dear children

cursed computertechnologyoperatingsystemservicepackusbdriverissues. children, please learn all about computers one day so that i can rely on you to figure out why in the hell i cannot get my pictures to download onto our desktop. we have been without a computer off and on for weeks now trying to get it fixed. i've spent hours on the phone with “harry” over there at canon and still ... it won't work. in the past, the obvious solution would be to just go buy a new camera but times are much different now and i'm afraid that's no longer a reasonable solution nor was it probably ever a reasonable solution. sigh.

i started this post at least two weeks ago hoping that eventually i would get lucky and be able to use some of the cute pictures that are on my camera. i'll have to make do for today. i will tell you about the last months or so without correlating photos. hopefully i can make up for it by inserting a few worth while shots from past times.

how bout' we funk it up even a little more and start with gavin.

dear baby

my immobile chubby baby. you my son, are verging on the edge laziness. you're almost nine months old and show zero signs of an attempt at crawling any time soon. we practice every day but still, if i put something out of reach hoping you'll figure out how to scoot to get it, you just look at me like "what did you do that for? i can't reach it."

the fact that you're not crawling does not concern me. i'm the one who has been begging you to stay little for a long time but you're killing my back kid! you weighed 25 pounds when i took you in to see the dr. a few days after christmas. because i was curious, i pulled c's records out and he weighed 24 pounds at his one year check up. i thought he was huge ... you're ginormous. ginormous in a very cute way. even your wrists are fat.

the last month or so you've been teething like crazy but because you’re so awesome, no one would ever know. see the great tooth shot? we call you snaggle tooth ... already, i can see your two front teeth coming down so keep up the awesomeness just as with the other four, okay?

your first christmas was a little on the rough side. after a day or two with a gnarly fever i took you in to see the dr. even though i usually just let fevers run their course. i think they serve a purpose and every time i took the other two to the dr. because of a fever i was sent home with a viral diagnosis and one copay poorer. you were so unlike yourself though, moaning and lethargic, that i was feeling a little uneasy so you and i made the trek in a blizzard, the day after christmas and what do you know? we were sent home with yet another viral diagnosis. but then, after your fever went away, you broke out in an awful rash all over your body so i called the dr and the diagnosis = roseola which isn't treatable anyway but very contagious. who knows where you got it from. i was just glad to have you back to your happy self again.

your brother and sister are already teaching you how to act like a crazy person. dad walked in from work last night to you gleefully screaming at the top of your lungs as cayd and brooke demonstrated their craziness to you ~ jumping and running and twirling. what is going on? they love to get a reaction from you and you love to hear yourself scream. i love the noise too .. believe me .. it's so sad when you all go to bed at the end of the day.

recently you've learned how to throw very impressive tantrums. luckily, i know you'll give up on your tantrums sooner than later because eventually i won't tolerate them with a laugh but for now, you're so cute and innocent (and it's funny). here you are in the act .. captured on my phone, forgive the quality of the photo, but i was trying to send dad a glimpse of my day after you'd been sitting like this for at least five minutes hitting your face against the ground, screaming at the top of your lungs because i took a small object away from you. on that particular day you did this every time i put you down.

bathtime is your favorite time of day. i can't decide if it's the nudity or the splashing in the water that you love. i take great pleasure in seeing you so happy because of something so simple and only wish i felt the same excitement as i step in the shower.

you still go to bed like a champ, sleep at least 10 hours every night and nap like a superstar. unfortunately, every diaper lately is a dirty diaper and its gross. your brother and sister freak out too, it’s hilarious; oh mom, he stinks!!!!! luckily we're one of those families who laughs when someone farts so it's never the end of the world but really baby, you're very stinky sometimes and it's not funny.

we’ve been teaching you how to give kisses lately and i feel so special when you come at me with your mouth wide open and your tongue sticking out. you kiss just like your dad.

iloveyousomuchbaby

dear daughter

today i had to wait for you to put your lip gloss on before we could leave for dance. “oh, i forgot something mom.” you’re four sis, i’m sure i should put my foot down but it seems harmless until you walked down the stairs with teal eye shadow too. who bought you all this makeup? not me. no way. darn old santa claus, that’s who. he must not have a daughter. it seems like yesterday when you were still my blue-eyed baby.

how about this picture? i’ll tell you a true story from your past about how you used to arch your back and sleep with your head as far back as you could as a baby. so cute it was.

now, this is what we get. you’re room a constant disaster and your pants always undone and i mean always because you claim to not have mastered the science of snapping your pants after a visit to the bathroom but you’re full of it and probably think it’s a new trend you’re setting.

you’re so full of it most of the time. you’ll tell me long dramatic stories about your day and specific happenings with specific kids in your class such as “alyssa” and how she hurt her hand and then i’ll look at your class picture and find there’s no one named “alyssa” in your class. today after school you said

“madeline wasn’t at school today mom” {madeline really does exist, for once}

“really, why not?”

“she tecided to go to lagoon” { you say tecided instead of decided and entyler instead of entire}

“lagoon is closed for the winter”

“well then she went to the store to probably get a new toy”

“she’s probably sick or on a vacation brooke”

“no, she went to the store, i know it”

have i ever mentioned that you have an attitude? lately you’ve been saying “duh” all the time and i’d had enough this morning when you kept saying it to me after everything i said so i told you not to be disrespectful and you said “sorry, I didn’t mean it, duh.”

grandma gave me my own stocking for christmas and in it was a bag of chocolates that i quickly stashed as high up as possible. i can appreciate your love for chocolate because i share the love but i wouldn’t share my chocolate and you caught me sneaking one the other day;

"i want one"

"no, these are only mine, grandma gave them to me in my stocking"

"well i want one, that's not fair"

"yes it is, you got your own candy in your own stocking"

"but my candy is all gone, give me one"

"that's not how you ask sis, say pretty please with a cherry on top"

"please give me one"

“nope, that's not how you ask for these special chocolate’s"

“mom, can i please have a chocolate with a berry on it?"

of course i gave in, it was too funny and i would have anyway.

i totally sucked as your mom when i failed to get you to your pajama christmas dance recital in december. it was terrible. you were so looking forward to it. i guess i just got too wrapped up in the many responsibilities of motherhood and it’s not that i didn’t know about it, i thought it was on tuesday night, the same as every other week, when it was actually on monday night. you woke up tuesday morning so excited that i had to convince you it wouldn’t be appropriate to wear your jammies to school but we planned out what you would wear for the recital and how we would do you hair. it was while you were at school that i realized the huge mistake i had made and i cried like a baby for a solid thirty minutes trying figure out a way to make it up to you. i broke the news when i picked you up from school and i could tell you were trying to register what i was saying and then when it did register … oh, your face, it was so sad. “they have to do it again mom, i was going to wear my jammies and sit on santa’s lap … they have to do it again, berkley wanted to come and she was going to wear her jammies too.” i explained that berkley did go the night before, that mommy made a huge mistake and that i wanted to do something special to make up for it. you decided going to the mall to see santa would be a good idea as long as dadda, c and gavin could come too … i’m lucky that you love me so much. i promise to do my best to never make mistakes ever again.

love mama

dear son,

my toothless boy. we pulled out your second tooth today and you can’t wait to go to bed to see what the tooth fairy will bring. you asked me if i knew what she would bring and i told you that i had no idea but that i do know she’s very pretty.

after i decided to go ahead with this post without pictures from your birthday party at karen pullman’s bowling alley (i know it’s not necessary to tell you where we went specifically, i just like saying karen pullman’s bowling alley), i started going through some old photos of you and found that you had quite a unique sense of style as a young boy.

are you dying right now seeing a picture of your bareness on the internet? i'm sorry. i couldn't help myself.

you went off track from school right before christmas and you don’t go back until the end of the month which would normally seem like an eternity but you’ve surprisingly accommodating lately. turning six years old suits you, i must say. i even wrote recently about how you would still have to make your bed on your birthday even though i had every intention of doing it for you that day. after i uploaded that post, i went upstairs to find you had not only made your bed but you made my bed too and fluffed all the pillows on the couch which was so sweet of you. i felt a little guilty.

lately you’re not wanting to go to bed at night. you go when it’s time, but then just as soon as your door is shut, you get up and turn on the light. at first, you would just sit and read your books so i didn’t make a big deal about it. you would go to sleep when you were tired but lately, you’ve been hiding out at the top of the stairs listening in on dad and i as we hang out for the evening. after catching you a few times we now have this constant paranoia that we’re being spied on and it’s annoying. uncle jon and natalie came over to play wii the other night. we put you to bed and as always, you snuck up the stairs but this time, the door was shut so you attempted to look underneath the door and after we realized you were awake, dad opened the door and you stood there with a huge rug burn on your forehead. seriously son? you’re relentless.

you had so much fun bowling for your birthday. i remember when i was little all of my cousins, aunts, uncles and everyone would come to celebrate my birthday with me. sometimes i feel bad that you don’t have cousins like i had growing up and the reality is that you probably won’t any time in the near future but when i see how much fun you had bowling with your family, your aunts, uncles and grandparents i realized that you’re not missing out on anything because you don’t know any different and they all love you so much. you’re a lucky boy.

your friend came bowling with us and you kids thought it was so cool that they turned the lights off and started the night bowling with loud music. your attempts at dancing were comical. after bowling, we went to grandma and grandpa’s to open presents and have cake and ice cream. it was there that your uncle travis and lindsay gave you your first set of these teeth cover things {i’m proud to admit to not knowing what they are called}. i’ll be sure to send them the bill for your bail in 10 years.

one more picture. i came across this one and my heart softened just a little for minute. see the book you are holding? that’s a tiny book of poem’s that my friend brooke from jr high gave me long ago. i’m sure you had hundreds of dollars worth of toys yet you carried that book around for an entire year like it was your best friend. i have many pictures of you holding it and it made me smile so i thought i’d share one.

i love you buddy!