Why Women Belong At Home...

Tonight I attended my good friend's dance show. Since Ezra is sick we decided not to get a sitter and just have James stay home with him. Therefore, I went to the show alone. It was a little awkward, but I'm so glad I was able to go. It was an awesome performance!

However, when I got home this is what I found... The house was a mess, dinner was still on the stove, the oven was still on, Ezra is now sleeping in the same snot covered shirt he wore all day with unbrushed teeth, and James is right where I left him, on the bed reading. At least Ezra got a diaper change, blessing and many kisses from daddy amidst the chaos. That was the first time I have ever had anyone other than myself put Ezra to bed and I think it might be the last... James did point out that everyone is alive, so all hail King James. It just makes me laugh how oblivious he can be. I guess that explains why it seems to be easier for a man to relax than it is for a woman. Oh well, everyone is alive and it gave me something to laugh about.

Midterm Trouble

This morning I had geared up and prepared to take my online midterm. I was about 5 questions in when Ezra came strolling over to me wanting to play with the computer. Before I could block his hand he had already grabbed hold of the mouse and closed me out of my midterm. Of course I can't get back into it because the computer thinks I already took it which also means that I now have a zero. I e-mailed the teacher, but it is Saturday; what teacher checks their e-mail on a Saturday? Oh please be merciful! What a way to start the day. To top it off, Ezra is sick. It is so sad and as much as I wanted to be mad at him, his poor, sad, red eyes just make me want to hold him and make everything better. These kids. What do they do to us?

A Week In Review

Things that made me laugh...

Finding James' camoflauge collection hiding in his closet and then hearing him say he has more in his airsoft bag. He now has every size, but why? Who knows? boys...

Watching James make us smoothies and remembering the first time he made me a milkshake and it went all over him, the walls, cupboards, counters and ceiling! He put the spoon in the blender while it was turned on. Genius! He made a clean mess this time along with an extra tasty treat. It also made me laugh to watch Ezra down his small serving of James' smoothie in seconds!

Ezra put "Mouse" in his bumbo to feed him the chicken nuggets that he didn't want to eat. He thought it was so fun to make pretend eating noises and I thought it was too funny.

He was pretending to wash his hair with the bubbles.

Ezra learned to play the Wii this week and I'm embarrassed to say he has actually beaten me a couple of times! I love watching him play; especially when he holds both remotes and plays against himself...spaz! (It also makes me laugh that it looks like Ezra has a rattail in this picture.)

He has to have everything served to him in a bowl with a utensil. Even if he can't scoop it out with the spoon/fork, he will pick up the item and place it on the spoon himself. This is especially fun to watch if he's eating applesauce, oatmeal or yogurt.

I also laughed this week when:

I caught Ezra dancing

 He learned to sing the Elmo's World theme song

He drooled on my face while playing "airplane"

He climbed into the front seat of the car and pretended to drive as I was trying to get him out

He tickled the car while he was pretending to drive

He got frustrated when his puzzle pieces didn't fit upside down

He found my stilettos and can walk in them better than I can

He ate the tinfoil to get to the candy

I watched Ezra limp around because he had a toy hiding in the feet of his jammies

I caught him throwing all of his megabloks into the kitchen sink

Ezra let me paint his fingernails and then James caught me and got upset

James went outside to scoop up dog poop from all around our building and we don't even have a dog

He got grumpy doing this and almost threw up

James got excited when we found a booklight at Walmart and he's now allowed to snuggle with me and read while I sleep

I really could go on and on. I can't remember a day that I haven't laughed in so long and I am so thankful for my boys who make laughing daily possible. Love you both!

My Projects

Here is my first project for sewing. We had to make one pillow, but I couldn't make just one, so I made two! Everytime I would bring home the fabric Ezra would get so excited so I just couldn't wait for the project to be finished to let him enjoy them!

The first one obviously says "ezra" and the second one says "ABC" on one side and "XYZ" on the other.

Here are the backs. See how happy Ezra is to have his pillows!?

We had to make an apron out of a pant leg for my sewing class, so I thought it would be fun to do a camo one for Ezra. We went to D.I. and found camo pants, but when James realized they were his size he was really hesitant about letting me get them to destroy them. I won the battle and this is the result. It is a little big on him, but still cute. Who knows if he'll ever wear it in real life...

Here's the tag blanket I wanted to make when Ezra was a baby. This turned out to be the hardest project yet. I think I just had tricky fabric. Ezra is a little too old for it now, but it was still fun to make and there will be other kids to enjoy.

Other than these I have been fixing holes and tears in both of my boys' pants and such and I have many more projects I want to start as soon as I have the time! It's so fun to create!

A Date!

A date a date! We got to go on a date! This rarely happens. It is just so hard to leave Ezra and I sort of feel like I use up all of my babysitting options for class. My friend asked when she could watch Ezra and it just so happened that another friend of mine was planning a double date for us and them, so it was perfect! Ezra got to watch lots of Elmo, play with all their pretty, non-childproof decorations, and run (and twirl according to Liz) all around their house. James and I were able to enjoy a great dinner with great conversation without the worry of a whining toddler. It's hard to leave him, but a break is needed from time to time. James held my hand and I scooted in a little closer to him then I am normally able to do. Thanks Caley and Liz for making a date possible!! Dates do help me to remember why I liked my husband in the first place. I think maybe we'll go on a date more often. I mean, I guess that's why we're told to have weekly date night. There really is a great reason! okay, okay, deal. Well, we'll try to be better at least.

Sewing Machine!

I am the new sewing machine! AND I got a new sewing machine! My mother-in-law got it for me for my birthday since sewing is my new obsession. Well, it arrived today. It's so pretty and is so wonderful. So far I have made two pillows for Ezra. I'll take pics of them when he's not sleeping. I'm working on an apron for Ezra and a tag blanket that I planned on making for him when he was still a teeny baby, but I never had the proper tools. I love being able to make things. Aside from sewing I have also started on ABC blocks and other ABC decorations for Ezra. I guess he's more fun to make things for. My next assignment is to sew my husbands temple pants that have been 6-7 inches too long since we got married because we never got them hemmed. I'm a beginner, but have the heart of a seamstress- seam stress. What an ironic word... Okay, it's late, my machine has been put to bed and I must enter into the same fate for now.

New Blog

I have started a new blog. One thing I love to do is write. I love to write about what I love. I write songs, poems, sometimes stories, but now I want to write about my journey as a mom. I realize that not everyone wants to read mushy gushy or maybe sad mommy moments, so I have made this blog separate from this one and private for now. I have so many thoughts on being a mom and I'm ready to start writing them down.  I am willing to add anyone who thinks they might like to follow my thoughts on this journey.

"While I carry him, he carries me and my eyes are opened to a whole new beauty. Everything inside of me wakes up to love this little boy." -thatswhatmommysaid.blogspot.com

breathe in, breathe out

Today I was feeling frustrated as I sometimes seem to do. I was a little cranky with everything. James asked, "are you cranky with candy?" To which I replied "no." "Are you cranky with me?" To which I replied, "a little." "Are you cranky with Jesus?" To which I replied, "James, I'm not cranky with everything, just some things, ugh." Then I grabbed a piece of pizza and tried to solve my problems with food. James decided to try to teach me breathing exercises to calm down. Here is what happened:

J: You just need to breathe in the good air and exhale all the bad things.
K: No
J: c'mon, just breathe in good, exhale bad. You'll feel better. Let all the good fill your body and let all the bad things come out through your mouth.
K: (I begin to blow and I spit a chunk of pizza all over my husband. I began laughing so hard.)
J: Uuummm
K: You're right that does feel better.

I'm not kidding. I love spitting food or water at my husband. There is just something about actually following through with your secret, only slightly evil thoughts that does make everything better. My advice: The next time you're mad at someone, throw water on them. It's easy to clean, makes you laugh, and lightens the mood in a way no breathing techniques can.

(This story made it to the blog because James requested it. So for all you bloggers who now think I'm horrible, please know that James laughed with me.)

Moments of Heaven

This morning I was resting on the couch and I began to cry. The reason for my tears is irrelevant. However, the second Ezra noticed my eyes fill up he ran to me, wrapped his arms around me and just stared at me with the most concerned look. When my tears fell over the bridge of my nose and splashed on the couch Ezra ran to the bathroom to get me a tissue. Not only did he get a tissue and wiped my nose, but he also grabbed an extra tissue and proceeded t0 wipe my tears from the couch. He ran back and forth to the bathroom and me about 4 or 5 times until I told him I was okay. He was so concerned. I thought maybe for even a moment he cared about me as much as I care about him. It was such a sweet moment to feel so loved by someone so young and precious. He makes me feel so close to Heaven sometimes. I can't imagine my life without my little tressler boy.

Ezra these days...

A friend of mine did an update about her little girls favorite things such as words and I thought it was a great idea. Mainly for the grandparents. So, Miss Erica, I am stealing the idea. Thanks.

One of his favorite things is to sit on the potty. It's an Elmo potty, so he loves it mucho. He hasn't ever actually gone on the potty yet, but he's good at pretending to push if you know what I mean. He will usually sit on the potty right before bath time and then the second I put him in the tub he pees in the water. Oh that boy.

Ezra also really loves his binky. I just don't know what I'm going to do to get rid of it. My sister-in-law Katie pointed out that the binky is his best friend and it really is so hard to take that from him. We'll see. For now it's his bedtime companion and only that.

He likes balloons, bubbles and balls. He hits balloons, pops the bubbles and throws the balls. He's got a great arm, but unfortunately he has hit a couple of babies in the head :( I don't think it's intentional, but it still makes me sad.

A few of his other favorite things are running back and forth, his puppy, jumping off the couch, bouncing on his horsey, driving cars and crashing, running through any store, reading and sitting in a pile of his books, Elmo, calling Grandpa when no one is watching, sledding, being pulled on the tube through the parking lot, and dancing with mommy.

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He will repeat almost everything we say. I really enjoy trying to get him to say things like bonanza, or artichoke. Some of his favorite words and sayings include:

mama

dada

ball (baow)

car (caw)

ready set go (ray say go!)

Elmo

out (owt)

gone (ga)

No

Yesss

Jesus (Zeezee or dezus)

cracker (cwa caw)

cookie (coo-k)

banana (nana)

please (bee)

giraffe (raff)

turtle

mouse (mow)

monkey (mon-k)

frog (fra)

baby

many body parts especially butt ;)

etc...

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He loves making animals noises. My favorite is his elephant. Some of his favorites are:

elephant

cow

horse

lion

bear

lizard

dog

cat

chicken

monkey

fish (face that is)

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he also knows a few words in sign language:

please

thank you

more

food

drink (he forgets this one a lot)

bird

monkey

i love you (he tries)

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He loves to sing:

Bringing home a baby bumble bee

itsy bitsy spider

popcorn popping

I am a child of God

rubber ducky

ABC song

And pretty much any other song he can do hand motions to.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot, but it's kind of fun to think of all the things he's learning. he knows how to shake his tail feather and pop lock. He has been in nursery for a little over a month and has been doing great until two weeks ago. He's going through a clingy stage and I can't say I hate it. He's my buddy and I like knowing he misses me when I'm gone.

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He is just over a year and a half and still little for his age, but growing steadily. Like any first time parent, James and I are so in love with this little boy. He brings so much joy to our family. We are struggling to know what to do when he's not around because everything we do is more fun when he's with us. Except going out to dinner- that's more fun without him. In short- we're obssessed with a 1 year old and we don't know what we're going to do to overcome it. Do you ever overcome being obssessed with your kids?