Say, "Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"

Part of being the "Big 3" is having to do some very big boy things, and one of those things is going to the dentist for teeth cleanings. I know what you're thinking, "Oh no, I bet this was a nightmare." Believe me, the same types of thoughts swirled in my head for days before.

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you may have noticed that my child is very strong-willed and hard headed (like his father!). If he is ever in a situation he doesn't want to be in, it takes about 12 lbs. of chocolate, promises of new choo-choos, and lots of "you'll love it, I promise", to get him to even remotely cooperate...maybe it's not quite that bad, but you catch my drift.

I was already prepared for a hellacious day....the kind where you're sweating bullets, while chasing down a child in a public building, only to hold them down as they scream, and you wonder if God is laughing at you and punishing you for something you've done.

But that's not how things went... And I'm going to give credit to 2 very key things... (1) the doctor's kit Clinton got for Christmas has dental tools in it and we play with them often! (2) the staff at Dr. Reynolds' office is unbelievable!

When Clinton was 2 1/2, the dentist told me to bring Clinton in with me and let him watch my teeth cleaning. I thought, "Sure I'll do it...but he won't remember it by the time he is three." I was wrong.

All the way to the appointment, Clinton talked about the water. He hooked his pointer, waved it around his mouth, and asked, "Water, mommy? Water?" "Uh-huh....sure." I had no clue what he was talking about, just agreeing to agree.

When we walked in Clinton wasn't shy at all. He just acted like this was a place we went to everyday. Ms. Kathy came and got us and took us back. Clinton went back and just climbed right up in his chair and started looking around. "Mommy! Look, mommy! Water!"

"Oh....he does remember being here!" He was pointing to the little spicket thing they use to squirt water in your mouth. He was so excited about it and couldn't wait until they squirted it in his mouth.

"Can I count your teeth, Clinton?" Ms. Kathy was awesome. She knew just how to get a three year old to respond. Since Clinton is into counting EVERYTHING these days, he was oh-so-happy to have her count his teeth.

"Okay, mom. We're just going to go as far as Clinton will let us, and once he's done, we're done. We just don't want to cause any trauma." "Sounds good to me."

But Clinton never got upset. He was excited about everything. He loved the "toothpaste", he loved the spinning toothbrush, he loved the water (of course) and he loved the vacuum. He got every single tooth cleaned, got a good report, and was very excited about his goody bag....which contained a toothbrush, toothpaste (one of his favorite foods), floss, and a bouncy ball.

I was SO proud of him for being so big!

We'll definitely be looking forward to our next visit!!

Smilin' pretty,

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On our way to Vail! Missing the babies...we've been showing each other pics of the kids on our phones.

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Birthday Party #2 for our #1 who is the #3

So, following the "pends" party at McDonald's we had a family party at home. This proved to be just as enjoyable for Clinton...and a lot more work for mommy...but I'm not complaining, it was worth it to see this smile!

...and this smile! I have two VERY social children.

Once again Clinton was pooped from all the activities...but that didn't keep him from tearing into all of his gifts.

Heidi Sage doing what she does best these days...stuffing her face.

My attempt at a Monster Truck cake for our little man. If I could go back, I'd outline some of the detailing in a black gel icing instead of just "carving" it into the icing....but Clinton didn't seem to care either way. He L-O-V-E-D it....LOVED it. He enjoyed both a piece of the cake and one of the donut wheels....and some ice cream. I seem to remember a bit of a sugar rush.

Last year I also attempted a 3D cake that I thought turned out well, and I was feeling equally proud of this one...but then I met this girl Brooke at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. She's a SAHM who decided to start making cakes out of her home and was voted best Kids' Cakes last year by The Scene. Her cakes are amazing! I will, however, continue to do Clinton's myself because I love doing the research, having a challenging project, and seeing the smile on my little man's face when he discovers that I have lovingly created something he loves so much...but I let her make my birthday cake!

Clinton's actual B-day was Monday. I hosted my Bible study group in the morning, so he had lots of friends to play with...then we hung out at the house, practiced riding his new bike, then rented a movie onDemand (Daddy was out of town) and went to bed. We were pretty worn out from the weekend!

Partied out--

Happy Birthday, Big Boy

Ladies and Gentlemen, Clinton Robert Williams is officially 3! Not sure I even believe it myself, but 'tis true. On February 8th our first born reached the phase known as "The Treacherous Threes". Joy.

To celebrate this Big Boy birthday we had 2 parties inundated with a recurring theme--MONSTER TRUCKS!

We started the celebrations with a "pends" birthday party. Clinton was so excited about seeing his friends. That's what he talked about most...."My pends are coming, mommy?" "Yes, you're friends are going to come to your party!"

After much thought and consideration and debating, we decided on a McDonald's birthday party. I'll admit it...at first I thought there was no way I would ever host a McDonald's birthday party for my son...because I can be a snob like that. I mean....there are no handmade decorations. There's no carefully selected menu that goes with the theme of the party. There are no well-planned activities. And it's McDonald's.

HOWEVER, after considering some very important facts--1.) Clinton LOVES the rarely visited playground at McDonald's; 2.) Clinton only cared about seeing his friends!; 3.) I wouldn't have to clean my house or be up all night preparing food.; and 4.) and, oh yeah, it's VERY cheap!--I was able to get over myself remembering that this was about Clinton and not about me. A revelation, I know.

So, in order to personalize it a bit we sent out Monster Truck invites, I provided Monster Truck cupcakes (in addition to the McDonald's birthday cake), we popped some Monster Truck stickers into the provided goodie bags, and we're sending out Monster Truck thank you notes. Clinton thought these touches were the best things ever...so in my mind--Mission Accomplished!

Clinton was excited with the arrival of each new friend. He played so hard that when it was time to eat he kept wiping his sweaty head telling us, "I tired." He was especially sweet during gift time. As I handed him each gift I would tell him who it was from. He would open each present, check it out, act disappointed, then go and give it to whoever I told him it was from. He thought he was having to give them all away!! Once he realized they were all for him and they were going in our car, he was beyond elated!

Cousin Emma

One of our besties, Dalby (who is expecting a brother AND a sister in a few short weeks!!)

One of Clinton's main girls, Andersyn (Annie)

Our friend, Bek, who is proving to be as wild as our very own Clinton

Our "cousin" Jack

Annie, Clinton and Ella enjoying some sweets

Heidi Sage just taking it all in

So tired from all the playing he couldn't even keep his eyes open for a picture with mommy...so dramatic

Some very popular Monster Truck cupcakes

The next night we hosted a family birthday party for Rodney's family. Stay tuned for that...

Look What I Found...

So some of our lipstick pictures magically appeared today as I was downloading Clinton's birthday pictures. I feel I should point out that we were already into the clean up process before I gained enough composure to grab my camera...so consider this just the tip of the iceberg.

A hand towel that saw it's final moments in shades of pink. It soon found its way to the trash can.

A look at ONE of the doors covered in lipstick. What you can't see is the lipstick caked on the handle.

A little boy enjoying part of his punishment.

No longer pretty in pink (but rather nice clear chapstick),

Lucky To Be Alive

Perhaps this is a bit exaggerated, but it's possibly what my son's been telling himself for the past 24 hours. He has been into things...

**Please note we in no way inflict physical harm on our children, but we are a bit dramatic...hence the title of this post.**

Yesterday started out as any normal non-school day. We laid in bed and watched cartoons, then ate blueberry pancakes, and played in our jammies until Heidi Sage's 11a nap time. Things were going well.

Whenever I put Heidi Sage down for a nap, I put Clinton in front of the TV to make sure he stays in place. Since Nick Jr. puts him in a complete and utter trance, this works well for us.

Taking advantage my son's zombie-like love affair with his "tartoons", I decided I'd slip into the shower real quick and get myself dressed and ready for the remainder of the day. Here's where things started becoming unfortunate.

Clinton can hear the shower turn on from the playroom. He knows that if he is really quiet, he can sneak into my bathroom and sneak out without being seen or heard. He also knows there are things in the bathroom he'd like to get into but is unable to do so when an adult is monitoring his activities. So, occasionally he is able to tear himself from the tartoons just long enough to get into trouble....BIG TROUBLE.

When I got out of the shower, Clinton was nowhere to be seen. At that point I congratulated myself on a successful shower with no visible signs of a mess. Phew.

As I was getting ready, my neighbor called and I talked to her while I put my makeup on. While we were talking Clinton came around the corner saying, "MOM! Taptick! Taptick!" This is code for chapstick....only he didn't have chapstick....he had lipstick. Pink lipstick. Pink lipstick all over his hands. Pink lipstick all over his face. I would say everything from his cheekbones down to his chin was covered in pink. Clinton was all smiles. He could not have been prouder.

I kept my neighbor on the phone as I went searching for the rest of the mess that was inevitable...he had been upstairs, after all. In the play room I found two small spots and one larger spot of lipstick in the carpet. But relatively speaking (in comparison to some of our other messes), this seemed quite contained and minimal. My neighbor googled some solutions for getting lipstick out of carpet. I felt the problem was manageable and punished Clinton with what I felt fit the crime.

Later that afternoon, I was sitting at the kitchen table clipping coupons. Clinton was sitting across from me coloring with his markers. I was visiting with him, but not watching him. I guess he noticed I wasn't paying close enough attention and proceeded with his next mess.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look! Look, Mommy! I can't see! I can't see! Look, Mommy!"

I looked up and Clinton had a marker in each hand and had his eyes closed because he was coloring his eyelids and the surrounding areas.

"Clinton, no! That's it...we're putting the markers away!" (He had already been warned for coloring on the table.) "You need to go in the bathroom and look in the mirror. Take these wipes and go wipe your face off."

He happily ran off to the office bathroom. We keep the bathroom doors closed for Heidi Sage and usually keep them locked for Clinton. However, this door was only shut and Clinton quickly slipped in making sure to shut the door behind him. A few seconds later he slipped back out, once again making sure to shut the door behind him. He returned to me still covered in markers and without his wipes.

"Clinton your face is still dirty. Let's go get your wipes and wipe your face off." He leaped across the floor like a leopard darting in front of me to prohibit my entrance into the bathroom. Being 3 times his side, I was able to push through the human barricade.

As I opened the door my mind could not even wrap itself around what I was seeing. It took a good 20 seconds of jaw-dropped gawking before things started registering...

...I was seeing lipstick. Pink lipstick. Pink lipstick all over the counter. Pink lipstick covering the hand towel that had found its way into the sink. Pink lipstick hand prints all over the walls. Pink lipstick smeared all over the 3 doors in the bathroom, but only up to about 4 feet high. Pink lipstick caked on the door handles. And a lid to the pink lipstick I had retrieved from my little delinquent earlier in the day. So much for a contained, minimal mess...this was more Clinton's style.

Feeling that maybe my son was acting out as a cry for more attention, I decided not to lose my cool. Instead, I explained why this was wrong. I explained what his punishment would be. And I explained how he was going to help me clean it up.

He LOVED cleaning it up. I think he kept smiling at me because he thought he had really gotten away with something. When I did actually put him in his room for his punishment, he got really upset...but only until he found his rocking horse and started playing on that.

I would love to say that was the end of the troubles...but this morning didn't get off to a very good start either.

I gave Clinton a bowl of dry cereal and told him to go to the table to eat it. I went to get Heidi Sage out of her crib and came back a few minutes later to find Clinton missing. I could hear him in my room and upon entering could feel the cereal under my feet. That's when I noticed the cereal had been poured over my entire room. After taking inventory, I saw him sitting in the corner hunching down, smiling up at me. And then I had to ask the question I've had to ask umpteen times over the past few weeks...

"Clinton!! Where are your pants? Where is your underwear?"

Fast forward 30 seconds, I blew up a bit...

Clinton was quite anxious to get to school after that....and was feeling....lucky to be alive.

Earning my gray hairs honestly,

*I wrote this post last night, but already this morning Clinton has painted the laundry room walls with finger paint!!!!! I'm trying to make cupcakes for his party tonight, guess I should be paying more attention to him instead.

**The pictures of the crime scene that I had taken didn't transfer onto my computer and I deleted them before I realized it...so there are none. You'll just have to take my word for it...it was bad.**

The Pros and Cons of Being Diaper Free

We are a couple of weeks into being potty trained. I'm so proud of our big man. He took to it so well and so quickly. It was nothing like the nightmare I had envisioned for us. Clinton continues to be very proud of himself and we are no longer having to give rewards for every successful trip to the potty.

As we continue our venture into big boy underwear, I am learning there are pros and cons to having a "big boy" in big boy pants. They are as follows...

Pros -

1. I'm only buying diapers for one!!! Woo-hoo!!

2. Clinton looks so cute in his big boy underwear...especially his boxer briefs.

3. I don't have to change dirty diapers...well, I don't have to change CLINTON's dirty diapers.

4. Clinton is so proud of himself!

Cons-

1. Clinton now points out other kids who are wearing diapers and very loudly lets me know that they wear diapers and he wears "nunnerwear". I just have to roll my eyes and laugh. It's like he's forgotten he was in diapers just a few short weeks ago.

2. Clinton seems to think he is now the owner of his very own fire hose. When he pees he doesn't like any help...and that's because he likes to swirl his wee-wee around while he pees spraying the toilet seat, the back of the toilet, the floor, the wall and sometimes the water in the toilet. Oy vey.

3. I have to remember to ask Clinton to pee-pee before we leave the house, before I drop him off for school, before we leave school, before he runs off to play with a friend, etc., etc. And anyone who knows me knows that my mind is always distracted and rarely remembers to do anything that doesn't come with a reminder!

4. Clinton likes to remove his pants completely when going to the bathroom. He often sneaks to the bathroom and then lets me know after the fact that he's gone. I'm then left searching the three bathrooms looking for his pants and underwear. Question heard most often in our house these days, "Clinton!! Where are your pants?"

Despite the cons, we are so glad we are on this side of potty training. That is one milestone I didn't think we would reach too easily....mainly because it requires so much on the part of the parents...but we made it and couldn't be happier!

Stocking up on Lysol (wipes and spray!),

Christmas Catch Up - SEA WORLD

For Christmas we went to San Antonio to meet my sister's fiance's family. We had such a great time and really enjoyed staying in a hotel for the holidays.

Our first day in the big city we met my college roomie, Samantha, and her family at Sea World. She has two boys, Tristan who is 3 months older than Clinton, and Parker who is 10 months older than Heidi Sage. (Somehow I only got one picture of Heidi Sage and no pictures of Parker!!)

The two who enjoyed the trip the most were Clinton and Tristan. They hadn't seen each other since they were babies, but they seemed to just pick up where they left off! They had so much fun playing together. Sam and I wished more than ever that we lived closer to each other!

Heidi Sage enjoying herself? She was actually a saint during our 5 hour tour of the park. She loved watching all the people and even took a good nap.

They had one of Clinton's favorite foods--POPCORN! This was a huge hit for our big guy.

The boys playing! They spent a lot of time like this--pushing each other around and wrestling. They really had the best time together.

The daddies with the big boys. (L - Victor with Tristan; R - Rodney with Clinton)

We all loved feeding the dolphins. Clinton was soaked when we got done and smelled like fish for the rest of the day.

We also really enjoyed the Shamu show. I even cried the first time Shamu jumped out of the water. I had never been to Sea World and had always wanted to see this American icon. It was a little more overwhelming than I thought.

We also saw a Sesame Street Live Christmas show that the boys enjoyed, but it still wasn't good enough to keep them in their seats! We spent a lot of time bribing them with Sam's homemade cookies to stay nearby.

Clinton STILL talks about the "skewy shish" (scary fish a.k.a. Shamu) and the "doppins" (dolphins). We hope to go back again soon!

Enjoying life through my kids' excitement,

Snow Weekend

We have been covered in snow and ice and more snow for two days now. While it's beautiful and we've had fun, we're getting a little antsy for some warm southern breezes and a car ride. You know we southerners can't leave home when there's even a forecast mentioning snow.

We keep sending Rodney out to run our errands. Our truck has four wheel drive, so Rodney gets to venture out and face all the crazy people who don't know how to drive on ice but think they can.

The kids and I have enjoyed two days in comfy clothes, watching movies, and eating yummy food ALL day.

Below are some pictures of our snow adventure.

Heidi Sage checking it out from the window. This was as close as she got to the white stuff. It's too cold for my baby girl....she's delicate.

Clinton's club house at the beginning of the storm.

Heidi Sage's friend (and neighbor), Maddie, ventured over for a snow day play date.

HS desperately wanting to play with her brother.

Brother obliging. Sweet boy.

We didn't have sled, so Rodney pulled Clinton around on a boogie board. He didn't know the difference and had a great time...

...although he did get a bit tired/cold and started riding it like this!?!

HAVING FUN!

Clinton loved throwing snow balls!




Fr-fr-fr-eeeeeezing,