For my brother who poops in da wash

Don't you just love inside jokes? Without explaining the pooping-in-da-wash part, for those of you who don't already know the background, I am referring to my brother Brett. Every time I see Brett I can expect to hear, (picture the following asked in a bratty tone),"When are you going to update your blog?" So, Brett, here is a new post. Now get off my tail, you'll make it dirty.

How about a PICTURE LOADED POST!? (yay!) The pics are not in any real order...blogger likes to make that a difficult task, and I don't feel like fighting it.

ENJOY!

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We recently enjoyed Freddy Hill Farm's Fall Fest with Me-Mom and Pop-Pop

Killian "driving" the tractor

He loved the pumpkins

Killian and Pop-Pop by the barn

Wrapped up nice and snug against Mama in the Moby wrap

We both love it

What I wake up next to during morning snuggle time

Yawning

S t r e t c h i n g

Floor time

What Finn looks like if he has to wait a minute for food

Pucker up!

ROAR!

Killian being "soft soft sweet"

At this rate, Finn will be holding Killian by Christmas

Killian trying to taste Finn?

Killian likes to mimic the funny faces he sees on Yo Gabba Gabba

Finn smiles! (much sooner than Killian did, I would like to note)

Intense staring contest

Cuddling on Daddy (after winning the contest)

Baby fingers

Baby feet! (Tim - Do you still want to snap off one of those toes for a nibble? I do!)

Baby Cheeks!

Chillin' in the sun

Killian had a nasty mosquito bite that swelled like crazy and make him look like a Star Trek character for a few days

I love this geuine smile (please ignore the dirty face)

Finn in any seated position + Gravity = this face

Nice and calm in the Moby

Finn's first bath! (Thanks, Gangy)

After the bath
Finn's first time meeting Super-Nana

Hanging out in the Carlins' yard

That's all for now, folks!

A Lazy (but good) Post

If you have not seen "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" yet, go to Hulu.com right now and watch it! (Or wait until you have about 45 minutes to spare...) But for now, watch this clip on YouTube of my favorite song: "On the Rise". (I apologize that I don't know how to embed videos yet...I think it involves having a YouTube membership, which I have not yet done.)

Click Here!

It's sooo pretty, right?? I hope you like it, because it's probably going to be in your head for a bit!

If that one didn't tickle your fancy try this one: "A Man's Gotta Do.."
(Make sure you listen all the way till the end of the song to catch Killian's favorite one-word line in the whole video...)

Click This One - I Dare You!

Introducing...

Want to Be a Winner?

There is a chance that I will be induced tomorrow, August 22nd. That could mean that the baby would arrive on the 22nd or the 23rd, depending on how everything goes. Of course there's a chance that I will be sent home without an induction, but we're trying to think positively :)

So now it's time to make your guesses! Just leave a comment with your answers numbered 1-7 to go along with the questions below. Whoever gets the most answers correct will get a prize. (The prize is yet-to-be-determined, but will be very desirable. Everyone will envy you.)

1) When will Carlin boy #2 arrive? (the date)
2) What time will he arrive? (exact time, including am/pm)
3) What will his first name be?
4) What will his middle name be?
5) How much will he weigh?
6) How long will he be? (from head to feet)
7) Will he have visible hair on his head?

We will keep you posted with pictures and information as soon as we can, but you must get your answers in beforehand!! SO HURRY UP THE CAKES!

Killian's 2nd Birthday

Killian turned 2 on July 17th. I can't believe that he has been in our lives for 2 whole years, but I am very grateful for him. He has certainly made life more interesting! We spend literally hours every day just watching him and marvelling at each new thing he does and says. I know all parents think they have the smartest/cutest kid in the world - but we really do! He drives me crazy - especially now that the terrible 2's have officially started (and how!) - but it's worth it for all the joy he brings to my life on a daily basis. I know I'm being one of "those" moms who goes on and on raving about her kid, but I don't often do this on my blog - so deal with it (or double stuff yourself).

As we're gearing up for baby boy #2, we've been watching old videos of Killian and looking at pictures of him from his infant days. It kind of makes me nervous for the new baby, for a couple of very different reasons. First, I'm nervous because I remember how scary it was bringing home a new baby and having NO clue about what to do with it. I'm nervous about the lack of sleep. I'm nervous about my abilities as a mom with 2 little boys. The second category to my nervousness is that I fear the next baby won't be as cool as Killian. I have posed the question to Jay and our families - "What if the next one is a dud??" Seriously, what if he's spacey? What if he waits until after he's 9 months-old to walk? What if he doesn't talk/cuss until he's 2? Or, god forbid, what if he's ugly? (I know that makes me sound like a terrible person, but again, I invite you to double stuff yourself.)

But I'm not only nervous - I am very excited for this next chapter in our lives. Killian is a very cool kid, and if the next one is half as cool as him, we'll have no problems. I have to say that this past year of Killian's life has felt more rewarding, for lack of a better word. It's so nice to talk to him and have him respond. It's nice to get a "thank you" every now and then, and super nice to hear, "I yuv you, mama!" And his new thing this week - he'll come up to me wherever I am and ask, "What doin'? What doin', Mama?"

This next year of his life is going to be a crazy one, I'm sure. Terrible 2's. Adjusting to a baby brother. Potty-training. Getting kicked out of our bed. Getting the teeth that he is still missing. It will surely be trying on my nerves, but I am positive that I love him enough to get through the tough stuff! (If not, he can tell me to double stuff myself.)

And now a buttload of pictures from his birthday for you all to enjoy!

In his Superman pj's. Be prepared to see a lot of this face in his pics!

A rare picture of a genuine smile, rather than his cheesy picture smile.

He requested a hamburger for his birthday dinner. We were surprised because we never saw him eat a hamburger, but we thought he should have what he wanted for his birthday. It took a ton of french fries and 20 minutes of me telling him that hamburgers taste like meatloaf for him to eat half of the burger. (Which is kind of funny because it takes my mom 20 minutes of telling Brett that meatloaf tastes like hamburgers to get him to eat it!)

One of Killian's gifts: temporary tattoos! He gets really excited at the idea of wearing them, then freaks out as if I'm pouring acid on his arm while applying them, and then shows the end result to every person he sees.

Unwrapping what looks like a ghost of some sort? I don't know what the camera was doing there.

His favorite gift from us - a set of Fisher Price Little People with an amusement park - a gift that cost me only $5 at Salvation Army and came with tons of toys. SCORE! (I wish birthdays would always be this easy.)

(He hasn't gotten over the excitement of these toys yet!)

I love this picture of Killian with Jay.

The star birthday cake I made for Killian.

Killian had a very hard time blowing out the candles. He kept making an "f" sound, so there was more saliva escaping his mouth than air. At one point Jay said, "Get it!" and Killian translated that to mean that he should grab the flames. Luckily Jay has cat-like reflexes and there was no burn incident. In this picture it looks like Killian's about to bite the flame.

Jay went to get a knife to cut the cake, and Killian almost didn't wait for him to get back before eating!

SURPRISE!! It's a rainbow cake inside!!

(That cake took me over an hour to make...you WILL look at more pictures of it befor I move on to the next topic.)

Success! Killian loved the cake!

After eating his cake, getting cleaned up and playing with his Little People for a while longer, Killian literally passed out on the floor behind me.

The tuckered-out 2 year-old.

And now the next day, when we had his birthday bash with our families:

His lips are fluorescent orange from the 2 sippy cups of orange soda that he ingested. I can't describe the effect of the soda - maybe similar to crack? He was NUTS on orange soda. Every time he was asked a question he shrieked the response. Why did I allow him to have 2 sippy cups of orange soda? It was his GD birthday, back off! (Oh, and the present that he is so excited about in this picture is a keyboard & microphone from my parents. He LOVES putting the microphone into his mouth and making loud sounds - never actual words.)

This juicy caterpillar decided to make an appearance at the party. He was kind of a big deal. Luckily, no one ate or harmed the critter.

An unexpected reaction to receiving cash as a gift.

What happened when I tried to take the cash away from him to move onto the next gift.

Eating a slice of his 2nd birthday cake.

He had a very full and happy day. Unlike the night before, he stayed up much later than we anticipated. I blame the orange soda/crack.

And this one has nothing to do with his birthday, but I just thought it was cute. I love you, 2 year-old!

My "Jean" Post

I love reading Tim and Jean's blog because they're always doing fun things that usually involve eating yummy food, and then they blog about it. I don't feel like we have as many opportunities for fairs and events like the ones they attend, but I probably just don't seek them out enough.

For example, I wouldn't have known about the Greek Festival at Saint Sophia's in May if Jay's mom had not brought it to our attention. Jay and I had our wedding reception at Saint Sophia's in June of 2006, so we love any opportunity to go back to that location. This was our second time attending their Greek festival. Rose had offered to watch Killian that night, which is an offer we never refuse! We felt kind of bad once we got to the fair, though, because we knew he would have loved being there. There were tons of rides, bright lights, lots of food, and live music. We made ourselves feel less guilty by promising to bring him (and the new baby) to St. Sophia's next big event in September.

The two of us enjoyed walking around the grounds of the Greek Orthodox church where, 3 years earlier, we had been introduced as husband & wife, where we had our "first dance", and so on. The main hall where our reception was held looks very different during their Greek festivals, but both events required about the same amount of chairs and tables to accommodate their/our guests!

We didn't waste much time before we started eating yummy Greek food - we knew exactly which foods to get from our past festival experience. Next we walked around and looked at the rides (with absolutely NO intention of riding any!) and we watched Killian-sized kids have tons of fun (which, of course, added to our guilt). We ended the evening with soft-serve ice cream cones and the long walk back to our car.

It was a lovely evening, and I made sure to take pictures of everything so that I could create a "Jean" post :)


When I was little, during a family vacation in Wildwood, I fell in love with the idea of winning one of these life-sized stuffed tigers. I had visions of myself sitting on it and pretty much treating it like my best friend. Sadly, these visions never came to pass. This was my first time seeing the head-only version of my childhood dream...which just seems like a creepy idea. What kid wants to have a tiger head mounted to his/her bedroom wall? Not this kid!

(Self-explanatory picture...the kind of ride that makes you want to vomit just watching it)

This attraction brought flashbacks from a June Fete that I attended when I was very young. I am positive that Tim and I went on this during our Indiana Jones obsession period (him more so than me, but I loved me some Indiana!)

(Notice that the attraction only says "Raiders" and nothing about Indiana Jones specifically)

Probably what I was most anticipating from the Greek festival: Rice Pudding!!

Super yummy and filling Gyros! (This was the second time I ever had one - but certainly not the last!)

Perhaps not Greek, but certainly delicious french fries! (Which amazed me because they were made in this little temporary tent set-up, not a place where I would expect to find exceptional fries!)

And finally, a shot of St. Sophia's at dusk. (It's nicer-looking without all the tents out front, but you get the idea.)

The Trader Joes Incident

I love big-beaded necklaces. I own about a million and a half of them. But each one is different and goes with different outfits, so they are each important to me.

On this specific occasion, a Saturday morning, I chose to wear a brand new red/orange various-size beaded necklace. Killian and I made our first errand stop of the day at Trader Joes. He was sitting in the front of the shopping cart. I was pushing said shopping cart. After exploring every aisle and successfully picking up everything on my list, we ventured back to the produce section to pick up my current favorite food - seedless watermelon. As I was staring at the mound of delicious melons, picturing how juicy they were inside, Killian took ahold of my necklace. I wasn't alarmed by this; he was in a great mood and wasn't pulling hard. I knew he had no mal intentions. A split second later, I felt the string snap, and everything went into slow-motion. I watched what seemed like hundreds of beads fall to the hard cement floor. Each bead bounced in a diferent direction. Some went under the chip aisle shelving, some under the produce bins. Many headed for people's shopping carts. I had visions of people slipping on my beads and falling all over Trader Joes. While that image now makes me laugh, at the time it was very stressful. Everyone was looking at the source of the scattered beads: me. I turned red, as I so easily do, and frantically began grabbing every bead I could find. I also tried to warn all people entering "THE BEAD ZONE" in an attempt to keep my visions from coming to pass. A couple of lovely bystanders handed me small handfuls of beads that they had recovered. I shoved each one into my tiny change purse and scanned the floor for more. I forgot to mention that some of the beads were the exact shape, size and color as cherry tomatoes - so I ended up grabbing a few squishy fugitive tomatoes that had found a hideout under the produce bins.

All of this took place in less than 1 minute. When I realized that I had gotten ahold of all the beads that I possibly could, and knew I had to leave the rest for dead, I snapped my bulging coin purse closed, took a deep breath, and looked to Killian. I gave him a flustered smile hoping that he would "get" me. I also thought that he might be feeling kind of bad for having a) broken my adored necklace, and b) causing such a stir.

Instead, he looked at me and said, with a very sincere face, "That's too bad!" ("Bad" was pronounced "bayyadd".) I have NO idea where he picked up this phrase or how he knew when to use it, but it certainly took me by surprise! Not "oops" or "sorry". An almost sarcasticcally-toned and unapologetic way of avoiding any responsibility for the incident.