Before and After

Well what can I say...I should have known. Vanity lead me down the road of disappointment. I have been feeling yucky, so I thought I'd do a little pampering by coloring my hair with a kit from the store. I carefully picked on the one that looked closest to my own color. And honestly, I was trying to color the gray hairs that are partying on my thirty year old head. So I followed the directions and colored my hair with the hopes that only I would notice. Well, my hair turned BLACK!!!! EEEEK! All my pretty God given and salon treated reddish highlights--GONE!

It has been a shock. I am not loving my body right now, and my hair is driving me crazy. But I was digging my hair color.

I have accepted that I am now black headed. I am getting my money back from the easy but not so nice company. And I'm requesting they pay for a salon to bleach and color my hair back to normal. We'll see what they say. I thought it was worth a shot.

So that's my sob story about color in a box. Watch out friends!!! And call them first or you might end up like me. :-)

Mommy Blues--do they get you too?

Today is just one of those days. I just had to turn on the tv for Clark, put Joel in the swing, and use the time for myself. Today this post is dedicated to me and all you mommies.

Life with a two year old is "the best of times and the worst of times" to quote a website I read recently. I love my little Clark. He makes me so proud and makes me laugh so much. He owns my heart with his big eyes and sweet "Thank you Mommy" "I love you Mommy" statements. He is absolutely precious when he runs up to his baby brother and kisses him on the lips ever so carefully. But there are a few moments that I just don't know what to do with him. Today has been been filled with those moments.

Here's just one of our challenging moments today-- Clark got angry this morning at his train table, and before I knew it he had ripped off and thrown the pieces across the room. Then as I was trying to spend time with him, teach him a lesson, and clean up the mess, he ran off. Okay, no problem I thought. I finished putting the piece I had in my hands up, and slowly got up from the floor. (Thirty years is slowly me down a little I have to admit.) As I walk into the other room I see Clark shaking little Joel's head and being very rough with him. I honestly don't know what was in Clark's head. Was he trying to hurt Joel? Maybe he was just playing with him. Either way, it broke Joel's heart. Big huge tears began pouring, and his little face looked like his feeling were hurt. All I could do was just stare at Clark because I wanted to lose it. I knew I couldn't spank because I was angry and didn't want to take that chance of crossing the line. So I just talked to him.

I felt like a failure as a mom. I was trying to help my son learn responsibility, and I think I frustrated him to the point of hurting his brother. Then I felt so overwhelmed with emotion, I couldn't discipline the way I know I should have.

After a minute when I calmed Joel, I told Clark I was going to pray for him. I prayed with all my heart that Clark and Joel would love each other. I prayed for them to love the Lord. I prayed for God to give me His wisdom for parenting. And all I could do was just weep the words out aloud. It felt so good to have my Father to turn to in my mommy time of need. What would I do without Him???

I write all this so that you will know you are not alone. And after this morning I have decided every time I read one of your blogs, I will stop before I read it or enjoy the pictures, and I will pray for you as a mom. It might get old, but I will pray for God to give you patience and wisdom with your children. I will pray you will enjoy your children and that they will love their parents, the Lord, and their siblings. I would appreciate any prayers as well. You know I need them ;-).

I feel better already after venting in this post. Thanks for being there for me and giving me this outlet. I hope you are having a great day. You are in my prayers.

Our trip to Missipp

Michael's uncle David passed away on February 9th from a long battle with cancer. We were very sad to hear of this great man's passing. We had originally scheduled a trip the next weekend, but we decided to go a week early so we could attend the funeral. We also celebrated Clark's 2nd birthday and his cousin Hannah's 5th birthday while we were there.Hannah is into princesses, so I decided a Little Prince/Little Princess theme would be fun. So Michael and I whipped up a castle cake last minute, and they both had crowns to wear at the party. Clark really enjoyed running his finger along the cake and eating the icing.

Clark liked the icing more than the cake or icecream. He was covered in chocolate icing from his hair to his pants. He is definitely his father's son because he loves chocolate just like Michael.

Cousin Hannah is such a sweet princess.

Choo, choo! Look who is two!!

Clark had his second birthday party with trains as the theme. Our friends came over. It was a lot of fun. Michael and I made a train cake. We stayed up late the night before and had a lot of fun icing the cake. Clark didn't eat any of his cake or ice cream. He just wanted to play and run around with his friends. When he gets busy doing something, food isn't important to him. Emmaleigh Grace helped Clark open his presents which was too cute. Then she helped put a wooden train together. It was a great party. Clark really had a lot of fun.

2 Months Old

Two months ago I was in on operating room laughing and waiting to meet my baby boy. And now it's two months later. Time goes by so fast, but so much has happened in two months. Mostly I have fallen in love over and over again with this little (well big) bundle of joy. Joel is a super easy baby.


I can't help but compare, so I thought I'd share. Here is a picture of Clark and Joel when they were two months old. Clark's in the black and white.
Joel weighs 13 pounds, 14 ounces (90%). Clark was 13 pounds, 6 ounces. So Joel is not so big anymore. And Joel is 24 1/4 inches long (90%). Clark was 24 1/2.

Clark calls Joel Joey. So I think we might have a nickname in the making.

Our Trip to the Ocean

Clark is in love with trains and Thomas. So for his 2nd birthday present, we decided to get him a train set and table. When we looked at buying new, we just couldn't afford much, so like any good American we went to EBay! We found a great deal in Savannah, GA; we bid; we won! So we hopped in the "Happymobile" and made a 6.5 hour road trip to the Atlantic Ocean to get our train table and trains and have a mini-vacation.

We first went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Clark was ready to get out of the car! He ran straight for the water and loved it. You can tell how cold it was by Michael's expression. Clark fell in the water right away, and his jeans were soaked. However it didn't slow him down.

It was in the fifties and windy, so we bundled up Joel in our stroller. He didn't seem to mind.

We were so excited to get to the beach, we left Joels' blanket in the car.

We took Clark's wet clothes off and let him run around the beach in his coat and diaper. Then a strange man came over and gave us the creeps, so we moved down the beach.

That night we went out for pizza and enjoyed hot baths in the huge tub. (We don't have a big tub at home, so it was a treat!)

Sunday morning we got educated on time shares and got PAID $100 which paid for our trip. Then we went to Tybee Island in Georgia. We loved the island and the lighthouse. However, Clark and I were in a terrible moods. He hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch or taken his nap. I hadn't gotten to relieve my bladder for 7 hours. So we didn't stay long. We gathered a few shells and ran around the beach.

Then we picked up the train table and all the Thomas trains.

Clark loved them, and he played with them all the way home while we watched Thomas videos, of course.

Red, itchy bumps--a symptom of cabin fever??

We feel like we have been cooped up in our house for months. With the temperature in the single digits, we really haven't got out much. I guess we all have cabin fever, but this weekend we thought we had scarlet fever as well. Clark is cutting four canine teeth plus a molar, so he's not exactly his usual Mr. Happypants all the time. But Saturday, he was really cranky. And he develped a rash on his back. Of course I turned on the computer and read about childhood rashes. One that popped out at me was scarlet fever. So for about 120 seconds I thought Clark had scarlet fever (which is no more than strep). As it turns out, he didn't have a fever or any other symptoms. So we diagnosed him which eczema. At church, I asked a pediatric nurse who works at the local children's hospital about it, and she suggested it might be a virus that's been going around that just manifests itselfs as a rash. He's doing better today. So I tried to take some pictures of his back, so you could see what it looks like in case it comes your way.

Is reading on the toliet nature or nuture?

We had another gray and dreary weekend. But we made the best of it. We watched cartoons. We went walking in the mall. And we read a lot of books. Here Michael is showing Clark a fish face at our bedtime reading.

Okay to explain my post question...Clark is really good at going pee pee in the potty right before he takes a bath. He's a big boy and does a great job standing and doing his business. So I thought that I would pull out the little toliet for potty training and see what happened. Yes Clark is almost two in February. I didn't expect anything really.

He loved his little toliet and as soon as he saw it, he exclaimed, " I want to go pee pee in the potty." Or something like that. So I sat him down. The toliet sang a little potty song and played some relaxing, in the mood music. After about 15 seconds, Clark said, "I want a book." We laughed and laughed and of course captured the moment on camera. So that is why I ask...

Is reading on the toliet something we have learned to do or is it just in our DNA?

Joel had his one month check up

These two pictures are of Clark and Joel when they both were one month old. Can you tell which is which? Joel in the one on the bottom. I can't help but compare the boys all the time to each other. I know that I'll have to stop one day, or else I'll do permanent damage to their egos. But while they're young, I figure it's okay. Today we learned that Joel went from 9 pounds 6 ounces to now his big whopping 11 pounds 13 ounces (90%), and he is 23 inches long (95%). The doctor said he was doing great.



Here's Clark playing in just his shirt. He loves when I take off his pajamas in the morning. He'll run away from me and try to stay naked. Today I managed to get his shirt on, but I let him leave his pants off all morning. Michael calls him our Polar Bear man. No matter the temperature, Clark loves being naked!!!

I tried to take pictures of the boys today. It was a disaster as always. But when Joel started squirming and I went to pick him up, Clark got upset. Clark really wanted Joel to stay on his lap. He kissed Joel over and over while I was taking pictures. It melted my heart to see Clark love his little brother.

Clark calls Joel "my little brother". I find Clark always covering Joel with his blanket and trying to shove Joel's pacifer in his mouth when Joel starts crying. He's a great big brother.

Another gray dreary day

The weather here in TN has been gray and/or rainy for what seems like months now. Clark and I are very ready for spring, so we can go outside. We are both outdoors people. I love that about him.

We got a new double stroller to go walking as a family. We go to the mall, stores, or the park when we can. Clark has done great riding in it. He gets to be in the front. The only trouble is when he decides to chunk his toys, and then we usually step on them. Right now, he loves to play with my flabby, saggy, after baby stomach. I think it reminds him of jello, but he loves squeezing it and pushing on it. It makes me feel good that at least someone can enjoy this disgusting part of having a baby.


Joel is now one month old and one day. He has a doctor's appointment on Wed for his one month check up. He is doing really well. He's definitely a spit up baby. I could never figure out why people gave me so many bibs when Clark was little. He never spit up. Joel has taught me the importance of a bib! Joel is much more alert now. He is awake for hours at a time.