Could this kid be any sillier?! Little Monkey was having a blast chasing my parents’ dog, Mugsy. Little Monkey is going to have a hard time leaving Grandma and Grandpa’s house since it is a kids’ funhouse!

Since my laptop had a virus and was holding my Photoshop hostage, I wasn’t able to post photos of Little Monkey from his 2nd birthday on the 10th or Easter.

This is what happens when you leave your Bangerang Bake Shop Easter cupcake unattended…

I just got up to get myself a drink and Little Monkey claimed my cupcake!

Today is Little Monkey’s 2nd birthday. Sometimes it feels like he has been with us forever and then other times it feels like just a few months. Little Monkey is teething again {woo hoo} with his back molars coming in. Poor little guy has been chewing everything in sight!

Mommy and Daddy love you very much Little Monkey! And we thank God for blessing us with you in our lives every day.

Little Monkey and Daddy bonding while I was in recovery

Little Monkey at his 1st Birthday party.

What a difference a year makes from one to two years old?!

You can enjoy this silly video of Little Monkey with his cousin, C., taken last Sunday.

It’s been a busy week so far with A Woman Inspired online conference starting on Monday and it doesn’t end until Thursday afternoon. I’m loving it!

Monday night Little Monkey and I flew back to Maryland. I’ll start this by saying the flight to Florida with the screaming at the end was WAY better. I made two bad choices before our flight – one was skip lunch (I didn’t do that intentionally, it is just that my nerves get crazy before a flight) and two was let Little Monkey nap on our two hour trip to the airport. Bad combination. I was drinking a caffeinated (I forgot to tell our barista to make it a decaf) Mocha Frappacchino (which if I haven’t mentioned before I quit drinking anything caffeinated, so this had me a little wired) on the way to airport. I was a little on edge with a terrible headache because I forgot to eat lunch in all that hurry. Once I got passed security I started to feel nauseated. Not good. My headache was so bad it was making me sick. Since the airline I was traveling on charges you for your drinks and snacks, I went to the airport shop and bought myself Tylenol quick release, Orange Fanta, Pringles, and a Godiva chocolate bar. All things that help me when I have a headache. Once I boarded the plane, it all went further downhill. Little Monkey somehow saw the flash of Pringles in my bag when I was looking for my Tylenol. I was trying not to give those to him early since we had an hour and forty minutes in the air not to mention all the time boarding. The fight begins…Little Monkey starts asking for chips. I tell him not now. Then he begins to scream chips. I use the one binky I have left to try to soothe him. Nope. Little Monkey took it out of his mouth and threw it at our aisle buddy seated next to us (thank goodness another mom of a teenager) and then he threw his stuffed puppy, next the emergency instructions, and the paper bag in case you get sick. Oh don’t let me forget kicking the back of the seat of the woman in front of me. I was mortified. I wanted to curl up underneath my seat. Not to mention my Tylenol hadn’t kicked in yet, so I was getting hot flashes because I still felt like I was going to be sick. So here I am trying to keep my squirmy, angry toddler in my lap while trying not to throw up or cry. Here’s the irony of the whole thing, I had put a book that I had wanted to read in the pocket of the chair in front and all I could see was the back cover where it said:

It did certainly help me to see that in those moments where I just wanted to give up. The book is called “Confessions of an Irritable Mother. Hope for Overwhelmed Moms.” by Karen Hossink. So I didn’t get to read the book like I intended, but I did manage my anger a lot better than I would have in previous times, most times I would let it just get me so frustrated that I would let the anger eat at me to the point where I am bitter. Reading the back of that book the few sentences I could see, somehow gave me more patience even when I thought I was at the end of my rope. I did give Little Monkey those Pringles once we were in the air, but believe me that was not the magic answer to keep Little Monkey happy the entire flight – especially when those travel size Pringles ran out. Imagine my surprise at the end of the flight when my Aisle buddy tells me that my toddler was great. I know he probably could’ve been worse, so it was ever so slightly encouraging.

Thanks for getting Little Monkey incredibly addicted to his Evenflo Illuzion pacifier and now no longer producing it. What kind of mean joke is that to stop making the Illuzion?! Little Monkey is so attached to his Illuzion pacifier that he refuses to take any other pacifier. I’ve tried! Substituting his Illuzion pacifier with any other pacifier gets the same reaction – a couple of disgusted sucks and then proceeded by Little Monkey launching his pacifier across the room. When I first purchased, Little Monkey’s big boy (6+ months) pacifier I never imagined that the Illuzion pacifier he would fall in love with would be discontinued. We tried everything from latex to silicone, round tip to orthodontic tip, Soothies to Gerber…Evenflo Illuzion was the only one Little Monkey loved. I know, I know Little Monkey is almost two years old and should probably be cut off from his pacifier, but I’m not ready! It is part of what keeps me sane on long car trips, plane rides, and just plain fussy days. I know I am not the only parent that is looking for that particular pacifier. I’ve talked to other moms who had been reduced to scouring the pacifier section at Burlington Coat Factory like me. Purchasing each pack the store has available because who knows when the next time they will have them in stock! But now even Burlington Coat Factory doesn’t carry them anymore. I believe the name Illuzion fits the pacifier best since illusion also means hallucination!

Sincerely,
One Annoyed Mom Who is Tired of the Hunt for the Illuzion

Today was a fun filled at our local mom group’s Spring Fling. We got the kids together to eat cupcakes and to make Easter Egg magnets. Wouldn’t you know that Little Monkey made mommy want to crawl under the table and stay there?! We had to trace the shape of an egg onto the foam with a Sharpie. Little Monkey wanted to get his hands on the Sharpie sooooo bad. I didn’t want to risk him painting himself or some part of the house, so I wouldn’t let him have the marker. He proceeded to holler and cry. I started to feel a few stares. What more could I do?! He’s almost two and LOVES to color with his crayons or even just draw on paper with a pen, so he doesn’t understand why he couldn’t have the permanent marker. Oh ’tis fun to be the mom with the child full of opinions and even though he can’t express them through actual words yet he will proceed to scream some sort of baby jabber at me. Lovely.

Aside from the screaming fit over the Sharpie, we had a great time. Once we got home Little Monkey crashed hard for two hours! Poor guy was worn out, but that isn’t great for us since he is still up at this moment. He’s usually in bed by 8pm…it is almost 9pm with no signs of sleepiness except that he is dragging around his stuff puppy with him.

It was hard, but we got Little Monkey’s hair cut this weekend. I didn’t want to cut it. I loved his long hair. My hubby on the other hand, being a former soldier was not too happy with the length of his son’s hair. It didn’t help when strangers would tell my hubby that he has a beautiful daughter. It didn’t get to me as much. If he was dressed in all blue, holding onto his green sippy cup, and sucking on his blue binky and you think he’s a girl…then you’ve got other issues and I won’t let it get to me that you think my Little Monkey is a girl.

My wild crazy hair boy (pre-haircut)

Daddy holding Little Monkey while he gets his hair cut

Tada! Okay, so not such a dramatic change…

Little Monkey’s hair the next day!

It was tough! My little boy is growing up! He will be turning two next month. Where does the time go?!