Evan's Birthday Party

Evan's first birthday party was Saturday. Just like Cooper on his first birthday, she got her very own birthday cake, and the rest of us shared one. After a bath, she opened presents. Evan got a lot of good loot: clothes, a see and say, some books, and a four wheeler. I didn't expect her to catch on so quickly to the four wheeler, but in no time, she found the button and was off! Thanks to our families for making her first birthday so special. We'll party again in a couple of weeks for Cooper's third birthday!

Evan is ONE

Evan is celebrating her first birthday today. I am both delighted and heartbroken. Delighted because I am enjoying seeing her grow and change every single day. I am heartbroken because my baby is changing every day and she's no longer a baby.

I knew I was pregnant with Evan long before a pregnancy test told me I was. I don't remember the exact number of tests I took before I got a positive result, but I think it was close to ten. Cooper was 14 months old at the time. I know my family thought we were crazy to have our kids so close together, but I wanted for my kids something that I never had - a sibling close to my age. My brother and sister are 7 and 11 years older than me. There's a similar age difference between Blake and his brother and sister.

I gave Blake a high five when we did Evan's ultrasound and found out we were having a girl. It took some convincing to get Blake to name her Evan, but after a while, it just sounded right. Now, I couldn't imagine another name.

I had a c-section, and when she was delivered, she came out screaming and grabbed the suction tube. She was so beautiful, so much hair, so bright-eyed and alert. I am excited to see how beautiful she will grow to be on the inside and the kind of person she will become. Who will she be friends with? Where will she go to college? What will be her hobbies? Who will she marry?

My wish for my baby girl on her birthday - a long, happy life. That's all any of us can wish for.

Ode to Oxy Clean

If you have kids, you know about Oxy Clean. If you don't have kids, but perhaps have a dirty old man, you know about Oxy Clean. Generally speaking, if you do laundry, you know about Oxy Clean. But on the off chance you haven't heard of it, here is my ode to this wonderful product.

I am not a salesperson, but I would go on TV with my fat ass and everything and talk about how great Oxy Clean is. It takes out grass stain, blood, and mystery goo from Coop's and Evan's clothes. About the only thing it hasn't been effective on so far is paint, but it did make it less noticeable.

I go through a 64 ounce refill bottle for stain pre-treating every couple of weeks, and I use a scoop of the powder in every load. Love love love the stuff.

Not sure why I spend so much time trying to get stains out of my kids clothes - most of their clothes come from Target. But, by golly, I want them to have a neat appearance! Even if they are just going to the babysitter!

OMG. Has my life really come to this? Have I really just spent the last five minutes writing about a laundry product? Again I say, OMG.

Not So Good Thing

Cooper just peed in his underwear. He lasted all of what, 5 minutes? Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow.

Good Things

Some good things have happened for us since Friday.

Cooper's Good News: We went to Cooper's allergy doctor on Friday, and guess what! Coop has outgrown his wheat allergy! Yeah! Do you know how many foods have wheat in them? What a nightmare. So glad he can finally have bread, noodles, crackers - you get the idea.

Evan's Good News: We have a serious toddler on our hands. Over the weekend, Evan started walking, and hasn't slowed down since. She walks with a wide stance, tiny steps, her hands in the air, and a smile on her face. We may be in trouble, though - she is so fast for only getting the hang of it a couple of days ago!

One more good thing before I go... Cooper just came in with underwear on, and he was excited about it! Pooping and peeing on the potty has been a tough thing for Cooper to get interest in - who has time to stop to go to the bathroom when you are as busy as he is? Really, when you look at it from a 2 year old's perspective, it makes sense to poop and pee in your pants.

Evan comes off the baby formula next week, so if we got to be done with Cooper's pull ups and Evan's formula in one week, it would feel like we got a major raise (which Blake and I did, btw, and a bonus too - that's more good news)!

Reconnecting

Blogging and Facebook are two totally indulgent outlets for me. Not that I don't LOVE my life, but sometimes it is nice to express myself and to do somthing that doesn't involve wiping butts, doing laundry, washing bottles or breaking up fights between Coop and Evan.

The greatest result of blogging is not necessarily what I thought it would be. I started a blog so I could document everything that happens with my family so my kids can see one day what we were doing when they were growing up. Obviously, this blog will have value in that way. But what is so great is that I have reconnected with old friends. Friends I haven't talked to in years. Friends that I have never forgotten and often thought about, but had totally lost touch with. Friends that I conspired with, partied with, laughed and cried with in college.

Kay and Betsi, I look forward to reading your blogs and catching up on what's happening in your lives. I love checking for comments on our blogs! I am so glad that I have reconnected with the two of you. You may never know how much value reconnecting has for me. I've been up here in the sticks for so long that I had almost forgotten what it was like to have friends with similar backgrounds, interests and experiences.

Frogs in a Jar

Look very closely. Coop captured dozens of frogs tonight and put them in a jar. He had so much fun and was so proud of himself. Evan watched from the (still dirty) window. Then she cooled off over the air conditioning vent.

Wish I Were In Bed Right Now

Evan took about a half hour nap from 9:00 to 9:30, so I am screwed until about midnight. So, thought this situation called for another blog post. Two posts in one day. Somebody stop me, I am out of control.

Some random thoughts and pictures...

I still haven't washed the window on the front door.

I am so mad at Google AdSense. Is my blog not good enough? My application has been in review for what now, like forever?

Why are children so fascinated with remote controls? A few hundred dollars in toys litters the living room floor, and Evan wants to play with the remote.














I love, love, love wet slobbery kisses from my children!














Finally, a picture of Cooper smiling! Is it bad that he is smiling because he just picked up a rock an threw it in to the crowd at the baseball game?

Funny Things Cooper Said Last Week

Blake saw a skunk in the yard and teased Cooper, "That skunk probably pooped in your sandbox." Cooper said, "I'll have to shoot that damn skunk."

Blake was changing Cooper's dirty diaper and Cooper asked what was wrong. Blake said nothing was wrong, that it was just a poopy diaper. Cooper said, "I must have ate too much." Then he pointed at his butt and said, "Bad butt!"

I have to assume that Cooper gets his imagination and expansive vocabulary from all the books he reads (see pic below). I just can't imagine that he gets this stuff from me or Blake! :)

Who Has Time to Wash Windows?

Seriously, who has the time to wash windows? Obviously not me. In all honesty, I didn't realize that the glass on the front door was quite this filthy. Evan and Rupert were watching Blake and Cooper in the front yard, and I thought it would make a cute picture. The dirty window shows up waaaaay more in the picture than it does in real life. Promise.

It's important to mention that Blake dressed Evan here. I would never put my kid in polka dots and floral. Anyway, you may be asking, "How did it get so dirty?" Well, the pics below might be a clue...

I did capture a pretty good pic of my gorgeous family before we went inside. I love these three people so much!

I'm a Professional

Look what I made! Evan and Cooper's birthday party invitations! I'm a professional, right?





The things you can do with Photoshop Elements, a new camera and some downloaded fonts (from fontspace.com). All I have to do now is take these to Wal-Mart, print them out, stick them in the mail, and viola, instant party invites. How cool am I?

Another Ear Infection

Evan's on her third ear infection. At the doc today, she said to tell the pediatrician at Evan's one year check-up and we'll probably be referred to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist. I hate that she's having ear infections, and if tubes or something else will prevent them, I am all for it. ENT, here we come.

Stupid Lightning

Yep, we got struck by lightning. Nope, I don't think we did anything bad (it was just nature, I hope).

I feel very fortunate that our house didn't burn down.

Here's what happened:

Big loud crash and flash of light. I am making the bed and both Coop and Evan are hanging out waiting for me to finish so they can mess it all up. I scream and drop to the floor, covering my head with a pillow.

I left my two beautiful, sweet, defenseless children standing there, staring at their mother who was scared shitless and didn't do a damn thing to protect them!

Evan stuck out her bottom lip and I thought she would cry, but she didn't. Coop got this "what the hell was that" look on his face, and then smiled. I guess he was smiling at his crazy mother. Blake was standing by the window and saw it hit. I don't know if he screamed or not. He would never admit it and I couldn't have heard over my own scream.

It hit the ancient TV antenna behind the garage. Blake had just wired it to the stereo in the garage so he could drink beer out there this summer and pick up the radio stations from both Des Moines and KC. (Remember, we live in the sticks. Out here, all you get are country radio stations. Sometimes we need a little rock and roll.)

No worries now, not only is there no longer a stereo, the lightning also zapped all three TV's, one DVD player, both garage door openers, the hot water heater, the telephones and answering machine, the modem/wireless router, my under cabinet lights in the kitchen, and we're still finding other things that it screwed up.

The guy from the phone company came out on Monday to fix the phone lines and the modem and he said the line was burnt in two in two places. There was also a black mark along the rafters in the basement where it burned. Like I said, I feel very fortunate that our house didn't burn down.

I had to make a quick run to Wal-Mart. Do you know what its like to have a 2 year old and no TV? Drama. Cooper did not understand why he couldn't watch Scooby Doo. (BTW, I didn't miss Scooby Doo a bit.)

So, we have two new flat screen TV's, one more to go. Also have a new water heater. Going to get the other TV, the DVD player, and the garage door openers this weekend.

Stuff can be replaced. Glad we have insurance. Most of all, glad my house is still intact and my family is safe.

Addicted

Is it wrong that I love an inanimate object? Is it wrong that I sound totally eighties when I say, "My new camera is the bomb!"? I love this camera! Take a look at the pictues below to see why...











Could there be two more beautiful children in the world to photograph?

I Got One!

My husband loves me! Of course, I knew this already, but today, he totally surprised me and got me a new digital SLR camera! Considering Blake hates to spend money, I never figured he would get me one. I had been dropping hints left and right, but that's never done me any good before!

He says it was an anniversary present. Not sure I have been that great of a wife - better step it up a notch! I don't have an anniversary gift for him. Uh oh.

A couple pics I took tonight with my new camera. I definitely need to take a class or something. Not sure I know how to operate the damn thing.