Toy Room Reveal (Overdue Part 2)...

It started with these...

Word stickers from Nama that say PLAY, GIGGLE and SO MANY TOYS SO LITTLE TIME...

So then I bought these...

Curtains from Wal-Mart...

Four panels, two for each side...

And I had this wonderful idea for my incredibly handy husband to paint...

A chalkboard...

A magnetic chalkboard...

I LOVE this...

I think he did a wonderful job...

I copied an idea I found online...

To display Aidan Kales' artwork...

String and clothes pins...

I shopped our house and found things to hang on the walls...

And found ways to organize all the toys...

 

And the boys love playing in here...

Of course the truth is...

It isn't always this clean...

I am linking to...

Finding Fabulous' Frugalicious Friday...

A Soft Place to Land DIY Day...

 

Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday...

Blue Cricket Design's Wednesdays Show and Tell...

A Silly Little Sparrow's Toot Your Horn Tuesday...

Reasons I find myself running later for work...

~Kamden Kane wants me to hold him...

So he literally toddles behind me holding onto my pants...

~Aidan Kale finds his way to our bed at about 1:00 am...

When my alarm goes off he rolls over and wraps his arms around me...

~Both of the boys feel I need assistance with bathing...

This includes bringing me toys...

Trying to crawl into the tub...

And splashing me...

~Aidan Kale needs juice, vitamins, TV and his diaper changed...

The latter requires a brief scuffle from time to time...

~While I am putting on my make-up I am generally joined by a two and a half year old...

Who NEEDS someping {generally what I need}...

Make-up brushes...

Q-Tips...

Contact case...

~Kamden Kane often feels the urge to dig through my bathroom trash...

Then thinks it is a game when I move him away...

So he comes back for more...

Until I put the trash where he cannot reach...

Then he goes for the toilet cleaning brush {nice}...

~My husband has wardrobe matching advice questions for himself...

Or he needs to know what the boys should wear...

~Aidan NEEDS me to play for a minute...

Yet has absolutely no concept of sixty seconds...

~Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has ended...

So Kam comes to tell me about it...

~A disagreement breaks out between the boys...

Or should I say Aidan Kale is yelling NO BUBBY...

At the top of his lungs...

Followed by Bubby's cries...

~I attempt to put on clothes that used to fit...

Look in the mirror and realize they really don't anymore...

~I can't find my cell phone...

Because someone whose name I won't mention has pushed the phone between the couch cushions...

Therefore it wasn't charged...

It has died...

And I can't even call it to see if I can hear it...

Funny how Aidan Kale finds it...

~I realize it is the 15th of the month...

And the water bill is due the 15th...

And we live in some archaic community where you cannot pay the bill online or by phone...

So I forget to mail it as it is the only bill I pay via mail...

And I must drop it off at City Hall...

Or I end up in an argument with the Mayor over a stupid $25 late fee {not that this has happened}...

~Finally...

I fall asleep while laying down with the kiddos when I put them to bed...

Forget to set my alarm...

And awaken one and half hours later than I should...

Without having brushed my teeth...
Removing my make-up...

Or contacts...

Knowing it will be a GREAT day...

Hating Hirschsprung's

A disease of the large intestine...

He might potty train late...

Stool in his colon...

KUBs...

Miralax...

Distension...

Belly hurts...

Critic-Aid...

Diaper rash...

Pull-through surgery...

Enema...

Ganglion cells...

Biopsy...

One in every 5000 births...

Genetic not hereditary...

Waiting...

Set back...

Waiting...

Dear Vikings...

This is how you hold onto the ball...

Oh Brother...

Sometimes friends...

                Sometimes not so much...      

   

  

       

Always brothers...

No Words...

There will never be words for the way I feel...

When you place your tiny hand in mine...

When you greet me at the door with cheers of excitement...

As you snuggle close without my asking...

When I hear your little voice...

Or tuck you into bed...

When I watch a movie about a missing child...

And can't help but imagine if it was you...

As you grow and part of me rejoices as part of me breaks...

In moments when I question if I am a good enough Mommy for you...

If I am giving you enough of me...

When I watch you share with your brother...

Or help him when he falls...

As I listen to you tell me about your day...

As your words whisper pieces of who you are...

When I leave you and parts of me feel completely empty...

Hollow...

As life is taken away...

And my heart empathetically grieves yet remains secretly grateful...

When my thoughts of the future interfere with the here and now...

As I watch the moral compass shift...

In a world I want you to have no part...

When I must be the disciplinarian...

 And your stubborn parts are tamed...

Broken...

When I know you hurt...

And I lack a band-aid...

When you say you are not my baby...

But my heart knows...

Nothing will ever change that...

Wishful Wednesday

So I just happened upon a fun blog carnival called Wishful Wednesday at The Seattle Smiths...

And today's theme is GOWNS from the 67th Annual Golden Globes...

Seriously...

Oh my...

Fun for me...

If you know me...

You know this is right up my alley...

I love award shows and red carpet...

I could go on and on about my all time favorite dresses...

But I won't...

That isn't what this post is about...

This post is...

'I wish...I could have worn the gown that Dianna Agron wore at the 67th Annual Golden Globes Award!

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

My what in the world was she thinking dress would be...

And my absolutely favorite couple of the evening was...

Absolutely...

 

Love the arm around the waist...

Umbrella over her beautifully coiffed hair...

Jesse's eyes say...

Mess with Sandra, mess with me...

And though these shows are certainly not his forte...

He was there...

I anxiously await the SAG awards...

Visit The Seattle Smiths and join the fun...

Hirschsprung's Rears It's Ugly Head

I am frustrated...

I am worried...

I feel helpless...

I feel like I have failed...

Aidan Kale went to his surgeon for a check-up and he is having issues...

Issues I feel like he should not be having...

We should be past this...

And yet we aren't...

And so he is taking 100 ml of magnesium citrate for three days...

On Monday if things aren't better...

He will be admitted to the hospital...

Please pray it does not come to that...

I DON'T want that...

Pray that we can come up with creative ways to get him to drink his medicine...

Pray that he won't have too much cramping...

Discomfort...

Pray that if any of the above occurs that I find strength I didn't know I had...

That surely came as a free gift with the birthing process...

Because if he hurts...

I hurt...

If he cries...

I cry...

Because my first born is as much a part of my being as my arms and legs...

And though I know how blessed we are that this is the worst issue we have...

A disease that is not life threatening...

I am grateful...

I am grateful...

Regardless...

I don't like this...

A Few of My Favorite Things...

~My husband's sweatshirts...

~Cleaning lady day...

~A morning when I am not rushed...

~Empty laundry hampers...

~My own bed...

~Organizing...

~Calvin Klein's Euphoria for Men...

~A pantry full of food...

~Coupons...

~Mushy cards...

~Netflix...

~The Golden Globes...
~Sandra Bullock...

~New Release Tuesday...

~No plans...

~Watching my boys learn new things...

~Fuzzy socks...

~Seeing my husband's phone number on called id...

~Finding the perfect gift...

~Knowing those I love are safe and sound...

Dear Aidan Kale

Dear Aidan Kale,

Thank you for using the end of a metal spoon to redecorate my dining room table...

Thank you for giving it a unique design...

Making the use of tablecloths a necessity...

I most certainly did NOT want to use all the placemats I have splurged on over the years...

For example the six silver and gold beaded ones for Christmas, that were $9 a piece, probably needed to be retired...

It wasn't enough that I need to recover my cream colored dining room chairs stained with macaroni and cheese and spaghetti...

Now I have a table with noticeable gashes...

And yet I had never thought of using the end of a spoon like that...

Good thing you are always one step ahead of me...

Much Love, Mommy

White Christmas

I love Broadway Across America...

I mean I LOVE Broadway Across America...

I love Broadway...

But for those who do not get to the Theatre District in NY City as often as one would like...

Broadway Across America will do just fine...

My husband and I have seen The Lion King, The Wedding Singer and Wicked {amazing}...

So when I scanned the schedule for the 2009-2010 season and saw that my all time favorite, watch every year with my parents and sister, Christmas movie was slated for January 2010...

I bought {charged} tickets...

My husband thought it a tad irresponsible that I bought tickets first and thought about a babysitter later...

Possibly irresponsible, possibly just excited...

So my in-laws watched the boys overnight...

KKS and I traveled two hours in 12 degree weather...

Snow still covering the ground...

To see Broadway's depiction of Irving Berlin's White Christmas...

There were parts I LOVED...

Parts that disappointed...

But even I can't deny it was magical...

Why the disappointment...

Once you have seen the movie twenty or so times...
  White Christmas is just NOT White Christmas without Bing...

No one else could ever mimic that once in a lifetime crooner...

Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen are the perfect depiction of a classic woman from the 40/50's...

Oh how wonderful to live in the era of nightclubs and gorgeous gowns {sigh}...

My point is...

This movie is a classic...

One that I have memorized...

So when the Broadway version veered from original scripting...

I became extremely defensive...

HOW COULD THEY RUIN MY MOVIE...

How could they NOT sing Snow...

or Mandy...

How could Emma's name be Martha...

Why didn't Phil give Judy the train tickets so they could escape their landlord and the local sheriff while Wallace and Davis performed Sisters...

 

Rather than telling Bob they were on a train to Florida...

What was the deal with Broadway Sue...

And more than anything else why didn't Judy's dress coordinate with Betty's in the final act...

Movie...

Broadway {where is Betty's fur}...

Regardless...

It was an evening ALONE with my handsome husband...

And one more memory from this life that is mine...