Attached at the hip...

I haven't had a man this clingy since his father & I were dating...
Seriously, Charlie has an unhealthy attachment to his momma. He has learned to scream and cry when he sees me in another room & can't get to me. He is also learning to put his arms up when he wants me to pick him up. One afternoon, he was siting on Chris' lap while I vacuumed the living room & every time I pulled the vacuum back in his direction he put his arms up in the air. It's very cute & I'm flattered he loves me so much, but sometimes I just want to do the dishes in peace & quiet.

Choo Choo!

Well, we managed to make it through the holiday season without being buried in snow. However, I'm still trying to dig us out from the mountain of toys that has seemed to accumulate in my living room. We got toys that flash lights, toys that read books, toys that move, toys that make lots of LOUD noises, and toys that hurt when you step on them. We're pretty much set.. well until the end of eternity. Here are a few photos of our season, though I managed to make it 3 days at the farm and not take one photo of the kids. Thank goodness Kim has become the family photographer, and if she sends me the digital pics my kids will actually have evidence that we DID celebrate the season. I did manage to take photos of Mom & Dad's house while the kids were napping. Nothing feels like home more than their house at Christmas.



The Farm:

There's been a lot happening around the house this past month. I've gotten my product into several boutiques both here and in Minnesota. It's very exciting but Olive and Maude kept me way to busy over the holidays. I decided to close my shop for January to release stress and catch up on a few things, including sleep. I LOVE selling my creations but when it turns more into a second job than a hobby, I need to take a break.

Charlie grows bigger every day. He's sitting up by himself and becoming quite mobile, rolling for anything he wants. He's completely weaned from mommy now which was a sad event. The clinic continues to praise me for nursing him for 7 months, but I cant help but feel let down. We both enjoyed the bonding time but it became increasingly frustrating when I could no long fill up his belly. When he switched to 100% formula, Chris & I had one of the parental freak out moments. His stool was black as tar and we were worried that maybe he was bleeding in his intestines, which would explain the refusal of solid foods and the night time fussiness. After blood tests and stool samples we concluded one thing. I'm delusional, he hates baby food and doesn't like to sleep alone. Everything was fine, he just happen to have an ear infection... and normally black poo. They say nobody cares more about poo than mothers and nurses. I think mothers care a bit more than nurses. Good thing is he's eating more solids. We are skipping the bland foods and moving straight to the good stuff. Strained peas today, bacon tomorrow.

Perhaps the biggest news is with Maudie. SHE'S ON THE POTTY TRAIN! (as she declares)! That's right, all you skeptics, she's has went more than 2 weeks with only one accident in the first couple of days. For the last week she has even been waking from naps and nighttime dry. We are so proud of her. The only down side is that I just spent $35 dollars on a jumbo box of diapers. Oh well, I also spent $20 on new undies. The other night during one of her trips to the loo she remembered our promise to her. She came running from the bathroom yelling, MOM! NOW I GET TO GO TO BALLERINA LESSONS! I told her we could sign her up after her birthday when she's 3. Now, several times a day she tries to convince us that it's her birthday today. All this growing up with the potty training has gone to her head. Today over dinner she stops and says to me, "Mom, I had a really long day at work at Kristeens today."

Last toothless grin

Here is the last photo of Charlie with his adorable, toothless grin... at least until he's 90. He cut his first tooth & taking the new mouth object surprisingly well. However we've stocked up on oxyclean for the extra drool and ibuprofen for the pain (both his and mine... he's a biter).

What did you say!?!

I took Maudie to go see Sesame Street Live last Friday night. As an adult I have fond memories of the show (as do most adults) however, there are few joys in life greater thanto see the thrill & excitement on a preschoolers face when they are truly deeply happy. Here are some snippets of our evening...

On the way to Menona, where we were meeting Ange & Jaiden for dinner, I don't think she was silent for more than the time it took her to take a drink of water to wet her tongue so she could talk more. She was so excited and she let everyone know.

I have been trying to teach her some simple rules of the road, including what a stop sign is & what the colors on a stop light mean. She gets the stop lights however, the stop sign shape precludes her. She gets "stop" and she gets "sign" however she does not get "stop sign." In the 15min drive across town, she pointed out every street sign, every speed limit posting and every traffic sign as "STOP SIGN", "ANOTHER STOP SIGN", "STOP SIGN!" That was until we hit the interstate, and the signs got really big then it was "WOW, BIG SIGN" "BIG GREEN SIGN" "MOM, DID YOU SEE THAT ONE?"

We met Ange & Jaiden for a carbo loaded dinner at Noodles & Co. which is the perfect spot for a dinner date with a 2-year old. It's quick, yummy and kid friendly. I steered toward the Japanese Pan Noodles while Maudie decided on the Macaroni and Cheese at least a week in advance. When we got to the front of the line she yells to the lady taking the order, "Me want Mac-roni and Cheese, Pleeeeeesssssssseeeeeeeee" We took our soda cups, filled them up and decided on a booth near the window.

When Jaiden arrived he hopped into the booth a declared "Hi, Maudie!" She replied, "Hi, Jaiden!" as if they go on dinner dates together all the time, & it's no big thing. They jabbered back and forth while eating their Mac n cheese (Maudie insisted on using chopsticks) but what they were talking about is beyond me, they had their own little conversation going... just like a little date. They are two peas in a pod. Ange & I kept to ourselves.

Fast forward to the show, and Big Bird is the first to make an on-stage appearance. Maudie yells, "Big Bird, It's Me! I right here". She did the same thing for Elmo, then yelled to him "Come sit my me, Elmo talk to me!" To her, she personally knew the characters and there was nobody else in the venue, but us.

Elmo and the other characters were coming off the stage and dancing and singing with the kids in the front row. Only naturally, she didn't understand why they didn't come up to the nose-bleed seats. So, after intermission Ange & I snuck us down to the front in some of the empty seats. Jaiden & Maudie got so wild in their dancing the ushers shoo-ed them back to their seats, twice. We had flash-forwards to taking them to concerts when they are teenagers and having to peel them off the stage. We're in trouble.
They had an incredible night and by the time we got in the car Maudie was beat. We pulled out of the parking lot and on to the beltline when she said in her sweetest voice, "Mommy, Thank you taking me see Elmo" my heart melted.

Halfway home I turned up the radio to "Dancing Queen" and Maudie said to me. "Mom, turn music off. I too tired to dance anymore." She added a little later, "I go home, put jammies on and go night-night in my bed with Elmo"

Man on the move..

It's been a couple weeks of excitement here in the Heideman household. Charlie has accomplished at least 3 milestone firsts.

1. He's rolling over. It started last week when I was changing his diaper on the ottoman and his leg whipped over his body and I caught him as his body was slipping off the edge. He did it a few more times that day, mostly with a little assistance. Within 24 hours he was flipping onto his tummy every time his ass hit the ground.
2. We started rice cereal because he was grabbing for everything to shove in his mouth especially when we were eating. This isn't going to well. I don't know if it's associated with the rice cereal, or just bad timing but he's been crabby and inconsolable on nights we tried cereal. After 3 sleepless nights and a call to the ped's office, I decided to ease into it slowly and wash it down with prune juice to keep his guts rolling.
3. There was something else but I'm too tired and don't remember. It'll come to me... damnit I'm a bad mother. I need to get more sleep.

In the mean time here are some photos from the last few weeks.

We carved pumpkins the Thurs night before Halloween. Maudie didn't puke into her pumpkin like last year, only because she was smart enough to refuse touching it with her fingers, or arm or anything else that came to close... She insisted on a pumpkin with a HAPPY (said in a high pitch, at the top of her lungs). So she took a sharpie to the flesh & I was in charge of translating it into a face. She was proud and she got to display it on the front porch along side Daddy's classic pumpkin face.

The pumpkins remained on the porch until we woke up on the morning of Halloween and I glanced out the window and noticed the top to her pumpkin laying by itself. Some little bastards had stolen our pumpkins and smashed them on the sidewalk outside our house. I was PISSED!! Chris set a sign on our front yard warning if he ever caught the person that ruined his 2 year-old's Halloween their mother would cry if she saw what he would to them (I'm ad libbing)... Our neighbors were all victims of the pumpkin heist, but they were sweet enough to bring over a new pumpkin for Maudie to carve. Daddy had it all gutted out and ready to go when she woke up from her nap and we broke the bad news.
We removed the sign before Trick or Treating began so that we didn't scare any small children. That night, while in a piss-ass mood, Chris handed carrots and parsnips to tween kids that didn't put an effort into their costume. Then after we ran out of candy and Trick or Treating was over, he stayed awake waiting for the bandits to reappear. He thought he'd catch them this night because the dogs bark at every noise outside (they had the night before but we ignored it). That along with his liquid courage, he'd catch the little bastards and make their mother's come to see what a dissapointment their kids are to society.
Around midnight, I looked out the window again and our pumpink was gone again! The dogs never barked so we didn't catch them in the act. It wasn't until the next morning that I had the brilliant idea of setting up the video monitor with the night vision. Those kids are toast next year. Bright side is we wont have a rotten pumpkin on our porch until after Christmas this year. Bad side is we'll probably get our house egged.

Oh, I remember the third thing. He bit my nipple.

Goodnight, Everyone!

My Poor Booger Factories

Charlie has his first cold and he's darn right miserable. He's not running a fever but his nose is so clogged he isn't sleeping and neither am I. I can tell he has a fair amount of post nasal drip because he gets the tickle-in-the-back-of-the-throat cough. Don't freak out it's not H1N1... I hope.
Maudie is also a snot monster but she's old enough for NyQuil so that's all good.

Heather and Matt visited this weekend, unfortunately the only pictures I took was of the bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuff, apricot glazed jalapeños I made for an appetizer. Maudie loves her cousin's and is especially fond of Erica and Heather. Most likely because they spoil her and they were the last ones to visit. However, She doesn't understand husbands and boyfriends. When Erica and Pete stopped in a few weeks ago, she refered to Pete as 'her daddy'. She also knew that Matt loves Heather but didn't understand that he didn't love Erica too.



Not much else to report. I got my new phone, so we're back in business there. Still have not taken Maudie back to the pool...

A new revolution

So, I decided that Tuesday night is going to be my new night to blog. On Tuesday, I don't lock myself in the basement filling etsy orders. Instead I use my literate abilities to update the world on what my little pumpkins are up to. Here is week 1:

Well, a lot has happened since I made a serious blog entry. First, and most regretfully, Chris' Grandfather passed away late last month. With his passing came the end of a generation and the loss of the patriarch of the Kruel family. We were all thankful to have Grandpa Paul for 95 years yet we battled to get him better because everyday with his bright ray of sunshine was a day a little brighter in all of our lives. I guess God won that battle, and now we have a new guardian angel, but more on that later.

"Grandparents hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever."

I had the great pleasure of writing his obituary and it was incredible healing to honor a man who was a colorful as the family that he created. Actually I did less than write it since he had it already written, I like to say that I 'fluffed it' a bit. In preparing for his memorial, we found a stash of old milk crates from when he owned Kruel's Dairy and I took one and had his "Grandfather" arrangement placed inside. It was beautiful and suited him well....

Maudie found her own way of celebrating Grandpa Paul's life, including doing a little bartending and dancing behind the bar. She's always glad to be at a party despite the occasion. Grandpa would be proud.

On a lighter note:

Why? You might ask is my cell phone buried in a jar of rice? Well, a week ago Sunday Chris & I took Maudie & her friend Mya swimming for the afternoon at the high school. They had a tremendously good time. I good enough time that Maudie was not ready to leave after and hour and a half in the pool. I had put the girls in a warm shower while I got dressed, then went into the shower room (which opens to the pool), turned off the shower and wrapped Mya in a towel. When I turned to get Maudie towel off the hook she bolted from the locker room and ran butt-naked into the pool and took a diving leap into the shallow end. It was only a moment until I realized that she wasn't coming back and I ran to find here. When I turned the corner, I saw her Head bobbing below the surface. I have amnesia of the next moments and the next think I remember is jumping in, fully clothed with my phone in my pocket, to pull her from the water. And that's why my cell phone was drying in rice (a trick that did not work). It's also how I know she has a guarding angel watching over her, because she was fine. In fact she was completely unfazed by the incident. Here is the life lesson to all of you, especially the mother who let a naked, 2-year old run past her a dive into the pool and did not bother to stop her: 2-year olds who think that they can swim sink like a lead brick with out the swimming instructor or the floaty suit.


Cole, Chris' nephew turned two this weekend and Maudie had a BLAST at his party. With the exception on crying thru the birthday song (not sure why) she was a very good girl. She loved breaking out the drum set we got him. Ben promises to get Maudie a fog horn for Christmas as payback. At least he had fun pretending to be in a marching band with Ben on the drum, Maudie on the maracas, Nathan on the tambourine, and Cole playing the electric guitar over his head. On the way home the next afternoon she muttered from the back seat, "I miss my friend Cole." Here is a picture I took of the birthday cake. I guess you don't need to pass Kindergarten curriculum to frost cakes at Walmart.
Charlie had his four month check up last week, which included a whole slew of vaccinations. Never fun for my kids since they inevitable get cranky and run fevers for a few days. His growth has slowed a bit, but he's still a whopping 15.5 lbs which puts him at 67% on the growth chart. He's happy and healthy and the pediatrician says he's ready for rice cereal. I'm not ready so we'll wait a while yet. What's the rush? They already grow up too fast.

Oh, and we finally have a family photo...