Treasures? From a little scavanger

Braddoc is my little scavanger. He eats like crazy and always seems to find EVERYTHING on the floor that you dont want him to find. Sometimes he will find something right after I vaccumed. He is always finding little things to put in his mouth. Im sure its alot easier to find things when he has a big brother who leaves things everywhere.

I was thinking about it the other day when I was vaccuming. I never had to watch out for Landon to make sure he did not put things in his mouth. He would just play and if he went toward something he was not supposed to have all I had to do was tell him no and he would move away from it. Is Braddoc so different? And then it dawned on me, Braddoc has Landon.... and Landon had no one to leave little treasures laying around. I suppose having Landon makes it lots easier to find little things to put into his mouth. :O)

Here are just two examples. I went to feed Braddoc the other day and he kept trying to latch on but pulling away and running his tongue all over in his mouth. He hoards food in his cheeks so I thought it might be that and I stuck my finger in there to get the food out. Nothing in there!!! He does it again so I try again and this time my finger hits something on the roof of his mouth. I pull and pull and pull and finally this comes out........

...... a band aid!!!??? Lucky it was not used, Landon likes to get into them and play with them and calls them stickers. So some how my poor baby got ahold of a "sticker" and a"ate" it.

I was changing Braddocs diaper the other day and found this little treasure... (dont worry I did not touch it with my fingers and I washed it) First time this has ever happened with either of my kids.

I always hear stories about finding stuff in the diapers but it had never happened to me until I found the paper clip. Now I really dont know where he got that since I dont have any in the house.... hmmmm probably church!!! What a silly boy!!

Tis my life now!

It seems I live my life playing catch up. And I tell myself when Noah gets home that I will be able to get caught up, but Im not really sure whether or not that will happen either. :O) Oh well! So here it is, sorry there is so much!!

One upon a time: This is what Landon says anytime he opens a book, a magazine, a pamphlet, a coloring book, anything paper. He reads a story and always starts with "One upon a time....." Its so fun to watch him. He then looks at the pictures and tells a pretty good story. He has a good bit of his books memorized, maybe I should read with him some more so he really knows them.


Tip Toe: He came home from church one day telling me to TIP TOE, everywhere I went. I told him baby was sleeping and so he had to be quiet and so he told me, "Oh I just walk like this" (tip toeing across the room) "I be very quiet and tip toe, okay mom? okay?" I laughed and said where did you learn that. He told me he learned it in nursery and thats how we walk to be quiet and reverent. Too precious. He does it all the time now when we need to be quiet.

He has been waking up to nightmares almost every night now. He has had a good week this last week, but for awhile I was getting up almost 10-15 times a night literally every 20-30 minutes. Talk about no sleep! And it was all because of these nightmares! We have been saying prayers every night to ask that the ghosts wont get him and that the angels will watch over it, it really seems to be helping. First time it was a nightmare about our neighbors dog Moose. He is a weimeriner (sp?) and really is one of the most well trained sweetest dogs you will ever meet. When Landon was a baby he would curl up and lay around Landon and give him kisses and Landon loved it, now for some reason he wont get near him and if we go to there house he cries. Im not sure why.... anyway he woke up screaming so loud that he woke up Braddoc, "Moose get me, dont get me, moose dont get me." I ran in there and he was in the corner of his bed shaking so I picked him up and held him and he just cried into my shoulder for a good 5 minutes and then told me he needed to lay with me. I brought him to my bed and layed him down and anytime there was a noise, the house creaking, the train, a dog outside, my cousin coughing, he could pull himself into a tight ball and start rocking and crying that moose was going to get him again. So I layed with him just holding him for about 3 hours both of us wide awake. Every night almost since then has been ghosts, red, blue, green, pink, yellow ghosts, any color he can see ghosts and they are all going to get him and are scary and yell at him, so I have to clean them out of his room. It scares me abit because I know spirits are wandering around and I wonder if he is really seeing some of them. Poor baby!

Glasses: On a happier note, I really needed to get my eyes checked again, even with my glasses I was still squinting to see the tv. So Landon kept telling me that his eyes were hurting and that he needed glasses too. :O) So we bought him some sun glasses and he wears them all over now, I can hardly get him to take them off. If he is looking at something he tells me, oh I need my glasses. And he will squint at whatever it is till he puts on his glasses. So silly!!!




It be fun: Everything is IT Be FUN!!! He wants to go downstairs, upstairs, take a bath, go outside, eat snack, play cars, go in the car....EVERYTHING and ANYTHING is "It be fun, okay mom, lets do it, it be fun really!!!" and then he gets excited and giddy and puts his hands up by his face and shakes them.


We were at the store the other day and he saw some princess shoes, the following conversation in sued:

L: Mommy I want these. There beautiful.
Me: Honey those are princess shoes, they are for little girls.
L: I a little girl.
Me: (trying not to laugh) Honey you are not a little girl, you are a little boy. Boys are princes and girls are princesses and you are a prince.
L: I not a prince, I not a boy, I a girl. I a princesses like Stinkino (Pinnochio)
Me: Pinnochio is a boy, he is a prince.
L: He not, I not! I NOT A BOY I A GIRL! (he is getting mad now, and really throwing a fit and everyone who walks by is trying so hard not to laugh)
Me: Honey you are a boy, boys have cool toys too, lets go look at some of the boys toys.
L: I want these for girls, like me.
Me: Honey you are not a girl. (we have been working on whose a boy and whose a girl, and privates) Sweetheart, you have a winkie right?
L:Yes i have a winkie, boys have winkies
Me:Thats right boys have winkies and you have a winkie so your a boy right.
L: (he looks at me for a minute thinking really hard, stops crying and says) You right, I have a winkie, Braddoc and Daddy have winkies, they are boys. You dont have a winkie you a girl, Here mommy these for you. (hands me the shoes and walks away)

We still have this conversation quit often but I think it is finally settling in. :O) I dont mind him playing with princess toys when he is at friends houses, I would not mind if he had a sister and wore here princess stuff.... I am just not going to buy it for him. :O) He loves to wear my jewelry and my high heels, and thats great, but Im not going to go and buy him some of his own. :O)

We went outside to say goodbye to some of our friends the other day and landon came out on one of his riding toys. He went to the top of the driveway and pushed off. I look at him just in time to yell "Look out" I ran dove as best I could but I was too far away to stop what was about to happen. Our friend had his car door open and Landon was heading full speed down the driveway right towards it. It was one of those moments where in a split second a million things run through your mind. Like: He is going to broke his nose, knock out all his teeth, be bleeding everywhere, probably break most the bones in his face, get knocked out, how am I going to get him to the hospital, how am I going to help him and take care of him, but at the same time there was not enough time to stop any of it. My friend saw him coming right as it was too late to shut the car door and in literally a millisecond before he smacked his face right on he car door he turned his head and leaned to the side and zoomed right under the part of the door that curves up to meet the tires.....oh my gosh, I about had a heart attack. I still can picture it over and over in my head and I have no idea how it did not turn into a huge accident. Even watching it I dont know how he managed to turned his head that fast and not get hurt. One of those "scariest mom moments" ever.

He fell outside about 3 weeks ago and keeps telling me he needs a sticker (band aid) on his leg. Its is not part of the bedtime routine to get a band aid. Little did I realize though (bad mom) that the band aids are latex (Even after knowing he had that allergy for a yr I am still finding new things that he cant touch) anyway anywhere he has had a band aid has now broken out in a huge rash and he thinks that he need a band aid there for the rash, he blows through his mouth, sighs and says "Shooo Im really hurting I need a sticker." And I am trying to explain to him that the "sticker" is what is causing the rash. Thankfully I finally found a band aid brand that is latex free!!! YEAH!

I was taking a shower the other day and Landon comes in to the bathroom and tells me "Mommy I need the little brown chocolates" What little brown chocolates I ask "The little brown ones in the bathroom downstairs." WHAT!!!! (what little brown chocolates are in the bathroom downstairs) so I tell him Dont touch any of those until mommy getse out and you can show me. He seems to like that and leaves, only to return a few minutes later with a bowl full of chocolate chips. "these little brown chocolates in the bathroom." Okay showers over! I get dressed and run downstairs sure enough the chocolate chip container that WAS on the third shelf in the pantry in now on the counter in the bathroom. Lucky they were not all over the floor, but it appeared to be that he was eating them while going #2, needless to say that whole thing went into the garbage. YUCK!!! I was still wondering how he managed to get those down from up so high so I go into the pantry and find all the pillows from the couch stacked up to make a tower....Awww kids!




Landon has big stuffed ninja turtles that he carries around and calls his big brother. He thinks he is a ninja turtle too and fights all over the house like them, getting the bad guys. He also says the ninja turtle movies are his favorite movies.

I was tickling him at bed time the other night and through his laughing he manages to get out "THATS NOT FUN" Hahahaha poor guy takes after his mommy, I hate tickling, its like torture. I am laughing but on the inside really crying and miserable. So I guess thats Landon too! However he asks me to tickle him all the time....hmmmm maybe he is more like his daddy who HATES to be tickled under his arms and thinks thats pure torture. At any rate all of my boys(men) are VERY ticklish.

Where does he come up with these things?

I was taking Landon to bed and he wanted me to carry him, Since I had the kidney problems I have not been able to carry him without it really hurting, so I told him we would have to walk this time, (usually he is okay with it sometimes he wimpers but holds my hand and walked with me anyway). However tonight was a first, he said "I cant walk mom, my diapers on and I cant walk" (he is fully potty trained except at night, so he wears a diaper) I look down at him and he is limping ,dragging one of his feet, "Its hurting, makes me not walk mom." Such a goof, he is now playing games to get me to carry him. Silly boy!

Then if that was not enough to give me a good laugh for the night, we are saying our prayers and I tell him, "Close your eyes!" and he looks at me and very seriously says, "I cant I have to look at all my stuff." and points to his walls. He cracks me up!!! Always always always a good laugh with Landon. I love that kid so much he makes me smile and laugh and being a mom to him and Braddoc is such a rewarding thing. I am so glad that I have been blessed with such wonderful kids. And I am very greatful that I stay at home with them and be with them every day.

The Invisible mother

I got this in an email and really liked it~~~ Im sure most of us at one time or another have felt a bit like this. :O) Enjoy! sorry its all in one fluid thing, It was like that already and I dont really feel like nor have the time to break it down. Its a good read though!

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, theway one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone andask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor,or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me atall. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more:Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm aclock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a program guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please." I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and theeyes that studied history and the mind that graduated with honors - butnow they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.She's going; she's going; she is gone! One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of afriend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going onand on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together sowell. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I wasfeeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifullywrapped package, andsaid, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly surewhy she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you arebuilding when no one sees." In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I woulddiscover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, afterwhich I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record oftheir names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they wouldnever see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.The passionof their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saweverything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit thecathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tinybird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why areyou spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will becovered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees." I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte.I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around youdoes. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, nocupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. Youare building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it willbecome." At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not adisease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is theantidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. Asone of the people who show up at a job that they will never seefinished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals couldever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing tosacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friendhe's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My Mom gets up at 4in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes aturkey forthree hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would meanI'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want tocome home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, toadd, "You're gonna love it there." As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we'redoing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world willmarvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has beenadded to theworld by the sacrifices of invisible women.