Oh What Fun, Our Little Snowman is Turning One!!

Well he we officially be one on Friday, but this past Saturday we celebrated our little Ethan with family and friends. Everyone had a great time, enjoyed the nice weather (what's happening December...haha!), ate cake and enjoyed watching the kiddos play. Abby was nice enough to stand in for her brother to open presents since he was zonked out from sugar-overload...you will see why in the pictures!

A special thank you to my bestie aka my own personal Martha Stewart - Leah for all her help in making cookies and taking a zillion pictures on Saturday! Also to my mother and father-in law for letting us borrow their house for the 3rd time, and to everyone who came to celebrate our little man! He is a funny little guy and he makes the world a little bit brighter. Hope you enjoy the tons of pictures!

 When/If I ever write a book...this would be on the author page :-) HA!

 Marshall family recipe

 Mommy & her Bday Boy!!!

 Daddy & his boy

 Aunt Cindi & the tickle bug!

 Had to share this one of my sweet nephew Marshall...what a cutie!!

 My beautiful little girl! Such a genuine smile!

Now the fun really begins...take a deep breath and prepare yourselves!

 I think Ethan liked his cake... Man Vs Food here :-)

 My newest love...Maggie! As you can tell, everyone loved her too!

Abs loves cake too!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Well it has for a few days now! Like last year, but for different reasons, I got the hubbie to get all our Christmas loot out! Last year we didt it so just in case our little boy came early that Santa woul know where to drop off Abby's presents. This year it is because we will be celebrating our little boys 1st birthday. To say that I cannot believe it is an understatement.

This year has been one of the best and worst of my life. I have struggled with Post-Pardum Depression, and felt completely different than I did after Abby was born. I am much better now, but I know what it is like now to not feel yourself. I never wanted to hurt myself or my sweet boy, I just had a harder time adjusting to my new role. As we celebrate this little boy, I felt it was the right time and place to share the few sentences I just wrote. For so long now I never told anyone this...my close friends just knew that I was going through a hard time. I am glad to be on the other side now.

Okay...no more Debbie Downer...haha! We are in full party-prep mode for this weekend! I cannot wait to come back and post pictures from Ethan's party. I found a fabulous momma of 5 (i think that's the right number) on Esty. She made a snowman themed winter ONE-derland party invite and all the fixins that go with it. We are attempting to make Shorter (my inlaws house) look like a winter wonderland...hopefully we will succeed. Check this gal out, and make sure you tell her I sent you...I have another b'day (Abs) coming up so....her store is called ciaobambino on www.etsy.com.

Tootles for now!

Tub Time!

My kiddos clearly get their love o' the tub from their momma!

Happy little squeaky clean boy!!

This is his newest face and it goes along with his clenched fists and long grunt! He is a BOY! Such a Boy!

Growing like a weed!

I'm Back

It has officially been a month since my last post...far, far too long! I am supposed to be keeping you entertained, family updated and myself from forgetting the funny things my kids say or do. For now here are a few things that we have been up to, and because I have my dad's thumb drive....I stole some pictures from their trip to show you!

Halloween came and went, but you wouldn't know it if you talk to Abby. She still talks about trick or treating and candy, and when we are going again. She is a hilarious little person and tests my patience alot because she is soooo like me and soooo like her daddy! Right now she is loving Calliou, Dora, all music, and anything to do with animals or trains! She isn't a big eater, so besides pancakes, and cream (butter) and syrup - like she tells me every morning when I ask her what she wants for breakfast, she likes Chick-O-Lay (chick-fil-a), chips, pretzels, "orange" cheese (cheddar) and bananas. Some of the memorable things she has said recently is "I laxing", "don't worry mommy" (for whatever she things I am getting my panties in a wad), "You a fish-killer" (thank you Nemo!). She is a beautiful and funny girl!

Little Ethan is 11 months old! I am in complete disbelief that I need to hurry and address first birthday invitations for my sweet boy! Time has flown by so much faster (tear) anyways...he is eating a TON! He likes everything, and enjoys his food, enjoys his bathtime with Sissy, loves when his Daddy comes home, and loves his Sissy so much. He loves to talk...Momma, Dada, Papa, Nana, Ghee (?) and SiSI are some of his favorites. He has 6 teeth and they are BIG ole teefs :-) Not walking yet, but that is fine by me.

We have finally gotten our cootie shot (fingers crossed) ! It seems we have been passing things around our little family of four for the last month! Ethan and I both had colds, got over them, then got them again. Poor little guy had his first ear infection...this is a first for either kiddo, as Abs still has never had one (knock on wood) and then Abby also came down with a 24ish hour stomach bug. Thankfully she didn't share it with anyone else, but also that it was so short as our last one went on for over a week. So we are on the mend...YAY!

 My little pumpkin

 Nana "The Good Witch" with her little pumpkin pie!

 We got to see our Gigi too! She even got to feed Ethan and hold him for the first time since her surgery! We are glad she is feeling better!!

 Practicing trick or treating at Nana & Papa's

 Papa, Ethan and I - I think E knew something was up, and there was no candy to be had for him :-)

 Digging for Candy

 Abby and "My Cindi" as she calls her

Here are some pictures of my adorable and wonderful parents trip to Italy:

Ciao for Now...haha!

Happy 10 Months!

Ethan turned 10 months old on Sunday, and I still cannot believe it! He will be one year old in less than 2 months OMG! He is such a beautiful, sweet, stinky, messy, squishy, adorable, loving, hair-pulling, shoulder biting little guy! I am so blessed that God chose me to be his momma...unless he is hungry! Then you better get that kid some food or else haha! Speaking of food - unless you plan to share don't even think about eating while he is awake or around you. He loves table food and after my batch of homemade babyfood is gone, I may just go ahead an switch him over to that full time.

At 10 months, he has done many things that Abby never did at this point. Try to be an electrician and plug things into sockets, open all the cabinets that are child proof locked (go figure), eaten cake, a donut, texted or called friends ...haha! He loves cottage cheese, cheese, chicken, apples, pears, bananas, yogurt - pretty much whatever you give him. He is a speedy little crawler and can now stand alone for 10 seconds or so at a time. I am estimating that on the my 11 month post or sooner to say I have a walking little guy, since he seems to be about a month-ish behind what his sissy did.

Onto my silly 2-year-old who thinks she is 12. :-) She is so funny. Kids really do say the darndest things. Example: Seeing a piece of grass on my pant leg - "Oh no Momma, your dirty. You needa take a shower", "whaaa momma I fell and hurt my butt. Will you kiss my butt!" You see what I mean don't you! And she dances nonstop...no wonder she is such a tiny little gal. Christmas music and movies are a real hit with her right now. If I can capture it on video, I will try to catch her singing her fa la la la la la la's it's too funny!

BORING!

Suzy Homemaker is who I have been the last few weeks! Don't get me wrong I have been pretty crafty my whole life and always have loved to create, cook, and try new things. About 3 weeks ago I got pretty stir-crazy and wanted to go buy some new window treatments for my bedroom. Instead of getting a spanking (haha!) from my hubbie for spending money for that, I decided to dust off my trusty old sewing machine while one kiddo was napping and re-create my current ones. My old ones were red dupioni silk with a chocolate stripe at the bottom. I just revamped them back cutting them into valances. Looks great and makes the room look even bigger...and even more sunshine can come in now...which I love! I have been pretty obsessed recently with cooking different baby foods for Ethan too! I did this with Abby but not these combos. I did butternut squash with onion & cinnamon, rosemary-thyme chicken with whole wheat pasta, thyme & olive oil chicken with organic carrots & whole wheat spaghetti. He LOVES them too!! I have a few other things I wanna do, but we haven't gotten to them yet. Maybe when Abs goes to MMO this week I might get a chance.

Pretty boring post :-) But here are some pictures for now!

20 and a quarter pounder

No that's not a new combo meal at Mickey D's...it's "My Boy" as his daddy calls him. He had a excellent 9 month check up with Dr. Diebel. He is 20ish lbs and 30 inches tall. He already has 2 inches on his sister at the same age! Maybe he will play foosball for Auburn afterall...I think they could use some more players on defense so maybe I should go see Uncle Gene this week! haha!

I have a feeling my life will be getting even more interesting in a few weeks. Ethan can already stand and let go...steps are the next for him! All the activity from crawling, standing, getting to anything he's not supposed to have, is making him have a BIG appetite! He is still having 3 bottles a day or about 24oz. He eats everything we have put in front of him...including broccoli! I made him some really yummy babyfood...cinnamon & garlic butternut squash, sweet peas, and organic chicken with whole wheat pasta...again he loves it all! Makes me feel like such a great cook!

That is all for now! Thanks for moving back over here with me!!

Will Ethan Marshall Please Stand Up?

That is all we do nowadays! Pull up here, pull up there, the corner of our hard iron/wood coffee table is by far his favorite place to show off his mad skills, go figure. He is now 9 months old and already flirting, eating, bathing, standing like a pro. Waiting for our 9 month check up we found a pretty 14 girl to make googlie-eyes at…she was actually sad to see us go. E-man is weighing in now at a whopping 20.5 lbs. He is all muscle and really strong. And opinionated as well. He wants anyting and everything you have. He randomly will find some paper to eat…yes paper! He is an old pro at pulling the bottom off the refridgerator…while I only learned how to put it back on a week or so ago. Already smarter than me like his sister.
I am beginning to see the light…on most days…of how much easier and fun daily life will be once Ethan is out of the baby stage and into the toddler stage. I am thankful for both my children, but it ain’t no picnic having two so close together even though we planned it that way. The way I (think) we figured was that it may be rough/tough at first but the lifetime thye will spend together & closenessof age, will be well worth it. Abby loves her brother, again…on most days…and really gets proud of him when he does something new. I even got a “Good Boy” from Abby the other day when I did something for her. Now that was funny.

two sticky kids = ants

Upon my return from my trip to Bristol,TN. I am informed by the hubs that we have ants. This made me happy (not!) since I was wondering why the trash can was in the middle of the kitchen with no bag. After putting a bag back in the trash and putting the can in it’s “proper” place, I headed to the bedroom to change. I grabbed a trusty old t-shirt from the shelf in the closet and noticed a tiny friend on it. Then I looked at the other bazillion t-shirts and not to be left out…had little friends too! So I called our pest control company to come out and take a look. SIDE NOTE: we normally spray on a quarterly basis and this is outside perimeter b/c I don’t want the kiddos getting ahold of any chemicals. The one good thing about our new tiny friends was that in order to send them to that big ol’ ant hill in the sky, I would have to…gulp….take everything outta the closet! Well you see, I had been pregnant for the last 3 years (until now…HOORAY!!) and so it was in a bit of disarray from all of the ”I might wear this again one day” pep talks. Well they came out and got rid of the friends and gave me some good and FREE tips about what I can use inside that is chemical free (ammonia + water…yay!). Then came the process of putting all of the “stuff” back into the closet. Long story short…my closet looks fabulous and organized. You know it looked bad when the Queen of Messes (aka – my two-year old princess) comes and tells you “Wow Momma, it’s clean in there!”
Onto the reason we had ants in the first place! Hence the name of this blog, my children are sticky. Eman used to be fairly un-sticky until the past few weeks. And Abs is just a lost cause. I swear she only likes things that are sticky, greasy and messy : syrup, cottage cheese, crackers, hummus, chocolate…you get the idea. Well our little guy now loves food…and by food I mean all food. Baby food, table food, your food, my food, Abby’s food, etc. He will literally whine at your feet if you don’t give him something. And don’t even think about putting him in that high chair unless the food is ready and being aimed at his mouth. I know one day I will live a “sticky” free existence and wish for the good old days when you made sure not to sit in Abby’s chair in the kitchen because of the syrup and peanut butter caked on the seat.
Anyways, onto our agenda for the holiday weekend. Taking the kiddos to AU for Tiger Walk and a little tailgating (sweating) for he parents. The next week Abs first dentist appt (high hopes on this one) and little “i mean” big man’s 9 month appt. WDE for now!

welcome!!

Welcome friends and family to my new blog! It is still a family blog, but I am going to try to keep it a little more real! I feel phony sometimes trying to act like motherhood is peaches, and lollipops! The truth is it is a hard job and a tiring one…but it has it’s rewards! So in an effort to “keep it real” I hope you join me on this new journey with my hubs and my TWO STICKY KIDS!!!