He Ate Poop!

There really is no gentle way to say this so I'll just spit it out. Last night Dane ate cat poop! I can't even begin to describe how disgusting this whole event was. Let's start with Abby, the cat. The evil, diabolical cat who on occasion will do her business somewhere other than the litter box. She has done it on clothes left in a pile, on a pillow or two and most recently on the dogs bed. We were gone for several hours yesterday afternoon. Not long after we got home I walked into the den to see Dane sitting on the floor in front of the dog bed. I looked down and saw the little pile of poop that Abby left for us. Then I looked at Dane and saw the piece he was clutching in his fist. At this moment I let out something between a scream and a groan of disgust. This startled poor Dane so much that he fell backwards and landed flat on his back screaming. Which is when I caught sight of the poop floating around in his mouth!

Thankfully Brian was home to help because I honestly froze for a minute totally unsure of what to do. This was by far the most foul thing either of my kids have done. I did snap out of it and we tackled the job of bathing and disinfecting every inch of his little body. I am actually not a germ freak by any means but I have my limits and cat poop is one of them. Dane is clean and not at all worse for the wear. The cat on the other hand is walking on thin ice. The only thing saving her fuzzy butt right now is the fact that she is Drew's cat and he loves her. Only a truly cruel mother would give away a little boys beloved pet. I have no idea how to prevent further cat poop snacks but hopefully we'll come up with something quick.


I did not take the time to document the chaos last night so this is just a picture of the evil culprit. I've taken to calling her Shitty when Drew isn't around. It's my totally juvenile way of dealing with this whole thing. Do not let her cute face fool you, there is evil in those eyes I swear!

Thanksgiving In Review

Let's talk Turkey! Yes we made it through another Thanksgiving. The morning was probably my favorite part of the whole day. I got up and made pumpkin waffles and we stayed in our pajamas and watched the parade as long as we could before having to head out. This year we spent the holiday with my in-law's at Brian's mom's house. Overall it was a very nice day. The usual Thanksgiving fair; food, football, family. Unfortunately the boys are the only kids on this side of the family so they can get a little bored and restless. And to make it worse Drew was battling a cold. Brian and I took turns playing soccer in the back yard, crawling up and down the stairs and coloring pictures to keep the charges happy. It worked well for a while but we did not hang around long after dinner.

Pre-meltdown chow time.

I've gotten pretty good at predicting meltdowns and I could tell before the first helpings of sweet potatoes were eaten that we were on our way. So, in order to save the rest of the family from witnessing the carnage we got out of there. We managed to salvage the rest of our day with some more quiet family time at home that evening. I was finding myself very thankful for my boys and our cozy little home. It couldn't have worked out better in my opinion.

And away we go!

So the season has officially started. I always feel like Thanksgiving Day is the equivalent to starting a big race. The whole family is at the starting line; stretching, warming up, plotting the course in their heads. The minute the turkey hits the table it's like the gun going off. Everyone starts running! We eat, we shop, we socialize, we go as fast as we can and before you know it we've hit the finish line. Evey year I tell myself we'll slow down and every year it feels just as chaotic as it always has. But the thing is that in the midst of it I'm having a blast. Sure there's some stress here and there but usually it's unnecessary and totally self-imposed. But when I think about cutting out some of our many holiday traditions I can't think of one that I would want to stop doing. I'm like a holiday stress addict or something.



Hopefully I will at least be able to find the time to write about all the memories we create this season as they happen. There is a lot to look forward to in the next couple of weeks; the big Christmas tree hunt, Drew's 6th birthday, visits with Santa, building Gingerbread houses at Grammy's house, homemade Christmas presents to make and of course the main event Christmas morning.


Stay tuned, there should be much more to come!

It's Story Time!

I always knew that I would want my kids to love reading as much as I do. I've made sure that books are a big part of life in the Iverson household. Lately though; Dane has taken it to a whole new level. He spends a better part of his days with books. Since he has started walking; he has taken to picking up a book and then following me around with it, while grunting cave man style. His little face says "Read to me Mama" and I of course can't resist. So I drop what I'm doing and sit down to read. We do this A LOT. I mean like all day long repeatedly. Just this morning Dane sat in my lap for 45 minutes without moving while I read the same five board books to him over and over and over again.

"I know we just read this but please one more time?"

It's great that he loves his books so much right? I mean it's exactly what I wanted..............to spend all day every day reading Elmo and Clifford and Maisy books ad nauseum. That's every woman's dream isn't it?

See how cute and insistent he is?

Sometimes we get what we wish for. Sometimes we should REALLY think about what we are wishing for.

The Elusive "Long-Arm Shot"

Over the years Drew and I have pretty much perfected the classic "long-arm" picture. You know the one where you pose in the picture and take the picture at the same time. It takes a bit of practice to become skilled at holding your arm out as far away as possible and still keeping everyone in the frame. I have dozens and dozens of adorable shots like this of Drew and I.

Now Dane has come along and I have completely lost my long arm skills. I have tried numerous times over the last year to get shots of the three of us while were out doing something fun or playing at home. I have yet to get a shot where you can see all three of our faces. Below is a sample of how the pics turn out. I tried to take these on a beautiful day in October when the boys and I were frolicking in the back-yard. (yes I used the word frolicking)

Great smiles but where did Drew go?

OH! There he is, sort of.

We're getting closer!

Forget it, I'll just take a picture of myself.

This last one really makes me laugh because the boys were both still in my lap. I have seriously lost my camera mo-jo. Oh well I'll keep trying and end up with some pretty funny shots in the meantime.

Birthday Boy

We had a big milestone around here this week. Dane had his first birthday! If I had written this post four days ago it would have been full of all kinds of parenting cliches. Ones like these:
"I can't believe its been a year"
"Time goes by so fast"
"My baby isn't a baby anymore"

Luckily I waited a few days so I could write about this with a slightly clearer head. I've recovered from the birthday cake buzz and aching uterus. I can celebrate now. My baby is 1! Yay!

November 2, 2008

November 2, 2009

He has been such a wonderful addition to our little family. Every day I learn a bit more about this person and I continue to be impressed. He's a joy to have in our lives, he has made his brother so much happier. For a long time we felt a void and one year ago that void was finally filled. He was SO worth the wait.

Happy Birthday Daner!

Going Old School

This morning I had a moment with Drew where I had absolutely had it. Had it! I was nearing that moment of losing my temper and along with it any parental effectiveness I might have. But before I could; I had a flashback. I saw myself sitting at the kitchen table writing sentences over and over and over again. Usually it was the definition of a word like "kindness" or "lying". Sometimes it was an apology note. It wasn't a discipline tool my parents used often but it definitely made its impact. So I figured I had nothing to lose and I tried it.

I made Drew sit at the kitchen table and write out "Do Not Pick Up Dane" ten times. The history behind this sentence is that I have to tell Drew at least 20 times a day not to pick up his brother. Dane is getting too heavy for Drew and I can pretty much count on the fact that he'll get dropped and sometime he gets really hurt. Since Drew is only in Kindergarten and just starting to write, I wrote it out first in yellow highlighter and made him trace it. I figured I'm getting a two for one here. He's hopefully burning this rule into his little head and practicing his letters at the same time.

Was it affective? Did it work? I don't know but I did have to chuckle a little at the sight of him hunched over his paper, pencil in hand working so diligently on his punishment. After he was done I asked him if he thought he would have an easier time remembering now that he wrote the rule so many times. His response "I don't know. Maybe we should hang it up on the wall so I can look at it and remember". That's a good sign right?