Fence Building

We have been busy little people lately. I've mentioned in previous blog posts that we are trying to fence in the back yard which consists of around two acres. About a month ago Sean put up the 250 feet of wrought iron fence that was left over from around our now non-existent pool. That went along the front of the enclosure, the part you'd see when you pull up to the house. So this past weekend we put up the fence along the back of the property. Sean pounded in 45 T-posts (by hand) and then put up the 4X4 corner posts and secured them in with concrete. Then Sunday we unrolled the field wire and tightened it with a come along. Yesterday (Sean took a day off of work) and we secured the fence to the T-posts.



Wesley kept himself busy out there while we worked. He would bring us tools and clips and imitate Sean whenever he could. He had a blast.



We used the Green Machine (tractor) to attach the come along to. It worked well.



At the end of the day Wesley would pack all the tools into the trunk of his buggy.



The yard is really looking good, I'm excited to have such a big item checked off the to do list! Now as Wesley gets older he can run and play in an enclosed area. I can picture him riding mini motorcycles around, having a blast. Not to mention the animals, the mini horses and goats are going to be in hog heaven.

Eating with the big kids

The transition out of the high chair has officially started. Wesley has been showing an interest in eating at the table with us so today I got the booster chair, that was kindly loaned to us, and strapped it to the chair. Then for dinner tonight he sat there looking like a big kid, eating his dinner with us. It was kind of sad not to see him in his high chair, but I suppose the next little one will be in it soon enough.

Wesley and Alex

I do believe my friend Jessica's little boy Alex is going to be good friends with Wesley for many years to come. They really are a hoot to watch together. It's like whatever one doesn't think of the other will. As they get older and wiser I think they might be quite the handful.

This evening Alex came over and since it was pretty late, we decided to let the boys take a bath together. And of course I needed to photograph it for future torment and embarrassment. So here they are, two silly toddlers in a tub:



I also felt you needed to hear what it is like to be around these two wild and crazy boys. So two weeks ago when we were on our way to the zoo, I shot a small video of them testing out their voices in the van. I don't think my ear drums will ever be the same. The funny thing here is that Wesley is always the instigator with the high pitch screaming matches. Enjoy.

A Joyful Twist of Events

I want a puppy. At least I think I want a puppy. This all stems from the loss of our beloved golden retriever, Cisco, last May (I can't believe we are coming up on the year mark). We were a happy three dog family. They all got along great together (for the most part) and since Cisco left us there seems to be a void. I see it when I look out the window into the dog yard and see Sophie moping around. She seems to be the hardest hit at loosing her constant play mate. I miss the steady flow of soggy tennis balls being dropped in my lap. I still get choked up thinking about how that doesn't happen anymore. Mostly I am saddened that Cisco never got to enjoy the constant attention and ball throwing he would have endured had he lived to see Wesley at this age.

Anyways, back to my puppy dreams. I go back and forth on this subject almost daily. I mean why would I want to bring a puppy into this house when I know fully well what puppies do. Puppies pee and poop everywhere, they eat anything and everything (including Wesley's prized toys) and they stink. I've always thought puppies stink, is it just me that thinks this? But then I think, oh puppies are cute....they grow fast, it would be a welcome addition to our family.

And then I get to talking with people (I shall not name names) that once the subject of a puppy is broached immediately say "Oh why don't you just have another baby?". This was funny the first time I heard it, but after the seventh person said it it started waring on me. It was hard. I couldn't tell these people that we are indeed trying and nothing seems to be happening. I want to scream it from the roof tops that for six long months we have been trying with no results. But I kept my mouth shut. You see, I decided if I wasn't having any luck getting pregnant then by God I was going to get a puppy. That I could control.

Early January came and I was stuck between wanting another golden retriever puppy or getting a miniature schnauzer puppy when....



.....much to my surprise......



....this happened......




Yeah, you saw that one coming a mile away didn't you? That's me trying to be all dramatic. We are so grateful and ecstatic that it happened. I know looking back that six months of trying is nothing, especially when some people try for years. It was just totally different than what we went through with Wesley (Mister one month wonder child).

I'm so excited Wesley is going to be a big bro! He'll have so much fun with a sibling.

Our little Skittle is 12 weeks old and due Sept. 25th.

Needless to say but there are absolutely no puppy plans in our near future.

Birthday wishes, allergies and escape horses

First off, Happy Birthday Grandpa Rich! Hope you had a great Birthday and we wish we were there to help you celebrate it! If it helps, we made a cake today and ate it in your honor. :)

I haven't been blogging very well this past week due to the severe onslaught of seasonal allergies. Spring is always the worst season and it caught me off guard this year being so early. The warm weather has sent these trees into a mad dash to pop out those flower buds. It really sucks. When the weather is beautiful I just want to throw open all the windows and feel the warm air but I'm forced to keep them shut and stay indoors until the worst of it is over. It's been so bad I can't even sleep much at night. I've been sleeping on the couch propped up on pillows so I can drain. Poor Sean would be up all night with my constant nose blowing otherwise. Did I mention it sucks?

I had a some what exciting evening. I looked out the window and saw three huge horses run by, heading for my miniature horse pen. Looks like the neighbors across the street have a tough time keeping their horses confined as this is now the second time they've escaped. So I set Wesley up with Elmo's World (the best make shift babysitter I could find) and ran out there to catch them. With a little bucket of feed I managed to get lead ropes around all three of their necks and started walking them down the drive way about the time the neighbors drove up. I forgot how big and strong full size horses are, I'll stick to my midget horses.

That's about all that is new. Since this is supposedly a blog about Wesley I will leave you with some pictures.

After every nap, he won't leave his room until he's grabbed as many of his stuffed "friends" as his little hands can hold.


He often crouches like this. His little hiney hovers about a quarter of an inch above the ground. I find it strange.



Such a cute little man. Maybe I'm biased.

The path ahead

Here is a video I shot at the zoo last week. I don't know why I'm posting it other than it's cute to see the Mister running around. I say "running" in the loosest form of the word as it's more of a "trot". He's still getting his running legs figured out. Sometimes he gets so much momentum built up that I doubt he could put on the brakes enough to keep from running head long into something. Such a silly little boy.

It starts

I'm so excited. Garage sale season is starting and I am like a kid in a candy store. I love finding kids toys for a fraction of their price new, it's so fulfilling. Sean is not so excited to fill our already full house even more full of other people's crap. Oh well, it will all get sold or given away once it is out grown.

Anyways, today I went to a church rummage sale and found many treasures. The biggest find was this:



As I've mentioned before, my child is a Sesame Street crazed kid who loves anything Sesame Street. These Elmo chairs are like $40 new and I doubt I would have spent that on something so hideous. BUT for a small donation I brought it home expecting my almost 20 month old to go nuts. Yep, not so much. Wesley has started being scared of certain toys. Mainly talking or jiggling toys so I didn't expect this homecoming. So I put it in the living room and assumed he would eventually warm up to it. He gave it a wide berth all day, never coming closer than 15 feet of it. He would point at it and say "Elmo chair" but that's about it.

Then this evening he took Hubby's hand and pulled him over to it and said "Daddy sit" and pointed to it. Of course Sean sat in it and showed him it would not, indeed, gobble him up.



Hubby read quite a few books while smashing sitting in the Elmo chair. Then just a little bit ago I came in from feeding the horses to find this new development.



He finally got over his fear and now sits in it without any problems. We are finding he is a very sensitive child. He really doesn't like being lifted in the air over Sean's head. He's somewhat fearful of new things, likes routines and comforting objects. I suppose he is very much like his parents in this aspect. I just hope he grows to not fear new things when he's older. I don't really know, as a parent, how to accomplish this other than just show him as many new and exciting things as possible. For now we are just excited he's sitting in his Elmo chair.

Our annual trip to the zoo

Since there isn't a whole ton of a lot to do around here, we found ourselves wanting to do our annual trip to the zoo early this year. The weather has been freakishly beautiful for early March (today is supposed to hit 86 degrees) and we were ready to exit the house. So yesterday Jessica and I loaded up our youngins and set off to the land of animals. Last time Wesley was at the zoo was his birthday last year when he turned one, he wasn't walking yet and therefore spent the entire time either in a stroller or in someones arms. This year he got to do some walking and running around and loved it! He still wasn't all that interested in the actual animals but would look when we pointed something out. He showed more interest in his graham cracker than the animals but I think the next trip to the zoo he'll be ready to take in all the sights.

Here he is in the rain forest jungle exhibit. The humidity was turned up extremely high in that building for obvious reasons and we were ready to vacate that exhibit then we reached the end of the trail.



Here are the three little ones parked in their vehicles rearing to go. The wagons were a God send. Very easy to get around and the kids enjoyed sitting in them when they weren't tearing around like crazy folk. It was an interesting experience getting two wagons and three car seats in a mini van. It was tight to say the least.



The petting zoo wasn't as big a hit as I had expected. I think he's used to seeing little horses and goats at home so this big shaggy sheep didn't interest him much.



All three kids liked checking out the huge grizzy bear exhibit. Little Abby, who is not even 11 months old, was walking around with the big boys most of the time. It's amazing seeing that little tiny gal walking around everywhere. No crawling for her anymore.



I thought this picture was just adorable. Alex went over and gave Wesley a hug. Not real sure Wesley is enjoying it but it still made a cute picture.



Last of all, here is Wes and I sitting on the gorilla sculpture (as we do every year).

He's learning

We've been teaching Wesley his 123's and he's picking them up pretty well. He can't get them all unless he's really focused with no distractions around him (which is rare), but we are proud of him being able to get the ones he does get. It's truly amazing how these little ones just pick stuff up.

Just call me the purple monster with red hair

Wow, it's March....when did that happen? I'm excited that February is gone, it's such a dreary month. I have exactly two months till I turn the big 3-0. That's sure creeping up as well. I thought I would share something that Wesley started doing, that literally, cracks me up. He has a series of Sesame Street books, all starting and focusing on a different letter of the alphabet. He loves the letter "L" for some strange reason and will carry that particular book around with him for large periods of the day. He likes this book because it has Ernie, I believe to be his favorite character, in the book. He often opens it up to this page:



He loves to point to Ernie and Bert and will yell their names. And then he likes to focus in on the purple girl monster with red hair.



He points to her and calls her "Mommy". Every. single. time. He's done this ever since I can remember. Good to know I'm a purple monster with red hair eh? Cracks us up.

More skeletons in the closet

I have to admit something. It is slightly embarrassing. I am hooked on this season of The Bachelor. I haven't watched this show in many many years and was shocked to see that they are on season 13. I somehow got watching it from the very beginning and now am anxiously awaiting the last show this Monday where Jason picks between Melissa and Molly. I feel vested in this show, I actually get nervous for the girls. It is truly sad and I am somewhat ashamed to admit it. There is some controversy happening over this last show coming up this Monday. I guess the rumors are that Jason picked Melissa and was engaged to her, dated her a couple of months then dumped her. The producers of the show then decided they would film another airing of the final rose ceremony where he will pick Molly. I don't know how they are going to pack this all into this two hour show but we shall see. All I gotta say for poor Molly is...ewww sloppy seconds.
If you don't watch the show you are probably totally lost but if you do watch it you are likely as pumped as I am to witness this final show. Should be entertaining at least.

A trip to the park

The weather hit an all time high of 70 degrees today to I loaded Wesley and the wagon into the van and off we went to the park. This park is about 20 minutes away but well worth the drive since it had miles of sidewalks around the small lake, a great swing set/play area and countless numbers of ducks and geese for Wesley's viewing pleasure. He enjoyed the ride in the wagon and I thoroughly enjoyed getting out the house and getting some exercise. Hope everyone is having a nice week!

My poor kid with the bad hair

Yep, no denying he is my child. He has bad hair. Since he was 8 months old he's been getting buzz cuts because I am at a loss at what to do with his crazy hair. So his last buzz cut was in November just before we got pictures taken and I decided I would let it grow and see what happened. I was hoping his hair would somehow grow out a little and just naturally look good. His Dad had the cutest little curls when he was a toddler and I just assumed he'd have cute hair if I just let it grow out.

Well, it's been three months and this is what we have: Exhibit A & B




The hair sticks straight up, all the time. I can try and plaster it down with water and spit and it still manages to stand up. The pictures truly don't do his hair justice. He was really pulling off the redneck look so I caved in today. I got the buzzers out and went to town. He hadn't seen the buzzers in so long that he was petrified during the whole ordeal, screaming and thrashing around. It's a godsend I didn't take him to the barbers like I was planning. It would have been a traumatic experience for all involved. He looks so much better after the new hair cut. I think I cut off three inches of hair. I just have to accept he'll never be one of those boys with the cute longer hair (I'm actually ok with this, the girly haired boys just don't look right). Here are the after pictures, doesn't he look like a little man now?

Yard vomit in my living room

I'm kind of glad this weekend is over. It wasn't a bad weekend just very uneventful. Hubby spent the entire time doing car maintenance (new brakes, oil and such). I spent the weekend doing the same thing I do during the week, watching Little Man. We went outside today to enjoy the nice 55 degree weather. The new wagon is a hit with Wesley. He'll just sit back in his seat, all strapped in, and enjoy the ride. We also took the new van into town for our very first family outing. I'm officially now a Minivan Mom. Did I just write those words?? I still can't believe I'm excited about owning a minivan. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe I just really enjoy room in a vehicle. The Jeep was almost claustrophobic with Wesley's massive car seat in it, and getting him in and out was a complete pain. This new vehicle is just too easy for transporting children, guess that's why they are so popular.

Since the weather has been questionable and getting outside to play on his slide happened very rarely we decided to move it into our living room. I mean who wouldn't love big plastic yard vomit in their living room? It has been a big hit with Wesley and he's constantly on it. He's gotten fearless going down the slide every different way he can think of. Right after this picture was taken he fell down it head first.....then giggled. Silly little kid.

More to worry about

Last weekend we had the pleasure of having lunch with some friends that came to town. Dru and Charity have two little girls, one of which is three days older than Wesley. It was really interesting seeing how developmentally equal they were. How each one was really into books and scribbling with the crayons the restaurant provided. They seemed fascinated looking at each other like "who is this little person that keeps looking at me?".

I had brought some portable snacks for Wesley to eat since I wasn't sure how quickly our food would be served. One of the foods was a fruit cup. We, more often than not, eat fresh fruit or frozen fruit....but on occasion I will break out the portable cups of fruit when we are traveling or otherwise away from home. Charity mentioned that she read an article about the harmful nature of certain plastics. Basically, some plastics that are used for food storage can leach a dangerous chemical known as BPA (Bisphenol A) into the food it is containing. Back when Wesley was still on the bottle I had read up on all of this, this was nothing new but it had been almost a year since I had learned about it. Charity brought up that she doesn't buy the fruit cups because they use the BPA plastic. You can tell this from the recycle code on the bottom of the container. Recycle codes 3, 6 & 7 are dangerous and should be avoided. I'm glad she reminded me of this, we are now back to the basics. We are severely limiting foods from plastic cups and other plastic containers, especially those with 3,6 & 7 on their bottoms.

We were a fairly regular buyer of applesauce in the little cups. This due mainly to time constraints since I do enjoy making my own applesauce. But who has the time? SO today while at the grocery store I was gazing over the organic produce isle and hit the jackpot. They had big bags of organic apples, ten apples to a bag, marked down to $1.25 a bag. They were a bit bruised but perfect for applesauce. So at this precise moment I have a huge pot of apples boiling down to make applesauce. The house smells so good. Yum.
It will be nice to not have to worry about my toddler eating his food laced with questionable chemicals. Scary stuff I tell ya. Thanks for reminding me Charity!

Little man talking...

....and pooing, great time to take a video eh?

Where are you Spring?

Talk about neglecting the blog! I have been such a bad blogger lately. I'm sorry to say I've hit that point where I don't photograph my child every two seconds anymore. Usually I have to delete pictures on my camera every couple of weeks to make room for new ones, but I still have pictures from Christmas on there. I think part of the problem is that we are stuck indoors. I mean there are only so many times I can snap a picture of Wesley sitting on the couch reading. Or standing next the table coloring.



We have a severe case of cabin fever and it's growing worse by the day. I do believe this is the longest winter I have ever experienced in my life. Will someone please make it stop? I need green things, like flowers and trees. Hell, I'll even take weeds. Just give me Spring. Please.

I think even the miniature horses are getting sick of Winter and sick of their smaller pen. I went out to feed this past weekend and Desi bit me. You're probably thinking "What, her crappy little mini horse bit her? What's new there?" Well, the difference is that Desi is the nice one. Rocky is the little demon spawn from Hell, whereas Desi is the nice older soul I purchased to "teach" young Rocky the ways of the world. This obviously backfired on me and now the young demon spawn is teaching the nice older horse how to bite. Ugggg, I give up. I'm doing something wrong with these animals and I haven't a clue what. I do know this little experience with mini's has curtailed any wanting of a full sized riding horse. Ever. If I can't control a 300 pound miniature horse what hope would I have with a 1500 pound horse. No thanks.

But, while we are talking about animals I am thinking about getting chicks. I went to my local feed store and on the door was a notice that "chick day" was coming up in April. I guess you just look over this huge list of available chicks and order them and they show up in April. I'd have two months to construct a pen and chicken house. It is tempting although Sean is thinking we have way too much going on around here to fit in chicks. I know he's right, but oh how I'd love some fresh eggs. I had chickens and ducks growing up and of all the animals I've ever owner (and that's a whole lot) I'd have to say chickens were right up there near the top. Very personable, hardy little animals. Oh decisions decisions. Maybe next spring would be wiser.

Hope everyone is having a nice week!

It's picture time

It's late and I'm sleepy so I will just leave you with some pictures.

Little hairy dog Chance in need of a grooming



Doing a good job with the spoon and fork, about 85% makes it down the hatch



When the berries come out, the shirt comes off...half his wardrobe is stained




He really likes his bean bag chair (excuse me...my bean bag chair)

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Valentine's Day with their loved ones! My parents took Hubby, Wesley and I to Village Inn for a tasty lunch in their brand spanking new mini van. Wow is it nice! I'm really excited for them. And I'm excited for us, we sold my car last night.....turns out the tire kicker wanted it after all. So we will be purchasing my folks old minivan from them, which is a nice one. We are all excited for more room, the back seat of my Jeep was quite cramped. This will be a nice change.

After lunch we went to Target and bought Wesley something I've been saving up for. A nice, new Radio Flyer red wagon with a canopy. This will be wonderful for all the outdoor outings we will be taking this spring and summer. He's outgrown his stroller (sort of) and this will be great for zoo trips and pretty much anything outdoor where there will be a lot of walking involved. Heck, it will be great for walks around town too. I'm excited!

I'll try and get some pictures soon, I've been getting behind on my picture taking. Sorry Granny.

More random nothingness

I'm so excited. Today I went and purchased a Ped Egg. I don't know if you know what one of these things is, but it's a glorified cheese grater that you use on your feet. You scrape the thick, disgusting, hard skin off your heels with it. It's totally awesome and I now have smooth soft heels that don't catch the sheets at night. Probably the most disturbing thing about this product is cleaning it afterwards. You pop the grater part off the base and dump, what looks like, parmesan cheese into the trash. And it's not just a little parmesan cheese, it's like 3 tablespoons. Yum. Think about that the next time you sprinkle your spaghetti with cheese.

On another topic, I just got back inside from doing something I really dislike. We are attempting to try and sell my vehicle and someone wanted to come look at it this afternoon. This isn't a problem as long as Hubby is around to speak "car" to this guy that wanted to see it. Well, of course Hubby is at work so I had to go try and speak "car". Maybe it's just me, but I think guys want to buy cars from guys, not gals. They want to stand around looking at the car, grunting and talking man talk about the engine and so forth. Well anyways, I did my best but it looks like this guy might just be a tire kicker. Bummer.

Wesley just woke up so I will end this rambling post.

A blog post without a title

It seems my blogging skills have gone down the toilet. I just have nothing interesting or worthwhile to blog about. I've been ultra busy with the sculpting. Pretty much any spare moment is spent sculpting, painting or posting. On the upside, the sculptures are selling well....I actually witnessed a bidding war last night on one of them. The end result was it sold for $250. Yikes! As my friend Jessica said, tax refunds are in full swing!

Wesley is doing great. I swear every month that passes is more fun than the last. His vocabulary is growing like crazy. He's got over 60 single words and for about two months now he's been making two word sentences. He likes to walk around the house and point to objects and name them. For instance, I'll put on my shoes and he points to them and says "Mommy's shoes". Or today we ran into Jessica and her kids in the store and as we left he yelled "Bye Abby". He's a super bight kid and it's so enriching to watch him learn new things every day.

There is so little to talk about that I'm actually going to write about the weather. Our weather has gotten spring like and I'm so freaking giddy about it. I realize it is still the beginning of February and it is in fact not spring, but Wesley and I are just enjoying the heck out of it. This morning we walked around town in our short sleeves with the sun beating down on us. It was glorious.
That's about all for now.

Saturday

Today was another glorious day, temperatures reached over 70 degrees. Gotta love global warming! Wesley and I went outside to watch Dad install the rest of the wrought iron fence. Boy does it look nice finished.



He followed his Dad around as he was wheeling concrete bags around. It was too cute of a picture to pass up. His little "mini me".



Wesley even tried to help whenever he could. Here he is imitating Dad with his hands as he pounds concrete mix into the hole.



While Hubby was digging around he unearthed this old, antique "thing". We have no idea what it was used for. It looks like some mid evil torture device. I'd love to know what it is.



Here is Hubby drilling another hole. I think he got 12 holes dug today. He's really been working hard, we are thankful he's such a good worker. It sure is nice to accomplish tasks that have been on our to do list for awhile. Thanks Sean!



We decided to reward ourselves for a long day with a trip into the store for ice cream and Oreo cookies. Wesley is nearly 19 months old and has never tasted the sweet goodness of Oreos, so today was the day. Here he is "testing the waters".



Then I tun around and the cookie is gone. It is replaced with an Oreo mustache. I think we have a winner.



That's all that's happening around here. Hope you all are enjoying the weather in your neck of the woods.

So very true

I read a few different blogs but had to share this one that I read because her recent post made water come out of my nose (I was laughing so hard). This is exactly how I feel about these damn books and it's so nice to see it in words. By the way, Jessica....when are you going to read the books?? You are the only woman under 35 that hasn't read them. You're missing out and I will hound you until you do read them. Be prepared.

Pictures for Granny

I took some pictures today for Granny Randi, and even threw in a cute video. Wesley and I are feeling a little cabin fever lately. Maybe it should be called spring fever. We are so ready for Spring. I've been trying to think of fun things to do this spring and summer. Things to fill up our calendar, and keep this little kid busy. Things like going to the zoo (a yearly favorite), a visit to the train museum downtown where he can climb all over a caboose, a weekend trip to the aquarium in Oklahoma City (I might enjoy that more than Wesley), and maybe a trip to the new water park although I'm not sure Wesley is "there" yet....we'll see. I hope to add more fun things as I can think of them. There really has been little to blog about lately so I will leave you with dinner photo's.

What is this you are trying to feed me for dinner?



I still can't tell, you tell me what it is



Here is a video where I've been trying to get Wesley to yell "HI DADDY" when Hubby walks in the door after work.