We're back on the radar.

It recently occurred to me that I have yet to update my two readers (my mom and mother in law) on what exactly we have been up to for say, the past 7-8 months. I'm saddened by my lack of blogging but I can't apologize for it. Old Man Grif and Clark the Dark Shark take up 103% of my day and I love it. But one day I'm going to learn how to put them down for naps at the same time so I can have a small chunk of the day to myself to collect my thoughts and form sentences, but until that happens, I'm going to bury my head in shame at even the thought of this blog. It used to be so pretty. But here are a few things to catch you up just in case you are interested.

In February, we bought a house in Madison. It's perfect for us. Even though we have lived in it for approximately four months, it is still (and probably will always be) referred to by Clark as "the new house." The transition was seamless and the move itself was a dadgum walk in the park and the only reason is because we hired a moving company. I hardly lifted a finger throughout the entire process. Call me lazy. Or call me smart. I don't care. We chose to move on the coldest and rainiest day of the year and I would have bellyached the entire day had we moved ourselves. It certainly would have put our marriage to the test. Griffin was about 10 weeks old at the time so I had better things to do than wrap a thousand wine glasses in newspaper. The little man snoozed his way through it all and Clark is completely smitten with the new house.

Let's talk about Aaron. Arnie still loves talking about the constitution. Last night we talked about it for almost an hour. Jealous? I didn't think so. The good news is that he doesn't carry his pocket sized constitution in his pocket anymore. I'm guessing it's because he probably has a constitution app on his iPhone. And just in case you didn't think he could get any nerdier, let me tell you this. He gets up at 5:45 and runs every morning before work. What a loser. He and Clark are having a grand old time together these day. Clark wants to be JUST like him in everything he does. He wants to brush his hair like his daddy, be strong like his daddy, etc. And Aaron has recently taken roughhousing with Clark to the highest extreme possible. As in, I would be mortified if any member of the public ever saw the way they wrestle and hit all over each other. But it works for them. No bones have been broken, yet. One of Clark's favorite things to do is call Aaron while he is at work. I'll put Aaron on speakerphone and give Clark the phone and let them have a nice little conversation in which Clark tells Aaron all about how he pooped in the potty. More on that later. Get ready for a long paragraph about Clark's potty training victories.

Several weeks ago Arnie and I dumped our two children off with Aaron's folks in Hattiesburg and spent a weekend in New Orleans. I don't know how many times I looked at Aaron and said these exact words: I'm having so much fun. Sounds cheesy and stupid, but it was the simple truth. That was one of the best weekends we have had in years. We ate delicious food that I didn't have to cook, walked around holding hands, went dancing like the good old days, met up with some wonderful friends, did a little bit of shopping, and we talked and talked and talked and not just about Clark and Griffin. It was wonderfully refreshing and a good reminder of how important it is have some Arnie and Kelly time together. I don't want to go overboard or anything, but I'm thinking I may have to plan Arnie and Kelly weekends at least four times a month.

Now it is time to talk about Clark. There is no way I can sum his little life up in just a couple of paragraphs, so I'll just hit the big points for now. He is two years and five months old now. We finally hooked him up with a big boy bed. Really all we did was take the front rail off of his crib and call it a big boy bed but he loves it. We implemented a strict "no get out" rule for his big boy bed that entails...wait for it..him not getting out of his big boy bed. The reason is because I do not want him wandering the house should he wake up at 3:00 in the morning.  Also because if there was no discipline in this particular situation, I strongly believe Clark would stay up for an extra nine hours playing in his room after we put him to bed. So, he totally understands the "no get out" rule and we recite it about 10 times every night to make sure. If he does get out, he knows he'll get a spanking. Let me just tell you...he has never once gotten out of his bed after we put him down, except for that one time he fell out of it but didn't even wake up.

There are a lot of really cute things he is doing these days that make me so smile so big. One of them is when he confuses "I" and "my". He'll say, "My fixed it!" or "My really tired." It's just one of those toddler things that is unique to him and I love that he's actually trying to form real sentences. He's really getting very proficient in his communication level and he's very receptive when it comes to learning new things. He mispronounces a lot of words, but my favorite one is yogurt, or as Clark says, "ergert." I don't know why he can't get it right, but I never correct him because I love hearing it. Another thing that he loves to do is count anything he can but he always starts with the number two. He skips right over the number one every time. He'll say, "two, three, four, five, SIX!" with a wonderful exclamation on whatever number he finishes with. It's cute, I tell you.

In this particular stage in life, he is obsessed with trains. My mom bought him these cheap little trains from Target and I'm sure she had no idea it would be his all time favorite activity in all the land. If I let him, he would stay home all the live long day and play with these trains. He loves to count them, starting with the number two of course, and just drive them around our coffee table for hours. He's such a stud.

Clark was in a Mother's Morning Out program from September until just last week and he absolutely loved it. He loved going to "school,' or in his words, "cool." He made some good friends that he likes to pray for at night and he adored his teachers. It was two days a week for about five hours, so I did a lot of running around like a crazy person during that time. And if I wasn't driving all over this town running errands, I would stay at home and let the house stay a mess while I gave Griffin 100% of my attention. I don't get a lot of uninterrupted time with the little guy, so I have to take full advantage of those opportunities. Starting in September, Clark will be in an older class where he will get to do arts and crafts everyday. I am more excited about this than anything ever in my life. I'm already trying to figure out which wall in my house I'm going to use to proudly display all of his artwork. I can't wait to cover up my refrigerator with his little scribbles.

Potty training. We are doing it. So far, Clark the Dark Shark has mastered the art of peeing and pooping in his little Elmo potty. He will do it all day long and has yet to have even one single accident since we started. The problem is that I really don't think he can or will use a big potty, which means we pretty much can't leave the house unless I want to haul his Elmo potty everywhere I go. I haven't even tried to push it on him because I want him to get used to the feeling of having to go first, but I'm thinking one day in the very near future I'm going to have to plop him down and tell him to poop or get off the pot. When we are at home he walks around all day in some big boy undies. He likes to stick his bum in my face and show me the big Lightning McQueen plastered all over his hiney and say, "Look, Mama! Lightning's on my hiney!" I'm open to any and all advice from seasoned moms as to how to transition from little potty to big potty. Hook me up with a comment or facebook message if you please. But I'm so proud of my Clarkimus right now. Even though he is nowhere close to being potty trained, he has made the process so pleasant. I just love him to smithereens.

Old Grif is doing great as well. He is sleeping really well pretty consistently now and he is chowzering down on some solids. I'm going to get him eating on video soon so I can share it with the world because he is so so so very funny to watch while he eats. He quite literally attacks the spoon and gets severely impatient if I take too long to stuff the spoon in his mouth. He makes a glorious mess every time. I had forgotten how much fun it is to feed a 5 month old. It has become one of my favorite moments of the day.

As for me, I'm just enjoying staying home with two of the sweetest boys I've ever known. We stay pretty busy and that is a good thing. I've learned the hard way that if Clark stays in one place for too long he gets rowdy, so I make sure we get out and about several times each day. I'm trying my darndest to cook and keep a somewhat decent home. But dadgum, we have a lot of baby stuff that overwhelms the inside and outside of our house. It always looks like a hot mess around here. I'm glad Arnie doesn't judge me for that. But I am so grateful to be in the position to stay home with my boys everyday. They grow and learn new things before my very eyes and I don't think I thank God enough for that blessing. We have so much fun, the three of us, and the best part of the day is when Arnie come home from work and he and Clark get to reunite and run and wrestle all over the house. I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but I had no idea I would love the job as much as I do. I love this life.

That's pretty much all for now. I'm going to say this with much hesitation, but I'm going to start blogging more. These are the days I want to remember. Nothing exciting is on the agenda for quite some time now, but that doesn't mean the blog has to suffer, right? If nothing else, it's always really easy to blog about whatever nerdy thing Aaron did that morning, like running five miles and reading an entire book of the bible and spending quality time with his children all before he goes to work. I didn't know he would turn into such a lazy slob when I married him. Or maybe I can get him to be a guest blogger and he can tell you all about the Commerce Clause, a subject he lectured me about for seventeen hours the other day. All that said, I'll do better, I promise. Please don't go back and count the number of times I've said that in the past. That would be embarrassing.

Dear Griffin: 5 Months

Dear Griffin,

You are five months old and let me tell you this: these five months have been nothing short of phenomenal and that is because of you. Everything you do is beautiful and fun and I absolutely love every ounce of you. You are the kind of baby that every mother-to-be hopes for. Just perfectly amazing. I cannot believe that the next time I write you a letter you will be six months old. I refuse to believe we are almost halfway through your first year of life.

You have had a wonderful month, little Grif. We had some fun adventures, a couple of road trips, you hit some huge milestones, you definitely grew some more, and I can tell you are already absorbing tons of new things everyday.

My favorite thing that happened to you this month was on April 15. That was the day you were baptized and you spent the entire day surrounded by your friends and family. You wore the same little outfit that Clark wore two years ago and were baptized by my best friend's husband, Nate Bonham. Everything about the service was so very special. After church, everyone came to our house to eat and continue celebrating for you and it was such a wonderful time that I will never forget. You make so many people happy, Griffin Rice. 

We've been really busy for the past month. A couple of weeks ago, me, you and Clark drove to Hattiesburg to see Geez and Gam and you got to hang out with your cousin Leland and Aunt Hannah. And at not even five months old, Geez took you for a long ride on the four wheeler. He said you enjoyed it and that does not surprise me one bit. You and Leland got to hang out on your tummies together and even though that might not seem cool to you, it was ridiculously cute and I took about 50 pictures of it. 

Also this month you went on your first boat ride on the reservoir. You laughed the entire time. I loved seeing you squint in the sun and open your mouth like you were trying to eat the wind. We stayed on the water for about four hours and I didn't hear one peep come out of you mouth unless it was pure laughter. I repeat: You, my friend, are awesome in every way.

And last week, we loaded up the car and made the five hour road trip to Florida so we could hang out with Nikki and her boys for a few days. Again, you were so awesome the entire time. You are so laid back and are perfectly happy just lying on the floor kicking your feet. Having said that, you are not so laid back on the beach. I was hoping you would sit in your bouncer and snooze while I laid on the beach and got a beautiful tan, but none of that happened. Neither you or your brother are fans of sand or ocean, so I spent the entire time on the beach with you or Clark or both of y'all on my lap, and that made for awkward tan lines. But that's ok. I'll give you a pass this time. But I'm going to go ahead and give you a warning: in September, we are going back to Florida, and by then you better enjoy the sand because that is where you are going to be while I'm getting some sunshine on my snow white skin.

Grif, you are getting so big! At four and a half months, you weighed 17 pounds and were 26 inches tall (I think), and you have a huge head, according to the doctor. You are pretty much wearing only 6-9 month clothes and size 3 (sometimes 4) diapers. I came to the realization recently that you are now a "hip baby." I can just throw you on my hip and I don't have to worry about you slinging around all over the place. You are a sturdy little thing and not quite so wobbly anymore. You love to stand up and perform for a crowd. We have a little dance routine that I do with you and you LOVE it. It makes you squeal so hard every single time. You also enjoy holding on to your toes and swinging them around, which, in my opinion, is one of the cutest things a baby can do. You love chewing on toys, talking to anything or anyone you make eye contact with and making the sweetest little baby sounds. You have a huge personality for such a little boy. You have wonderfully animated reactions to being tickled, or peek-a-boo'd and when we blow raspberries on your belly. The first thing you do when you get excited or happy is stuff both of your fists in your mouth and let out a little squeal. And when I'm holding you and say "Hey Grif!" you bury your head in my shoulder and laugh. You also recently started eating oatmeal and smashed up bananas. I don't get the feeling we are going to have trouble in the eating department with you. You are a complete natural. I love watching you eat and make a beautiful mess. You attack the spoon and it makes my heart happy that you love food. Maybe Clark can learn a thing or two from you. Oh, and here is a fun fact that you are going to love reading about in 15 years: you poop, on average, once every five or six days. I have a feeling that's not good.

You already have a few little quirks that make me so happy. At night, you pull your blanket completely over your face while you sleep. At first it totally freaked me out. I would see you on the video monitor and rush in your room and pull the blanket down only to find it back on your face by the time I got back to my room. And when you wake up in the morning and I turn the light on, it never fails that you are going to greet me with a huge smile smile and then sneeze three times. There's something about morning light that makes you sneeze. I hope that doesn't end any time soon. Your favorite possession right now is your Johnny Jump Up. You bounce hard like you are on a mission. But when you are ready to get out, you don't realize that you need to stop jumping and you just cry as you jump until I come get you out. I think you've already put about 20 miles on that thing. You have a special bedtime blanket and a special car seat blanket. Your bedtime blanket was handmade by Yaya, your great grandmother, and you like to stick your little fingers and toes in it while you sleep. I've tried giving you the car seat blanket at bedtime and you made it clear that was not ok. Those are just a few of the little quirks I've picked up on. All of those things are dadgum cute, my friend, and I don't want you to ever change. Ever.

You and Clark have really come to be good buds this past month and I am absolutely loving watching the two of you interact. Clark loves to make you laugh and he definitely knows how to. He stands directly in front of your face and does this odd sounding fake laugh thing and you respond every time by smiling and then that turns into a whole body shaking laughter. You like to watch him and all his craziness, especially in the car. He's really smitten with you too. He always wants to know where you are, what you are doing, why you are crying, or when you are going to wake up. He loves saying, "Hey Grif!" even when you are not in the room. You don't seem to hold any grudges when he accidentally on purpose hits you or squeezes you. You usually react to his little antics with a quick cry that immediately turns into a smile. I'm really hoping you two can be friends and brothers. So far we are on the right track. I love watching y'all interact and I'm really looking forward to watching you two grow up together. 

You are a somewhat decent sleeper but I'm in no position to brag on your behalf. For some reason, you are not super consistent with your sleep habits. You might go five nights sleeping through the entire night and not making even one peep. But then the following two nights you might wake up two or three or 97 times. What's the deal, kiddo? I'm sure a lot of it is my fault. You rarely take good, solid naps because we are always on the go. You have learned to sleep in your car seat pretty good, and for that I am grateful. It would make me so happy for you to sleep all night long every night. But let me tell you a little story from a couple of nights ago. 

I put you down for bed one night and for some reason you had a hard time falling asleep. You were rolling around and fussy and couldn't seem to get comfortable. So I picked you up and snuggled up with you in your rocking chair and let you fall asleep in my arms. I closed my eyes and started thinking about you as an adult with a wife and children. That led me to think about your wife and pray for her. I wonder if she is even born yet? I prayed that God would prepare her even now to be loving and faithful to you, to support you in everything you do, to raise Godly children with you, to be funny and to laugh at you. I prayed that you would be a Godly husband to her and love her as much as your dad loves me. And then I opened my eyes and looked at you sucking on your pacifier and smiled. You are just a baby. You can't even sit up yet. But you are only going to be a baby for a tiny, tiny part of your life and I want to savor every single milisecond of you right now. I know you are going to be an amazing husband and father one day because you have some darn good role models. But for now, you are my five month old son who laughs at me when I hide behind your feet and play peek a boo. You are my five month old son who sneezes first thing every morning. You are our little baby Grif who everybody loves and we are excited to watch you turn six months old.

May we please get some good sleep by then? Thanks.

Love,
Mom

Dear Griffin: 4 months

Dear Griffin,

HEY GRIF! HOW YA DOIN? GREAT! GOOD! That is the phrase you are greeted with by your brother about 200 times each day and every single time it makes you laugh. And when I see your big gummy grin it makes me laugh, and when I laugh, Clark laughs, and when Clark laughs your daddy laughs. So you are the reason we spend all day laughing and smiling. I would say that is one heck of a contribution to our family. You are so special and I can't wait to tell you what you've been doing for the past three months.

You are four months old now. I am so sorry I've missed your second and third letter update. I will always regret not finding time for that because in those two months you did a lot of growing and learning and I'm scared I won't be able to remember it all. The bad news is that at some point in March, we encountered an unfortunate camera incident in which Clark threw ours into a splash pool rendering it useless, so I was not able to take my usual three million pictures per day of you. The good news is just recently we got a new camera so we are back in business.

Let me tell you about your second month of life. The theme of this month was grow, grow, grow. I remember the night you grew out of your diapers. In February, we were in Hattiesburg for our big Rice family belated Christmas festivities, and I put you to bed one night in a size one diaper. The next morning I couldn't even fit a size one around your waist. The same thing happened sometime in March, and now you are sitting happy in a size three. It is my desire that you stay there until we use up all 196 of the new and expensive size three diapers I just bought, but at this rate you go up a diaper size every month so we'll see.

Unfortunately, a few days out of your second month were pretty rough for you and me both. It tore me to pieces when you came down with a stomach virus and spent nearly four days violently throwing up and not eating. In a highly panicked state of mind, I called fifteen different doctors and went to an urgent care center and each one assured me it would pass and we just had to wait it out. Well, the dadgum virus did indeed go away but not before I worried myself sick. Seeing you sick was the worst thing I've experienced in a really long time and I hope it never happens again for the rest of your life.

It was very, very soon after you started feeling better that you started handing out smiles. For the record, you offered your first smile to Clark because he really is super goofy all the time. All of your smiles are open mouthed, cheek to cheek, and full of energy and I can see pure happiness and joy in your eyes. I LIVE for your smiles. At only two months of life, I could already tell you had a huge personality. And now at four months, that once little personality is now bursting at the seams.

When you turned three months old, I noticed a huge increase in your sense of awareness. You started following me with your eyes and seemed to acknowledge me when I entered your presence. Gone are the days when you would snooze your way through an entire afternoon and I am so happy about that. You are alert, very energetic, and when you are awake you are eating your hands and studying the chaos that is constantly surrounding you. One of the first things you actually started paying attention to was a painting of an elephant that hangs over your changing table. Your dad picked the painting out when he was in New Orleans and you absolutely adore it. You talk to the elephant while I'm changing your diaper and touch it and smile and coo at it. It is definitely one of my favorite things you do right now.

Now, at four months old, you love playing with toys. You love holding rattles, eating Sophie the Giraffe, belly time, laughing at Clark, listening to music, playing with anything that makes noise, kicking your feet at record speeds, laughing, bath time, laughing, laughing, being tickled, being stared at, making the sweetest little sounds, talking to the fish and turtles on your mobile and laughing at them, being held faced out so you can look at the world, chilling in your swing or bouncer, and the number one thing you love is when we pull your feet towards your mouth. You usually let out some gas and that makes us all laugh, but you cackle every time. It is the sweetest sound imaginable (both the gas and the cackle). You also get really tickled at yourself when you roll over. You can roll from front to back and from back to front. It is so hard to believe you are that big, because that always seemed like a huge milestone to me. You are so easy to make happy. When you cry all I have to do is hand you a toy and you are easily distracted for an indefinite amount of time. I am the luckiest mom in the world. You are also really starting to interact with Clark and it is hilarious. He knows how to intentionally make you laugh and he loves to play with you.

At some point a few weeks ago I realized that you are a huge baby. I had to pack up your 3-6 month clothes and pull out the 6-9 month outfits. That is ridiculous. I'm thinking you probably weigh about 16ish pounds and you are wonderfully healthy and chubby. You have been sleeping for 12 hours at night for about two weeks, but don't get cocky. Before that you were partying it up several times in the night and that was not a party I enjoyed going to anymore. I could write a 1,000 page documentary about you and your sleep habits and it would not be a pleasant read. But now you are sleeping, which means I am sleeping, and I think our family overall is functioning better now. You take two semi-good naps each day and one little catnap in the evening and you nurse every four hours throughout the day. This month I think am going to start introducing solids to you and it's bound to be hilarious. I can't wait.

Griffin Rice, there are no words for how amazing you are. I could (and do) stare at you for hours. Last weekend, your dad and I left you with Geez and Gam so we could go on a little vacation. Hardly a moment went by that I wasn't wishing you were with us. I missed everything about you and talked about you nonstop. I showed pictures of you to strangers. I thought about you and prayed for you and couldn't wait to hold you again. I love how animated you have become and how easily entertained you are. Everywhere we go, I get compliments on how content you are and especially how handsome you are. It is so true. You are such an amazing little baby boy. I am trying my hardest to enjoy the moments with you I am given right now, but I can't help but wonder what you will be like as a young man. I hope you are just like your daddy except less of a nerd.

You are so, so, so loved by so many people. We are very proud of you, and I just know this next month of your life will bring so many amazing memories. Thank you for being you. Please don't ever try to be anyone else but you.

I love you so much, sweet baby, and I'm already looking forward to the morning when I can go into your room and see that huge smile spread across your face because you are excited to see me. Tomorrow will be a great day simply because you will be with me.

Love,

Mama

It's safe to say Clark will never be a professional dancer.

I love that kid and his antics. I'm the luckiest person in the world.

Griffin Aaron Rice

We prayed for this child and the Lord has granted us what we asked of him.

1 Samuel 1:27

Every good and perfect gift is from above.

James 1:17

From the fullness of grace we have received one blessing after another.

John 1:16

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you.

Jeremiah 1:5

Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Matthew 19:14

I sing for joy at the works of your hands.

Psalm 92:4

And the took the children in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.

Mark 10:16

Dear Griffin: 1 month

Dear Griffin,

You are one month old. Actually you are older than that. I've been trying for three days to write you a letter about your first month of life but haven't gotten past the first sentence for the following reasons:

1. You started crying.

2. Clark shattered one or more of our nice bowls on the ground.

3. Clark plastered your face with stickers.

4. Clark shoved a goldfish in your mouth.

5. You pooped or something.

6. I fell asleep from the energy it now takes me to put words together.

Griffin, you are such an easy, sweet, angelic little baby. You have made the transition from one baby to two so easy for me, and for that I am so grateful. When you are old enough, just remind me how wonderful you were as a baby and I'll buy you some Bop's ice cream. I can't honestly say the past month has flown by for me. One month of you being around seems about right. You just fit right into our little family dynamic from the minute you were born and have already added so much to it. Little man, from the first second I laid eyes on you, you owned me. I am completely smitten over you and will probably never be able to tell you no. You will be spoiled and it will all be my fault.

For the first two or three weeks of your life I called you Clark. Sorry about that. The only reason is because you looked EXACTLY like your older brother. It was like some crazy sci-fi time warp situation when I held you because everything about you reminded me of him when he was a newborn. Slowly but surely, you have definitely developed your own little features and characteristics and I can see a little personality blooming everyday.

I think it is safe to say you slept through your first two weeks of life. When you can talk, I hope you'll be able to tell me what that was like. You were one sleepy boy and I had to pull out all the stops to keep you awake long enough to take a full feeding. You would have slept straight through your hunger pains if I would have let you. I had hoped once you entered the world you would have been excited to meet us, but that wasn't the case at all. I didn't mind because you love to be snuggled while you sleep. You have the most serene way of nestling your sweet little head right against my neck and staying there for hours. And that is exactly where you lived for the first week of your life. In my arms, your head against my neck, my arm holding your little bum. I love the way you smell, by the way. It is intoxicating.

I started trying to start us a little routine in your second week. It wasn't easy because of your marathon sleeping habits during the day, so I had to be super flexible. I tried to keep you awake after you ate even for 15 minutes and that was nearly impossible most of the time. I thought about sticking ice cubes down your diaper but decided that was probably cruel and unusual, and somebody should probably punch me in the face for even thinking it. It was also during your second week that you peed and pooped on me, and that was awesome. Thanks. You grew pretty fast that week because at the end of it I had to box up all of your newborn onesies and replace them with 0-3 months.

In your third week you kind of picked up on the concept of staying awake after you ate. You can stay awake for about an hour max, usually less, and then you nap for two hours. Repeat three more times throughout the day and then it is night time, and that is when the party starts. When you are awake, you are content to sit and watch the chaos that constantly surrounds you. It is a good thing you like your bouncer seat because that is where you spend a majority of the day. I would love more than anything to be holding you and rocking you and snuggling the crap out of you when you are awake, but there is a little toddler boy running around our house who has other plans for me. I do sneak some face time in with you as much as possible though and it instantly makes me giddy. You are definitely not a crier. I can count on two fingers the number of times you have cried that wasn't out of hunger or sleepiness. That is what I meant earlier when I said you are such an easy baby.

Not too much changed in your fourth week, but I did notice that you reached some pretty big milestones. You probably won't find this too impressive, but I wanted to throw you a party when I saw you reach for the little toys that hang from your bouncer. You are already batting at them and trying to make them swing. Genius. You also figured out how to put your hands together. Again, not exactly rocket science but I think you might be president one day. We took you to church at the beginning of the fourth week and you got lots of compliments on how handsome you are. You get compliments everywhere you go because you are one good looking fellow. I'm not biased at all.

Hey, do you remember that time you were born? You didn't give me a lot of heads up you were coming and you almost fell right out of my body. In case you don't remember, you can read about your story right here. I will probably use that story to guilt you into being nice to me when you are older. Well, apparently that is just your style. You are the quietest, most content baby I have ever encountered, until the very second you decide you are hungry. And then out of nowhere, you are able to belt out the loudest, most panicky yelp possible. After you eat you go back to straight up chillin' mode like you don't have a care in the world. You have spunk, and I like that about you.

By now you are probably used to the little person who is constantly screaming in your ear, sticking his finger up your nose and trying to stuff goldfish down your throat. That little person is your older brother, Clark, and really he loves you. He loves to kiss your head and pet you like a dog and say, "Hey Grif, how ya doin' great?" I can't leave him in the same room with you unattended because he doesn't really know how to handle you yet. But he loves to hold you and I have taken about three thousand pictures of him holding you to prove it. In the mornings after he wakes up, he always asks about you and wants to "hold it." You've probably noticed he can be pretty loud at times, especially in the car. But you are very patient with him, even though he can accidentally be pretty rough with you. Eventually you'll need to start sticking up for yourself, but you are playing your cards right for now.

In case you are curious, at your first doctors appointment (which was supposed to be a two week check up but since that fell during Christmas holidays, you didn't get seen until you were three weeks old), you weighed ten pounds and six ounces. You have gained a whopping one pound since you were born, which is actually kind of impressive. The doctor said big babies like you are a little slower to gain weight so he was happy. You nurse seven or eight times a day, including the middle of the night feedings, so I wasn't worried about you not gaining weight. I can already see how you have grown since the day you were born. It makes me sad and happy. More sad than happy. But still happy. But definitely sad. But happy you are healthy. But sad you are growing fast. Did you catch all that?

When it comes to night time sleep, I wouldn't say you are the world's worst sleeper, but you won't be receiving a medal any time soon. For the first couple of weeks, you clearly had your days and nights mixed up. You were up almost every hour, which meant I was up almost every hour. Ouch. Once I put you on a schedule in the day you got better at night. Instead of waking up, say, 75 times during the night, you got to where you would wake up three times. And now you are pretty consistently waking up twice, and that's ok, but I would like it if you wouldn't wake up at all. So why don't you just get right on that? On the day you turned four weeks old, I moved you to your crib in your own room. You had been sleeping in a little bassinet right next to our bed because I am incredibly lazy and unmotivated to move my body in the wee hours of the morning. While I don't enjoy doing the zombie walk from my room to yours a couple of times in the middle of the night, I absolutely love spending that time with you. You always fall asleep in my arms and we rock for a while before I put you back in your crib. We don't get to do that very much during the day so I'll take what I can get, even if I'm falling asleep too.

Grif, you are an awesome person. Daddy and I have loved spending this past month with you. You are such a breath of fresh air, even though you are incredibly gassy and you doodoo like a madman. Your little mannerisms are precious and your little squeaks and sounds make us smile. I can't promise you we are going to do everything right, but I can promise you this: we will always love you, no matter what. God will always love you more. We will always be there for you. At the end of the day, your family and faith is all you have. I am very much looking forward to watching you grow during your second month. I'm on pins and needles waiting for that first real smile. It's coming any day now, I just know it.

Love,

Mama

P.S. Our internet is acting up and won't let me post more pictures, but I will fix it soon and put some more up so you and the whole world can see how beautiful you are.

Meet Clark: 2 years old.

On Friday, January 6, 2012, we celebrated Clark's second birthday. His two years of life have been the most exhilarating, heart-stirring, amazing years I could have ever dreamed of. He has brought so much joy and contentment into our lives, and I know my purpose in this life was fulfilled the day he was born. God chose me to be his mother. Aaron to be his dad. Griffin to be his brother. And since Clark has been in my life, I am truly happy. There are just no words.

Two years old. He is definitely a two year old...that is all I have to say about that. I'm not going to say he is in the terrible two's, because there is and never will be anything terrible about Clark Rice. But he has entered a phase of life where he is quick to test boundaries and he will do whatever it get takes to get a reaction from you. He'll bang his spoon on the table as loud as he possibly can just so I will tell him to stop. He will scream at the top of his lungs in the car just so I will have to scream even louder to ask him to stop. He will eat play doh just so I tell him to stop. He takes pleasure in those little things, which is why my most frequented prayer request to God is to give me more patience and self control than the average person.

I’m simply amazed at how smart he is. He gets that from me. He learns new things by the hour and has the memory of a (insert anything with a great memory). He talks all day long and we can finally have real conversations where there is a very legitimate exchange of words. He can easily tell us what he wants as opposed to just pointing and grunting and this has eliminated about 85% of frustration from both parties. Some of my favorite things he says right now are: “Thanks welcome.” He doesn’t understand that one person says thanks and the other says you’re welcome. He just says both. Same thing with “How ya doing good great.” He asks and answers himself how he is doing. Most of the time he shortens it to “How doin’ great.” He loves to find any surface with a downward slope and walk down it and say “Weeee slide.” These things won't sound funny to anybody in the world except for me and Aaron. But we love it and laugh every single time.

Something I am so excited about is the simple fact that about two weeks before his second birthday, he trashed the pacifier. It was an incredibly easy process. I told him he couldn’t have it anymore because he’s too big. He said ok. That was it. He did ask for it a few times at bedtime, but I told him no, and he never fought it. It was easy as pie. He doesn’t even try to steal Griffin’s pacis. Even though sometimes I wish I had a dadgum paci in the car when he proceeds to scream at the top of his little lungs and there is no escape route, I’m glad to have ended that stage in his life. I don’t like them but I will always have them for babies. It's a love/hate relationship.

Another big milestone he is working on is the infamous potty training. My method of potty training is probably the most unconventional method ever and I wouldn’t recommend it to any other soul on this planet. But it is working for us pretty well, and I might be the least stressed out mom ever because of it. When we are at home, Clark is naked. Not even a diaper. Bum naked. He has a little Elmo potty in the bathroom, and when he has to go he runs in there and uses it. He’s doodoo’d in it a couple of times and pees several times a day. He definitely understands the concept and doesn’t need my supervision and usually doesn’t even tell me before he goes. I’m scared to go straight to undies because when he is wearing diapers, he doesn’t hesitate to let it all out and I don’t know whether or not he would do the same thing in underwear. But maybe I’m not giving him enough credit. I’m not going to worry about it and I plan on just waiting for him to give me some assurance that he’s ready. So in the meantime, he stays in his birthday suit. And he loves it. And I love seeing his little hiney running around my house. I’m mentally sick, but you know that already if you’ve ever read even one thing on this blog.

Clark is definitely in a stick-everything-up-his-nose stage right now. I decided this was the case after I spent thirty minutes one evening trying to dig a kernel of corn out of his nose. That sucker was wedged up there pretty good and I was getting ready to load everybody up and go to the nearest ER. Eventually Clark got tired of it being there and blew it out along with three pounds of boogers. Well I guess he decided it was great fun because he sure did get a lot of attention for it, so now anything smaller than the tip of my pinky is at risk for going up the nostril. I’ve learned if I ignore him and act like I don’t see him doing it, he’s not as interested. Ah, the mind of a toddler. It’s as foreign to me as nuclear physics and more.

When it comes to food, I hereby declare Clark the worst consumer of food in the history of all two year olds. I don’t know when or where I went wrong, but at some point several months ago he decided food was overrated. He’ll eat the heck out of some fruit and string cheese and that’s about it. He will literally go six meals in a row where he will eat the equivalent of a peanut. I have tried everything but I am determined to not make meals a battlefield, so I’m just going to trust that he is not stupid and will eat when/if he gets hungry. If he could eat a steady diet of chocolate chip cookies and coke, I’m sure he would tell you that would be fine. But I like to think I’m a better mom than that. I’ll just let him go hungry instead.

The last two weeks of Clark’s second year of life were highly traumatic because he got a new little brother. We tried to prepare him for this for nine entire months. I think he is still processing some of it, as in, the reality that this little baby thing is actually going to live with us forever. What I do know is that Clark loves Griffin. I sincerely believe he loves the little guy and is so affectionate towards him. He loves to kiss him, poke his eyeballs, hug him, spit on him, help put him to bed by screaming in his ear, and rock him in his bouncer to the point that Griffin is airborne. The transition from one to two kids has been relatively painless, minus a couple of moments of severe tantrums and one really bad day on Clark’s end. I had so much help from Aaron, my mom and Aaron’s mom that I think we managed to distract Clark enough to make it through the day. Although I have been a little taken aback by his separation anxiety since Griffin was born. There have been several occasions where he did not do well at all when I had to leave him. This is odd because in the past, he'd yell "holla!" when I walked away. This past Sunday at church they had to page me out of the service because he was so upset. I’ve read this is completely normal when a new baby comes into the picture but it breaks my heart. I am hoping time will heal this scenario.

On a different note, what I never realized until Griffin arrived was just how LOUD Clark Rice is. He has an impressive set of pipes in him and they are the most noticeable when Grif is trying to fall asleep. That is why I bought an industrial strength noise maker that is so loud I don’t think we would hear a bomb go off in the next room. It’s definitely helping the G-man sleep better and I’m a lot less stressed because I don’t freak out when Clark does his hourly lung strengthening exercises.

Some things Clark loves these days are Cars, both the Pixar movie and any automobile. He loves garbage trucks, mail trucks, tractors, school buses, helicopters, trains, airplanes, 18 wheelers, 4 wheelers…are you seeing a theme? If it has an engine, he is fascinated. He loves being outside more than anything in the world. He enjoys coloring, reading the same three books, slides, running, playing hide and go seek, Blue’s Clues, swimming in the bath tub, picking boogers and placing them anywhere he wants, seeing his friends at school (Mother’s Morning Out) and church, playing football with his dad, jumping in water puddles, pointing out every single thing he sees and telling me what it is, Chuck E. Cheese with Aaron, listening to the toddler radio station on Pandora in the car, singing Itsy Bitsy Spider and You Are My Sunshine, helping me cook, wearing the boots that his Geezer got him for Christmas, talking in third person, walking in any room and yelling “HEY!”, giving Aaron, Griffin and I big slobbery kisses and sweet hugs, and being awesome. He is definitely awesome.

The thing that blows me away the most lately is just how big he is. I know this is because he is always next to Griffin, and Griffin looks so tiny to me (even though he is a fairly huge baby). Yesterday was a really tough day for Clark. I had to discipline him a lot and he was unusually temperamental so it felt like all day I was saying no or threatening him with spankings (which I hate doing but seem do it all the time because it works like magic). The whole day sucked and I don’t really know what went wrong. It started at church and lasted all day. I was so ready to put him to bed at the end of the day and start over today. But last night at about 11:30 after I fed Griffin, I started thinking about how bad I felt for Clark that his day was so bad and wanted to make it better, even if the day was technically over. I went in his room and picked him up out of his crib while he slept and rocked with him in the rocking chair for about an hour. I couldn’t believe how big he was. He felt so heavy on my lap and his long legs and arms were draped over my shoulders. Even his breath seemed heavy. It boils down to this: he’s just not a baby anymore. He hasn’t been a baby for a long time, I realize this. But lately he seems so mature and I’m kind of not ready for it. But what choice do I have in the matter? Not much of one. He’s going to keep getting bigger, one day bigger and taller than me, and I’ll need to be a big girl about it.

We love this kid so much. There are days we don't get along and there are plenty of parenting moments I am not proud of. But he always forgives me and doesn't remember all the times I lost my temper. I am still cool to him. He lights up when I enter a room and I do the same when I see him. I hope this lasts forever. My goal for the next year of his life is to slow down and enjoy him. I want to savor his little Clarkyisms and write them down so I never forget them. I want to stop being too busy to sit on the floor and color with him. I want to let him play in the bathtub for as long as he wants. I want him to be fearless. I want to stop saying no so much and let him learn his own way of doing things. And my biggest hope is that he starts to understand the gospel and love Jesus. Our church will play a big role in that, but it is definitely mine and Aaron's responsibility. Big things will happen for Clark Rice this year and I get to see every single day of it. What a blessing. Being his mom is what I am least deserving of but most grateful for. I'm looking forward to the shenanigans that Clark gets into this year and hoping I can keep up. He is definitely a dark shark on the prowl.