She's My Mommy

It has been 8 months since I have posted anything on here. It's not like I really ever said much before that but still...With the iPhone, face book, email, I feel like I am connected so many different ways that it's difficult to update one more thing. I signed up for Twitter but refuse to use it...that's just too much. I feel that this is a good outlet however and I'm going to give it another go. I'm not promising a post every day or special days of the week or anything like that. I am promising that I will try and post as often as possible...can I be anymore vague?

So, with that being said, a lot has changed in the past 8 months. Biggest change...a new baby. Yes, we have added to the Horsley family. It took us awhile to decide if we really wanted to have another child. Ben is so cute, sweet, funny, smart, witty, amazing..you get the picture. I was afraid to bring another child into our family. I was afraid that it would have a horrible impact on Ben, that he would feel as if he wasn't as loved, that I may not be able to love another as much as I love him, that I couldn't possibly save for two children's therapy sessions. However, we decided to risk it all and try for another with our fingers crossed that Ben would make it through it, that we would produce another offspring as cool as Ben, and that we could keep two kids healthy and happy.

About a year after we made the big decision, we welcomed Nicholas Aaron to this world. He was born on December 9, 2009 at 7:28p.m. He was bigger than his older brother weighing and measuring at 8 lbs and 21 inches. He is beautiful, precious and smart...yes, he's already smart because he lets his mommy and daddy sleep.

And Ben, well he is just about the best big brother ever. He is very caring and runs over to him to see why he's crying. He has told me how happy he is the baby is out of my belly and just how long he had to wait for him to get here. Ben has requested that we don't take down his pictures and replace them with the baby's which I find hilarious. And once, just once he went a little crazy on us..however the craziness was contained and not really directed at anyone. Ben learned what nursing was and shortly after he learned about nursing he was playing by himself in the living room. I was sitting on the couch with the baby and heard Ben say "Stop sucking on my mommy. She's my mommy, not your mommy." Can you say "The Good Son." Okay, not so much. He never admitted to saying anything and I never made a big deal out of it.

I look forward to seeing these two grow as brothers. It's been amazing being a mom of two so far. Nicholas is so laid back and sleeps and eats and lets big brother go on with his every day activities. There has been little disruption to our lives...I feel at peace with these two boys. They say that your heart just grows to let there be room for two and they are right. What they don't tell you is that your bed miraculously grows as well. When I was pregnant I couldn't fit me, Ben and Andy in the bed...now all of a sudden I can fit all of them plus Nicholas and our cat Zoe. I'm not sure how it happens but I'm so glad it does.

Miserable Failure

So I think we've all learned a valuable lesson. I'm not so good at
finishing projects. No blog posts and a messy kitchen. In fact it
might be safe to say I'm a miserable failure.

But then I see Ben after work and the first thing he says is that he
has a dandelion for me. I did something right!

Baby Step #2 Get Dressed to Lace Up Shoes

Okay, so the idea behind this second baby step I guess is to establish routine. This step invovles getting up and dressed, including shoes and fixing your hair and make up, etc. During the week this won't be too much of a problem but come on, today was Sunday. I took about a half an hour this morning to just sit and eat breakfast in my pj's. However, I did shower and get dressed and ready to tackle our bathroom remodel. I did not however fix my hair or put on makeup. On the weekend I'm lucky to remember deoderant.

My sink is still clean though, every dish has gone straight into the dishwasher which is a major accomplishment for me! If I can get organized and stay that way in 31 days I will jump for joy.

Baby step #1 Shine Your Sink

Done. Am I supposed to do this every day?

FlyLady Challenge

Well, I've completely failed at blogging twice a week. I didn't think I could do it anyway. I do believe in a self fulfilling prophecy and I'm proof it's true.

My life is totally out of control right now. We're in the middle of a bathroom renovation, work is stressful and my house....oh my house is a complete mess. I've decided to do something about it...at least the house part.

I'm going to do a Fly Lady Challenge. I'm sure you know about the fly lady. She talks about building habits and has a 31 day baby steps program. That's what I'm doing...baby steps. I'm also going to learn how to blog from my iPhone so I can check in daily with my progress.

Wish me luck.

Applying Myself

Today my friend Chris told me that I needed to apply myself with this blog. In the words of Ben....FIIIIINE.



I've noticed that people are often successful in blogging when they have a theme or a project that encourages them to post so I'm going to try it out and see what happens.



For now, I'm only promising to attempt two posts a week. One will be based on the art work my son has brought home from school. The other will be "Moments NOT for the baby book." Hopefully I'll be inspired to actually blog about other things here and there since Ben is quite the comedian and keeps Andy and me in stitches.



For today I'll leave you with two things Ben has said to me within the past few months. One goes into the "Moments NOT for the baby book." I'll let you decide which one it is.



One night when we were going to sleep Ben says to me "Mommy, do you remember when Dave and Zoe (the cats) were in your belly when they were babies." Cute and Creepy all at the same time.



This weekend Ben was a bit of a pill. I think cabin fever got the best of him and he just refused to listen, mind or do anything that resembled a well behaved child. We all have our moments I get it. Often though, I'll talk about how I'm going to talk tot he teachers about how he hasn't been listening at home because it's something he's also working on at school. I do this not as a threat, well maybe, but more as a way to show Ben that I talk to his teachers on a regular basis and that we both have the same expectations for his behavior. I however did not say this on this particular day. Completely on his own accord Ben says "Mommy, don't tell the teachers." I asked him what he didn't want me to tell them and he said "Mommy, don't tell the teachers I've been an a$$hole."



I've never called him one, I swear. I went from being appalled to being amazed at my sons reason. I know I've called my husband one before and he was able to connect his behavior to the same behavior that may have once led me to calling Andy one. Not excusable I know.



Which one do you think I'd like to forget?

Ben and Politics

Benjamin has known who Barack Obama is since the primary race when I had him stand in front of house with a "Thank You President Bush" sign and chant Obama, Obama, Obama. Irresponsible? I don't think so.

Anyway, I have thought a lot about how I want Ben to be active in his community, active in the country and active in things that matter most to him. My hope is that I will provide opportunities for him to learn about different topics, people, places, etc. that will help create a broad view of the world and help him make responsible and thoughtful decisions.

I know he's only 3.5 but I can already see that he understands more than I ever thought a 3.5 year old could. However, he is only 3.5 and I get a little carried away.

During the inauguration, Ben and I were home sick so we were able to watch a moment in history together. He kept coming in the room and would then leave to continue playing. Finally, when President Obama was speaking Ben looks at me really seriously and says "Mommy, can Obama be a girl?" I told him that Obama was a boy so he then asked if we could pretend he was a girl. I told him that we could pretend anything we wanted but I was curious to why he wanted our president to be a girl. He's response "I want a girl president." Needless to say I was so proud of him in that moment. I was sure I was doing something right, that my 3.5 year old son knew that anyone could be president...anyone. I also like to think that he thought Mommy might be a better president than Daddy.

Since the journey started for this presidential election I have felt such hope and gratitude. It is amazing to me that Ben will never know a time in his life where it wasn't possible for anyone to be president. I was reminded of this moment in February at his Valentine Party at school. While the kids were waiting for the festivities to begin, the teacher was asking them a series of questions:

1. In which city do you live? C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I (which was sung to the Mickey Mouse song.)
2. What is your state? OHIO screamed by 23 little kids.
3. What is our country? The United States of America...this is where I started getting a bit choked up.
4. Who is the president of the United States of America...Barack Obama (except for Ben who just calls him Obama due to the chanting he did during the primary election)

Again, such emotion ran through me I couldn't' stand it...how amazing that all of these kids, not just my son, have the fortune of living in this time...yes, I know the economy stinks but still aside from that, I think it's pretty amazing. So, imagine my joy when Ben brings home the above picture of President Obama. I see this picture and the first thing I think of is "Wow, Ben has made his jacket all different colors as a commentary on the hope and promise of change in our future. Ben understands that the world is made up of people of all different shapes, sizes, colors, beliefs....and he values that. My 3.5 year old is so deep.

So I ask him "Ben, why did you choose to make Obama's jacket so many different colors?" His response...."Because jackets have a lot of colors."

Okay, so he's 3.5...and then I got a grip.