I love a St. Patrick's Day parade!

Brace yourselves.  This is going to be a photo bonanza.  It's super hard to pick photos for my blog when we actually DO something with the kids.  We actually LEFT the house this past weekend.  A couple times!!  We also had good friends up from Indy and their sweet baby boy, Alexander. 

 I have to say that the kids were super cute together, and Fletcher shared his toys like a champ.  Alex is 3 weeks younger than Rowan, so it was fun to see them playing together.  Kind of together. 

We did a lot of playing at home, and Alex is just so chill.  He is super happy to just hang out and play, and I have to say he is a character.  He talks and babbles a LOT and is pretty darn cute, to boot!  On Saturday, our town had their St. Patty's Day festivities.  We got on all our greenery:

There's always a parade, and then the local bars have music and general merriment.  We had to skip out on the bars.  Thanks a lot, kids!  But that's ok, cause we prepared earlier that morning with Irish coffees and bloody mary's.  What?  We WALKED!!  We did indeed walk downtown to the parade, and man, oh man it was cooooollllddd.  But we bundled up and braved the elements like the brave little troopers we happen to be.  Plus the Irish coffee in our cups helped.  Shhh, don't tell those police men we saw in the parade.  Of course our town's police have much more pressing issues than our spiked coffee.

 {These people look like super cool awesome parade watchers, no?  I edited out the strollers.}

{This is the back view of my husband's kilt.  Uh, one of them.  He has quite the collection!} 

{This is what the dog did on my foot after the firing squad shot their guns.  Ugh.}





CANDY!!!!

 What fun! I would post more pictures of the parade, but seriously, why would you want to see that when you could see more of US?

{See?  Way better than another picture of a firetruck.}

friday facts: we love company!

Almost as much as this register, in fact.

{Rowan and her future husband, Alex}

You Capture: body parts

Now you know the mystery of why I have been posting pictures of my half-nude husband holding our naked baby on my blog and facebook.  Now you can stop thinking, "Awkward..." cause it's the weekly photo challenge, okey-dokey?  Lucky for you there was a stipulation to "keep it clean."  Warning for sensitive viewers: baby butt ahead.

{cute cellulite.  it exists.}



{pudgy paws}

{arm and belly.  and proof of papa's past poor choices}

{ok, so this one is a whole lotta parts, and not perfect, but way too sweet for me to exclude}

p.s. Don't you just love how You Capture was such a pawn in the habitual over-sharing of my baby this week?  Thank you, You Capture.

the weekend warriors (yes, that's sarcasm)

Oh, why do you go by so fast, my dear, dear weekends?  I love you so much, and yet you only stay so briefly and then sneak out sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning like a scorned walk of shamer.  But I forgive you if it means you'll come back to me later this week.  I know I'm being melodramatic, but you have no idea how fast a weekend can speed by when you're busy doing the things that you were not able to do because you are taking care of kids.  Ok, so most of you probably do, but still. 

We did nothing exciting, but still had a great weekend.  I got to go shopping on Saturday!!  By myself!!  I bought art supplies from Hobby Lobby and Dick Blick!!  I love D.B.  It is so arty and fun.  And everyone is very punk/trendy in there or OLD.  Yes, friends, I was the lone 30something mom in there.  Wearing sensible shoes and all.  Well, I guess the OLD were wearing sensible shoes, too, now that I think about it.  Anyway, exciting projects to come, stay tuned!

When I got home, I found these photos on my camera:

Pretty cute, huh?  What's cookin'?  Our kid, apparently.  Actually, what's cookin' is Papa!  Brian whipped up a vat of his fabulous chili for a cook-off at work and won FIRST PLACE!  Congratulations to Brian!  It was pretty tasty and I'm not surprised he won.  This was not his first chili rodeo, and he's won before.

After stewing the toddler, we went onto some spring cleaning.  I know, very exciting. 

Fletcher made sure Papa was clean, too.  Rowan also had a big weekend, she learned to climb the stairs and give me mini-strokes in the process.  Sooo, she was thwarted by a new baby gate, much to her utter dismay.  Don't fence me in, not even for my own safety, damn it!!!  She also started pointing:

And made good use of her four teeth by eating her first serving (or two!) of lasagna.  Like Garfield, this girl is.  (um, didn't mean to sound like Yoda there, but whatever, I'll leave it)

We had a great dinner with new friends last night, and are looking forward to getting together with them again!  And now it's Monday.  Oh, Monday I dislike you very much.  But without you, I guess I'd never appreciate my beloved weekends.

p.s. Fletcher told his first joke over the weekend. It went something like this:
Fletcher: Mama, I want to tell you a joke!
Me: Ok, what's the joke?
Fletcher: (with furrowed brow) Joke.
Me: Uh, what's the joke?
Fletcher: Jokey-joke!!
Hey, we can't all be Chris Rock.

friday facts: this is not my dream job.

When I had my son almost 3 years ago, I assumed I would go back to work.  I had a mom that had worked, and it was what I KNEW.  I think that makes a difference when women decide what they themselves want to do.  I wasn't particularly in love with my job.  It was a job.  I liked the people I worked with, and I liked waking up and having a sense of purpose, of structure. 

But.  When we did the math, we figured that once we put Fletcher into daycare I would be lodging slightly more than half my paycheck into that daycare.  I guess I could have found a cheaper place, but is that really a time to bargain hunt?  Probably not.  My mom came and watched my newborn for a month after every last millisecond of my maternity leave ran out.  But at the end of the month, we had nowhere to put my little baby boy.  And when I looked down at him I realized, jeez, he is sooo very little.  He will never be this little again.  And so I agreed to what my husband wanted the whole time- for me to stay at home and watch our son. 

I did not ride off into the sunset with my baby.  I struggled with staying at home.  Alone.  With just a 3 month old to talk to.  We watched our savings account dwindle to nothing and I felt anxious knowing I'd have to start from scratch again finding a job to help us support our family.  I did find some free lance work that kept us afloat a little bitty bit.  But my husband and I were facing down the fact that I would have to get a real job.  And I had no idea what it would be like trying to find a job in a super bad economy with a scatter-shot-military-wife resume.  Then I got pregnant.  And then, miraculously, my husband found a job getting back into the military that would put us back where we were when I was working full time.  And then some.  Sigh of relief, right?

Well... being a stay at home mom is not my dream job.  Maybe I'm a crappy mom for admitting this, but this is HAAARRRDD.  They are these tiny little vessels of neediness that practically never let me read that book I want to read, to watch that show I want to watch, to cook that meal I want to cook, to sit down with that cup of coffee before it is stone cold.  And they are always needy.  They are always needing food, a diaper change, entertainment, or consoling.  They wake up in the middle of the night squalling for food or love or to sleep in mama's bed.  I don't sleep well, I don't eat right, some days I don't shower, and I have to sneak time to read or to write my blog.  This is my heart being honest about my life.  I would really really like to read that book.  I would really really like to watch that show.  I'd like to cook something more impressive than vegetable soup.  I love coffee.  And I love it HOT. 

But.  While that is my heart being honest, I also know I could not go back to work while these babies are still, well, babies.  They are so small.  They are so pure and unsullied by everything.  When we play with other kids and someone pushes Fletcher, he has this look of utter shock that something like that could ever happen to him.  I love that.  I want to hold onto that for as long as possible.  My priorities have shifted so far from where they used to reside, I sometimes don't recognize myself.  I am trying.  Every day I am trying to be something that I still fall short of, but I am trying.  And I pray more now than ever before.  Nothing about this comes easy.  I love my kids, but they are hard work.  I've had to work hard at everything, from breastfeeding to bedtimes.  I sometimes have to remind myself of the fact that they are just little people that really only need love from me.  That is all they are really asking for from me (besides food and diaper changes).  Who but me can do this for them?  It would cause me anguish to leave that job to anyone but me.  And although it's not my dream job, it is my honor to stay home and watch these littles grow.  I'm not even sure what my dream job is anymore.  Maybe I'll find out sometime.  But for now I'm too busy taking out my trash and building on my treasure.

{meeting Fletcher}

You Capture: Technology

This week's You Capture is technology.  This was a little challenging.  I really didn't think I could get anything attractive or aesthetically pleasing enough.  Plus there was the whole problem of how the hell do I include my children in these pictures??  Because let's face it, that is how I photo-roll.  Don't get me wrong, I love technology.  I am addicted to my computer, my phone, my tv, my car, my washing machine, my microwave.  I could go on for days.  I could write odes to the technology in my life.  I like to read Little House on the Prairie and laugh and laugh at those poor fools without any electricity.  Poor, poor fools.  Buuut, can't think of any technology that I'd like to actually photograph.  So I wandered aimlessly around my house for a while and tada!!  Found a couple.  Bonus points to me for finding something that included at least one of my children.

{yes, those pretty lights would be Rowan saying come get me already, mom!}

Bonus picture:



Fletcher adores technology.  He loves anything with buttons, beeps, and lights.  Including this little batman computer.  It is loud and talks in a nice boomy-batman voice that he likes.  He pressed the letter "I" while I was taking his picture, which makes the computer say "I.  I is for ice cream."  Which makes Fletcher say, "Oooo, I love ice cream."  This is my son, no doubt.