Happy Thanksgivingkkah!

Tomorrow night marks the first night of Hanukkah. I hear this is the only year in our lifetime that the two will happen together. So in our house, we will literally be celebrating the holidays for the next month. Our Chirstmukkah has turned into Thanksgivingkkuh plus Christmas!

And, on the note of celebrating every holiday in the book, we started "Elf on a Shelf" last night. Cooper named his elf Bama, hopefully not as in "Alabama" but we'll let it slide. I'm thinking he may still be a little young to understand what's going on. He told me that Bama was going to tell Santa that Cooper was a happy boy, not a good boy. HA! Well, sometimes this rings very true, especially when it comes to mud puddles...

The adults around here have also been getting into the holiday spirit. It's been so cold and rainy we've been lighting a fire in the fireplace at night and drinking egg nog. Oh, how I missed egg nog last year when I was pregnant! Kyle usually fixes our drinks and picks out a show for us to veg out to in our kid free time before bed. Last night I walked in the living room and he handed me a drink and said:

"I'm torn between Monday night football and Fashion Police, AMA special."

I died laughing. I can't think of a statement that personifies my husband any better. He is the most stylish manly man I know. To further the point, he went out last weekend to Home Depot and Target for light covers and other things around the house he was fixing. He came home with all of his stuff in addition to a pair of "cool leggings" for me. Love him.

I have to take a minute from the cuteness to brag on Kyle a little bit…

A couple of weeks ago and totally out of the blue, Kyle decided that he would like to help families in need this season. He contacted the principal at our local high school and arranged to provide Thanksgiving dinner to four families that otherwise couldn't provide this for themselves. He made his drop off this morning and I've been gushing about it all day. Not only did he do a kind deed for some families in need but I couldn't dream up a better role model for our kids. This makes my heart happy.

Happy Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and kick off to the holiday season!

Sleeping Like a Baby

I’ve often wondered where the term “sleeping like a baby” came from. In my mind, when I hear that I picture a rosy faced baby peacefully sleeping like a rock, all through the blessed night. Let me tell you, I’ve been “sleeping like a baby” for the past month and it ain’t so pretty! 

I know. How cliché? The mom of a newborn blogs about her lack of sleep. Waaaah, wah. But hear me out! I don’t have a good reference point in Cooper. He didn’t sleep through the night until he was six months old. I thought that was pretty good until Carrington did it at six weeks. 

Carrington giveth. Now Carrington taketh away.

For the past month or so she’s been getting up anywhere at least one and up to five times a night. Yes, FIVE! And the craziest part is that she wakes up completely happy. She coos! She laughs! She says, "AH-geeeee! AH-gooooo!"

She is particularly skilled in doing this the night before I have big projects at work. She's really clever like that.

I know not what to do with this happy child. We've read the books. We've done the things. NADA!

Last night we decided to see how long she would go.  After listening to her babble for about 20 minutes (at 3am, mind you), I turned to Kyle and asked "Are you really sleeping through this?!" He replied, "I was…"

My Mom ears just do not know how to turn off.

So if you see me walking around like a zombie, kindly point me in the direction of the coffee and remind me to brush my hair!

Sleeping beauty!

Totally Redeeming Myself!

Remember my Torah/binocular snafu at parent teacher conferences? Well, I finally caught Cooper on camera playing with his "noculars"! See?! It wasn't my fault!

And for some other things that happened during this crazy, busy week...

Cooper is finally warming up to his sister...it's only been four months. Four. Long. Months. 

Carrington got shots this week and also the fever that goes along with them, boo. But, she felt much better after an hour on Daddy's chest. I love that spot, too.

It finally got cold in Houston. I get excited for this for the first few days and then I'm ready to get back to the hot, wet blanket we like to call Gulf humidity. Sister did get to model some of her new winter gear though!

Ok, first can we talk about baby leggings and furry boots?! Oh man. Things I knew nothing about before having a girl!

Second, I wanted to share a sweet story about the sweater Carrington is wearing. My Grandmother (Mom's Mom) passed away when I was four. She loved to knit. One of her best friends, Carol, made this little sweater for Carrington in honor of my Grandmother. She wrote me the sweetest note about how my Grandmother would have loved to make clothes for my children. This is so special to me and I love her for doing this for us!

I need to go get a tissue now! Have a lovely (almost) weekend friends!

Adventures in Aggieland

This post could have been titled so many different things.

"The Time Cooper Went Home in Somebody Else's PJs"

"Porta Potty Seats are Round, not Oval"

Or, my favorite:

"There Isn't Enough Antibacterial Gel. In the World."

But, we'll get to that later. First let me tell you about Cooper's first trip to Aggieland! 

We got to College Station with just enough time to stop by our friend's tailgate. We were immediately inundated with offers of BBQ, beer, sweets and more. Those Frosts, such a sweet bunch. Cooper was thrilled and dutifully accepted not one but two pieces of chocolate cake. You know, just to be polite.

We headed to the stadium for kick-off feeling optimistic that Cooper could ride his sugar high right through to halftime. He actually sat through the whole first quarter! Granted, he was in my seat and I was in Kyle's lap ("Get out of my seat, Mom!"), but hey, he was happy. He kept yelling "go Ags, go!" and "don't swip Johnny Football!"

I could tell in the second quarter he was getting antsy by the way he was hurdling the guy's leg next to us trying to get to the aisle. I decided to take him out to get a snack. He chose a Sno Cone and proceeded to drench it in about 18 different flavors before taking one bite, handing it back and saying "I don't wike this." Neat. So, we spent the better part of the second quarter doing this:

And this:

Nothing cleaner than a college football stadium floor.

I wrangled him back into the stadium just before halftime and he was able to see the mascot, Reveille, and also watch the Aggie Band march. This was by far the highlight of his trip!

After halftime I pulled the plug and hauled my 35 pound load of bricks boy clear across campus back to the tailgate. Here's where things got a little messy...literally.

If you don't want to hear potty talk, please skip the next few paragraphs!

We got back to the tailgate and Cooper informed me that he had to pee pee. No problem. I saw a nice cluster of trees 20 yards away and we were off. About halfway there, he stopped in his tracks, tears streaming down his face as he told me:

"I. HAVE. TO. POOP!"

Oh geez. I scooped him up and ran to the nearest porta potty. We got inside, wiped everything as best I could with a wet wipe, put him on the seat and prayed for the best. What I got was something less. You see, the thing about skinny little kids with pants around their ankles is that their little tushies are far too small to sit on a seat that is round (not oval) without the serious risk of falling in. I quickly yanked him and took his shoe off so I could get one pant leg off. 

So there we were. Cooper was half naked and barefoot doing his business in a porta potty and I'm sweating and cringing with every new place he decided to put his hand. At one point we were walked in on and I vigorously waved a speechless college student away. That's an image he won't soon forget.

Just when I think things are wrapping up, Cooper asks me: 

"Mom, is this a water potty?" Um, no? Again: "Mom, is this a water potty?" No! What's a water potty? "The water is splashing up on my tush!"

Oh God. Oh no.

This is how Cooper ended up naked outside of Reed Arena being wiped down by his Mom with a wet wipe. As if this wasn't enough, about 10 minutes later he slipped and fell in a mud puddle and ended up soaked. And that's how Cooper ended up going home in some other kid's Spiderman pajamas. So thankful to the sweet family that took pity on us and offered them up!

At this point I decided that we had enough and I called Kyle and told him it was time to head back to Houston. I think he must have sensed the panic in my voice because he was back to the tailgate faster than humanly possible.

Cooper loved it and we'll definitely take him again...when he's 12!

Post-game. Kitchen floor.

What little boys are made of...

According to the nursery rhyme, little boys are made of "snips and snails and puppy dog tails." Thanks to Google I now know that snips are (in context of this nursery rhyme): odds and ends that little boys collect. Judging from the amount of rocks and acorns I find in Cooper's pockets, I'd say this is pretty accurate.

On that note, I am becoming increasingly aware of the boy's obsessions that are completely foreign to me. Dirt is one of them.

And again with the weenus...

Cooper continues to show his concern over my lack of a weenus. This is how conversations around this topic are currently playing out:

Cooper: Cooper has a weenus. Mommy has no weenus, right?

Me: That's right.

C: You can get one, Mom. You can get one at the Weenus Store.

Me: (Because I'm curious..) Where is the Weenus Store?

C: Far, far away.

Such a man. Life without a weenus is apparently not ideal from a two year old boy's perspective! Should I be concerned that he has already caught on to "shopping" and thinks you can get whatever your heart desires at the store?

Also, he's very proud of his skinned knees. If you ask him what happened to his knees, he'll tell you, "they broked".

Here are some pics of the boy's other manly obsessions which are pretty much anything his Dad does. I fear I'm losing another one to that little white ball!

At least I have this one!

The Shiksa goes to Parent Teacher Conferences

Last week, Kyle and I went to Cooper's Parent Teacher Conference. It was good to get some idea of how he's doing, share some laughs over his antics and learn that he saves all of his bad behavior for us at home. Good job buddy?

Anyway, at one point in the discussion, his teachers were showing us the things he likes to play with in the classroom. They were mostly things that he also plays with at home (blocks, paint, puzzles, etc.) but also mentioned him really liking a pair of binoculars. 

Then I blurted out, "Oh, he loves binoculars! He actually still plays with the pair that he made in class at the beginning of the year!"

(Remember, Cooper goes to school at a Synagogue...)

Teacher: "Oh! (Nervous laughter.) Actually, those aren't binoculars, that's the Torah. If you open up the scroll you will see a little blessing on the inside."

Oops. I'm sure the holy book gets mistaken for binoculars all the time!  I made some blubbering comment about being a Shiksa but I'm not sure that they heard it over the loud sound of Kyle's palm hitting his forehead from across the table!

In my defense, he really does like his Torah binoculars, even if he didn't grasp the lesson!

One lesson at school he did grasp is the "Unicorn Song" and how to put your horn up. See?!

I'm a unicorn!

At least there's that!