Bow Wow

The other night Mario taught Dalen how to bark. I taught him how to say bow wow but now every time I say bow wow he says what a bow wow says. Listen carefully....if he were a dog he would be a quiet little Maltese or something. His bark is really soft.

Chicken heads

This picture was at Chick-Fil-A. Dalen is sooo a daddy's boy. The whole mommy's boy saying is NOT true in our house. I think its probably b-c Dalen is with me everyday by himself from 7:45 a.m.-5 p.m. so he is probably just always wanting Mario so bad by the time he gets home.

These were taken last Sunday. Dalen kept raising up in his sleep and resting his head back.

Trash It

i love this pic! I had to sweet the leaves off of the front sidewalk at work and when i went to make a copy I found Dalen "sweeping". Praise God I have a child who will pick up my slack in the cleaning department.

So last night, I was straightening some things up in Dalen's nursery. Mario always puts Dalen to bed and gives him his breathing treatment but before he did it last night he had to do something. So, I keep doing what I am doing and Dalen is playing with toys. We have hardwood floors and I keep hearing Dalen run to the kitchen and run back to his room laughing. I finally begin to notice he is coming back emptyhanded. Great....I have to go hunt the toys and pick them up. NOT FUN! After looking everywhere I notice Dalen has been throwing his toys away! So not only do I get to find the toys then I get to lysol and sanitize them as well. Fun, fun.

Dalen trying to sweep.

She did it again!

Have you even known someone who is doing EXACTLY what you know they were created for? I mean there is just no doubt in your mind that should ever do anything else? Daisy Moffatt is a photographer Mario and I have been using since I pregnant and now my sister uses her too. This is one shot that she got of Olivia at her recent shoot. The pics are amazing! Check a few others out at daisyphotographer.blogspot.com
Each photo captures so many elements you can't even explain them all. Some capture Olivia's developmental stage, her personality, the time of year and happiness in her heart in one photo. She is an amazing talent! check it out

Starbucks

This weekend was Lee's homecoming and my girlfriends and I decided to meet up at Starbucks to catch up for a little bit. Friday was a yucky day. It was rainy and cold, which makes it super difficult to get a baby out. I arrive at 2:55 at Starbucks just as I am recieving a text saying everyone is going to be late....so typical (I am the only person ever on time, because I am old). So at 3:30 I am still waiting. During this thirty minutes I find out Starbucks doesn't have diaper changers or highchairs and it is the loudest place I have been to. I can't believe people try to say they go there to study....yea right.
I am just not into the coffee craze. I hate the taste of it and I can't imagine paying $3-$4 for a drink that is going to make my breath stink and my teeth yellow. So anyways, Dalen was completely out of control trying to pull coffee off of tables and run wild. There was no way to restrain him. So I got my stuff and left. Then I find out the house of my friends was hit by a car. Yea, thats right a car. Interesting day.
So we got together at my house and caught up. Anyways, my point in this whole blog is....I just can't believe how many public places are not family friendly. It's crazy and it makes me so irritated.

Yibby

It's been a while since I have posted pics of Yibby. We got to spend all afternoon with her on Sunday and here are a few I got. Nothing like an afternoon nap. Her cheeks are massive.

In her church dress and hat.

Close-up of her big smile!

Date With Dad

Thursday nights are "my" nights. My supportive and hands on husband resumes all responsibility for Dalen and himself and I take off to my sister's house for a Bible study. There are 5 women in all. Most Thursdays I don't get home until 12 a.m.. Mario never complains and recently he has started waiting up on me. I LOVE Thursdays!
This last Thursday night I heard Mario talking to Dalen in our kitchen, explaining the AWESOME night he had planned for them. (he took Dalen to a Lee basketball game) It was quite humorous because Dalen was babbling away back to Mario as if he were excitedly responding.
Mario begins looking for something Dalen can wear. Mario's friend had told him earlier it was a "whiteout" game. Who knew there was such a thing? But basically all of the fans are supposed to wear white. So Mario is frantically trying to find a white shirt for Dalen (God forbid him stick out). The only 2 he can find are stained. So, he picks the white shirt with the smallest stain on it...lol. It was so funny. It made me really grateful though that I have a husband who wants to take our son out and spend quality time with him. The more families I get to know, the rarer a hands on dad becomes.

I love my husband.

Silent No More

*Please know I feel I have a duty as a Christian to "Fear God and honor the king."  I am not a supporter of Obama, but I do feel as a Christian and  citizen of this country he deserves my respect.  The following is written as a personal disappointment with heartfelt questions and much thought.  I do not want this post read or dismissed as another ignorant and outlandish bash against our president elect.

Mario and I have been sitting in our living room for months keeping up with the election process.  Boy, has it been a long one!  Our nation has recently made history by electing America's first minority president.  Notice I did not say African-American.  I will not tip toe around the confession that I am so disappointed in reporters who refer to Obama as an African American or black man.  He is NOT black.  He is bi-racial.  It bothers me more that he has not corrected this.

I am by no means trying to bury the history we just made, I am only raising awareness that for some reason the nation is seeing Obama for something he isn't.  Because I am the mother of a bi-racial son, I know the importance of recognizing your roots...both sides of them.  Research shows children conceived in interracial relations typically only battle confusion about their race, when the parents pressure them to choose one race or the other.  Typically, when this happens the child and society correlate the individual with the race of more dominate color.  Seven percent of all marriages are interracial in America.  We are the fastest growing relationship in our country.  Before long, you are not going to be able to ignore this race.

I have been pretty ticked about Obama not correcting this. Today, however, that ticked turned to boiling mad.  Irate.  Infuriated.  Speechless.  As Obama, referred to himself as a mutt while comparing himself to a shelter dog referring to his bi-racial roots my husband and I sat totally silent in our family room staring aimlessly in each others face.  I am still wondering if that really happened.  

This ticks me off to no end because if I were to refer to him as a mutt I would become racist.  It makes me shutter to think the only time he has pretty much referred to his "white" roots was today during his puppy dog spill concerning his daughters.  and it was a negative referral.  To be completely honest this is NOT an Obama slam.  I would be disappointed in anyone who did this.   

Mario wrote a post about this matter a few days ago and you just wouldn't believe the remarks he received (publicly and privately)  I could go on but don't want to disrespect.  It obvious what my point is.

Yibby's Dedication

Mario Dalen in their sweaters...so cute.

Olivia reaching for Dalen.

Dalen reaching back.

Happy (?) Halloween

Well, Halloween came and went. I'm not too sure how "happy" it was but we made it through with a cute costume. I guess that's what matters right? Being the penny pincher I am I decided to wait til the week of Halloween to get Dalen's costume b-c they are marked down. Because we got really sick we ended up waiting til the day of!The 1st costume we picked didn't fit Dalen grrrr! So being the awesome husband Mario is he ventured off at 5:30 p.m. to find a very cute Mickey Mouse costume at Walgreens. He knew it was important to me and he did a great job at picking a cute costume. Dalen and Olivia.

Olivia

Mickey

Enjoying a ride.

So folks, this is me. No make-up for over a week b-c I was too sick to care. Aren't I just gorgeous....ha, ha. That was typed with most sarcastic fingers ever.

The Hood Plague

Oh gosh, what to say?  The last week or so has been horrible.  I came down with what I thought what the flu on Saturday night but it turned into a monstrous stomach something or another (no I'm not pregnant, but if you want people to think you are just say you have the flu with stomach problems on top of it and it will SURE have people thinking you are grrr!)  Sunday was niece Olivia's dedication and I could barely stand through the prayer of blessing (the only day in my life I was wishing I wasn't Pentecostal....boy do we pray a loooong time).  Sunday night our plumbing screwed up and I could barely even stand up (no exaggeration).  We move out to my parents "for the night" and the plumber comes to our house 1st thing the next day.  We needed a new line b-c a trees roots grew through our old line....who knew this could happen??!!  We ended staying at my parents for 2 nights but thankfully they were out of town so they wouldn't get sick.  Mario stays home to help me with Dalen.  Wednesday Mario catches the monster and I am out of work for a whole week!  Mario was out for 4 days!  Who knows how we will be paying bills!?  Kidding, God always provides!  I have pics of the dedication and Halloween and Mario and Dalen cooking pancakes this morning (I wouldn't try this at home with a 1 year old) but I will post later.  I am still a PC gal and I have no clue how to upload pics on a Mac.  Mario had to do the last pic on my last post.  Thankfully, we are all feeling much, much better!!!

Loved This

When I was pregnant I got a subscription to the magazine Cookie (parenting magazine) for free.  I love this magazine!  This month Jada Pinkett Smith and her daughter, Willow, were on the cover.  The Smith's are one of my favorite Hollywood families because they seem so down to earth and normal.  I absolutely LOVED something she said about teaching her kids about manners....

"It's not 'please' and 'thank you' or 'because I told you so,' she explains.  "I tell them, 'Everytime you go out into the world, you are leaving an impression of yourself and this family with other people.  What impression do you want to leave?  Do you really want people thinking you are spoiled rotten?"

I think this is a great way of explaining why manners are important.  Children don't understand what being polite is but they do understand other may think poorly of them if they act certain ways.  I will be using this one!!