Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not forget to take Judah's shoes on a recent outing to Borders last week, and I CERTAINLY did not let him run around in the store on the dirty floor anyway because it was so stinkin' hillarious. Not me. We're far too clean for that.

I did not drink a yerba mate at 8 in the evening and end up staying up till 6 am. No, not me. Seeing that caffeine can keep me up for DAYS, I would never do something as silly as that.

And I absolutely did not nearly wreck the car on the interstate while turned around and hollering at Mercy "NO. DO NOT PUT THAT IN YOUR NOSE! GET THAT OUT OF YOUR NOSE!" as she placidly gazed at me while she shoved a twisted piece of wet wipe up her nose. I did not fume while she rode contentedly for 5 miles with a wad of wet wipe up her nose as I looked for a safe place to pull over. Not me!

Of course, I also didn't feed my kids so many fresh blueberries that they...ahem. Never mind.

Nope. Not me!

Flower Children and Broken Bones

Here are a few pics of my happy hippies. I'm taking some of MckMama's photo editing tips and fiddling with blurry backgrounds and color enhancements. I'm not entirely happy with the outcomes, but they're okay for a point and shoot (bad, very bad, point and shoot) camera and free photo editing software.

When Benj and I took these photos, we were getting ready to head out to Borders. Judah has developed an inordinate love for books that make noises. Mercy has a couple, but Benj wanted to see if we could find some new ones for Judah. These two are highly entertaining to take into Borders. They stagger around drunkenly with big grins, falling on bright children's books and leafing through them energetically. They drag books over to the children's reading area and study the pictures. It's hard for us to use restraint--it's such a delight to watch them excited over books that Benj and I could be inmoderate and buy them every book they pick up. We have, on a rare ocassion taken them in to a toy store, and they're interested, but not lunatics like they are in the book store. Both of them would rather be read to than play with toys. I hope their love affair with books lasts for a lifetime.

I finally got my ankle x-rayed last Thursday. For those of you who didn't know, I slipped in the wet grass at the beginning of May and fell with my foot under me. I couldn't bear weight for several days, and I had swelling around the ankle and bottom of my foot. We suspected I did soft tissue damage, but Benj was working, and I couldn't take the children with me to get x-rays. After a few days, it felt better, only aching certain ways I twisted it. After over a month, Benj noticed it was still swollen, so I finally went to the family doctor and got an order for an xray. She thought I had torn a ligament. Turns out, I've been walking on a broken ankle for almost 2 months. I'm supposed to see an orthopedic surgeon, but I'm not sure what good that will do. If he tells me to stay off my foot, I'm going to laugh!

At the same appointment, my doctor ordered labs since I've been having trouble with my blood sugar dropping. The labs came back with B12 and folate deficiency, so I'll be starting weekly shots this week. Since B12 and folate both contribute to metabolic processes, we think it may be the answer (or at least a partial answer) to a myriad of issues, such as weight gain, insomnia, and blood sugar fluctations. We're also wondering if this deficiency has caused some of Judah's sleep problems. We'll be shouting hallelujah if this easy fix takes care of all our woes.

We have a busy week this week. More on that later...

So many books...

A Belated Father's Day Post

I worked on this BEFORE Father's Day. Really. But I'm still getting used to the way the layouts work (or more accurately, don't work) so it took much longer than I thought to get a few pics uploaded. Well, that and the two little people who make Benj a father probably had just a little bit to do with my tardiness as well. Does it count that I managed to post it in the same week as Father's Day? I hope so. My poor Father-in-law doesn't get his FD gift in the same week, or even in the same month. He has to wait till we see him again, as I couldn't ship it. It will be worth the wait, I promise, Pops.

Unlike this post, if I don't start actually, um, posting.

Anyway.

Here are some of my favorite pics of Benj. He is really the best daddy, or daggy, as Mercy calls him, in the world. He certainly had a tough act to follow. Given the example I had in my own father, I had pretty high expectations for the man who would be the father of my children. He's lived up to them and more.

This is just a few minutes after Mercy's birth. It was love at first sight. She had him twined around her sweet little finger immediately. I tease Mercy that I used to be his "best girl."

Mercy is a few days old in both of these. Benj had the luxury of having two full weeks off when she was first born, and he spent alot of time just sitting and looking at her or sleeping with her on his chest.

Both of the littles love to have Daddy read to them. I think he likes reading Dr. Seuss as much as they like listening. I love to hear him read Oh Say Can You Say, Dr. Seuss' tongue twister book.


Benj has spent many, MANY hours wearing one or both babies. For several months, the only way Mercy would sleep and give me a break was when Benj would walk with her outside in the Ergo. He walked miles in the cold, wind, snow and rain. This picture was taken on a beautiful fall hike to Prospect Peak.

Being a kid at heart makes a fun parent. They both went straight to the shower after this artistic adventure.

Judah was barely a day old in these pics.

Benj is always willing to let the little ones hinder, er, I mean, help.

Daddy's just a little proud, wouldn't you say?

Benj is training Judah in the woodshop early

Who says men can't multi-task?

Daddy often picks up the slack for mommy. In this case, his riding the carousel while I stayed on terra firma prevented vomitting from being added to the list of precious memories we made on our first visit to the PA Farm Show in Harrisburg.

Dancing in their pajamas.

Even after being gone at work for 14 hours, he's always ready to be daddy again. Here he's reading one of several books as Mercy stalls going to bed so she can sit with "daggy."

Helping Mercy hold a duckling "gucky" at the petting zoo.

Happy Father's Day, Sweetie. Our children our truly blessed.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I did not spend an entire week making gourmet food for my dear friend Pam and her family, whom I only see a couple times a year and then make them eat off paper plates the ENTIRE time they were here.

I further did not allow aforementioned dear friend, whom I only see a couple times a year, to do ALL my dishes the whole time she was visiting. No, not me!

And I certainly did not respond "You ought to be" when my sweet daughter tearfully said "Sorry mamma" after I fussed and scolded her for shoving her brother. Not me, for I know how impressionable she is and certainly don't want to pay for cause her to need therapy when she's grown up. Even though it was the millionth time I had told her not to shove/hit/kick or otherwise assault her brother.

I did not sit with my two year old and eat an entire box of bunny grahams at one time.

I also did NOT laugh at Mercy when she informed me that Judah had a "poopy bum." No, not me, since I know that she will likely embarrass me someday soon when she reports this information loudly at an inopportune moment. Neither did I allow Judah to take a bite out of a raw onion that he had dragged out of the pantry instead of taking it from him so I could run and get my camera and get a picture of his adorable, ridiculous self.

And I absolutely did not give my little insomniac, who was up from 1:45 am to around 4am, milk, books, music, an Honest Kids drink, and a cup of yoghurt so she would shut up and go to sleep be comfortable enough to sleep the rest of the night.

No, not me!

Whence cometh the sandman?

Judah's favorite pastime outside is not DIGGING in the sand, or even THROWING sand, like his sister.

No, not Judah. Since everything in life is potential food for Baby Ginormo ahem, Baby Judah, he prefers to eat it.

I gave Mercy ice cream for supper...

...and that's all I have to say about that.