stickyfeathers

my baby is two.

two years ago, he came full speed into our life. he was born less than two hours after we left our house in route to the hospital (which is 60 miles away). obviously, he was in a rush to meet his family.

levi owen. if i could shrink you down to your little tiny baby self again, i would. just for a day. i know how little you were, but i have already forgotten how little you felt. holding you in one arm while i multi-tasked with the other.  ah, those days seem so far away now.





seriously, it is hard to look back at these pictures without immediately wanting to either shrink you or give you a sibling.  omg. 

i am so glad you became part of our family that day. you fit perfectly. you are so much like your brother, but yet so very different at the same time. your little personality keeps developing and i think you might be the one to eventually give me my first gray hair. you try to do everything your brother does. your mind does not register there are FIFTY MONTHS between the two of you.  i have a feeling that all of those months won't make a bit of difference as you grow up together. 

i love you to the moon and back kid.  you make my world better and i'm so thankful to be your mom.



happy second birthday baby.

just a bit of rambling.

my current favorite picture. 

it was taken one morning when we were all headed out to the car to head to school/daycare/work.  tucker brought a book for his teacher to read in class.  of course, the deadliest animal is the mosquito.  REALLY.  a great book to read right before camping and fishing season.  anyways, levi wanted to be just like him.  so he brought a book too.  his wasn't so scary.  or maybe it was.  it was BUBBLE GUPPIES.  yep, he's got the ONE book they have.  we read it a lot.  oh, and levi also had to bring along FOOD.  crackers to be exact. 

after i snapped this shot, levi and i brought tucker to school.  that's been our school day routine since september.  levi loves to bring tucker to school (and to pick him up in the afternoon with dad).  that's all starting to change though.  tucker rode the bus home today ... and is planning to ride to/from school the rest of this week.  that kid just keeps growing up on me.  he still wants me to meet him at his locker tomorrow morning though.  which i think is cute.  i know that the day will come when he won't want or need me to be there ... so i'll soak these days up while they last.  i don't mind.  and neither does levi.  if i would let him stay at school all day, i'm sure he'd find plenty to do.  but i don't let him stay at school.  we loop around and head to daycare.  i say my goodbye to the little dude and then drive a couple blocks to work. 

i know this is all kind of mashed together tonight, but it is what it is. 
a little clip from our daily life.

burning the midnight oil.

the last couple weeks have been busy.  and by busy, i mean crazy.  and by crazy, i mean exhausting.  do you follow?  yeah, me either.

i have lots to blog about (hey, what's new?!) ... but i simply am putting this place holder here to promise (YET AGAIN) that i will be back.  i'm starting to figure out how many things i can juggle before i start dropping them.  i feel good about it. 

the only thing i don't feel good about is the complete lack of sleep i've been getting.  for the past two weeks, i have gone to bed before midnight approximately three times.  i am a night owl, but i will admit that i'm even pushing my own limits.  do any of you other moms feel like you can FINALLY get something done once the rest of the house is asleep?  because i do.  and i thrive on that.  until i crash.  and burn. 

okay, enough rambling.  i'm going to bed.  i've got ten minutes before i turn into a pumpkin.

make me look fancy.

this morning, tucker and i are discussing when his friend (who is a girl) is coming over on friday.  this is the conversation that took place:

me:  tucker, on friday lilly is coming over.
tucker:  on friday?
me:  yep.  after dinner.  but maybe she can come over a little earlier since you don't have school.
tucker:  mom, you have to make me look fancy.
me:  well, you look cute all the time.
tucker:  no, like no jeans.  that's fancy.

seriously?  my six-year-old wants to look 'fancy' for a playdate?  i think he officially has a crush.  just thought i should document this here so that in fifteen years i have leverage or something.

the beard is coming.

i have a lot to tell you about my weekend, but it's too late to write that post right now.  especially when i still have a load of laundry to finish and dishes to do.  whoops.  however, i had to post this little conversation i had with tucker before we left for dinner at my dad's tonight.  i can't help but smile when i think about it.

as we were getting ready, i noticed tucker had what appeared to be dry skin on his chin.  like i could peel it off almost.  i thought it could have been soap from the bath he didn't wash off, but i wasn't sure.  i told him to come over to me so i could wipe it off.  he complained (naturally) and our conversation went like this:

me:  tucker, come here.  i need to wipe that stuff off your chin.
tucker:  mom, it's dry skin! leave it alone!
me:  no, i'm wiping it off.  we have to go to papa's house.
tucker:  don't pick it! 
me:  i won't, i'm just going to wipe it off.
tucker:  it's just dry skin mom.  dry skin happens when your beard is coming.  my beard is coming. 
me:  oh?
tucker:  yeah.  dad, did you have dry skin when you grew a beard?
matt:  yeah (halfway listening to our conversation).
tucker:  see mom, my beard is coming.

so yeah.  i guess it won't be long now and my SIX YEAR OLD will be shaving.

an interview with tucker.

i love documenting my kids lives. i've done interviews with tucker before, but i thought it was about time i did one again.  you know ... because he is SIX YEARS OLD today.  seriously.  whoa.  i got some questions from other bloggers and came up with some on my own. without further ado, here is a transcript of my interview with tucker.

how old are you?  six.

if you had $100, what would you buy?  a venus flytrap.

who is your best friend?  cash and jake.

what do you want to be when you grow up?  i want to be a cop.

what is your favorite thing to do with mommy?  stay home and play games with her.

what is your favorite thing to do with daddy?  go fishing.

what is your favorite color?  green.  and purple and blue.

what is your favorite thing to play with your brother?  play hockey.

what do you want to learn to do?  ride bike without training wheels (he just got a bigger bike and has kept them on to 'help' him get used to it).

how do you help mommy and daddy?  i help clean up.

what is your favorite thing to do with your family?  playing shoots and ladders.  going camping.

where is your favorite place to go?  the fair.

where do you want to go?  the fair and disneyworld.

what do you love most about your brother?  when he chases me.

what do you like the least about your brother?  when he falls down.

what do you like to play at school?  play dinosaurs chases dogs.

what do you like to play at home?  the same thing.

what is your favorite sport to play?  hockey, baseball, tennis, t-ball, and that's it.

what is your favorite book?  lots.

if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  to alaska.  that's one of the best places to see animals. 

are you excited to finally be six years old?  yes. 

anything else you want to add to your interview?  no, that was a lot.  :)

i love this kid.  seriously.  he drives me crazy ... but i just love being crazy.  :)

month twentytwo.

one night after all of my boys were in dreamland, i was at the computer looking through old pictures. i was trying to find something, but instead got caught up looking at pictures from when levi was just days old. although i have said a million times that our family is complete and i don't want more kids ... in that moment, i started to tear up at the thought that i'd never have my own LITTLE baby anymore. that LITTLE baby is not so little anymore. he is growing up fast. so very fast.

it has been a while since i've updated you on levi owen baby peach, so this should be fun.

in no particular order ... here are all the random things about levi at this age:

he will repeat anything his parents, his brother or the television says.

he will NOT let me sing him the ABC song. i have to capture this on video. i get about three to five letter's in, and he's trying to cut me off. so yeah, we have that going for us. at this age, his brother had been singing the abc's ... but obviously levi is beating to the march of his own drum on this one.

he is bossy. he likes to direct others what to do. EAT! SIT! GO! SHUT UP! (that last one is one that i'm not too fond of ... but i think it comes from other people telling their dogs to ... well ... shut up! when we are around).

speaking of dogs ... he LOVES them. he has two little stuffed clifford dogs at home that he carries around with him. they are his 'puppies' and he kisses them, hugs them, puts them to sleep ... and tells them to SIT! he loves seeing dogs anywhere we go.

loves the water.  like ... throws a massive fit when taken away from any water source.

he loves hanging with his big brother. tucker complained the other day that levi doesn't know how to do anything (he wanted a playdate with a friend instead). obviously they are not on the same level, but man, do they have some good times together. levi wants to do EVERYTHING that tucker does. tucker asks us something, levi repeats the same thing to us ... it's almost comical. he is learning quite a bit from tucker. which is good and bad. ha!

he will eat anything. ANYTHING. EVERYTHING. except tomatoes. he tried them twice ... but both times did not care to have another bite. he totally loves food. i hate to see how much he likes food when he's a teenager. geesh! he is eating at the table, off a plate and using his spoon and fork like a pro. when he's really hungry, he digs in with his hands. caveman style.

favorite foods include (but are not limited to): cheese of any kind, yogurt, hamburger, any kind of cracker ... and for a treat: m+m's or ice cream. oh, he screams for 'iiii ceeem! iiii ceeem!' ... and i love it.

he still has his blankie and his binkies. i haven't cut him off from his binkies yet. it is totally a crutch and probably my issue, but whatever. i know they will be gone soon and then that's one more step closer to him being so much older! ha, i'm a freak. i know.

my child also likes to stick the fringies off his blankie in between his toes. he is odd. what is even more odd is that he'll stick anything in between his toes. his binkie, utencils, etc. yummy. please note: he also hates wearing socks unless he's getting his shoes on.

while he still is obsessed with the bubble guppies, now the backyardigans have been tossed into the mix. i can't wait until he likes to watch things like 'journey to the earth's core' with his big brother. so much less annoying.

he is wearing size 2T/3T clothing. depends on the brand. size 7 shoe, but that will probably be going up shortly too. the boots he is obsessed with are size 11 ... and they are WAY too big for him, but that doesn't stop him from wearing them around the house (or to daycare sometimes). i might need to officially hide them so his feet don't completely melt once it starts getting warmer.

likes to climb up on things and turn the lights on and off. he stands on his potty chair in the bathroom to mess with the light switches in there. silly kid.

at bedtime, we have our little ritual with usually goes pretty smooth. we get ready for bed. levi hangs out on tucker's bed while i read tucker bedtime stories (levi is usually playing or reading his own book on the bed during this). then we give our hugs and loves goodnight. i then can usually go out and rock levi for a bit and he's out. i then put him in his crib and he's there all night. he also HATES to get out of bed in the morning. have i mentioned i can't wait until he's a teenager?

loves medicine if he ever needs it. and since i was giving him honey when he had a cold a while ago, he sometimes will ask for that by the spoonful. it's cute. he's still my honey bear.

is kind of obsessed with babies. didn't realize how obsessed until we'd be at different hockey arena's this winter and he'd go up to random stranger babies and stare at them, want to touch their stuff (car seat/stroller) ... sometimes it was a bit crazy. and no, this doesn't mean i'm going to give him a little brother or sister either.

loves to bring tucker to school with me in the morning and pick him up with dad in the afternoon.

he loves to wrestle. and more often than not, he appears to be winning.

favorite toys include: cups, pots, pans, kitchen utencils and anything he probably shouldn't have.

levi is such a little sweetie. he's really well behaved except for when he's naughty (obviously). i am so lucky to have such an awesome little dude to call me MOMMEEE.

juice box robots.

tucker is bringing his birthday treats to class tomorrow since they will be out for spring break on his actual birthday. since i have been itching to do some cool things off pinterest ... i took this opportunity to rock tucker's socks right off.

enter ... juice box robots!

seriously. aren't they the cutest things ever? i wouldn't even want to eat/drink one. okay, maybe i would eat the head because chocolate doesn't stand a chance around me ... but still! i love them. and tucker? well, he is ON CLOUD NINE about bringing these to school. he is really pumped that they can have a snack AND a drink for his birthday treat.

the only things needed were:

juice boxes for the body.  (i picked green as it's his favorite color)
laffy taffy for the arms.  (again, he got apple/green on his)
hershey nuggets for the head.
google eyes
hot glue gun.
*end of the wrapper from a banana/yellow laffy taffy for the birthday boy's crown.  :)

i skipped putting starburst candies for the legs because well, the rest of it was tedious enough and also i wanted to make sure they were sturdy and could stand on their own.

so, i finally made something off pinterest ... and my kid couldn't be happier.  i hope the kids like them at school tomorrow! 

also, i am well aware that i spent entirely WAY too much time taking pictures of these things. 

get right back to where you started from.

i started blogging when i got pregnant with tucker.  you know, the same tucker that will be six at the end of this month?  yeah.  crazy.

this has been both tucker and levi's baby book.  my journal.  my therapist.  and honestly, i need to get right back down to why i started this blog and start doing what i was doing.  documenting ... the big and the little parts of our lives.  i know i've said it a million times, but i'm kind of pumped up about it right now.  i am so excited to start sharing here again.  not that i have been totally MIA ... but really, i've been a sorry excuse for a blogger!

i actually have a couple posts i'm writing now that will be up soon.  the top three i'm working on are kid updates, the hockey season ... and tucker's birthday.  did i mention he's turning six soon?  omg.

oh, stickyfeathers.  i've missed you. 

capturing them.

as a photographer, i have a lot of tricks in my bag in order to get kids to do what i want.  most of the time, acting like a total idiot works.  if that doesn't work, i might resort to a white lie (hey! look at this HUGE butterfly coming out of my camera!).  i will basically do or say anything to get the shot i'm looking for.

however, tucker is totally onto me.  NOTHING WORKS.  EVER.  he is so jaded by my camera that taking a nice shot of him (smiling and looking at the camera, you know, for grandma's wall) ... is impossible.  he will either hide his face, make a stupid face with his eyes closed, or take off in the OTHER direction of my camera. 

levi on the other hand is just starting to get the whole 'cheese' thing.  i don't tell him to say it, but i think he might have a few others out there that do (like his brother).  he is usually to busy or fast for me to grab the shot i want. 

it is kind of crazy that i have to work so hard to get a good picture of either of my boys.  put them both together and it adds another level of difficulty.  9 times out of 10, tucker is grabbing levi's head and trying to make him 'look' at the camera.  it is pretty funny actually.  that just ticks levi off and he wants to bolt.  to get a nice normal shot of them looking at the camera ... happens once in a blue moon. 

all that aside ... i'm pretty sure all of my favorite shots of the boys are not of them smiling at the camera with big smiles on their faces.  it's of them just being ... them.  and this shot i grabbed on a morning during the weekend is just so THEM.

levi and his cheesy-zoned-out-on-bubble-guppies face ... and tucker with his mom-can-you-put-the-camera-away-already face.  this picture just captured a moment during that morning when they were snuggling with each other in the chair, watching cartoons, fighting playing, laughing ... and just being THEM.