The slide show below consists of pics from our first few days visiting Denver, including pics from Dinosaur Ridge. I had to get funky with filters on a few of them, but ended up pleased with the results. So check ’em out and enjoy. Wedding pics will be next!

Which brings us to sushi and bowling. Chris wanted all of us out of the house so he could get some rest, and seriously, who can blame him? So he requested that I go and “do something fun” with the boys–I decided on bowling. Zachary hasn’t used his bowling ball since he received it for his 7th birthday (and he’s almost 8), and who doesn’t love a good bowling alley on a Saturday night?

First, however, we had to stop at Marshalls for some new pillows, and it turns out there is a cute little sushi place in the same strip mall. I made the decision that we were going to eat there; it was, after all, right across the street from the bowling alley. Turns out it was a pretty good decision. The sushi was really good, and I actually got Zachary to try some, which he enjoyed except for my wasabi-laden soy sauce. The dinner entrees were yummy, the ambiance was great, and the boys and I had a really enjoyable dinner.

Next stop, bowling! Bowling with an almost-8-year old, and a 4-year old can go one of two ways: great or awful. This time was great. We got there about an hour before cosmic bowling, and we bowled a few games. Then cosmic bowling started and instead of leaving, Zachary asked if we could bowl one more. Of course, I think he wanted to show off his awesome robot dance moves more than he wanted to bowl–we don’t have cool strobes and black lights at our house. So we stayed for one more.

It was a really fun night, and very memorable. The boys were nice to each other (which wore off the next day, I knew it was too good to last too long), and we all had a lot of fun. There were also a few laughs–Jonah never disappoints. Check out the video of poor Jonah, learning the hard way, not to follow the ball down the lane, hee hee.

If you’d like another little chuckle, check out Zachary’s smooth dance moves.

It’s kind of turning into a game, to get to change his clothes. -Mrs. Kim

When this first started happening we thought something happened in the bathroom at school that suddenly traumatized Jonah, keeping him from wanting to go poop there. But after several weeks of pleading, bribing, scolding, ignoring, and being all around frustrated, it’s become pretty clear that he’s not traumatized, and he knows when he needs to use the bathroom. The kid regularly squeezes out some seriously monster logs, so it’s not a physical issue. It appears to be some kind of game for him, or a battle of the wills. What Jonah doesn’t understand is that I’ve been willful 36 years longer than he has. My will win out.

So, as promised yesterday if he didn’t do better pooping at school, Jonah will be put in diapers today and will go back to the other building, in the toddler’s class. So far the only thing to upset him when we talk about pooping in his pants, is the threat of diapers. So let’s see if that does the trick. Besides, you have no idea how sick I am of cleaning out poopy underwear that’s been sitting in a plastic bag all afternoon. Ugh.

If anyone out there has an idea as to other solutions to this problem, please share. I’m all ears!

The afternoon’s love fest started with Zachary trying to watch the cartoon that Jonah was watching and Jonah blocking Zachary’s view. After a few renditions of “get out of my way!” followed by grunting and heavy breathing, I was not surprised when the high-pitched shrieking reached my ears.

When I got to the living room I found Zachary looking contrite and trying to console a wailing Jonah. Okay, he was really trying to talk him into not squealing on him. Which of course, Jonah promptly did. It seems that Jonah had been standing on the couch, and when he wouldn’t get out of Zachary’s way, Zachary pushed him. Off the couch.

From these pics it’s hard to see how big and dark the bruise was (the little bugger won’t stand sill!), but it’s several days later and he still has his “trophy”.

I’m sure this is just the first of many brother-inflicted wounds to come. I think it’s time to invest in a first aid kit. Or a stand-by EMT.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

I would like to say that I took Ferris’s advice, and looked around once in a while over the holiday season. That, however, would be a big, FAT lie. There was simply too much to do. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the holidays—I enjoyed them very much. I was just very busy which is really ironic, since I had 12 days off. ((That doesn’t include the other 3+ days I had off earlier in the month 😆 )) Let’s see where all the time went.

First stop, Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving, even if Chris did try to add his thumb to the stuffing. If you don’t take anything away from this post, take this away: iPod, cleaver, onions, 80s dance moves—they do not go together! Injury aside, it was a blessed day with FL family, and we all ate way too much (sans Johnson thumb).

Once November came to a close we rushed right in to December, and the arrival of mom. Things just weren’t working out in Denver. Mom’s friend passed away earlier in the year forcing her to move, and putting her out of a job at the same time. In this economy it’s tough to look for work and mom ran out of options. So we asked her to come back to FL, either for an extended visit or for the long haul, if we can manage not to kill each other. 😉

Work was as busy as always with fun projects and interesting clients, both with eCollege and freelance. While December is usually a slower work month, since I had to take all of my vacation and personal time or lose it, I only worked 14 days. That would explain my workload, lol! Add to that a Christmas program, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s and Jonah’s birthday, and you’ve got “Wham! Bam! Thank you, Ma’am!” I can tell you this, it’s not easy playing mommy, Santa, Web Goddess, wife, daughter, and dominatrix, uh, wife. ((Wait, I said wife already, didn’t I?))

Christmas did seem to come and go, but it wasn’t a total blur. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve at Nana’s house. It was nice having so much family, mom included. Christmas morning brought another flurry of gifts, including a full-size telescope for Zachary and a plethora of Star Wars ships, figures, and clothing for Jonah. The gift that stole the show, however, was Rock Band 2. In a word, it ROCKS!!  ((Is that why it’s called ROCK Band?)) I don’t know who loves it more, Chris and I, or Zachary. We have had so much fun playing it. I even received the The Beatles version as a gift and it is awesome! Now that vacation has passed it’s been tough putting Rock Band on the back burner. I think we’re bummed out more than The Goose. 😀

After Christmas we had Jonah’s birthday. I thought the stores had run out of Star Wars items, but if they did it’s because we bought everything. He won’t run out of Star Wars things until he’s an adult and by then he can sell them for a profit. It was awesome watching Jonah run around the house playing with the Millenium Falcon and Yoda. At 3 he actually flies them around and plays with them. Is that odd? Of course not!

And there you have it. A flurry of activity in six short weeks. Or six long weeks, depending on how you look at it.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. I hope that 2010 is happy, prosperous, fulfilling and fun. I hope that all my family and friends get everything they deserve in this new year, and in many new years to come.

Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.

I have to preface this post by saying that as parents, Chris and I have been incredibly lucky. Up until last Thursday. We’ve managed to go 6+ years with no major traumas to the boys. No broken bones, no stitches, no major maladies—so far only one hospital visit, years ago, which turned out to be an ear infection. So we were very unprepared for our first child trauma. And still we are very lucky. Our first trauma involved a big clay pot, a reckless almost-three-year-old, and an even fatter lip.

This is the culprit. A big clay pot. Innocent enough, until a silly toddler goes running haphazardly through the backyard, trips, and introduces his upper lip to Mr. Clay Pot. Blood, screaming, crying and mayhem ensue. Of course head wounds (and by extension mouth wounds) bleed profusely. So of course there was blood everywhere. Poor Jonah was screaming and crying. Zachary was crying because he was scared. Chris and I were just looking at each other with that WFT look in our eyes. It was not a pretty sight. After about 10 minutes and the promise of popsicles and The Backardigans, we were finally able to calm Jonah down.

Did I mention this was on Thursday? The weekend ((This weekend includes Friday.)) was spent cuddling and coddling the Bear. Giving lots of TLC, popsicles, and Nintendo DS time. On Friday his lip had swollen out past his nose—so swollen that his upper lip skin stretched too much and separated a little bit. Gross, I know.

Friday was mostly spent snuggling and trying to get liquids and nourishment into the Bear. He just couldn’t eat or drink much. It was heartbreaking. As a parent there really is nothing worse than your child in pain. And this was nothing I could “fix”. You can’t put a band-aid inside the mouth. The doctor said there was really nothing to do but let it heal on its own. Which sucks. Because while his mouth is healing on its own, the Bear still can’t eat, can’t drink, can’t have his binky, can’t give me sweet little kisses.

It was a really crappy, helpless weekend that was spent waiting for Jonah’s lip to get better. Throw in nasty antibiotics that he refuses to take and swabbing his mouth twice a day with yummy hydrogen peroxide, it’s safe to say that a good time was had by all.

It’s now Wednesday morning and the outside of his lip is back to normal. The inside of his lip isn’t as hamburger-like as it was four days ago. He’s drinking juice ((No drinking through a straw yet, however.)) and eating normally, as long as the food is cut up and he doesn’t have to use his front teeth to tear anything. All in all, things are almost back to normal.

So now I can sit back and reflect on our first big trauma. In a word, it sucked. Chris and I spent the weekend looking at each other constantly with that helpless look our eyes. Having your child suffer, even if it is mildly, gives a parent a heavy heart and an upset stomach. I know that I am SO lucky. If this is the worst that ever happens I am the luckiest mother on the planet; however I’m not naive enough to think trouble will never befall my boys again. I will just give thanks that, in hindsight, this trauma was so mild. What do you think? Is this just preparing me for bigger, badder boo-boos in the future?

I’ve been a Star Wars fan ever since standing in line with my Dad at the Cooper on Colorado Blvd in Denver, patiently waiting to get in to see the best sci-fi movie ever. I wasn’t even 6 at the time, which seems SO young to watch this film. Then it hits me that Zachary isn’t 6 yet and he’s been a Star Wars fan for over 2 years now. His delight with the franchise started with Legos, and a GameCube–the Lego’s Star Wars Game–which he earned at 3 by sleeping in his own bed seven nights in a row. ((Bribery works, he really wanted that GameCube. He’s been going to bed in his own bed quietly ever since.)) I finally succumbed to the pressure and let him watch the movie when he was 4, with me and dad, of course. He followed the movie, wasn’t scared, and when talking to him about it to make sure he wasn’t scarred for life, I was the silly one, “They aren’t real, mommy!”

Fast forward a few years. While I thought Zachary was tenacious (we often refer to him as “Tenacious Z”), he’s got NOTHING on his brother. Tenacious or obsessive, you be the judge.

Jonah has grown to the ripe old age of 2, watching Zachary play all forms of Star Wars. From the Lego’s Star Wars game I, and then II; watching bits of the movie here and there when no one thinks I’m paying attention; putting together Legos Star Wars battleships; playing with the light saber Zachary was given by my brother. ((I need to remember to thank him for bringing what is akin to a baseball bat into my home, to be swung around at random.)) There is no shortage of Star Wars in this house. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jonah has developed a complete and total obsession with the franchise. He literally wakes up in the morning with the battle cry “Mommy! Daddy! Star Wars!”

He loves to “play” the Lego’s game with Zachary on the GameCube, jumping up and down and mumbling to himself, just like big brother. He’s also fascinated with actual Legos. Now that I know he won’t put them in his mouth, he’s allowed to play with them. He carries his plastic container full of them through the house, perching here and there to swap out little hats, remove legs, and build little ships he then pretends to fly through the air. If it weren’t so damn annoying wasn’t such an obsession, it would be really cute. 😉

He also “conducts” whenever he hears either the Star Wars theme, or the Imperial Death March, ((You’d be shocked to know that those songs actually play on an almost daily basis here.)) and he will carry around Zachary’s Star Wars sticker book literally for hours.

Actually, it is really cute. The part that’s not fun is having to repeatedly tell him “No!” when he attempts to find and play Zachary’s Nintendo DS. That is the one thing I won’t give in on. Those things are expensive–and Zachary should have at least one thing to call his own, right?

Watching these boys, I have to wonder where they get their obsessive tendencies from. Hmm, by the way, have I mentioned that we’re going to Vegas in June? 😉

This post was generously brought to you by a box cutter. They come in handy when I have to open all those Legos boxes.

I started the day with a snuggly breakfast on the couch, watching cartoons with the boys. That’s always a great way to start the day.

The next great thing to happen was I tucked in my shirt and put on a belt while getting dressed. While that may not seem like anything special, those of you who know I’ve been on a weight loss mission will understand how big this is. For those of you who didn’t know, now you do. 🙂 I haven’t tucked in a shirt in over 4 years, nor have I wore a belt. So as you can surmise, this is quite an accomplishment!

Then Jonah and I were off. The day was spent on a mission to retrieve one item from IKEA–a rolling storage container. The container wasn’t at all what I remembered so I had to pass. I also passed the small bookcase that goes with my office set, a nice set of shelves to put by the back door for all the back door stuff, and solutions for my electronic’s charging woes and Zachary’s these-things-belong-to-me woes (Jonah is getting very crafty). Believe it or not, I spent less than $80.

Then it was off to lunch at the Millenia Mall. Jonah and I shared a pizza at California Pizza Kitchen. He was his charming self, saying “please” and “thank you” for everything, and just being cute overall. This wasn’t one of those dining experiences where you want to get your 2-year old out as quick as possible. We had a really nice time.

Once lunch was finished, it was off to Apple to get a replacement battery for my MacBook. Now maybe my laptop will stop acting like a desktop since it doesn’t have to be tethered to a cord anymore. Again, Jonah was great at the mall. ((I keep wondering who this kid is and whether or not I get to keep him.)) We didn’t make it to the Nike store to return a pair of shoes–Jonah was tired and I wasn’t going to press my luck. 😉

Imagine my surprise when I came home to find that Zachary and Chis had cleaned the front of the house. The living room, dining room, kitchen and sun room were clean. They had been picked up, dusted, swept and vacuumed. ((Again, who are these people, and can they stay?)) Then, feeling particularly handy, Chris put together my bookcase and shelves. What more could a girl ask for?

The boys were in bed at 7:00, having had a busy day. I love my boys, but early bedtime is always nice! Since this is a G-rated blog, I have to resist talking about some evening activities. 😛

So you see? It wasn’t an earth shattering day. It was just one of those rare, great, stars are aligned and everything’s groovy kind of days.

This post was graciously brought to you by faucets–one of the few things I haven’t bought at IKEA.

I would love to know what goes through the mind of a strong-willed 2-year old. Jonah is that, and more. He’s crazy, smart, crafty and TWO. Here’s what you need to know about him right now:

Taking his cue from Zachary, he is now obsessed with Star Wars. (Or at least the GameCube Legos version of Star Wars.)

He looks so much like me when I was his age.

He loves daycare. Every morning has him climbing up the changing table to get dressed for school.

When told “I love you!” he will respond “ove you!” (Think “love” without the “L”)

His favorite things are butterflies and ladybugs.

He already looks up to his big brother for everything.

Daddy says, and I quote, “He’s a 2-year old terror!”

He loves music and dancing. (Hmm, I wonder where he gets that from?)

Above everything, he loves to color and write. The kid holds a pen with a perfect grip.

Books. The boy loves books. All books. I swear I read at least five books a day to him, and he sleeps with at least two books.

Jonah recognizes the colors red, blue, yellow, and green. He’s also been sorting shapes, correctly, for over 6 months.

And he’s finally a little talker. His vocabulary includes:

Mommy (of course!)
Daddy
Zachey
binky
No!
yes
Nana
Gigi
Uncle
butterfly (technically his first word)
bug
bottle
turtle
doggie
kitty
monkey
birdie
juice
please
thank you
eat
Star Wars (I’m not kidding on this one)
shoes
socks
mouse
pants
night night
moon (or “moot” as he actually calls it)
stars
birdy
plane
truck
cow
duck
two
empty
play
rocket (from Little Einsteins)
ball
football
burger
poopy
various animal noises
and more I’m sure I’m forgetting.

Finally, some of his phrases include:

“Help, mommy, now, please!”

“Ove you!” (translated as “Love you!”)

“No! No! No! No!”

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”

“Da-ddy!”

“Funny!”

“All done.”

He’s saying more everyday. That’s our Little Bear right now. All the trials and tribulations of life with a 2-year old. 🙂

This post was generously brought to you by unlocked cell phones.