Monkey Joes

This was a FUN day trip. Monkey Joes has got to be the best thing that ever happened to a little kid! It is basically a huge room full of those bouncy air filled things. I don't know what they are called. But they had huge slides and these blown up playgrounds and Juliet had an absolute blast. And so did I!




We visited Monkey Joes when we were visiting Charles and Sarah in North Carolina. What a great idea! I haven't found one in Lubbock yet. Anyone want to go into business with me?

Sweet Baby Bensen gets Blessed

We blessed Bensen on Sunday June 7th. Both grampas were there to stand in the circle. We are lucky to have such supportive parents.
Brett did a beautiful job!

Not a bottle of Sprite.

I never win anything. I'm never the 10th caller, I never scratch off the right three dots, I never pick the correct hand. I just can't win! Even when Coca Cola does that promotion where 1 in 6 bottles is a winner -- I can buy 15 bottles of Sprite and never win a free Coke. I have never won anything in my entire life.
Until today!

That's right. I won a Flip UltraHD Camcorder from Babycenter.com
This is what happened!
BabyCenter was looking for 20 product testers to check out this new digital camcorder.
The contest: What's the funniest memory of your kid you wish you could have captured on a Flip UltraHD™ ? Post it now for a chance to be considered.
I posted:

kristinarocks · you!
Posted 6/2/2009
Oh man there really are too many to share, but Ill just stick with one!

When we found out we were (SURPRISE!) expecting baby #2, we started teaching our daughter about the baby. She is still little, but we taught her to point at my belly any time we asked her, "where's the baby?" As my pregnancy progressed and my belly got bigger, she grew more and more excited to pull my shirt up and pat my tummy and croon, "baby!" My husband thought this was incredibly adorable until one evening she climbed onto his lap, pulled his shirt up, kissed his growing tummy and exclaimed, "BABY!"
What a tragedy that we didn't get it on camera, but at least it got my hubby going to the gym again!

And out of the 266 people who entered, they chose me! (and 19 others) I figure the only reason I won was because my odds were better than usual. What is it, a 1 in 13 chance of being picked? Factoring in my incredible literary skills, I was a shoe in. ☺(Yeah, I say that but seeing as I've never won anything before I would say I am a shoe out.)
Anyway, I was super duper excited and thought I would share.
Thanks family for being so darn cute!

Lovin' on my Babies.

Today I love my kids!

I love that Juliet is starting to drink out of regular cups. Because she can get milk mustaches!

I love that we own chalk!

I love that nothing is safe from the chalk!
Not the carpet,

Not mommy,

Not even Bensen!
I love that I can apparently only draw monkeys.
Monkey!

Monkey! (I thought it kiiiinda looked like Elmo)

Monkey!

Juliet's rendition of a monkey!

Somehow she recognized this as a dog. I drew it and I could barely tell!

Suddenly realizing why Juliet is obsessed with monkeys!

I love Bensen's angry face! He didn't much care for being drawn on. Or bananas. Or getting sat on.
I love that Juliet ate an entire can of micro ravioli for dinner!
I love that I finally finished the blanket that has been waiting for 3 weeks!
I love Bensen sporting it for 5 minutes before he spit up all over it!

All in all, a good day.
Yay!

Chop Shop

Brett is in trouble. You see, he failed to do his husbandly duty. He forgot (or maybe didn't ever know, but that seems absurd) that any time I ask, "Brett, should I cut my bangs?" he is required as a good husband to immediately respond, "NO."
Luckily all of my many previous bangs' misadventures has taught me one thing: don't go too short. A professional can always fix ugly LONG bangs.
Now I just need a professional.

Motherhood.

Motherhood is having a filthy fishtank, several piles of laundry (most of them dirty, a few of them clean, only one of them folded because it is towels and was easy) a twin mattress in the middle of your living room, along with a couple dirty diapers, a wet vac and a stroller that doesn't seem to have a "place," a dishwasher 1/4 full of clean dishes, a sink 5/3 full of dirty dishes, a partially finished sewing project and 2 fat and happy babies.

Best Day Ever!

Instead of griping and complaining about my day, I am going to look at it with the perspective I will have in a few years. I assume this new perspective will make the events of the day terribly funny – and laughing all day counts for the best day ever, doesn’t it??

So I put Juliet in her chair with some beef stroganoff and start cleaning the kitchen. I'm feeling a little sick so I make myself a smoothie for dinner, and just as I turn off the blender I hear a crash and thump.
The crash was Juliet's bowl being thrown against the table, and the thump was it hitting the ground. The beef stroganoff flying in all directions and splattering across the floor didn't seem to make any sound at all.
I got her out of her (now sticky) sundress and put her in her pajamas. She'd missed a nap that day so even though it was only 6 I felt that bedtime was imminent.
I had some extra smoothie so set her up in front of some cartoons with a sippy cup of a fresh and delicious snack, and I returned to my kitchen.
Bensen was supposedly sleeping during all this time. Come to find out, he was actually filling his diaper and most of his onsie. I'll let you try and figure out what he was filling it with.
Finally finished with Bensen, I check on Juliet only to find she has turned her sippy cup upside down on the couch. Strawberry banana yogurty goodness suddenly becomes finger-paint. The world is Juliet’s canvas. I strip her down and clean up the couch as best I can.
Bensen has spit up all over his new onsie. Like, a lot of really smelly gross spit up. I decide it is time for a bath.
For what feels like the first time all day, Bensen is calm! He loves the bath. I think it takes pressure off of his endlessly aching tummy. My house is quiet for about five minutes. Juliet (clad only in her size 3 diaper) walks into the bathroom to show me a crumpled photograph. Actually she has left a breadcrumb trail of photographs all through the house. Some torn, most crumpled, all ripped off of her cute photo wall ribbon. I take the time to put a diaper on Bensen, but that’s it. It is a warm evening, and he’ll probably smell up anything I put on him. Both of my kids are now naked.
I gather the photographs up and tuck them away in my “to-do” pile (a code name for the stack of papers and books I keep on my bookshelf that I will probably never “do”). Bensen is crying again. He’s so hungry he could die. I sit down to nurse him.
Nursing is still painful.
10 minutes later I realize I haven’t been paying any attention to Juliet. She has climbed into her chair at the table where a bag of groceries has been waiting patiently to get put away. Juliet has found them. More specifically, Juliet has found a carton of eggs.

Couldn’t you just die laughing?
No I couldn’t. The wounds are too fresh. The truth is, I couldn’t die laughing – I could’ve just died then and there.
I wish I could always be “that person” that sees the humor in every situation. I mean, seriously, eggs scattered about the carpet almost artistically, their insides slowly oozing out of the lace-like cracks caused by a swift fall from table or hand to floor. That is the stuff movies are made from. That is funny stuff! But at the time I honestly just wanted to cry.
But we can laugh about it later, right?
Well, just writing about it has already put a smile on my face. Maybe later will arrive sooner than I’d hoped.
It is obviously time for bed. I retrieve Juliet from the table, kicking and screaming, struggle to dress her in a new set of pajamas, and put her in bed. Bensen, having been cut off early from his dinner, is now kicking and screaming. And instead of locking myself in the bathroom or running from the apartment pulling my hair out, I feel I did the mature thing and simply burst into tears.
Best. Day. Ever.