Trouble

Lately this boy has been giving me a run for my money.

Exhibit A: Four nights ago Brannon wasn't going to be home for dinner so I got me some Chinese take-out for dinner. These aren't just any noodles, they are vegetable lo mein, my favorite. The nice lady from the restaurant sent me home with a HUGE take-out box full of these noodles. Lucky for me Taj fell asleep on the way home so I got to eat my noodles in peace while he slept on the couch beside me. A quarter of the way in to these noodles, Taj starts to stir so I thought it would be a good idea to run upstairs and make him a sippy cup. He is soooo ornery when he wakes up from a late nap, I wanted to be prepared. You can't imagine what he did in the two minutes I was gone. I came back downstairs to hear him doing his cranky squeaks and to see him dumping the entire box of noodles, soy sauce and all, on my white carpet. My patience ran out at that point and Taj earned himself a spat on the bottom. I spent the next 20 minutes scrubbing my dinner out of the carpet.

Exhibit B: Three nights ago (one day after the noodles incident) I accidentally left a basket of nice, clean, folded laundry downstairs with the said boy. I come back downstairs not even a minute later and find the contents of that laundry basket strewn all over floor. My reaction: "What?! Why?! How?! That was a week's worth of folded laundry!" Now this is where the pictures come in. For some reason Taj took to the pajama bottoms that I got for Christmas. Whenever I wear them, he runs up and pets my leg because they are soooo soft. Well petting them wasn't enough anymore. He saw them in the bottom of the laundry basket and well, you know the rest of the story. Since then he freaks out if I put them on and he's been carrying them around like a blanket. Not only does he drag them around, but he sneaks off into the spare bedroom to try them on. If I walk in and he sees me seeing him trying them on, he gets really mad at me and takes them back off and runs away to another secret corner in the house to put them back on. Should I be worried?!

Chasing Rainbows

Sometimes I wonder if I spend too much time thinking of ways to chase rainbows. For the last three or fours years I have been burdened with an insatiable need to figure out who I truly am and what my purpose is in this world. We are all born to play different parts and I know that we will all play many parts in our individual lifetimes. I know there is folly in trying to define yourself with a single label or with a career or talent. Those are just things we do, but not who we are. It's hard to differentiate between who we are and what we do in terms of defining ourselves. The thought that always comes to mind is that I don't want to get to the end of my life and regret not taking some chances or trying things that I never thought I could do. I've only got this one life to live and I hope that I am and will live it to its fullest. So I guess the key is balance. I want to try new things and find out what I'm really passionate about doing. I've got a lot of things that I'm passionate for, but I want to find my niche in life and run with it. I guess most everyone dreams of getting paid for what they love to do. I know it takes hard work and dedication. I also know that it requires one to keep trying again and again. I've already failed at trying to do things that I'm passionate about, but I haven't given up. I think of Abraham Lincoln. He failed over and over again, but he was persistent.

I'm also aware of the fact that I am already living an adventure that a lot of people dream about. I have a good husband, I get to stay home, I have a sweet little boy, I have a house to live in, I have an education, and I have freedom. I don't want to jump off this boat to catch a rainbow....in other words, I don't want to let the most important people and times in my life pass me by because I'm in search of something that I already have. At this point I've resolved to be as adventurous and outgoing as I can be from home and only after I've fulfilled my obligations of the most important parts I play right now: mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend.

Happy 28th!

Brannon turned 28 years old today...I can't believe it, we are almost 30!!! Correction: HE is almost 30 (I still have 5 more years). He always jokes that he is soooo much older than me, but we all know who the mature one is in this relationship;) I married a good man and this picture proves it. You see this is his deer from his highly coveted Paunsaugunt deer hunt. It's like the deer hunt you only get to do once in your life and when I told him there was no way he was hanging dead animals in our house, he kindly accepted my response and painted himself a wall in the dungeon and hung it down there. He puts up with a lot of my female hormones and Taj's two year old antics, but he always does it with a smile and a joke. Thanks for being such an awesome daddy and a good husband, we love you!

Progress...

So since I last posted about Taj sending Spongebob for a swim, he has now gone potty two more times on his own. There is one little hang-up however...every time he does it, I'm not there to see it and when I walk in the bathroom I find him trying to transport the pee pee out of the potty chair into the big toilet with his hands. So the big question here is this: What do I say?! On the one hand I'm supposed to congratulate (jumping up and down, hands clapping, the whole bit) him for going pee pee in the big boy potty and on the other hand, he's got his hands in the pee pee and I don't want him associating excitement and encouragement with putting your hands in pee! I think we're making progress here. Maybe I just need to teach him how to dump his own potty chair in the big toilet. I'm guessing I'm going to need to keep a LOT of Clorox wipes on hand!

I know this photo is totally unrelated to the above statement, but you remember my post forever long ago where I mentioned that I was making my own decorative pillows as a beginner's project? Well, here they are. I actually finished them in November, but I've been so embarrassed by the the misplacement of the buttons that I intentionally neglected to post a picture of the final product. I think my sewing teacher would have given me at least a B- on this project. At least the seams won't tear apart if you tug on them!

Maybe There's Hope

Poor Spongebob...he didn't stand a chance against a two year old boy!
I heard some rustlings coming from the bathroom and found Taj naked, diaper and pajamas on the floor with the step stool pushed up to the toilet and the potty seat in place. I'm thinking he gets the general idea. Now hopefully he will actually go potty one of these days instead of just sending his toys for a dunk!

Sunbeams

I'm going to miss these little people! They were my little rays of sunshine bright and early every Sunday morning:)

New Year, New Bed

This is not your average New Year's post. I haven't even verbalized my goals for the year, let alone write them down! Yesterday, or should I say last night, was a momentous event. The fact that Taj is no longer a baby was solidified when the crib was taken down and replaced with a big boy bed. I have to tell you that I was sure I would get no sleep last night because I thought the little monkey wouldn't stay in his bed. He didn't stay in his bed for the first three hours after I put him down, but lucky for us his is the only door in the house that he can't open yet. So, after tucking him in for the last time at about 12:30 I didn't wake up until I heard a little knock on his bedroom door at about 9:00 this morning.

Nap time is proving to be a little harder to manage seeing as I keep hearing a knock on the door and keep entering to find him riding his little Red Flyer trike around the room with his blanket stuffed in the back of it. He is so excited to have a big boy bed now and can't hardly lay in it without kicking his legs and giggling. This may turn out to be a big year for us. I mean we conquered the big boy bed on the first day of the year! I'll try potty training next. I'm hoping it doesn't take more than a week....yeah right! You know what? There's my New Year's resolution! Have Taj potty trained by next year!