The sweet moments

When carrying Kailee in from the car last night, I had one of those sweet moments.  Sadly these moments become less and less often the older they get.  I absolutely cherish the ones with Gavin since they are few and far between now.  The last one with Gavin was while he was sick with a high fever about 2 weeks ago.  All he wanted to do was be held by Mommy on the couch.  So Mommy sat and held him, enjoying EVERY second he let me hold him close!

If you are blessed with children, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  So cherish every moment with your babies because before you know it they are toddlers, and then little boys and girls.

I can't believe Gavin will be in kindergarten in less than a year.  Where did my baby boy go?  They tell you it goes by so fast.  I believe it!

The Horror Film that changed my life...

I was just thinking back to Halloween 2 years ago when I at last found "The Blue Lady."  If you are one of my cousins, you have probably heard Morgan and I talk about "The Blue Lady."  The Blue Lady is an old women in a blue bathrobe from a horror movie we watch with our grandparents, LaLa and G'Daddy, when we were 6 or 7 years old.  I think Morgan and I were scarred for life thanks to this movie; I know I was at least.

2 years ago, I decided to use all of my memories of the movie to figure out ways to search for it.  Here's what I remembered:
1. Old Lady in blue bathrobe
2. murky pool
3. girl being murdered in bathroom stall
4. a bunch of girls living in a huge mansion together
5. an old man who helped them

Number 3 and 4 screamed "Sorority House" so I started searching for sorority horror films.  After about an hour, I found it!  It was The House on Sorority Row!  Here she is, The Blue Lady:

When I found this picture to include, my heart stopped again despite some interesting facts I discovered when Leslie watched it with me in Summer of 2009... She wasn't even the killer?!?!?!?!  Apparently our grandparents made us stop watching before the end of the movie.  Either that or Morgan and I remembered the movie completely wrong (which is actually quite possible seeing as how young and traumatized we were).

So if you are wondering if I'll let my kids watch horror movies young... DEFINITELY NOT!  I had so many irrational fears thanks to this movie.  I don't want my kids to get scared unnecessarily.  Kristi had me watch Friday the 13th movies with her, and I remember being afraid of Jason coming to get me at camp.  Definitely want to shelter the babies from the horror films for a few more years... At least. :)

Kailee's BIG Booboo

I was warned about little boys.  They get into everything, they're fearless, the get goose-eggs on their heads on a regular basis, they get cuts and scrapes galore.  Some of this was definitely true for Gavin.  He had goose-eggs all the time when he was 1 and now seems to always have a scab somewhere on his body as proof that he can't get enough of playtime outside.

I was not warned that sometimes the little girls are the bigger trouble.  Gavin is not fearless, Kailee is!  She is fascinated by our stairs, is trying to figure out how to climb up any and everything, and she was the cause of our first visit to the ER for an accident.

It was a typical Monday afternoon, I was printing out worksheets to photocopy, when I got the phone call.  Kailee was playing with a children's chair, fell and hit her head on the corner of it.  By the time I arrived, the bleeding had stopped though it began to bleed again in the car.  Her caregivers were wonderful, explaining where I could get after hours care and providing snacks for both kids.  We headed out, and I called our pediatrician to see what she recommended.  Her recommendation: head to Children's Medical Center (in Plano).  We were lucky.  The wound was not too deep and was able to be repaired with super glue (which I learned was originally used for medical purposes).

It would be Kailee, not Gavin.  She's supposed to be my dainty little girl.  Well, she's a bit of a firecracker and we have already learned we have to keep an eye on that one.

When reality hits ya...

Last night I had one of those all too rare moments when reality hits you and knocks you down in a good way.  I was looking at my profile pic on facebook and the reality that I have a daughter hit me in the heart with such an overwhelmingly wonderful feeling of love for her and for my life.  So often I am running around, surviving, getting through all the many daily obligations without pausing to stop and look at the awesomeness that is my life.

Side note: I still have moments when I look at Gavin and think, "It's so crazy that I'm his mom!  I can't believe I'm a mom!"

I also still have moments when I look at Brady and can't believe we are married.  I can't believe it's already been 5 years!  CRAZY.  I love you, Brady!

Dinner Victories & Breakfast Allergies...

Last night, Gavin did not want to eat what Brady fixed for him.  In fact, he would not eat anything.  For 45 minutes, he sat at the dinner table while we waited for him to eat his green beans.  Gavin LOVES green beans but last night, he refused to eat them.  We waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  FINALLY, he ate all of his green beans, earning the reward of a peanut butter sandwich.  The little turkey even admitted how much he LOVES green beans afterwards.

Fast forward to tonight...  The whole ride home from school, Gavin kept repeating, "I don't want to eat in my house.  I just want McDonald's.  I don't like food at my house!"  I thought, "Oh great, the fight continues."  However, Gavin surprised us all.  He actually sat down nicely and ate 2/3 of his meal.  He would not eat the chicken, but he ate all of his green beans and macaroni.  He even had seconds of the green beans and macaroni.  WHAT A RELIEF!  Hopefully this continues.  I was particular about meat (still am sometimes) growing up, so I have no qualms with him being particular about it.  Kailee is our resident carnivore.  Actually, she's more like our resident hoover.  She eats ANY and EVERYTHING!

Speaking of eating, it seems that Kailee is definitely allergic to eggs.  Back in August, she had an allergic reaction upon eating some bites of egg and some bites of banana.  We were not sure which caused the reaction but assumed the bananas were the culprit since eggs are in everything.  Guess what; we were wrong!  As I was buckling Kailee in her car seat this morning, I noticed she was scratching at her ear.  I didn't think much of it, but when we arrived at daycare, I discovered a pink, puffy, itchy-faced girl.  We ran Gavin in and headed to Wal-Mart for Benadryl.  Of course the Pharmacy wasn't open, meaning I could not get a syringe with which I planned to give her the meds.  Kailee, being the trooper that she is, drank the Benadryl out of the measuring cup provided like a pro.  I think she was disappointed she didn't get more--crazy child LOVES medicines, especially ones that taste like bubblegum.

What baffles me is why she is able to eat foods with eggs as an ingredient without any reaction.  I guess we need to take her to an allergist and find out what exactly is going on here.

The "won't eat what Daddy fixes for dinner cure" Is there one?

Gavin is going through a VERY picky eating phase and it's driving us insane.  Brady has been so kind as to fix dinner every night and Gavin won't eat anything.  He pushes the plate away and makes snide comments about how the food is yucky throughout the meal (because we make him sit and watch us eat even if he's not going to eat).  Last night, he did not eat dinner because we refused to fix him something else.  The rule is, if you try it and decide you don't like it, Mommy or Daddy will fix you something else.  If you don't try it, you don't eat.  Gavin would not try it, so he did not eat.  Tonight he at least tried it but ended up with a PB sandwich.

What can we do to fix this?  My mom thinks we are mean to not just fix what he wants.  I realize that when I was growing up, she had to fix food I'd eat because of the diabetes and insulin:carbohydrate ratio dilemma, but we don't have that issue with Gavin.  I don't want every person having a different meal each night.  That is waaaaaay too time consuming and quite ridiculous.  However, Gavin is so skinny, I don't think he should be skipping meals even if it is to teach him a lesson.

What can we do?

Oh the joys of parenting...

Just your typical weekend with kids

What a weekend...  We were supposed to go to a department party on Saturday night but of course Gavin got sick.  If it's not one kid, it's the other.  Poor baby even pooped in his pants--something he NEVER did in potty training (yes, we realize how lucky we were there).  Since he was still feverish today, of course I took him to the doctor just to learn that it's not Strep Throat and merely a virus we have to wait out.

YaYa was so nice to give Gavin 2 new games for the Wii: Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman.  All I can say is I have NO clue what the purpose of these games are.  We made some progress on the Star Wars one only to end up split up between some weird wall with one of us a droid (or something like that).  I miss the days of simple video games like Super Mario Bros 1,2 and 3.  Tonight Brady can have his turn playing these new games with Gavin.

Since Gavin and Daddy are watching the Cowboys and Kailee's sleeping, I'm off to do laundry and start True Blood Season 2.

The Shining

Last weekend, we had a moment with Gavin that brought back horrifying memories of "The Shining."  Gavin kept talking about "Tony on his shoulder" and how "Tony" told him to do things.  I was about to freak out until he said that it was "Uncle Tony."  Then he changed his mind and said it was the Tony that is Iron Man.  Either way, it's much less scary than what I originally feared.

The first official post...

It amazes me how much Kailee's personality is developing right now.  She is so curious and gets into EVERYTHING.  She knows exactly which cabinet holds the wrapping paper and likes to pull it out and unroll it.  She loves to climb on the fireplace and then cry for help because she's afraid and does not know how to get down.  She tries to talk to us but nothing makes sense.  Occasionally we can recognize a word mixed in the babbling but it's not logically placed.  It's definitely entertaining.

This stage is kinda a blur in my memories of Gavin.  This is for 2 very big reasons.  1. Brady was deployed and I was wishing for time to move quickly.  2. I was trying to balance everything on my own (with the help of my wonderful parents).  I am definitely making up for lost time this time around.

Speaking of Gavin...  That kid cracks me up.  I hear him say things to Kailee, the dogs, and his toys that I've said to him.  He also tried to use those lines on me every now and then.  My favorite things that he says are the things that I don't see coming.  He is so smart and says/asks things I just don't anticipate.  I am most excited to keep track of his Gavin-isms on this blog.  I wish I had started the blog sooner to keep up with them all. :)

By the way, today marks the 1 year anniversary of the end of the colic.  Those 2.5 months of 5pm-1am screaming are reason #1 that there won't be anymore babies in our casa!

About the Barbers

We are one section of the huge Barber clan. Brady and I met in 2004, got married in 2005, were blessed with Gavin in 2006 and were blessed with Kailee in 2009. You know how they say fairy tales never come true? Well, I'm one of the fortunate few who got the fairy tale. I feel truly blessed to have the most amazing husband in the world and the most wonderful children.