Grammy Darrlyn and Pie!

Dear Hunter and Connor,

My mom is the best cook in the world. Hands down. Unfortunatly, that wasn't a gene that got passed to me so you'll have to find something else to love about me. There are a few items that my mom cooks incredibly well; spicy meat and rice, meatloaf, turkey rex, and... pie. My two favorite pies that she makes: blackberry, and chocolate pecan pie. Now, about the time I got married I got cut off. No more special pies. No more spicy meat and rice for my birthday. No more special cooking for me. I've learned to bribe, beg, and steal bites of delicious food. And then you were born. All of a sudden the food is starting to show up again and I'm loving it! It's obvious who Grammy's babies are but that's ok... I'll take what I can get! Besides, I can't really blame her- you're cute as a button!

The latest treat she brought over was blackberry pie! mmmm mmmm good! She only brought it over for you, but I stole a piece! It was warm, and covered with whip cream it was the best treat I've had in a long time!

You two... weren't as impressed. I think the berries may have been a little tart for you. However, you still enjoyed getting the whip cream everywhere and once you figured out to mix the cream with the berries you were in hog heaven! It was a pretty good mess when all was said and done.

There were two pieces of pie left when I went to bed... I woke up this morning and there is no pie. Your Daddy is in BIG trouble!

You're lucky to have such a great Grammy! She loves you very much and completely spoils you! I'm lucky to have such a great Mom. Hopefully you guys will love me as much as I love her even if I can't cook!

I love you and love you,
Mommy

PS: The berries were hand picked by Grammy special for the pie! Oh yeah, I was just kidding... she still cooks for me.

Connor laughing at Hunter, who was eating like a little piggy!

Connor taking a sour bite!

Hunter eating like a little piggy!


Hunter trying to smile for the camera. He's always nervous about the flash!

A good memory

It seems like just yesterday... and yet I can't even remember this moment. Thank God for cameras!

Today's Goal: To get a picture of the two of you trying to drink from the hose... That's a memory I don't want to forget.

I love you,

Mommy

Stupid Sleep Method.... it worked.

Connor enjoying his victory breakfast!

Hunter enjoying his victory breakfast!

The victory breakfast... How pretty! What a nice Daddy!

July 25, 2009
Dear Connor and Hunter,
We tried the cry it out method. It took Connor 33 minutes of non-stop crying and Hunter almost 45 minutes. Then you two crawled into your bed and went to sleep. Connor didn’t wake up once until 7:00 am. Hunter got out of bed a few times and walked over to the gate but he only cried for a few seconds and then he went back to bed. Daddy said having his own bed back felt like Christmas! I cried for about an hour because I wasn’t really ready for you to stop sleeping with me. I’ve slept with you almost every night for the last 16 months. I thought I had at least six more months. Daddy was right about you needing to get your own bed. You two really seem to like having your own bed and when you woke up the next morning you came and gave us huge hugs! Daddy and I kept telling you what big boys you were and how proud of you we were. Hunter was especially proud of himself. He got this cute little embarrassed smile on his face. Daddy took you to Walmart and bought breakfast supplies and then he came home and made you a celebration breakfast for being big boys. You loved every second of all the attention. The waffles were just bonus!
Last night was day 2 of sleeping on your own. You didn’t cry at all. Neither did Mommy. I guess we will all adjust. I wish you weren’t such big boys so soon! I still look at you and see my little 5 lb babies!
I love you so much! I’m proud of you!
Love,
Mommy

sleep methods... =0(

Look how small you make a queen size bed look... Connor bug doesn't even have room!

July 23, 2009
Dear Hunter,
We’re not getting any sleep lately. You wake up every two hours to check that I’m still in bed with you and if I’m not you completely freak out. Last night you cried for almost two hours and I was laying in bed right next to you. Which has prompted me to try the strategy that I least agree with in the whole world. Crying it out. I’ve made a few lame attempts in the past. They always ended less than an hour later with a sobbing Hunter and a guilt that wouldn’t end. This time though we’re going to give it 100% and see what happens. It’s not going to be fun. I’m going to hate every second of it. However, we’ve got to start getting some sleep and we’ve tried everything else we can possibly think of to try, including buying a separate queen mattress so our family bed would get bigger. We’re out of ideas. So… if for some reason this strategy totally ruins you as an adult or you never forgive me- know ahead of time that I’m sorry and I’m doing it for all of our sanity. I love you and love you and love you!
You’ve had a fascination with the outlets lately. Daddy is going to cover them with blank plates so that you can’t get to them. It seems like at least once an hour you go over and pull off the covers. You’ve been getting in trouble and we yell DANGER at the outlet. You have now taken to walking over to the outlet and pointing at it and yelling DANGER! Most of the time it just sounds like a very defined D sound, but today you said the word perfectly!
You’ve been saying a lot of words lately. You repeat words that we say to you very well. I just know you’re going to be talking up a storm soon. I can’t wait to see what you have to say!
I love you,
Mommy

Dora Soup

July 21, 2009
Dear Connor,
We went to the grocery store this week and you got to have a pick. Whenever we go into a store I tell you it is either a looking day or that you can have one pick. It’s pretty cute to watch you pick something out. I know you’re only picking by the colors of and designs of boxes but you get so excited when I push the cart up to the item and you get to grab it off of the shelf and hold it throughout the whole store. This time your pick was a can of soup. Dora soup. You tried to drink it out of the can and then you would hold it out to me and cry a little. I had to keep explaining to you that we would cook it for lunch and you eat soup with a spoon not out of the can. By the time we got to the check out there were little teeth marks all over the wrapper.
Yesterday I made you your Dora soup. You were pretty thrilled with being able to eat soup by yourself although most of the soup ended up on your shirt because you still turn the spoon upside down before it reaches your mouth. Luckily, Dora soup has shapes of pasta in it so I let you eat a little of it with your fingers.
Overall, I’d say you had a really good pick! I thought you were cute as a button with your can of soup…. So it was worth it!
Love you to pieces!
Mommy

Dear Hunter....

July 19, 2009
Dear Hunter,
Hey buddy! You’ve been such a fun kid this weekend. You’re really trying to talk to us. You keep mimicking sounds that we make and your ‘please’ sounds almost perfect!
We took you to the mall this weekend so you could play on the toys. We were having dinner in the food court and you saw a balloon up on the ceiling. You went nuts! You started yelling,” MA, MAMA, baaaa, baaa!”
So we went to the information desk and $10 later you and Connor are both mall members and can have a free balloon every time we go for a year. You also got t-shirts and a bunch of other knick knack stuff.
You were thrilled to death with the balloon. We tied it to your wrist so that it wouldn’t fly away. You were giggling and bouncing your balloon everywhere.
Later we were at JcPenny’s and you pulled the balloon off your wrist. It flew free and went straight up to the ceiling. You were so sad. You kept repeating your b syllable and pointing to your balloon. Grammy had the idea to use a clothes hook to get it down. I tracked one down and Daddy spent a good minute trying to hook it. The whole time you had a look on your face that was slightly panicked. “OH PLEASE, GET THE BALLOON!”
We did and you were thrilled. To be safe we tied the balloon to your stroller buckle so it wouldn’t escape again. All was well until we were in line to pay. Daddy was trying to make you laugh with the balloon and he hit it. He hit it too hard though and it bounced off a sign on the counter and popped. You didn’t cry, but you were very disappointed. Daddy walked you down to the desk to get another balloon. By that time though you had lost interest and so the second balloon is somewhere in the mall.
You were very brave at the park today too. We went to Howard Amon and took you swimming in the tot pool. After a good ten minutes you actually got in and walked around. Last time you just sat on the edge and dangled your feet. You were having a very good time and it was great to see you be adventurous.
I love you buddy! Thanks for all the laughs this weekend!
Love Mommy

PS: A sight I never want to forget… how cute you look walking out of the bedroom in the middle of the night looking for me. You sure hate to sleep alone!

Dear Connor bug...

Grammy brought breakfast over this morning.... enough food to feed 100 of you two, and you loved it!

July 16, 2009
Dear Connor,
We’ve been having a pretty good summer so far. You’ve been pretty easy on me when I don’t feel good. We’ve had plenty of snuggle time!
Lately you’ve been apologizing to brother whenever you get in trouble for stealing a toy or making a trade…you lean your head in and hum. We always say “OOOHHHH” when you give us a hug or a kiss and I’m sure that is what your hum is trying to mimic.
You’re still trying to make trades that benefit you. The other day Gram was giving you Yogo bites and you ate all yours. You wanted Hunters but Gram told you no and she gave you a graham cracker instead. You asked for two halves of graham cracker and then you walked over to Hunter gave him one half and took his Yogo bites. Gram had to give the Yogo bites back to Hunter but you were less than thrilled that your idea didn’t work.
You’ve been giving Missy a ton of hugs lately. The poor little dog is so tired of being hugged. She puts up with it for a minute and then she desperately tries to get out of the play room.
We’ve been watching your Disney sing-along lately and you love the Jungle book song that the Elephants sing. You have even been trying to march but it looks more like a stomp because you can only march with one leg.
Mommy had been really sick lately. I know, because the other day you grabbed my little garbage can and pretended to throw up. Then you looked at me and giggled like you just told the funniest joke. It was pretty cute, but pathetic at the same time.
You have a fascination with debit cards and Costco cards. You always want ours. We’ve been getting you old gift cards to carry around. The other day we had lunch at subway and we used a gift card. Grammy gave it to you and you carried it all the way home and around the play room for about an hour! We’re planning (Grammy) on getting you a little wallet and some fake cards to put in it that you can carry around.
Well, I should go. It’s almost nap time! That means I get to take a nap too! I love you. Thank you for being such a good little boy!
Love you and Love you,
Mommy

We bought bath time crayons. It didn't work as well as we wanted, the crayons were pretty cheap. I'll keep looking for better ones!