Two Years Old

 

I never did discuss Khage's second birthday. He wasn't shorted on attention or gifts, just deprived recognition on our blog. He had two parties, one with each side of the family... we don't try and keep our sides separate, its not a racial thing, it just worked out that way. And he was spoiled rotten with gifts and a whole bunch of love. I could go into detail but instead I would rather rant and rave about why my baby is better then yours... I'm kidding. Or am I?
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Khage,

You always say bless you when someone sneezes. You randomly laugh at the funny parts in cartoons. You are so independent and yet sometimes you will just beg us to hold you with the cutest pleading voice. You will sit forever and just look over the front and back cover of a DVD with such curiosity of what the movie is about. Sometimes you say words that make you sound like a french guy (poo'poo). You are very bothered by messes that other people create, and often times you refuse to let it go until its cleaned up. If you say sorry for something you have done and we don't acknowledge you, you will come right over and grab our face until we accept your apology. If you know I am talking to Daddy on the phone you HAVE to talk to him too. You rarely need reminding to say please and thank you. The way you eat noodles is just about the cutest thing I have seen. And since you were an infant you have always fiddled with your hair when you are tired or just relaxing, and that my boy yanks on my heart every time.

Those are just a few of the reasons why we look at you with such love in our faces everyday.

They are the reasons why you get random extra hugs for what you think are for no reason at all.

And the same reasons why we thank God everyday for blessing our family with your life.
You are loved so much more then you could ever know!

 

19 Weeks.

 

You are a girl.
I cannot say it enough. Partly because I don't believe it and hearing it out loud makes it that much more real and the other part of me just loves to hear myself say it: I'm a Mommy to a GIRL. I will confess, I never thought I wanted a girl. I don't like a lot of girl toys, girl clothes are too girly for me and the idea of standing in line at Disneyland for princess signatures makes me wanna snatch a tiara right off one of their heads and smash it into a gazillion pieces then stomp off to meet Mater at Cars Land. Ugghhh, family vacations are going to get interesting.

But my heart swells with how much I love you already my sweet girl. You kick me all the time, never letting me forget that you are there. And I already know a slew of songs that I plan to sing to you, I have mentally designed your bedroom and when I think about bringing you into this world happiness wraps around me like a swaddle blanket. I cant wait to hand you over to Khage and see a new kind of love between brother and sister. But most of all I look forward to watching Brad grow into a new kind of Daddy for you; a Daddy that plays rough with his son but holds his daughter like the most precious of cargo. Because of you Harlyn we are all going to change, we wont ever love the same and the house will be scattered in My Little Ponies and Polly Pockets... I welcome it all with a smidge of fear but a whole bunch of excitement.

 



Driving Mrs. Daisy... to the BANK!!!

When Khage finally learned how to shovel food into his own mouth, I was so excited. When he decided to just let go of the couch and take his first steps, I couldn't have been happier. But when he got behind the wheel of the little Mercedes and turned corners like a professional, I was boasting with pure Mommy-Cheering-From-The-Sidelines pride. Eating and walking are monumental milestones, but driving a car around obstacles like the couch and kitchen cabinets at the young age of two... now that's a skill that makes me want to loose my head. Before I go any further I know I am not the one to thank for this skill, its all Daddy. But dang it my genes swim in that pool too.

As I watched Khage take a 90 degree turn, then another right after and all without evening kissing the wall with the red paint job I slowly began to understand Mrs. Bieber and Mrs. Spears. Before, I cursed the parents of young stars. Why take away their childhood like that, you should be pushing your kids to stay young instead of cashing in on their skills.

But then Khage practically parallel parked and I saw dollar signs.

I wanted to run right out and get Khage an agent and pressure him to try out for the Formula 50 Toddler Races. I planned to show up there decked out from head to toe in Khage gear and start fights with the other Moms. I was gonna be one of those Moms on Toddlers in Tiaras, you know the ones in the background arguing with the judges about their kids faulty scores. I had dreams for Khage and those dreams were gonna buy me a Cadillac CTS. Then he ran into my leg and it all disappeared... how do you not see me child, I'm your biggest fan?

 

 

Cute little car courtesy of Aunt Lissa and Patrick, one of the most amazing birthday gifts Khagey and Rex could of ever asked for. And just to reassure our landlords, he is not nicking walls or bumping into your china hutch. He really is that good!

Self Mutilation.

We're dealing with this already? I thought I would be writing this post when Khage was in high school begging us for an eyebrow piercing or a tattoo of his girlfriends name. Not when he was under the age of two and biting himself to avoid naps. A piercing... that doesn't scare me... it should scare him because I WILL rip it out! A tattoo, don't even come at me with that nonsense, I have hearts tattooed on my butt like a My Little Pony... I WILL show him and he WILL be afraid! But biting himself hard enough to leave marks that last all day... how do you stop that nonsense. And whats worse is he will also do it when he's mad at himself. Like its his own little creepy punishment. I am gonna say it right now, just put it right out there: This boy is gonna be trouble. I love him and all his little weirdness, but this? No, this gives me the willies.

Just Us

 

This was such a lovely night. Just us watching the stars in a sleeping bag on the trampoline. Khage didn't take a nap that day so to our surprise he zonked right out. No fight, no fuss. We both took a turn holding him while he slept, what a precious moment to steal with a toddler. In between my hormonal ups and downs I am trying to do my best to savor these last five months that we will have together, just us being a small family of three. I look forward to what ever this new baby brings to this family, but I will forever be grateful for the time that our family was just us and Khage. 

Mah'mellows

We are at it again. Potty time round two three or four, I'm starting to loose track. And I cant really remember why it has failed so many times or why we continue to even try, I don't care about diapers. Changing em...buying em'...I don't fret over it. The way I see it is this: no matter what I'm wiping a butt at least with a diaper I get to sit down.

Today he woke up committed to this cause. At 6ish we were awakened by him yelling for candy from the toilet in our bathroom. He rarely has any pee accidents since we introduced the reward system, a candy for every time he even sits on the potty and tinkles. He has taken full advantage of our kindness... I swear by the end of the day he has consumed almost a whole pack of starbursts and he used this method to polish off his Halloween candy as well.

The dreaded Number Two. That is what is holding us back. He doesn't necessarily poop in his undies he just saves them for when he's diapered up during his naps. I couldn't help but feel like he was playing us for fools. But then today happened and I realized we are finally going somewhere with this, and just like that the Mommy becomes the master.

I like to call this stage of potty training: Marshmallows.
Khage likes to call it mah'mellows.

Forget candy; its wrapped, usually of a hard or chewy consistency, so were looking at at least a minute before its consumed. Instant gratification, now that's a motivator and I plan to exploit it.

He actually got out of his bed during nap yelling potty while he raced down the hallway to find a toilet. At first I wasn't the least bit excited, a nap disturbance for pee pa'lease. But then I heard it... then smelt it... he pooped. And the minute he was done he asked for his precious little mah'mellows. So worth the two bucks.

 

After a while he was not okay with me and my camera robbing him of his privacy. But anger quickly faded into pure high fructose corn syrup happiness, and all was right again.

13 Weeks.

 

I think this was just about the roughest few months of my life thus far. Nothing really gets me down as far as pain... ya I think based upon me getting myself into this situation again, I pretty much forgot the pain involved in child birth. But stomach cramps and constant bloating are not exactly my kinda Sunday driving. And most people who know me know its not a good idea to mess with my food intake, but you, oh you ballsy little thing you don't seem to fear the repercussions at all. But once your outside the protection of my uterus you will quickly learn the ways my little spawn.

We heard your heart beat the other day, as mentioned above, and it was music to my ears. I don't take doctor appointments too seriously so that was your first one. Yes, the first time I talked to my midwife, the very person who will aid me into bringing you into this world, just heard about you a few days into my second trimester. I'm not worried about my Mother of the Year Award, I lay it on pretty thick with my newborns so you will learn to adore me.

Khagey cant wait to meet you. He hasn't told me so but I can see it in his eyes. He calls you baby and touches my tummy sometimes. I don't have the heart to tell him your way lower then my belly button, he uses it has a microphone device to reach you. Hes gonna be an amazing big brother to you I just know it. He doesn't make for an especially good playmate to others but something tells me he's really gonna rise to the occasion with you.

Please give me some kind of hint as to what you are. I need to know. I'm on the verge of scheduling an appointment with a fortune teller, its driving my completely nuts. Today I think your a girl. Khage said sister when we asked him and lately hes been a pretty decent magic eight ball, so I'm going with it. My heart still says boy though, but your energy feels kinda soft and dainty. Do you see how confused I am. Just swim up and tap on my belly button, one for boy and two for girl. Thanks so much.

And also I love you you little attitudinal fetus.

Happy cooking.



My Second Halloween Costume

When Khage was born I said "I want him to be a boy that loves trains." I also said I want him to learn German and be in the chess club. Obviously I want to create a whole new breed of cool, but that is not what we are discussing here today. Instead, we are talking about Khage's Halloween costume. He was a train conductor, and to a mother who is completely into forcing trains onto her son I couldn't have been more thrilled. He looked so handsome strutting around in his little outfit, it took all of me not to instagram it weeks before the big reveal on Halloween day. And because it seemed to him to be similar to his everyday attire; pants, shirt, shoes and a hat, he didn't mind it too much. (Although the bandanna did take some getting used to).
Interestingly enough this outfit was never meant to be a Halloween costume, it was given to him by Pompa and Gnama for his birthday last year and has been hanging out in his closet anxiously waiting for him to grow three inches. We just lucked out when we stumbled upon it and it happened to fit perfectly. That was a close call because the intended Elmo costume didn't go over so well with this kid. And because Halloween isn't complete without a photo shoot we took a few shots at a local train museum. Well a few shots started out as 100 pictures but I will only make you look at ten, I weeded out all the ones with closed eyes and globs of snot for your viewing pleasure. If you have a memory like me post baby, then you may recall a snot nose impeding on our photo shoot last year too, if you don't remember click here.

 

 

Aww seeing little kids cry is so sad... but darn doesn't it make for an adorable picture.

Don't worry yourself too much, seconds later he was perfectly happy and throwing back fruit snacks.

 

 I love the picture above, I got him mid "choo choo" 

 I think this one is my favorite. Squinty eyes are always a good sign, they are usual backed by good true belly laughs.

Negligence, it hurts us both.

My oh my. If this blog was my child then the proper authorities would have already been contacted, this blog would have been removed from my home and finally placed in a more caring and nurturing environment. I have neglected if for far too long and what that means to me is simply this: there are four months of Khages life that have gone undocumented. The worse part is I have nothing to show for it. Its not like I have a pile of blogs waiting to be written or pictures of Khage eagerly waiting to be doted over... I have not used my camera just about this whole time. So that too probably should be fostered out.

Halt, I spoke too soon. I haven't completely given up on taking picture of Khage.
I just stumbled upon these little numbers on my camera's memory card.

Apparently I found Khage's scissor cutting face and sneaky grocery cart car wash suitable reasons to get off my lazy rump and get my camera out of it's dusty bag.

Not a complete waste, right?
Wrong. For one he's practically naked in both. Correction, he is naked in one. And second can I ever get a shot of him facing the camera? I got more booty in the second one then I got of his face in the first.

As you can tell based on my rambles, I have missed my precious blog. And I am so glad it decided to give me a second chance. This time I wont let it down. I'm sure I could muster up a few tears if that would help ease things over between us. I took a drama class in school and I pretty much have the whole crying on demand thing down.

Boots on the Bed

 

Boots up there has a newsflash for ya

 

Khagey has gone from sleeping like this:

 

To finally sleeping like this:

 

It was a hard transition, moving him from his crib the floor to his big boy bed. We decided to make the move once he refused to sleep in his bed at all and began to prefer the cold hard ground. If the world was without scorpions we may have allowed this floor sleeping nonsense to continue ... but those little beasts do creep at night so the move to a sleeping arrangement out of their reach was more then necessary. I must say though I pondered introducing him to the world of monsters under the bed... assuming maybe that would be a grand way to get him out from under the bed, up off the floor and back to sleeping on a mattress... but my better judgment has a way of stepping in and prohibit me from mentally damaging my child. Let us all say thanks for that.

 

Khage did put up an admirable fight but us parents are hard to beat down. He was waking up multiple times a night for more then a week before he caught on and took us a little more seriously.

 

He's not a quick study that one!

 

 

 



A Night Time Song

The background information:
I have watched this video too many times and have come to a single conclusion: I couldn't have been given a better child for me. He is in no way a perfect boy, in fact sometimes I wonder if I got a busted one. He is boisterous and hostile at times. He often resorts to hitting when anger strikes and rarely gives kisses out of the kindness of his heart... they are usually forced from me blackmailing him and even then he kinda just smashes his face against mine, no pucker involved. He throws things, yells alot, and refuses to let me hold him. I am needy and I know this. I constantly ponder why I am not his favorite parent and how Daddy trumped me so quickly. People say its a phase but do phases last for the entirety of someones life? I'm being dramatic. But I long for Khage's attention and he never gives it to me, but then there are moments... special days like yesterday when he loves me and I can feel it.

The story:
The other day Khage was being a turd, he wouldn't go to sleep and instead insisted on crying for Daddy in his bed for 45 minutes. Daddy was at work and I was enjoying my quiet time playing scrabble on my phone by the light of a candle. Sounds romantic, right? Not so much. Well I finally gave in and brought Khage into my room to lye in my bed for a small while with the hopes that he would eventually doze off. That small while eventually turned into over an hour of us wide awake just laying there, playing with blankets, and enjoying each others company. He adored me. Maybe it was because it was I who saved him from his bed, or maybe because sometimes he knows he doesn't give me the attention I so desperately seek. He would snuggle me when I asked him to, we talked as best we could with his limited vocabulary and he held my hand when ever he felt so inclined. Those moments are the ones I lock away forever, they mean so much more because he is my rowdy boy, the very same one who scratches to get away from me when I try to bear hug him. He hates my affection and sometimes it hurts... but not this day. He was soaking up my love and I was giving it away in buckets.

The video:
Did I mention he sang to me? Well he did. He serenaded me with beautiful poetic songs about how much he adores his Mommy. This small moment lasted only a short while, it was so quickly replaced not 2 minutes later by him aggressively hitting me square in the face. But I will take what ever moments like this that I can steal, even if it means a small beating will follow.

 

 

Don't be concerned that the video is not working properly because your only getting sound with no visual, might I remind you that the room was lit by a single candle.

Things to note:
Listen carefully and you can here the sounds of him shushing me as I request more singing
I love the way in which his songs always start off with the same few notes
I am amazed at how controlled his pitch is
And lastly, I have no idea what Ma'ghee-ah means.
 

Sedona

Our little family, the Patricks and Trevor all headed up to Sedona for an over night campin' trip. Its just not the same if you say "camping" like your fresh out of college, so just appease me and use the verbage supplied. On this campin' trip we hung out by the fire, hiked in the beautiful canyons, breathed in the freshest of air and yes like always Khage got naked. Maybe it was I who got him naked, but either way he loves to be all natural and I fully support his wild child ways.

If I had more time I would have created a whole movie montage with these photos, complete with Native American pan flutes and background sounds of birds singing and the wind blowing. That really would have created a nice moment for us all to share. Maybe next time.

What could these three possibly be discussing here? They seem so captivated by their little kid conversation. Is it Elmo? Marshmallows? What items of ours they could sneak away and throw into the fire?

 Two out of three ain't bad.

This sad little fish became Brad's protein snack... gotta stay nourished people.

 Ya know how I roll: naked in the wilderness... but I kindly provide photoshoped loin clothes for the web.

  These two are so made for a NatGeo wilderness survival show... its gonna start low budget but I have a feeling its gonna go prime time.

 

 Back off ladies. This one is mine.

Lets close on this note:

This trip was a waste and it has ruined my life. 

What I mean is: life in Arizona is already hard enough... and now I have to live with the fact that we are hours away from a place so beautiful and with weather so nice. Why are we wasting our lives living here on this side of Arizona, the ugly hot side with no pine trees? I wish I never had to find out such a place existed.

Just put a graham cracker on me, I am done here!

BoyOhBoy

If you can manage to get through the shaking of the camera whilst I chase after a toddler and endure my repetitive request for Khage to say BoyOhBoy you will absolutely love this video.

It stars Khage and his eagerness to always do the opposite of what I ask him to.

Always stubborn but truly adorable.

The Jinx Fairy and a $2000 popsicle.

Just the other day I found my self saying such stupid things. If you know me you know this is very unlike my character to talk nonsense. But the other day I did. I went out on a limb and tested the jinx theory. You know when you say "I never ever __blah blah blah__" and then BAM just like that the pesky little Jinx Fairy takes it upon himself to make you a liar! He is quite the little jokester that one.

I remember saying that Brad and I never take Khage to the doctors... aside from his wellness check ups of course, because we are not those people... you know the ones who say "no thank you" to vaccines. The italics on that previous statement were provided to emphasis my snobbery on that topic.

But that's for another day.

We "never" take Khage to the doctors, or urgent care or hospital visits. We have a very strict rule... blood must be gushing or limbs must be dangling to get a special trip to one of those places. And that's when the Jinx Fairy twinkled in and temporarily turned my world upside down. It started off with a simple fever that turned into 104.4 degrees and sent me into a panic. He was lethargic; allowing me to cradle him in my arms (a position he didn't allow since the day he was born), passing out every chance he got and drinking hardly any fluids. Things starting popping into my head: brain damage, dehydration and febrile seizures. That was enough to convince me it was time to scrap our rule and rush him in. After his first urinary catheter, blood sample and IV drip he was released with a popsicle and homemade teddy bear. We were told it was just a viral infection and to continue with Motrin and Tylenol. I never want to be forced into a situation like that again, I am just not built emotionally strong enough to withstand the pain that came along with holding down my child as they probed at him with needles and he screamed owie over and over again.

A hospital visit for a fever scare and for a family uninsured will get you a hefty bill and a yummy popsicle.... a yummy but very expensive popsicle. Better safe then sorry!

Climb on.

 The best thang about living near family is playing with family. 

On my 26th birthday my Mom took us all to a rock climbing gym where we climbed and laughed and sweated our little toxins out and just enjoyed being a big 'ol family together on a national holiday... yup that just happened.

There is something about getting old that makes you wanna just get out there and climb a fake rock and possibly beat your brother whilst you do it!

Back off Zach its my birthday and Im getting old and I'm pretty sure I saw Mom give you a  little boost at the start. 

 

 oh yes Nicole is a very handy Mom, turning simple climbing gear into amusing toddler toys.

 

 

Go Mom!!!

 

 

 And then we got a little relationship building going on during family time. 

 

 Lets take a second to acknowledge those eyelashes... hes gonna heartbreak for sure.

 Can this moment get any cuter?

Maybe if Khage returned the embrace... hes so cold.

 And odd.

 

It was such a fun day!

I just love to love my family.

And I want to give a shoutout to Rick for being on camera duty!

You rock... get it eh eh???