'Twas the Morning of Christmas...

...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse.

Oh, but it's coming. I can feel it. :)

So We Went to the Zoo...

...in December.

About a month ago, Half Off Depot was offering tickets to the Atlanta Zoo for half price. Bennett has never been to the zoo, and he gets in free until he's three. Seeing that his 3rd birthday was on the 17th, I thought it would be fun to go and nice to take advantage of the free ticket while we still could. So I purchased mine and Josh's tickets and decided to go Sunday, December 5th.

I figured the first weekend in December would be warmer than the later ones, plus we had plans for the other weekends. I looked up the forecast for that weekend, but because it was so far off all they had posted was an average temperature for the last few years. The average was about 55 degrees.

Try 55 minus about 20 degrees. I think the high for that day was 36. Oh my goodness it was cold. But we bundled up and went anyway. We probably saw a total of 18 other people there. There were only 18 other crazy people that day.

They warned us as we went in that not all of the animals were out due to the weather. Try MOST of the animals weren't out due to the weather. Oh well.

Bennett still got to hug a giraffe:


And make goofy pictures with Daddy.


This isn't a terribly exciting video, but it shows Mr. Cannon all bundled up in his stroller, wondering why in the world we were subjecting him to this.




We were able to thaw our fingers for a bit in the reptile house. There were lots of "nakes" in there. And "rabbits." (frogs).


I was really happy to find that the panda bears were out. They were "hawnry," so they were having a bamboo snack.


He became less interested in the "aneemals" and more interested in going to the big playground that I had told him was at the end of our walk (it was only mentioned to encourage a good attitude, aka to bribe him).


Can you tell I'm having to hold him up behind this thing? This was right before I busted his lip while trying to hold him up to the Mama kangaroo and put my head in the baby one. Oops. Bad idea.


We finally made it to the big playground. Bennett LOVED the big slide. We had a good time playing with him while Cannon snoozed in the stroller.



After the zoo, we stopped and had lunch at the Varsity. Yum.


We really had a good time, even if it wasn't exactly ideal. We'll definitely be going back when it's warmer. Bennett had his heart set on seeing a "wion," so we'll have to go back and let him see one this summer.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Christmas!

I have already posted these on facebook, but for those of you that are not on facebook...




Merry Christmas!

Electric Guitar Cake

My latest creation was for a girl that wanted a guitar cake for her son's second birthday. She didn't give me any instruction for this cake, other than it needed to be a guitar for a boy. She did mention the phrase 'rock star,' so I knew it needed to be more along the lines of an electric guitar rather than acoustic.

After cutting the guitar shape out of the cake, I thought it might not be quite big enough. I asked Josh if I should add another layer. He said, "No. Just add an amp." I knew there was a reason for keeping him around here. ;)

So here you have Kallen's blue electric guitar cake with amp included:


I have a Buzz Lightyear cake to do in January and a possible Lego wedding cake in February. Yes, you heard me right. A Lego wedding cake. Actually, I think it's a groom's cake, but they want it in all ivory so it'll look like a big Lego wedding cake. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I hope they get me to do it. That would be fun.

But before any of that, Curious George and his 'daboons!'

And the Winner is...

I know, I know. You've just been going crazy trying to figure out which theme to choose for Bennett's party, I know.

Well, thank goodness, you can stop. Aren't you glad to have that weight lifted? Whew!

Bennett has chosen his theme.

He sat in my lap at the computer the other day and I showed him my last post. When he saw the first picture he said, "Djuh Jowge, MAMA!" (I have no idea how to make you understand how he says Curious George - that's my best attempt)

Then I scrolled down a little bit and he said "Da Dat in da Hat, MAMA!"

Then I scrolled down and said, "What is that, Bennett?" (to the space rocket picture) He said, "I dunno..." I said, "Yes, you do. What is that?" He said, "Djuh Jowge in da PACE RAHTET!"

So that pretty much told me what was most important to him, just the fact that it wasn't just a space rocket, it apparently was Curious George in the space rocket. But just to make sure, I said, "Which one would like on your birthday cake?"

He said, "Djuh Jowge!" "Djuh Jowge.... and da daboons.... da wed daboons... da boo daboons... and DA DEEN DABOONS! DJUH JOWGE, MAMA!!! You matin' a date (cake) for ME???"

Poor thing, he's so used to me telling him that cakes are 'for someone else.'

So that's all he's been talking about for the last couple of days is the Curious George cake with all the balloons.

I can't wait to make it for him. :)

Indecisive

I absolutely cannot make up my mind about what theme to go with for Bennett's birthday. I am torn between Curious George, Dr. Seuss, and space rockets. I thought I had decided on Curious George, but lately Bennett has wanted to read The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham and watch The Cat in the Hat movie and I am back to wanting to do Dr. Seuss. He loves space rockets too and I think I could make a really cute space rocket cake.

I need to hurry up and decide, because the invitations need to match the theme. Although I don't really need to do invitations because it's just going to be family, but I just like to do it anyway.

I've been torn about who to invite to this birthday too. I say it's going to be a family thing, but then I would love to invite the neighborhood kids that are around Bennett's age. He doesn't really know them yet, but how else do you get to know them if you don't invite them over?

But the party being in December, it would have to be inside and I feel like I would have to have too many activities planned so that they'd stay busy. We went to Bennett's cousin's birthday party a few weeks ago and it was nice because it was outside and they had a bouncy thing and tons of toys to play with (little four wheelers, bikes, a basketball goal, a baseball game), so the kids stayed busy on their own. It was okay that they didn't all know each other very well. But being inside, there's only so much you can do.

So maybe I'll just wait until next year when Bennett has gotten to know the kids in the neighborhood better and has friends in his class at school. Being moved up a class at Montessori, he doesn't know anyone there well yet either.

But back to the important question:

Curious George...

The Cat in the Hat....

or a Space Rocket?


What do you think???

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

So a couple of weeks ago I was driving home from Montessori and when I turned off Bankhead Highway to head towards our house, I saw a big orange blimp over Ace Hardware. That's not something you usually see in good ol' Douglasville. I continued to drive towards our house and kept seeing this big orange thing through the trees. I decided I wanted to take a picture of it with my phone so I could show Josh what a bizzare sight I had seen that day.

So I pass our house and head down some surface streets to get to an opening in the trees. Once I finally did find a spot, the blimp had already gotten pretty far away. I couldn't quite make out what it said on it - it was bright orange, and it had big white letters on it that I could have sworn said "CONAIR," but I thought 'surely it doesn't say "CONAIR."' Whether it be the criminal transport one or the hair styling one.

Anyway, I never got a picture, but I did tell Josh about it.

Well last night I watched Conan. (This video is actually from a previous episode):



Well there you go. I saw Conan's blimp. How 'bout that.

Cake and Cupcakes

This past week I did a cake for my... let's see... second cousin? Or is it my first cousin, once removed? I'm pretty sure it's my second cousin. It's my first cousin's daughter - what is that?

Anyway, she turned 16 today and wanted a cake with zebra stripes and lime green. This is what I made for her:


We had another McLeod Family Fun Day this past Saturday that she and her family were attending along with us, so we just took it with us to that. They took the cake home and celebrated the next day, I think.

When we got home from the 'Fun Day,' I got to work on the cupcakes I had due the next day. These were for an old friend of mine that is the singer in a Supremes-type band, and she's also about to get into paralegal studies. Her stepmom wanted the cupcakes to reflect both of these aspects of her life. So, here you go:


Fun, fun. I love doing this. I don't have anything lined up right now, though, other than Bennett's birthday cake. So if anybody needs a cake or cupcakes for anything, give me a call - I need something to look forward to! ;)

Cute Boys

Eating "ice dis-i-pees" and teaching Cannon to dance. Just a normal morning at the Gibson house.

Thomas and Cars Cake

Josh's cousin, Julie, wrote me a while back about doing a cake for her son's third birthday. He wanted a cake that had Thomas and Lightning McQueen on it. She and I had both seen a cake online that had just that. It was a two tiered round cake with Lightning McQueen on the top and Thomas on the bottom. I assured her that I could make that cake, and probably better than the one we had seen. I hope that doesn't seem over-confident; there are certainly plenty out there that I know I could not even come close to duplicating.

So anyway, I got to work. It's cakes like this that I LOVE doing. I had so much fun working on it.

We took it to the party today and were able to stay and celebrate with them. Happy Birthday, Davis!

Potty Training Update

Per my cousin, Heather's, request, here is the latest in the potty training saga.

Well, last time I wrote I mentioned that he had been holding in his poop for several days and I finally put a pull-up on him and told him it was okay to poop in his pull-up. And he did. Well, I think that kind of confused him, because that next day I went to pick him up at school and found out he had pooped in his pants and made a huge mess of himself.

And later that night, at home, he was wearing a pull up and came up to me and said, "Mama, it's okay to poop in my pull up." I felt his bottom and of course, he had pooped in his pull up. So we had a little conversation about how it would be much better to poop in the potty.

Anyway, this past week at school he didn't have an accident, but he also didn't use the potty there at all. I tried a couple times to get him to go at school with me, but he wouldn't. But as soon as we got home each day, that's the first place he went. But he still wouldn't poop in the potty at home. He kept holding it.

Mama and Daddy kept him Thursday night because he didn't have school on Friday and I had a cake to make (not to mention I had a bit of an emotional breakdown on Thursday, but we don't need to go into details about that one). Daddy was determined to have him poop in the potty. I called them at one point on Friday just to check on things, and Daddy was in the bathroom with Bennett. He said, "Have you ever tried giving him a book to read?" I said, "No, but that's a really good idea." Daddy said, "Yeah, we're just camped out in the bathroom." About 10 minutes later, Daddy called me back and it was Bennett on the phone - "MAMA! I POOPED IN THE POTTY! IT WAS A BIG ONE!"

And he pooped in their potty two more times that day. I guess he had quite a reserve in there that he needed to get rid of.

He's done very well at home, and he even pooped in the potty at his cousin Davis' house today. So maybe that's a good sign for being able to go at school now. We'll see how it goes next week.

Where's the Hair?

Here's a picture of Bennett at 6 months:


(You may notice that the picture has changed. I was incorrect - the one I posted first was Bennett at 5 months, so I had to correct it.)

Here is Cannon at 6 months:

Where's the hair?!?

He was born with the same thick, black mane that Bennett was born with, so we were sure he'd have the same wild head of hair.

Bennett didn't lose a single, solitary hair from his head. I never, EVER saw a hair of his on anything. Cannon - oh my gosh, his hair is everywhere. On his sheets, on his clothes, on my clothes after I nurse him, stuck in his neck folds, you name it.

You can see here how there a few of the long hairs he was born with hanging on for dear life, but for the most part it's soft little new hairs coming in all over.

I should also mention that Bennett had about 4 teeth by now, and Cannon shows no signs of any yet. I guess every baby is totally different.

Enough to go Around

I have gone back and forth about whether or not to write about this. I got an e-mail today that made my mind up for me.

As you probably already know, I breast fed Bennett for 14 months and I am currently breast feeding Cannon.

With Bennett, I had some problems with nursing. I frequently developed clogged ducts that were very painful. It never affected his nourishment or my ability to produce, but it was very painful for me. I was producing and producing and producing and it every once in a while it would all back up in me, causing severe discomfort. The problem was, Bennett was never completely emptying me.

Can I just stop here for a second and say - HUH?!? You mean this baby wasn't eating every last drop of milk that I had to offer?!?

Yes, that's what I'm saying. Believe it or not.

I remember calling my lactation consultant after about 3 months of nursing and asking her how to begin supplementing with formula. I had had it. I couldn't do it anymore. I had gotten to the point of crying when I would nurse him because it was so painful.

Well, she gave me the instructions on how to supplement, but encouraged me to keep trying. I also have a good friend that is a lactation consultant who offered wonderful and much needed advice and support during this time.

It was like all I needed was to know that I had the option to do something else, because after that phone call, it seemed to all get better. I swear, so many of our problems are at least partly psychological. I truly believe that stress is a huge factor in our physical health.

I did continue to get clogs here and there, but it was never anything that I couldn't handle.

When I had Cannon, I knew I wanted to nurse him too. Another good friend of mine had just stopped nursing her little girls when Cannon was born. She is so incredibly generous, and she offered to let me use her electric pump while I was nursing with the hope that it would alleviate some of the problems I had the first time.

I started nursing him, and almost immediately started getting incredibly engorged. I was already producing more than he was eating. So I called my lactation consultant and she told me to pump after the first feeding of every day, between the hours of 6am and 10am because that's when you produce the most milk. So that's what I did. And I began to accumulate a nice supply of breast milk in the freezer.

At the same time this was going on, Josh's sister Lauren was having not her first, not her second, but her third heart-breaking struggle with breastfeeding. Lauren is a wonderful person and an amazing mother and wife, but for some reason or another, she has not been able to breast feed her children although she wants to more than anyone has ever wanted anything.

When Mac and Rachael were born and she was going through this, there was little I could do other than offer my love and support. When Everett was born only days before Cannon, I knew I would have an opportunity to help if she was again unable to nurse. She tried for longer with Everett, and I kept my thoughts and desires to help to myself until I knew that she had given it all she had and would turn to formula.

We spent a good amount of time with Lauren and her family right after the two little ones were born, so Lauren and I would nurse together frequently. I always felt a little guilty for being able to nurse Cannon with no problem and then watch her struggle with a supplemental feeding system because Everett wasn't gaining enough weight and it was becoming obvious that, again, it wasn't working. And not only would I nurse with no problem, but I would then turn around and pump out even more milk, just so I wouldn't get all clogged up.

We were at the lake one day, early this summer, when I finally decided to present my offer. I had spoken with Josh and told him that I wanted to offer to pump and give my extra milk to Everett. We both knew it would probably be a delicate topic, since, not only is it not a common thing to do, but I also didn't want to make her feel like I was boasting about how much milk I could produce. Of course she would know that I would never be like that, but I was still nervous about bringing it up.

But I gathered some courage, and while everyone else had gone on a boat ride and the two of us were in the cabin nursing our babies (she was only comfort nursing at this point), I said to her,
"I know this might be a little weird, and if you are not interested, please don't hesitate to say no, but I want to offer my extra breast milk to you for Everett."

I don't even think I got all of that out of my mouth before she said, "I'D LOVE IT." She didn't even bat an eye. She's the kind of person that can make you feel so comfortable - you'll feel a little uneasy about a situation that you're in, but then she can relate and tell you about a similar situation that she encountered and all of a sudden you feel like you aren't the only one and it's totally fine. Does that even make sense? The point is, after talking to her about it, it seemed so silly to have even been nervous about it.

So, after that, all my pumping was for Mr. E, and I was so happy to be doing it. She wrote a blog about it and most of the comments she got said something to the effect of 'Oh, all that pumping - what a sacrifice' or 'Anyone that has ever pumped knows what a gift that is.' I don't look at it that way. It's just a part of my daily routine, and if it's to help someone else (especially a family member), I'm more than happy to do it.

So for the last several months, I have been nursing and pumping and sending coolers of breast milk to Augusta. And I haven't had the first clog. And don't you worry, Cannon isn't missing out:


Well, I have now decided to become a breast milk donor. I have applied and been qualified and hope to be able to donate breast milk even after Mr. Cannon and his lil' cuz Everett have moved on to solids.

The milk bank that I've joined forces with uses the milk to help premature and critically ill infants. They sent me an e-mail today advertising that November is Prematurity Awareness Month and Prolacta Bioscsience (their affiliate) is donating $5 for every new donor application received in the month of November. I know that I don't have a huge audience here, and that very few (if any) of you are nursing moms, but I felt like I should at least put the word out there if I really care about the cause I'm donating to.

So if you or anyone you know of is nursing or thinking of nursing, mention the possibility of donating breast milk to help those that are unable or the infants in need of the 'liquid gold.' Information on finding a milk bank can be found here: www.milkbanking.net or www.helpinghandsbank.com.

Potty, Potty, Tee-Tee

The word "potty" is going to be used quite heavily in this post. That, and "tee-tee." Just so you know.

We've been working on potty training for some time now. This summer we almost had it down. Bennett was only going to school about every other week, and while he was at home I let him run around with only a t-shirt on. That way, he knew that if he had to pee or poop he had to go to the potty because there wasn't anywhere else to go but the floor, and that was a big no-no. We did have some accidents, but for the most part, he was using the potty. I'd be sitting in the office on the computer and I'd hear little footsteps getting closer and closer (the bathroom is close to the office) and Bennett would run into the bathroom, get his stool, pick up the lid, put his seat on the toilet and tee-tee in the potty. Then he'd flush it and I'd hear the footsteps head back into the other room, fading away. He did so well.

Until school started back up in August. We were back to getting dressed every morning and putting on a diaper. Well, why worry with using the toilet if you can just go in the diaper you're wearing? The potty usage pretty much came to a complete halt. I'd try my best to let him run around pant-less on the weekends, hoping that he'd get back into it, but he would just run to me and ask for a diaper so he could pee or poop in it. Of course I wouldn't give it to him; I'd take him to the potty. He'd use it, but it was much more of a chore than it had been. And he was making no effort what-so-ever to use the potty at school. No way.

Last month, his teacher at Montessori asked how I felt about moving Bennett up to the next class at school. He and another little girl were the only two that didn't move up last year. They were the young ones of the class last year - everyone else was 3 when they were 2. So this year, all the new students are 2 and Bennett and this little girl are almost 3. I was glad for him to be among students that were older than him last year, because he was able to learn from them. This year, I have felt like he is not benefiting from being in a class of younger children. So I was happy to hear that they wanted to move him up.

So while this topic was being discussed, the issue of potty training came up (this wasn't the first time). Everyone in the older class is already potty trained. I had a conference with his teacher early last week, and we decided that I'd start sending Bennett to school in his "big boy undee-wah." I was a little unsure about this, but hey - if it takes being a little embarrassed at school when he has an accident in his pants, then I guess that's what will have to happen to get him to go to the potty.

So this past weekend he wore his big boy underwear and we talked A LOT about using the potty like a big boy and how he was going to wear his underwear to school this week. Monday morning, I took his diaper off and put his undies on and told him that if he has to go potty, just tell Ms. Lupe or Ms. Vickie and they'll help you go to the potty like a big boy. I took an extra set of clothes that morning and totally expected him to come home in them. He didn't. Ms. Lupe said he would not go potty. He waited until they put a pull-up on him at nap time and tee-teed then.

Sunday was Halloween, and of course Bennett was able to enjoy some of the treats he had collected in his pumpkin. Monday afternoon when we got home from school, he asked for his treats. I had already decided that I would only allow him to have a treat if he went to the potty. I didn't want to resort to the whole bribery deal, but I thought it was as good a time as ever, since he had a big pumpkin full of treats that he was expecting to get to eat anyway. So Monday afternoon, he started tee-teeing in the potty in exchange for a treat (3 m&m's).

Tuesday, he got moved up to the new classroom for good. He had been visiting more and more over the last few weeks, and was now officially moved up. He wore his big boy underwear again, and again came home having had no accidents, but still having refused to use the potty at school. And they said when he woke up from his nap his pull-up was completely dry. He was holding himself as we left school, and as soon as we got home he used the potty - and got 3 m&m's. He tee-teed in the potty all afternoon like a champ.

Yesterday morning I heard him in his bed as he was waking up, saying, "No, tee-tee. No, tee-tee!" I got him up and went to change his diaper, only to find that it was completely dry. We went downstairs and I asked him if he needed to use the potty. He said, "Umm.... no tanks." As I was getting him dressed and about to put on his underwear, I asked him again. He said no. He would not go before we left for school. So I put on his clothes and took him on, feeling certain he'd use the potty at school since he hadn't gone since the previous evening. Nope. Same thing. He wouldn't use it at school, and his pull-up was completely dry when he woke up from his nap. I tried to get him to go at school with me before we left. He wouldn't. He was holding himself as we left, saying, "No, tee-tee!" As soon as we got home, he went in the potty. A lot. Poor boy! He had been holding all that in for so long!

Same thing today. He woke up with a dry diaper, saying, "No, tee-tee." And didn't go at school at all. Came home, tee-teed.

So the only diapers I have used in the past week have been the ones that they have at Montessori for his nap time and the ones I've put on him at night, and those have been dry every morning. So I guess you could say he's completely potty trained, but there's still the issue of refusing to do it at school. Also, you haven't heard me say anything about going poop in the potty, have you? Or in his diaper? That's because he hadn't. Since, like Sunday. I was starting to get a little concerned that he was going to make himself sick.

He had started saying, "No, poop!" And he'd go to the potty and sit down and try, but never would poop. Finally, tonight we went to dinner with Josh's parents and put a pull-up on him under his big boy underwear. When we got home, he started saying, "I don't feel good" (which means, I have to poop). I took him aside and said, "Bennett, it's okay for you to poop in your pull-up." He kept saying, "no," but finally did poop in his diaper. I changed him into his nighttime diaper and his pj's, and within about 5 minutes he pooped in that diaper too. Again, poor boy! Now holding in all that poop! But I was so glad that he finally let it go.

We'll see how tomorrow goes at school. This has been kind of a crazy process, but at least he's been wearing his underwear and hasn't had an accident all week!

Halloween

Yes, I know. That hint a few days ago just had you on the edge of your seat, didn't it? Well, no more trying and trying and trying to guess what Bennett might have been for Halloween!

I present, ladies and gentlemen, Sheriff Woody:

I know this video is turned sideways (I have a hard time remembering that videos can't be turned once they're transferred), but I'm posting it anyway. Bennett loved going around saying, "Howdy, howdy. I'm Woody!"



Miranda and James invited us to go to a barbecue in their neighborhood yesterday afternoon, so that's where we headed first. Well, actually we headed to Marietta Toyota first to look at (which turned into purchasing) a car. Josh started a new job recently and he needs a car for work. So I left him there filling out paperwork and he joined us later in the new ride (which is a nice silver '08 Camry).

I didn't put Cannon in his costume for this party, because it was quite warm outside and I thought he'd get super hot.

Here he is with James' award-winning Frankenstein pumpkin:

Bennett is finally at the age where he can run around and play on a playground without me having to be there for every move. It's nice to be able to sit and enjoy a meal and some punch (which may or may not have been spiked) with friends while your children play.

He loved these slides. That middle one was pretty steep, and that was his favorite.

That's Miranda on the left with Katherine coming down head first, and Ella is in the orange about to get run over by their friend Andrew.

Bennett fell asleep on the way home (he didn't nap yesterday afternoon), and we had to wake him up to go Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. Daddy came over and went with Bennett, Greg and Elizabeth while Cannon and I manned the front door.

Halloween Hint

Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, Mama and I took Bennett and Cannon to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch in Newnan. Bennett had a great time. All he wanted to do in the beginning was chase the ducks (geese?) around. Well, he wasn't really chasing them, which is good, but he followed them. And followed them. And followed them. And they just kept walking. And walking. And walking. Bennett kept saying, "Ducks! Where you going?"



After he finally tired of following those guys around, we went into the petting zoo. They had sheep (or maybe they were goats, or maybe they had both - I need to read up on my barnyard animals), rabbits, chickens, peacocks, turkeys, and a pig.


This is Bennett telling the turkey to be nice, because he stuck his finger in the cage and got it nipped.

We went on a hayride and halfway through it the man stopped so we could feed the horses some of our hay.

I tried to get a picture of the three of us, but couldn't quite get Cannon's whole face in there.


They had a really neat vine tunnel that Mama loved. She wants something like this of her own.


I had to nurse Cannon, so Mama and Bennett walked around and explored. They went into this one building where you could see honeybees making honey, and then Bennett found some dogs that he commenced to following around. They sat down to watch a puppet show, but it wound up just being story time, which Bennett was quite bored with and talked through. I had rejoined them at this point and decided it was better if we just moved on so that the other guests could enjoy the story.


Now that Cannon was full and happy, it was time for us to eat. I had made us a picnic lunch and we sat at a nice, shaded picnic table to enjoy it.


Then it was time to leave, but not before picking out a pumpkin! I chose a nice medium sized one that we will hopefully get around to carving this week.


It was a fun little outing. I'm sure it will become an annual thing for us now. :)