Let's do this.

Mary decided that she was ready to get her ears pierced, and she rocked it. No tears, just lot's of giggles. When did this girl get so grown up? I love her so much! 

A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, we got a little bored on a Sunday afternoon in Athens, so I did Mary's make up with the grown up stuff. 

She felt like a princess and invited Paul to take her to a ball. 

While in the carriage, she turned to Paul and said

 "Daddy, does it make you nervous to sit by someone so pretty?"

 So, he lost his role as Prince Charming and became the horse instead.   

 But they still made it the ball. And lived happily ever after. 

The End. 

I should start blogging again.

I'll start by posting two of my favorite pictures from a trip to Saint Simons Island.

My little people.

April 2012

Luke rhymes with ...

We had a giftcard to Olive Garden, so we took the kids out to dinner last night. The kids were happy coloring, Mary munching on breadsticks and Luke downing his chocolate milk. Like any good waitress, ours refilled our drinks a few times and brought us our food. Unfortunately, I hadn't been paying attention to how many times she refilled Luke's chocolate milk. . . because as soon as we started eating, Luke started puking chocolate milk, everywhere. About four times. Pausing in-between each time for a breath.

I asked for a bunch of extra napkins and to-go boxes for all of our food. Paul undressed Luke and took him out to the car while I took care of the bill and cleaned up the mess as best I could. I apologized to the waitress again and again and sat there laughing while I cleaned up puke for the 800th time in the past 19 months.

{riding home in only a diaper}

When we named Luke we thought of all the potential nicknames other kids might give him. Luke the Puke was all we could come up with. If he never threw up in public/at school, he probably wouldn't ever be called that, right? Unfortunately, we cursed him.

Luke has no stop button on his stomach. Whatever signal people are born with that tells them "you're full, you can stop eating now" is not built into this boy. He's done it since he was an infant, which lead to some strategic nursing plans (short feedings with lots of burp cloths - actually, full size bath towels on hand). He never outgrew it like the doctor said he would; it continued into solid foods and now his toddler years.

It has now progressed from only an eating issue to an all the time issue, if he falls, or gets hurt, or gets upset in anyway, he loses his lunch. We have changed the rug in his room twice. Now he has one that is more like a play mat that can be sprayed off with a hose. He's thrown up in every room of our house, on family, at friends houses, and now at a restaurant, I had to cancel my gym membership after he threw up in the nursery three times in one week.

Mary got her first stomach bug at 3 1/2 years old, right before Luke was born. She had never thrown up before and still hasn't thrown up since then. I remember hearing about other kids who threw up a lot and thinking how lucky we were that Mary had only been sick once in her life. I am now eating my words on a daily basis, and it's disgusting.

His name is Luke.

I set Luke on the counter at Barnes and Noble while I bought a book this week. The cashier looked at Luke and asked him his name. Luke just stared back at him.

So, Mary chimes in with, "His name is Luke but he calls himself 'Uke.' Well, he used to call himself 'Guke' but now it's just 'Uke.' I'm kind of trying to teach him how to say 'LUH-Uke'. . . because his name is Luke."

And I'm sure the cashier was glad she cleared that up.

18 Months

This little guy is 18 months old

and he is a mess.

But, we love him like crazy :).

Story of her life.

I let Mary fall asleep next to me while I was reading last night. 

She tried her hardest to fall asleep, but every few minutes she had something new to say. 

"Mary, just close your eyes and eyes and fall asleep!" I said.

"Mommy, my eyes are closed" she told me. 

I looked over, and her eyes were in fact closed.

"Okay, then close your mouth and go to sleep." I said.

She let out a big exasperated sigh and said, 

"But Mommy, I just can't handle not talking!"