New camera pictures at the park

SAHM Syndrome

One of my favorite bloggers posted this today and I totally relate so I thought I'd share it with you.

She talks about feeling like she was once a somebody when she worked outside the home and learning to see being a stay-at-home mom the same way. (my paraphrase - I hope I didn't change her thoughts on that!)

I couldn't agree more! I sometimes feel like a nobody being a SAHM. Although I don't like to work so I love being at home! My struggle is with the survival attitude (SAHM Syndrome), going about my day just trying to make it though and not really taking advantage of the time that I have with my boys. In my head I know that there's no better place to be than at home raising them, but in my heart I feel like a snot, spit, cheerio covered toddler keeper who doesn't have a real purpose. 

That couldn't be further from the truth and I'm learning to set goals. I've been forcing myself to focus on where I'd like our family to be in the future, what type 

of family I'd like us to be and that helps me in the little daily things to keep my perspective as to why I do what I do. When I remind myself that I want my boys to being loving I'm able to deal with them more lovingly rather than get frustrated and annoyed at their whining or fighting (not that my boys ever do those things!! It's just an example!)

I've been thinking about writing out my goals and putting them up somewhere so I can see them constantly and not forget that how I live and treat my boys now will, to a great degree, determine what type of fathers, brothers, sons and husbands they will be someday. (total run-on! sorry!)

(this picture is from July, but I don't think I've posted it yet and I just love how Sammy is holding onto Caleb and kissing him!)

I present to you....

... the little boy who melts my heart!

Can you guess what all of these things have in common?

I assure you they do have something in common. Give me your guess and the winner will get a prize! =)

In case you can't quite see them here's what you've got:

Infant's sock

Mascara

Coaster

Nail polish remover

Children's Tylenol

Hand lotion

Foam tiger visor

**The 3 yr old's legs in the background are not included!**

Happy guessing! I'm off to decide on a fabulous prize....

++++++

Please kindly take a seat and then scroll down since I've posted an unprecedented 3 posts today! And you can thank the very large cup of iced coffee I just drank after being off caffeine for 2 weeks for that! Good night and may God grant me a few undeserved hours of sleep after that little bit of foolishness on my part!

Finally back to uneventful naps!

For those of you who have waited on the edge of your seats I apologize for delaying in sharing the good report on Caleb's nap activities. I went in to get him Saturday from his nap and he was standing there sweet as can be waiting for me to come. When he saw me he did the sign for "eat" to tell me he was hungry. Such a smart, sweet little man! Allow me to brag for a minute. Caleb knows 7 signs (eat, drink, more, please, thank you, all done, and work). I think he's pretty cool! =)

Here he is signing "eat":

What am I going to find tomorrow when I get him from his nap?!

This kid is out of control! He's so quiet and laid-back that everyone thinks he's an innocent little angel. Well, I did too until this (and yesterday's nap!)....

(sorry about the weird angle, but I was trying to be sure he'd be decent)

Please tell me that his diaper fell off and not that he took it off!

Caleb, your Mommy loves you very much, but she will use duct tape!

Good News/Bad News

The Good News:

I had just emptied out my bag

The Bad News:

I left a lipstick in there

The Good News:

It was almost gone (one of those that you hang on to trying to scrape enough out since they discontinued the color and you're forever bitter about it!)

The Bad News:

It didn't have a lid (since the same someone who found it during n

aptime pulled it out of my bag at our last trip to Walmart and procee

ded to fling the lid under a shelf where Mommy had no hope of retrieving it!!!)

This'll make you smile!

DISCLAIMER: Please forgive the lack of clothes!=

We picked blueberries till we were blue in the face...

...not really. We actually picked less than $3 worth since we saw that the already boxed up ones were only $1.50/lb and the pick-your-own were $1.80. Seems so backwards! If it weren't for the boys we would have just bought the boxed ones and called it a day, but we had a good time picking.

We rode on the wagon out to the fields. Caleb was really sweet (what else is new?!) and waited patiently for a taste. Grandmom showed him how to pick them himself and before we knew it he was picking and eating almost as fast as his brother! By the end he was grabbing them off the bushes as we pushed his stroller along the aisles!

Sammy was really funny. I noticed he was eating a lot so I asked him how many he had in his basket. He looked in and then looked back up at me and said "oops!" His basket was empty after about 15 minutes of picking! It's so true that if they were smart they'd weigh the little ones before and after to make more money!

YUM!!

He and I have very different ideas of what saving for winter means!! =)

picking...

...eating...

...grinning because his basket is nearly empty!

Walking back to the wagon (to buy the pre-boxed blueberries!!)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Fruity Fun

About half what we ended up with

This wasn't posed or anything! ;)

Look at that sweet boy!

Today we went to pick strawberries and cherries with Grandmom, Aunt Sarah and "my cousin baby Josie" (as Sammy calls her). You'll notice that there are no pictures of picking strawberries. That could be because Caleb was a crab and Josie wasn't thrilled with the carrier so Grandmom put the two of them in the corner which left Sarah, Sammy and I to pick strawberries. Well, actually it mostly left Sarah since Sammy was running up and down the aisles and I had to stop quite frequently to make sure he wasn't getting too far. Sorry, Sar! It was pretty hot and we didn't get a ton of strawberries, but the fun was to come!

Next we went around to the other side of the farm and picked cherries. I love to pick cherries! It's so fun! We picked from just one tree and ended up with TONS of cherries. We parked the two strollers under the tree in the shade and had a blast picking bunches and bunches of beautiful, delicious cherries. Someone (who will remain unnamed) even climbed the tree to pick. The kids were great and we came home with more cherries than I knew what to do with!

Happy Birthday, baby boy!!!

Our little Caleb had his first birthday yesterday! I can't believe it's been a year since this handsome, sweet, gentle little boy came into our lives! Caleb is the most laid back baby I've ever seen! He loves to cuddle, suck his thumb and play with his hair (or that of whomever is holding him...unless their name is Pop-pop in which case there's none to play with!), he is super serious and quiet around strangers, but lights up around those he knows, he calls everyone dada, he is FINALLY crawling and pulling himself up (so we're in search of a different nickname since "the lump" is now inadequate), he loves to see and play with his brother, he seems to live for bedtime when he can entertain everyone by standing in his crib and letting go so he falls down. He's an absolute joy! We are overwhelmingly thankful for how God protected him when I was burned! To give birth to him and find that he was absolutely perfect and unharmed by such a terrible situation and now to see him a year later we are completely in awe of God's protection and grace!
We love you so much, sweet Caleb baby!! Happy 1st birthday!!
*I planned on adding pictures to make this post all sappy as is my duty as a mom, but my SD card is being difficult so I'll try tomorrow after sleep restores my 3 braincells!

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!

This just in... Ladies and Gentlemen, you may want to put on your seatbelts for this one... Yes, you heard it first here. Pigs flew... ...and Caleb crawled!!! We go now to the nursery for a video for you skeptics!

The past few weeks

Ok, I promised details of some of the things we did these past few weeks so here's my feeble attempt.

Sammy had his 3rd birthday on Monday while his grandparents were visiting. I do feel a little guilty that I didn't blog on his birthday, but things were nuts here! We had a nice day together.
He opened some gifts in the morning.


We went to the zoo which is easily Sammy's favorite place to go!


Yeah, he's brushing the goat's butt! Whatever!


Just look at this sweet little bundled boy!


We went to Pat's for cheesesteaks for lunch (passed the Rocky statue on the way and had to take a pic for my father-in-law who thinks it's just the coolest thing!)


We went to dinner together and just had a really nice day.

His party wasn't until Saturday and he was so excited! We had family and a few friends over and Sammy had a great time!


This was Sammy's big gift. We had it waiting in the basement for several weeks and he was beside himself he was so excited to set it up! Once it was ready he got in and jumped for nearly 2 straight hours!!


Sammy asked for a Boz cake for months before his birthday. He wanted a "Boz cake with Mickey Mouse candles" (we got one because it was insanely expensive to get more than one!). He decided he liked the Mickey Mouse plates and things so it became a Mickey Mouse party, but with a Boz cake. I must say that it was SOOO much work to make that cake that during the 2.5 hours it took to decorate it I got him the say that next year we can get a Friendly's ice cream cake!!


Opening gifts with one of his friends


Caleb picked a doozy of a weekend to get his (and our) first ear infection! We had my parents over for dinner Thursday night, a house full of friends over Friday night, Sammy's party on Saturday and Caleb's dedication at church on Sunday. He was feeling much better though by Sunday so it was a really nice day.

He squawked a few times when he saw Grandmom up front taking pictures. He gets so excited when he sees her! =) So cute!


Overall we had a busy, but great weekend. Caleb's dedication was another time for me to get all emotional and grateful for all that God has blessed me with. I can't begin to tell how blessed I am to have such a wonderful and loving husband, two sweet beautiful boys and so many extended family and friends who love and care for us! God has been so amazingly good to us! I was also reminded of all we went through during my pregnancy with Caleb and thank the Lord for His protection and healing and for a happy and perfectly healthy little boy who is an absolute joy!