Ode to the First Born

In light of my last post, I wrote an ode.  If you aren't an English nerd, you probably don't know what an ode is, but I can clarify for you.  An ode is a lyrical poem with complex stanza forms.  As I'm sure you all know, "Melissa" and "Complex" don't usually show up in the same sentence.  I'm not so sure about the complexity of my ode, but I had fun writing it anyway.

You poor, poor being

How you were thrown

Into the arms of the unknown

Her first born, your mother was seeing

So small, so wet, so precious

Not knowing what to do

Everything was so new

She took you in her arms with a promise

No harm will succumb to her first little son

No dirt will he know

Not even on his toe

I won't take a chance with one toxin

True to her word

Much to your chagrin

Again and again

She washed and she wiped Northward and Southward

The Third Baby Blues

Things are quite different for the third baby in a family.  Let me show you just one scenario:

Baby is toddling around outside and decides to put some dirt into his mouth.

Parents' reaction:

Baby #1: "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Gross! Gross! Shooey, Shooey. Don"t do that! Let's take him inside. We have to clean him up immediately. Do you think he actually swallowed some? Should we call the doctor?" The parents will worry off and on the rest of the day and torture themselves with what foul, unseen items could have been in the dirt.

Baby #3: "HaHaHa. Look honey! He's eating dirt! Get the Camera!"

EXHIBIT A

Kohen's 1st

The "new baby" is no longer new, but he'll always be the baby. Kohen turned 1 on October 22 and we celebrated his birthday with a Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. This is one of my favorite children's books and I had a ton of fun decorating. It's too bad Kohen won't remember any of it! We have a ton of pictures so I'm going to share quite a few with you all.

November, where did you go???

Well, the month of November snuck by me. Here it is December 8th and I still haven't written a post about Kohen's 1st birthday, my own birthday or Thanksgiving.  What a Looser I am!  I'll get right on it peeps, fans, family members and friends. Please forgive me...both of you....

Meanwhile, here is a cute little video I took on my phone about 6 months ago. It's not very clear, but you can still hear Kohen cracking up.

Laundry: The bane of my existence

The laundry situation at the Pettis house is a little out of control. 

Please.

Send. 

Help.

Now.

Homeschool Field Trip

Every year Shawn and I try to catch Tehachapi's apple season. Last year they only sold apples for two weeks and we missed it. This year they have an abundance of apples and have been selling apples for about two months. 

If you only buy apples in the grocery store, you are missing out. We were told by the apple growers that the apples in the grocery store are actually last year's apples and have been kept refrigerated since they were picked. Obviously the fresh ones are way better.

As we were driving around, we stumbled upon a pumpkin patch (happy, happy, joy, joy). Have I told you that I love pumpkins? Well, I do. I have a fetish about pumpkins, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. 

Kohen wanted to get down and walk so we were happy to oblige him. We soon got distracted with helping the boys pick out their pumpkins. Kohen wasn't impressed with the pretty, orange pumpkins at all. He decided to have a sit and check out the dirt. 

It looked interesting...... It felt interesting....

Let's see if it tastes interesting.

Not so much.

Tip of the day: Emergency Adhesive

Pretend you are having a bad day and find yourself in a MacGyverish position.

Let's say you're locked in a building with a bomb that's about to explode or stranded in a deep crevice facing a deadly avalanche.

Possibly, you're trapped in a 3 bedroom house, with three boys, sleep deprived and out of coffee..... wait, that's my reality.

We're supposed to be pretending, remember?

Anyway, you're in a sticky situation, whatever it may be and you need some type of adhesive. You have no tape and no glue of any kind.

What do you use?

Rice Krispies.

I have discovered that Rice Krispies + milk = super glue.

It's true.

Try it.

Or better yet, give your kids Rice Krispies for breakfast and don't clean up after them for about 30 minutes or so.