Here is my little Boo feeding me Christine's sinfully good Christmas Cookies! What a giver! He really enjoyed opening the package after dinner last week. So much that the next evening after dinner he asked for another present to open. I think he was hoping for more of her excellent cookies! Christine you will just HAVE to hand over that recipe OR ELSE! I think that I have a new favorite. Thanks again for the thoughtful present. And to all the rest of you . . . Happy Holidays! I hope that you are safe and in good health and spirits. We love you.

Good Times to Remember - My Birthday with Family

I just realized exactly how long it has been since I have posted - nearly a month until my last post last night. I guess I have been kinda busy lately, you know with all the holidays and things.

Here is a picture of how I spent Halloween. Boo and I went to my sister's house to greet the trick or treaters. Sondra had a little birthday cake there and my dad and Betty and David stopped by to celebrate. It was a nice little get together. Here is Betty, Sondra, Boo, and my dad, Keith. I thought that it was a very good photo.

Thank you for the nice evening. I really enjoyed it.

Losing Our Loyal Fuzzy Friend . . .Alexander Dog

I didn’t want to forget to post about Alex . . . Our dear and beloved fuzzy puppy who passed away last month. He was the best potlicker, so patient and loyal. We will dearly miss him. He was our little man before we ever had our little Boo. He has been with us for nearly 13 years. We laid him to rest where he always dreamed of going and was able to live for the last five years.

The following pictures show his patient, loving and gentle side:

He waited so long for his own little Boo to play with and finally got him this last year and a half.
Words fail to explain the sorrow that we feel.
We will miss you Alexander, our fuzzy little puppy, popper of Christmas bulbs, eater of pipe stems, nibbler of drip line, Houdini dog, top graduate in his training class, lover of butcher bones and children but not in the same way, and always, faithful foot warmer to the end. We love you.

Yesterday . . . He told his first JOKE!!!

So Here it is . . .
Boo - Knock Knock (says this while knocking on the side of the play equipment).
Mama - Who's there???
Boo - A BOY!!!!!
Boo and another boy he is playing with roll over with hysterical laughter!!!!
This joke was then repeated several more times between the boys with the same result.

Our Spooky Halloween

Here are my guys . . . Ghost Rider and Scarry Skeleton!
We attended a party last night at Paul and Deanna's house.

The addition is a cow from the Devil's Herd (The Ghost Rider can never supposedly catch her).

However, I think that it's an old wives tale, or maybe an old cow's tail. He! He!

Child Rear'in Nuevo Style!!

Cats Have the Life . . .

Did you know that?? I love that people indulge their cats even in downtown St. Petersburg, Russia. The general perception of Russians usually does not include such thoughts about cats, but it is nice to know that people are down to earth everywhere on this planet!

Our Spikey Haired Drummer Boy goes to see Dr. Clark

The Boy really has rhythm! These are the drums that Grandma Vivian gave him - talk about recycling! He uses them more than daily - frequently asking us to join in the fun!

Today he went to see Dr. Clark for his Well-Baby Check up. He is becoming such a big boy. We got there a little early (about an hour) because my work let me out early. So while we waited in the waiting room he learned about the ocean drawings on the walls. He already calls fishes "Nemos", so he was pointing all of those out. He learned kelp, but his version sounds more like "help". He learned algae and then called the algae that the clown fish were swimming in a "house" like the one in movie Nemo! He made several friends, but was attracted to all the babies that came in and would go over to them and point out the big dolphin to them that was painted on the wall. He also found great joy in turning the lights on and off in all the rooms.

The ladies in the office gave him a sticker when we went in to go to the bathroom and he came out and told everyone in the waiting room "I got a sticker" several times. I totally thought he would say sticker, but not a whole sentence like that! Talk about shock.

Of course he loved his visit with Dr. Clark as always (lucky she doesn't have to do the shots!). He gave her a picture of himself holding a guitar on a pony in black and white that he signed on the back - which she loved. He even told her he was holding a "guitar". She gave him a "sparkle ball" that he played with for at least 10 min in the room while we were waiting for his shots. Of course the dreaded time had to come and he cried with a new sense of "you are hurting me" pain, but as I packed him up to leave and we walked through the door, something clicked and he urgently said "back! back!". When I asked him why he wanted to go back, he said "away, away, sparkle ball, away"! He felt that he needed to go back and put the sparkle ball back in the bin that she kept it in! Can you believe that? I had to set him down outside and explain to him that Dr. Clark gave him the sparkle ball because he was such a big boy and was brave getting his shots. After that he didn't cry anymore! Wow! He is just putting it all together!

Well, I am sure I could tell you tons more, but I am beat and need to get some sleep! Blog you later!

Our Dear Friend

This is a night I remember a dear friend of ours. We miss you Bryan. We wish you were here to share in all of our lives. We will never be the same without you. There have been many times when we wish you were around to share in the memories we are making. Some times it is hard to really believe that all this happened. You were always destined to do so much more good. I only wish you did not have so much pain. I hope that you have found your peace. So on this one year anniversary of our loss, I just say that we all miss you, again today.

Our Little Family

This is the picture I wanted to put up first, but I had a hard time getting it into the blog. Well, that just gave me a little time to brighten it up a bit. It was kinda dark and hard to see. I was just thinking how I hadn't been to the Long Beach Aquarium for almost 6 years (5 1/2 if you want to be picky). That was on my 30th birthday! Wow! Time does fly when you are having fun. As you guessed, the day flew by too and I don't know how all this time has passed. Hmmm. What a beautiful little family!

Well, I must go to bed! Blog you later!

Our Little Drummer Boy

Here is Boo in his favorite past time - drumming.


















He was lucky to be able to play these drums while visiting the Clark's one Saturday afternoon. As you can see he took to it like a duck to water - he even was able to step on the pedal for activating the big base drum!















Just look at the tongue of concentration!!!

My Guys . . . Gotta Love'em!

Although this picture was taken back in September, I thought that it needed to be displayed. Both are showing expressions that I love. We were over having dinner at Paul and Deanna's house and Carter had just finished running through the sprinklers. Papa caught Boo up and had been throwing him up in the air - what great excitement makes for great expressions!

All the new things - hair cut, wearing Papa's John Deer hat, getting a new bike, and hugging Cricket

Again, time is flying by. I have so much to include but not the time to sit and tell it. I will do my best for this post.

You will see that he is sporting a new hair cut in the 1st picture. He now resembles the rest of the McCabe Clan with the short buzz cut (except for his Papa, as many of you know he now has grown his hair). He was having a great time with the sunglasses. By the way, he regularly says Papa's glasses and sunglasses.

The next picture shows him borrowing Papa's John Deer hat and wearing it backwards too - just like Papa. These days it is hard to top Papa. He is the model for this little guy.

The next photo show him on the bike that Grandma Vivian and Papa Jim got for him. Oh how he loves it, although he still has not figured out the pedaling just yet.

The last photo is of him and Cricket. This is self explanatory. The love he has for him is great. It only helps that he is wearing a cowboy hat - it enhances the cute factor!

Well, until the next post - Joi de vie!

All the words they learn!!!

We went on a walk together yesterday. You know how we live WAY OUT THERE! Well, he loves to look for the "Moon", as many of you know. On this particular walk it was not quite dark yet, but there it was - the moon - clearly visible just over the hill as it was beginning to rise. Oh how excited he got! For the first few minutes of our walk he spent pointing out the moon and saying it every chance he got.

As we continued on I noticed a little bunny frozen just under the neighbor's fence apparently trying to avoid being detected. I parked him just about 10 feet from the fence and pointed out the bunny . . . when he saw it he repeated "bunny". We watched the bunny for at least a minute or two until the bunny finally decided he wasn't safe and darted off. At that point the little guy popped up out of his stroller and yelled "Bye bye!"

Later down the road he started pointing out every airplane that flew over. I think that was a total of 4-5. You'd be surprised, he says it really clear too.

When we were further on and the sun was almost down over the hill, he started pointing up and saying "bird" "bird". As I looked around, I didn't see any birds, but I did see bats! I explained to him what bats are and that they are different from birds because they come out at night with the moon and eat insects. He immediately began calling them "bats" and as we continued to walk he pointed out at least 8 more long after I stopped looking for them.

I had also told him that the bats, that were somewhat difficult to see fluttering in the dusk, were like the bats from "Bats at the Beach" a book that his Grandma Linda had got him when he was a baby. So when we got home, Mama and little Boo sat down before going to bed and read "Bats at the Beach". Of course he was much more attentive with this reading than he had been before when reading this book!

I am sure that his mind had many things to ponder in his dreams that night as he went to bed

He Learned . . .

to say "BEER" today!

Of course this occurred on Papa's watch. They went to the beer store to get supplies for this weekend's batch of homemade brew and this is the new vocabulary he came home with! You should see the joy on his face when he says it too!

A side note . . . much to Papa's dismay, Mama has not allowed the little one to try any of the stuff.

We also have more news . . . Papa taught him how to do the Tarzan call. You know, the one where he beats his chest and goes ahh ahh ahh aaahhh ahh ahh ahh! Another fun activity!

I also noticed this week that he is putting sentences together much better, to the point now that most people can understand what he is trying to communicate! Miss Geneva at daycare is very proud of his vocabulary and how smart he is. He is always pointing to things and naming them.
We are sometimes surprised and wonder how he even knew the word, who taught him that?!

Every minute is so precious! Even the ones where he "helps" with the laundry by spreading it all over the living room! I have to admit though, he is more helpful everyday. Now he is constantly saying "Thank you" and I even heard him say "welcome" the other morning!

Another thing that he does is drag the stool from the bathroom around the house and use it to get to things as yet unattainable. I caught him the other day at the refrigerator trying out the water dispenser . . . unfortunately we had forgot to lock it the last time it was used and, well, he seemed to like the small shower he got because he immediately went back for more. Lucky for him, Mama is faster and I got the lock back in place before he got totally drenched!

What a wonderful time this is! I am so blessed to be able to experience all this. I could have missed out on all this. I love him so much!

He's growing too fast!!

How do you keep track of all the changes that happen so quickly right under your nose?? My little guy is now totally able to follow 1-2 step instructions! At 20 months I think that is amazing. He is talking in sentences and is not as easy to distract anymore (especially when he starts to talk about bikes!). The days just are flying by . . . how do you keep track???

For New Mamas to be - The Value of a Mama

Before I became a "Mama", I definitely romanticized the role a mother plays. You know how you think about your life and what it will become in the rosiest of ways. However, it is not quite the same as living it. Have you had this same realization about things you anticipated in life? It is not necessarily a bad thing, just different.


What I mean by this can best be described in the way that your day changes from before you are a "Mama" to after: Before . . . let's see, you really only have to think about the things that you want to do. Really. If you want to make goodies for the office crew or get an extra load of laundry in, you just get up a little earlier without fear that you will actually accomplish this. If you want to take a long overdue shower with the hubby, you have no worries. There really is no comprehension of the chaos that is having a child - it is all about you and your guy. And believe me, this is not bad.


Now post baby is not bad either, just different - VERY different. There is no time, energy, or usually want (in the first few weeks anyway) to think about yourself, hence, all the talk about taking time for yourself, right? I really don't know many 1st time "Mamas" out there who really get a chance to think about themselves much, and if they do, it ends up being fleeting due to the constant cry of needs.


Typical post baby day starts off (or continues through the night without stop) with some sort of crying -either you or the baby. Once you have deciphered the reason for this crying or have sought the opinion of the slumbering "Papa", which may only prove to distress everyone further, you may decide that sleep just wasn't in your cards today. At this point you attempt to calm the little one and if like my little guy end up feeding him because the feedings seem to be continuous anyway. If you can get a moment free you try to get something solid to eat or drink, glance in the mirror and wish you could put on some make up or do something other than tie you hair back the same old way that requires no mirror in the 1st place. If you are lucky enough that your little one goes back to sleep and you are like me, you are so enamored with him that you let him sleep on you and lovingly watch him as you do so, until - so exhausted - you yourself fall asleep in the strangest of positions on the couch and a loved one takes a picture of you as you drool all over. Not so much what I expected. I thought there would be more "basic me time" involved in this adventure. And when I say "me time" I am not talking primping or shopping or gossiping, I am talking, going to the bathroom, taking a shower, getting dressed in something other than PJ's that have milk and spit up on them - THE BASICS!


These times of my past, and in many of your futures, are not in my mind a bad experience at all. These are times that you are pushed to your limits because of the magnitude of responsibility that you have taken on is so great and so worthwhile. I like so many others realize that there is no way to prepare for such a great change in your life. No one can come and tell you what your experience will be like. I think we all look back at these times at some point and wonder if we REALLY KNEW what it all would be like, would we do it again . . . All I can say is the wonder of a new life is a powerful thing. I think that we are made that way, so we can continue beyond what we thought were our biggest limits in life. These are the times that make us really grow as people, or more specifically, women. There really is no substitute for such courage and it is this courage that help us to nurture our children . . . forever.


As you can see from my pictures, my guys are well worth all the little and big trials there are to face along the way. In my mind they help me as much as I help them. As Mamas, we develop a vast pool of understanding and patience - this sustains us in the difficult times. This same pool is replenished with every smile, hug, kiss, and 1st time or experience that is shared. So remember, as you set out on your journey into Mamahood, know that you are not alone in any emotion you have, good or bad. You are a stronghold in the making. The maturity and strength of character that you find in your journey will be that of your family. Do not shrink from it - EMBRACE IT!

Curiosity

We are so proud of our little man and his curious nature. Here he is making friends with a horseshoe crab at he Long Beach Aquarium last April.

The All American Boy

Boo is our all American little boy enjoying his first (veggie) hot dog.

The Beginning

This is the story of a girl . . . me.

I am a lucky girl, living out a bit from the city, but running just as fast as most.
I am married and have one son. My boys keep me busy, as does work, most days.

I may have little time for this new thing, but I am going to give it a try.