Peer Pressure

My whole life I swear the world has wanted me to be diabetic. I was tested multiple times as a child, had two of the 1 hour glucose tests with John Dickson, and then had the 1 hour and 3 hour glucose tests with little Henry. 2 super sugary fruit punch drinks, 5 hours of waiting and 6 needles later... no diabetes - whoo hoo!! Now quit testing me!!!!!!!!!!!

No, there are no pictures, because I don't have any on this computer, but expect lots after this weekend - John Dickson's first time at Zoo Tots, the Reedy River Duck Derby, and a low country boil. It's going to be a good weekend. Oh, and lots of ice cream.

If you thought our house was on John Dickson picture overload...

You ain't seen nothin yet. This is yet another post without pictures, but its better than a post with pictures! This post has a link to a post with pictures that are better than anything I could ever take, especially considering any pictures I took with me in them would have the outstretched arm neck fat. Ew. It's John Dickson's 2 year pictures and I am pretty obsessed.

http://kscphotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/fun-little-family.html

Anne Mama, if you are reading, this is why you have been waiting on your family picture, because Karin is worth the wait!!!

Karin and Dylan rivaled us for the cutest couple senior superlative - I thought they won, but Adam said it was some other couple and I don't have a senior yearbook to do the research, but I thought it was finally our chance to edge them out until Karin had to show up with her cute little pregnant belly. As much as I love pictures, I am actually pretty picky about photographers and their style, and Karin hits it right on the money - fun, natural, not too artsy or modern, and beautiful editing. I highly recommend hunting her down in Baltimore. She was worth getting out of bed for at 6am! And that's saying a lot, considering we never sleep anymore. Ever.

So... fun pictures - check! Jake sent home on DWTS - CHECK!!! A successful day.

The Essentials

I'm sure most parents find that there is all this fancy stuff out there that you just "have to have." In some ways, we were those people, but I think we were also pretty level headed about it. As I'm sure most parents do, we found the simplest things were the things we simply could not live without.

Take a look at the John Dickson survival kit:

10. Power windows in the car - for the first year of his life, putting down the windows in the car was like sticking a paci in John Dickson's mouth. Crying is never worse than when you are confined to a car - power windows were sent to us from God.

9. Garden hose and stain remover - need I say more?

8. Bibs with pockets - as fast as that little dude shovels in his food, he tends to lose a lot down the front of his shirt. The pockets are great because they catch the food, but ALSO - John Dickson knows they catch his food, and so when he finishes, he eats out of his bib pockets. Waste not, want not - thats his motto!

7. Disposable changing pads - sometimes it is near impossible not to get a nice mess all over the changing pad, and there were many times it was a thousand times easier to just lay John Dickson down on the pad and then throw it away.

6. Aveeno baby wash - the only baby wash that I really believe is "tearless"

5. Scented bags - are you noticing a theme?

4. Born Free sippy cups - we tried them all, every sippy cup on the market, and Born Free were definitely the favorite of John Dickson, and they were pretty good about not leaking. They have lots of pieces to wash, but I can handle that!

3. Gerber Take and Toss cups - after John Dickson quit requiring the soft top sippy cups, we gave these a try - they average about 50 cents a piece, are only 2 pieces, are EXCELLENT about not leaking, hold up in the dishwasher, and did I mention they are 50 cents a piece? If we accidently left one in the car with milk residue in it, we'd just toss it, but for the most part they've all been used at least a hundred time.

2. Swaddlers with velcro - John Dickson couldn't sleep without them!

1. Duct tape - ahhh the point of the post. The duct tape. The #1 tool in our John Dickson bag of tricks. Nobody believed me that I duct taped John Dickson's footie pjs, but I sure did. And then Adam caved and he started to duct tape him as well. There was never the slightest tape on skin action going on, before you go calling DSS on us. We tried it every which way, taping up the zipper, taping the top where the zipper and button start, taping down the flaps on his diaper. Our little Houdini is much too smart for all of that. We finally taped him around the middle with an extra strip up the back and voila!!! He finally quit yanking off his diaper everytime he took a nap. He has now outgrown that phase, thank goodness.

But he is smart. Do not underestimate him. He has started to get very creative in trying to find ways to get us to come in his room after he is supposed to go to bed. His latest is taking his pants off at night and then crying for us to come put his pants on. "Pants, pants, mommy, pants, daddy, pants, pants, milk, pants". I put them back on the first time. And in desperation, I put them on one more time that night, thinking he was exhausted enough that the comfort of his pants would let him go to sleep. And then we were done, and he began to sleep with no pants. So after 2 nights of this, he smartened up and started to remove his diaper, knowing we couldn't ignore that. Now we pull his summer jammies pants up over his shirt like a grandpa and wrap overlapping layers of duct tape around his belly. And a strip up the back.

What's that sound you ask? Ahhh, its the sweet sweet sound of sleep.

Duct tape. It's our number one.

Yet Another

I'm sure your eyes are probably crossing with all of the John Dickson birthday posts, but here is one last post. Birthdays are soooo not my thing - I would skip mine altogether if it was possible, but John Dickson's birthday is always the highlight of my year, as I'm sure Henry's will be too. (By the way, it is CRAZY to me that John Dickson will have yet another birthday before Henry has his first, but I guess it makes sense...)

On John Dickson's birthday weekend, he was not his usual eats-like-a-horse self, and he repeatedly turned down all of the treats we tried to stuff him with. Now you know I'm pretty stickler-y about what that little man eats, but we wanted him to have something special and so we kept trying... with little success. So after turning down Easter cake Thursday and Friday, birthday cake on Saturday, and strawberry chocolate torte cake on Sunday, I picked up some donuts for breakfast on Sunday and we sang happy birthday and he blew out the candles in his cream filled chocolate glazed krispy kreme donut (I know, Dunkin Donuts has not saturated Columbia yet, so I had no choice). As I mentioned before, that little man LOVES for you to sing him happy birthday and he loves to blow out candles, so the overall experience was a favorable one, but he wouldn't eat his donut. (Sorry dude, next year we will do Dunkin)

A really good friend of mine's parents gave John Dickson some passes to Edventure, and we thought that would be the perfect way to celebrate John Dickson's birthday.



Did I say John Dickson? I meant Adam.



As you know, that little man loves all things truck, and could have played on the firetruck forever.



As you also know, that little man does not discriminate when it comes to modes of transportation



It was our first trip to Edventure, and it was a success! I thought I was going to pass out from lack of food (it had been more than half an hour!) and so I may have missed a few minutes scouting out what turned out to be a cookie ice cream sandwich, but John Dickson spent the entire time soaking up all the fun he could handle. Thank you to the Mameles!!! You know just how to make a two year old light up!

After a stop by the house for lunch with my parents, we made our way to Riverbanks Zoo - John Dickson's first trip in over a year. There were a lot of people there and so he was a little timid, but he really enjoyed the penguins, the zeesas (zebras), and, of course, the ponies they have for pony rides. This is actually him gazing longingly at the ponies. Seriously, his favorite attraction.



It was our last attempt at a birthday treat, and we got a cup of dippin dots - banana split flavored - and after much coaxing, John Dickson finally gave it a try. And he finally caved to the deliciousness that is dippin dots.

Happy birthday one more time to our favorite two year old!

Getting Bigger!

Our family that is. Somehow it went from me, Adam and Bear, to me, Adam, Bear, Ellie, Miles, John Dickson, Pishy (replaced by new Pishy), and soon Henry, in order of joining the fam.

Don't get me wrong, we don't need a new blog name that encompasses all of our ridiculous pets, but one that includes Henry would probably be a good idea :-) If you have any suggestions on new names for the blog, throw them our way.

And if you hear my husband make ANY mention of ANY new pet, even as small as a ladybug, tell him NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And because a post stinks without a picture, here is an old favorite:

The Difference a Week Makes

When I last posted about John Dickson, he had only a few key phrases, mainly -

I touch it
I eat it
I hold it
I like it

In the past few days, he has taken off with his 3 word sentences -

I play bassetball
I eat pudding
I feed Pishy
I dump it (the contents of Mr Potato Head)
I read di-sor bones (Enga - this is the book you gave him)
I read spider (Book from Anne Mama)
I get down
Pishy go bye bye (I dont know where Pishy goes - I thought she stayed in her bowl, but you never know)
I ride truck (he is super excited to have Adam home and desperately wants to ride in his truck)
I sit here (in his wagon in the garage)

He found a loaf of bread in the car because Adam and I went on a picnic on my lunchbreak, and he said:

I hold it. I eat it. Piece bread. Mo bread.

And this doesnt require talking, but he definitely found one of my necklaces and tried to get Adam to switch his medic alert necklace out for a gold and purple one.

We have made a lot of progress with bedtime, but last night we started letting John Dickson cry in the middle of the night, which is TORTURE. And also, he is going to break his door here shortly. His 12 and 4 am wakings were starting to get old after several consecutive weeks of it, and his pediatrician said to let him work it out on his own, so we're giving it a go. The hardest part is convincing big softy to quit putting him in our bed. One of these days I will have the two of them trained :-) And then there will be a third...

I need a nap.

I'm trying to be grateful...

really, I am. But I'm having trouble. You see - I have this "issue" with singing in movies and on tv. I've never been to a real musical, so I can't say I wouldnt enjoy a good rendition of the Lion King, but as far as movies that are musicals and tv shows that revolve around singing - they just make me mad. Not angry (well, except when I'm not expecting it and my show is disrupted by gosh darn singing), but mad in the crazy farm way. Singing is for concerts. Acting is for tv. The two should only be mixed on broadway or in Disney movies. PERIOD. WHY DOES NO ONE GET THIS??????

So, as you know, my hubby has been living with my dear Sisto and her dear hubster. And the Zo Zo. They have been incredibly generous in sharing their home with him, rent free, and have even let Ellie stay. On the weekends. Without Adam. That's serious generosity! And when we asked to pay for utilities, all they wanted was for Adam to clean their gutters (which if they are reading, will happen tomorrow). So I want to be grateful - really I do - but then Adam came home last night. We use to have this understanding that we both hated American Idol. Well he came home and turned on American Idol AND GLEE. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! When I asked him what happened, he told me.

"Lauren and Jared got me hooked again."

I know you don't know this...

but John Dickson is TWO now. You've seen most of the pictures, but I haven't gotten to brag on how smart and sweet our little two year old is. If this is how the terrible twos are going to be, bring it on! (Although I know by saying that we have not yet reached the terrible twos... but I like to think they just dont exist for John Dickson). He can be quite the challenge, and he can be downright grumpy and impossible to please at times. And yes, when he finished his milk in the car on Saturday, he let me know by chucking it at my head, but overall he is actually extremely well behaved and a really good natured kid. We love him to pieces. So get ready for a super random stream of consciousness post about the little guy!

- John Dickson LOVES to take care of animals (and people!). He insists on giving the dogs treats (he doesn't understand Ellie's weight watchers plan), and he loves to feed them. Every morning he gets Bear's bowl, fills it up, and if we have time, he sits on the floor with it and hand feeds Bear. If the water bowl runs dry, he carries it to us and says "mo water". He's figured out how to gently pet Bear (he still uses Ellie as a slide sometimes - a nice dismount from the couch), and if he accidently throws something at Bear (he gets confused with the whole fetch game) then he tells Bear "sohhy" and gives him a hug and a kiss. The hug and kiss are all him! When we get home, he waves "hey boo boo, hey boo boo". I don't think Bear is necessarily his favorite, but Ellie pretty much lives in Columbia now, so Bear is usually all John Dickson sees. PLUS, Boo Boo ride car, remember? And that is AWESOME. John Dickson also loves to take care of Pishy and insists on giving her food and water (?? I know). He propped up his Elmo DVD next to Pishy so she could see Elmo, and he threw a book at her, which I like to think was for her entertainment... this morning as we were leaving, I forgot to feed Pishy, and guess who reminded me?

Bear gets his medicine in peanut butter sandwiches, and apparently this has not gone unnoticed. I had some serious heartburn on Saturday and Adam went to the bathroom to get some Zantac for me. John Dickson loves to help, so I said "can you go help daddy get medicine for mommy?" That little man ran to the kitchen and brought me the peanut butter. Is he precious or what? I also asked John Dickson on two separate occasions to bring me a tissue, and he went to the bathroom and tore off a piece of toilet paper. The first time. The second time he couldnt break it, so he tried to bring the whole roll (sorry Nana). Then he threw it away for me. He also likes to get tissues and blow everybody's noses, including his stuffed animals and Bear. Oh, and how does Bear feel about this? Bear no longer sleeps with me all night, he mans the post outside John Dickson's door. He has the tough guy facade, but Bear has a soft spot for that little man.

John Dickson continues to be a good eater and is even starting to eat meat! He's incorporated chicken nuggets, deli turkey, ham, steak, salmon, shrimp, sloppy Joes and hotdogs into his diet (still not a fan of the hamburger), but he still loves his vegetarian chicken and sausage. I know, he's weird. He eats almost all of his vegetables, including peas, carrots, green beans, corn, corn on the cob, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and his favorite - baked beans. He actually asks for baked beans and will pull them out of the fridge and get in his high chair if you open the door. Dont mistake him - he still LOVES a good "tootie" (cookie), and all forms of cake, but he is our good little eater. Hummus and tomato soup are still favorites! I would say "(not together)", but that is simply not true.

John Dickson has some new favorite things, including (of course) "bassetball", turtles, water, air planes, shoes, anything and everything that goes "roun and roun" and his pets. He LOVES to sing, with his favorite song being Row Row Row Your Boat. He asks for that one! Otherwise he loves to sing the wheels on the bus, his ABCs, the itsy bitsy spider, happy birthday, and a few others.

John Dickson has really started to learn a lot of concepts, including "first we have to..." and "if you want to do this, you need to..." This weekend he wanted to go outside, and he had just gotten up from his nap, so I told him if he wanted to go outside, he needed to go to his room and get a diaper and his pants. Sure enough he came back with his pants and a diaper (well, two diapers), and he immediately laid on his back for me to change him. He also understands when he asks for more food and I tell him he has to eat whatever is on his plate first - you think you've seen the kid shovel food - you have no idea. More baked beans? Let me just cram all of these carrots and this boca burger down in 4 seconds flat. It's a miracle he doesn't choke.

Daycare wont potty train until August now, so we haven't started that yet. That's all I'll say about that.

John Dickson seems to really enjoy school and his teachers are great. I've even had trouble getting him to leave on a few occasions. He has made buddies with the lady at the front desk (Ms Wanda) and he works his charm on her to get stickers everyday when he leaves, one for each hand. He then moves them to his cheeks, and by the time we are home they are on his forehead.

John Dickson isn't a big TV guy, which suits me juuuust fine. He still likes his baby einstein videos, and he enjoys a good Sesame Street DVD, but other than that, he really just sticks to Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse. Oh, and his favorite Dancing with the Stars contestants are Evan and Erin (not together). His least favorite is Jake and he hopes Jake goes home tomorrow. I digress.

John Dickson's talking has taken off and he is using 3 word phrases all the time. His latest are "I like it" and "I take it", which he uses whenever he wants to take something with him either in the car or into the store or wherever. Nothing makes you feel better than to fix a meal and have John Dickson say "I like it." What can I say? He's easy to please. He also says "I touch it" which he started saying when he first saw the neighbor's basketball lying in the grass. His eyes got all starry and he just kept saying "I touch it, I touch it." So, of course, softy Nana went and got the step stool so she could lift John Dickson up to the basketball goal. Grumps thought he could do it... let's just say, not quite.

Happy birthday to our precious munchkin!!

Request for Pictures

If anybody else took any pictures at John Dickson's party, we would love it if you would share the love :-) Especially pictures of John Dickson on his tricycle - we only got a couple due to camera malfunction. Thanks!

Easter Sunday

Last weekend was a big, busy weekend! Friday we had our pictures and spent the day getting ready for John Dickson's party. Saturday was the main event, followed by a ::gasp:: date for me and Adam, complete with dinner AND a movie! (Henry ate waaaaay too much popcorn). And ::gasp:: I stayed awake for the whole movie! Go me!! We saw Hot Tub Time Machine - worth seeing, but not my favorite movie ever. We came home to find John Dickson still up and getting into March Madness with my mom and dad. He is now obsessed with basketball. No really, obsessed. He got a little money for his birthday, so we got him an adjustable basketball goal, and OH MAN. This morning he woke up, in our bed, and said "bassetball" and then ran off to start playing. When the kid wants to play before he has his morning cup of milkjoe or some breakfast, it only seems fair to call it an obsession.

Which brings us to Easter, which is what this post is about. John Dickson woke up to find the Easter Bunny had left him a basket of goodies, complete with a giant Handy Manny coloring book!



After all of the Easter Bunny excitement, John Dickson went to the Easter service, and he made it ALMOST to the very end. We're working on it! He belted it out during all of the songs, which was absolutely adorable, and when it came time to share the peace, everyone around us was quick to comment on how stinkin' cute he was. He has also developed a precious "amen" and he folds his hands to pray. I love it :-)

After church we had a big lunch with my parents, Aunt La La and Uncle Jared, and Mimi and Grandy. I was put in charge of filling the deviled eggs, and caught a lot of flack (sp?) for polishing off the filling before the eggs were filled. I didn't realize there were more egg whites :-) And sheesh, it was Henry's fault anyhow! (Yes, yes I do use that excuse A LOT, but I'm carrying Adam's baby - I think its fair to blame excessive eating on the baby). All I can say is thank goodness Henry didn't accidently eat all of the bread or my dad might have cried.

After lunch and John Dickson's non-nap, we went outside to find the Easter Bunny had left some eggs!






I spent so much time searching for the perfect Easter baskets for John Dickson and Henry that I finally gave up and decided the perfect baskets must be coming soon to a store near us NEXT Easter... so John Dickson used his make shift basket. I pulled out a picture of my old Easter basket to see if it could be passed down, but with all of the flowers and bows I decided against it.

John Dickson finished off his Easter with a big playdate with Walter! The guy I use to work for now has 2 kids, and his older one is 2 also. The boys had a blast playing trains (except when Walter literally locked John Dickson in his room), playing in the sandbox, and riding Walter's "roller coaster." They worked up quite the appetite and polished off some pizza and LOTS of grapes. It was the first playdate John Dickson has really had since he was old enough to really play, and it was quite a success.

Bath and bed and then on to John Dickson's real birthday.

To be continued... (Desperate Housewives is coming on...)

Birthday Party: Part Last

Why its for his new tricycle!! P.S. His feet dont reach the pedals, so we'll be buying him some blocks for those soon :-)




And a couple more present pictures

And More...

The cake



A picture of John Dickson looking like he is eating cake. He is not. He would not even try it. I can't say I blame him - it did NOT taste good. I do not bake.



Looking like a big boy



What did I say? Sleepy.



This is maybe one of the cutest pictures ever - John Dickson giving Bobbie a kiss in his new helmet!



Why the new helmet? Glad you asked... dun dun dun... to be continued...

More Party Pictures

John Dickson's birthday party was Saturday, and it was great to have so many friends and family there who love him to celebrate his turning two!

To back track - check out John Dickson grocery shopping at Publix to get ready for his shindig - I find the giant car shopping carts obnoxious to maneuver through a crowded store, but John Dickson knows how to work his Nana. The whole way through the store he would say "I drive! I drive!" (And yes, his outfit is the same as on Saturday - we had pictures done Friday and the outfit killed 2 birds with one stone)



It was a big day and John Dickson partied hard -





It took him a minute to warm up to his buddy Kendall - apparently he had forgotten the good time they had not long ago at Nana's house. No worries, Kendall came armed with tub tablets that turn the bath water different colors - a new John Dickson obsession!

A Teaser

So... I have to take advantage of John Dickson's nap time to get our house nice and clean again, so here are a few pictures from his birthday party. Details and more pictures will just have to come later.

Checking our Dorothy - his new "Pishy"



Hanging out with Elmo



Getting ready to light his candles



Opening presents - this is about as excited as his face got - he was EXHAUSTED!! But I assure you he LOVED every one of his presents when he got back home to Piedmont!



John Dickson with his new shades - that kid loves him some "gasses"

Henry Update and Daily Excuse

Daily Excuse: The power was out last night and our (neighbor's) internet didn't work. So... no pictures yet. Sorry.

I went to the doctor this morning (and Adam got to come too - whoo hoo!) and he said the following:
a) quit lying on your back (thumbs down)
b) you can eat hotdogs (thumbs up)
c) we have a STRONG baby - not like in a "oh your baby is healthy" way, in a "your baby is healthy and is VERY strong" way. (thumbs up for our little NFL star)
d) i'm measuring ahead, Henry measured ahead at the last ultrasound, and he definitely wants to do an ultrasound closer to the end. With as much trouble as John Dickson gave me at 8 lbs, it sounds like Dr Heidtman doesn't want Henry to get any bigger than John Dickson was (i'm going to have to grow extra thumbs just to give enough thumbs up on this one :-) )

That's it for now!

2 year check up

I somehow came down with a stomach bug or ate something that did not agree, but the posting of birthday pictures has not happened yet. In the meantime, John Dickson enjoyed running rampant through the house after bedtime while my insides came out. I'm better now, so expect pictures soon.

John Dickson's 2 year check up was this morning and he is 28 lbs (much lighter than we thought and in the 50th percentile) and 35 inches (68th percentile). His head remains up there in the 83rd. Yep, 24 month or 2T clothes, and 4T-5T hats. His head is a Propst/Kelley combo, thats for sure! If the double your height at 2 years rings true, John Dickson will be about 5' 10". Not too shabby for having Propst genes!!! A little weak for the Kelley genes. I guess what Adam said before we got married is true - "if we have kids, they'll be the perfect height, because I'm so tall and you're so short. And they'll be the perfect level of smartness because I'm so smart and you're, well... And they'll be averagely attractive because I look so good and you're eeehh...." Yes you heard right, this was BEFORE we got married. And I still married him. He owes me, right? Maybe if he reads this I'll get tulips :-)

Everything checked out great! His left tube has fallen out but is in the canal. His right ear had some wax so the doctor couldn't see if the tube was in or not, but it was not in his canal, so it is either in or it is all the way out. I told her about our bedtime woes and she said it sounds like we are doing the right thing and to stick with it. I was kind of hoping she would say we were doing it all wrong and offer up magical suggestions. In the meantime, John Dickson will continue to never go to bed. And most importantly, NO SHOTS!!!! I had even given John Dickson Tylenol this morning in preparation, but it turns out there was no need. John Dickson was really good the entire time and he got a big Handy Manny sticker as a reward. He decided his roughly 2 inch by 2 inch sticker should go on his cheek.

Thats about it! Bear is making leaps and bounds with his heeling and is already cutting back on his steroids. Whoo hoo!

Dont leave us!

We're bad bloggers. Bad bad bad, bad bad. But we have tons of pictures to share and updating to do, including John Dickson's birthday weekend extravaganza! That little dude is TWO!!!!!!!!!!! And when you sing happy birthday to him, he lights up like the sun. And he has much to tell you about his new best friend - Pishy! (That's "fishy" in your language). Trying to explain why pishies cant ride in the car is quite the challenge. So check back in a day or two - its two year old cuteness you cant miss!!!