All I want for Christmas is you

I just couldn't fit you in my stocking.

Seriously, all I want for Christmas is for Alex to be potty-trained,

and by New Year, we just may be there! He is growing up so fast.

This may be the very last post of my sweet child wearing a pull-up (we can always hope).

Naughty and Nice

I love those rare moments when children do something so sweet, expecting nothing in return.

I suppose God feels this way when he sees us learning to get over ourselves, stop being selfish, and just love one another for no reason other than because we are brothers and sisters.

In this picture, Gage had just been sitting by himself playing with his new toy. Alex went to sit by him, keep him company, and make sure he didn't fall over (sitting is still a new thing for Gage). I hope they are always such good little friends.

Unfortunately, I think I may need to expand my resume from being just a "mother of two" to being a full-time referree once Gage is able to crawl and carry away one of Alex's toys. I'm afraid my skills as an umpire are not yet honed. Any advice is welcome.

In this picture, Alex is sure Gage is trying to take away his cup. Trust me, Gage would touch anything Alex is holding, just to get Alex's attention. At least they are dressed nice.

The Joys of Christmas

David: disgusted with misbehaving kids/fake smile/hates portraits

Lisa: oblivious to children/better at the fake smile
Gage: impatient/sleepy/hungry
Alex: happy/energetic/non-compliant

Merry Christmas,

The "Real" Hardins

Photo Drama

Look at this sweet baby!



It seems like getting a priceless candid photo is no trouble. Now, if only we could get decent family portraits! We had Christmas pictures taken, and I will tell you that it is substantially more difficult to get family portraits when two children are involved, especially two children with ear infections. After nearly 50 photos, we settled on one in which I look like a total goober, but at least everyone is looking at the camera. I'll have to post the pictures here in a few days...I'm tempted to post the "worst of" because they are actually pretty funny.

Bumbo Jumbo

1. Do not allow your child to sit in the Bumbo seat unattended.
2. Do not use Bumbo as a carseat.
3. Do not place Bumbo on hard surface.
4. Do not place Bumbo on carpet.
5. Do not place Bumbo on a table.

With all these silly rules, you'd think someone would have come up with:

6. hey, don't let older brothers sit in Bumbo, get stuck in Bumbo, then repeatedly jump up in the air and land on bottom on Bumbo until it busts apart and the Bumbo has to be duct taped back together for the poor little kid in the family that can't sit up yet.

I think I'll be one of those crazy people who sues the manufacturer. This is right up there with spilling hot coffee on yourself in the drive-thru or returning your computer when it doesn't work because your house has no electricity.

My janky looking (yes, I said janky--it's one of my words that will make it to the dictionary if I keep using it)...now where was I? Oh, yes, my janky looking Bumbo seat duct taped together with black tape is just sad, sad, sad. You can imagine, so no picture is necessary. Alas, I would have thought that seat was nearly indestructible.

Haiku 4 U

Oh, Christmas shopping.
Why do we do it each year?
My Christmas haiku.


I may write in haiku (plural) from now on. It goes along with my tendency to be succint.
Unfortunately, shopping does not.

Messy Messy Messy

Do you ever have one of these days? I guess I should just be glad this is the first time this has happened. So, autumn is here and apparently Alex is not getting enough "sandbox" time.

Yes, this is an entire container of baby formula spread over my poor mother-in-law's guest bathroom. Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, that is a cassette player filled with formula.

How does this happen, you wonder? I'm afraid it's impossible for me to explain without pointing fingers. Let's just say it was not my fault unless you consider my genetic contribution to my son's mischievousness.

To Alex's credit, I never told him it was against the rules to make precious little footprints in Gage's formula and on his grandma Susu's carpets.

Big Ol' Baby

That's right...Gage is 19 pounds and 3 ounces.

That's big for a kid of 5 months old, FYI. David took him to the doctor today (hence the exact weight measurement), but don't worry Gage is fine. He is a little congested and is coughing at night, but it's just allergies, not an ear infection yet, so that's good.

David asked the doctor, "Is is okay that he's so big?"

The doctor, of course, thought that it was fine. She did remark about how cute he is. David says she seemed to be a big fan of our giggling baby. She's not alone, I guess. I'm a little partial myself.

Something seems fishy

Adorable, right? My impression was that the photographer at Wal-mart seemed to think this costume constituted cruelty towards children, but then again, she was probably a Halloween hater.

I've seen more uncomfortable costumes. Like the little kids' costume where their legs go in the horse's legs and it looks like they are a cowboy riding a bucking bronco - cute, but not sustainable for 3 miles of trick-or-treating. Even better - have you seen the Anne Geddes' (or some other photographer's) baby bat costume photo. The poor kid is all dressed up, then they hang him upside down for the photo like he's hanging from a tree.

Gage, just be glad I didn't pose you in an enormous glass fish bowl...it wasn't for lack of trying. They just don't make round bowls for 19 lb baby fish these days.

Alex's fave holiday

So, Alex is officially a Halloween lover. He is still talking about bats, skeletons, ghosts-ezz, and everything spooky and scary. I've created a monster. Here he is sporting his red dragon costume that Ma-ga (grandma) Brown found for him.

Alex HAD to get his picture taken with the "happy pumpkin".

Just the two of us went to the Orr Family Farm in Oklahoma City on Halloween night. We let Dad and Gage have a quiet evening at home while we went to a party with a friend of mine from work and some of her friends. We had a great time and had some much-needed one-on-one time! Alex was having so much fun riding this (fake) horse, that a stranger stopped and said she had to take a picture for us.

Pumpkin patch!

Mommy's Costume

Because of the many requests, I will post pics of my Halloween Costume - that's right, Sarah Palin. Now, don't go thinking this choice has anything to do with my political party.

Now, grandmas, don't worry. The kids' pictures will be up in just a matter of minutes!

Here I am hard at work with my running mate--he's such a maverick!.

halloween@thehardins.household

Our house is busy at Halloween time. If you know me, you know I'm CRAZY about Halloween. This whole week everything stopped for a week of costume planning, party-going, decorating, and candy-eating. Trust me, more pictures will follow. This picture of Alex is from last weekend's pre-Halloween festivities including shopping for and carving a pumpkin.

Alex and I had some time together shopping last Friday night. It seems like those times when it's "just the two of us" are becoming more rare and more special all the time. You should have seen him in Target picking up this heavy pumpkin, carrying it around the store saying "You're coming home with me!" It was so big he was kind of waddling. You wouldn't believe how strong that kid can be. He is now infatuated with skeletons and "ghosts-ezz" [def: (noun) ghost. (plural: ghosts-ezz)]. He is still SO excited about Halloween and won't let it be quite over at our house yet.

Gage has handled Halloween with grace and ease. Thus is my second child. So far, nothing is too exciting or shocking for him, but nothing seems to make him too unhappy either.

Well, these pics are the tip of the iceberg. More to follow...

Columbus Day

OK...this is my family on Columbus Day.

"When was Columbus Day?", you ask. No one cares about Columbus anymore unless you work for the Feds and get that day off work. Therefore, this makes me "no one". This is perhaps one of my favorite days of the year because it is a Monday right before the weather tends to take a nasty turn and I get to enjoy it with my family and no one else is out on the town.

In honor of our dearly departed Columbus, we went to Lake Arcadia and had the beach all to ourselves. It was the best day. Alex (or Gage for that matter) had actually never been to the lake, so he was in awe of:

1. Those white birds, "like on The Little Mermaid" that we call sea gulls, but are totally not.

2. Sticks.

3. That water that keeps moving.

4. Campfires--but not burnt marshmallows. Apparrently burning a marshmallow is a sin.

5. LOTS of sand.

6. That weird guy hiding in the bushes and looking at us. Oh, wait, he was just a park official cleaning up cans. Whew!

We made sandcastles and Alex used his "staff" all afternoon. It was the PERFECT day!

Feed Me!

This is Gage's first bite of solid food. Yummy, rice cereal!
This blessed event ocurred about 3 weeks ago...as you will notice, Alex would not be left out of the excitement. He was very proud of himself (Alex, not Gage).

I will say that Gage is not as ravenous an eater as Alex was as a baby. My poor arm couldn't shovel food fast enough for Alex. Sometimes he would grab the bowl and try to pour it into his mouth if I wasn't going fast enough.

Gage is a different animal altogether. He thinks food is okay, but is not altogether interested even in the bottle...or any other food source.

He does, however, think the spoon is exciting. No, the spoon interests him - not the airplane noises I make or the way I unconsciously and compulsively open my mouth every time I give him a bite and couldn't stop myself if I tried. He has a sweet little silver baby spoon engraved with his name from a friend of ours, Renee, from Church.

He grabbed that little spoon away from me, looked at it, and actually was able to shove it into his mouth with some food still on the spoon! All of this on his very first time to be spoon-fed. Then it was Gage's turn to be proud of himself, my little utensil-using prodigy.

Perspectives in Art

Yesterday David let Alex play with my camera, you know, to see what things would interest a 3-year-old enough to take a picture. He's not a bad little photographer. I won't post the pictures of my knees or rear end.

Little Giant (mouth)

Like father, like son, right? Unfortunately, I think Alex takes after me more than David. His new favorite thing to do is to be bossy and MOUTHY. I was playing with a very lively and giggly Gage yesterday when Alex comes along and says, "Mom...you need to be quiet, Baby Gage is trying to sleep!"

Now, this may not sound rude when it is all typed out, but you should hear it come out of the mouth of someone who is only 3 feet tall...it's a little shocking.

I explained that he was being rude, I'm the mom, he's the kid...etc...but he came back with the very matter of fact response, "Mom, are you not listening to me? How many times do I have to tell you? I'm 28, no...29 years old and I'm telling you that if you're not quiet, you're going to wake up Baby Gage!"

First of all, how many 3-year-olds do you know that can master a run-on sentence like that. Secondly, where does this kid get these crazy ideas? Projection? Maybe. Quoting his Dad? Well, yes, there's no doubt about that.

My Boys