Mr. Stan

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Lisa

My husband and I had been married for about nine months when we purchased our condo in July of 2004.  Shortly afterwards we decided to get a cat.  I wanted a baby, hubby wanted to wait a bit….so we got a cat.  I figured if we could keep the cat alive for a year, we were ready to be parents.  🙂

We went to our local Humane Society and found Tristan.  His name was actually Tyson, but with the whole Mike Tyson thing and the fact that Tyson the cat liked to bite to begin with, we figured it wasn’t the best fit.  The name didn’t stick for very long, we started calling him Stanley, and then Stan, and then for some reason Mr. Stan.

We fell in love with him immediately at the Humane Society.  He is a beautiful cat.  We filled out the paperwork and had to come back the next day to pick him up.  When I came back they informed me that he liked to bite and wasn’t recommended for a family with small children.  We didn’t have children at the time, and the cat was so darn cute….I just couldn’t not take him.

Mr. Stan a few months after we adopted him.

Mr. Stan had a couple of really good years.  He was our little baby.  I probably have more pictures of the cat then I have of Cooper (I’m not kidding….I probably have 3 times more pictures of Carter than I have of the cat, but poor Cooper doesn’t have as many).  We even threw Mr. Stan a birthday party when he turned one.  And then in May 2006 Mr. Stan’s world turned upside down….Carter had arrived!

Mr. Stan went from being our little baby to getting his tail pulled in a matter of months.  But he has been a real trooper.  He outgrew his “biting” phase long before Carter came along, and has only bit the boys a handful of times (and let me tell you, they DESERVED it!)

When ever the boys get a little too out of control, decide to chase him, or hug him until his eyes are about to pop out Mr. Stan just climbs to safety….that was until a few weeks ago when Cooper decided he’d like to become a cat.  Poor poor Mr. Stan.

Cooper's attempt at being a cat.

This has become somewhat of a daily occurrence.   Luckily for Mr. Stan, Cooper hasn’t made it to the top…..yet.

At least he’s better off then our three-legged hamster Noey.  🙂  Learn all about Noey and his adventures  tomorrow.

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Noey, Stan The Cat | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Those Damn Leprechauns!

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Lisa

While many people are waking up with hangovers this morning, wondering why they drank so much green beer yesterday, my boys are wondering why they ate so much green food.

I mentioned a couple days ago that Cooper has been having bright green poop off and on for a couple of weeks.  He had it for about 5 days in a row a couple weeks ago, and now it’s been about 3 days in a row this week.  So I wasn’t to surprised when I changed his diaper this morning and it was BRIGHT green.

I wasn’t really expecting a change in Carter’s poop.  But this afternoon after we got home from the zoo he was in the bathroom for quite a long time.  I came in to check on him and he was standing over the toilet with his pants still down staring at his poop.  When he saw me he said, “Mom those darn leprechauns gave me green poop.”  I took a quick peek, and sure enough, those damn leprechauns were up to their tricks again today.

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, I Laughed Until I Peed And Then I Cried, Poop, St. Patrick's Day | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Daddy’s Little Geeks

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Lisa

My hubby was a PC man when I met him, but thanks to a college friend he’s crossed over to the dark side. He’s a Mac Geek all the way! I think we currently have a Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iPhone, iPad, a 23 inch Apple Cinema Display (a BIG ASS MONITOR) and three iPods in our house. And now he’s talking about getting the yet-to-be-released iPhone 5 when it comes out later this year.

I have the only PC in the entire house, my little pretty purple Dell netbook….which I have to say has been acting up quite a bit lately. I probably should have gotten a Mac (don’t tell Tim I said that, ok?)

So since almost every computer and device we own is a Mac, both of my boys are turning into Mac Geeks too. Carter was about 2 when he first pointed out the apple on the back of Tim’s computer. Cooper did this for the first time a couple of weeks ago, but being the big eater that he is, he actually said, “Apple, num num” and then tried to eat it.

Carter will regularly climb up on Tim’s lap at night before bedtime and ask to play Angry Birds, the fishing game, or a number of other preschooler games on his iPhone and iPad. Cooper has even joined in the fun a few times. Carter refers to these games as “choices”. He’s always asking, “Dad, can I play choices on your computer?”

So last night Carter got a big surprise. Tim’s boss decided to purchase an iPad this week (and Tim had him purchase it through the Box Tops for Education’s Marketplace, so we earned money for Carter’s school!!!). In exchange for iPad tips and knowledge, he gave Tim an old iBook that he wanted to get rid of. Tim showed it to Carter last night, and Carter asked “Dad, is that your new computer?” to which Tim replied, “No Carter, this is YOUR new computer.”

I’m surprised that Carter didn’t fall out of his chair! His eyes lit up and the biggest smile came over his face, “MY VERY OWN COMPUTER????” Yes Carter, your very own computer! He was able to play a few games on the computer before bed last night and had a blast.

And right before bedtime Tim used a program to type in a message for Carter. The computer then “spoke” to Carter the message that Tim typed in.

“I had fun playing with you on the computer Carter, now it is time to brush your teeth and go to bed.”

Carter thinking the computer was actually talking to him, ran into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and hopped into bed. If I would have known he’d go to bed that easily when asked to do so by a Mac, I would have had one waiting for him in the nursery at the hospital. 🙂

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Tim | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sneaky Little Leprechauns

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Lisa

Those sneaky little Leprechauns were up to no good at our house today. We woke up to green milk in the fridge this morning, which Carter thought was AWESOME! The little girl that I baby sit from time to time did not. She informed me that she didn’t like green milk and that it tasted funny. But Carter was pretty persistent. He went on and on about how the leprechauns use their magic to make green milk. I may have chimed in about how green milk can turn your hair green. She apparently thought that might be pretty cool, because she finished up her milk pretty quickly at snack time. And what do you know, those leprechauns did turn her hair green, but by the time she made it to the bathroom to look in the mirror it had changed back to blonde. 🙂

Then for lunch those sneaky leprechauns turned the strawberry yogurt and the ranch dip for our carrots green. Can you believe it? And I made some banana bread for later in the day, I put it in the oven and when I took it out it was green.

But by far the most mischievous thing those little leprechauns did today was give Cooper a bad case of Leprechaun pox. I took a picture for all of you who haven’t heard of this highly contagious illness. It’s so contagious that within a couple hours Carter had contracted it as well.

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Cooper with his Leprechaun Pox

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Carter and Cooper proudly showing off their Leprechaun Pox.

Luckily there is a remedy for Leprechaun Pox….a green bath. And just our luck, some sneaky little leprechauns made the bath water green.

Posted in Bath time, Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, St. Patrick's Day | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Poop

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Lisa

Poop, what a lovely topic.  🙂  Now I know that everyone knows that if you have a baby, there will be poop.   But I didn’t know that my children would time their bowel movements so that they would poop about 5 minutes after my husband would leave for work in the morning.  And if they planned on pooping twice in one day it would occur about 5 minutes before he’d return home for the evening.  Babies are pretty smart.  🙂

I’ve also learned throughout the years that there are certain things that come out looking the same way as they did going in.  For instance, Cooper (who will be two in a couple weeks) had olives a couple times this week.  They seriously came out in big old chunks.  I’d post a picture….but no one should have to see that!

And Carter (after eating quite a bit of his green alligator cake on his first birthday) had bright green poop for two entire days.  I’m reminded of this because right now Cooper has been having the same problem, except he hasn’t had anything bright green to eat.   He has this two weeks ago for about 5 days, and then everything turned back to normal.   But just this morning it was bright green again.  It might be time to call the doctor.  🙁

Luckily, I only have a year or so left of changing diapers.  Cooper will be two shortly, and Carter was potty-trained a couple weeks after he turned three.  Now I’ve heard that boys are harder to potty-train then girls.  Potty training Carter was no picnic.  But I think having a big brother around will hopefully help Cooper.  He’s already showing a little interest in using the potty chair.  I even got him to poop in it a few weeks ago (just once, but I’ll take what I can get!)  He’s getting to the stage now where he’ll come up to me with a diaper and say “poop”.  All I have to say about this is that if you are old enough to know you pooped, can bring me a diaper, and can tell me in your toddler talk that you need to be changed, you can use the damn toilet.  🙂

 

 

Posted in Carter aka Buddy Alligator, Cooper AKA Chunky Monkey, Parenting challenges, Poop | Tagged , , | Leave a comment