The pen is mightier than the sword

Or, in this case, the pen (i.e. written word) IS the sword. Tonka spied these newspapers at the end of our driveway this week, and was quick to scoop them up, hand one to me with the invitation, "figh?? wa(nna) figh?!" When I reluctantly took one of the papers and held it out, he began dancing around, giggling and swinging both his makeshift sword and his other fist until I finally cried uncle. Which earned me a really funny look. But at least he stopped swinging long enough for me to inform him that we were all done and that "daddies sometimes fight with newspapers. Mommas drink coffee and read newspapers." What was that?! I didn't teach him that! I'm so not ready for this...let's just say he's protecting his little brother, mm-kay? Because somehow that sounds better than, "boys will be boys." The monkey, meanwhile, slept the scene away and both boys managed to escape with only a few kisses to show for it. The fingerpaint splatters in the first pic made you look twice though, right?

the second first bath

first bath: went so well the Monkey was asleep by the time Tonka figured out he could take a bath in the big tub while his brother was kicking around in the little tub.

They both smelled so sweet...for about ten minutes. What is it with boys and their perennially dirty fingernails?









After the bath, I took Monkey downstairs to get a diaper on* and when Tonka wasn't quick to follow, mr. waaz went back up, luckily camera in hand.




Perhaps I should call them monkey1 and monkey2 instead. Speaking of which, do you like those nicknames? I'm still debating.









*Christopher does NOT like to use diapers, so we've been playing around with EC (if you have to look it up, you probably don't want to know) the past couple of days. um. yeah. How much crunchier can I get??

newborn fluff

It's high time I showed off a bit more newborn diaper fluff. So here you go :) Sorry for the uneven cropping...

1.soaker from kool-aid dyed fisherman's wool that works pretty well under onesies
2.purple capris from the same wool for the next CD'd girl baby born(really too small for the Monkey)









3.grey and orange wool shorties (thanks, mom! so soft and stretchy!)
4.turquoise dyed longies (Christopher is in the arms of one of our favorite neighbors who had to go and PCS on us last week)












5.fitted from a receiving blanket and matching t
6.fitted from a sleep sack that had a streched out neck

It was a dark and steamy night...

...the gnats were out, and even the dog was panting after the first quarter mile. Our heroine had had a long day and dumpster diving was, for once, furthest from her mind as she walked. Instead, as sweat slowly trailed down her forehead, she was thinking of only one thing: finish this walk before the baby wakes up. It wasn't her fault she happened to glance into the plastics recycling bin as she passed, old habits die hard. What she saw within made her heart skip a beat.
"Seriously?" she incredulously asked herself, "who on earth thought this was a good place for that?!" She quickly finished her evening constitutional, dashed into the house, dropped off the (drooly and exhausted) dog, and grabbed the keys.
"I'll be right back hon, you'll never guess what I just found! The boys are ok, right? bye!"
There was a party taking place right across the street, but she didn't care who was watching. Our heroine maneuvered the bulky piece of brightly colored plastic into her trunk, grateful that her belly was no longer humongous, and hurried home (at the leisurely pace of 30km an hour, we are in housing after all) to show off her find:

woot! She knew there was a reason she had asked mr. waaz to bring home a plastic bag full of sand from the recent trip to the beach! You know what they say, one kid's trash is another kid's (early) birthday present =)

NOT a post about my boy(s)

can you believe it? Of course, if it's not about them, it's got to be about one of four things: food, crafting, thrifty weirdness, or dumpster treasures. I promise, I'll get to the other genres eventually but for now we're going to focus on the food. I've written about muffins before, but who can resist a yummy recipe that's also healthy? This one came to me via epicurious via someone's blog (oops, can't remember whose now!). The first time, I made them pretty close to the original recipe and the entire dozen muffins were gone by noon. The second batch I made a few changes and the results were just as delicious with a bit less guilt. They reminded me of my mother-in-law's ginger-oat pancakes (yum!). enjoy :)

Oatmeal Muffins
makes: 12

1 c oats
1 1/4 c plain yogurt
1/4 c applesauce
1/4 c light butter, melted and cooled
3 T fruit juice
1 T ground flax seed meal
1/4 c packed dark b. sugar
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
optional: 1/2 cup raisins. also, can substitute overripe banana for the applesauce.

directions: add ingredients to bowl in order listed (don't mix) and let sit 1 hr. Stir just until combined, adding a splash of milk if it looks a bit dry, and divide into muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.

occupying the toddler

oh, and ps: don't you just love the packing paper+fingerpaint+dived frame=work of art?! it's going to hang just above the table there, as soon as we find the drill bits for the hammer drill.

comparison

left: EP. right: CB. both between 1 and 2 weeks old.










I don't know, they both look like babies to me. EP was definitely fatter, and CB has darker hair(not that you can tell from this pic, but he does)....

sign/body language: ice cream edition

"ahhhh" (he did the "bite, please" sign right before this, but this was cuter)












"mmmm"












"Dolce!"












"more? more?! more!"
















"aah!" (brain freeze)

Everyone wants to know:

"How is Boy1 with Boy2?" "Does he like the baby?" "Is he getting jealous?" "How are you adjusting?"

The answer, in short, is yes. Patrick adores Christopher. Especially when he's hiccuping, tooting, or nursing. We're adjusting well, especially since mr. waaz ended up with 12 days off work(!) and has been spoiling me rotten. I've even had time to do some crafting, if you can believe it.

Today was mr. waaz's first day back at work, and it went extremely well. CB behaved like a 2-week old (eat, sleep, poop, repeat) and EP behaved like a 2-year-old (word explosion right now, btw). Then something happened that just about brought a tear to my eye. I was in the kitchen doing some dishes while CB slept in the bouncer and EP played nearby. CB started fussing and I dried off my hands to go in and "fix" him. Before I could even make it to the living room, EP had found the paci, stuck it in his brother's mouth, and was patting him on the chest with their cheeks together. As soon as I walked in, there was a lot of explaining (in toddler lingo) of what had happened, and what had been done to remedy the situation. I managed to catch the rest of the sequence of events on film. Could it get any cuter?

have your cake and wear it too

The lovely ladies of MOM's club had a potluck lunch in my honor this week and made me a diaper cake. A cloth diaper cake, to be specific. So sweet of them, and so cute I had to take a pic (or four) for the scrapbook-that-may-not-ever-happen (but that i continue to collect stuff for). click to enlarge...or just ask me for the huge version.


Thanks ladies!!!

um,

These are the last two cute pics of the kids together before we repeat this, mwuah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

How do a two year old and a new born manage to take up an entire couch?!?

Garbage day!!

This is it, next time you see the boys, #1 will look like a cage fighter.

Starting off early...

Since we want to get the 2nd boy to like the same things we do, we decided to ingrain them in his head early. Very early. So these are some of the measures we have taken:

1. he sleeps on a giant Packers helmet all day

2. He also wears a lot of hockey clothing (matching dipe not included this time, but it does exist)
3. Mom wears a Red Sox jersey-tee so hey can associate the Sox with all things good.

We are open to suggestion, with the following limitation: NO YANKEES

Tonka meets Micro Machine*

*a.k.a. "hoover" (get it?) Anyway, on to the montage:

"awww, bay!""ewww" (inspecting the slightly icky site of the future belly button)*insert lots of high pitched baby talk and various labeling of facial features*
"say hi....han(d)....hah doi(ng)""muah!"
I am so in for it...

Meet Christopher Brodie

Here he is, the newest addition to the fam:
7Lbs. 11.5 Oz.
21"

Approximately 3 minutes after 10:00

Maybe 10:15 or 20?11:ish

the quick and dirty account of L&D goes like this:
4:00 Em's water breaks.
8:00 After hanging around for awhile we leave for the hospital. Dog and Son #1 are sent to neighborhood friends for the night
8:45(ish) we arrive at the hospital
10:00 Christopher is born. This time, next to the toilet as opposed to on it. Mom caught, Dad managed not to see anything too scarring this time.
By midnight all involved parties were sleeping soundly, until the hourly vital checks kicked in.

The wife will fill you all in an the gory details later.

Off to the Hospital...

This is the last belly shot you get. We should be losing the belly pretty soon.
the stats: water broke at 4-ish (surprise!), we started running around like crazies doing everything we thought we had at least a week more to do, and are getting ready to leave for the hospital now (8-ish) b/c for some odd reason the H doesn't want to have to shampoo his car tomorrow. more updates to come...

Birthday Greetings to all

At least your birthday card didn't look like mine:

Perhaps the only thing that could salvage this situation is, oh, I don't know, perhaps having a grandchild on my birthday?