mama's boy...

    
LL is not totally a "mama's boy" per say, but I certainly was soaking up the time I had with my little boy this weekend. He loved the Thomas Live show. We took one of his best friends (whose mama happens to be one of mine -- huge bonus!) and we made an adventure out of it. LL has been to Philadelphia many times (we live right outside the city limits) and loves pointing out all the huge buildings. He kept saying, "we are in the city", "look at the city"... way too cute.

Just holding his hand through the parking lot, hearing his excitement as we approached the venue and of course having him sit on my lap through the entire show was melting my heart. His little voice and all our little conversations mean the world to me. I knew his world was rocked after little l's birth and I seek out ways to always connect with him. Even though, we hit a rough part right after her birth, we are at such a wonderful place now. We figured out the right discipline for LL and where our days were filled with time-outs and tantrums, they are now filled with laughs and tiny adventures. Hearing he is a good boy and great example for other children is wonderful. He is my special little man and some times I can't believe the Lord loves me so much he gave me grace and the gift of my children.

Unfortunately, the birthday party was canceled and LL was certainly bummed. However, he did "guy things" with his daddy (home depot) after church and then went with me to my mom's (Gigi) for dinner.

Adding to my joy, my alone time with LL continued through today -- he had his checkout with the specialist (all went so well -- more on that later) and had a yummy lunch with just mama!

I love this boy...

Do you see this??  60 degrees but I have the bun warmers and heat on!  Its so rainy.   I have been chilled to the bone!

But I had an awesome lunch date at the California Pizza Kitchen...

Ah, the weekend is almost here and we are going to have a fun filled one!   Loving that Double L and I will have some special time alone as well.   Thomas Live and a friend's fun birthday party!  Little L will have some bonding time with her daddy where I am sure he will have her practice "dada" as she has perfected "mama!"

Wanted to leave you with some great posts that I read this week...

Beautiful story of redemption and the Lord's pure grace -- (in) courage

The Nester makes Ikea look good -- I have a few Ikea pieces and always overlook their potential!  I will be reevaluating them.

Nap Transitioning over at Clover Lane -- Was so there a couple months ago, but she is a pro and will get through it smoothly!

Jo-Lynne's honest and well written admission about blogging -- love her. enough said!

Enjoy your weekend!

Thomas Live

We are so excited for this weekend. We will be attending the Thomas Live show! Double L is so excited and truly loves Thomas. He is trying to figure out which Thomas shirt to wear. I mean, how cute is that. I am excited to see my favorite character, Percy! I mean, Percy is Thomas' best friend, so I am counting on him being in attendance.

So, if you are in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area -- Tickets are still available!!!

Winner for the Thomas live giveaway has been
notified...

p.s. you cannot tell but mr. fancy face is sporting his Thomas 'jammas in the picture. I am sure they will be requested every night this week :-)

You Capture -- MY "Ls"

So I have never participated in Beth's 'You Capture' because lets face it, I am no photographer!!  But when I saw Bacardi Mama's (love her!) post, I knew this week's challenge was for me!!!  THE LETTER "L"!!

I grabbed my camera and snapped shots of my "Ls"  Double L and Little L = my heart, my love!

Not the best photos, but the best babes around!!!

If bub was here I would have snapped one of him too...   And Claire was too busy barking at the cats outside!

someone loves yogurt...

...love the mini goatee

my stationary girl!

I try not to compare, I really do, but this little stationary girl leaves me no choice some times.   Double L was rolling over by 4 months, belly sleeping at 5 months, crawling backwards at 6 months, forward by 9 months, standing by 11 months, etc...  Granted he was a late walker, mostly due to his speed at crawling and oh well, he was a big boy.

Then there is our little 9 month old princess...

She is perfectly content sitting and playing, but hanging out on her belly usually results in some fuss!  Today, she was content as long as her big brother, Claire and I were right by her side.   Surprisingly, she even shimmied herself backwards (under the chair of course!).  But she will NOT roll over.   Either on her back or belly.  She sleeps on her back and never even rolls to one side.   Thankfully, she has started sleeping with her head rolled to one side and her little bald spot has filled in.   To note: she has rolled over, so I know she physically can!

So, I need to know...

• When did you little ones roll over?
• Any advice to motivate our little stationary girl... 
• Am I just being silly, because we all know what happens once they are on the move (rolling and crawling...)?

Generation Happy

Exciting news friends!  I have taken the Generation Happy Pledge.  I pledge to raise my little "movers and shakers" to understand and make health-concious decisions when it comes to eating and living.   Check it out for yourself and see if you are up for taking the pledge.


I started feeding little l HappyBaby Foods right from solid foods:Day1.  And plan on continuing well into her toddler years.   I always wanted to, but never did get around to making homemade baby food when double l was an infant.   I had one good organic choice for him in way of baby food and was content at the time.   Fast forward to little l turning 6 months old and ready for first fruits and veggies.   With all good intentions of making her homemade baby food, I fell short of the goal (once again).  Much to my surprise, I found several choices and fell in love with HappyBaby!  Their variety is terrific and their packaging make my life on the go so much easier.  Most of all, I am impressed with their  goal/mission/promise to their customers.  Besides making delicious, healthy baby & toddler foods, they honestly feel they are socially responsible for doing so and providing the health information needed, so parents can make these important and intentional decisions for their children.   


HappyBaby is sponsoring a wonderful video contest where the video with the most votes wins a $10,000 college scholarship!   So if you think your baby is the "happiest baby", check out the contest and enter.  


Little L and I have been practicing with the yogurt melts!

let the truth be told...

I fancy myself a clean and organized person. I often sometimes stress over keeping a tidy, organized house. I am loving the new book I have started -- Organized Simplicity!  But honestly, as of late, our home is a MESS!  After reading the Nester's post (BTW, LOVE HER BLOG!), picked up my phone and ran around the house taking pictures.   So sorry for the graining iphone photos, but I was on a mission.   My mission -- proving to myself I have been rather happy, not stressed, living in this mess for the last couple weeks.   My home is clean, its just not that tidy!  Now, don't be fooled, I am not that comfortable with it.   We have friends visiting throughout the weekend, so I am sure I will be running around tidying up.  But I wanted to capture a time when I was fine with a mess (HA!)


**Dining room - To clarify its not the laundry room, not the office, not the mailbox.   The place we eat our meals, gather as a family!  Um, yeah -- apparently the baby's clean bedding (accompanied by my date night dress) found its way from the basement laundry to the chair and just stopped in it's tracks.  It must love the PLASTIC table cloth (YUCK)....

***As soon as I walk through our entry way, here is the foyer!  I love this Beatrice chair from Anthropologie.  I begged my husband to try and win it in the employee sample auction.  Never did I want Beatrice to be a dumping ground.  Poor gal!  Oh and remember my pet peeve -- shoes left around! My bub will get a kick out of this picture...

***The actual office.   A.K.A. The junk drawer! Ah, look the cute pottery barn phone that hasn't found a new home and the valentine's ribbon made it all the way up to the 3rd floor, but stopped short of its storage container.  Ah and the ever messy desk, with oh look my scrapbook box!  Still working on LL's first year -- now that's just comical.

Now this I find very funny -- here you will find my hamper with the dirty dog blanket and a random towel next to it.  Not in it, next to it.   Not sure what happened here!  Oh and the perfect stop for dry cleaning -- the mirror.   Please tell me you do that too???

So there you have it!  I am a mess.  And hysterically, I stopped mid post to grab little l from her nap and mop the kitchen/bathroom floors.   These pictures made me CLEAN!

Do you live in a "well lived in" home?  Or are you nice and tidy?  come clean...

my love bug...

Ah, she is growing so fast, but still my little sweet baby!

To my dad:

Dad,

22 years ago today, you went home and my world changed completely.   You were escorted through the gates by angels where you surrendered yourself to our Lord for the last time.   Because there, you will forever be together.   And I wept, said good-bye over and over again, and then went into a bit of denial for awhile.   But every step of the way, I missed you, loved you and have always remembered you.   I know you would be proud of me not because I think I am worthy, but because you loved me unconditionally and always told me how much you cherished me and how beautiful I was.  I can still hear you singing Joe Cooker and of course adding your own lyrics.   You taught me how to pray, how to love unconditionally, and how to have patience.   All of which I fail you.   I will try harder.  I promise.

Today has been hard.  Some years go by and only joy surrounds my thoughts of you.   But somehow today and maybe for a bit before, sadness has accompanied my memories and thoughts.   I know it will pass.   I pray it passes quickly.  Your grandchildren certainly help.   LL definitely has your eyes and they are such comfort at times.   Its like you are looking at me, which is so overwhelming special.  Little l shares your mother's name and birth date.   I love that more than most know!

I don't see you much in my dreams anymore and that's okay.   I still remember your voice and face perfectly. And I know that one day you will share that banquet table with me and we will be together again.  For now, I am sad.   Tomorrow I will smile.  I promise.

Love, Courtney

love...

As I walked downstairs this morning with two little ones in tow, I was greeted with gifts, coffee and a yummy breakfast!   Ah, I *love* Valentine's Day!  

We will be using our Mr. & Mrs. collection right away.  

Oh and I *love* my new coffee to-go mug!  

The truffles, well -- they will be gone by this evening (ha!)

Double L and I made Valentine's for his preschool class.   Delicious white chocolate lollipops!  Found the idea in the Disney Family Fun magazine (Christmas gift subscription from my sister & brother-in-law--love the magazine!)

happy valentine's day!

Attention local Philly Moms... Thomas Giveaway

I am hosting a fun Thomas & Friends Live Giveaway on mommie reviews.   Click over and enter!

dentist, norma rae, and ramblings...

Look at my little trooper...

I took double L to the dentist last week.   He is awesome.   Every time he goes to a doctor, he such a good listener and just goes with the flow.   All is well with those chompers!  Did you know the nebulizer treatments could really effect a child's teeth?  He needs to drink water after every treatment.

LL is doing great and still responding so well to the treatments.   Praying we are completely off the meds as soon as possible.

And than there is my own little Norma Rae, who has gone on strike!  Yep, she is striking from all things formula.   Now, little l has been taking formula bottles for some time now as I was breastfeeding and bottle feeding as well as mixing her oatmeal with some formula.  And everything was hunky dory until Saturday night. She refused her bottle.  She than proceeded to have a fit every time we tried to feed her one since...  Oh and formula in the oatmeal, um no thanks as well.   So I was convinced -- she has an ear infection -- she has a belly infection -- she is allergic to formula (all of the sudden)!  Ah none of the above.  She is on strike!  After meeting with her doctor today, I learned that some babies go into these phases where they are turned off of certain taste.   Well, at lunch I attempted to feed her a bottle prior to her yummy fruits and veggies.   After rocking while pinning her arm behind my back and having her close to her beloved breast, she took it.   So could it be she is striking and wants the breast back.   I completely weaned her as of last Saturday.   I don't know.   Have any of ya all been through this...  She is otherwise completely happy and carefree.   Oh and her ears, belly, lungs -- completely fine.   We did learn she is 23 pounds.  YIKES!  Clearly she does not miss meals and now you understand my complete freak out!

And for all the local Philly crowd, I am working on a fun Thomas giveaway.   I hope to have it posted soon!

Oh and I don't think we will be getting any snow this week.   As much as I don't mind the snow, I am loving the break!   Thought for  moment there we were back living in Boston!

update on double l

Boy oh boy, I have NOT missed these updates.   LL's asthma has been so under control, I honestly thought it was behind us!    Last Monday, we met with double l's asthma specialist. His lungs are not doing so well these days. The Singulair does not seem to be working anymore. Last winter was great, but this winter has been rough. Double l has this persistent cough and now his wheezing is back. So, back to the nebulizer -- twice a day to start and than once. He is using Pulmicort and we have already seen an improvement.   Last night, I prayed for God's healing hand on his little lungs. I pray he outgrows this asthma before elementary school. He is such a trooper. He sits with his nebulizer (which has a "nemo" head now! FUN!!) and does not complain. I thought it maybe tough getting him back on it, but I think he just goes with the flow. Poor babe started using the nebulizer at 6 months.   I am thankful we have never had an asthma emergency like I know so many have experienced and praise the Lord everyday.  

I covet your prayers!  We would like to have him weaned off the treatments as soon as possible.  Our follow appointment is later this month.

... as I was adding the past links for reference, I could not help but read through the old post.  Those pictures brought tears to my eyes.  LL was so little and still such a trooper with all the yuck going on in his chest.    I cannot believe how big he is.   Time just keeps flying by...