MckLinky

Had to give it a try. Just by posting this, I am entered in a drawing for $100 and some baby gear.

There’s a great new “linky” service available and I wanted to let you know about it. It’s called MckLinky – www.mcklinky.com. After realizing the need for a new, reliable linky capability, Brent Riggs and MckMama got together to create a free, easy to use linky service for all their blog friends.
MckLinky is a free link list feature that allows you to do include lists of other blog links like MckMama does on Not Me! Monday. You can use MckLinky any time you want your blog readers to leave a list of links on your blog. It’s simple, reliable, free...and loads of MckFun!

Just Keep Swimming

Xander at swimming lessons. He was supposed to learn how to blow bubbles and kick his feet, but he really just like splashing and floating around on the noodle.Swimming with Ms. Kris

Zack is either holding his breath under water or trying to swim.

Swimming with Mr. BrandonAfter swimming lessons and swimming at Gabby's pool, I wrapped Xander up in his towel and he was asleep within a minute or two. I was able to move him to the lawn chair, where he slept for about an hour more.

For graduation from the swimming class, everybody got to jump off the diving board. Here goes Zack (and Mr. Brandon):

Playroom and Boys' Room

We did it! We moved Zack and Xander into the same room together and changed Xander's room into a playroom. My plan is to keep all the toys in the playroom (and out of the living room) and keep the books in the living room. So far, so good!

The play table that Grandad made for Zack, with all the blocks and cars and trucks underneath

Yes, I know, the boys have way too many toys!

Here's Xander's side of the bedroom. His bed stayed made so nicely like that for about a day!

Xander's dresser and the bean bag chair

Diaper Update

Pampers sent me two coupons for $10 off a box of diapers. I bought the extra protection ones tonight. Hopefully they will work because, man, can that boy pee!!

Here, Kitty, Kitty

The boys' cousin Stacy has three cats of her own, but she also fosters cats that are awaiting adoption. When we visited her a couple weeks ago, she also had two cats, Neptune and Plato, that she was babysitting for another foster mommy. These two cats warmed right up to Xander. They were letting him do just about anything to them. He would pet them and pick them up, saying "Up, chat, down, chat." It was too cute. The boys like visiting Stacy, and she likes letting the cats play with kids!

The Story of Us

Seven years ago, Mark and I were married. At the time, it was the happiest day of our lives, but it was also just another day on our journey through life together. I decided to let you know how that journey began, and share some pictures from our wedding day.

November 1998--I was working at CVS in Wilmington, Mark was working at Domino's (in the same shopping center), and we both went to New Country (me occasionally, him often). Finally, one night at New Country, when I had actually gone there to meet another guy who had dialed a wrong number and got me, Mark asked me to dance. We talked about how I didn't drink and how I had just totaled my car in an accident. We danced again later to "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane." A couple days later, Mark went into CVS with the intention of asking me out. There was some guy bouncing a tennis ball at the front of the store, and Mark thought he was waiting for me, so he just left.

May 2000--To celebrate the end of another semester, the girls (ie. Cassie, Susan, Emily) and I went out for an evening. As we walked into one bar, there, sitting on the couch, alone with his beer, was Mark. Susan noticed him first, but we sat there talking for a while. Oh, and during that time, he thought I was going to be a pharmacist, but that was Cassie and Susan. So we talked, he told me about the tennis ball guy and I told him it wasn't too late and gave him my phone number. The next day, he was busy packing his things to move to New Bern for a new job, but we managed to date. He would just come down on his days off.


June 2000--We went on a little getaway trip to Myrtle Beach. We went to the Pavilion, Ripley's aquarium, and fancy restaurant along the boardwalk. On the way back, kind of out of the blue, Mark turned to me and said, "I think we're destined to be married."

September 2000--Mark drove to Raleigh while I was at a wedding in Charlotte. He decided to do his proposal the old-fashioned way: he asked my parents' permission! A couple days later, after an okay but not wonderful dinner at Outback, we went down to Wrightsville Beach. We walked and talked and admired the almost-full moon over the ocean. Mark said, "You make me the happiest man alive. Will you let me make you happy for the rest of our lives?" And that was his proposal, and yes, it was only four months after we started dating.

June 2002--After a whirlwind couple of days, including much family coming into town, last minute wedding preparations, and the untimely passing of Mark's Grandaddy, we made it to the church! Here's a few highlights...

Mark in front of the grotto--doesn't he look so calm and cool?

Dad and I doing the chicken dance to keep from crying

Mom and I
Here we are! We like to call this one "Mark's goofy grin." And if you look real closely, you can see him fiddling with his wedding band already.

Our Wedding Party: Heidi, Susan, Jonathan, Lisa, Eileen, me, Mark, Elle, Mike, Alan, Billy and Matt

Dad and Mom Swan, me and Mark, Grandma, Mike and Grandpa

Yeah, let's not go there--this is all 29 of us! Well, that was all at the time, anyway!

Mark and I with the "Never Home 4," my dad's quartet. They sang "What a Wonderful World" for us.

Me dancing with Grandpa

Some cake pictures...

I've always loved this one!

And this one--in the middle of the chicken dance. I love how you can see everyone's butts sticking out :)

Lisa was trying to help me cool off. And, no, I didn't photoshop this one, it's just the way the lighting turned out.

We're on our way!

And I'm looking forward to many more days with my husband and my hero..my Mark.
I love you always and forever!

Diaper Warning

When each of the boys were born, I used Pampers Swaddlers at first, then eventually downgraded to a store brand. With Xander, I have been using Target brand diapers during the day and Pampers Cruisers at night. I've never had any problems with these diapers. Recently I bought a pack of Pampers Baby Dry diapers instead, but I can't remember why. I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!! SEVERAL of the diapers in this package have either broken or come open while Xander was wearing them. I started putting them on him during the day just to get rid of them (and he begs for Elmo or Ernie or Big Bird diaper), and I've had days where 3 of the diapers have fallen off. Yesterday morning, he woke up calling "Mommy diaper" and soaked with pee because the diaper failed. Then, while we were at a McDonald's playground yesterday, he came down the steps with his diaper hanging out of his shorts!! So beware of these diapers!!!! I sent a message to the people at pampers, but I don't know what's going to happen. I will let you know when I hear from them.

UPDATE: I got an email from Pampers (P&G) and they are going to send me "compensation" by mail. Goodness knows, I will not be buying that same kind again, I'll definitely go back to Cruisers or the new Extra Protection diapers for nighttime use.

Many Random Pictures...

Xander has a lightning bug on his hand, and it happened to light up just as Daddy was taking the picture. These pics are somewhat blurry because we were playing with the settings on the camera to see which would work best outside at dusk.

"Reach!"

Somehow Zack managed to catch a grasshopper and hold it on his finger. We couldn't figure it out!

Xander is a fish in water! Even without the water wings, Xander was jumping out of our arms in the water. We put the water wings on him so he could balance a little better. He's beginning to understand kicking, but not quite. Hopefully the swimming lessons next week will help.

Zack is getting confident enough to float on his back. He has a pretty good swimming kick, too, when he focuses on doing it right.

Friday mornings is muffin mornings. Xander was helping me mix them up, and then he started licking the spatula. A child who definitely takes after his parents!

This is what we call Transformer fighting or play fighting.

Or we could call it Kids Climbing on Daddy and Daddy Throwing Them Around and On the Couch

Or Daddy Bracing Himself for Impact

Like I said, many random pictures!!

Airplanes and Houses and Bears...OH MY!!

While having a conversation in the car, Zack asked if Outer Space was bigger than the sky. I told him yes. Then he asked if the space ship was bigger than outer space, and I told him that the space ship (shuttle) goes in outer space. Then I decided to give him an idea of how big the universe is and how small we are comparatively. I told him to picture picking up a handful of sand, the picking out one tiny grain of sand from that handful. If that handful of sand is the universe, then we are the tiny grain of sand. Could be an exaggeration, but it's okay for now: he doesn't really have any concept of time or space. He seemed to understand that, and he was quiet for a few, short seconds. Then he asked me if a space ship was bigger than anything else on Earth. While I pondered that, he said, "Except for airplanes and houses and bears." Bears!?!?

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I just have one Not Me! Monday story to share...I think...

I did not complain of a headache and being tired on Tuesday night and flake on my neighbor who was going to go to the gym with me. We did not decide to bring the kids to Pajama Jammie Jam at the library, where we, incidentally, did not run into said neighbor, who wasn't given guilt about venturing out also after she didn't want to go to the gym anyway. Nope, not me!!

I did not allow my child to miss out on Tae Kwon Do class because I didn't know how to backwash the pool. We just really wanted to go swimming, but the skimmer wasn't getting anything off the surface of the water. I did not wait until Mark got there so he would be the one crawling under the screen porch, where the wasps and bees and spiders run rampant, to flip the switch on the pool pump. We also did not teach the boys how to play Marco Polo -- not, I didn't say boys, because Xander is much too little to be pulled around the pool with his floaty bathing suit and water wings on as whoever is holding him is chasing the others or running away from them. Nope, not me!!

Another gym flake...I didn't skip going to the gym because I had sweated so much at work on Thursday, it was going to be after 11pm before I got home and I didn't want Daddy to have to worry about the boys in the morning...only to come home and stay on the computer (Facebooking and blogging) until after 11pm. Nope, not me!!

And here's the big one...the one I thought was my only one...I did not join Stacy on a quick trip to Goodwill and Kohl's. She needed more red shirts for work. We did not spend nearly an hour in Kohl's, where I was not telling everyone that I saw that I was shopping WITHOUT children. We did not then visit Target and wander around for about an hour more, before Stacy bought a pet brush and two small Ben & Jerry ice cream tubs. I did not then feel guilty when I called home to tell Mark I was coming home and he told me that the boys had already eaten (if you can call the amount of sandwich that Xander chose to eat eating) grilled cheese sandwiches and that he was having a leftover sausage biscuit and chips...for dinner. And last night when it was very close to 10pm (the time Mark wants to go to bed) I didn't start another episode of CSI: Miami on DVD without asking him first, and we didn't end up staying up even later after we watched it to read our books in bed. Nope, not me!!

Gary Kirby Triathlon

Yesterday was the third time that Mark has done this race. The first year, I was 8 months pregnant and chose to sit in an air-conditioned house while a gigantic yard sale went on around me. Last year, we were in the middle of a heat wave and the temperature outside, even at 8:30 in the morning when Mark started, was around 90, and everybody with children were fighting to get into the shade. (We also had no AC at our house and were staying with Mark's mom because the temp had gotten to 96 inside our house!) This year was perfect!! It was cloudy, and one might say it was a little cool. Okay, it was a little cool, and I didn't envy Mark getting in and out of the pool. The boys were good for me, too; Xander didn't really run away and Zack didn't argue about stuff. They even got to play on the Bedford ("This playground is for the enjoyment of Bedford residents only.") playground. Oh yeah, and the best part of the day was when Mark shattered and crushed his time from last year--by about 11 minutes!! He really has improved by about 10% since last year, and I am so proud of him!! Here's some pics of the race...

Daddy's Biggest Fans

Pushing off the wall at 8:35:45

Mark said he likes the blur in this picture, because it makes him look fast!

Staying busy by playing with a centipede while waiting for Daddy to finish

The boys and I weren't where Mark was expecting us to be, so this is the first time (as he's coming in for the final stretch) that Mark actually saw us. He said he heard us other places, but couldn't find us. That's okay, we saw him!!

Playing after the race

I was a little worried about Xander on the merry-go-round because the big kids didn't seem to want to stop it. I told Xander to sit with Brother, and he did--he sat right there holding Zack's hand! It was too cute!!

Let Me Hold You Longer

Here's a link that a friend posted on Facebook (I did, also). When I looked at it, I was not having a wonderful day. My day involved poop, messes and biting, and not from the almost-2-year-old. As I watched the video, I was reminded of all the blessings we get from our children, and tears were streaming down my face as I thought about the little boy that I had just cleaned up and sent to bed for "quiet time" in a way that was not so loving. I went in to snuggle with him in bed, and after a few minutes, a few, short, precious minutes, he said, "OK, Mommy, you can go now." I told him I wanted to hold him longer. Get your tissues ready, then hug your kids!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQeDfcvTRnA

Wet T-shirt Contest

Xander grabbed my cup of water and dumped it all down the front of himself.

They're baa-aack!!

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that there had been some activity around the nest in our wreath. Then we noticed that a Mama bird was sticking around the porch area and tweeting from the tree again. There are five more baby bird eggs in the nest!! I guess she didn't mind so much us looking in on her babies! I'll keep you posted!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. Here's a quote to better explain it: "Not Me! Monday was born out of my desire to admit some of my imperfections and reveal a few moments I'd rather forget." ~MckMama


So on Friday night when I went grocery shopping (since I had to work early on Saturday), I did not stop at a certain fast food place and order an M&M McFlurry. I didn't enjoy spoonful after creamy spoonful on the way home, either, even while driving. When I got home, I didn't object to the neighbor kids helping me bring the grocery bags into the house. And despite needing sleep desperately, I did not stay up and watch a semi-stupid/semi-sweet movie with my honey until past our bedtime. Nope, not me!

While we were shopping at Target (actually, Zack was shopping using his birthday money), I did not indulge in good deals, not at all. I didn't pick up an activity/coloring book for each of the boys, a word find book for me, and two (more) bags of animal crackers. Who could pass up 75% dollar section stuff? I did, that's for sure.

Even though I'd been craving it for a while, I didn't drive across the street on my 15 minute break and pick up Zaxby's (teriyaki chicken wings and traditional chicken fingers--YUM!) for dinner (while my husband attempted and partially failed to make bisquick deep dish pizza at home). And upon returning to the store, 13 minutes into my 15 minute break, I didn't sit down and eat three wings, several fries and one chicken finger, before the boss had to call me back to my department. When she told me at the end of the night to close up jewelry and fold in girls' clothes, I didn't walk back and have another couple of fries, before they got too cold. Oh yeah, when I found the last bite of a granola bar on the shelf while I was folding those shirts, I didn't leave it there for the next person to find. I also didn't finish my Zaxby's meal when I got home at 9:30 last night. Nope, not me!

And of course, finally, I didn't leave all the dishes in kitchen that were there from the weekend (He wants to leave the dishwasher empty so we can put dishes in, but yet, there they are, on the counter.). I didn't have to rerun the dryer because the clothes from Saturday weren't dry yet. I didn't have to rerun the washer because the towels and blankets and Zack's car seat cover were starting to smell yucky. I didn't unload all the unimportant clothes into a basket and fold only the shirts that Mark doesn't want to wrinkle and proceed to put them on top of the basket on top of our bed. Nope, NOT ME!!!