Big Boys Wear Undies at Bedtime

Landon has been potty trained for about a year and a half (since he was a few months over 2 years old) but we've had to keep pull-ups on him at night. He used to get a sippy cup of milk and a sippy cup of water at bedtime (he could keep the water in his bed all night to drink when he woke up thirsty). Then we slowly decreased the milk we gave him to about 5 swallows and only gave him a small sippy cup of water. Then we went to no milk and a small amount of water (but he quickly learned that he could drink it all, get a little more from Daddy, drink that, and then get a little more from me later). There was also a period in there where we actually switched to undies...but I quickly wore out from waking up with him in the middle of the night, cleaning him up, changing him, changing sheets, and washing sheets almost every day...all at about 8 months pregnant. So we went back to pull-ups. He would have periods where he'd wake up dry every morning, then periods where he'd wake up soaking wet. He seems to sleep so heavy that he can't rouse himself to go to the bathroom at night. The poor kid stays so thirsty (like his Daddy)...and I can't stand anything more than waking up thirsty! Approaching his 4th birthday, I really want to get the pull-ups off of him so a few days ago we made a rule: Nothing to drink after supper. It's been a rough few nights as he whines and cries for water but we are holding strong. Poor thing said me tonight "Mommy just a little bit...just a tiny bit...please...my mouth is soooo dry". He has woken up dry each night since we've started. We're going to do this one more week and then hopefully switch over to undies. Wish us luck!

One Smooth Mom

I was sitting at my desk at work today typing away on the computer. While typing, I noticed something embedded in the cuticle of one of my nails. Yep, baby poo from the morning's stinky diaper change...like, 3 hours prior to noticing. I did a quick check to make sure I didn't have it anywhere else and walked to the nearest sink to scrub down.

Ears Are In The Clear

I had a very emotional morning yesterday at Landon's ENT appointment. Most of you are probably thinking "Seriously Katherine?", my Daddy would say "Get a grip Katherine Ann", and Christopher is chuckling while reading this. For those of you on the front end of the ear tube saga, you're probably living for this day. It is here for me now...and it is very bittersweet.

We suffered 9 straight months of ear infections, antibiotics, and a bloody raw hiney from 4 months - 13 months. We carried him into the ENT's office for the first time because he couldn't walk. We watched our baby get sedated and taken away for surgery in a tiny hospital gown. We held him tightly as he screamed coming out of anesthesia. We watched him take his first steps as he gained balance from not having fluid in his ears. I (not we) cleaned lots of goop out of his ears through the many infections afterwards. We administered countless drops of antibiotic ear drops. We have visited our ENT at least every 6 months for a check-up, if not more often (all the way out in North Raleigh). As his ENT said to me yesterday, they've come a long way. Our ENT has watched Landon grow from a baby to a little boy. He improved Landon's (and our) quality of life.

So when his ENT said to me yesterday "we're all done here", I was in shock. I think my response was "Like as in we don't have to come back...ever?" Landon's ears look great. Both tubes are out, healed and fluid-free. He does have some granulation tissue in one ear that steroid drops will take care of (this can continue to get infected). He has graduated! He got 4, not 1, stickers since he is an ENT graduate (and they even pulled special Spiderman ones out of the secret stash because those are the ones he wanted and they didn't have them out with the rest)! As he gave his doctor a big hug and told him thank you for fixing his ears, I had tears in my eyes.

Yes, I'm a emotional wreck. And yes Christopher, I am going to say this again...my baby has grown up so fast right before my eyes. Our ENT helped Landon in ways I could never thank him enough for. Thank you Dr. Dorfman!!! YOU ROCK!!!

It Ain't Easy Seeing Green...

Hi. My name is Carter. And I suffer from botanophobia.

Botanophobia: the fear of plants

When we were installing our hardwoods, we moved several plants from the living room into the kitchen. My mother-in-law was holding Carter and looking out of the back door (right next to one of our plants), he started freaking out. When she backed away from the plant, he calmed down. Now anytime we walk him over to a plant, he starts pulling away and shaking, then cries if we don't move away! He seems okay outside! So I don't know if it's a fear of this one particular plant, a fear of inside plants, or a fear of all plants and I just hadn't taken him up to a plant close enough outside! Does this fear also include trees???

When looking at a posted phobia list, I was amazed at some of the phobias out there. Here are a few of my favorites...

Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions
Anglophobia- Fear of England or English culture, etc.
Auroraphobia- Fear of Northern lights
Cacophobia- Fear of ugliness
Consecotaleophobia- Fear of chopsticks
Defecaloesiophobia- Fear of painful bowels movements
Ephebiphobia- Fear of teenagers
Genuphobia- Fear of knees
Hellenologophobia- Fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words (just being diagnosed with this will scare them!)
Leukophobia- Fear of the color white
Novercaphobia- Fear of your step-mother (Rhina, I don't have this!)
Peladophobia- Fear of bald people
Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat

And if these are all defined, that has to mean that there is someone out there with these phobias, right?

Cutie Patooties

Every time I pull out one of Landon's outfits to put on Carter, I think back to when Landon was a little one. *sigh* I had dressed Carter in this super cute outfit with matching hat, and had to go back and find the pictures of Landon in it!

Carter Miles at 8 Months (March 2010)







Landon Cole at 8 Months (January 2007)

Olive You Olive Grae!

My sweet little niece, Olive Grae Wright, made her way into the world on Thursday, March 18th at 1:52 pm. She was 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She has beautiful, full lips that women pay big money for and cute, tiny ears (she must have gotten those from her Uncle Christopher). Congrats Beth & Mike!!!

Day 1 (Thursday, 3/18)



Day 3 (Saturday, 3/20)

How Did You Get So Big So Fast???

Carter's First Toofer

My baby boy woke up this morning with his first tooth peeking through!!! My baby is growing up...

sniff, sniff

My Big Brother Hung The Moon

Carter thinks Landon is the best thing since sliced cheese (that was a great invention, wasn't it?). He laughs at the most normal, everyday things if it's Landon doing it...like in this video, he finds Landon driving a fire truck around in circles to be funny. Landon is going to have a little brother that looks up to him for a long, long time to come.

Shake It Baby!

Belly Laughs

I think everyone should try to laugh this hard at least once per day!

Home Improvement Project

This past weekend we installed hardwood flooring in our living room with the help of the fam. Grandma & Grandpa came down from VA, and Uncle Mike brought his handy-man skills (plug for Mike: if you have a honey-do list that needs completing, he can do it...help him feed his new baby!!!).

We didn't start the day off too well. First, Christopher & Grayson drove over to the Cary Home Depot to rent the nail gun to realize that they don't rent them at that one (wasted trip # 1). Then everyone drove over to Raleigh for Christopher & Mike's flag football game to find that it was cancelled due to a wet field (wasted trip # 2).

Then there was the finger incident...

Grandpa & Landon were pulling staples up out of the floor with pliers. Landon started to walk over to me with pliers in hand, tripped over the vacuum cleaner cord, and fell flat. Nancy and I both saw his wrist fold under and thought for sure his wrist was broken. He started wailing. Grandpa helped him up and was telling him to "shake it off" (our famous line for Landon to try to help him become a manly man). I knew by the look on his face as he ran over to me that there was no shaking this off. I picked him up, asked him to show me where it hurts, and immediately ran over to the sink once I saw the blood pouring off of his hand. The blood really freaked him out so I kept a towel on it for a little while, mainly to apply pressure to slow/stop the bleeding but also to hide the blood from him. It looks like his finger got pinched/cut in the pliers when he fell. The skin at his fingertip is cut and peeled back, there's a huge blood blister/bruise at the first joint and the nail is a little raised. The bleeding finally stopped so I decided brightly colored & Handy Manny band-aids, Tylenol and Mommy's kisses could do the trick.

Landon was a big helper...even with a banged up finger!





Grandma helped keep Carter entertained by playing patty-cake.



Before putting down the floor, we drew with chalk on the liner underneath the floor. If anyone ever takes up the floor, they'll find a TV (we had to watch something while we were eating lunch), 2010 gas price, and a chalk outline of Landon and Uncle Mike. As you can probably tell, Landon drew Uncle Mike's outline...he doesn't really have a shrunken head and elephantiasis of the hand!







Carter was the foreman supervising the job and keeping everyone in line.







After a long 8-hour day, the guys had 3/4 of the room done. We all slept pretty good that night!



Here's the before and after...

I Proudly Wear Orange On St. Patrick's Day!

Some of you may know that I do not believe in wearing green on St. Patrick's Day, instead I wear orange. Orange, you ask? Well, I'm a leader, not a follower. I don't do something just because everyone else does it. I ask questions. So naturally, I asked "why do we wear green on St. Patty's Day"? After some research, I found out that it basically green = Catholic and orange = Protestant, and made my decision to stand out from the sea of green and show my Protestant pride.

I just beam when someone asks where my green is...it gives me an opportunity to get on my soap box!

I didn't have anything orange to wear today that was appropriate for work so I am wearing black (but I do have on orange undies!!!). And I am proud to say that I have converted Christopher...he put on orange this morning without thinking twice (it's just coincidence that the Hokies are playing today).

Below is an article that explains the history behind it perfectly.

*On a side note, I do dress my boys in green at this time. Kids can be cruel and desperately want to fit in. So in the spirit of saving them from pinches, I dressed them in some green...coupled with orange (of course). When they are old enough, I will have this talk with them and let them decide for themself which color to sport on March 17th.


An Orange St. Patrick's Day?

This St. Patrick’s Day you’re likely to take part in that time honored tradition of wearing green. If not, you risk punishment-by-pinch, an especially popular custom on schoolyards and around office water coolers. Thus, wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day is not only widely practiced, it’s virtually required. It’s hard to imagine the holiday without green.

But for a growing number of people, taking part in the fun means wearing orange. According to this increasingly popular tradition, Protestants wear orange, and the green clothing attire is left to Catholics. Thus, the color you wear is actually dependent on your religious denomination. Admittedly, this color tradition is not well known, but it has deep roots in Irish history.

Protestant Irish have been known as “orange” ever since 1690 when William of Orange (William III), the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, defeated King James II, a Roman Catholic, in the Battle of the Boyne near Dublin. William’s victory would ensure Protestant military dominance on the island and has been a source of tension ever since. Although the “Orange” in William’s name actually referred to a province in southern France, the color reference stuck. This is why orange now appears in the Irish flag – to symbolize the Protestant minority in Ireland.

Thus, “Orange Protestants” have been around for quite a while, but wearing the color on St. Patrick’s is a relatively new phenomenon. The first group to take part in the tradition appears to have been the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organization more commonly known as the Orange Order. Some members of the order wore orange in various parades on St. Patrick’s Day as a mark of defiance.

Ironically, St. Patrick himself would have been surprised by all of the fuss. Patrick wasn’t even Irish; he came to Celtic Ireland as a British missionary. But more importantly, Patrick did most of his work in the 5th century at a time when Christians were simply Christians, long before any division between Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Therefore St. Patrick belongs to the whole church, not just Rome, and people of all colors and creeds should take part in the festivities. Yet for some Protestants, part of that fun involves wearing orange. So before the green-wearing Irish among you get into a pinching craze, think twice. Some of us wear orange for a reason.

The Plane! The Plane!

We've had such nice weather lately in NC and have been trying to get outside as much as possible. We took the boys to RDU airport - they have a cool observation deck where you can watch planes take off and land. I think they both enjoyed the planes.









There was also a park area. Landon had a blast pretending to be a plane on the runway and playing in the sand. *note the kid sleeping in the sand in the background*





Not so sure Carter was having as much fun...



Mommy & her boys

Thank You For All Of This

As I watch Landon and Carter interact and eagerly await the days when their interactions become more & more, many feelings and thoughts flood over me...excitement, warmth, happiness, contentment, wholeness, satisfaction, thankfulness, bliss, gratefulness, perfection. I am blessed beyond belief. I love these boys, their Daddy and my life.

Every day I ask God what I did to deserve this life? How did I get so lucky?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For it all.

Do They Get Any Cuter Than This?

I know I am biased...but I really think I have 2 of the most beautiful children out there. Seriously, look at these faces!!!

Kicking MS' Boo-tay!

This will be the Bagley Bunch's 3rd year participating in Walk MS. This year, we will be walking the 3 mile route on April 24th. We have such a great time, and it is really touching to see thousands gathered together for the same cause...fighting MS!

This is a very personal thing for me. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with MS in 2006. By participating in Walk MS, I feel like I am helping in some small way to make the quality of her life a little better. She is the grandmother to my children. I think back to how special my grandmothers were to me...and I want my boys to have those same memories.

Last year, I personally raised $795 and our team of 9 raised $2,824.68! Because this cause is so important to me, I am asking for your support toward my fundraising efforts by making a tax-deductible donation. If you only have a dollar to give, I will gladly take it! Those dollars quickly add up.

You can donate in 3 ways:

(1) Donate on-line: simply click on the MS link to the right, choose me and click "Donate to Katherine"

(2) You can give/mail a check (made payable to the National MS Society) to me

(3) Or give cash (please don't mail cash)

I appreciate your support!!!

Want Some Milk With That?

This was on the news this morning:

Woman Charged in Breast Milk Assault on Jailer

OWENSBORO, Ky. — A woman in jail for public intoxication was accused of assaulting a jailer by squirting breast milk at her. WYMT-TV reported that a 31-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. But as she was changing into an inmate uniform, she squirted breast milk into the face of a female deputy who was with her.

The woman now faces a felony charge of third degree assault on a police officer. Her bond was set at $10,000.

As a breastfeeding mother, I find this really funny...

How do these people even get a driver's license?

I witnessed a major funny this morning and wanted to share a laugh.

I was behind a car pulling up to a red stoplight. After we come to a stop, a little 10 year old girl hops out of the passenger side, runs to the sidewalk & hits the crosswalk button. < I'm thinking, seriously? Who is that impatient that they make their kid hit the crosswalk button? > As she is running back to the car, the light turns green and her mom barely lets her get her legs in before she pulls off.

*the best part of the story*

Then the car turned right. As in, a light that allows you to turn right!

I chuckled about that one for a few hours this morning.

Mama's Boy

Okay, I need to know...is this normal or am I setting Landon up to be a weirdo?

Here's our conversation in the car this morning:

L: Mommy, when am I going to be a grown-up like you?

K: Oh Landon, you have a long time before you are a grown-up. Enjoy being a kid.

L: But Mommy, I don't want to be a kid anymore. I want to be big like you.

K: Well, I want you to stay small forever. To be my little baby boy forever. You know, when you are a big, you won't live with your mommy anymore.

L: Why not?

K: Well because you'll get your own house, get married to a pretty girl, and have cute little kids of your own.

L: No, I don't want to not live with you. I want to live with you forever. Because I love you and you're so sweet and you're my girlfriend.

Again, I come to my question...is this normal or am I raising a weirdo?!?!?!?!

Snuggle Bug

Carter loves to suck his thumb & hold on to a blankie at the same time. If a blankie is not available, he will snuggle anything up next to his little nose. Some things he's been caught snuggling with: socks (he is known as the sock stealer at daycare....he takes his own off and also other kids' if they are nearby), PJs & clothes (clean & dirty), diapers (clean & unfortunately dirty), wipes, Daddy's leather belt, his own sleeve, a baby food container lid, toys (snuggly & not-so-snuggly ones), sheets, comforter, raincoat, laundry that I'm folding, my hair, plastic bag (yeah, this was during his Daddy's watch), & our dog Hokie. My sweet little snuggle bug!

More Landon Funnies

Landon likes to use big words these days like "absolutely", "otherwise", "actually", & "hilarious"...and he uses them correctly.

Before he washes his hands, he says "Mommy, please check the water to make sure it's the right temperature".

He has also been saying to me lately "you're the best Mommy in the whole world", "you are such a sweet girl", & "even when you are bad, I still love you Mommy"!

That boy is a trip!!!