Hi, my name is Merrick...

...and I'm addicted to chapstick.

Merrick has been addicted, severely so, to chapstick for months now. He can't get enough. *And yes, he has ingested plenty of it in the process of smearing it all over his entire face* He's like an addict...he sneaks it off my desk, he steals it out of my mom's purse, he begs, he pleads...he has no shame. But I'm glad it's only chapstick...I'm sure there are mothers out there who would love for their child to be addicted to chapstick as opposed to other things. So I really con't complain. But it's messy, and ends up all over his whole head...literally. I find myself asking him, why is there chapstick in your ear??? Were your eardrums chapped??? My mother gave our resident chapstick fiend three of his very own chapsticks for Christmas. I will never understand why she did this, at least until I'm a grandmother with grandkids to spoil myself, and then I'm sure it will make perfect sense to me. He has been limited in his chapstick usage up to this point. I keep it up on the desk where he doesn't really see it, and therefore doesn't really seem to realize he desperately needs his chapstick fix to be filled.

While I was getting ready this morning, though, he must have spotted the chapsticks. Billy called me into the bedroom to show me what had become of Merrick's last 2 "chaps" as he calls them. He had twisted them until they'd just fallen out of the tubes. He kept asking me "mommy, chap up down." Which means I'm supposed to fix them. I did, but not without getting it all over me and the desk. But, all is right with the world again, because his chapsticks are back together again and waiting for him. Ya know, for the next time he decided his big toe is chapped or one of his stuffed animals could use a little touch up.

First Time for Everything

This weekend I had the chance to do my first "real" photoshoot. I don't count all the shooting I do around the house of the hooligans, obviously. For one thing, that's more like being the paparazzi, and for another, I guess I consider a shoot to involve willing subjects who actually ask for your services, instead of beg you to get that camera out of their faces.

Aside from being slightly snowed in this past weekend, which did put a very large white/cold/slippery/annoying damper on my original photoshoot visions, we did have a great time hanging out and finding other places for my sister and her fiance's engagement shoot. They were great subjects, and seemed to even forget me and my camera were there because they are just that make-people-jealous in love. So cute. Their wedding is in about 4 weeks...can't wait!

I had a great time, and hope that I get a chance to do many more of these types of photoshoots in the future. By these types, I mean the ones where I'm not chasing my 2 year old who doesn't really want his picture taken, and getting the back of his head for my efforts. ;)

This week at i ♥ faces the theme was *kissing*
Check out their site for more great shots and blogs!

Ode to Babysitters

It's been a busy few weeks around here. I have recently switched up my job description, aside from zoo keeper that is. ;) I had been working for my dad a couple of days a week doing book keeping type stuff. It was kind of nice to get out of the house for a bit and change up the pace. Most times my sisters either watched the kids for me at mom's house, or watched them for me at work. So those couple of days a week I kind of had a little break from bearing the brunt of watching the kids. Now, though, I'm doing more stuff from home, and helping with errands and things that my parents need done for their business and at home. *Taking care of mom's many crazy cats also comes into play when they are out of town on business trips.*

Now, though, there is no break from kiddos those two days a week. When work needs to be done, or an errand needs to be run, the kids have been going with me. I love my kids more than I can say...but being a SAHM is definitely exhausting. I was really feeling the need for an afternoon off. My mom had been out of town for a week, and was having grand-baby withdrawals.. She begged us to leave them with her for the day so Billy and I could go out for a little while. It was heavenly. We went out to Olive Garden, thanks to a gift card *LOVE gift cards* and didn't even have to apologize for the food all over the floor. *Which is what usually happens when we eat out with the kids ;)*

We ran a few errands for my mom, and finally got Billy's ghetto cell phone replaced. It was a victim of the white screen of doom. He was texting people without being able to see what he had written. A very dangerous practice if you ask me. I was a bit tired of not being able to communicate with him while he was at work, too, since we text constantly. *We are texting fiends, and text each other constantly through the day...usually our messages say something like "Merrick did WHAT?!" ;)*

So it was great to have a break, spend some time together, and get our work-day lifeline replaced. And it's always nice how much cuter your kids are when you come back after an afternoon away. Not that I don't always think they are cute...but they are always cuter when I miss them a little bit. ;)

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Tirzah isn't exactly "mobile" yet. I am living in fear of that day...because it will be the last day I sit down. Maybe ever. But in the last few days she's taken to rolling wherever she wants to go.

Which mostly seems to be under my desk. It doesn't seem to matter where I put her, either, she always manages to roll under my desk where I keep all my camera equipment. Maybe she's interested in photography...or just in being photographed like her brother seems to be. Pull out a camera and they're all "cheese".
I'm hoping for a calm toddler...but her behavior since the rolling started leads me to believe I may not be getting lucky with the calmness. Merrick wasn't really fast about learning to crawl or walk, but once he did...it was straight craziness. I'm not sure what kind of toddler Tirzah will be, whether she'll climb, crash, jump, trip, flip etc, like her brother, or if she'll have mercy.

I'm not one to shirk my motherly duties, but have to admit to looking the other way a bit while she rolls under various pieces of furniture. It's not like it seems to bother her, and usually, she rolls right back out on her way somewhere else.


Even Merrick seems to ignore the rollie pollie in the floor, kind of stepping around or over her like a speed bump. Only once did I have to say the words "Merrick do not put your sister in a headlock."

I figure a day where I only have to say that once is probably a good one. ;)

This week at You Capture the theme was faces...check out the site for more great blogs and photos!

Lessons from Sneeze-fest

As mentioned previously...we were cooped up sick for several days last week. Stuck in the house, with two sick kiddos, who are sneezing on you at a rate of 18 sneezes/min...each, isn't exactly how I'd plan to spend my week. But, I did enjoy spending time with them, and not really having anywhere to go. Since one look at their runny noses would have sent everyone running another direction anyway. ;)

They were surprisingly well-behaved for two kiddos who didn't feel so great. Merrick played more quietly than usual, and Tirzah just needed alot of snuggling.In the process of these sick days, and lots of temperature taking, *Merrick had a fever, Tirzah didn't thankfully*, I realized I'm not so great at taking temperatures. Fevers are one thing I just can't stand. Let me sneeze, cough, sniffle, gag, ache or puke...but please don't give me a fever. The other things don't really make me stop, but a fever never fails to knock me off my feet. These kids would surely have a mutiny if I don't have all my brains straight.

I have always argued with my mom, who says that you have to add a degree here, take a degree there, multiply the underarm by the in-the-ear and subtract from the in-the-mouth and you might figure out what on earth your child's temperature really is. I just decided to be a little too trusting of my little digital thermometer. So I assumed, all of one sick day, that Merrick had no fever. Billy walked in, and brought up the degree adding madness, much to my irritation.

So what did I do? I googled it. And what did I find out? Google, and every web site I looked at, says to add about a degree for the underarm temperature to be accurate. Crow anyone? ;)

But once we got that settled, and got Merrick and his 100.5 degree self some Motrin, things started looking up a little bit. Merrick was obviously feeling a little better because it got a lot louder. And now, in case I get one of those dreaded fevers and need to take it correctly under my arm...I'll do what mom said all along and add a degree. ;)

Homebody

My family always did lots of traveling while we were growing up, and I always remember my favorite places being Florida, Hawaii, and Utah. We got the chance at a great hands-on education through museums, national parks, and lots of sight seeing.

The theme this week at i ♥ faces was Places I Love, and I started thinking about all the places we've traveled and how much more traveling I'd love to do, especially when our kids are old enough to remember it.

I think, though, when it comes down to it, even in the foot of snow that I didn't want, *I got snowed in once this winter, in my opinion that was plenty.* I am a total homebody.

Being at our little rented house, as quirky, old, and in need of repair as this house in the swamp is, its still my fav. Right down to that awful border around the kitchen...that I would have promptly ripped off if this house was mine to overhaul, and my husband's goofball collection of happy meal toys that he insists on putting on the back of our stove.

The house itself really isn't my favorite thing. There are holes everywhere, cracks and chipping paint...it needs a lot of love.

I guess it's the people in it, and all the great memories we have from living here, that make it a place I love.

Check out i ♥ faces for more great photos and blogs!

Life Skills

I guess when you think about habits of young children, especially boys, spitballs may be a required skill. Good thing I have my sister, and one of the students at church, to impart this wisdom upon Merrick at the ripe old age of 2. This video was sent to me while Billy and I were having a lunch meeting about an upcoming student event at our church:

I could do without the spitballs, but am glad that they at least kept him at the table...which seems to be a difficult task for any babysitter, or his mother. :)