Mom! Dude!

So we settled into the Spring of 2009, waiting for Miss Marley’s arrival in June. We got Marley’s room ready, we spent extra time with the boys and began shopping (finally) for pink clothes. As a little girl myself, my parents’ nickname for me had been ladybug. I always liked that nickname, and always loved ladybugs. In fact, one year in the not too distant past, upon Pete learning of my childhood nickname and my affection for it, he got me for Christmas a beautiful charm bracelet with tiny, adorable ladybugs on it! So when coming upon a tiny, newborn onesie in pink, with tiny, red ladybugs on it, I quickly snatched it up for Marley’s “coming home” outfit. I brought it home, eager to show it off to Pete. He, of course, thought it was precious; Alex, however, had a different idea. Alex took one look at it, grabbed it from me for a closer inspection, looked up at me as if I had lost my mind entirely, and informed me, “Dat’s not ladybugs, Mommy! Dem’s COCKROACHES! Don’t put my ba

One of the funniest things I think I have ever seen, happened in early 2009. I don't know when I have ever laughed so hard, either before or since (well, except maybe for the Alex potty training talk) . It began with Christmas. The boys each got a tiny, battery-operated Thomas the Tank Engine in their Christmas stocking. You just insert one AA battery, close the compartment, flip the switch to "ON" and off he goes! The boys had great fun with them. They love to run Thomas over everything: the floor, the table, their arms, the sofa, the kitchen counter tops...anywhere with a flat (or near flat) surface. One afternoon, their father was watching TV while home with the boys. Austin came running up to his daddy from the play room and hollered, "Daddy! Watch Thomas!" and proceeded to put Thomas, with his tiny little battery-operated wheels just a-chugging along, on the top of his daddy's head. Tiny little Thomas the Tank Engine proceeded across the top of

What can I say....life just keeps happening to me and around me. Back in the saddle again. Well, after the police incident that began the year 2009 for our family, things kept hopping. The month of January alone contains birthdays for my mom, my dad, Adrian, me, my Aunt Nell and Casey (Andrew's birth mother). Everyone forgot mine that year, except my office mates, and that's probably just because our Outlook program sends out reminders of birthdays, anniversaries, etc. February brought Austin's second birthday, which fell on a Friday and we celebrated a family party by going to Hungry Howie's pizza buffet for dinner. It went pretty well...considering that towards the end of our dinner, a local boys soccer team came in for dinner...about 9 or 10 boys in all...and our 3 little ones gave those 9 or 10 much older boys a real run for their money when it came to noise and mess. So much so that upon our leaving, one of the coaches commented to me that it looks and sounds