Two Toofers

Bad Santa Photos

Check out the Bad Santa photos on Ellen's site.

I wish my friend Ashley had a blog or someplace else I could share the gem she got this weekend.

I'm a big fan of this Santa photo that stars the subjects of one of my favorite blogs.

By the way, if you're in need of a really powerful photo sharing site, I'm a big fan of smugmug.com. If you've ever thought of trying them out, they have a free trial, and you can get $5 off your subscription with the code OBy4LHf0S0dqQ.

Cyber Monday

Amazon is having great Cyber Monday deals...keep checking the gold box and other specials, because they keep changing! The deals aren't just for Black Friday...

A LOT of sites I shop regularly or receive promotional emails from are having specials today. It's worth the time to check out sites you shop to see if they have any specials! It's also a good idea to subscribe to emails from sites you might want to purchase from. I get a lot of promo codes and sale notifications in my email. I have an account I use primarily for that purpose, so I'm not constantly getting promo emails in my more important accounts.

Sick of Sick

November has been a rough month for our family. It seems like someone has been at least slightly sick the entire month. I'm finally getting a little energy back after being stricken with mastitis. The last time I had it, Gator was six weeks old and was content to lay in bed with me a lot. Not this time. Violet got to watch a lot more TV than usual and I still didn't rest as much as I should have. At one point I had both kids climbing all over me in bed because I just didn't have the energy to stay vertical any longer.

It's so hard being a mom when you're sick. It was actually easier when we were all sick with a cold, because they didn't have as much energy either and were happy to lay in bed and cuddle with me. When I was exhausted from mastitis and knew the best treatment was rest, Violet was bouncing off walls and Gator wasn't much better.

He's a very busy boy these days and isn't content to crawl around the living room. Instead he's taking off down the hallway or following me into the kitchen like a puppy dog. He can pull up on Violet's Play Tableand swipe her snacks or crayons off of it. That used to be where we told her to put things so he wouldn't put them in his mouth. He cruises along the table with ease now. He's just started to swipe things off the couch, too, which was my spot to put things out of his reach. Time for another phase of babyproofing and decluttering. I'd include a picture of his cute face, but apparently I've been so busy and tired lately, I've barely used my camera in the last few weeks. If you know me, you know that means it's been rough.

Not Funny

This morning, Gator was nuzzling around as if he wanted to nurse. When given the opportunity, he bit me. Hard. I yelped in surprise and pain. He laughed out loud. And was cut off from nursies for a while. I guess he was just looking for something to chew on. My sensitive body parts don't make good chew toys.

Crazy Crawler

Gator has reached the stage where he's no longer content to amble around the living room and he's started taking off down the hall. I move things around to hopefully distract or block him, but he's a boy on a mission.

He's also cruising back and forth a bit while holding on to low surfaces. He's too short to cruise along the couch like most babies do. That's what happens when you start being so mobile so crazy early.

I enjoyed it when he was happy crawling back and forth across the room. It was nice while it lasted. He's crawling faster and faster. How is he growing up so fast??

The "baby" tag I'm putting on this post seems less and less appropriate.

Morning Mayhem

Kitty Cat Love

We have a very happy kitty tonight. We went to a wonderful local cat boutique and found him a Kickeroo that I knew he would love. We used to have cat body pillows, infused with catnip, and he loved those very much. The pillows are fun to wrap his front legs around and kick at with his hind legs, and then when he's worn out from playing, he lays his head on the pillow.

Now we know that Kong makes a product similar to the homemade ones my kitty used to enjoy. And...they are available online for a price that is very reasonable for the joy they instill in my cat.

My boy is enjoying his tiger pattern toy, which was the only option we saw. I see that Kong has three prints, and the price on Amazon varies slightly, if you're not partial to a particular one.

Cloudy Swirls Hat

Mom would you put down the camera and pick me up?

I used Angel Hair yarn in a light blue with shades of blue, beige, and ivory. I wanted to play with diagonal stripes in the round. Overall, I like how it turned out, and I'd like to modify the design and used things I learned on this to make some other hats. I didn't trim my ends yet, as you might have noticed, and my photography skills are far better than this, but better to take a fast photo than add it to my list of projects that I haven't photographed.

Do you think the spirals are better for just more girl-centric hats? I'm not sure about this on my boy.

Boo! (better late than never)

Nearly 70 degrees the night before Halloween. Violet was excited to be a skeleton with Gator. Gotta love deeply discounted last-minute Halloween gear purchases and reusing things we already owned. I spent less than $10 on two outfits for him and a tiara for her.

Trick-or-treating in the mei tai. I zipped the bottom of my hoodie around him and had flashbacks to being largely pregnant.

There's a princess outfit under there. She wanted to wear a pretty yellow dress, and lucky us, she could still squeeze into the yellow dress she wore the past two Easters. Temps were in the 40s on Halloween night.

My cutie-pie was ready to play after a great nap in the carrier. His orange sweatpants and jack-o-lantern hoodie were super-comfy.

Six months going on two years

Gator is busy with some of the usual six-month old things, like cutting his first tooth this morning. (Finally!) He's also getting a little bit of hair after spending most of his life as a virtual baldie.

It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that he's supposed to be a baby and not doing all the things his big sister does. He's crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on things, and going through walking motions when he gets the chance. Wow. He continually amazes us.

At his six-month checkup this week, he was 26.5" and 16 lb. 1 oz. Much of his height is torso. He needs 9 month or 12 month sizes in sleepers and onesies but 6 month pants fit great and 3 month pants aren't that short. Dressing him was much easier when he was in short sleeves.

He spends a lot of time crawling back and forth across the rug, playing with things here and there and everywhere. He'll chew on anything he can get his hands on. Things like the cat's tail, shoes left laying around, and a shoe that's trying to stop him from licking the cat. That's what I get for pausing to take a picture of his cat attack.

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!

My daughter's FAVORITE show is officially over the hill, but it is as fresh and educational as ever. Elmo, Rosita, Zoe, and Abby have all been added since I grew too old to watch it.

Elmo gets a little old sometimes, and his silly songs, along with other songs from the show, pop into my head far too often. But as far as kids' shows go, it's one of my favorites. It's not nearly as annoying as many shows are, there are no commercials to get my child excited about the season's hot toys, and it's full of educational content. My daughter has learned a lot from the show, and it's inspired great educational conversations for all of us.

Elmo and Rosita were on the Jimmy Fallon show, along with a book that looks pretty cool. I have a feeling this will be under our Christmas tree...for the young Sesame Street fanatic, and for her parents who also have fond memories of Cookie Monster, The Count, Big Bird, Grover, and the rest of the gang. We just might spring for the DVD with five hours of classic moments from the show, too.

The book is almost half off retail as I type this...

It's what all the modern super heros wear

The creativity of my 2.5 year old continually surprises me. She is enacting all sorts of interesting scenarios with herself, her dolls, stuffed animals, and lately, imaginary objects and beings.

Joey Man continues to be a beloved toy in our house. Yesterday's outfit really made me grin. Check out his superhero mask (I think she thinks it's sunglasses?), "police station" shirt, pirate skirt-ish wrap that is upside down, and the fetching blue superhero boots. He was ready to defend and protect the city, because that's what all police officers wear, right?

Get up, stand up

Gator is spending a lot of time on his knees, with just light support. He can stand with lessening support, as well.

And he pushes/pulls himself to standing on all sorts of objects. Yesterday he did a sideways walk while leaning against something. Wow.

Have I mentioned he just turned six months old this week?

He's drooling like crazy and has a tooth just under the gum, ready to break through any day now. Sometimes we just throw on whatever random onesie around the house, and plan on changing it in an hour rather than putting a bib on that he will just rip off. So he was wearing a little bit odder outfit than usual for a day hanging out at home.

Babies, Briefly

Exactly six months ago, I was marveling at how tiny my little boy was, and how quiet his cries and little sounds were compared to those of a two year old. I was thrilled that he took to nursing right away, proud and enjoying the hormone rush from a natural childbirth, and of course sore and tired.

At six months old, my little overachiever is crawling all over the place, sitting up by himself for long periods of time, and pulling himself to a semi-standing position when he has something to lean on that is shorter than he is.

He's talking in his own little way, making strings of varied sounds. He likes to sputter and blow bubbles and spent much of yesterday spitting on me, thrilled with his new talent. Thank goodness he's somewhat bored by spitting already and has moved on to other discoveries.

Big sis can sing a variety of songs, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and the alphabet song. She also does Where is Thumbkin and a few others she learned at story group at the library. She doesn't know the songs perfectly, but knows some of them better than I do...

She had her most intelligent phone conversation to date with me today. She was telling me about her trip to the zoo with her grandpa. There was one animal that I couldn't figure out, but it sounded kind of like walrus. Turns out she was calling the jaguar a "jagwalrus". Grandpa was saying it kind of like jag-wyer and she apparently thought he was saying jag-walrus.

It seems like my babies are turning into children so fast. They are learning new things every day. My heart swells with pride at their achievements, but at the same time, it makes me sad to see the baby days being left in their wakes.