new music

i have been craving some new music lately, but had not come across anything that was speaking to me.  then, in the past couple of days, i've been on a streak and have been downloading songs like crazy.  I used to be a mostly rock/alternative kinda girl, but in the last few years i've turned into a more indie rock/alternative/folksy kinda girl.  today i was introduced to the band pomplamoose via miss magen (thanks magen!).  they are quirky fun goodness.  i especially enjoy hail mary & the way it was before.  i love the girl's voice (her name is nataly dawn).  they have several videos on youtube, so check them out.  i'm also in love with this kings of leon song, use somebody.  this song has been in corey's head for the past two days :)  what do you listen to?  any suggestions for some good music?  leave me a comment :)

monday + good reads

hello monday. 

i had a hard time getting myself going this morning.  not ready for the new week.  sleepy.  been in a fog all day.  it might have something to do with mr. slade being difficult last night.  he wanted to be held.  so i finally brought him back to bed with me around 12:30.  terrible, terrible habit to start.  plus, he moves around way too much when he sleeps.  i was able to get him back into his own bed around 2:30ish.  interrupted sleep is the worst.  so looking forward to my bed tonight. 

to my fellow readers:

i have discovered this site called goodreads.com.  it is an online community of readers and a way to keep track of what you've read, what you'd like to read, and discover new books and friends.  if you like to make lists like me, join up and become my friend.  i'd love to peruse your shelves :)

well, i'm off to get these kids baths and into bed, then have a large bowl of ice cream and off to bed myself.  i leave you with the picture of the day:

9 mos

yesterday, cash and slade turned 9 mos.  time is going by so fast.  it's heartbreaking and it's a relief that they are getting so big.  i have officially weaned them off breast milk this week, so now it's all formula, all the time.  another heartbreaking relief.  i think this is how it's going to be from now on, every new thing they do will be mixed with joy and sadness.  so excited they are growing big and healthy, more self-sufficient, little personalities shining through, but also realizing that i must savor every moment, because there will be no more babies after these two.

here's what they are up to:

Cash @ 9 mos  

this kid is so gosh darn adorable.  always ready with a smile.  finally growing in his front teeth :)  actually, right now he is getting 4 teeth in, his front two, and the ones next to his bottom two (for a total of 8).  Cash makes the most hilarious faces.  as you've seen on the blog, we often compare him to some interesting characters, and there are still a few i have yet to capture on camera: sloth -- from goonies (which is funny since we refer to slade as chunk) and either quasimodo or igor, not sure which the look is quite yet.  Cash also has this growl that he does which catches everyone by surprise.  it's real deep and truly, the child sounds possessed.  He finally started crawling this week.  it's real jerky, and his back half hasn't quite figured out how to sync up with his front half, but it moves him forward :)  it surprised me that he did start crawling because he's quite good at the army crawl, and i thought he might just go from that to walking.  hmmm... what else?  he loves to cruise around in the walker and loves being thrown up in the air.  he's a total stomach sleeper.  as soon as i lay him down for a nap or bedtime, he rolls over on to his belly.  and he loves to sleep with a blanket over his head.  cash has the longest legs.  i think he's gonna be tall.  :)

Slade @ 9 mos

so, so cute with his chubby little body and dimpled smile.  this guy is so melodramatic, if he doesn't get his way, you'd think to world is going to end.  he does this crumple, lays his forehead on the ground and just wails.  i think slade has begun to idolize jagger.  he watches jagger so closely and just laughs at every little thing jagger does.  slade is still not a good sleeper.  he stays up much later than the other two, wakes several times through the night, and he's the first one up in the morning.  i'm not sure what to do about that.  he's getting four teeth in right now, the top four, for a total of 6 teeth.  he loves to eat and watches me oh-so-closely while i'm eating, begging for food with his eyes, and pitching a fit if he doesn't get any.  he loves baths.  slade is a fast crawler.  he has started pulling himself up on everything, and cruises along the furniture.  he's seems to only be able to cruise to the left, and when he runs out of furniture, he cries because he's scared to sit down.  i'm constantly rescuing him from the standing position :)  he's still a toy stealer.  he can be across the room, look over to see cash with a toy, and he'll zip right over to relieve cash of it.  he's also a big fan of jagger's toys, much to jagger's dismay, and we've had to break up some fights between the two of them already.  he claps all the time, and thinks it's great when we clap with him.  i love his laugh :)

fall tv wrapup

Friday

Corey watches these two shows:
Corey's a fan of sci-fi, and i have become a fan as well, since i've known him.  he rubs off on me.  but i don't watch either of these shows on a regular basis.

we both watch these two:
i've talked about my love for psych before.  monk is a fun show as well.  they have funky seasons though, so both shows don't start up until January.

Saturday:

no shows.  today is a catch up day.  we watch the shows that we have taped but not had a chance to watch, as well as try to squeeze in our netflix movies.

Sunday:

we only really started watching this show last season, but it quickly became a favorite.  it's interesting to see how the teams work together.  i don't think i could do it, but i think corey would do well.  he'd have to do the race with, hmmm... andy maybe.  i think they could win :)

well, that about wraps up our tv habits.  there's a few more shows that we catch every once and a while, that i didn't mention, but these are the main ones.  it tells you a little bit about us, yes?  i know everyone is waiting on kid updates, but i couldn't help making this list.  i'm a girl who likes lists, and someday when i'm old and gray, it'll be fun to go back & recall just what i was into at this stage in my life :)

Now, back to the kids...

jam packed thursdays

oh thursday, glorious thursday.  You are so chock full o' good shows.
so many shows, that for a brief and shining moment, i contemplated getting a second dvr to be able to tape them all since we are only able to record two shows at a time and there are more that i want to see (don't worry, i'm not quite that crazy! or am i?).

let us begin with this gem:
the office.  so hilariously funny.  love it, love it, love it.  

next:
love the dialogue; it's so witty.  the past couple of season's story lines have kinda gone off the deep end, but i'm hoping they'll bring it back around.

then we have this show:

another show that makes me laugh.  america ferrara is great, and i love the marc and amanda characters.

and finally:
we catch it when we can, but it has been overruled by the previous listed shows.  i enjoy it, but sometimes i get so mad about who is voted the winner.  anyone want to tape it and send it to me? :)

wednesday tv lineup

love, love, love this show:

just look at the colors.  beautiful.  i love the cinematography.  the dialogue is great.  it's not a complicated show, but it is definitely fun and lovely to watch.  it starts Oct. 1st.  so excited.

then there is the bravo reality/competition shows.  i get sucked into pretty much every one of them.  i especially love this one:

it just blows me away that they are able to come up with a design and actually make it in, like, two days.  that's amazing.

here's another one that gets me:

the contestants are able to make some of the most disgusting food (at least, disgusting to me) look delicious.  i have absolutely no skill in the kitchen, but i am so fascinated by those that can just whip something yummy right up.

when this show comes back on, we'll be glued to the set: 

although i gotta tell you, this show frustrates me more than anything else.  it's always giving us way more questions than answers.  i am interested to see how it will all play out.  it better not be some lame ending :)

corey watches this show:
i tend to get freaked out way too easily, so i don't always watch it, but corey usually wants me to see the reveals.  creeps me out.

i hate to admit it, but i also record america's next top model.  i can't stand tyra banks, and i usually just fast forward to the photo shoot and results.  i've always been intrigued by the world of modeling and the way they transform the girls.  the rest of the junk i could do without.  

well, i think that's about it for wednesday.  are you amazed yet by the vast amount of hours spent in front of the tv?  it's insane, i know.  tomorrow is even more jam-packed.  just you wait and see :)

i'm on the road + tuesday tv lineup

they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  well, i think i must be halfway there because i have the best of intentions and the worst follow through.  i still have thank you cards to send out from jagger's birthday.  heck, i still have thank you cards that i intended to send out from when the twins were born.  i'm always thinking about things i would like to do for others, like sending out care packages, buying housewarming gifts, and other little random things.  i have all these great ideas.  i may even go out and buy the supplies that i need to make the gifts or projects, and yet i never complete them.  what is with that?  it is a major personality flaw.  i need to work on it. 

tuesday tv lineup

we are fans of this show that started last season:

i like jonny lee miller and i think he does a good job on this show.  i such a sucker for court dramas.  it doesn't actually start until Oct. 14th, but i am so looking forward to it.

we also watch this show:

we only started watching this show about two seasons ago.  it was highly recommended by andy and we are glad we started watching it.  i find house to be a very interesting character :)

tonight is the season finale to this show:

it's fun.  once again, the first season was the best and the subsequent seasons have kinda lacked, but we still watch it.  

of course, i also try to squeeze in the results show of dancing with the stars.  i think they draw that show out far too much.  i'm not sure that two nights are really necessary because a lot of the show is just repeat stuff, but whatever.

is anyone watching the new show fringe?  we missed the season premiere because our power was out but we caught the second show.  the concept is interesting, but i did not like the main actors.  i am not a fan of joshua jackson at all and the girl that plays the main character started to get on my nerves by the end of the show.  what's your opinion?

57 times a day + fall tv

at least 57 times a day, this is where i find cash:

he has an amazing knack for getting stuck under the couch.  if you take your eyes off him for two seconds, he has backed up underneath and and is trying to get his head to fit.  i don't understand what the appeal is.  slade occasionally will get stuck underneath too, but not nearly as often as cash does.  it's a constant battle with him.  even when we put pillows down to block the gap, cash finds a way.   that kid is so silly :)

 

tv lineup

if you spend a little bit of time around corey and me, you will soon realize that we have an infinite number of inside jokes.  this is due to the copious amounts of television and movies we watch.  i am a homebody, even more so now that we have kids, and corey has always been a tv buff.  we spend an obscene amount of time watching the tube, and it has brought us closer together ;)  

dvr has been a godsend and a curse.  now we don't have to choose which show we want to watch, we can record them both and not miss a thing.  but, we also have found more shows to watch, which truly we do not need.  we get sucked in and once we are hooked, there is no hope of escape. 

we are pumped for the fall tv lineup.  so many good shows this season, and i'm sure there are new ones to be discovered.

Monday night brings this show:

love it.  the first season was the best.  this is the third season, and i'm excited to see where the story line goes next.

i also watch dancing with the stars as long as it doesn't conflict with anything else.  if there is something else on that corey wants to watch, this is the show that is given up.  it is just fun fluff.

i'm always the lookout for more good shows.  what do you watch on mondays?  if you have any suggestions, just let me know :)

Terry, it's your birthday!

i so enjoy watching you enjoy your grandchildren.  they have a blast with you.  i am glad you are a part of our lives.  i hope this coming year is filled with joy and good memories!

Happy Birthday Terry!

the great hair debacle

jagger's hair has gotten really long, especially his mohawk.  so today, papa decided it was time trim up the 'hawk.  the problem is, jagger hates getting his hair cut.  it has only been the last two times we've cut it that he has started to freak out.  the first time he freaked out, i think was because we didn't realize he had an ear infection, and the noise coupled with the sensitivity around his ears was too much for him; and now he is remembering that time.  corey thinks he is just being difficult.  well, whatever the cause, he hates it and as soon as he realizes what going to happen, he covers his ears and tries to run away from us.  

today we plopped him in his booster seat in front of the television, turned on sesame street really loud in the hopes that it would distract him, and began the cut.  he immediately started crying and would not sit still, which made it difficult to get the mohawk straight.  after a bit of struggling, corey started to get frustrated and went with a buzz cut {sigh, sadness, for i really love the mohawk}.  

and then, corey went to trim around his neck, and jagger's struggling, and i'm holding his hands to keep him from touching his hair, and corey's telling me to keep jagger still, and during this mass chaos, this happened:

a big ol' chunk of hair cut out where it's not supposed to be.  whoops.

i find it kinda funny, plus, it gave me something to blog about.  jagger's hair grows pretty fast so it won't even be noticeable before too long.  but corey... corey did not find it funny.  of course, he is the one that is struggling to cut jagger's hair so i can definitely understand his frustration and anger.  but he's over it now and we can laugh about it.

here's the final product.  look at this guy... 

he looks so different with his hair cut short. 

so much older.  not like my little toddler anymore, more like a little boy.  and it makes me a little sad.
my goodness.  i love you kid.  my heart just overflows.

stories & memories

my main reason for starting this blog is to be able to stay connected to our family and friends who are far away (particulary our parents) .  so they could see glimpses of our daily lives and feel as if they are not missing anything.  

but i also have another reason.  i have a terrible memory.  i can barely remember things that happened when i was a kid and have very few clear memories from my childhood.  it's sad, really.  so this blog is also for me and the kids.  so they can read and see what they were doing, what was going on in our lives, and recall the funny stories.  

corey remembers so much of his childhood.  i love hearing the stories about the crazy situations he got into and the funny things he thought.  i'm sure part of the reason he is able to recall these stories so well is because they are repeated over and over within the family (and truthfully, with the church congregation).  well, this is my way of repeating.  sharing it here, then you guys reading it, and then us laughing and sharing it together.  

it's the little things i want to remember, the everyday moments.  those are the things that are so easily forgotten.  and when they boys are older and they go back and read these stories,  i hope they can see how much we love them.

and now i will share an example of how great it is to be able to remember the little things from your childhood.  this cracked me up.

we were waiting in a drive-thru and there was a flock of seagulls in the parking lot next to us.  this is our conversation:

Corey:  when i was a kid i used to think all seagulls were girls.

Me:  Huh, that's funny.  What made you think that?

Corey:  Well, it might have something to do with the fact that for the longest time I thought seagulls were actually called she-gulls.  And I used to think, "where are all the he-gulls at?"

Me:  hahahahaha

 

I can't wait to record the funny things these kids are going to say :) 

 

the elusive bearded he-gull :)

not much

not much to report on.  the kids are all doing a lot better which makes corey and me happy.  we've not done anything exciting the past few days.  a lot of lounging around, snuggling on the couch, reading books, hanging with friends, and watching tv.  the fall tv season is starting so we are getting all pumped up for our shows to start.  next week i'll start listing everything we watch.  be prepared to be awed and a little (or maybe a lot) appalled at the amount of tv we take in.  it really is quite astounding.  

for now i leave you with a couple of snapshots from the past few days:

snuggling (and dozing) while watching sesame street 

jagger used to make this face all the time.  i call it snuffin'

cash's snuffin' at me while cruising around in the walker :)

you don't want to mess with this guy

he'll scar you up

playing and splashing in the teeny tiny puddle in our driveway

it made him so happy :)

wind + power/all boy/pitiful little faces

wind + power
man, we had some crazy wind yesterday evening. it knocked the power out in our area for quite a few hours and even after the power came back on, the cable and internet were still out. there are quite a few trees down and junk just blown all over. i can't imagine what it was(is) like for the people in houston dealing with hurricane ike and the aftermath. we are praying for them.

all boy
jagger is 100% all boy. he is constantly getting new scrapes and bruises (although he shakes them off pretty well!). he doesn't seem to have much fear and he is always doing something. jumping off things, climbing things, tumbling around without checking to see what may be in the way, etc. yesterday he was playing a little too rough with wolfgang and he got a nice rug burn on his chin. i guess i better get used to this because he is just gonna get into worse scrapes and soon there will be two more boys following behind him.



pitiful little faces
poor cash and slade were just so unhappy today. they both have bad diaper rashes and are getting some new teeth in so that is definitely part of the problem. plus, though they seem to be past the roseola, they have some lingering clingy/crankiness going on. normally they can be pretty content just crawling around the living room checking things out, but today that was not the case. they would just crumple on the floor and cry. look at these pitiful faces. you know it's bad when the snot starts flowing :(

this and that

this past week, several times while jagger should have been sleeping, i've been hearing him either laughing hysterically (which is kinda creepy) or barking like a dog.  i didn't want to go in and see what is up because it's been at odd hours like 6:00 in the morning and i didn't want him thinking he was going to get out of bed.  But i've been intensely curious as to what is causing this behavior.  we finally found out what it was the other day.  he has been climbing onto the back of his crib and looking out the window.  i think he must be seeing the neighbor's dog or maybe a cat or squirrel in our yard and it is amusing him.  who knows for sure?  that kid is just goofy.

slade was fussing pretty bad one day last week, so i went into the kitchen to make him a bottle and suddenly he was very quiet.  i came back into the living room and found him like this:

here is a few pics of cash's pearly whites as promised way back when:

bottom two

goofy top two

slade finally got his bottom teeth in as well and his top two are coming in just like cash's.  that's just weird!

i think that cash might be a related to bat child.  sometimes he makes these faces and with the goofy teeth, i can see a resemblance.  what do you think?

i wonder if when cash is older and goes back and reads these blogs, if he'll be upset that we keep likening him to odd looking creatures.  it's all in good fun, my son.  i've got to give you something to talk about in therapy :)