New Years Resolutions

Tonight promises to be the most uneventful New Years Eve ever in the W. household. Not that we are usually big party people. Our New Years Eve ususally consists of a movie at home and some kind of yummy dinner (sometimes take out, sometimes we cook) and a champagne toast at midnight. This year I seriously doubt I'll be awake to ring in 2008. We'll probably order Chinese food since that's what 2.0 seems to be hungry for and if I'm feeling really brave I'll open the sparkling cider in the fridge (carbonation gives me heartburn right now so I'll really have to want to live on the edge to do that.)

I've been thinking about what resolutions to make for 2008 too. Let's see - I can't do the standard "lose weight" resolution until after 2.0 is born, so I resolve to put on 20-30 pounds instead! I don't smoke, so I resolve not to start. I can't drink for awhile, so I resolve to quell any urge for a beer with a high quality non-alcholic beverage. I should resolve to be more careful about money, but knowing we have to convert one of the rooms upstairs to a "big boy" room for Wesley makes that a little hard to take too seriously.

Wait! I've got it! In 2008 I resolve not to give 2.0 any of the following celebrity baby names, all of which are real:

• Indiana (boy)
• Satchel (all I can think about is the dog from Get Fuzzy)
• Sosie
• Romeo (yeah, no pressure there)
• Cruz
• Seven Sirius
• Zephyr
• Apple
• Coco
• Alabama
• Kal-El
• Sailor
• Calico
• Aquinnah
• Wynter
• Fifi-Trixibelle (seriously, I could not make that up)
• Little Pixie (Fifi-Trixibelle's sibling)
• Poet
• Bluebell Madonna
• Alcamy
• Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily
• Moxie Crimefighter
• Shiloh Nouvel (yes, Brangelina's baby is beautiful, but what's with the name?)
• Tallulah
• Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf
• Speck Wildhorse
• Brawley King
• Daisy Boo
• Poppy Honey
• Fuchisa
• Banjo
• Diva Muffin

Goodbye 2007

I'll tell you one thing I will be thrilled to get rid of in 2008 - morning sickness!!! Yesterday was the worst I have felt in a while, so I spent almost the entire day on the couch. I mean, I barely moved for fear of throwing up yet again! But while I spent the day in "lump" state, Duane was a blurr of activity.

Our tv has been dying a slow death, and when I saw a good price advertised on a 42 inch flat screen with all the bells and whistles, I showed it to Duane. By noon we were the proud owners of a new tv (or babysitter as my friend Kate would say) and a new cabinet to put it on. Now if you don't know my husband, you don't know that how logical he is. By the time all the new gear was home, he had a plan. First he took down all the Christmas decorations in the entire house and put them away (which took a few hours.) Then he worked on assembling the new cabinet, then he moved the old stuff, then he hooked up the new tv. I don't think he sat for more than 20 minutes all day!!! He was amazing! Of course, he did have a little help from Wesley.

Just wait until Wesley sees a larger than life Dora this morning. I don't know if he'll be able to handle it.

Shopping Frenzy

Grandma H. and I went to the stores today to pick up a couple things and check out the after Christmas sales. Trying this with a toddler was a BAD idea! At the first store we went to, Wesley was really good until I ducked into the dressing room. Then he ran all over the store pulling things off the shelves. Grandma had to get a cart just to put it in until she could return it to it's proper place. At the second store, we decided to outsmart the little dude and put him in a cart from the get go. It still didn't stop him from grabbing everything in arms reach and tossing it into the cart.

However, our final stop was truly a toddler shopping frenzy. We had Wesley in the cart and he did pretty well most of the time. I wanted to swing by the dollar area (in Target) and Wesley was begging to be let out of the cart. Grandma and I relented and he ran for the dollar area as fast as his little legs could carry him. Quick as a flash he began grabbing everything he could and tossing it in our cart, saying that he needed "to get some stuff!" We had flip flops, chocolate, bibs, baby shoes, toys, books, you name it in our cart and it kept coming faster than we could return it! Is that game show Supermarket Sweep still on? Wesley would totally rock it!

Talk Radio

I don't know about all the other parents of toddlers out there, but we still use our baby monitor every night. Not that we can't hear Wesley - he is right next door - but so we aren't prisoners upstairs as soon as Wesley goes to bed. Confession: I'm a prisoner to my bed almost as soon as Wesley goes to sleep anyhow. Plus I'm a super sound sleeper and even with the monitor I don't always hear Wesley. However, I have discovered a new benefit of the monitor.

I think I've mentioned before that Wesley usually stays awake for at least an hour in bed. He talks and sings and reads to himself until he's ready to go to sleep. I LOVE to listen in on him! Last night when I got home from work at 9:30, he was still chatting away in his room. I got to hear him sing the ABC song a couple of times, and read several books. I especially loved hearing him flip through one of his Dora the Explorer books looking for a particular story. "Where is Mommy's Cake? Mommy's Cake? Where are you? There you are! My favorite!" So cute!

Merry Christmas Recap

The whirlwind that is Christmas is over for another year. It was wonderful, but not exactly what I expected. Since trying to recap the last 48 hours would make for a VERY long post, I'll just give you the highlights.


12/24 Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa H.'s: We spent the afternoon and evening before church at Grandma and Grandpa's, celebrating with them, Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan, Aunt Cathy, Sho and Kei - oh, and I learned that the smell of Kentucky Fried Chicken makes me ill with this pregnancy. Go figure.

Anyhow we had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's. The boys were super excited to open their presents.

Kei with his new guitar (that doesn't have an off switch - sorry Cathy)

Sho skating by his brother on his new carpet skates.

Wesley with his new electronic puppy.

When the presents were about halfway done Wesley started whining and saying "No more presents. No presents!" Grandma asked him if he needed some quiet time by himself, and he said yes. Wesley spent the rest of the gift exchange time playing with a toy in another room by himself. I think it was just too much for him (kind of like his birthday was). After all the hubbub was over, he did play with/look at his new things, but not during all the excitement.

We ate a casual Christmas dinner together before getting ready for church. I was actually able to eat (and keep down) some delicious country ham and cheesy potatoes! YUM!!!! Wesley, of course, ate the traditional Christmas dinner of cottage cheese and blueberries. Um, yum? Oh well, it made him happy and he ate - which made me happy. I guess I can't complain. Although I did learn that I can't help my son eat cottage cheese at this point in my pregnancy. Something about the smell and texture was a little too much for me.

After dinner, we got ready to go the candlelight service at church. Wesley was not real excited to get all dressed up, but look how cute he was!

Looks can be deceiving though, because despite how cute he looked, Wesley was a terror at church.We normally go to the casual contemporary service - no dressing up and no one cares if Wesley wanders around - but I am traditionalist on Christmas Eve and wanted to go to the candlelight service. UGH! The thought of trying it with two kids next year almost makes me cry! Wesley did not sit for one second! Not one! Before the service started he ran up and down the side aisles, during the service he bolted for the door. Duane finally took him down to the nursery and stayed with him there - but Wesley still didn't sit. He was just a blond blur.

After church we went home to put out milk and cookies for Santa. Wesley insisted we leave the plastic milk from his kitchen set with the cookies for the man in red, which is cute, but not very thirst quenching. Then we headed to bed so Santa could come.

12/25 AM at the W. house: Wesley slept in until about 8:00. We all went downstairs as a family to see if Santa had come. Now remember, Wesley has been all about Santa for at least a month. It's almost all he talks about. So was Wesley super excited to see the stockings full and the presents under the tree? No! He was quite distressed that the milk and cookies we left for Santa were gone. He just kept saying "Milk and cookies gone! They're gone!" It actually took a bit of work to get him to empty his stocking.

Like the night before, Wesley was kind of interested in his stocking, but once we moved onto the presents, he didn't want anymore presents. So he played with his new sticker book and I opened the gifts to show him. He was VERY interested in the chocolate coins and candy bar Santa brought though. Smart kid.

Bad Kitty and chocolate balloons - my favorite!

Hi Puppy!








The mail gets delivered at the W. house.






12/25 afternoon at Grandma W.'s: We had a repeat of the "no presents" at Grandma W.'s house. Wesley played quietly in the dining room with a car from the Christmas train set, while the rest of the family opened gifts. He didn't even want to eat with us. That's OK, I ate enough for myself, Wesley and 2.0. I had to go lay down after we ate and ended up sleeping for over an hour (Wesley joined me.) I felt so bad crashing on everyone, but that's what 2.0 insisted we do and I wasn't going to argue. Thank goodness Duane's family is so sweet and understanding.

12/25 evening at Grandma and Grandpa P.'s: By the time we arrived at our final stop on the family Christmas tour, Duane wasn't feeling real well and Wesley's cold had returned with a vengence. All Wesley wanted to do was eat the fudge he saw on the table. Not that I can blame him, Grandma P. makes INCREDIBLE fudge! While Duane tried to get comfortable and rest, I munched on some snacks and caught up with the rest of the family. My favorite moment of the evening was when a friend of the family asked what time it was. Grandma reponded "4:55" and Wesley called out "Chocolate time!!"

We had the same "no present" attitude appear. I was able to take Wesley and his stocking over to a quiet corner and we enjoyed opening everything together (especially the chocolate). He even appeared excited about two of his gifts.




Wesley's new table and chairs. The perfect size for the little dude! I can't wait to set them up at our house!







Wesley and his work bench. Although it's kind of hard to tell in this picture, he was hugging the box and proclaiming it "My favorite!!" At one point he stretched out across the entire box! Guess this was a hit.



We headed home around 8:15 with a sleigh full of stuff and a wound up toddler. He did finally go to sleep with some of his new books a little before 10:00. We're going to spend this morning putting some of our gifts away. I have to go to work this afternoon and Wesley is heading back to Grandma and Grandpa P.'s for some quality play time and (if Grandpa has anything to do with it) more fudge.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope yours was as full of blessings as ours was!

On the First Day of Christmas, 2.0 Gave to Me

Yes, it's still very early in my pregnancy, but 2.0 is definitely on some kind of schedule already. The last three days I wake up at approximately 5:00 desperate to pee (sorry if that's too much information). I'm usually able to go back to sleep for about an hour, but I wake up again between 6:00 and 6:30 with my stomach growling loud enough to wake the whole house. Something I've learned with this pregnancy is that when my stomach growls, I have precious few minutes to put food in it before I start throwing up (again, sorry if that's TMI). So that explains why I am eating french bread and drinking tea and blogging at 6:15 on Christmas Eve morning.

Of course, if I'm completely honest, I'll admit that part of it is Christmas excitement. I cannot wait for Wesley to experience Christmas this year because he understands that Santa is coming and he's been talking about the day for nearly a month! We are celebrating this afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa H., then we'll all go to church, then when Wesley goes to bed Santa can come. I am so excited to see his face in the morning when there are presents under the tree and the stockings are full!!!! That's going to be the best Christmas present I'll get this year!

A Christmas Gift

I've decide to give an early Christmas gift to my readers. The gift I give to you is the news that the blog has changed names. Take a look - I'll wait......OK, you're back. Yep! The W. family will be growing by one in the upcoming year! I wanted to wait a while before I broke the news, but decided not to wait for several reasons.

1) Most of you probably know already.
2) I've made references to being extremely tired and not feeling well lately and I know you all can read between the lines.
3) The constant green shade of my face has forced me to come out at work and church already.
Why not come out online too?
4) I really want to grump online about feeling yucky and once I'm out in the open, I can do that!

Duane and I are really excited! Wesley is not. If we mention the baby at all he frowns and says "No baby." Oh well, he's got time to get used to it. Right now it's all about Christmas for him - and it should be. After the holidays we'll start really getting ready for Webblett 2.0. Hope you stick around for the ride.

Santa Paws

Wesley and I braved Target yesterday to pick up a couple last minute gifts. I didn't bother with a cart, just a hand basket, and Wesley was terrific about holding my hand and staying right with me. We made our way to the pet aisle for something Christmasy for Maggie and Abby and Chance - the dogs we may be spending part of the holiday with.

Wesley is a HUGE fan of Maggie and Abby. He often asks if they will be at Grandma and Grandpa P.'s when he is there. So while we were standing in the pet aisle I told him we needed to find a Christmas present for Maggie and Abby. After a minute or two he let go of my hand and picked up the biggest box of Milkbones I have ever seen. It was the equivalent of like three boxes in one. While struggling to hold the box Wesley said, "This for Maggie Abby."

We didn't end up with the gigantic box of dog biscuits, but Wesley was happy with what we chose and I was happy with his generous spirit.

The Gift Black Hole

You know, whenever I buy a Christmas gift in August I am always so proud of myself. I think "Look at me! I've already started my Christmas shopping. I'll be done by Thanksgiving at this rate." But then I got to wrap my gifts and can I ever find that perfect gift I bought over the summer? NO! It has fallen into a black hole somewhere in my house! So here I am, 6 days before Christmas, tearing my house apart for the missing gift. Yes, I could go buy something else, but it makes me so mad!

In happier news, Wesley selected an apple from his plastic toys for me yesterday. He kept insisting I eat it and in order to make it even more appetizing he told me it had a sticker on it. When I asked him what the sticker said, he responded "Go Buckeyes!" Now that's an apple I'll be happy to eat.

My Apologies

I'm sorry I haven't been very good at posting this month. Wesley is being his ornery and cute self, and there are many stories I could be posting, but I haven't been feeling quite up to par. I'll try and resume almost daily posting soon. In the meantime, check out Wesley playing with the train under the tree at Grandma and Grandpa P.'s.

Now You're Speaking My Language

Manners boot camp continues at the W. household. I have to admit, Wesley did MUCH better asking for things and saying please and thank you yesterday. However, I couldn't resist a chance to give Wesley a taste of what it's like to be whined at/demanded to.

Last night we were sitting on the couch sharing glass of juice. When the glass was empty I shoved it out in front of Wesley and started whining "Anh! Anh!" in a persistent manner like he sometimes does. We have been working so hard on manners that I really expected Wesley to tell me to ask nicely or say please. What did he do? He turned to me and in the sweetest voice imaginable said "Don't cry, Mommy. I get you more juice." Then he picked up the glass and trotted into the kitchen (closely followed by Daddy.)

I was dumbstruck! Do you think those articles telling parents to quell temper tantrums by speaking in "toddlerese" - loud, short sentences and things like "No want! No want!" are onto something?

Mr. Bossy Britches

Wesley has somehow managed to forget every ounce of manners he has and has turned into Mr. Bossy Britches. He no longer asks for anything, but tries to order us around. I'm living with a little dictator! What this means is that almost every interaction with Wesley is a fight right now.

Wesley: You don't read that paper! You color with me!
Mommy: I'd be happy to color with you if you ask me nicely.
Wesley: I don't want to be nice.
Mommy: Then I don't want to color.
Wesley: You color now!
Mommy: How do you ask?
Wesley: Please!
Mommy: Say 'Color with me please'
Wesley: (mumbling) Color with me please.

Now repeat this scenario with every single thing we do - from eating to playing to getting dressed and you will see why he is Mr. Bossy Britches. He had to go sit in his room by himself for a couple of minutes the other night because he was being so unbearable. I sure hope he doesn't end up with coal in his stocking!

Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed

We had to wake Wesley up from a nap this evening. Now I know there are folks out there who say you should never wake a sleeping baby/toddler, but what are you supposed to do when he falls asleep at 5:00, is still asleep at 7:00 and his bed time routine starts at 8:30? I'll tell you what you do - you wake him up!

Unfortunately when you wake Wesley up he is nine kinds of cranky. First he screams for awhile, then he starts crying out for something (usually juice or his bear), then he whines and generally acts pathetic for awhile. Tonight's round of pathetic-ness included rejecting Mommy - no sitting with Mommy, no talking to Mommy, no Mommy singing. When Duane finally had to give me Wesley so he could finish his dinner while it was still semi-warm I not only got the cold shoulder, I got an angry scowl accompanied by Wesley hitting the couch to show his displeasure. Some days I really have to remind myself that my child loves me.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho It's Back to Work I Go

Why is the first day back from vacation so hard? Ugh! It felt like lasted a million years. Apparently it felt that way to Wesley too. Reports were that he was extra whiny today.

Funny story about Wesley's new back seat driving habit. While we were on vacation last week, he said to Duane (while we were traveling), "Daddy! Don't go too fast." And today while we were sitting at a light, Wesley began yelling at the other cars to stop! Hum....maybe we shouldn't have gotten him that toy steering wheel when he was one.

Breakfast with Santa

Wesley and I just returned home from having an AWESOME breakfast with Santa (and Grandma H., Aunt Cathy, Sho and Kei) at the conservatory near our house. I was a little worried when I made the reservations because it was a little pricey - but it was totally worth it!

The conservatory is decorated to the nines and looks amazing for the holidays. We had a delicious breakfast of Christmas shaped pancakes and toppings, candied bacon, hash browns, fruit kabobs, vegetable fritatta, muffins and beverages. YUM-O!!! Wesley hadn't eating anything for a day and a half since he was fighting a stomach bug, and he ate like a horse today!

While we enjoyed our food, a deaf "choir" performed. Christmas carols were piped in and the choir signed along to the words. It was lovely and Wesley really enjoyed their performance. He spun around in his chair to watch them.

Of course, it's pretty hard to concentrate on eating when the jolly old elf himself is going from table to table visiting all the boys and girls. Wesley was absolutely beside himself with happiness. He touched Santa's nose and beard and even hand delivered the "coloring book" he drew for Santa several weeks ago! What was really funny was watching Wesley follow Santa from table to table. It's like he was a little Santa stalker!

Are you REALLY Santa?

May I have a bite?

You ARE Santa!!

I'm gonna beep your nose!

After Santa (and his Wesley shadow) visited all the tables, it was picture time. Wesley did a fantastic job posing with Santa. He snuggled right into him and looked like he could have stayed there all day. He loved the picture we got so much that he got back in line so he could give it Santa. We got another picture taken and clever Santa slipped the first one back to me when Wesley wasn't looking.

It was just an amazing morning. I think a new Christmas tradition was born!

I'm TIRED!!!

Seven hours of Christmas shopping makes one weak. Seriously, I'm enhausted. And I know it's going to be a long night since Wesley has thrown up three times since 4:30. Guess I'd better catch a cat nap on the couch while I can!

Cookie Day

Check out how I found Wesley when I went into his room this morning. Guess he didn't want to sleep in his bed, but I can't imagine the rocking chair was real comfortable all night.

Today was the annual cookie baking day with Grandma H. Unfortunately, the weather decided not to cooperate, so we got kind of a late start. Wesley wasn't too sure what to make of the snow. He stepped out into it, looked down and said "My boots are gone!" Yes, central Ohio got somewhere around 4 inches of snow and you would have thought it was a major blizzard - perfect cookie weather!

Wesley was so good all day long while Daddy shoveled the drive and Grandma and I baked. The lucky little boy even got to be our official cookie taster. I didn't plan on him having that job, but once he saw the peanut blossoms he just had to have a taste. Apparently Wesley loves peanut blossoms almost as much as Uncle Kirk does. Once he had one cookie we had to guard the cooling racks to make sure he didn't make off with any more. And let me tell you - that little boy is sneaky when it comes to cookies!

In addition to his role as Official Cookie Taster, Wesley helped us bake too. He especially liked making the star shaped cut out cookies. Well, he liked making them until he tasted a bite of the cookie dough. Once he had a taste of that it was all over and he was two fisting the dough into his mouth as fast as he could! Don't worry - Grandma H.'s cut out cookie recipe does not contain eggs. I didn't know whether to laugh at him or be annoyed at the number of uncooked cookies that went into his mouth.

Wesley ended the afternoon by crashing HARD from a major sugar high! But before his sugar coated day wound down, I captured this picture of my sweet boy. I have to admit, I'm totally in love with him!

Bull in a China Shop

We took Wesley to a paint your own pottery place today. Why I thought this would be a good idea is beyond me. Actually, he did pretty well - meaning he didn't break anything. And in a few days we'll be able to pick up the ugliest - I mean most creative - dog drawer pull anyone has ever seen!

I Love Vacation

I know the blog has been a little slim the last few days. What can I say? I'm on vacation and enjoying every second of not doing a whole lot! Some of you may be wondering what I'm doing posting before 8:00 AM when I'm on vacation. Well, I'm an early riser - always have been and always will be. The other reason is that if Wesley sees me on the computer he thinks it means we need to watch Noggin or You Tube for the Mickey Mouse Club theme or Suppertime (featuring Snoopy).

So what have I been doing on vacation? Yesterday the W. family did errands and I took a 2 hour nap on the couch with Wesley. But Duane and I got an extra big treat last night. Our friend Ray called and asked if we wanted to go to the Blue Jackets game because he had free club seats. Um, YEAH we wanted to go! Grandpa P. readily agreed to drive down and watch Wesley so we could go to the game. BTW, Wesley has the bestest grandparents in the world and we are super blessed that they all live so close!

While Grandpa and Wesley watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special and played with the toy food and magic wand and puzzle, Duane and I sat in a private box to watch the game with our friends. We sat in leather seats, had a waitress, a tv monitor to watch the game, marble counter top to put on stuff on. It was like being a rock star!! The Jackets lost in a shoot out, but we still had a great time.

When we got home, it was obvious that hurricane Wesley had hit. We had told Grandpa not to worry about putting him to bed since we were all on vacation. We arrived to find Wesley busily assembling ingredients for my birthday cake (except my birthday is in October). Apparently my cake was going to be made of oranges, bananas, corn and fennel. Um...yum? Grandpa asked Wesley how old I was going to be. Wesley very confidently responded that Mommy was going to be 2. When pressed a little further we learned that Mommy is 2, Wesley is 3, Daddy is 5 and Grandpa is 7. He may be a little confused, but at least I didn't have to eat that cake!

Browns Buddies

The H. family invited us over to watch the Browns game this afternoon. This means that the daddies watched the game, the mommies talked and the boys played. It was great! Colin was super excited when we arrived. He wanted to show us the Christmas tree and his Christmas sock (stocking) as soon as we walked in the door.

Duane bought the little guys matching Browns jerseys. How cute do they look!?

Despite the outcome of the game, we had a wonderful rainy evening with our friends. Kate even helped the boys make marshmallow snowmen. Wesley wasn't interested in the marshmallow part, but sure loved the M&Ms and candy corn we used to decorate them! Colin, on the other hand, loved the whole thing! In fact, he loved it so much that he ate two of them and tried to make his mommy's hair white (with marshmallow goo). Have I mentioned how much I LOVE having friends nearby where the wives, hubbies and kids get along? I so rely on having the H. family near by! Thanks for having us over!

We Need a Spoonful of Sugar

Wesley has a sinus infection and is currently taking an antibiotic. Yesterday I literally had to wrestle him to give him the medicine. While struggling to pin my son I said (as I often do when he absolutely HAS to do something), "Wesley, this is not a choice!"

After swallowing the medicine, Wesley stood up and told me, "I don't like 'not a choice!' "

Now I Know My ABCs

I was so proud when Wesley learned the alphabet. I still am, but little did I know how much 26 letters could drive me nuts. It's his favorite song to sing, his favorite puzzle to do, his favorite magnets to play with, his favorite kind of book to read. He even likes to sit at the keyboard of the computer and find all the letters. Oh! And he reads the signs when we are out an about "T...A...R...G...E...T"

This morning Wesley was in bed with me. I was not ready to get up, but he was wide awake. Wesley covered me up with a blanket, started petting my hair and saying, "A for apple, B for bird, C for cat, D for duck, E for elephant," and so on and so forth through the entire alphabet!!! Maybe I should buy him some Alphabits cereal at the store.

You Know You're the Parent of a 2 Year Old When

1. ...your son runs away from you in a store and you call "Here Puppy!" to get him to come back.
2. ...you have learned to translate most of your son's barks into English.
3. ...you know there is a partially eaten butterscotch sucker somewhere on the floor of your car (and you don't care enough to go look for it before morning)
4. ...most of your clothes have dried boogers on them.
5. ...you sit on the floor in the middle of the store to sing the ABC song while looking at a puzzle.
6. ...you actually encourage your child to dip his green beans and cheese in ketchup because at least then he eats them instead of yelling, 'No! I don't want to eat!" like he has for the last 4 days.
7. ...you are exhausted and want to fall asleep on the couch by 8:00.

Special Delivery

I got the rest of the Christmas decorations out tonight. Wesley didn't really care about the ornaments or the stuffed gingerbread men, but he sat up and took notice when I got his Little People nativity scene out. He promptly put the baby Jesus in the back of the donkey's cart and proceeded to tell me that the donkey and baby were going to the North Pole to take cookies to Santa. Of course, the other animals from the stable must have smelled the delicious cookies, because they soon followed the donkey and Jesus all the way across the kitchen.

Christmas Crazy

Wesley is in full blown Christmas frenzy and it isn't even December. While I was at work today, Duane put up the tree as a surprise for me. I walked in tonight to a dark house, lit only by the lights of the tree. As soon as Wesley saw me he said "Merry Christmas," and it's been all about Christmas ever since. He keeps giving things to the little 2 foot Santa we have - pizza, books, toys - you name it. He's been playing with the Christmas music box and singing along. Why do I feel I may be Christmased out by time the actual day rolls around?

The Countdown Begins

No, I'm not talking about the Christmas season. I'm talking about the fact that I only have 37 work hours until I am on vacation for 10 days!!!!! My former manager always said that she could look at my accrued vacation hours and know when I was ready for time off. I'm past the magic number and sooooo ready for some time off - especially since Duane will be off that week too.

So what will the W. family be doing with all their time off work? Way too much! There are 3 craft shows I want to go to next weekend (I'm hoping Duane and Wesley will want to hang out together), we're going to bake cookies, decorate the house for Christmas, try to finish our Christmas shopping, see a movie, I'll go to the annual holiday tea with Grandma H., have breakfast with Santa and go to my library's holiday party. Yes, it sounds like a lot, but I'm looking forward to every second of it!

I forgot the other thing we're going to do while we're on vacation. I think we're going to go buy some Diego underpants. Wesley saw them at Target and now he really wants them, so we're going to let him practice while we're at home. Yes, I understand it will require us sitting him on the potty every half hour, but we'll see how it goes.

37 work hours to go!!!!!!!!!!!

Elmo Friday

Unlike most of the world, we did not go shopping to celebrate Black Friday. Well, maybe that's not exactly true, Wesley and I did go to the grocery store, but that hardly counts as Christmas shopping.

The big news from today, is that Wesley and I went to see Elmo Live with Grandma and Grandpa P. Wesley did really well considering he has a nasty cough and that he's two. Before the show started we got some snacks (a sno cone, cotton candy and popcorn). I ended up eating the cotton candy. Wesley licked the sno cone and drank a little of the juice from it, but the big hit was the popcorn. He's never had popcorn before, and I wasn't planning on giving him any today, but once he saw it, it's all he wanted. In fact, he got downright vicious if anyone tried to take some popcorn from "his" box.


Thankfully, all thoughts of popcorn disappeared when the show started. Wesley didn't so much as blink through the first act. He was completely enthralled. The second act was a little harder to get through, but he really seemed to like it. He smiled huge during the ABC song and at the end, he was waving and saying bye to his favorite characters. I know he had a good time because as we were walking to the car Wesley said, "Grandpa, I liked this!" YAY!!


We all had dinner together (or at least the adults did, I don't think Wesley ate more than two bites) then Duane and I headed home with the boy for another dose of cough medicine and bedtime. Of course, Wesley was able to con some coloring time out of me. Coloring with Wesley is an interesting experience. Basically, you do all the coloring, and you have to color cats. He wants one of every color and you aren't allowed to repeat a color until all the other ones have been used. I can usually get him to color a little bit before I'll draw, but it's more of art time for Mommy than for Wesley.


He also charmed Mommy into letting him watch a quick Snoopy clip on YouTube. Wesley watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special the other night and fell in love with Snoopy, so every time I'm on the computer he asks to see Snoopy. And really, could you resist this face?

Happy Thanksgiving

The holiday been so busy that I feel like I should have a TON to write! But does anyone really want to hear about all the food we ate, how little Wesley ate, and how we are trying not to be stressed about Christmas now? NO! So, I'll just give you the photo highlights instead.

Here's Wesley about to go over the river and across the highway to Grandma W.'s. Wesley was certain that Santa needed a pumpkin, so we took one from the back step with us.

Here is Wesley puppy hiding behind the chair at Grandma W.'s.

Puppy Wesley also likes to do puzzles. Unfortunately, the pieces tend to get a little soggy when Wesley puppy is on the scene.

Wesley helped set the table at Grandma W.'s. Too bad he didn't stick around at the table long enough to eat anything besides cheese.

When we got to Uncle Stacey and Aunt Paula's, Grandma and Grandpa P. had this cute little musical puppy for Wesley. I am about done with hearing barking "Jingle Bells," but Wesley loves the dog so much that it went to bed with him. He says the dog is on a jet ski and is going to save Santa.

So that was our Thanksgiving in a nutshell. Thank you to all our family and friends who made the day so special. We are blessed beyond belief.

A Present for Santa

Wesley has a present that he is dying to give Santa Claus. I suppose I should back up just a little bit. Wesley and I were coloring this morning. When I got the pad of paper out, an old Baby Einstein thank you card fell out. It was totally blank inside, so I let Wesley color in it. I asked if it was a picture for someone. "Yes! It's a coloring book for Santa! Santa will be so happy."

Of course, now the issue becomes how we will deliver Santa's special present to him. Wesley wanted to get in the car and drive to the North Pole right away! Since I was making my sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I was in no hurry to drive across several continents to deliver Santa's present, I told Wesley that I didn't know how to get to Santa's house. Silly me, forgot that Wesley is a HUGE Dora fan and has already seen "Dora's Christmas." He looked at me and said "Snowy mountain, icy river, North Pole. That's how we get to Santa's house."

I told Wesley that we were not going to Santa's house today. But telling a toddler and having him believe you are two different things - especially when you do have to leave the house for a quick trip to a store. Santa's coloring book had to come with us (of course) and when we got out of the car, Wesley said,"This isn't Santa's house." So once again, I had to tell him that we weren't going to Santa's house today.

Once we returned home, Wesley put a few finishing touches on Santa's present. He's carrying it all around the house now, talking about how we get to Santa's house and that we have to protect the present from Swiper the Sneaky Fox. If by some miracle that card can still be found when we go to breakfast with Santa on the 7th, we are so taking it with us!

Must Be in the Genes

This is probably only amusing if you know Grandma H., but since I know her quite well, I think it's darn funny!

Now the reason this is funny is that Grandma plays with her hair and has done so since she was a baby. There is a story in her family about when she was a baby and would sit in bed, run her thumb and pointer finger along a strand of hair and hum contentedly. She still plays with her hair sometimes and I think it's totally subconscious. But look at what her grandson is now doing! It's got to be hereditary!

BTW - Does anyone know how to get rid of red eye in flickr? I could do it with Yahoo Photos, but I haven't figured it out on flickr yet. I'm sick of Wesley looking possessed, so any advice would be appreciated.

No Clever Title

I really wanted a clever title for this post, but I have three totally random things to tell you about and they aren't related to each other at all. Hence, no clever title.


OK, so the first thing is I have to tell you is that I have completely lost my voice. It's totally gone. Yesterday I had a sultry, sexy voice going on, but it got up and went. Good thing I work in a library, huh?


The next thing has to do with Wesley's latest obsession - magic wands. Yep, thanks to Super Why, Wesley wants to "zap" things. His first wand of choice was a plastic toddler sized golf club. While he thought it was great, I was really worried about him causing injury to his parents and pets with that particular wand. So last night while I was at Target, I picked up another wand for him. Unfortunately, most wands are girly, so Wesley ended up with a purple, sparkly, feathered wand. Last night he wanted nothing to do with it, and it ended up being a Sadie (cat) toy. Tonight, he ran around with it for about 5 minutes before saying he didn't want it and that it was Sadie's wand. All I can say is, look at the picture. Does that look like a boy that hates his new wand??


The third unrelated thing I wanted to share today was Wesley's determination to give Uncle Kirk his bear. Whenever Kirk sees Wesley he says "Can I have my bear?" and Wesley always hands Stinky Bear right over. Today Wesley must have had a sixth sense that Uncle Kirk was going to the dentist and might need some comfort, because, according to Grandpa P, Wesley kept saying he had to take his bear to Uncle Kirk. When we got home tonight we called Kirk, and Wesley tried to put the bear through the phone! Luckily, Kirk said he'd see Wesley later this week and asked him to take care of the bear. What a great uncle!

Playing Possum

Isn't two years old a little young to be complaining about what time you have to get up? I dropped Wesley at Grandma and Grandpa H.'s for a couple of hours this morning, and he wasn't too keen about getting ready to go. Duane had Wesley dressed and sitting on the couch, but when I went in with his coat Wesley said, "Shhhhh. I'm sleeping."

"I know," I said. "Mommy's tired too."

His response? "Wesley's tired three!"

Toddler Comedy Club

Wesley made me laugh so much yesterday!!!! I love this age! Take a look at some of the conversations from yesterday.

Mommy: I have to finish getting ready for work.
Wesley: I don't want you go to work.
Mommy: I know, but I have to go to work. You are going to go see Aunt Melissa and Cyrus and help take cousin Mark to school.
Wesley: School!? I LOVE that place!

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While sitting at a stoplight....

Wesley: Go Mommy! Go Mommy! Go Mommy! Win the race!

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As we were driving past the conservatory....

Mommy: That's where we're going to go have breakfast with Santa Claus in a couple weeks.

Wesley: NO!! I don't want to see Santa Claus! I want to see Ann Belissa (Aunt Melissa)

You know you rate as an Aunt when your nephew would rather see you than Santa.

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Wesley: (reading letters from somewhere) S...E...M...L... Mom, what's that?

Mommy: I don't know what that spells.

Wesley: I don't know what that spells either!

Things That Sound Bad When a Toddler Says Them #2

Statement: We're going to the cat house!

Explanation: Wesley loves the Dora "Puppy Power" DVD we checked out from the library. Sometimes he talks about Kitty Power or Cat Power (which isn't a DVD that I am aware of). Today he pretended to put a bunch of kitties in his castle - which became the cat house.

A Bear by Any Other Scent

Grandma and Grandpa H. watched Wesley while Duane and I went to the hockey game last night. Somehow, Not So Stinky Bear ended up in bed with Wesley and Stinky Bear ended up in the toy box. This case of mistaken identity was not discovered until 4:00 this morning when Wesley woke up wanting his grandma. After Daddy explained that Grandma was not here, Wesley switched his demand to wanting his bear. Duane fished out the bear in Wesley's covers (it was still dark in the room.) Wesley brought the tag end of the bear to his mouth and yelled, "Not this bear! Want Stinky Bear!" Which means Mommy got to go downstairs and search through the toy box if she wanted any more sleep. Joy.

Sports Rant

May I please take a moment to rant about unsportsman like behavior. After an abysmal sports weekend in central Ohio, Duane and I went to the BlueJackets game last night - only to watch them lose 3:1. However, I was equally displeased with the behavior of some of the fans. I'd like to present some helpful tips (from a former cheerleader of a losing football team)

1. Do not boo your team - you are there to show support. It's OK to be disgusted with a play (or 2 periods worth of play) but yell semi-encouraging/"helpful" phrases such as "Oh come on!" Booing is plain disrespectful
2. Do not boo the other team - I'm sorry if they are playing better than your team, but they are just doing their job.
3. Please feel free to boo the referees - we all know they can't see everything and are not calling penalties against the other team.
4. Stay until the end - I don't care how badly your team is losing, STICK IT OUT!!! I can't imagine how awful it feels to see your so called fans leaving while you're down.

There Was No Joy in Mudville

Mighty Casey may not have struck out, but the three B's (Buckeyes, Browns and Blue Jackets) sure did. ARGH! I could almost taste another National Championship game. I could see the standings that listed the Browns as number 1 along side Pittsburgh. I could hear the Blue Jackets fans screaming in joy about a shoot out win. Now - nothing! It's heartbreaking, I tell you!

Church Talk

Wesley was something else at church today. Johnny is our contempory worship leader and every Sunday he says the same thing at the begining of worship. No matter what the weather is, Johnny tells us it's a beautiful day. Wesley has been telling us that it's a beautiful day every day this week, so as soon as we got into church we took Wesley to see Johnny. "What kind of day is it Wesley," we asked. "It's a beautiful day," he responded.

Johnny thought this was great! When he began the greeting he said that for the first time ever, he was not going to say it was a beautiful day - he was going to let someone else do it. I took my cue and asked Wesley "What kind of day is it?" Wesley looked around at everyone and said "NO!!" Oh well, maybe next week.

Then we had the chatter during communion. Wesley goes up to communion with us every single week. Every week, we take communion and he receives a blessing. This week, Wesley realized that everyone else was drinking something and he had nothing. Wesley looked up at the communion assistant and said "I want some juice please." Luckily we had a cup of juice back at our seat and that satisfied him.

The service ended up a very upbeat song. Wesley doesn't usually sing in church, but like to dance or sway along with the music. As the congregation sang, Wesley was in his own little world swaying along. When the music (and the service) ended, Wesley looked at me and said, "What we sing next, Mommy?" I told him that I didn't think we were going to sing any other songs, but he could ask Johnny. Wesley hopped down from his seat, ran over to Johnny and said, "What we sing next, Johnny?" Johnny knows it's good to leave the audience wanting a little bit more and told Wesley he'd have to come back next week to find out. :-)

Sweet Dreams

Sweet dreams are made of cake in Wesley's world. After an hour long screaming fit at 1:00 in the morning, Duane and I relented and let Wesley in our bed. Note: We relented because I have to work today. If he has a fit tonight, we're letting him cry it out. Anyhow, I learned that Wesley talks in his sleep. We knew he cries in his sleep and sometimes laughs in his sleep, but talking is a new one.

Sleeping Wesley: Daddy, I want a bite!
Sleepy Daddy: You want a bite of what?
Sleeping Wesley: Bite of cake please.
Sleepy Puzzled Daddy: I don't have any cake.

A little bit later, I heard the following exchange

Sleeping Wesley: No! I don't want to bite!
Sleepy Daddy: What don't you want to bite?
Sleeping Wesley: I don't want pancakes eggs.
Sleepy Daddy: So don't eat them.

Maybe Wesley should have eaten more dinner before bed. Or maybe he overheard us talking about our friend's birthday today and he thinks we should get a cake to celebrate when she comes over tonight. Hummmm.... I like the way that kid thinks!

Training Time

Wesley and I went to the conservatory with Grandma H. this afternoon. They have a special exhibit of garden railroads called "Enchanted Express." We thought Wesley would enjoy seeing them and we were definitely correct! From the moment we stepped in the first room, Wesley was enthralled. Many of the trains were suspended from the ceiling, which is why he's looking up in the picture.

In addition to the trains, there were beautiful miniatures of famous buildings, all made out of natural materials. It was a great time Wesley dropped a full bottle of juice in the gift shop. The plastic top shattered and every drop of juice ended up on the floor. Everyone was super nice about it but I was mortified! Wesley just looked at the puddle and said "The juice is on the floor." Thank you Captain Obvious! But check out his patented innocent look. You could almost believe he didn't spill anything.

We left pretty quickly after that. Wesley said goodbye to everyone and I taught him to say "I made a big mess," which he promptly told the ticket ladies and the security guard. They laughed, so I guess they'll let us back in the building.