Flashback Friday: Peanut or Pumpkin?

I gave you a few hints in my previous post, but I thought it would be fun for this installment of Flashback Friday to have a game. All you have to do is guess correctly which newborn picture is Peanut and which is Pumpkin. To make it a bit more difficult, I have made converted both photos to black and white so the color quality doesn't give anything away. I would think if you have been paying attention, this might be pretty easy.

Just tell me the number of the picture and your guess. And no fair if you already know (ahem...Gemma! Unless you forget, of course!). You will -- as per usual -- receive a link to your blog and many oohs and aahs if you are correct! :)

Picture #1

Picture #2

Can't wait to see how well you know my Baby Peanut and Pumpkin!

Time March[es] On

It cannot be March already. Really?!? I really find it hard to believe in so many ways. Today we had a snow day with 9.7 inches of snow according to our local news station. It seems to me that we were just outside enjoying the fall weather and the leaves.

See?

Now, before you tell me that my photography skills have improved 100-fold since my last post, I have to confess that the following beautiful images were taken by my dear friend, Kelly. I was blessed to have roomed with Kelly in the hospital when I had Pumpkin and she had her sweet little boy, Jake. In fact, Kelly is also the one who introduced me to blogging. I followed her blog for over a year before even considering to start my own. I have to laugh looking back now because I clearly remember wondering why she didn't opt for the standard baby hospital photographer to take her newborn's picture. Someday I will have to post the newborn hospital photo I spent my hard-earned money on of Pumpkin. I felt it was an obligation to buy them; after all, I had done them for Peanut, and his were actually kind of sweet. Had I known I was rooming with this amazing photographer, I would have asked her to at least whip out her cell phone. The result would have been eons better than Pumpkin's hospital pic, I assure you.

Anyway, I have been meaning to post a few of the gorgeous photographs that Kelly took of our family around Thanksgiving. So, how did it get to be March?!? We were fortunate to be able to schedule a session in late fall with Kelly even though she and her family now lives out of state. And now that she has taken these great photos, we are all spoiled!

The boys warmed up to Kelly in no time and asked about her for many days afterwards. And I am certain we will treasure these images and her friendship for many, many years to come. After all, the fact that Kelly was the one who took these portraits just makes them that much more special to me.

You can see a few other images of my little men on her photography blog, and you have to check out her official photography site as well. It is no wonder to me that she recently won an award for her wedding photography. I have already asked her to book us for July 2022 to photograph our 25th wedding vow-renewal ceremony. I was worried she wouldn't have the date open if I waited much longer. She is just that talented!

So, while I stare at these photographs of these little boys I love so much in the leaves, it is so terribly obvious that time does, in fact, march on. Pun [always] intended. ;)

Flashback Friday: A Whale of a Tale

Some of you may recall that we have a budding artist in our mix already. You may also recall that I take no credit in this area of development since I have had years of practicing, yet I still can't master a simple Hello Kitty rendition of my own that I think is up to snuff. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Peanut also has proven to be quite the illustrator. In fact, when I looked back at some previous photos for this Flashback Friday, I found this little gem:

That is Peanut at age two and a half and his proud picture on his Thomas Aqua Doodle of a whale. I remember being so completely shocked when he told me he was going to draw a whale and then he actually drew something that resembled a whale. As any Aqua Doodler knows, those pictures dry up in a flash. Hence the picture. I had to show Daddy his amazing accomplishment!

Tonight was a similar scenario. Peanut was drawing the cover of his favorite Dr. Seuss book, and the next thing I knew, this had materialized:

What a difference three years can make! I still think that is darn impressive for an almost-six-year-old. But then again, if you asked me to draw a lion, it would probably look like a dinosaur. A dinosaur with a cute little pink bow on the side of its head, a' la Hello Kitty, of course, but a dinosaur all the same. And this, my friends, is the reason I have stacks of preschool and kindergarten artwork all over my house that I can't seem to part with. Although I know that even if Peanut had my more inferior drawing gene, I would love his artwork all the same. I might just feel the urge to put a little bow on his dinosaur, that's all. :)

And it's outta here!

Peanut lost his first tooth Friday afternoon. Apparently, the going rate for a child's first loose tooth is one gold dollar. (I'm not sure if that is always the rate or if this one was simply special because it was the first.) Peanut was very pleased that the Tooth Fairy was kind enough to allow him to keep his first lost tooth, and -- by the way -- he said she is the size of a bee and she has a son, too. No, he didn't see her, silly! A friend of his in his kindergarten class saw her. And guess what? He already has loose tooth number two!

Don't be alarmed by this post...

You have been patient waiting for my big reveal about my source of stress, girls! :)

Kristin (doesn't she have a great name, BTW?!?) made me laugh the hardest by guessing that I was making a denim skirt or pants. She obviously thinks way too highly of me. The last clothing I made was in 4-H in eighth grade. I did win some blue ribbons (and red and yellow) for my creations, though. If I recall correctly, my best ensemble was a blue terrycloth dress that I made in fifth grade. Terrycloth! Sooo early eighties.

Laura and Kathy B. had excellent guesses, too; I probably could add a patch to jeans if necessary, and I do love scrapbooking projects, even if most of them are sitting in boxes waiting for some attention in this decade.

Gemma's creative attempt #2 made me giggle as well, because frankly, who hasn't experienced some weird piece of the sole of a shoe driving you crazy?!?

But Kelly's guess and Gemma's first attempt were the closest. Yes, it is a tag! Good job, ladies! Can you hear me ooh-ing and ahh-ing? :)

But no, the tag didn't actually bother me. Well, at least I didn't realize it was bothering me. See, I got a great deal on this suede and faux fur coat last winter. And ever since, I have worn it a lot. Actually, I have worn it so much that I never even put 2 and 2 together.

Until I was putting it on the other day and noticed this tag that blended in with the coat and just happened to be right next to two other tags with the care instructions and fabric details on the left seam:

Okay...now who really looks inside a coat for a tag to be removed? But as soon as I felt it, I knew.

So that's why I am setting off alarms in all of my favorite stores!

Yup, folks, it is a sensor. And boy, did it work. Every single time I left my favorite store with all my new purchases, I made a bwamp! bwamp! bwamp! sound in addition to the red flashing lights and my look of total and complete embarrassment. In my mind, I was blaming the store for their faulty sensors and even the cashiers for possibly not removing a sensor. But I never even considered there would be a hidden sensor in my favorite coat -- one that no coat thief would ever suspect or look for. Or any honest customer who actually paid for the coat with her hard-earned money for that matter. Hmmph.

I do understand the point of the sensor and not making it obvious. But maybe the cashiers should be trained to point it out to their customers when they pay for an item with a crazy hidden beep-inducing do-hickey. I was constantly dreading the walk out of the door to my favorite stores because I might -- literally -- cause alarm. Even the cashiers said, "Oh, don't worry; our store alarms are sometimes too sensitive." No one ever mentioned my coat could be the source of my stress!

So, consider this a public service to my faithful readers. When you buy a new coat, check the inside. What you find just might be alarming!

Guess the source of stress

UPDATE: I AM going to tell you what this is soon, but no one has guessed it quite right. Any second guesses? Hint: it caused me many problems for almost a whole year!

a) What is this little do-hickey, and b) why did it cause me so many problems?

If you guess correctly, I will ooh and ahh about you all day as well as create a link to your blog in my next post. Don't have a blog? No worries. I will ooh and ahh about you on my next post instead.

So get guessing! :)

Flashback Friday: Baby's First Valentine's Day

Are there other mommies out there who have to have the holiday shirts? I love the children's shirts for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, even Fourth of July. I realize it's a sickness. Anyway, this was Peanut's very first Valentine's Day at ten months in 2004. He looks so angelic in this top picture. Ha! And I think that "Be My Valentine" heart turned inside-out into a bear. I have no idea what happened to that.

Now that looks more like the Baby Peanut I remember. He looks like he is up to something. I still adore his baby-fine blond hair. And look at those new little teeth! For those of you who read my last post, there has been no change in the status of the first loose tooth. And no change in my sadness over it. But I can't help it. After all, he stole my heart the second I knew he existed. So from my stolen heart to yours, happy hearts day!

Hope a certain fairy uses Google Maps...

Could it be the troof?!?

My first baby has a loose toof!

I hope the Tooth Fairy doesn't disappoint. She has never been to our house, and I don't know how to send her directions. But I am more upset about my Peanut growing up. Officially. This is one of those mommy milestones that make us sentimental types weepy. I checked his baby book, and this was actually the third tooth he got at nine months. Don't you dare ask me to find that information out when it is Pumpkin's turn. In fact, please don't even mention to him that I ever had the slightest idea about his big brother's teething details. That page just might be blank in Pumpkin's baby book. Anyway, Peanut was visibly disturbed that the tooth fairy would consider taking his prized tooth away. So I told him we could write her a note and ask her to please leave the tooth under his pillow. I vaguely remember writing a note like that to the Tooth Fairy at his age, too. Looking back, my parents were geniuses! Now Eric and I don't have to silently fish under a sleeping boy's pillow ever-so-delicately for a teensy weensy baby tooth in the middle of the night. Score!

But score, shmore. The fact is, I can't stop my first baby from getting older. No matter how I try.

Just please tell me I have a long time before an armpit hair makes an appearance.

My happy place

I have had a rough week filled with stress, tantrums, and tears (and don't even get me started on my boys!). Seriously, I need to transform myself sometimes and go to my "happy place." That could be anything from envisioning a relaxing moment to just taking deep breaths and evaluating how big a deal the current crisis is. As I tell Peanut, we need to decide if it's a big problem, a medium problem, or a little problem.

When I saw this Random Picture Challenge on Brittany's blog, I decided to check it out. The directions are to go to your November 2007 photo folder and choose the 44th picture. I have checked out my photo folders for her past challenges, but none of my shots were really blog-worthy. But this time? Jackpot. Lucky for me, I apparently downloaded several months of pictures back in November 2007. And here is the 44th photo:

Ahhhhhhhhh. There's my happy place.

That is Pumpkin and my wonderful dad at the beach in August 2007. I took several pictures of this in a row, and this is the only one with the kite flying in the background. I just adore this picture. Almost as much as I adore my father and my adorable son in the picture. Now that is a bonafide happy place.

Maybe I'll keep reading this post over and over again. I hear another tantrum brewing downstairs....

Flashback Friday: Pumpkin Phone Home

Like Mommy, like Pumpkin. At least on this video that was taped when my little man was just a year and a half last December. I dare someone to try to translate. :)

What a stinky post

Someone needs a stinkin' thesaurus

I'm not sure if you can read between the stinky lines here, but there is a stinky word that our stinky five and a half-year-old keeps saying that is really starting to get old and stinky. I have heard other friends laugh at this stinky stage, but it is awfully trying at times (not to mention a little stinky). However, to our older son, this stinky routine is so much stinkin' fun. Please tell me this stinky stage will be over soon before I lose my stinkin' mind after hearing ten rounds of this stinky version of "Old MacDonald":

Old MacStinky had a stinky
Stinky, stinky, stink
And on his stinky
He had a stinky
Stinky, stinky, stink
With a stink, stink here
And a stink, stink there
Here a stink
There a stink
Everywhere a stink, stink
Old MacStinky had a stinky
E-I-E-I-Stink!

Do you like my stinky silly face?!?

I became deliriously stinky tonight in the stinky car after hearing this stinky version and only added fuel to the stinkin' fire with my stinky laughter. I guess it could be stinkin' worse!

Flashback Friday: Ken and Kristin (1973)

My brother would have turned 41 yesterday, January 22nd. I added a special post to his memory blog in honor of his birthday. This is my favorite picture of us, even though it is a little out of focus and it has a hole in it where I stuck a thumbtack through it to put it on my bulletin board when I was little. It makes it even more special because it was a favorite of his, too.

Tonight he's going potty like it's 2009

Yay, Pumpkin!

We have hit a major milestone in our household. On Friday, I picked up the boys and was given some great news: Pumpkin used the potty!!! I was pretty surprised since I have not really been working on this with him. We have talked about it, and he has accompanied most of us to the bathroom on occasion, but after a rough potty training period with Peanut, my mantra was: He will use the potty when he is good and ready. Fortunately, he has been positively influenced by our wonderful daycare provider and by a little boy who just turned three and is actively learning.

So, with so much pomp and circumstance over his first pee in the potty, he did it again the next day and the next day. A few times this weekend he has told us he needed to go and he wasn't able to complete the mission, but I told him how very proud I was of him for trying. While I was reading him his nighttime books last night, in the middle of a (non-potty) story, he looked me in the eyes and said out of the blue, "Mommy, I peed in the potty!" I said, "I know, Pumpkin! I'm so proud of you!" When Pumpkin was an infant, he flapped his arms like he was imitating a bird learning to fly, and he still does this when he gets really excited; my mom said I did that, too (apparently, I have grown out of that, though, thank you very much). Anyway, every single time he talked about using the potty, he did his arm flappy thing. It makes me teary that he is so proud of himself! In fact, in the midst of going, he was yelling, "I did it! I am peeing in the potty!"

Just to keep the enthusiasm going, I have slowly pulled out my potty pack: Peanut's old favorite potty DVD called Potty Power (which I highly recommend to any other parent going through the process), another classic potty video called Once Upon a Potty and two books: Too Big for Diapers and The Potty Book for Boys. (However, I draw the line at ordering these guys.) I have decided that when he says he isn't interested, I am not going to push. He seems totally thrilled with these new books and shows right now, so I have used them as a way to reward him for doing such a good job. But he didn't expect anything even though he received a lollipop at daycare the first time he went. In fact, he hasn't asked for any sort of reward at all; he was so proud, I think that just actually doing it was enough of a thrill. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me that he will be much easier than his older brother and that this enthusiasm will not wane anytime soon.

Gotta go...it's time to potty! :)

Flashback Friday: A Bumbo and a Big Brother

My husband and I were talking tonight that even when Peanut is whiny and tired and pushes every single button we own, we are still so proud of him. He is such a good big brother to Pumpkin. I remember writing in our first Christmas letter after Pumpkin was born that nothing in the world makes our baby light up like his big brother. Probably like all moms who already have at least one child, I was so concerned about Peanut's adjustment to having a baby brother. I was so worried he would think we had betrayed him. But he loved his little brother right from the start. Even now, Peanut uses a different tone of voice when he is trying to explain something to his little brother or when he is telling him something fun they can do together. And whenever his big brother is out of the room, Pumpkin immediately wants to know where he is. They already have their own little songs and words that make them laugh until they get the hiccups. When they tell each other out of the blue that they love one another -- even right after they were fighting over Peanut's Leapster -- I can't help but stand back and smile. We are truly blessed.

I am a big dork (times 100)

Okay, so I had it all planned out. I was going to have this amazing post for my 100th POST and blow everyone's socks off. It was going to be spectacular and grand. I have seen many other blogs celebrating their 100th, 200th, and even 300th posts, and I was looking forward to it. I would have more comments on my 100th post than ever before because it was gonna be so original and fun.

Well, guess what? I am a big dork...that's what.

I forgot.

I blame it all on my overzealous love of scrapblog, by the way. That, and the Superstar Blogger MckMama fans who flocked over here without any warning on the day she linked her blog -- one that frequents thousands of hits per day -- to my modest little blog. I got so caught up with my excitement over my new header that I had to post about it right away. And that's not like me. I am a planner who overthinks and analyzes most everything. And do you know where that got me? I wrote a post about my happy new header, and I didn't think for a minute about that super duper post I was going to write next for my 100th post. You know, the one I should have gotten all those comments about.

So, then a funny thing happened. On the post that was my 100th that I didn't remember was my 100th, I got 25 comments. Which -- if you remember from this plea on my blogiversary -- is almost twice as many comments as I have ever had on any one post.

And I owe it all to my sudden spontaneity about scrapblog.

Oh, and maybe to MckMama, too. ;)

Are you getting tired of me saying "scrapblog" yet? Yeah, me neither. But I promise my next post will have pictures of my sweet boys and no mention of the above word. I guess I better work on weaning myself off of it.

Honestly, I can't believe I have written (over) 100 posts!

Thanks to my wonderful readers for reading them.