2 points down, 2 seconds to go, what do you do?

We Meet Again...

Spence's head and the coffee table, that is. Back in July I vowed to keep Spence's head away from the coffee table. Today I failed, and there is a purple knot above Spence's eye to point out my failure. I don't know what went wrong! Coleman was being so sweet. I had just changed his diaper (let's not even stop to discuss his complete lack of interest in the potty) and left the room to go dispose of the diaper and wash my hands. Suddenly I heard that familiar banging. That unmistakable bang that a little head hitting a coffee table makes. Good gracious me, not again! And just in time for picturepalooza! You know, Halloween. I'm going to look at it this way: My oldest is normal, and my youngest is tough. That sounds a lot better than my oldest is mean and my youngest is a drum stick!

The Toot Is Sweet

Oh, these are the moments I love. After I wrote yesterday's post, I took Coleman and Spence to the park. They were both having a blast. Spence and I went to sit on the swing and Coleman came and joined us. I was marveling at the gorgeous day and enjoying it with my boys. Coleman and I were having a conversation about his best friends. He informed me that Wyatt, Ryan, Sarah from Bible Study, Spencey, Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Poppa, Grandma, and Grandpa are all his best friends. Then he concluded, "I have a lot of friends." I started feeling bad about calling him a toot earlier! I was also feeling bad because I left my camera at home. Oh well, that just gave us an excuse to go back today! The weather was once again perfect. We took a picnic and I remembered the camera! Here are some shots.

Two sweet brothers!

Helicopter Pilot

At the Controls

Spence enjoying the park

Can you believe my Mommy called me a toot?

I'll never be a toot...

If This Doesn't Work, It's Off to Boot Camp!

Coleman has been being extremely two lately. Yes, I know he's two, but he's been REALLY two for the past few weeks. You know what I mean. He's been saying no to us, pushing every limit, refusing to do things he used to do, basically just being a toot. I say that with love, for I love him dearly, tootiness and all! I've been reading Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel (Blair on The Facts of Life). Every time I pick up the book I break into song, "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life, the facts of life." Get out of my head crazy 80's sitcom theme song! Aside from that annoying fact, the book is great! Most of it is geared toward kids a little older than Coleman, but she has some great toddler ideas too.

Yesterday we started a sticker chart in the car. Yes, IN the car. It is taped to the back of the passenger headrest, right in front of Coleman's face. Every time he gets in the car and hops up in his seat without making a beeline for MY seat and grabbing my sunglasses and opening and closing the garage door 17 times, he gets a sticker. When his chart is filled up, we go get ice cream. This is working for the time being. Our last 4 car-loadings have been stress free! I'll spring for Haagen Dazs for that! He's told me what kind of ice cream he wants: ice cream with chocolate candy and it's blue. We should have a time finding that!

I'm also starting a responsibility chart soon. It's a magnetic board that I got at Target. We're just starting with a few responsibilities: be nice, share, put away toys, and brush teeth. Those are some of the things that he gets into trouble for not doing. When he's caught doing one of those things, he'll get to add a "dot" on the chart. I haven't worked out all the details, but I'm sure good things will happen if he has lots of dots, not so good things will happen if he doesn't have dots.

The third thing I'm doing is praying. You know, that should be the first thing! I'm praying that Coleman will obey and that I won't go crazy, but I'm also praying that I will be the parent God wants me to be. That I will discipline correctly. That I will obey. That I will show love more. I know before long it will be hard for me to remember why I thought the terrible twos were so terrible. I may think it was all pretty trivial. Thank God that He doesn't view any of our situations as trivial! And thank you for listening to all my ramblings! That's all for now. I'll let you know how it all works.

Down on the Farm

Saturday our Sunday School class had an outing to Dewberry Farms. They have a corn maze, hayrides, farm animals, and play areas for the kids. There were so many people there, and so much to do, that we didn't get to do everything, but we had a great time.

"It's time to go! Do you have your football helmet and sunglasses on?" Essential gear for any farm excursion.

Behind us is the barn with turkeys, chicks, roosters, and pigs.

Between sneezes and nose-blowings, I was able to get some good shots of Coleman on the big bales of hay.

I'm sure there were some safety violations here, but boy was it fun! No seatbelts, no handlebars, just a good ole' country girl recklessly driving a tractor with 20 "corn cars" hooked up to the back. Spence was with me two cars ahead of Brian and Coleman.

Thank goodness Brian agreed to take Coleman on the Roller Slide. I don't think my bum could have handled it!

This is the corn "maize." Many go in, few come out.

Sweet Spence. He may be too little to go down the slide or vanish in the corn maze, but he sure does look cute posing with the pumpkins.

Fun at Nana and Poppa's House

Coleman, Spence, and I just got back from Nana and Poppa's. We had a great visit. Here's some of the things we did, and didn't do:

• Built a tent in the living room with chairs and a blanket.
• Didn't watch any DVDs because Mommy left them at home.
• Went to Wal-Mart and talked Nana into buying TWO toys, a motorcycle and a Hummer.
• Didn't get to play with the motorcycle after bonking Spence on the head.
• Walked around Nana and Poppa's neighborhood.
• Didn't go see the goats because "they might bite my new finger that I got at the haircut place."
• Swung on Nana and Poppa's swing.
• Didn't take naps!
• Ate LOTS of brownies.
• Didn't get half as many brownies as asked for.

We love visiting Nana and Poppa! We always have a wonderful time, and if we're really nice Poppa will fix his famous fajitas for us! Now we're anticipating the trip to Grandma and Grandpa's in about two months!

"Fall" in Houston

We love the "Fall" season in Houston. It's nice enough to eat popsicles on the front driveway and we can go to parks without getting drenched with sweat.

Coleman's Funnies of the Week:

I have to roll over so I don't mess up my pretty hair.

I don't want to wear my new shoes. They might get dirty.

I don't see that tree in my house! (He's been obsessed with going to Montana, but we're not going until Christmas. So Brian told him when we got a tree in our house it would be almost time to go.)

And our thrill of the week...
Coleman has decided to start using the potty again. I've tried not to show too much excitement. I'm using a new angle this time. "You need to know how to use the potty and wear big boy underwear when we go to Montana! Grandma and Grandpa will be so happy!"

Cereal Enthusiast

What do our tile floor, the bottoms of my feet, the seat of Brian's pants, the kitchen table, and Coleman's entire body have in common? They are all covered with cinnamon and sugar. Coleman has discovered Cinnamon Toast Crunch . And I have discovered that when a 2 year old eats this particular cereal, everything becomes coated in a thin layer of cinnamon and sugar. It's like a toast crunch bomb exploded in here! We all survived, we're just messier than we were before.
(PS. This is Brian's post.....Amanda claims no responsibility.)

(Amanda's response - OK, so I did write the post and I did find the YouTube video, but it was Brian's idea to actually post it!)

Very good video on YouTube.
High school kids giving props to the CTC.

You got that cinnamon?
Yea we got it.
You got that toast?
Yea we got it.
You got that crunch?
O man! Yea we got it!
What you got?
(Yea Yea)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

12:00 on the dot,
Need the food that hits the spot,
I eye up some cereal,
Like, "Oh my gosh!" Fo-realio,
Thank the Lord for General Mills,
It's the stuff that pays the bills,
My school friends give me props,
Cuz I cut my box-tops!
WOAH!

You got that cinnamon?
Yea we got it.
You got that toast?
Yea we got it.
You got that crunch?
O man! Yea we got it!
What you got?
(Yea Yea)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

Trust me this stuff will change your life,
Cuz you know it's got cinnamon and sugar in every bite,
9 out of 10 Americans don't get enough whole grain,
I know General Mills got me covered in that way,
They're here to stay,
To brighten up my day,
I'm not trying to watch my weight,
No I don't do that,
But if you are it's only got,
5% transfat.
C-I-N-N-A-M-O-N T-O-A-S-T C-R-U-N-C-H
You know it's straight to your face!

You got that cinnamon?
Yea we got it.
You got that toast?
Yea we got it.
You got that crunch?
O man! Yea we got it!
What you got?
(Yea Yea)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

Presents or Presence

This morning on the way to school, Coleman said, "I want presents!" I couldn't figure out what made him think about presents until I heard the song that was playing on the radio: "And I can feel Your presence here with me. Suddenly I'm lost within Your beauty" (Here With Me by Mercy Me). He had mistaken presence for presents. I thought it was pretty cute, but it made me realize how I know the words to a lot of songs, but I don't really think about what they are saying many times. Can I feel God's presence with me even when I'm just driving down the road listening to my 2 year old talk? The next song that came on was Show Me Your Glory by Third Day. The line that caught my attention was "Send down Your presence, I want to see Your face." Later in the afternoon, I sat down to do my Bible study. What do I read about but the bread of the Presence. And the scripture for the day: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies..." Psalm 23:5. OK, Lord. Are you trying to tell me something? Maybe one thing is that You are present with me every moment of every day. Sure, I know that, but do I feel it? Do I live like I believe it? I want to! I thank God that He uses the most unusual ways (Coleman wanting presents) to get my attention!

Here's Coleman's cute saying today. We had finished eating our popsicles and Coleman said, "Let's sit down here and talk about my day." Unfortunately, when asked what he did today, he replied, "I don't know."

Update: Libby is out of ICU. There has not been much drainage from the chest tube, but her mom says she is not out of the woods yet.

Have You Met Snaggles?

Spence has a new nickname: Snaggles. Then there's Snags, Mr. Snagglesworth, and any other variant of Snaggles. He has one front tooth that is really coming in, and another that is just poking through. He looks like a snaggletooth, therefore the nickname. It took us a while to get a picture, so the snaggletoothedness is not as pronounced as it was a week ago. Take a look for yourself!

And yes, he's as sweet as he looks!

eBay Addicts

eBay is a wonderful thing. Brian and I often wonder what we did before this online auction and shopping website. I of course LOVE to shop, but if I need something specific, or don't have time to drive all over looking for that perfect something, eBay is the way to go. Brian, on the other hand, prefers eBay to any form of shopping. Need a part for the electric VW? Surf eBay. In the market for a pair of Kenneth Cole shoes? Click on eBay. Got a hankerin' for a designer suit at a not-so-designer price? You know where to go. Want an original map of Montana while it was still a territory? eBay's got it. Looking for an antique fireman's helmet to match the nursery decor? eBay! eBay! eBay! So you get the point. Coleman is no stranger to eBay. If not for Grandma and Nana, his entire wardrobe might have been won on eBay. This week, I looked all over the mall for a pair of navy tennies and couldn't find any in his size that didn't cost $30. I'm sorry, but I'm not spending $30 on shoes for someone who drags his toes, plays in the mud, and might hit a growth spurt soon, leaving them virtually unworn. So what's a mommy to do? If you've been listening, then you know...eBay! So today we won a pair of super cute Osh Kosh shoes! We also won a child's Baltimore Ravens football helmet and pants. This will be altered and used as Coleman's Halloween costume. He is insistent on wanting to be a football player for Halloween, but the costume he saw at Party City is quite cheesy. The plan is to pull off the Ravens stickers on the helmet and purchase Texans stickers at Academy to replace them. Then we have to remove David Carr's name from his Texans' jersey, replace it with Matt Schaub's (fortunately they both use #8), and he'll be all set! We have not, however, been able to find Spence a costume on eBay. We've got a few weeks though.

Footnote: Brian would like to defend himself and his eBay addiction. He says that everything purchased on eBay is something we've needed (or would have bought elsewhere anyway) and were able to get a deal, or otherwise we could not find the item elsewhere. Thank you for your understanding.

I Want That For My Birthday!

For all of you that have been praying for Libby I wanted to give an update. She came through the surgery and is recovering. As of this morning, she was still on the breathing machine, but they are going to try to take her off that today. The family feels your prayers!

Coleman is still taking his medication. He doesn't seem to feel bad, but he's still coughing. Spence is also developing a little cough. Aaahhhh!

Here's a bit of humor for today. Lately when we can't drag Coleman out of the toy department, we'll say, "Maybe you'll get that for your birthday or Christmas." So his birthday has been on his mind. Now he's decided what he wants! It is the backpack leaf blower that he sees the neighbor's yard guy using. He calls it a "backpack mower." I'm just not sure they make it in his size...

Counting My Blessings

Coleman has had a cough for about a month now. Brian took him to the doctor a few days before we traveled to Iowa, so we thought it was probably a good idea to take him back and see what the doctor had to say about this not going away. He prescribed a bronchiodilator and a steroid, but he also wanted to get a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't anything besides croup. I was a little nervous as I stood there wearing a big lead apron, holding my baby's hands as he laid on a cold, hard table. We had to turn him on his side for one of the x-rays and he said, "It hurts Mommy." I just had to hold him down and try to assure him that it would be over quickly if he'd be still.

As all of this was going on, I was thinking about a 3 year old girl named Libby and her family. I don't know Libby, but I've been praying for her for years. Her parents were members of our Sunday School class before Brian and I were attending, so our teachers have mentioned them for prayer. Before Libby was born the doctors discovered heart and other defects. She has had many surgeries and spent much time in hospitals. Tomorrow she is undergoing a major heart surgery where it's not a question of whether there will be complications, just how severe they will be. I was just reading her mom's latest post and she was saying that they have a peace that passes understanding. Libby made it through a rough day of blood tests, x-rays, and tests and everything is in order for surgery tomorrow.

I'm so in awe of God's grace. In whatever we face, He gives grace as we need it. Please pray for Libby and her family. There are so many things that could go wrong, but there is only One who is in control and knows what the outcome will be.

As for Coleman, his x-ray looked clear. Thank you Jesus! He started his medication tonight, so hopefully he will start feeling better soon. And Spence made it through his flu shot! I have so much to be thankful for. I've got to go count my blessings...