Conversations That Make Me Smile

Some recent conversations that have made me grin

Biting Convo

Scene:  Samuel throwing a tantrum and taking a bite out of the toss pillow...

Me:    "Samuel Robert!  We don't bite the cushion.  We don't bite anything!"

Sam:    Pausing thoughtfully from his tantrum and stating rather matter-of-factly...

     "Well...we bite apples."

Well...yes we do 

Vegetarian Dinner Convo

Scene:  Andy and I driving to bible study.  Me preparing Andy for the following night's dinner (I say "preparing" because he's a meat and potatoes kinda guy)

Me:  "Since Tobe is coming for dinner tomorrow and I don't want to make 2 different meals, we're having cucumber and tomato sandwiches and couscous salad"

(Anticipating his sarcastic response)

Andy:  "Will there be meat on the sandwiches?"

Me: "No"

Andy: "Will you defrost those steaks for me and I'll grill them when I get home?"

Me: "Yes" (surprised by the lack of sarcastic response)

Andy:  After a few minutes..."You silly women and your tiny food."

That's my guy

Boo Boo Convo

Scene: Sam crying from an imaginary boo boo

Sam: Kiss it mama.  Kiss it!
Me: Kissing his made-up injury "Is that better, bud?" (This usually does the trick)
Sam: "No.  I need to watch a little bit of TV and eat some M&Ms.  That will make it better."

Manipulator

Maternity Clothing Convo

Scene:  Me irrationally lamenting to Andy that I have to spend precious dollars on summer maternity clothing

Me:  "Ugh!  I hate wasting money on clothing that's just going to make me feel like a whale."

Andy:  "Well, just have the baby and then wear the clothes and they will make you feel skinny"

Probably true

Thunder Convo

Scene: Thunderstorm during Sam's bedtime routine.  He'd already looked out the window a million times.

Sam:  "I wanna look out the window at the clouds"

Me:  "Sam, you need to follow mommy's instructions and get into bed"

Sam: "Mommies say no because they get to look at thunder whenever they want"

Poor kid.  It's been a long week of no's

Parenting Fail Convo

Scene:  Lunchtime

Me: "Sam, what would you like for lunch?"

Sam: "A sandwich"

Me: "What kind of a sandwich?"

Sam: "A sugar sandwich"

Fail

Easter Convos

#1: Scene: Attempting to explain Easter story through the use of Resurrection Eggs.

Me: "What do you think is in the next egg?" (after revealing the egg with the "nails" that represent the crucifixion)

Sam: "A band-aid"

Logical

#2:  Scene:  Bedtime on Easter and re-capping the day.  Trying to reiterate what we've learned about Jesus

Me:  "So Sammy...who do we celebrate on Easter?"

Sam: "Grandpa"

Well...he's a great guy, but he's no resurrected Jesus.   We'll try again next year.


Brown Convo
Scene: Reading books at bedtime, Sam pointing to a brown doggy

Sam: "Mommy, is that doggy brown?"
Me: "Yes, that's a brown doggy"
Sam: "Brown like poop?"

Well, yes.


Vitamin Convo
Scene: Sam quietly talking to his elephant-shaped multivitamin 

Sam: "Oh baby elephant!  Do you miss your mommy?"
"Do you want to go see her?"
"Oh, that's okay.  I going to take care of you!"
"Baby elephant, you are so cute!"
"Now I'm going to eat you."

From the mouths of babes...and husbands.

Arboretum

We met up with some friends to play at the arboretum the other day.  Or as Sam puts it, the "ah-bo-dee-pum".  Poor kid, I kept asking him to repeat the word over and over because it made me giggle listening to him sounding it out, pausing, thinking about the next syllable, trying to come up with the right combo and then coming up with a different word every time.  And I mean giggle as in 'you're so cute sounding out those words' not 'gosh, kid...get it right already'.  Now that I'm typing that, I hope he realized the difference.  We're saving up for his therapy.  Here are some good ones, though:
"aro-bee-tum"
"ra-mo-tee-tum"
"ar-bo-pee-num"
"ah-no-mee-sum" (what? how did you even come up with that one?)
"ar-bo-ree-tum!"  There you go, Sam!

Lessons learned:
Lesson #1:
My child is not interested in flowers unless he can
a) pull the petals off or stomp on them
    and
b) unless there are butterflies fluttering around them.  At which point he yells "BUTTERFLY COME HERE!  COME HERE RIGHT NOW!  I NEED TO HOLD YOU!"

Lesson #2:
Life size mazes are not fun for parents of pint-sized humans 

Lesson #3:
I need to go shopping for cooler maternity clothes.  And by cooler, I mean clothes that don't make me sweat.  I'm totally over the "cool and cute pregnant mom" look.  Because if there's one thing Sam has taught me, it's that I am no longer cool or cute.  Is it just me, or is the second pregnancy a rough one?  Not rough as in uncomfortable, but rough as in I'm looking really rough every day.  Or to steal some vernacular from the teenage set...I am toe up.

And to be sure that I actually spelled the slang phrase "toe up" correctly (and to further prove that I am most definitely in my 30s), I looked up the spelling and definition on www.onlineslangdictionary.com:

Toe up
toe-up means ugly from head-to-toe. an absolute, full-on assault to the eyes which makes you wanna be sick when you look at the person.

In a sentence: That 31 year old pregnant mom is so toe-up.

Okay.  I'm not looking that bad, but I'm not looking that good, either.  But I digress.  The point I'm making here is that I was ROASTING at the ar-bo-pee-num and I need some summer maternity clothes.

Anyway.  Let's just get to the pictures, shall we?  And I promise, our ar-po-nee-mum is absolutely gorgeous with ponds, beautiful flowers, lush vegetation, babbling streams, waterfalls, shady trees, statues, restful gazebos, etc.  I only managed to get pictures of dirt, rocks and tall, brown grass.  This is why I don't moonlight as a photographer.

Group shot...

Two confused boys...

Checking out the fishies (thanks miss linds for keeping my child from a splash down)

Tall grass maze...where is my child?

Duck Duck Goose with the big kids

Not quite understanding the process

I'm out

Running down the path...so excited to have found...

Heaven on earth for little boys

Zeroing in on the butterflies 

"BUTTERFLIES!  COME HERE!  I WANT TO HOLD YOU!"

"Oh, Sammy!  Don't touch, buddy!"

Tuckered out

And rosy cheeks for hours afterward.  Despite all the sunscreen.  Despite all the water.  Sorry son...you have inherited your mommy's pigmentation.  You will forever be pale.

You Know You Married a Cop When...

This is the love note you write him in the morning before he leaves for work...

In case you can't read my terrible handwriting, it says:  

Stop!! 
Make sure you have both rifles

Another day, another search warrant :)

In Love (or pregnancy hormones) Either way...

It's one of those mornings

Where it just hits me

How unbelievably privileged I am to be this child's mother

Where all of a sudden, the moments begin passing in slow motion and I just stop and watch and soak him in

Soak in his beauty, his personality, his words and expressions...

his refusal to wear pants this morning...and it's all sweetly wonderful!

I can't hold him enough, or kiss him enough, or tell him I love him enough today.

To say these last 2 and a half years of our lives have handed us the toughest circumstances we've walked through thus far would not be an understatement.  But truly, they have been the most blessed.  Blessed with growth, with humility, with the tough lesson that I am not in control, with a cup that runneth over with love for this child.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with this precious gift of Samuel. 

Lazy Weekend

We took a much needed break this weekend.  Just simply being lazy.  No painting, drilling, hammering, puttying, sanding.  Nothing.  Just relaxing, reconnecting and enjoying each other. 

There was even a tough conversation involved to start it all out, but those can be the best.  Discussing our faith, laying the foundation for further understanding, growth, and deeper love.  Wow.  We were both so humbled afterward. 

Andy and I got away for a date, which we haven't done in weeks.  So nice!  We actually stopped to talk and share about our baby girl who will join us in August.  It's amazing how little time you can devote to your unborn child when so many other concerns are weighing on your hearts and minds.  And it's nice to stop, take a breath and allow your mind to dream about her.

And we both marveled at how in love with our little guy we are.

No pictures on this one.  Just words.  I just had to capture the feelings.  Amazing weekend.

Bedroom Re-do

I can't believe I'm actually posting this.  Partly because I'm still in disbelief that we have made it this far, and partly because I am so mortified at how long we lived in our master bedroom looking like it did.

We started in the basement over a year ago, and we just methodically worked our way up.  Unfortunately, that meant our bedroom would be last.  But I felt the "common" rooms were far more important.  I'm glad we did the other rooms first, but oh how important it is to have a master bedroom that you love.  Really.  It just changes the mood.

Before I get to the pics...let me just give you some background.  We have the tiniest "master" bedroom in existence.  It's basically the same size as our 2 1/2 year old's room, but with an attached bathroom and vaulted ceilings.  Voila!  Master bedroom!  We are also way too stubborn to give up our king size bed, tiny bedroom or not.  So, you see, it's a cramped situation. But there was no excuse for this...

Disclaimer: the before pictures that I am about to reveal are truly vomit-inducing.  Have a bucket ready...

No headboard.  Ugly bedding.  I mean, we didn't even bother to re-center the pictures over the bed when we moved it a couple of years ago.  That's how much we didn't care.

Gorgeous gold window panels.  I couldn't spring for the 2 window panels on each window...nope!  Just going with the single panel look.  And as a result, we never opened our shades.

Dresser from when I was 13 years old crammed into the room...along with a dining room chair.  Niiiice.

And one of my favorite parts...the TV components on the dresser.  The digital clock is too bright at night, so we cover it with an expertly angled broken pair of sunglasses.  Classy all the way around!

Yes...we turned our bedroom into a Buffalo Wild Wings by putting a flat screen high up on the wall.  The best part, though, is the black wire that runs over the door frame, behind the door and over to the TV components.  This was a more recent development, however, and since we knew we were going to be updating the room, we were just super-lazy.  It was bad.  And did you catch a hint of that ceiling fan above?  Coming up is the best part...

The ugliest ceiling fan ever created.  I LOATHED this fan.  I would look at it every morning and every night and my blood pressure would immediately rise and I would curse the previous owners for choosing it.  Then I would curse us for not buying a new one yet.  And the fact that the bulbs are exposed just made it too bright and offensive.

In fact, our whole room was offensive.  And this is where we spend most of our time as a family with Sam...reading books, watching movies, cuddling, resting, playing on the bed.  It needed to be a prettier space.  So, we made it that way.  If your eyes are not burned out of their sockets by now...here are the afters: (the lighting changes in them..sorry)

Ahhhhhhhh.  It's like a breath of fresh air for me!  We had this bed before, but removed it from the room due to it's size.  We decided it would actually feel more "put together" to have our grown-up bed back, so back it went.  I found the Aspen tree picture at Home Goods and immediately had to buy it.  Andy loves Aspen trees and Colorado has a special place in our hearts, so I wanted to incorporate it.  The paint color on the walls is Cathedral Gray by Behr.  These pictures don't do it justice, but it's calming and serene.  After years of yellow...blech.

I've always loved mirrors above bedside tables.  It just looks pretty to me...and let's face it...our room needs all the help it can get looking "bigger".  I've heard mirrors help.  See...doesn't it look huge now?  :)  We also took out the dresser which will go in Sam's new big boy room.  Turns out, we don't really need it.  Since I am a master manipulator organizer, I was able to get everything in the closet in a tidy and manageable way.  On the wall where the dresser was to the left of the bed, I am planning on putting up a gallery wall of black and white pics. 


And the fan!  Our new fan!  How I love thee.  If you do not have a dimmer in your bedroom...you should consider it.  So simple, but so pleasant!  And no exposed light bulbs!   

The TV is still in the same spot, sans the wires.  It's amazing how much better it looks up there with a new color of paint surrounding it.  OK...it's still pretty tacky on the wall, but at least the wires are gone.

And this is how I know it's perfect for us...Andy literally JUST walked in the bedroom from working a 16 hour day as I'm finishing typing this post (the guy is exhausted...he's already hit 40 hours and it's only Wednesday) and he said  "Wow. This room is actually calming."  Done! 

Lately...

I guess I have inadvertently taken a posting sabbatical.  We have been pretty consumed around here with new opportunities on the horizon, a new baby girl to get prepared for, a house that we are ALMOST finished updating (I will never pick up another paint brush as long as I live) and life in general.

We've also come to the conclusion that this blog needs to be made private.  For one, Gumshoe is going through a lot of background checks at the moment for potential federal jobs and for another, I'm sick of calling my family by nicknames and worrying about what pictures might be seen and blurring out certain things.  I'd also like to be a little more "real" regarding our lives for the sake of documenting our family's journey,  and the whole world doesn't need to see that.   By the way, Gumshoe's name is Andy, my name is Jessica, Little Gumshoe's name is Sam and baby Gumshoe will be named Anna.  Wow, it feels nice to type actual names!  :)

I realize, though, that through these last few months I have really missed documenting our lives.  Sometimes it can be a hassle to edit pics and maybe a little too much pressure to attempt to come up with remotely witty things to say or cute anecdotes about our life (I know...I'm SOOO funny).  I think that pressure can take a little of the joy out of the purpose of this blog which is to journal for my family.  Making it private helps to eliminate that pressure and I can just focus on being real about our lives.  If I don't feel like being funny, it's ok (case in point).  If I don't feel like editing pictures, it's ok.  Just get it on here so we have it!

With that out of the way...here is what we've been up to lately (in mostly crummy cell phone pics with no editing)

"Lining cars up".  Constant theme.  He could (and does) do it all day!

Picnics on the deck

Getting bigger and bigger and bigger...

PAINTING!! (Consumes most of our free time at this point)

Visiting daddy at his office.  Shirts off for this visit.  He's also going through a no-pants phase.  At least he's still keeping his diaper on (for now)

Hide and seek.  He's really hard to find.

Deanna Rose (or as Sam likes to call it: The Cow House)

Superhero shirts.  We're also fans of Batman and The Hulk.

Pooping at Target...he's very serious about this, and wouldn't let me or anyone else come into the aisle.  He even has a pose.

Classic cars.  We thought this outing would last about 10 minutes, but after an hour we tried to leave and Sam wouldn't have it.  He LOVES cars!