I'm  proud of how her party turned out and how much we did ourselves (and how little money we spent). Most of all, I'm just so proud to be the mommy to this wonderful little rockstar:

Congrats if you made it through this entire post. Have a cookie- or some cake. You deserve it. :)