Sunday night random list

1. Maggie called Rachel today and Rachel texted her back. It said, "I love you, Maggie moomer and I love my patty cakes." Isn't that a cute nickname for Patrick? I really like that. I wish that Patrick knew Rachel and all of the Williamson family better. I think they would love him. While we were visiting Rachel in the hospital this summer, Patrick met them for a few minutes. He had Nonnie's hat on his head immediately!

2. I took Maggie on a girl date this afternoon. It's one of our Sunday afternoon traditions. We go get a drink and relax and talk without distractions. It was very nice. The only bad part about sitting at Starbucks was that we didn't have a blanket and it was so cold in there.

3. We remembered that Maggie had a gift card to Target that Miss Ilda gave her to celebrate being a big sister. We went to Target to spend it after we had a Starbucks drink. She looked all through the toys, but decided on a new outfit. It is very cute and very Maggie. She looks super in green. I guess this is a sign of being grown up that she doesn't want a toy, but would prefer a new outfit.

4. We picked out a new truck for Patrick while we were there. It was a fire truck that has a siren. This was the ultimate in cool toys for Patrick. It's a "Choo choo" and it's a truck. Seriously awesome.

5. Steven spoke at another church this morning. It was so interesting to not be at our church this weekend. But, I loved hearing him in a different setting.

6. I have a lot of classes right now. Cha ching.

7. My husband is really trying to find some tax deducts. He just asked me if I was blind. I'm not, by the way.

8. Maggie got a new mattress this weekend. She has my daybed from when I was younger. The last time I got on her mattress, I felt the springs in her mattress. I started calculating that the mattress was at least 20 years old. It could be older, I'm not sure. I'm not going to even think about the dust mites in that thing. It was hauled away and replaced on Saturday morning. It's nice. I wanna new mattress!!!

9. We played scene it at Robert and Amanda's house. I'm (humbly) really, really good at wheel of fortune, which was a type of puzzle during the game. I think I should apply to be on the show. I could make tons of money and win fabulous prizes.

Great rejoicing!

Tonight, we were in the car waiting for Steven to get a DVD. Patrick was babbling and Maggie was dancing to KAT Country (the radio station) while we waited.

Maggie has been dying for Patrick to say her name. She practices with him and he just grins and says, "Mama".

In the middle of waiting for Daddy, Patrick said (very clearly), "MAGGIE".

We looked at each other in shock.

Then, the cheering began! We cheered and clapped and Patrick clapped.

Maggie reached over and hugged him. Then, he reached around her and tried to hug her again.

The love fest continued for several minutes until Daddy got back in the car. Maggie excited told Steven all about Patrick saying her name.

Steven said, "Patrick, did you say Maggie?".

Patrick grinned and said "Mama".

At least we heard it once.

Repost:February 19, 2008

Today: Look at how little Maggie and Jessica are...how cute! Also, Brynn, I noted the name of the dog that Jesse is eating. POE!

Yosemite state park

We went to Yosemite state park. It was a rough start because Maggie stayed up too late and woke up super early. She was a bit of a crabby patty til we got there and saw the SNOW. Here's some pics from the day....

At a picture stop on the way there....




Maggie and Jessica made a snowman!




He's such a tree hugger




The gorgeous view



The end of the waterfall



She finally fell asleep and slept for 2 hours while we walked around and drank hot chocolate at the historic hotel there.



Jesse was so hungry, he decided to eat "Poe". That's maggie's furreal friend from McDonald's.



On our way out of the park. Guess what we saw? A coyote!




Someone wrote on the side of the van. Any idea who it was?!

Repost: April 7, 2008

Today's comments: It's pretty ironic that I post this one tonight. We went to baskin robbins tonight, too. However, Maggie is lactose intolerant now. She has to take a lactaid before she eats her chocolate ice cream. She's also a little neater and doesn't normally wear bags on her head. Sometimes, Patrick puts buckets from the church nursery on his head though. History repeating itself?

We went to Baskin Robbins last night for Nikki's last night of work. Maggie is obsessed with this paper birthday bag that she got at church yesterday. She carried it or wore it most of the day. Our choco-holic was crazy about the ice cream cone!

My blog

I started looking around at my blog. I had forgotten some of my older posts around 2008, so I was rereading them. I was tempted several times to comment on my own blog. Is that weird? Should I comment to myself? It's kind of like commenting to the "old version of Beth". Does that make me schizophrenic? What if I could tell myself some important news about the future?

In other related news, Patrick slept approximately 15 minutes last night. He yelled loudly for most of the night. Maggie came into our room around 2:30 to complain about it. She has been working on staying in her bed all night and was surprised when I climbed in bed with her at that point. It was the only way that I could get some sleep because she had access to the sound machine. We just turned it up super loud to drown out the yelling. I had changed him, given him milk and rocked him several times. He just wasn't interested in sleeping last night.

That story may give you some background as to my random questions that I asked at the start of this blog.

So, two questions for you:

1. Should I comment on my old blog posts?
2. Why did Patrick not want to sleep last night?

Now, it's 9 p.m. and I'm going to bed.

Choo Choo

Patrick is obsessed with "choo choos". In fact, any large truck, bus or train is called a "choo choo". It's not just a little excitement. He screams "CHOO CHOO" everytime a big truck comes near him.

Today, I had to pick up some medicine for Maggie. That involved Patrick and I sitting in the pharmacy at Kaiser for 30 minutes. UGH. I decided to wait it out and just pray that nothing was broken while we were waiting for the medicine.

While we were waiting, Patrick flirted with the older ladies. They thought he was adorable and kept talking about his boots.

Then, we saw an ambulance. Whoa. That was cause for a big scream. "CHOO CHOO", he screamed out. Several people laughed quietly. He pressed his face against the glass door and watched the ambulance.

As he was losing it, they finally called our name and we got the medicine and went home. On the way home, he talked about that "choo choo". I told him to look outside and see if we could find anymore trains.

Then, we heard it. The train whistle. He got so excited. We got to the train tracks and I have never been so happy to be stopped by a train. We excitedly talked about the "choo choo" as it went by us.

As the last part of the train went by, he started waving and blowing kisses to the train. Then, my son (isn't that a great word?) said "I say bye bye choo choo".

He doesn't say a lot, but it was amazing to hear him talk about his passion.

Yea, I'm copying

My husband wrote an amazing blog about adopting Patrick. Just in case you didn't see it, I've posted it here.

It's amazing to me that he's FINALLY, really and truly OUR kid. He's a Cole. We started praying (and fasting) about this process in January 2006 .God had someone truly amazing in mind for our family and we are so happy.

I wondered if I would feel different about Patrick after we adopted him. I guess it kind of sounds weird, but I do. If it's possible to love someone even more, I do. I feel like I can let any guard down that I didn't even know I had about him. There's no chance that someone can take him away now. He's really our baby boy!

Here's Steven's take on that awesome day.

A letter to Steven

Dear Man who puts up with us,

We know that we drive you crazy. We know that we are not "your animals" or "your pets". But, we know that you love the people who love us and so you put up with us.

This week, our mom tried to get rid of fleas. Boy, did that turn out to be a big ol mess. I (Sparky) ended up being really sick. You came home from your meeting and tried to calm down mom on the way to the emergency vet. You didn't even get really mad when you saw the ginormous bill. You did ask for the percentage of survival before you put down the credit card, but you still were willing to save my life.

We don't expect you to pet us or feed us or even enjoy us, but we appreciate you letting us live in your house. We can't promise much. We might still drive you crazy, but the other people in your house appreciate you it, too!

Sincerely,
Willie, Mickey and Sparky
(as dictated to Beth)

One minute

Patrick doesn't say a lot of words. I mean, he's on par with babies his age, it's just that we are used to the talking queen who was telling us what to do at 2 months old. So, this less vocal child is different to us.

He does understand a lot. We can tell him something and he nods and does what we ask him to do. Well, most of the time, he does what we ask hi to do. Sometimes, he emerges with a trash can and Minnie Mouse stuffed in the trash can. But, that's for another blog.

On Friday, we came home around 1:00 and I didn't immediately put him down for a nap. I let him wander into the living room while I put up my jacket/purse. I went to the hall and said "Patrick, it's naptime. Are you ready for your nap?". He came out to me and babbled something for about a minute. The babble ended with him holding up his finger at me.

Just like I do to Maggie or Patrick when I'm saying "just one minute".

I asked him if he needed one more minute.

He nodded and went to his cars in the living room. He played for a bit. Then, I asked him if he was ready for naptime.

He nodded yes and led me to his room while holding my hand.

I guess he can communicate with us.

Baking with a 2 year old

When Maggie was 2, she went to Memaw's house to bake some Christmas cookies. To say she loved sprinkles is an understatement. I love how you can't even see the cookies under all of the sprinkles.

Kisses for sale

Don't tell Patrick, but this was Maggie's shirt when she was a newborn. We saved it and Patrick rocked the Kisses for 25 cents onsie when he was 3 months old. Look at his sweet, Kindergarten sister giving him a kiss on the swing in the backyard. This onsie was a gift to Maggie from our youth group's baby shower that they threw for us!

Now that I can

Here is a picture of Patrick when he was about 4 months old. I have been looking through old pictures of him for his birth announcement. Isn't he adorable?

Twas the night before Christmas

I know, it's a few weeks late, but this is pretty adorable, right? This was after we went to look at Christmas lights on Christmas eve and we were about to eat dinner. I'm so glad I found matching pajamas!

A gweat idea

Today, we cleaned up Christmas and generally cleaned up the house. It's such a nice feeling. Why does it make me feel so much more relaxed when the house is picked up. I don't think my husband will ever understand this about me, but luckily he helps me with it!

Patrick wanted to "help", too. He LOVES the vacuum cleaner and Steven had to take it apart to fix it. Patrick was truly in heaven. He got to help his daddy and fix his beloved vacuum cleaner.

My mom and Mr. Tom went on a date this afternoon. I think Maggie was a little jealous to be left behind, so my mom left instructions for taking care of NewDoggy while she was gone. If she does a good job, Maggie will get a dollar for babysitting.

This has been loads of fun for Maggie so far. She is taking this very seriously and we are documenting the tasks as they happen.

This is the snack that Maggie made for them. As I walked in and out of the kitchen, she would put M&Ms or a chip on his paw.

According to the schedule for New Doggy, it's naptime. Guess who fell asleep with him?! That's right, Maggie. I don't think she's taken a nap in about 2 years. I like this babysitting gig.