Enchanted Unicorn Cake

This was amazing. By far the best unicorn cake I have ever seen and I spent many days researching the possibilities and saw a bunch of unicorn cakes. This cake rocked! and I apologize in advance for so many photos...but when you have a cake that blows a little girl's mind you want to document every detail before you hack the thing up into hundreds of pieces.

All Bella wanted was an Unicorn cake with pink and purple and blue eyes. What she got was a masterpiece creation from Mike's Amazing Cakes.

With butterflies and flowers...

and an amazing gold horn...

Yes, it is cake...chocolate cake!

I think she liked it a little...

Bella Six

A couple of weeks ago we went to Texas to help Miss Bella turn the big "6". She delayed her party by a whole 2 weeks to make sure we could be there which I know is an eternity to a 6 year old. She had the most awesome Enchanted Unicorn Cake and Party ever....(more on the cake later) complete with a scavenger hunt, cookie decorating and of course pin the horn on the unicorn!

Little freak...

We inflated at least 100 balloons...

We love this girl...

Even if she is a little weird...but oh how she loves you boys...

Please dont call CPS

Every now and again I have moments I wonder what the heck the hospital was thinking when they let me leave with these boys. Take a look at the following picture from my neice's birthday party a couple weeks back. Lets see if we can add up all the things wrong with this moment...

1. Radley with scissors. Really sharp scissors

2. Balloons on the table waiting for Radley to choke on them

3. Loooooong string from the balloons on the table waiting for Radley to tangle up in and strangle himself

4. Momma's glass of wine, yes glass...on marble patio...

I think it was at this point, I stopped with the wine and focused on moving all the death traps out of little man's reach. Oh but while I am confessing...let's throw this in for good measure too...

How I found Radley in his Aunt Jen's kitchen at one point...you know, you do the best you can...

Dear Radley - Month Nine

Dearest Radley,

My love, my heart, my sweet. A couple of days ago you turned 9 months old. 3/4 of a year!!! I can hardly believe it! It does not seem at all possible that you have now been here as long as I was pregnant. I must confess that the pregnancy felt so so much longer than the time you have been here with us which seems to be flying by faster than I can even comprehend. Every morning when you wake up I notice that you are bigger than the night before. I simply cannot believe how fast this time has gone by. 9 months. wow.

First, I would like to report that finally after months of faking me out you have teeth!

After what has to be gallons upon gallons of drool, the bottom two have finally busted through and in short order, you put them to work scraping everything from apples to zuchinni. It did not take you long to figure out how to use these cute little teeth very efficiently and get actual chunks of food, which has opened up a whole new world of eating to you.

Words cannot do justice as to how much you love to eat. You love mealtime so much that in the past few weeks (before these teeth finally showed up) you were starting to be frustrated by the completely ridiculous 2 second wait between when the spoon would leave your mouth and when I could refill it and put it back in. You also felt you should control the spoon at all times. Never mind that you dont know how to use it. At all. But as we have practiced a bit more you have come to accept that I can get your food into your mouth more accurately than you can and you only take occasional swipes at the spoon.

So far, your favorite foods appear to be Butternut Squash and Oatmeal with Bananas. You are incredibly sensitive to anything with the slightest bit of tartness and even the sweetest of applesauce makes you shudder as if you had just bit into a sour lime. Your favorites can best be what is described as, well, bland. I am hoping you broaden your culinary horizons now that you have the tools to work with.

But now that you have teeth, then plan is to ditch the puree (yay) and let you go at real food like I did with your brother. We are going back to having you self feeding table foods and predict that you will get the hang of it pretty much immediately. That should make this next month really fun and really, really messy.

In other news, you have recently divided the folks in your life to 2 categories: "mommy" and "everyone else who is not mommy". This has been interesting on several fronts. You really want nothing to do with the folks in the latter category which is resulting in some challenging moments when I need to do pretty much anything like work, shower or have a salad or something like that.

You really will have none of me not holding you. You cry as if you have been personally offended when I need to give my burning arm a break and have you ride in the stroller for a little bit while my arm recovers. I hope I am getting some good arm muscles out of this deal, because you get really heavy after about 10-15 minutes. At first I felt horrible for you and you have such a pathetic cry and pouty face when you start getting so clingy.

But soon, I got over it and pretty much figure this is the first step for both of us learning to let go.

But all in all, you are still so very happy all the time.

You like it when I sing to you. You like to think you can jump. You love to play catch even if you sometimes throw behind rather than in front of you. You seem to be working hard on standing unassisted. You love to splash water. You love to babble and squeal. You love your brother. I watch you as you watch Mack and I can see your mind working about how to get fast enough to catch up to him. I see you light up whenever he comes around and plays with you. The other day you were wearing your "Big Truck pajamas" as Mack calls them and he spent a solid 20 minutes poking the big trucks on you and saying "Big Truck" and you were cracking up and thought he was so very funny.

There are bets out there if will be walking before a year or not. I cautiously say yes...but your brother proved me wrong once already, so I am a little hesitant to call it at all and truth be told, I don't much care. All in good time.

You see Radley, with Maverick I was so anxious about all the milestones: sitting, crawling, standing, walking...any of them. I worried and read everything about the milestones. I tired to predict. I wished they would come. I compared him to others the same age. With you, I don't care. With you I don't think I have cracked that silly What to Expect book once. With you, I am content simply with you being you. In whatever stage. Doing whatever you do. You will walk, you will stand...when you are ready. Right now, I wish you would just slow down a bit so I could have a bit longer with you in your baby-hood.

Overall this month with you has been really great. You are really starting to develop your own likes and quirks.

You are so sweet and endearing and although many days I see things that you do that remind me of your brother and I am amazed at how much alike you both are even while you are so clearly becoming your own little individual. Your own little you. And there is not any other you I would rather have.

I love you so so much,

Mommy

9 months - Radley Stats

Happy 9 months my little Chunky Monkey Punk!
You had to go to the doctor today. The good news for you was no shots. Your brother was not so lucky. So as I put the finishing touches on your 9 month letter, here are your latest not so svelte stats...

Height: 29"

Weight: 23 lbs, (which by the way feels very very heavy when carrying you and a 50lb backpack through the airport).

All this really means nothing, but it is fun to track as you grow and seems to be what people do. You are in the 80th percentiles still...and just a big boy. By comparison, your brother was only 27 3/4" and 19 lbs,6 oz. You are both just so different...

Maverick also had his 2 year appointment today and he was 34" tall & 27 lbs and hanging around the 35-40% percentiles for his age.

It is crazy to me to think you are only 4 pounds different. Currently you are in 12 month clothes and Maverick is in 18 month clothes. It won't be much longer before you guys are just sharing all the clothes. In fact, I just bought you some summer SPF protection suits for our vacation and just got you both 24 month to share. I hate to break it to you kid, but you are very very fair, actually quite pale, and am going to need all the help I can get to keep you protected from the sun.

Anyway, more on that later. Happy 9 months my baby. What a fun ride it has been!

Holiday Flashback

I never quite got my act together to document our holidays as I had hoped. Many blog entries I had in my mind never got written. But in finally uploading video from then on my computer as we prepare to hit the road again, I found these little gems. Maverick, just shy of 2 years (about 2 months ago) , pre-hair cut...singing his little heart out to the new Band Hero Wii game his cousins got for Christmas. First we start off with a little Jingle Bells:
Then we move on to a medley of Twinkle Twinkle, a little prompted booty shake...and the enthusiasm about a minute in or so still cracks me up...he apparently has a very dramatic side...
Two months isn't too late to share? Is it? Oh well, I promise to be back with more current content soon...

Brothers

These are my boys.

Boys. Little Men. Dudes. I remember telling the nurses up front and early that I wanted to know the gender of my babies. I remember the moment they said "boy". Twice! My first reaction was to laugh. My next thought was "What am I going to do with a boy? I don't know how to have a boy! Again? Boy?! How absolutely perfect!...brothers!". And what I have learned from two years of parenting boys, it is that you learn what you need as you go. Although if what the parents of other boys tell me is true, I am going to be seeing a LOT more of the inside of urgent care waiting rooms and possibly the ER in our lifetime. And I know we will have some challenging times ahead. But ultimately you two will have each other...

I'm excited for both of you for this.....brothers. There can be a very powerful bond of growing up in the same household if it is full of love, respect, trust and strong foundations. I want that for Maverick and Radley. To know they have a solid place to belong and people who love them always not just in words, but in action. To be loved and protected always.

So now you two are here. We are a family. Maverick has brother. Radley has a brother. Today I am so incredibly thankful for that, and I know I will be thankful for you both for the rest of my life...

"The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes."

- Psalm 118:23

Motrin Misery...

Well, this picture pretty much sums up the last few days around here. Fever, chills, vomiting...you get the idea. My little bundle of energy just wanted to chill on the sofa and watch TV. And be pathetic...

He did not feel so hot either...

After a few days, lots of laundry, 1/2 bottle of Motrin & a very sleepy mama, I think we are on the mend. The boys have headed off to the park today for some long overdue fresh air while I get ready for our Spring Break Adventure next week.