Mr. Bananas Turns 2!

Mr. Bananas "cake"
Chocolate peanut butter cupcake with a chocolate peanut butter frosting

My sweet baby turned two the day before Valentine's Day. When did he get so big? Where did the time go?  I remember praying every day that he was in my womb that he would make it to full-term after learning the possibility he might not.  God blessed us with a spunky, cheerful, loving little boy full of mischief and love.

Lola and Mr. Bananas at his birthday dinner

This year my sweet boy's birthday fell on Ash Wednesday. As Catholics, we fast on Ash Wednesday and that did not seem like a fun way to celebrate a growing boy turning two, so we celebrated the as a family the night before by going to our favorite family restaurant. We celebrated with a yummy dinner and dessert and then playing the racing arcade game.  On Ash Wednesday, we little the big guy open his presents. I woke him up by singing "Happy Birthday" and he sang "Happy You, Happy You."  His Godparents and his cousins called him to sing "Happy Birthday" to him and I wish they could have seen the giant smile on his face when they started to sing. He felt so special. Even at two, he could understand that he was special and he was loved.

The weekend before his big day, we had our dearest friends come over. It wasn't really a party, just a fun playdate with friends we do not get to see very often. I made dinner and dessert and the kids played and played. It was relaxing and a lot of fun. I wasn't originally going to do a "party" for Mr. Bananas as we had a big family party celebrating all of the winter birthdays in January.  That was his party. We had gone to a nature center and learned about different animals.  Mr. Bananas spent most of the presentation sitting in his cousin M's lap. He enjoyed it, though Boogie, who was also being celebrated LOVED it! It was really just the thing for him.  However, my friend J. suggested that we still celebrate and that they come over. It really was just the thing. Low key, fun, and celebrating our two year old.

I brought him to his two year old appointment yesterday. He is in the 10th% for height, and the 8th% for weight (25.9 lbs).  He is developing just fine and he showed off jumping around like a frog and saying "ribbit" for her.

I feel so very blessed to have Mr. Bananas in our lives. He brings another dimension to the family dynamic and I can't imagine our family without him. I am impressed with his ability to keep the beat when listening to songs on the radio. He will often break out into song in the middle of playing. He loves to dance, sing, and play with his siblings. His favorite toys are cars especially any of the Disney Cars from the movies.  I will often find him sitting in a room with a book on his lap absorbing all the pictures and "reading." He loves when we read to him and will sit through an entire story.  He likes to color and prefers markers and does not like being "downgraded" to crayons. But after seeing how many things  that he has colored/decorated such as puzzles, doors, his siblings' work, it is a good move to have him stick to crayons.  He loves where we go to the gym because it is next to an airstrip and he can watch the planes take off. He likes to run, chase, and play. His favorite animal to sign is lion.  His vocabulary is developing, but we still stick to one word instead of 2-3 word sentences. But his aural is amazing and he understands everything.  The most memorable sentence is when he ran up to me on 12/12/12 before his bath and yelled, "Love ya!" and then ran away for his bath. Just amazing and awesome.

"Happy to You, Happy to You" we love you big boy! You are so big! You make our lives better.
xoxo,
Mommy

Mr. Bananas waking up to Mommy singing "Happy Birthday"
on his second birthday

Mr. Bananas on his first birthday

Mr. Bananas on his "birth" day

Date Night! 1st Father-Daughter Dance

My husband is quite smitten with another lady with blonde hair and blue eyes and I'm okay with it.  His heart is quite taken with a certain four year old.  His heart is captured by his daughter.

This year Hubby invited our daughter to her first Father-Daughter dance held at our church.  He considered taking her last year, but his job had other plans and he ended up traveling for work missing Mr. Bananas' 1st birthday, missing a father-daughter dance, and missing Valentine's Day all of which were in the same week.

However, this year he more than made up for it by bringing home beautiful hot pink roses tied in a purple ribbon to match her purple dress. He dressed up in a suit and tie and she wore a favorite dress.

When I asked Buggy if she was excited she said, "YES!  I get to eat pizza and ice cream!  And I get to spend time alone with Daddy and I never get to do that." Are you going to dance? "Yes!"  Do you think Daddy will dance with you? "Yes! Because he loves me and he wants to dance with me."

The two of them had a blast eating pizza and ice cream, dancing to fast songs, dancing the chicken dance, hula hooping, and doing the limbo.  I received a text from my Hubby saying that they had shut the place down.  They stayed the entire two hours well past Buggy's bedtime, but well worth it. She announced their arrival when they came home declaring how she had eaten pizza and ice cream and danced and danced.

While Buggy and Hubby enjoyed their date night, the boys and I spent the evening watching a documentary on Yellowstone Park (Boogie's choice). I was pushing for The Muppets Movie. When I suggested the muppets he said, "Okay, Mama, if that's what you want." But I promised Boogie he could pick out the movie so we found something else. Sometimes I feel like I'm the "Us Weekly" to his "Scientific American."

The boys enjoyed learning about Yellowstone Park and I was able to cuggle with each of them. I said prayers and put the boys to bed.  I told Boogs he could sit in bed and read while he waited for Buggy to get home. His response?  "I can't sleep without Buggy. The house is too.....quiet." A surprising comment from my sweet boy who also proclaims his sister is so annoying.

It was a wonderful Friday evening for all of us and I'm so glad Hubby and Buggy were able to spend some time together. Both had huge grins on their faces when they came in the door. I enjoyed my time with my boys and look forward to another date night.

Buggy's flowers from Daddy

Daughter and Daddy ready for a night out on the town

I love how little man has to get in on the action. CHEESE!

A wild and crazy night with my boys watching a documentary on Yellowstone Park

Hanging out with my Boogie man

100th Day of School

Boogie celebrated his 100 Days of school yesterday. One of his assignments was to dress as if he were 100 years old.  We spray painted his hair with silver hair paint, he wore thick glasses, a cardigan sweater, and a mustache which he kept calling a "mustachio."

Very distinguished

He was a good sport.

Almost Wordless Wednesday--Taking Time to Smell the Flowers

My little girl loves flowers.  She loves to stop and smell them. Yesterday we went to our favorite grocery store to pick up a few items. They always have a lovely display of fresh flowers right inside the door.  While I was picking up some food for dinner I found her going from display to display smelling all the different flowers.  A nice reminder that we should take time to stop and appreciate God's creations even if the are in a grocery store.

Crochet Projects

One of the most relaxing things that I find time for are my crochet projects. I usually work on baby blankets for friends and family but have added full length afghans and scarves to my repertoire. I'm woefully behind on my projects, but find them relaxing nonetheless. In the last 6 months I have finished two afghans for as high school graduation presents. Of course having 3 kiddos, I was not able to devote the time to them like I would have in the past and they were very late. However, I was pleased with the final outcome of each and happy to give them something straight from the heart.

Elon inspired full-length afghan.
You can't tell from the picture,
but there is another color between the maroon and yellow.

Roll-Tide!
Alabama inspired full-length afghan.

I have added scarves to my project. I made Hubby a Green Bay Packer inspired scarf for Christmas. He loved it and it always makes me happy when I see him wear it.  I also found a book on scarves and matching hat patterns and have tried my hand at a basket weave. Interesting and fun.

Hubby wearing his scarf while holding the cutest moose I've ever seen.
Yes, those are antlers on Bananas' hood. Super cute!

Scarf with a basket weave pattern.
I've finished the scarf and still want to make a matching hat.

My current project is a scarf for my niece. It is becoming a very belated birthday present and I hope it doesn't warm up before I give it to her. It's taken longer to finish than I had hoped due to not having much time to work on it, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

Gryffindor scarf for my niece.  Hope I finish it soon.
I can't wait to give it to her.

On my to do list is to eventually make a Jayne Cobb styled hat. Hubby and I just finished watching the Firefly series and I think I might just have to make a hat for the hero of Canton...or um, Gaithersburg ;)

Jayne Cobb (from the Firefly series) wearing his hat from Mama.

It's amazing to me how this act of making something for someone else lifts my spirits.  I love making something for someone else and I hope they like it, too.

Silver Linings

Motherhood is not easy. And there are times I forget to see, and I mean really see, the good things in a day because I am not fully present in the moment.  I'm multitasking or I'm thinking about the next errand or task.  It's so easy to do when you are trying to do it all: wife, mother, nurse, maid, chef, disciplinarian, comforter, errand girl, secretary, and cruise director among other things.  Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand, second wife, or maybe a house elf.  And then things happen and you realize that everything you have been working towards as a mother is really coming together and you have that  "Oh, wow" moment. That silver lining when things are overwhelming.

Thursday was one of those days.  It started like any other. I got up and took a 5:30am spin class while wishing I was staying in my warm and cozy bed. But by the end I was glad I had taken the class.  I managed to get home a few minutes earlier than usual and the kids slept in a few minutes later so I was able to get in a shower and throw in a load of laundry before walking back up the stairs to wake up the big kids for school.  As I approached their room I noticed that the light was on in their room and they were already up. Preparing myself for the fussing that usually begins from Buggy about what to wear and for Boogie to begin fussing that Buggy woke him up I was in for a surprise.

 I found Buggy halfway dressed for the day while Boogie was directing her from his bed. He was teaching her which colors matched and what to wear. Not only was Buggy getting dressed, but Buggy had picked out Boogie's clothes for the day and they remembered to add another layer because it would probably be cold. Huh. No kidding. I was pleased and headed down to make them breakfast.

The rest of the day was like that.  Little examples of love and kindness from each of the children to one another. Not to say that there wasn't the occasional fussing.  At one point, in his exuberance, Mr. Bananas was hugging and biting his siblings. We stopped him and told him that it wasn't nice and it hurt. He stopped immediately and put himself in time out without being directed. We just started doing time outs with him. He realized he had inadvertently hurt his siblings. After a little bit he asked to get up and hugged and kissed his siblings saying, "wowwy, wowwy."  (Sorry, sorry).  To which they replied, "I forgive you."

These little bits of love are my silver linings. I started this post on Friday and I am just down to finishing it (Monday night).  My days are hectic, busy, and tiring.  On Saturday it was a little harder to find the silver linings, but I'm sure if I looked I would find them...like when Mr. Bananas asked for me to read with him and we "cuggled" in our favorite rocking chair and half, or watching the kids play together by chasing each other around the house with squeals of delight, or how Mr. Bananas now climbs all over Boogie and Boogie no longer complains but lets himself be a human jungle gym for his brother. These are good things, and these are my silver linings. What are yours?