The world according to Legree...

Legree is now 23 months! I can't believe my little baby will be 2 years old next month!! So, in honor of the 23 month mark I thought I'd share some 23 month old "thoughts and ideas" according to Legree.







He sure is head strong and wants things his way already! When he gets an idea in his head it HAS To happen or a tantrum begins. We're working on that, but between mine and Ben's genes, stubborness is bound to be one of his fine qualities!




1. The word "green" does not exist. That color that you are referring to as "Green" is called "John Deere". You won't convince Legree otherwise.




2. The word "red" also does not exist. That color is "pink" and any shade of red or pink is "pink". Also, don't tell Legree otherwise.




3. All balloons are "mine bawoons" (Legree's) and he thinks he should have one whenever he sees it. Once we get home with a balloon, all interest is lost.





4. Pancakes and dip-dip (syrup) come before any form of drink in the morning. When Legree is ready for a drink, I hand it to him, he sits it on the table and then immediately picks it back up and starts drinking it. Why he can't just start drinking it when I hand it to him, I will probably never know!





5. If you say the word "fries" in front of Legree, you'd better be prepared with fries in hand to give to him. If not, you'll hear the word "fries" about 10,000 times until you hand them over.




6. Don't tell Legree you are going somewhere until you are 100% ready to walk out the door with him. Otherwise, tantrums will ensue!




7. ALL tractors are John Deeres. Doesn't matter what color or make they are, if they are real or just in a coloring book. They are John Deeres and he loves them.




8. Whenever I give Legree a blank page of paper to color on, he always "draws" (scribbles) and announces it's a choo-choo train.


9. Legree now knows when we are passing by the local park. If we don't pull in, I hear "park? go n there!" Over and over again...




10. Mommy's hair is solely for Legree's pulling and playing with pleasure. 23 months and I still can't break that habit. It hurts like crazy, but is so sweet too!




11. Once we get outside to go somewhere he generally bolts for the fence to see the dog. I have to tell him that we're going to see Ian or Kaylynn to get him to come too me. I think he'll probably catch on soon that we're not really going to see them (at least not all the time). So, I should probably stop huh?





12. If the dishwasher is open, he must help get the dishes out. It doens't matter if they are clean or not, they must come out.





13. No one is allowed near him while he is... doing his business. If you try he yells "nooooo" and hides.


14. The word "yes" does not exist. Instead if you ask Legree a question and he wants to answer in the affirmitive it is answered with "I do". Like: Legree, do you want something to eat? I do! Legree, do you want to ride tractors? I do! He never ever answers with a yes. So weird!




15. He will not say Grandma or any variation of it. I think he's said it about 4 or 5 times. He can say about anything now and he knows who his grandma's are, of course. But he refuses to say it!




16. Popsicles and syrup are their own food group and he tries to make sure I give him 5-6 servings of each a day. (That doesn't happen, but he begs constantly!) Here's Legree with a "pop". While he eats the "pop" he says Yum Yum! And then followed by... COOOOLLLD! And he shivers... that's what he's doing here.







17. If he doesn't recognize a food, he will not eat it. Even if it's really good. Like hot dogs. He won't touch them because we don't eat them too much. But I know if he'd just try it he'd like it. Ohh well!




18. Going "outsii" (outside) to play with "Kiwo" (Kilo) is an essential part of the day. Don't mess with this time or you will get a serious tantrum! We often "fight" about this everyday. I won't let him go out while he's tantruming over going out, which causes more tantrums, which causes more time outs. It's a mess!




Okay, that's all for now!

I promise he does look like me...

Okay, in my last post I said that Legree looks a little like me. Then I realized the picture I chose as a comparison (see above post) makes Legree look JUST LIKE BEN! Honestly, it really doesn't matter... but I wanted to show a picture of Legree that DOES look like me :)




Same day, same photo shoot...
and the picture of Ben and I as little kiddos again :)

Things that make 22 month old Legree smile...

While going through some stuff at the house I found a picture of me around 18months old that was taken at Olin Mills. You southerners know what I'm talking about. The ONLY portrait studio back in the day where all cheesy family pictures were taken.

Anyways, I'm smiling in it and to my suprise Legree looks like me! Well, a little. He's still Ben's boy for sure, but I can see it in the smie. Since Legree was born everyone (including myself) thought Legree looks just like Ben. Now, I see some of me in him! Not that it really matters, I kind of liked that our little boy looks like Ben. I'm rambling now... so here's the picture, and one of Ben too.




And now one of Legree for comparison...




Seeing the picture of myself as a little lady made me think about the extent we go through to get Legree to smile in pictures sometimes. And then it made me wonder what silly things my parents did to get me smiling. So, I thought I'd list some things that we do to get Legree to smile for the camera...

1. "MUUUUSSSSHHH" said in a really deep silly voice. It really only works when Ben does it but he ALWAYS looks up and smiles. It started when Ben was reading Goodnight Moon to Legree one night and started saying Goodnight mush funny like and it's kind of stuck.

2. Pretend Sneezing. This used to always work, but is starting to run it's coarse.

3. Dancing and waving your arms like a crazy person. Works the best when Ben does it, Legree pays NO attention to me when the camera is out. I think he's just over me taking pictures.

4. Singing a silly song that you make up. If he knows he wants to sing along or doesn't pay attention

5. Making silly noises, but watch out because he'll start to mimick you!

Okay, that's it for this Wednesday's post... till next week :)

Wednesdays post

Well, as usual I'm a SLACK blogger. So I thought maybe if I set myself on a schedule I might do better. So, once a week and maybe I'll move up from there. I'm going to shoot for one post every Wednesday. So here goes...

This Wednesday we're going to talk a little about floors. Our carpet was gross! It needed to be taken out and changed. Ben and I are planning on putting the house in the market next spring and we knew this was something in our house that needed to be done before anyone would consider the house.

So, we picked out some nice (and inexpensive )laminate hardwood floors. So, hopefully it will help with the resale value of the house. Well, who am I kidding I just hope it helps to sell the house period!

Here's a picture of the new floor, complete with a cute little boy dancing with excitement over them!

A day in the life of a stay at home mom...

I love being a stay at home mom. Simple as that. I get a lot of "well, don't you want a career?", "he'd be fine with someone else watching him", etc etc. But it's my calling, it's who I am to my core and I couldn't/wouldn't change my job. Also, let my preface this post by saying.. I know not everyone can afford or want to be a SAHM. I get that. Just like I want to be here with Legree, some mom's want to be an office. I get that and that's what works for you. I don't think this job is for everyone AT ALL! Not everyone can be heart surgeons, or teachers or construction workers or nurses... so not everyone can be SAHMs either.

Being a SAHM is not all play dates, shopping all day or watching TV all day. It's tough work! I was in the working world for A LONG TIME before I became a stay at home mom. I've worked in several offices, in different capacities for different jobs. None of them came close to this. Is there times when I look around and say "What do we do next to pass the time??" You betcha! That's part of what makes it hard. We don't watch TV all day (usually two 30 minute shows a day is what Legree gets and that's while I cook breakfast and supper). Although, some days are 90 miles an hour and I don't have time to stop or sit down b/c we have too much to do!

We aren't wealthy people (contrary to popular believe that all SAHM husbands are making some big money). Ben makes good money and we are good with alloting money where we need it and being VERY careful with EVERY dollar. That's how we manage on one income, not because we are wealthy and just can. It's a sacrifice, it's a struggle... it's worth it! Since we are one income and not wealthy Legree and I can't go out shopping and spending money on this or that. Our activities have to be FREE! So, you have to get a little creative when it comes to what do in the house, around the house or near by the house that's free. I'm getting better at it. Especially as he gets older and needs more stimulation then just sitting and reading books on the floor all day. We have fun, we laugh, we play, we run around the house, we cook, we clean, we read books, we go outside and play with the dog,we do whatever we can find that needs to be done and/or looks like fun!

So, for those of you wondering what a day looks like at home, this is it...


7:20 Legree wakes up crying for his paci
7:25 Roll myself out of bed and go get him, I can't find his paci either.
7:30 Still can't find paci... oh well, he's supposed to be giving it up anyways
7:32 Turn on Barney and sit on the couch with Legree. He asks me for his cakes (pancakes). Ohh yeah, food.. forgot!
7:35 Start breakfast, mix up pancake batter, and start the frying pan going. Legree is fussing at my feet for his cakes
7:45 Cooking away and Legree is still begging. Give him a yougurt instead till the pancakes are done
8:15 Ate breakfast... now clean up all the syrup all over Legree's chair.
8:30 Finally the syrup is gone.. clean up all the dishes and clean kitchen (while Legree begs to help or gets under foot)
9:15 Done cleaning kitchen, getting everything put away etc. Legree wants to read books. OK...
9:30 After pulling every book he has off the nicely organized shelf he decided he didn't want to read any of them.
9:45 Cleaned up books, make bed... Legree sees his swing out the window and wants to go WEE HIGH! Finish making up the bed, get myself and Legree dressed.
10:00 Dad called and wants us to come over. Go outside to play.
10:30 Come back in from going outside to swing and dodge all the dog poop in the back yard.
11:00 All cleaned up, changed and ready to go to Grandparents house, Legree needs a MAJOR diaper change. Great.
11:15 Arrive at parents. Take Legree outside there to play.
12:00 Inside, Legree and dad play. I cook lunch over there.
1:00 Done eating lunch. Legree tells Grandma and Papa all his news words and tricks from the week. Plays with all their toys and runs around entertaining us. Add in several diaper changes and clothes changes because he eats a lot so he poops a lot... and he's a boy so he gets dirty, OFTEN!
1:45 Leave mom and dad's because Legree is an hour past nap time.
2:00 Carry sleeping baby boy in and put him down for nap. Check facebook/email/blog 2:30 Look around at the mess of toys from earlier in the morning. Decide to wait till later to deal with that. Clean up our bedroom.
245 Watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy (hey, everyone gets a break at your work, I do too. I just have more freedom on what I do with mine).
4:00 Start a load of laundry, fold clothes left in the dryer from a few days ago. 4:30 Check FB/email/blog again (yes I'm obsessed).
4:45 Walk around aimlessly and see what all needs to be done, like clean out our closet etc. Decide I have no time b/c Legree will be up any minute.
4:47 Research recipes online to figure out what's for dinner because I forgot to take anything out of the freezer. Decide on a yummy looking quiche that I happen to have everything for.
5:00 Legree wakes up and in is in a BAD mood. Turn on Barney so I can get supper ready, he screams when I walk away. Sit back down.
5:02. Get back up and start supper. Legree keeps fussing...
5:15 Daddy calls and says he won't be home till 6. Great, cooking supper with no extra hands. OK, not fun but i got it.
5:30 Get quiche in oven. And realize I probbly need something else to go with it. 5:32 Legree gets off couch and throws a temper tantrum to go outside. I put him in time out and watch him scream for 10 minutes.
5:42 Give Legree some Tylenol because he says his teeth hurt and that's probably why he's in a bad mood.
5:50 Ask Legree if he wants to help me make a cake. He goes nuts and is SO excited. I try to decide if I've gone crazy.
6:00 Daddy comes home, Legree squels and dances and forgets our cake.
6:10 Legree comes back to the cake and we mix it up and get it in the pan without any major mess. Pure luck.
6:15 Ben takes Legree outside so I can finish supper.
6:45 Supper is finally on the table (only 45 mins after normal time, oh well). Call the boys in and feel like I'm in Leave it to Beaver.
7:20 Finish supper, clean up Legree and kitchen. Wash dishes so I don't have to do them in the morning.
7:50 Play with my men (my favorite time of day). And hear about daddy's day at work and we fill him in on what we did.
8:05 Ben takes Legree to get a bath. Legree insists I come too (my only quiet time alone, but okay I'm coming).
8:35 Get Legree ready for bed, PJs on, sing songs while we get dressed
8:40 Read Jesus bedtime stories with Legree, say our prayers, drink milk and put Legree to bed (40 minutes later then normal, whoops!).

There you go... that's my normal 12 or more hour long work day. After Legree goes to bed I normally watch TV with Ben, or seperately if we've got somethingwe want to watch that the other doesn't care to see. Some nights I clean the kitchen after he goes to bed. Some nights I sew. Most nights I get my shower in after he goes to bed. There is just no good way to shower with a toddler in your house by yourself! That's asking for trouble! Most days also don't include trips to my parents house. They didn't get to see Legree this weekend, so that was an extra trip. That time is normally spent playing with playdoh, putting away clothes, painting something, coloring, looking at pictures of tractors or pumpkins on the internet, trying to learn colors/numbers/words, sliding down his slide in his room, going to buy groceries etc. Every day varies but it's all crazy, busy, creative and fun! It's hard, it's lonely being with a 2 year old all day. I don't have much to talk about because it's not very exciting to anyone but me. But it's my job, it's my life, it's my child and I LOVE IT!

21 months...

Well, Legree is now 21 months old! In just three short months my little "baby" will be 2 years old! I can hardly believe it. I know he's not a baby any more, but he's MY baby. Everyday he proves to me he's not a baby by the things he can say or do.. but I don't want to let my little baby go!

21 little updates...

1. Still LOVES John Dee (John Deere)

2. LOVES LOVES choo-choos...

3. Is a little parrot. Everything we say he just repeats! It's amazing to see his vocabularly grow so much in even just a day.

4. Has a thing for pumpkins. At first he called them pumps... now it's something like "pumpumpin". It's so darn cute!

5. Loves to swing... HIGH! Whenever he swings he says "WEE DOGGIE" "HIGH!" and giggles the higher you go

6. Very attached to me and still doesn't want me out of his sight. He has attachment issues and it's going to be rough in Sept. when he starts 2-k.... but he's very friendly and great with other kids, so he'll love it once he gets the hang of being away from family.

7. Has become the prayer police. He makes sure we pray at every meal and sometimes randomly throughout the day he'll just fold his hands and bow his head like he wants to pray. I seize it and pray with him WHENEVER he wants. Part of the joys of being home with him is I can do that with him and he can see that we can and should always stop for more time with Jesus. I guess Jesus knew what he was saying when he said we should all have faith like little children.

8. We're working on taking ba-ba (pacifier) from him. He only has it at naps and bedtime. We started Wed and so far so good. Wed was NOT fun... he still asks for it but I've been trying to distract him with extra fun activities.

9. Likes to play with play-doh now. He likes for us to roll it into a ball and he says Ball! Catch! When he's done playing he likes to go open the drawer I keep them in and put it in there.

10. Still loves food, but has become more particular about what he eats. He likes to KNOW what he's eating and if he doesn't recognize it he doesn't want to touch it. I have to convience him that he likes something.

11. LOVES to eat cheese and asks for it A LOT

12. Loves "candy" which is really just raisins. But he calls it candy and I'd rather him have that then real candy. Poor child is brain washed!

13. Loves to read books and be read to. Especially tractor or train books.

14. Still loves to help clean up and loves when you give him a project.

15. I have some herbs and he loves to help be poor "waneee" (water) on them to help them grow

16. We have to cut his hair about every other week (it really could use it every week) because it grows so fast! And it's so blonde and beautiful!

17. Daddy gives Legree a bath every night. They love their time together and have all sorts of special games and things they do in the tub.

18. Loves to feed Kilo snacks through the window in our kitchen when I open it up.

19. Knows what a duck is now and when you ask him what it is he says "DUCK!" "WUACK WUACK!"

20. Loves to share his food with anyone who will take it from him

21. Is now in love with watching Barney. Ben introduced it to him and now he's obsessed!! UGHH...

Love you little man!! Till next month!

Tractors, Trains and a boys love at 20 months...

Legree is now 20 months old! Well, he turned 20 months about 2 weeks ago. But alas, I am a bum of a blogger and haven't gotten around to his 20 month post. I was telling a friend of mine today that since our baby book we have for Legree ended at 12 months, I was blogging to keep up with all the milestones since then. That's when I realized... I forgot to even blog about all his updates!! UGH.. got to do better!





Anyways, here's 20 updates on our 20 month little man. And no, I do NOT want to acknowledge how close we are to the big 2 year birthday. He's to much of my baby to consider that he will be that old. So, we won't talk about it till it's closer and I am forced to acknowledge it!





1. He said "I duh dew" (I love you) for the first time to me! It was SOO sweet and brought me to tears. Why he said that to me? Because I was letting him play with my hair, I guess he appreciated it.


2. Is talking up a storm! He can say basically anything now!! It's amazing how much he's picked up even the past month or so. It's like suddenly, he can say, well everything!


3. Still loves to eat!! He eats like he's never eaten before at every meal and snacks in between! You would think he'd be a fat boy with as much as he eats, but he's still pretty short and average weight.


4. Still LOVES tractors, especially John Deeres. He can now tell the difference between a combine, tractor and plow. He also knows how to crank up some of Paw's tractors.


5. Loves cof-cof (coffee) and begs for it all the time. I don't give in because I think it's TERRIBLE that he even knows what it is! But his grandparents got him started with it. Since he was LITTLE he'd always beg for it from them and finally one of them (not sure if it was my parents or Ben's) gave in and gave him some thinking he wouldn't like it. Nope, he LOVED it and still does. Ben gives it to him occasionally and his grandparents give it to him all the time.


6. Loves taking his vitamins every morning and asks for "vittys" to make sure I'm staying on top of my game as mommy.


7. Loves to brush his teeth about 10 times a day. Well, not really... but if he sees his toothbrush he makes sure that we brush his teeth immediately. At least he remembers and I don't have to remember...


8. He is mommy's little helper with cleaning now. He always wanted to help while I was emptying the dishwasher, so I let him now. He picks everything up and hands it to me while I put it away. I take out the knives etc before I let him start. He helps me carry the clothes from the dryer to our bedroom, I hand him the clothes out of the washer and he puts them in the dryer and he now knows how to empty the dryer vent of all the lent! He also throws any trash he finds away now. He also loves to wipe things down after I spray them with cleaner (an all natural safe for babies type cleaner). He saw me doing it and wanted to help, so I gave him his own rag and he started wiping with me. He's SOO Good at listening to commands and does pretty well at listening when I ask him to do something.


9. LOVES LOVES LOVES trains now! It's his latest obsession! We watch Thomas the Train all the time now.


10. He has gotten very fond of our dog Kilo. So, now I let him feed her. We go and get her food and he carries it outside (With my help) and poors it in her bowl. He also, does not let me forget to feed the dog. Every day at 5 he says dog? food?... He talks to her all day through the door and tells me about "dog".


11. Thanks to Ben's dad Legree now LOVES pigs! Weird I know... but Ben's dad kept telling Legree about the pig eating corn...and I guess since Legree loves corn he found a friend in the pig. So now when he sees one on TV or on his books he goes nuts. And if you ask him what eats corn he proudly proclaims PIG! And if you ask him if he's a pig.. .he says yes!


12. He can now name most any animal and/or what noise they make.


13. He can read the words car, corn and dog. Yes, REALLY read them!


14. I am working on colors with him but he doesn't seem interested or understand the concept of colors. And I'm really not sure how to teach him... ohh well, he'll get it eventually.


15. When he's playing or being silly he'll say... 1, 2, 3.. .GO! And start running around or dancing... it's SO cute!


16. He loves to read his Bible Stories before bedtime with mommy and daddy and when we tell him to make pretty hands he clasps his hands together and bows his head while we pray. When we are done he looks up at us and smiles so big! It warms my heart. I pray that he becomes a child, boy and eventually man after God's own heart.


17. When Ben comes home every evening he runs to the door as soon as he hears the knob turning and squeals HEY DADDY!! and starts dancing around in delight!


18. Loves to go visit and spend the night over at his grandparents. At my parents he normally wakes up in the middle of the night and gets in bed with them. They love it! At Ben's parents he used to sleep through the night but the past few times he's been waking up in the middle of the night there and sleeping with Ben's dad in the recliner. Thankfully, this hasn't affected his sleep at home (or mommy and daddy would have to end sleep overs). But he sleeps great at home!! Sleeps usually from 8 to 8 at night and a 2-3 hour nap during the day. I can't complain about sleep in this house!


19. Several of my friends have little babies. He loves them and says baby and points to them. He loves to give them kisses and hugs and will bring them their ba-ba (pacifier). He even will bring them his toys to share. It's very sweet and it makes me hopeful he'll be great with any future siblings.


20. He is the cutest, sweetest, smartest and most fun little boy I've ever met! I love him to pieces and cherish every day that God has given us with him. He's growing up so fast and I love to be home with him to see him grow. I hope he will grow to appreciate me being with him every day as much as I appreciate it.





Till next month little man... mommy and daddy love you!!