Rub a dub dub...

What's so funny, Holden? Besides your own shaving cream clad face?

"Just Daddy letting me put shaving cream all over his face."

"Hee hee hee! I crack myself up!"

Rock Band!

As in the Wii variety. My friend and coworker, Jena, and her husband, Josh, invited us to join them and the Cunninghams for a Rock Band showdown. We were extremely grateful as this took place last Friday during the Arctic chill, otherwise known as 3 snow days in a row followed by a three-day weekend due to MLK day. As in, WAY too much time spent cooped up in our house! Jena cooked us an awesome dinner, and then the fun began...
I think the pictures say it all...

The boys love Jena!

Colin looks like such a serious drummer here! LOL! This was during what became known as "hands in the air, everybody" time! Which had to be mandated by Josh so that he could reset the microphone, drums, and guitars. Otherwise, certain little boys (esp. two certain little ones under the age of 2!) liked to hit buttons that messed it up. =o)

It was a fun night! Thanks for having us over, Tarnowskis!

Holden-isms

Holden is at a really fun age right now in that he is starting to really make connections in his little world and "get" things. This can often be quite humorous! Just a few funny stories from the past few days:
1.) The other morning, I heard a series of loud "MEOWS" and Holden's high-pitched voice (it gets really high when he has a question, which is comical) saying, "Where go? Where go?" I came downstairs to find that he had cornered one of our cats, Callie, and was trying to look underneath her. He had his hands up in a questioning pose. I said, "Holden, what are you looking for?" He turned to me with a very puzzled expression and asked, "Mommy, where be bu go?" He wanted to know where the cat's belly button was.

2.) I was holding him before breakfast, and my stomach growled very loudly. He looked startled and said, "ROAR!" before scrambling to get down out of my arms. I thought I had scared him. He came running back with his lift-the-flap animal book opened to the tiger page. He grinned at me and proudly announced, "Mommy ROAR!" Thanks for comparing me to a tiger, Holden.

3.) I was telling him we were going to church, and he said, "Bubbles!" They sometimes blow bubbles in the toddler room so I told him yes, they might blow bubbles. Then he said, "Papa go potty." I started laughing as I recalled that last week he had to wait while my dad went to the restroom after the service. I am so glad to know that is what he gets out of church: bubbles and my dad going using the bathroom!!!

4.) Last night we went to our friends, the Polletts, house for a get-together with several other families. Upon arriving, Holden made his usual rounds, going to see who was down in the basement, what was going on in the living room, etc. He kept coming in the kitchen and looking at Mike and Kam, who were both talking with the other adults. He became more and more agitated, going downstairs and pointing out Brady to me, then wanting me to help him back up so he could look around. He started softly saying what sounded like "Karly." We have a neighbor named Karly who is good friends with Aunt Allison, so I told him, "Karly isn't here tonight." He looked extremely upset then and said, "WHERE KY???" That's when I realized he was looking for the Polletts' baby, Kylie. She was asleep in her little seat on the table. He must have thought we all abondoned her! He made me put him on the kitchen chair so he could check on her. He said, "Ky nigh-night?" When I confirmed that yes, she was asleep, he climbed down and ran off to play with an extremely relieved and satisfied look on his face. So cute!

5.) When we got home last night around 8:15, I told him it was time for bed. He hadn't eaten much at the Pollets', (imagine that!) and he ran to the cabinet, grabbed a pan out, and said, "Cheese, please!" Requesting that I make mac n' cheese. I told him it was a little late, and he went to the fridge and asked that I open it. When I obliged, he pulled out the butter, pointed to the milk, and then grabbed a spatula out of the drawer. He knew all the ingredients and was trying to help me! So we ate mac n' cheese at 8:30 at night.

6.) When looking at his Wiggles book yesterday, I was reading the lines, "Play your guitar with Murray." He said what I thought was "juice." I said, "You want some juice?" He shook his head and kept insisting, "Jush! Jush!" It finally dawned on me: "Holden, are you saying, "Josh?" He clapped his hands and smiled, saying, "Jush." We went to our friends, Jena and Josh's house the other night with the Cunninghams and played Rock Band on their Wii. Josh played the guitar quite a bit, and also let Holden pretend to play on the guitar. So when Holden saw Murray, he remembered Josh.

7.) The other night, Holden could have cleared out a room with the smell of his diaper. Jay asked, "Holden, did you poop?" Holden gave a sly little look and said, "Noooo." So I asked him again. He avoided eye contact, walking around the room trying to find something to distract us with. He grabbed his talking Elmo and said, "Melmo (I love how he says his name!) pooped!" I guess he thought he could blame it all on poor Elmo. So I laid Elmo next to Holden and I put a diaper on him while Jay put one on Holden.

8.) Finally, this morning I went to brush my teeth before church and came downstairs to an interesting sight. Jay had set two laundry baskets with clean, folded clothes in them in the living room last night. Holden had moved his toy grill right up next to them, and now there were two empty boxes of Kraft mac n' cheese (which had been in the garbage) laying in one of the baskets. I asked Holden how they got there, and kept saying, "cheese! water!" I didn't get it, other than he was obviously playing some kind of cooking game. So I shrugged and went to throw the boxes away. He ran out to the kitchen and pointed to the strainer, which was still in the sink. He proudly said, "cheese! water!" I realized the laundry tubs have little openings on the side similar to the strainer. He was trying to strain his mac n' cheese.

He is such a funny little guy! If only I could get inside his little head sometimes.

Here is what he was using to "stir" the laundry tub; a vacuum attachment.

Below is the laundry tub with the mac n' cheese containers in it. (He is making loud noises with the vacuum hose in the background.)

Two's company, three's a party!

We finally got together with the Cunningham boys to exchange our gifts after Christmas. Holden's virus threw a wrench in the first THREE dates we had planned, so we were glad to see them at last! The three boys are so busy together. They wasted no time in getting into all the toys, as well as some items that they decided could be toys, such as the fireplace pokers!!! Annie and I just laugh when we watch them in action, specifically Holden and Cade. Poor Colin just wanted to play with the train table...without the little guys trying to put their two cents in! One of their gifts to Holden was a cute Elmo pop-up tent. As you can see from the pictures, he really enjoys it! We "hide" in it almost everyday now.

During the summer, Annie had a post on her blog titled, "tried to...but couldn't.." which had a collage of pictures of the three boys at the pool. We were trying to get them all sitting and looking at the camera, and the results were pretty humorous. I will call the following pictures "tried to...but couldn't...round 2!" The one below is my choice for the closest result. Check out the collage below...what do you think?? I wonder how old they will be before they'll all three sit, smile, and look at the camera???

We love playing with you, Colin and Cade!

"My Daddy has some mighty big shoes to fill...."

Make that boots!

This picture is so Holden. Toothbrush in one hand, Mommy's bracelet in the other, no clothes on. I think he should join a nudist colony.

"Look at the cool new spot I found to sit with Mommy's phone and call random people while she isn't looking!" (Do you like the one croc on/one croc off? He is obsessed with those crocs and put that one on himself. I think he also has a sock on that foot!?)

Being goofy with some play-doh, or as he calls it, "Doh Doh!"

Random pictures and Props to Old Navy!

I generally use Picasa to make my picture collages, but it didn't want to work on my computer today, so we'll just do it the old-fashioned way. =o) I have been off school the past two days due to snow and subzero temperatures. That means a LOT of indoor time with Holden! While I love being home with my little boy, he and I are both people who like to get out and do things, and I think we're both going a little stir crazy!

Yesterday I was on the phone with Bridget and look over to see him doing this:

(Note the crashed airplane on top of the bridge. Nice touch.)

I guess he couldn't get to everything he wanted on his train table, so he decided he needed to sit in the middle of it!? Good thing he's a light weight! He reminded me a little of Godzilla.

He is starting to (at times...when he wants to...on his terms!!) look at the camera and say, "CHEESE!" He does it really quickly though, so I have to be ready to snap the picture!

I love how concentrated he is here. He was trying to make his crane pick up some new pieces off the barge.

Yep, he decided he needed to lay down in the middle of the table. And he thought is was hysterically funny. Here is he is chuckling to himself. Yes, those are his beloved crocs that he thought made a great addition to the other pieces. You know, the ones that are actually supposed to be on the table. What a goofball!

I asked him to point out the snow for me, so he climbed up in the window (where he is not supposed to go) and when I told him to get down, he frowned at me and said, "SNOW!" His tone said, "You dummy, you TOLD me to point it out!"

Finally, this is totally unrelated, except for the fact that I mentioned we have cabin fever, so today we bundled up and ventured out to the mall. I know I am crazy, people. But it was SO NICE to get out! And since most people AREN'T crazy, and stayed home on a day when school was out due to how cold it was, we got a front row parking spot and Holden was only exposed to the -20 degree weather for about 5 seconds. Anyway, I just have to give some props to Old Navy! All moms of little boys out there will know what a big deal it was that I found not one, not two, but FIVE outfit selections made for boys for Valentine's Day!!!! Let me tell you, moms of girls, you have no idea how hard it is to find cute NON-girly holiday outfits. They come in a plethora of choices for little girls. As someone who loves dressing her little boy and loves holidays, it is very frustrating. So imagine how excited I was to walk into Old Navy and see adorable shirts/outfits like THIS:

I can't wait to see his skinny little body in this on Feb. 14th. How cute! And comfy! And cheap!! (It was $9.50).

Here is a close up of the little monster and sayings. I know I am such a fruitcake to post pictures of an outfit without my child in it. But he is napping and I am so happy with my find! It's the little things, really! If you look closely, you can see that it says "Mommy's love monster."

Holden and Natalie Christmas videos

We have a SNOW DAY today!!! We have had several inches of snow, but the reason we got out is because it is blowing so badly. I am wondering about tomorrow, too, since it is supposed to get down to 22 below zero with the windchill. The only thing that stinks is we have all this beautiful snow and it is WAY too cold to take Holden outside. He has had fun pointing at the grill out back, which looks like a white frosted cupcake, and saying, "No cooking!" Anyway, I had some extra time today to post these videos. If you've been to Bridget's website, they're very similar to hers. These two are so cute together! I love when Natalie grins at me at the beginning of the kissing video. I could just eat her up!

Proof that mascara needs childproof tubes

This actually happened at the beginning of November, but I was so busy with Thanksgiving/Christmas posts I didn't get around to posting it until now. Classic Holden at his best.

I was putting on my makeup before church, and Holden was being so nice and quiet playing with something in the corner. By the time it dawned on me that he is never nice and quiet in the corner unless he is up to no good, he had already done quite a bit of damage to his face. Somehow he missed his white shirt and the walls, so I did count my blessings!

He gave himself some pretty black spots with my mascara tube. All was fun and games until I tried to wipe it off. Umm.....black waterproof mascara does not come off of pale skin and blonde hair too well. And we had about 5 minutes until we had to leave for church by the time I got done taking pictures and realized this. Poor Holden learned his lesson. I think I scrubbed his face raw.

But hey, these will be some great pictures to show his sports buddies someday. Or his future dates!

Things to do when you've been stuck inside for 2 months!

Turn your husband into a horse. Yes, people, I do wear extremely dorky Christmas sweaters and sweatshirts during the holidays.

The proverbial, "Give 'em a new toy, they'll like the box!" This sat in our living room for 2 weeks before I snuck it out and pitched it. Holden used it as a boat of some sort.

Throwing books in and out of the box and occasionally looking at a page or two is another way to stay busy.

It helps to have a husband who is on the same level as your child. =o) Yes, he is IN the crib in some of these pictures. Yes, I DID tell him he'd buy a new one if he broke it. Yes, he DID leap out when we heard a loud creaking sound. And YES, Holden LOVES having such a funny Daddy! =o)

Get well soon, Grandpa K!

Jay's grandpa, Holden's Great Grandpa Kerber, had surgery to remove lung cancer this week. He is in the intensive care unit (hopefully heading to a regular room soon!) and seems to be responding well so far. We were able to visit him last night and even got some smiles and jokes out of him. Holden blew him lots of kisses. These pictures were takent the night before his surgery. Holden just loves to sit in his lap and drink (caffeine free!) soda through a straw. Grandpa K. keeps straws and pens in his shirt pocket that his little grandkids love to pull out. We love you, Grandpa, and hope you feel better very soon!

Holden and his Great Grandpa K. (He refers to all his grandpas as "Pa-pa" right now.) =o)

Fun with Great Grandpa K. Daddy got in a few of these shots, too.

"Don't sit under the mistletoe with anyone else but me..."

Holden's girlfriend, Natalie, came over with her Mommy, Bridget, and our best friend, Kara (who will be providing Holden and Natalie with a new playmate in April!) to exchange gifts early last week. They were so cute getting into things together. Natalie is a lot more mobile since the last time that Holden saw her, and I think he was a little surprised at how outgoing she was! He always gives her kisses, but on this day she was literally grabbing at his face trying to suck on it, which was hilarious! He backed off and blew her a kiss, instead. I got some really cute videos of the two of them which I will have to post soon. They have been taking forever on my computer so I will have to wait for a day when I have more time and a charged camera battery! =o)

Getting into presents under the tree.

Here are some shots of everyone. Natalie loved the wrapping paper, and literally looked like she was swimming in it! She got it all over her back, and of course liked tasting it. Holden was just like this last year. He was really interested in Natalie's gifts because they both had lots of buttons to push. But he really loves his new building blocks, construction center, and coloring book! Thanks, girls! I wanted to eat Natalie up in her cute little pom-pom hat, and Kara modeled the baby outfit we got for her little girl to wear next Christmas! We can't wait to meet Baby Girl Thompson! We plopped Holden and Natalie in the crib and they were so funny. Holden kept talking about "nigh-night," and Natalie liked his stuffed animals.

Here is Jay's attempt(s) at a group picture for us! I am posting all 4 because I was cracking up looking at them. Someone is not looking, closing their eyes, or making an odd expression in every single one. I think the first one is probably the best, and the last one is definitely the worst. I love Holden's cheesy grin in the second one.

Just chillin' in Holden's crib. They are so cute!

Brady's bday and a visit to Granny's

Holden is doing SO much better today! Yeah! I even got him to eat a full bowl of mac n' cheese tonight. (After he got the french fries and cookie that he wanted for lunch. Gotta fatten this boy up!) =o) He went with Daddy down to Pepaw's for awhile tonight to watch the Colts game and root against them. (Pepaw is a die hard Colts fan....Jay bought Holden a Colts jersey and he has him wear it to "jinx" the team when they play!) So I finally have a little time to catch things up! I cleaned the entire house today top to bottom, ridding it of any germs from Holden's virus. We are going out to J. Bucks tonight for Kam's birthday, and Holden gets to stay here and play with Grammy and Papa. Today is the first day in four days that I left the house other than the ER, so I can't WAIT to go out and have some adult company!!! We've been so cooped up between him being sick and the cold weather. Can spring come NOW???? We have already started our countdown to Spring Break and our Florida trip! As you will see from the pictures below, I obviously haven't seen any sun lately...Casper, anyone??!!

Brady turned two on Dec. 27th. Mike and Kam had a nice little party for him at their house. The kids had a ball playing together, and it was nice to chat with other parents of toddlers. Brady looks like such a big boy to me in these pictures! We are so thankful for his friendship with Holden. They have the best time together. Thanks for having us, Polletts...even though we think that cake should have had a Cardinals emblem on it instead!!!

Last Sunday, we went to my Granny's (Mom's mom) apartment to celebrate the holidays with her. She lives in a retirement residence in Eureka, IL. Her apartment is always so decorated and cozy, and she makes the best treats! We had tea, ice cream and homemade chocolate cake; yummy! We walked the halls to see some of the different trees that were set up in various areas, and also came across a big Santa that sang and danced when you pushed a button by his feet! Holden liked him from a distance. He would push the button, then scramble as far away as possible before turning around and dancing to the music. =o) You can see in the picture of me holding him that he wasn't too sure about being so close to him! There is also a little bird atrium that he enjoyed looking at, and as usual he loved sorting Granny's buckeye collection.

Since she was a little girl, Granny has had a tree with real candles on it. They are attached with special clips; back when she was young this was very common. Of course, you are not really supposed to light fires in a retirement residence. Let alone a bunch of candles on a tree!!! When she, Mom, and Dad were lighting it, she mentioned that we needed to be watchful "in case a candle fell on the floor" so that we could stomp the fire out! "Oh my!" is what I was thinking. Of course Holden had a running commentary of, "HOT! DAT HOT! UH-OH, HOT!" At least the kid gets the picture. Once they were all lit, we sang, "Oh Christmas Tree" before Granny snuffed the candles out. Even with the snuffer, the smoke alarm went off. So picture my dad frantically waving a book at the ceiling to stop it before someone discovered us! Ahh, family traditions. (Griswolds, anyone??) It was great to see my Granny before the New Year.

Sick little boy

Poor Holden has been hit with quite the nasty virus. Frolicking in the popcorn was the last time I had seen him smile until today. He woke up during the night on Tuesday screaming and burning up. I gave him Tylenol and put him in bed with me. New Year's Eve day was awful, with him crying anytime he was awake and just wanting to be held with his blankie, and falling asleep constantly. He didn't eat anything, and he threw up in the evening. We figured he had the flu. We were sad to miss our New Year's Eve at the Pollett's house. Holden was so excited to see Brady and kept crying, "Badee! Badee!" when he realized he wasn't going. Poor baby. Yesterday he got progressively worse. He was only awake 3 hours out of the day, during which he was inconsolable. I had called the nurse on Wed. and she advised me to keep pushing fluids and Tylenol, and if he wasn't better Friday they'd be open again. By last night I realized it had been a mistake to wait. He had not eaten in two days, he had stopped drinking, he'd only had two (barely wet) diapers, and he was so lethargic I couldn't get him to wake up. The times that he was awake, I noticed the he wouldn't/couldn't close his mouth, and drool was literally pooling out of it in puddles. He would try to talk and couldn't get it out around the saliva. I got pretty scared. Jay unfortunately got a late call and when he finally got home at 7 I was on the phone with a nurse who directed us to the ER. His temp. was 102.5 when we got there. They never did figure out exactly what had hit him, but his tonsils were so swollen that it had become almost impossible for him to swallow, which was the reason for the drool. The doctor told us eventually he could have had breathing difficulties, so I am very thankful that we took him in. My parents met us there, and my mom describes it perfectly once they gave him some good drugs: it was like a wind-up toy that suddenly gets wound! He went from looking like death warmed over to sitting up suddenly, smiling, and pointing at all of the cool medical equipment. I wish I had my camera there to get a picture of him running around the bed, playing peek-a-boo with the curtains, and delightedly eating the big red Pedialite popsicle the kind nurse brought him. He did crash before we left and slept through getting his coat on, driving home, and getting in bed. We arrived at 7pm and didn't get home until midnight...it was s-l-o-w due to a stabbing and a heart attack. Today he was much better although still weak and tiring very easily. He played this morning and then took a 4 hour nap, played this evening and then was ready for bed by 7:30. This is the first night in three nights that I put him in his own bed; it went much better than I thought it would, but I am praying that he stays put tonight as Mommy and Daddy REALLY need to catch up on sleep! I am sure he will wake up when it is time for his Motrin (we are alternating Tylenol, Motrin, and then he is on an antibiotic) and then he will want to come in bed with us. I am going to try to be firm; even one night of a change in routine and he gets really thrown off. It's hard when they are sick and you feel so bad for them. It is a helpless feeling. To top it off, we've had to continue prying his little eyes open and squirting the dreaded drops in them for the pink eye. He hates it as they sting, and it breaks my heart when he's yelling, "No Mommy! No eyes! Owwy!" :o( Thanks for everyone who has kept Holden in their prayers. We are seeing improvement, and were so happy to have our favorite little grin back today, and even a few giggles during tickle time with Daddy!
I need to catch up on the rest of our Christmas posts soon, but I am beat tonight. I did manage to go into school for a few hours today. We are so blessed to have such wonderful parents. Jay's mom came over during Holden's nap so that I could go in, and my parents picked me up (so I wouldn't have to open the garage door directly below Holden and risk waking him) and stayed with me the entire 2 and a half hours, taking Christmas things down, making tape balls, hanging new things up, and providing me with some company. Jay's Dad also came over on New Year's Eve and spent an hour fixing our dryer which suddenly stopped working right after Holden had thrown up and we needed to wash/dry things. Thanks to both sets of parents! We love you!