More Jammer Shots

No Glamour shots here, but rather a few of Drew in his Jammers, hence the title of my post.

The definition of jammers in Evan language= Pajamas, and we have all adopted the term and use it exclusively.

Festivities

On the 4th of July, I got crazy and let the boys stay up late. I have been ridiculed in the past about my strictness for bedtime. But I don't care what people think (at least about that!). My boys sleep better than just about any babies or kids that I know. I did sleep training with both of them at age 8-9 months, and I really am strict about their naps and about bed time. It means I can't run very many errands or do much at all during the day because of Drew's naps, and it means us missing out on a lot of night time activities. But whatever, that's the sacrifice I make to have my boys get into good sleeping habits. But I threw caution to the wind on Sunday so we could attend two 4th of July parties at our friend's houses. At the second party I even put Drew in a pack n' play and let him go to sleep in a back room, another thing I don't think I have ever done, just so we could stay and play longer. We definitely paid the price the next day, as Evan was as cranky as ever. But I think it was worth it. We enjoyed the fireworks immensely. And at the first party, the kids enjoyed playing in a ball pit that was floating in the pool! Sounds crazy dangerous, but it really wasn't.

And baby Kevin makes 3

Yawn... "It's hard work being this cute".

Dude, haven't you ever heard of "personal space"?

When all else fails, put on some Baby Einstein.

"Psssst, that's my giraffe you just put in your mouth.... just drop it slowly to the ground and no one will get hurt".

I baby sat my friend's 8 month old, baby Kevin yesterday, while she took her older son to see Toy Story 3. We had such a good time. It was a lot of work feeding, bathing and putting 3 little ones to bed simultaneously. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, it's truly a labor of love. She was so sweet to watch both boys for me the other day when I had my doctor's appointment. Anyway, Kevin is a joyful little boy. Can you tell Drew likes baby Kevin? And baby Kevin adores Drew in return.

Eva? Evelyn?

Here are some more pictures of Evan that I took the other day. Just look at the 2nd one from the bottom and tell me Evan wouldn't make a cute girl? Ok, maybe I should try for one more... a girl this time. Because I look at this picture and imagine a big red bow in his hair and think, Oh what a cute girl we could have!!!! Sorry Evan!!

Happy 4th of July from Evan

It's only fair that I take equally cheesy shots of Evan, if I am going to take cheesy shots of Drew. So here is Evan holding my 4th of July door ornament in an attempt to add a little patriotic bling to my little picture. Did I just say bling? Uggh. I hate myself sometimes.

C-Girl and the Boys

C-Girl is kind of an attention whore. She always wants to be in the center of everything. Sometimes she has had enough and will retreat when Evan is getting too rough, like in this last picture where she is all blurry because she is getting ready to put it in reverse and beat it. But usually she is a good sport and lets them walk on her tail, pull her ears, etc.

Cuddle Time

Here are Evan and Drew doing their favorite morning past time. Drew always rises first. I usually feed him and by the time I am done doing that, Evan wakes up. So I open Evan's door and plop Drew down in his crib and I grab a toothbrush for me. Let's be honest... by beauty routine is pretty quick n' dirty. I know you are just stunned because I look so put together. If I ever said LOL I would insert it here. But LOL is one of my many pet ridiculous pet peeves. Actually, I take that back. I don't care if anyone else says it, I just think it sounds weird coming out of my mouth, so I don't say it or type it myself. Instead I usually type out Ha Ha. Because that's so much cooler!!! Oh for heaven's sake I can change the subject like no other! So anyway, I grab a toothbrush and let the boys play for a minute, and they just tickle each other and cuddle away. It's pretty freaking precious. Evan doesn't know it yet, but they are best buds and I just eat it up.

Happy 4th of July.... from Drew

He's a tad cynical as you can see... who wouldn't be with this economy. But this is Drew Edward Starstrom. And he is proud to be an American. And so he wants to wish you a Happy 4th of July holiday weekend.

And yes, as you can also see...I have a bit too much time on my hands today (from the number of posts I have done today, I think you will agree). My boys nap good, what can I say. I have floors to be swept, laundry to be folded and dinner to make, but it's much more fun to make little collages of Drew with non-sensical messages and posts galore.

And the Saga Continues

For those of you keeping up with Evan's progress with swimming... here is an update. And for those of you who haven't been (pay attention)... here is a quick recap. He started lessons about 5 weeks ago. Initially he liked it. Then about a week later, hated it. Then about a week after that, he kind of liked it. Then a few days later, hated it. We kept going, waiting for another, love it or like it stage. I kept lugging Drew and Evan to swim lessons in the freaking 100 degree weather. I kept cheering the little guy on, while holding a sweaty, fussy baby at the side of the pool for 30 minutes a day. I kept getting out the ole check book. And that, liking it stage just never came. Day after day, he kept crying and crying, from start to finish. I actually told the swim instructor before we started that Evan cried all last summer any time we even got close to water. She said she would have him swimming in no time, and only once before in her 12 years of teaching had she ever deemed a child, NOT ready to swim. Last week she deemed Evan NOT ready to swim. Ouch. That hurt. That hurt my pride, my Evan's pride (oh wait, he doesn't' care...but was concerned about the lack of lollipops he would be getting now since that was the only thing he looked forward to regarding his swim lessons with Ms. Berit), but most of all that hurt my wallet. At a dollar a minute.... carry the one, add the 6....it was expensive. And kind of all for nothing. Oh well. Maybe next summer?

Failure to Thrive....I think NOT

My sweet baby boy had his 9 month check up this past week. The doctor told me that his weight gain was substandard. He was diagnosed with Failure to Thrive. A fancy term for....skinny. I have skinny babies. That's just the way it is! Evan doesnt' eat...hence, he is tiny. Drew on the other hand, does eat. But yet, he remains little. He is 15 lbs 14 oz., which they tell me is in the negative 5th percentile for weight for his age. How is there such a thing as a negative percentile anyway? That is the kind of question I linger on so I don't have to think about the fact at hand. Anyway, it's not a great thing for any mother to hear. I especially hate it because I have been hooked up to a breast pump for about 800 hours over the last 9 months and have spent countless hours making my own baby food. So obviously this must be my fault!!! Anyway, I look at his pudgy little face and think, failure to thrive? How is this possible? He looks like he is thriving to me? And that's what I am going to tell myself over the next few weeks while I sneak in extra bites of avocado into his little chipmunks cheeks and I wait for his weight check in one month!

No Rush

I am in no rush for my little boy to grow up. I like him best barefoot and in his little boy rompers. With Evan, I think I wanted him to look like a big boy way to early. Drew may be my last baby. And he has his whole life to wear Kacki shorts and Polo's (if he so chooses of course!). So bring on the baby rompers! The word romper just screams, baby. So perhaps he will never get big if I keep dressing him in rompers?

Why Buy Toys

Why buy toys when blankets are so much fun? Here is Evan with a simple red blanket. Simple to us, but he told me it's his helmet, laser and his tail. Not sure what type of person or thing wears a helmet, carries a laser and also has a tail... but that's what makes it so much fun!!!

Daycare?

As if it wasn't enough to take care of two little busy boys under the age of 3, but now I am running a regular daycare center out of my house! Woody and Charlie the bear are my new non-paying clients. Evan begs me every day to make them a bottle and give them a snack. Woody and Charlie take turns swinging in the swing, sitting in the high chair and jumping in the jumperoo. I think I will send a bill to Disney Pixar and Gund and see what I can get.

Disclosures from a Stay at Home Mama

I used to participate in Not Me Monday over at My Charming Kids Blog. But since I find the host of that blog particularly annoying and I don't read her blog anymore, I think I will find a new way of disclosing some of my many mishaps of Motherhood. This week, my mothering skills are pretty much perfect (yeah, I said it....). That or else my kids are just particularly sweet and life is kinda ho hum over the last few days. I am thinking it's the latter.

My first of many disclosures (I plan on making this a weekly thing): I decided I was going to try and eat healthier. So I went and got some healthy snacks to keep in my lab coat pocket when I was working over the weekend. One of my snacks was a trail mix with peanuts, almonds, dried mango and dried oranges. Then I realized that I don't really like trail mix. I came to the conclusion that I thought I liked trail mix because I am remembering the kind I ate as a kid with lots of MnMs. So I just stole some of Evan's MnM's (used for bribery mainly...darn, there goes my perfect mothering skills facade) and I poured those in, and it was a pretty good trail mix after that. So much for being healthy!