Video of Reed

As you can see, Reed can now feed himself, wipe his bottom and drive his froggy around on the fire truck.

Parenting 101

Just some advice for you parents out there. Notice my last post and Reed chewing on my shoe? Nice. Thanks Biddy for passing it on!

Evil Eye

Thade says he has an "evil eye". He also told me I was going to ruin his eyes by taking this photo with the flash on. Since, he has managed to play 13 consecutive hours of WII play and guitar hero so I guess he's doing just fine. We had our post-op appointment and the Dr. says his eyes look perfect. No more wandering eye. Along with Thade's post-op appointment, we got to visit Reed's Dr. Reed has yet another ear infection. I'm afraid his ears will rot off soon. I now have 2 kids to administer antibiotics to 2x daily plus Thade's eye drops 3x per day. I haven't remembered to take my pre-natals in over a week so wish me luck keeping my kids alive this week.

I think we've decided on Adalae Reese for the name. You are welcome to give your feedback and I am welcome to delete/ignore you.

Not much activity on the house showing this week. I'm sure the weather doesn't help. I have, however, found many homes I want to move to. So, any of you want to buy my house?

Remember those "kickin" one size DOES NOT fit all Ugg boots Rustin got me for Christmas? Well, I got my size! And they are so comfy.

The laces also make a good teething toy for Reed.

Well Reed just blew out his diaper in my lap so toodles for now.

A birthday to remember

This is hilarious.



This morning I get up and am stoked since today is a holiday and Rustin is home, I don't have to get kids ready and dropped off this morning. I get out of my house so early, I even get to stop at Starbucks and still arrive to work by 7:20am. I'm thinking to myself how much I can get done this morning! So, I walk to my office door and the locks have been changed! I end up waiting for 45 minutes for our operations gal to get here. Actually, I didn't wait the whole 45 minutes, I dropped off Thade's prescription at Walgreens. While sitting in the drive-thru pharmacy waiting on the girl that decided to take lunch between taking my credit card and getting Thade's prescription to me, I can't help but overhear the car next to me talking to another pharmacist. His prescriptoin costs $89.99, so of course the next conversation is about insurance.
Random guy in mercedes, "This isn't covered by insurance?"
14 year old pharmacist, "No, sir Aetna doesn't cover you anymore"
Random guy, "I'm on my wife's insurance. She should be in your system."
14 year old, "OK, what is her date of birth?"
Random guy, "Um, Um, UM" BUSTED
He really could not remember his wife's birthday. He ended up paying $89.99 for his prescription that probably would have otherwise cost a $10 co-pay but do you blame him for not calling his wife to ask her birthday!?? He deserves to pay full price!

Bring on the beef!

I've officially had 2 ridiculously expensive dinners in 6 days. I do believe that is a record. I usually go 6 months before getting out for anything besides Arbys, Taco Bell, or on a special night, Chili's! What happens when you have babies? You decide you would rather eat the left-over mac and cheese in the fridge before going to a decent dinner because you know if you leave the house, you have the following things to do before you leave:


Prepare for last minute showing (our house is on the market):

Open all blinds
Sweep the floor
Vacuum the rugs
Sweep the pool
Skim the pool
Sweep the deck
Make all beds
Put all toys or resemblance of life away
Wipe spots off the mirrors
Clean toilets
Wipe vanities
Empty all waste baskets
Wipe appliances down
Put dirty dishes away
Find out where odd smell is coming from you have been trying to ignore all day





THEN.... you get the baby ready:

Oh, we haven't changed your diaper in 3 hours and find this:
Change diaper and clean floors again

Find shoes and socks


Wrestle with crying baby to put shoes and socks on

Find hat and coat

Wrestle with crying baby to put hat and coat on

Pick crusted boogers from crying baby's nose

Find and pack the following in diaper bag:
Pacifier (DON'T EVER, EVER, FORGET THE PACIFIER OR YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE AN UNEXPECTED STOP AT WAL-MART, OPEN PACIFIER IN BABY ISLE AND PAY FOR ITEM WITH EMPTY PACKAGE)
Diapers
Wipes
Cheerios
Formula
Bottle
Sippy Cup
Extra clothes
Toys
Orajel

(tired yet?)


THEN, you get yourself ready
Flip-flops (who cares if it's 29 degrees out, I don't have to bend over to put flip flops on)
Maybe some deodorant


READY


You then load crying baby who hates the car seat into the car seat. You start off. Did we forget anything? Oh, crap, where's Thade?



Won't having TWO babies be SO MUCH fun?! We can't wait until MAY!


Anyways, back to dinner last night. Rustin and I got an all expense paid dinner to Nick & Sams (thank you Rustin for giving someone business). There were 12 of us. Needless to say, I was yet again, the only person not drinking there (besides the super cool Tongan Mormon).


Anyhow, back to bragging about my oh so yummy and fancy and ridiculously expensive dinner. The table had 8 bottles of $220 wine, 11 jager bombs, 11 shots of tequila (Rustin thankfully passed on the latter), and various other cocktails throughout. 2 people from our table ordered $150 porterhouse each. Oh and did I mention our appetizer was lobster?? Along with shrimp cocktail and calamari.


Half way through dinner, a group of people came in and sat at the table next to us. I thought Super Cool Tongan Mormon was about to have a heart attack. Apparently, it was the judges and host of So You Think You Can Dance. Cat is definitely as skinny in person as she is on TV. I hope someone forced some Ribeye on her last night.


Some of our party were definitely characters. One girl kept calling one of the waiters "Shitter". She swears she knows him and that is his name, but the poor guy avoided her at all costs. I'm pretty sure she took the extra shots from Rustin and Super Cool Tongan Mormon. Oh, and can you guess where Super Cool Tongan Mormon is from and now lives? You guessed it, from Utah and now lives in Euless with a brother playing football at Trinity. However, she was super cool and I was glad to have a non-drinker to have an intelligible conversation with.

We have a 2nd showing at 4:30 today. Wish us luck!

There's a hair in my food!

Thade's friend Garrett spent the night with us for the first time this weekend. Being the good hostess I am, I scrambled around early Sunday morning to make the boys eggs, bacon and toast before Garrett had to be home for church. I'm feeling very motherly as I set this great spread of food in front of them until Thade cries, "There's a hair in my food!". Why should I be embarrassed about hair in food to another 10-year old boy? Maybe because he will go home, tell his mother, then I'll be exposed for the non-domestic, just have some chips for breakfast type of mother I really am.
So, I make light of it and say, "Oh, it's probably just one random hair from my head, just eat it." This, of course sparks some extra attention to the bacon and low and behold, 5 of the 6 pieces of bacon I made had my hair on them. Garrett politely picked hair out of his bacon and ate without comment. Now that's my kind-of kid!

My friend Shirlett wrote this article regarding the atrocity we all witnessed yesterday afternoon. Happy Reading!

To all of the Dallas Cowboy fans out there who find yourselves struggling with the inability to define your current feelings and emotions about yesterday's game, I'm here to help. The following list briefly defines the 5 Stages of Grief :
Denial- If you have refused to talk with anyone about the game; if you have not watched ESPN's post game commentary; if you refuse to read today's newspaper; if you cannot bring yourself to listen to those loudmouth, know-it-all radio talking heads....if you went into work today with your Dallas Cowboys 'Got Five?' t-shirt on today, then you're in denial.

Anger - If there's a brick wedged in the middle of the flat screen TV you just got for Christmas; if you're feeling the urge to organize a grass roots effort to boycott Jessica Simpson, complete with burning effigies; if you spit on spot at the sudden image of Patrick Crayton's gigantic bug-eyes; if you want to take a Shaquille O'Neal sized cleat and practice place kicking with Flozell Adam's butt while shouting "FALSE START THIS!"; if you suddenly see Wade Phillips as a dumb, non-chalant idiot because during the most crucial time of the season he let his asistant coaches go on head coaching interviews and let his key players take time off to chill in Cabo - as if getting paid millions of dollars to play football 6 months out of the year isn't motivation enough to keep focused...umm, perhaps you're angry.

Bargaining - If you had hope that on 4th and 11 with 9 seconds left in the game, Tony Romo was going to throw a miracle touchdown pass to Terrell Owens because it seemed impossible to believe that a team being led by Eli Manning could pull off a win, then you were bargaining.

Depression - If you have refused to talk to anyone about the game; if you have not watched ESPN's post game commentary; if you refuse to read today's newspaper...wait... that's denial, not depression... *sighs* (I'm a little confused)...but, yeah, if you haven't already begun to look ahead to the draft or August pre-season, then you're depressed.

Finally, Acceptance - Well, this is a tough one. I can't really comment on this because, frankly, I'm not there yet. If you are reading this, feel the same way, and think you'll feel this way for awhile - then you're a Cowboy's fan.

Randomness

Has anyone seen this? Two guys tried to wheel their DEAD roommate to check cashing store to cash his Social Security Check. I know it's a bit morbid, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read the article.

Last night Rustin and I had dinner at JRs without the kids. This is such a rare occurrence, I actually took a shower and rolled my hair! JRs is one of those places you have to make a reservation, can't wear flip flops, t-shirts or a gorilla costume. It's fancy! Within the first 35 minutes upon arrival, I had already made 2 bathroom trips. Little Girl Gradke loves to kick my bladder constantly. I had to hold it again for the last 15 minutes we were there just because I was too embarrassed to walk by the 10 tables yet AGAIN to the restroom. I'm sure I seemed like a bulimic pregnant woman to the casual observer.

Thade has made the decision to be baptized. He will take the plunge (no pun intended) on Feb 24th. We are so very proud of you Thade!

These boots are made for walking!

Reed Walks!



On one hand, I'm stoked because I certainly do not want to lug 2 babies around come May if I can help it. On the other hand, this means a quicker commute to cleaning supplies, toliet and many other places he loves to play.

Tupperware Party

This is how Reed entertains himself while I cook dinner.

I plan to show him how to cook with them next.

Reed's PJ had this bath in Phoenix. I absolutely love it so much I came home and purchased one immediately. It sits on your sink perfectly and works famously for all you fellow pregnant moms of infants that can no longer comfortably bend over to tie your shoe, much less bend over a bath tub and wrestle a wriggly 10 month old for bath-time. Oh, and the mohawk was just for fun.

This is the game of Risk we started tonight. As you can see, it appears Thade (red) is winning. This is because both Rustin and I are SO competetive, we only attack each other. I guess we figure we can knock Thade out later but I think it's going to come back to bite us.

Thanks Natalie for the game!

I want a BEAMER

Thade asked me yesterday if we would buy him a car when he gets his license. I can't help to think back to when I was 10 years old. I'm pretty sure I was happy to have a Huffy bike with streamers and an Atari with 1 pacman game. (By the way, pacman is no longer even a word spellcheck recognizes. How old do I feel??)

Anyhow, here's how the conversation went:
Thade asks, "Mom, when I turn 16 are you and Dad going to buy me a car?"
I reply absently, "I don't know Thade, what type of car do you want?"
Thade: "Well I was thinking maybe a LandRover or Tahoe or Lexus."
I'm thinking, where in the world has he even HEARD of these cars??
I reply sarcastically, "Well how about a BMW?"
Thade, ever so fruitful, replies, "Well those are expensive."

In what fantasy world is a Landrover, Tahoe or Lexus not expensive? At least he has good taste.

WII, o WII, o where have you been?

Thade comes back today! This means the WII also makes it's return and debut into the Gradke household. If anyone does not have one, I highly suggest you purchase one. Or steal one since you still can't find them in the stores. OR, you can pay double for one on Ebay (I know this because we sold the extra one we bought).

Why didn't someone think of this before. What a gold mine! I, for one, will purchase this when it comes out. I mean, come on, no one likes to "sweat to the oldies" with Richard or "thighmaster" with Suzanne. And most days, I would rather someone vomit on me than actually step foot in the gym that I have dedicated 4 years of monthly dues to. Let's face it, we would all rather sit on the couch with a bag of potato chips, candy, or tub of Crisco than exercise. I am looking forward to the release of WII fit, and spending my work-outs fighting Count Bleck who has recently arranged a marriage between Princess Peach and Bowser while simultaneously nursing my baby and forming rock-hard abs.

I plan to do a post soon of the differences between men and women. But I will offer one obvious difference. Is there another woman out there that would spend even 5 minutes watching ESPN classic? I mean, it's not like Friend's re-runs. Who in their right mind wants to watch a basketball game from 20 years ago?

My friend and I Stacy had a conversation last week about bras. She has hooks in her bathroom and bedroom that she randomly hangs her bras on. And doesn't think they should be put away when she has a party. I say the lingerie should be put up if you have company.

Well, I hate to say I told you so: