Funny Things Kids Say - Part 1

• We were sitting in the basement and someone farted. Grady smelt it and promptly said 'Daddy, you stink. Change your diaper.'

• Grady wanted to turn on the TV in the basement that is not hooked up to cable so I told him it was broken. He told me to put batteries in it.

• Grady wanted to put lotion on his hands and it was old and the lotion had crusted over the hole. I told him the lotion was broken. He again told me to put batteries in it.

• When asked, he will tell me that he is a big boy, Cooper is is a little boy, and Mommy is big. Thanks dear.

• Grady has a small toy story fold out couch like every other kid.... We had his 'girlfriend' Marley over to play and he pulled out the couch, crawled in the blanket and shouted out 'Marley, will you come and sleep with me' to which she replied 'Yes I'll sleep with you Grady!'

• Grady is not yet potty trained but he is getting really close. How do you know this you ask? When he has to poop he goes into the tent, closet, behind the couch etc. for privacy. If you come anywhere near him he tells you to go away. When asked if he will poop on the potty, he says 'No, I am still pooping in here!'

• We were in Zeller's waiting in line to pay and Grady decided it was his Canadian Idol audition and decided to belt out the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and then the Farmer in the Dell (which I love to hear him sing). Many many customers glanced our way and couldn't help but smile :)

• This morning Grady sneezed while I was getting his breakfast ready.

Grady: Aren't you going to say bless you Mom?
Mom: Bless You Grady
Grady: Thank you Mom.

• Every morning when James is getting ready to leave for work, Grady turns to me and says, Where Grady go today? This kid obviously does not like to stay home!

• I bought Grady some new toothbrushes the other day and when I brought them out he was so excited he shouted, 'Good Job Mom, Thank-you!' And then chose the pink toothbrush to James dismay....

Wasted Money?

I have come to the conclusion that I fall for gimmicky items. You know the ones. The ones that claim to work without fail and will solve all your problems.

There I said it. I am that person that believes what the infomercial says. Although I have never gone as far as purchasing an item while watching the infomercial and calling the 1-800 number, I do in fact own many of these items.

Let's start with the ShamWow.

I was at the Stampede a few years back with some friends and they were doing live demonstration of the ShamWow. It was a real life infomercial. Now I was already familiar with the how the ShamWow worked so after watching how much coke it could soak up out of my carpet I was seriously thinking I needed one. Just as I am considering the purchase they announce for the next 5 minutes it is buy one get one free. As if they were never going to offer this discount ever again. My friend and I looked at each other and before you know it, I am the proud owner of the ShamWow.

Wasted Money? - Yes. Never used the ShamWow. Not even once.

Now let's chat about the Slap Chop.

Everybody has seen this infomercial. Have you seen how quickly it chops those nuts or how perfect the homemade salsa looks? You know you have thought the same thing. A different girlfriend has also seen the infomercials and informed her boyfriend that this is what she wanted for her birthday. What do you know... it is buy one get one free. Guess who she gave her free one to?

Wasted Money? - No, since I didn't buy it! I do use the Slap Chop. Sadly, it works no better than my original chopper. It also came with a cheese grader that I promptly threw in the garbage after one use. I don't recommend you waste your money....

Moving on we have the baby bullet.

This one, I admit, I did not see the infomercial until after purchasing the bullet. Now I see it all the time. Each time I see it, I get more excited to get my hands on it as it has not yet arrived. A friend emailed my one day saying she would like the baby bullet to make her daughter's baby food. She passed along the link and said they were buy one get one free (surprise, surprise) and would I want to split the cost. And wouldn't you know it... I said yes.

Wasted Money? - Only time will tell. As I said, I do not have the baby bullet yet but I have high hopes for this one!

Finally, that brings us to the Good Nite Lite.

There is no infomercial for this one but I heard some friends saying how well it worked for their kids. The night light is supposed to help your kids sleep later. If you have read this blog for any length of time you will know that Grady is an early riser. Sometimes earlier than 6am early. Cooper sleeps between 7:30 and 8:30am every day, but do I get to sleep that late... NO! I have to get up at the break on dawn with son #1.

The idea behind the night light is that kids cannot read time so they do not know when it is appropriate to wake up. When they wake during the night and the moon is still illuminated in their bedroom they know it is still time to sleep. When the sun comes up they are allowed to get out of bed. The parent sets the time that the sun comes up so you can gradually move it later until your child stays in bed until whatever time the parent has deemed appropriate to wake up. Sounds perfect, like it would solve all my problems... right?

Wasted Money? No!!

We ordered the night light after close to a month of night time waking and starting the day before 6am. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. The darn light took 2 weeks to arrive. We were pleasantly surprised that Grady was really interested in the light. We talked about the moon and the sun non-stop the day it arrived in the mail. We set the light up in his room for the moon to come on at 7:45pm so we could talk about night time and what the moon means before he goes to bed. We shut the door and told him we'll get up when the sun comes up. The first morning was set for 6:25.

At about 6:15am you hear the normal cries from Grady's room. I went in and waited with him for the sun to come up. It was a long 10 minutes of crying and trying to open the door. When that sun finally did come up, Grady was thrilled. The sun on the light is pretty impressive. So with that we went downstairs. Even after we went downstairs we went back up to look at the sun several times and even to show Dad when he woke up. The sun stays lit for 2 hours after it comes on. Maybe in case the child sleeps in??

After 2 days of screaming for 10 minutes before the sun came up and sitting in his room with him, we decided to set it back to 6:15am, the time he was actually waking up so he could praise for sleeping until the sun came up. It seemed to work. Now he would hold his cries until 6:15am sharp and then cry. We left it at this time for a few days until the cries became a holler of ' Mom... the sun is up'. This was much more pleasant than the cries I was used to! The interesting thing was that it was 6:15 sharp. He actually sat in his bed and waited for the sun to come up. Wouldn't you know... it was actually working!

We moved the sun time up in 5 minutes increments once he would stay in bed until the sun came up for several days in a row. As of today we are at 6:30am. Although the past 2 mornings he slept until 7am. Not sure what is up with that.

So far we are thrilled with how the light is working. Even though we are only getting about 15 minutes extra sleep a day right not.. that is still over an hour extra a week! I'll take anything I can get at this point!

Exactly 1 Year Ago Today...

....We found out we were expecting this little prince.

We have been doubly blessed!

Stop. Potty Time.

Or not.

We have underwear.

Lots and lots...

Of underwear.


We have more than one potty.

We have an infant who will wear underwear.


When toddler asked to wear the underwear said infant was wearing, we took of the blue underwear and put the green underwear on the infant.

Still... toddler would not even try on the underwear over his diaper.

We have a long journey ahead...

Zoo Day

This past weekend was so nice outside that our little family of 4 decided to take a trip to the zoo. In the past Grady has been more excited to use the playground equipment than to watch the animals... talk about an expensive trip to the park! This time around Grady couldn't get enough of the animals!

Here are our 2 little zoo goers....

Grady wore his bear hat in public for one of the first times since he got it at Christmas. We though it was appropriate for the zoo.

Cooper spent a good portion of the trip in the carseat. Look at those baby blues!

If you ask Grady what his favorite part of the zoo was he would tell you the hippos.

We stopped for snacks where Grady promptly spilt his gold fish on the ground to the birds delight! Notice the playground in the background? This is generally where most of our time has been spent in the past... this time he was not interested in it at all!

After snacks we continued on to look at more animals.

We had a very interesting stop at the elephants which was a special request by the biggest young man. We were innocently watching said elephant when it decided to empty its bladder. What a sight! It was like a bathtub (not a sink) faucet gushing onto the floor. The pee was followed by a big poop. You can imagine how Grady talked about this sight for the rest of the zoo trip....

Next up, we paid to feed the birds ducks. Grady wasn't too keen at first but enjoyed it in the end.

If you ask James and I, Grady's favorite part of the zoo were the airplanes flying over head. The zoo is close to the airport so there were many airplane spottings.

Towards the end, Cooper has to be moved to the baby bjorn.

It really was a great trip and the best by far that we have done with Grady. I am thinking about getting an annual pass for the summer....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your day is full of big slobbery kissses from you kids and/or husband (hopefully not your dog)!

Our First Snowman

Yesterday the weather was so nice that we headed out to make a snow man.

By 'we' I meant James and Grady.

Cooper and I came out to supervise for a few minutes and for the opportunity to get a picture.

Grady had a great time helping Dad to get the snowballs perfect.

Couldn't resist snapping a picture of Cooper in the great light.

All the hard work paid off. Meet Frosty.

Here is my failed attempt at a group shot. Minus me of course.

If you were to drive by our house today you would see that Frosty now has a Mrs. Frosty built this morning. If I wasn't so busy lazy, I would have taken a picture of the lovebirds together.

Cooper - 3 Months

Dear Cooper,

This month has brought lots of visitors, cold weather, lots of snow, and indoor fun! The days just seem to fly by as we are busy getting together for play dates, going to the mall, and watching Say Yes to the Dress on our days alone together :) I am patiently waiting for nicer weather to arrive so we can get out in the stroller and go to the park.... In the meantime you have been a busy boy doing the following:

• You have been making these cooing noices for a few weeks now when you smile really big and this month you had your first full on laugh! January 23rd all three of us witnessed you laughing at mom pretending to sneeze. Weird, I know!

• You are becoming your mama's boy as you have started 'talking' up a storm! You babble a lot in the car, in your swing, and even while just being held. If only we could understand what you were saying....

• A nickname to add to the growing list - Cooper Dooper


• You are becoming much more interested in toys. At the beginning of the month we brought out all of Grady's baby toys and the new toys you got when you were born. You have a favorite toy that you will follow with your eyes for a long time... You are starting to be so much more interactive! You also enjoy spending time in the crib looking at the mobile (not sleeping!), sitting in the swing looking at yourself in the mirror above, and also in the ocean bouncy chair that has lots of lights and music. Not to mention the baby einstein activity mat with the star that your big brother loved. We even took it to New York. Enough said. Each every time we put you on the mat and turn on the star, you smile. A big ear to ear grin.


• One afternoon right after I fed you a bottle you continued to suck your hand. Knowing that you weren't hungry I stuck a soother in your month and low and behold you took it! I tried for about 2 weeks after you were born and you wanted nothing to do with it. Now... you love it! I am trying hard not to overuse it but it just makes you so happy (and quiet), it is hard not to! Since your brother is 2.5 years old and still thumb sucking, I figured I would rather you have a soother so I can throw it away when we decide the time is right....


• I held off mentioning this because it is probably too much information... but I want to remember this in 20 years! Being a formula fed baby, you don't poop as often. But when you poop, you really poop. It seems that this month you build up all your poop and let it all out first thing in the morning. It is out of the diaper and up your back in no time. Thankfully you have chosen to do this early in the morning so we are not out and about!

• You are smiling with such ease these days. You are such a happy baby. You smile the most when we stick our tongues out and make funny noices. I wonder if you will be able to roll your tongue like Grady and I or if you will be a non roller like Dad....?

• You had your first set of vaccinations. You did really well. You cried harder than Grady did but it was short lived. I let you sleep on me all afternoon while I read my book. It was relaxing. For both of us!


• As of your January 27th vaccinations, you weighed a whopping 14 pounds, 9 ounces and were still 22.5 inches long! You are our little chunky monkey! I think that put you at 97 percentile height to weight ratio. Wowzers. This is over 3 pounds heavier than G was at this age (11 pounds, 2 ounces).

• You have been a big eater this month and are up to 4 ounce feeds every 2 to 3 hours (but usually closer to 2!). I really don't mind though as you eat less during the night. It seemed that almost to the day that we found out your weight, you went on a self imposed diet. You started lasting 2.5 to 3 hours between feed and dropped a feed at night. This does not mean you sleep more, you just eat less!

• You have lost some of the dark hair on top and have 2 bald spots on the back of your head. Your brother didn't get bald spots as he refused to sit in a chair for longer than a few minutes without screaming!

• You continuously scratch yourself. So if you notice that there are marks on your face, they were self inflicted!

• I think your tear duct may have already unplugged itself if that is in fact what you had. The tearing only lasted about 2 weeks so maybe it was just a little infection. We have spotted a few real tears but are so far few and far between.


• You wear a size 2 diaper but are quickly growing out of them. I have already purchased a big box of size 3 diapers to have on standby.

• You are wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes and 6-12 months in certain brands.

• Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us this month. She thought you had changed so much and even thinks you have changed during her time here. She loves holding you when you sleep and making you laugh.

• You are not having long naps like you did last month. You cat nap all day while we are out and about and sleep mostly in the swing when we are at home. I put the soother in your mouth and bounce you around a bit and you fall asleep easily. It is the staying asleep part that is the problem! That is one issue with the soother, when it falls you get mighty upset.

• You sleep in the crib for the first shift of the night... most of the time. If you fall asleep downstairs before our bedtime, you sleep in the crib. If not, you sleep in our bed. It is just easier to get you to fall asleep if you are cuddled up next to us. When you do sleep in the crib, you generally last about 3 hours.

• Mommy's friends from Saskatoon came to meet you this month. They thought you were a doll. You spent a good portion of the day at the mall with us and were relatively good. Minus the blow out poop which resulted in a change of outfit and poop all over the car seat cover.... and the second poop which left me wondering whether a third outfit would need to be purchased. Thankfully you kept it all inside the diaper this time.

• Last but not least, you had your first visit to the pool. The three of us went with Grandma and you slept through most of the outing. Now that I think of it, you really didn't go in the pool per say.... But you you did get wet when a huge bucket of water dumped on us without much warning. That is a whole other story.

It is amazing to watch you grow and change each month. It is surreal to me that you are already laughing and interactive. I am excited to see what the next month brings as I already know it will bring your first plane ride and your first visit to SK... bring it on!

Love,

Mommy