A Bloody Mess

So the other day Max and I were playing and he said something to the effect of "Don't get my nose!" which, as every mother knows is the tell-tale sign that he wanted me to do just that. Okay fun, an I'm-gonna-get-your nose game. No problem. Well, in the midst of wrestling around on the couch Max gives off a rather non-chalant "ouch" and runs away laughing. He turns around to head back for more and that's when I see it...blood streaming from his nose, all over his face and clothes. Not wanting to panic him, I pick him up and say "oops, we need to clean up your nose a bit" and take him into the bathroom where, of course, there's a huge mirror and he catches sight of the gushing redness. He actually remained quite composed, although he did cry and kept saying, 'make it stop!' After I got him (and myself) all cleaned up I sat him on my lap and said, "I want to ask you a question. I feel SO bad about making your nose bleed. I'm SO sorry. Do you forgive me?" He looked at me puzzled and in a very tentative voice said, "God?" I asked him what he meant and he tried to explain that he was answering my question. I realized that he was associating the concept of forgiveness with God. Goooooood. Then he said, "God hurt my nose and made it all red." Baaaaaaad. I tried explaining that no, God would never do such a thing, that God loves him very much, that it was mommy who accidentally hurt him, all of which only served to cause uncontrollable sobbing. "What's wrong?" I asked, starting to panic that the situation was getting very muddled and confusing for the poor kid. In between sobs I got "question" and "wrong answer" then "I can't do anything." At this point I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that this moment is definitely headed for my Top 10 Worst Mom Moments as I've now bloodied my child's nose, made him think God did it and then walked all over his self-worth by making him think he incorrectly answered my question. I give a mop-up response that attempts to put things right and then pause and finally say, "Hey--how would you like to go out for ice cream?" Problem solved.

Gus Goes Green

For Gus' birthday party we decided to "go green" as much as possible. It actually worked quite well. We used real plates instead of paper, I made the cake topper & cup cake decorations out of felt (and kept them for future use), instead of streamers I made fabric party flags which will go in Gus' room, the party favors were monster buttons and a "make-your-own-monster" felt kit, packaged in paper bags for easy recycling. All in all, I think we at least cut down on typical party waste and got some cute decorations on top of it! Not bad.

Celebrating Gus

Our little Gus turned 1 this month...hard to believe! We celebrated over the weekend with a small party of family and friends. Gus had a blast. What a joy this little guy is. Take a look at the pictures below & you'll see what I mean. The kid just oozes happiness!




I put this last picture in despite its lack of open-mouthed joy because I think it's really cute!

Why God Why?

So this weekend Mark and I left the boys at my parents so that we could head over to Bremerton & catch the Death Cab show. It was Gus' first time away from me overnight, but I wasn't too worried about him. It was Max who I was really concerned for. When I left he was clinging to my leg screaming "Don't go! I want to go with you! No Mommy!" Not an easy exit. I checked in about 10 minutes later & he was watching Curious George and had forgotten all about his moment of abandonment. When bedtime rolled around, however, it became quite clear that he had not forgiven me for leaving. When my mom asked him if there was anything he wanted to ask God for during prayers he said, "Ask Him why my mommy left me." OUCH.

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

This is what my house looks like every day. Every. Single. Day.

Opening Day Starts with a BANG!

About a million bangs, actually. Yeah, there were fireworks after they announced every Mariner player and then a huge blast as they set out to "Play Ball!" What's the big deal, right? Nothing aside from the fact that Max is afraid, and by afraid I mean absolutely terrified, of fireworks. With every "BANG" and "BOOM" his hysterics reached new heights. Luckily I sent him on a hunt with Daddy to find a snack (who knew they had Auntie Annies at Safeco...Max's favorite snack), a drink and something funny to photograph which distracted him from the biggest blast at the end. Once the game started he warmed up to it quite a bit though. Gus did great. He just chilled on whoever's lap he happened to be on, taking in the sights. By the 4th inning the temperature had dropped at least 10-degrees and our kids were freezing so we bailed. We stepped outside the stadium just as it began to snow and it proceeded to dump on us right until we got to our car. Nice. All-in-all, not our most successful trip to the ballpark.



Our mellow fellow

Chillin' with Papa

A much more calm Max--thank you, Auntie Annes!

This is one tired kiddo.

Mark Celebrates 30 by Acting 17

Okay, that's not really true, but I do find it funny that his 30th birthday party was a video game party. But I have to say, it was SO much fun. We had around 30 people here playing Rock Band and it was hilarious. I was impressed that pretty much everyone gave it a go. I even rocked some guitar and vocals. Such a good party game. I realized I took maybe 4 photos, none of which show Mark. Oops. I did get a shot of the pacman cake I made, which was a big hit. A great night, truly. It's hard to believe Mark and I met when we were 18 and now here we are starting our 30s with our two amazing boys. We are so blessed.