Dos

Somehow over the past 2 years, cC has grown to be a 2 year old.  It's hard to believe that at this time 2 years ago, I was in denial about being in labor.

*photo by Mezzulo Photography

cC is one of the funniest kids I have ever known.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother.  I have truly never known a kid at such a young age to have such an awareness of their humor.

He also has a sweetness about him.  He shows love and concern for others and does it so genuinely and tenderly.

He's still at an age that he loves helping.  And gets ridiculously upset if he's not allowed to help.  He loves to help wrap up baby bC.  He loves to take jC and luC their drinks.  He loves to throw away his diapers himself.  He loves to help clean the kitchen table.  He loves to get peoples shoes for them.  He loves to help fold blankets and put them on the shelf.

But then, I hate say it, but cC is also a bit of a bully.  He knows just got how to get under jC and luC's skin.  And when he starts, he won't stop!  Ok--admittedly, he does it to me and juC, too.  

Some of my favorite cC stories lately--

Last week, my visiting teachers were over and one of them has a son that is about 5 months older than cC.  cC accidentally ran into the other boy, and the boy started crying.  cC just stood there staring at him.  I told him to give him hugs and he did.  He was still crying and after a tiny bit of drool began to run down the boys chin, cC looked around, grabbed a burp cloth that was close by, and wiped the boys face.  The boy was so stunned by this, that he stopped crying.

A few weeks ago while my parents were here, luC was in the kitchen with her clothes for the day about to get dressed (don't YOUR kids get dressed in the kitchen?)  All of a sudden luC is yelling, something about her clothes.  Then cC comes running into the family room (I wish you could see his run.  That's reason to laugh in and of itself), huge smile on his face, with luC's clothes in his hand.  He runs straight to the ottoman and shoves luC's clothes under it.  

I can't help but share some bullying stories.  I know I shouldn't think these things are funny, but, they kind of are. 

 If he wants a big reaction out of luC, he knows the fastest way is to pull her hair.  And if he wants to get a reaction out of jC, he just needs to...well, do anything.  When luC watches tv, she prefers to stand a few feet in front of the tv.  And jC prefers to sit on a specific square on the couch, undisturbed.  cC still doesn't care much for watching tv, so when the kids are watching something, he has to do other things to entertain himself.  Like torturing them.  While luC is standing in front of the tv, he will come up behind her, unbeknownst to her, and yank her hair with all his might.  While she screams and cries, cC smiles and pulls her hair from his fingers.  Just when she calms down, he goes back for more.

If it's jC he's after, he'll just come and sit by him while he's watching a show.  Right.by.him.  jC hates it.  So then he starts freaking out and pushing cC away from him.  Which just fuels cC.  So then cC will start leaning on him.  Lying on him and being dead weight, making it really hard for jC to get him off of him.  Or lying down and putting his feet on jC's lap, followed immediately by kicking him with both legs.  It's pure pandemonium, and cC loves it.  Then loves to cry when jC has finally had enough and hurts him

But no matter what mood he's in, we love him dearly and are so glad that he's part of our family.   

Celebrate good times! Come on!

It's still the month of May, so even though it seems like forever (FOREVER!) ago that we celebrated our anniversary and juC's birthday, I'm considering it totally legit that I'm just now posting about it.  I'm going to blame my lateness on cC.  I totally could have posted this last week, but, he has decided to not go down for naps.  The last time he took a nap was last Monday.  So that means we are 8 days in a row with no cC naps, which means no free time during the day for me, which means no time for organizing a post.  And also, very sadly, means that I haven't been able to get my normal naps.  And let me tell you folks, it's not a pretty situation.  Not pretty at all.

So now I'm just neglecting luC and cC so I can do this post.

But back to the point!


On May 5, all of Mexico celebrated the 7th anniversary of the day that juC and I were wedded.  It's always nice to know that we have so many people celebrating with us!

All I wanted to do for our anniversary was have the whole family go to the tulip festival so I could get some fabulous pictures of the kids with the fabulous colors of the flowers.  Unfortunately, cC wasn't having it, and the pictures of the kids were all some form of this:

 The good news was I got some super amazing maternity shots.  And by "super amazing" I mean this:

Oh, and it also started pouring rain while we were there.  So that was awesome, too.  My anniversary adventure was not going as I'd planned.

Then we went to Chili's for dinner.  What else would we eat on our Cinco de Mayoversary?  It was when we were dining on our anniversary with these crazy kids that it dawned on me...

..wedding anniversaries are something completely different when 3 small kids are involved.  

The good news is that a week and a half later, while juC's parents were here, we got to celebrate right.  And by "celebrate right" I mean go on an over nighter that pretty much revolved around what restaurants we'd eat at.  

For dinner we ate at a lovely Italian restaurant.  And for lunch the next day we ate at a place that was a shoot off of a chocolate candy store.  It was on our little anniversary trip that I learned that juC and I don't take pictures together anymore.

In between our family anniversary celebration, and our legit anniversary celebration, we had an awesomely legit birthday celebration for juC.

I decided to help him out and get him a real sized grill, instead of the tiny wittle travel grill he'd been using.  I know, I'm so nice.  We set it up in the backyard, and the kids were so excited to stand there and wait for juC to walk around back coming home from work and surprise him.

 Then it was time for perfectly handmade birthday cards, puuuurfectly store bought cards, and a present.  And by a "present" I mean a cover for the grill.  Because it was the only logical other thing to get him.

 And then, of course, it was cake time!

Though the highlight of juC's birthday, for me, was the following night when we dined at a Tex-Mex eating establishment.  During one of the kid bathroom trips, I made sure to tell our super-trying-to-get-a-good-tip-waiter that it was "Dad's" birthday, as the waiter so affectionately called him.

So the highlight was when the severs were all rounding the corner clapping their hands, preparing to sing "happy birthday" and juC started dancing, having no clue that they were headed to him!  When I started laughing his response was "What?...Wait...they aren't coming to me are they??  You didn't!!"

Oh, how I wish I could have captured a non-blurry picture of the events.

Lest I not write about our month of May celebrations, and not include Mother's Day.  juC knows how to celebrate me right.  I was awoken to little voices our room, and juC standing there with the kids and this fabulous breakfast.  I can't remember what he made me for dinner, but I know that was good, too.   And good food is all that really matters in my book.

I'm thankful for juC and that each May I get to celebrate our anniversary, his birthday, and Mother's Day with him...and our crazy kids.  

Thirty Six

I say it every birthday.  I love birthdays.  Love 'em.  Almost as much as a love the person that's celebrating a birthday today.  I guess this is the week for sappy posts, because I've decided to do a post of 36 things I love about juC.  It will be hard to narrow it down.  But...I will do my best to keep it at just 36, as he enters his 36th year.

1.  I love that he is a good sport with some of my crazy ideas.  Like when we used to go bowling, and I had the rule that any time you roll a gutter ball, you have to do one roll on your pants leg.  I won't complain that he should have continued to roll up one leg until it wouldn't roll anymore, but would always divide it between the two legs.

 2.  I love that he doesn't complain when I probably don't meet his expectations.  I hate to admit how many times he's come home to me having no idea what's for dinner and not really wanting to make anything.  He doesn't complain.  (well, he doesn't complain about me, to me.)  I appreciate that.

3.  Along the same line, I love that he doesn't make me feel bad when he comes home and finds that I'm still in my pajamas.  Being pregnant or having a small baby during most of our marriage means that it's happened a lot.  He never makes me feel bad about it.  That's love.

4.  I love that he kills bugs for me.  Remember the spider outbreak in our basement apartment!?  That was the scariest time of my life.  And here he was, kindly going around and spraying to ward off those horrible things!

 5.  I love that he never yells at me.  I cannot think of a single time in our 9 years of dating/marriage that he's yelled at me.

6.  I love that he takes his job as provider for our family so seriously.  I love that I get to stay home with our kids and that he wants to do it for us.

7.  I love that he is willing to do all the silly things that I want to do.  Like when I insisted we make a gingerbread house...before we even had kids.

 8.  I love that he can fix things around the house.  It's so nice to have a husband that knows how to do things.  And if he doesn't know how to do it, he will figure out how with the aid of google and youtube.

9.  I love that he smells good 99.5% of the time.

10.  I love that he calls me babe.  There aren't many pet names that I think I'm ok with, but babe is a good one.  It makes me fell like...a babe.

11.  I love that he takes the trash out.

12.  I love that he bakes things for me.

13.  I love that he's frugal.  Ok.  He's not always frugal.  But it definitely helps when he is.

14.  I love that he always wants to help people.  It's not always convenient for me, and sometimes it feels a little frustrating.  But if anyone needs anything, he always wants to be the one to do it.  He's a great example of being selfless.

15.  I love that he helps me clean when I ask for help.  Or beg for help.  Or demand help.

16.  I love that he takes care of me when I'm sick.  He's a good nurse.

17.  I love his smile.  It's the best!

 18.  I love that he is the most patient person I have ever known in my whole entire life.  I don't think there's another person out there with as much patience as him.  And it just so happens that he married the person with the least amount of patience of anyone out there.  Lucky me, poor him.

19.  I love that he gets all of my jokes...most of the time.  And that he thinks I'm funny.  It's a nice little ego boost when others don't.

20.  I love that he's been so good with me about choosing baby names.  It's always been a very easy process for us.  Hearing the horror stories of others reminds me of how lucky I am that he is the way he is.

21.  I love that he has a sweet tooth just as bad, if not worse, than me.  Then I don't feel so bad!

22.  I love that he makes the best out of bad situations.

 23.  I love that he lets me have time to myself when I need it.  Which is probably more than I should need, but he lets me and I am so very thankful.

24.  I love that when I want to take ridiculous pictures, he goes for it.

 25.  I love that he takes the kids with him when he goes places.  They always want to go with daddy, and he's usually willing to oblige.

26.  I love that he helps with bath time and bed time.  So, so, so very thankful for that!

27.  I love how hot he is with a beard.  Even though he can't have one right now.  It's still good to know.

28.  I love that he's so...just...nice.  For example--today is his birthday.  Today is also the day of my prenatal yoga class at 5:45.  I can miss the class, but I paid for a certain number of classes, so if I miss it it's kind of like paying for it but not getting it.  I can make it up with another class, but there aren't a lot of other classes that are prenatal friendly.  If it was my birthday, I would absolutely make sure juC clears his schedule so it can be all about me.  However, juC has willingly said that he is fine with me still going, and he will make the kids pizza, just like he always does on yoga Thursdays.  That's just the nice kind of guy he is.  When I said it wasn't fun for him, he said "It's fine."  I guess this is more of an example of why he's a better person than me.

29.  I love that sometimes when he has meetings at night, he brings a treat home for me.

30.  I love that he gives me a kiss and tells me he loves me every morning before he goes to work.  Even luC has noticed it.  And if he leaves later when the kids are awake and luC doesn't see him do it, when he walks out the door she says, "Daddy didn't love you!" all concerned.

31.  I love that he does his own laundry.  (OK, this list is making me look like a really, really lazy wife!  Sorry juC!)

32.  I love that he talks to the babies in my belly with a weird voice.

33.  I love that he makes me laugh so much.

34.  I love that he is such a good dad.

35.  I love that he doesn't look at day over 29.  I think we really throw people off.

36.  I love that he married me and that he is happy with being married to me.  Older, experienced men always tell younger men to marry up.  I guess juC decided not to follow that advice because I'm definitely the one that married up.  

Although juC keeps inching closer and closer to 40, which just sounds SO old, I still love him for so many reasons.  In spite of my yoga tonight cutting into his evening, I hope I can do my part and make this day special for him.  He deserves a day to feel loved and appreciated and celebrated.  And hopefully I can do that for him!  

I love you dearly sweet little juC! 

I Had a Birthday, Shout Hooray!

The day before my birthday, I took little jC to a dentist appointment.  The dental assistant said "You look 15.  I thought you were his sister."  She was only 16 years off.  It had been a while since I'd heard a comment like that, so I thought I'd grown out of it.  But it appears that I will forever be looked at as a teenager.  I won't complain about that!

My birthday started out with a birthday greeting and being crowned as the birthday princess.

Then my birthday card.

I couldn't figure out how he managed to find a card specifically for someone turning 31.  Then I realized how sneaky he was.


 I was also left 4 small gifts I was instructed to start opening at 10.  One every 2 hours.
A small key chain flash light...because I light up juC's life.
A pack of ponytail elastics...because he likes when I put my hair up.
A "magic towel"...because I stink and need to take a bath.
And a crystal growing kit...so I can grow my own bling.

The kids were their usual selves.  So it was just a day, except now it was a day as a 31 year old.  Little jC loves birthdays though, so there were happy birthday wishes sprinkled throughout my day.

When juC arrived home from work, he brought my two of my favorites.  Georgetown cupcakes AND a peanut butter cream pie from Wegman's.  (All of which were consumed by yesterday)

 Then it was time for dinner.  Very sadly, one of my favorite places to eat was closed for 2 weeks which meant juC couldn't go pick up some carry out for us.  So I thought it would be a good idea to have some birthday torture by taking the kids to a sit down restaurant for some hibachi.  The super good food totally outweighed the bad of Lula deciding she didn't want to sit by the time it was time for us to eat our dinner.  It was a perfectly delicious birthday dinner.

After dinner, back home we went for my last birthday gift.  I got a new digital camera, bringing my camera total to 4.  I am very happy to finally have a new small camera that actually takes good pictures, and that the battery doesn't pop out of.  

Yay for birthdays!  juC did good.  I tried to convince him that since my birthday was on a Friday, we should celebrate it the whole weekend, but that didn't go over too well.  Maybe next year.

Birthday Girl!

It's so hard for me to believe that our sweet little luC is 2 today!  She is such a little spunky breath of fresh air.  Except for when she's not.  Trust me, you don't want to make her mad.  But she has the sweetest heart. juC has been having a lot of melt downs lately when she has something he wants, and as soon as he starts crying she nicely gives it to him.

She loves:
Her baby brother
Playing with her dollies
Singing songs
Her blankies
Making a mess during meal time
Yo Gabba Gabba
Juice
Spaghetti
Going outside
Driving me nuts when we go to the store
Coloring
Giving hugs (that might be my favorite on the list)

The birthday

Yesterday was juC's birthday!!

I love birthdays. Love, love, love, love, love!! I love trying to find the perfect gift for someone. I love getting them cheesy little extra gifts. I love trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and making them the perfect birthday cake. I love putting up birthday banners/signs. I just love all of it!So I started planning juC's birthday well in advance. I knew what I was getting him for his birthday months before, and had it ordered and in the house about a month before. I knew I was going to make his favorite cake...red velvet cake, because I'd never made it for him before. I was trying my hardest to figure out a favorite meal to make him, but a few days before his birthday, he took the pressure off and said he wanted Cafe Rio for dinner.

All day long I got ready for him to come home from work. The kids and I were all set up in the dining room ready to surprise him. (And my sister, elB, too.)

When he came in and walked around the corner we yelled "Surprise!" and as you can see, he was totally surprised. Or maybe I had to get him to pose again because the first picture I took didn't turn out.

He and the kids enjoyed opening his presents.

His "big" present was a butler. My sweet juC loves setting his clothes out the night before...in a big clump on our bath tub. I wasn't about to try to put it together, so he got to open a piece of paper with a picture on it. Being so on top of things he got it put together last night...and then put his clothes in a big lump pile right beside it. But now he has the perfect spot to hang his shirt, pants, tie, and everything else, when he gets over his clothes clumping addiction.

I may kind of like making fun of him for getting "old". Clearly I know he isn't old, but it's still fun. So...I might have gotten him this card.

He loved it...I just know he did. And don't worry. I wrote in the card that I will love him in spite of his age.

After all the exciting present opening was done, we headed to Cafe Rio for dinner. Then came back home for some delicious red velvet cake with the most amazing cream cheese frosting ever. (I can't help but divert from this birthday post to talk about how amazing this frosting is. Anything that calls for cream cheese frosting, I use this recipe. Chocolate cake, carrot cake, red velvet cake...it's amazing!! Although it should be noted that this recipe makes a large amount, so halfing it is usually needed. Try it!! You'll love it!!)

juC's parents called on Skype just as I was getting the cake ready for him to blow out the candles so they got to participate in the festivities and sing with us and see him blow out the candles. I'm not sure what he wished for, but hopefully it was for a van for our family.

Hopefully it was a perfect birthday for my dear, sweet, loving, perfect husband.

Anniversary AND birthday

This past Saturday, juC and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. We were lucky enough to be able to go away for a few days (thanks to my dear sister, elB). After little to no to debate, we decided to head to rural Pennsylvania. Why? Umm...not really sure. But it was great. We were in a teeny-tiny town, in this super cute place.

Not sure what the history of this place is, but it was divided up into different rooms and we were in a room up top at the far right. We had a kitchen, a living room, bathroom, bedroom, cable tv, and a mouse. It was wonderful.

As with anything juC and I do, I planned it all...in spite of me trying soooo hard to get him to plan something. While we were talking one night while on our trip, he tried to say he did plan stuff, and I said "Name just one thing you planned for this trip." To which he replied "I planned on not having fun, but you changed my mind." And that folks, is the reason I married this man 5 years ago. He is quick and witty and he lets me do what I want.

A couple of highlights from our trip:

As we were driving around doing nothing on the rural Pennsylvania roads, I spotted this place and said "STOP!" It was much like a place we have in my home town. I wish I had a picture to show you what we got but I haven't yet developed the pictures I took with the disposable camera I got (The one that juC fought tooth and nail to try and not let me get). I got a glorious hot fudge sundae here, and juC got a "medium" ice cream cone...that was about the size of his head. This place was great!

We were close to Shanksville, Pa...the location that Flight 93 went down on September 11, so we went to the memorial site. Amazing! As soon as I stepped out of the car, I couldn't help but feel a since of overwhelming love for each of the people that sacrificed their lives to save so many others. I couldn't help but think how amazing it was that the plane, headed straight for the US Capitol was brought down in the middle of a field...sparing the lives of so many. What an amazing miracle in that tragic day. Those people on that plane are truly heroes and I'm so glad we got to go to the memorial site.

For our anniversary dinner, we had troubles finding the perfect restaurant, and ended up finding the perfect place on accident. Obviously, the perfect place for a Cinco de Mayo anniversary would be at a Mexican restaurant, but we had Mexican the night before. After some frustration on my part in finding a good place, we ended up at a Chinese restaurant, and it was great. It was the "real deal" as juC called it. Again...no picture yet, as it is still on the forbidden disposable camera, but just know that it was a wonderful anniversary dinner.

And now, after all of that excitement, today is juC's birthday. I couldn't help but publicly remind him that this is the last year that he is closer to 20 than he is to 50. I love giving him a hard time about his age. (Especially after we had an intense conversation one time because he was convinced he was a year younger than he actually was.)

I'm doing my best to make sure that when he gets home it will be a wonderful birthday. I will have to post later to let you know if I succeeded.

Happy anniversary and happy birthday, my dear juC. Couldn't be happier that I get to celebrate with you! I think it would be especially awkward at this point if we celebrated either of those things with anyone else.

It's a big day, people!

You may be wondering what is so special about this day. The 5th day of April. Well, let me fill you in.

It was on this very day, exactly one year ago today that I found out this news:

It was one year ago today that I took a test, found out the big news, quickly made this onesie, and announced the big news to juC. I can't hardly believe that it's been a year!! Such a big day!

But I kept feeling like today was a big day for another reason, but I couldn't quite put my finger on.

I asked luC if she knew.

She just hung her head in shame and said "I can't believe you don't know."

So then I turned to jC

and he was all "Get with the program woman! It's your mum's birthday!!"

And then I was all "Ohhh yeaaaah!"

I had the most hardest time trying to figure out what to get my mum for her birthday. I wracked my brain and wracked my brain more. And then finally I figured out the perfect gift. (Hint: the perfect gift for anyone is always something that you would enjoy yourself) (The perfect gift is also edible and comes in any form of chocolate.)

Unfortunately, shipping is working slowly, so she won't get to enjoy her edible form of chocolate on this, her day of birth approximately 325 years ago, but hopefully she will forgive us and enjoy it when it comes anyways.

Happy birthday, Mum!! I hope you will forgive me for relying on my wee ones to remind me of what a special day this is!

It WAS my birthday, and now it's almost Halloween!

Nearly two months ago, on August 9, the whole world celebrated the anniversary of my birth. Some people didn't even know that's what they were celebrating, but that's beside the point.

Nearly a month after that, using the money my mother and mother-in-law so generously gave me, I bought one of the best birthday presents ever.

You see, back at the beginning of the year I was out shopping for some antiques (I know, shocking!) and I came across a fabulous brown wool coat. I wanted it. Ohhhh how I wanted it. But I knew my husband wouldn't be very happy with me for spending the money on it when I already have plenty of coats.

Every.single.time. I went back to that antique store, I would go see if that coat was there. And every.single.time. it was still there and I thought "This must be a sign that I should have this coat." But my husbands voice kept popping into my head: "You don't need that coat!"

But when I went, equipped with my birthday money...there was NOTHING to stop me. And miracle of miracles...about 8 months after first spotting the coat, it was still there! (I'm so glad other people weren't cool enough to realize how great this coat was!)(No offense.)

And not only was it still there, but the lady working there called the owner of the coat and let her know that I had been eyeing it for 8 months, and she knocked 20% off the price! So for only sixty bucks I have this:

Check out those buttons!

It's from Woodward and Lothrop. Which, according to the lovely lady at the antique store was THE place to shop in Washington D.C. back in the day. It was like D.C.s own version of NY's Macys. Her dad would take her there around Christmas to see the huge window display they'd do. And the sentimental part of me thinks it's even more awesome that it's from right here in this area.

But, back to the coat.

I love it. And I almost don't even look pregnant when I wear it. Almost.

Now on to a completely different subject, have I mentioned the best part about my antique mantle?

Decorating for holidays!!And thanks to my favorite antique spot it Buckeystown, MD, I have these cute blocks someone made using vintage Halloween pictures to decorate it with.

Having a mantle to decorate truly makes this time of year so much better. Let the holidays begin!!

It's your birthday, shout HOORAY!

I LOVE celebrating birthdays! Truly. Not just my own birthdays, but I love celebrating other peoples birthdays too. Probably because it means I get to go shopping for gifts.

juC's birthday was Saturday, and I have to admit, one of the reasons I was so excited about his birthday was that I'd finally get to use the Happy Birthday banner my favorite Canadian friend, Shelley, made us!!

Isn't it great?? Thanks again, Shelley!!

Being the impatient person that I am, juC got to open his presents in the morning. How could I possibly wait all day long before giving him his presents??

I went all out for juC this year.A super fancy alarm clock. It shows the inside and outside temperature, has soothing sounds, and even projects the time onto the wall if you so choose. Only the best for my man.

And no birthday is complete with out some kind of new apparel. And since it's only the best for my man, he didn't get one new pair of shorts, he got TWO!!

The best gift juC got was a new suit. Which I unfortunately don't have a picture of him wearing. It's a shame too, cause he looks goooOOOOoooood in his new suit. Just ask him, he'll tell you.

And I have a feeling that with his new suit, juC's 32nd year will be his best.