The Storm Drain

If you've ever been to church with us before, then you're aware of what Jack's favorite thing about our church is. No, it's not the token nursery room cardboard blocks that look like bricks, or the Bible stories (unfortunately), or even the tiny paper cups with goldfish crackers, although those are a close second. It's the storm drain in the middle of the front lawn. After every service Jack bolts to his beloved storm drain, leans over it, throws rocks in it, looks at his reflection in the vat of nasty below, yells to hear his echo, and sometimes jumps on it. Last Sunday, Jack decided that these actions were not enough. So he dropped his glasses down the drain.

John and I saw him just as he released the orange, rubber rims into their resting wasteland. I felt like vomiting. John felt like retrieving a hundred and fifty bucks worth of toddler vision. So he did. Take a look....


John climbed down into the storm drain, grabbed the glasses and got out without getting any dirt or water on him. It was amazing. All of the other storm drain loving children were huddled around watching as if John hadn't rescued some spectacles, but instead a HUMAN LIFE!!!:) It was hilarious, and definitely one of those moments where I was glad the camera was in my purse.

Here's John inside the drain. It was a lot bigger than we imagined. Fortunately it's only run off and not sewage. I still didn't trust that or the Purell drenching I gave Jack's glasses afterwards, so he went to lunch blind and stumbling. Poor kid. We realized how much the glasses really help him! He kept asking for them, and saying "Oh no! They're in the water."

This is the look Finn had when we told him about the storm drain fiasco. He was horrified!!!

This isn't a good picture at all, but it was our attempt to capture Jack kissing Finn on his belly. Jack continues to be such a loving, big brother to Finn, and Finn can't get enough of him. He will look across the room and just start laughing at him.

And this is a fun S'More Face picture taken a few nights ago. It was a rare moment that had to be shared. Makes me want S'More. (insert courtesy laugh)


The other day at the playground, I picked up Finley and my hair happened to perfectly fall into place over his face so that it looked like my hair was his. The camera phone didn't capture the moment very well, so at our small group playgroup today, we reinacted it. I hoped we would have evidence for the doubters of the Finn Looks Like Erin Theory, but all we got was this: Finnisha, one scary looking child. John will surely destroy my life for doing this, but it was too funny not to share.

Sittin' Pretty...er...Handsome

This week was a fun week! Despite rainy days indoors, frequent outbursts of "MINE!" from Jack and an occasional potty training accident, we had fun playing with the boys and being Mommy and Daddy to them. Shelby celebrated her 3rd birthday on the 18th and her party was today. It was such a cute party. Very girly with the princess theme, which I love that seeing as how all parties we will throw will be boyish. I wish I had a picture to post of the birthday girl, but I left my camera at home. I'll steal one from Kim. It's so crazy how fast all of Jack's buddies (and Jack, too) are growing up! Bittersweet, for sure!!!!


Finley is practicing the art of sitting up. Here he is in his Sit Me Up Cozy that he got for Christmas. He loves it. He seems to feel some sort of independence when he's sitting in it and he's able to access all of his toys. Finn's still pretty wobbly and definitely can't be trusted on his own without some nearby cushion, but he's doing pretty well.

He loves looking into his mirror toy, too. Even he knows what a hottie he is.

And here's our oldest son, Crazy Raincoat Head Man! The last blog spoke of the new 'Thing on Head, Run Into Wall or Anything Else' Game. Here's Jack playing the game. Although it does appear that it's the halftime show or something because he's not in motion.

Finally he came out for a pose. What a goober! Check out the nice Handy Manny undies, courtesy of Jen and Gracen. He gets very excited when it's a Handy Manny day. Wouldn't you?

Here's another of the FinnMan sitting up. This is one of his other favorite toys, which means that it plays music. We're not fortunate enough for any of our kiddos' favorite toys to be silent ones.

Maybe he'll be a soccer player like his Mommy! Finn ended up timbering on to the pillow behind him, but he figured out that his feet made it work just as well as his hands did!

*Another poop related Funny Jack Story*
Jack has started saying that he needs to 'make a rocket ship' whenever he needs to go to the restroom #2 style. He'll usually comment on the size of the rocket ship and then bid it a nice farewell when he flushes. 'Bye Bye, Rocket Ship!' He's also 'delivered' what he described to be a 'baby car'. At least he's not lacking in the creativity department!

Some Finn Firsts

Since our last posting, Finn has had a few firsts: First bite of food and first trip to the beach! Fortunately, he loved both! Take a look....

I decided on Thursday morning to give the rice cereal a go with Finn. Funny that it was Valentine's Day, the day of LOVE, because we believe Finley did find his second true love in food. (His first love? His MOTHER, of course!!!) He did great from the first day and has improved and begged for more since then.

Continuing on the food topic, Jack has started requesting foods lately. This particular morning after consuming a cup of mandarin oranges and about half a bowl of cereal, he asked for some oatmeal and a 'real' orange. Rarely does he eat this much or this well. He's your typical grilled cheese kind of eater. Apparently, though, this oatmeal was finger-lickin' good.

The weather has been so beautiful here recently that we made a trip to the beloved playground this week. We missed you, playground!!! Jack had a blast, and he was able to get out his cabin fever energy. Our walls and tables thank him because he was literally bouncing off the walls on purpose. He will put a paper bag or shirt or any other blindfolding-ish piece on his head and take off running. Even after multiple injuries resulting in horrible bruises, he continues to do this. Something is wrong with him. We call a halt to this crazy game of his and of course tears abound.

Anyway...back to the playground. This picture above was taken after discovering Shelby and Gracen were having a very deep, girl-talk discussion on the steps. I tried to catch them without them knowing it, but they sniffed me out. Still a super cute picture of Jack's little playmates. Aren't they precious?!?

Speaking of precious...check out Finn in his fluffy, blue coat. He was the epitome of adorable the other night after we were outside in the cold roasting marshmallows with our small group. He was all smiles.

John had the great idea of going to the beach this afternoon after church. The weather was 79 degrees in Bluffton!!! When we got to the island, it had dropped it's normal 10 degrees, but it was still a beautiful afternoon. We ended up running into our next door neighbors while we were there. It was Finster's first trip to the beach! He enjoyed watching Scout run around and took in a nice bottle. Overall, I think it was a successful venture for his first time out there.

John took Jack duty for most of the afternoon, but he took a second to have a pic taken with Finn. As you can see, the teething process continues in our home. Sometimes he even double fists and manages to get all of his fingers crammed in there somehow. Finley has also taken to sucking his toes.

Despite the chilly water, Jack LOVED playing in it. He also enjoyed chasing the birds and scaring us by dropping his glasses in the ocean. Don't worry...we made it home with the glasses intact, but it forced us to think about what in the world we're going to do this summer about the glasses issue. Any advice? We've tried the croakies option and he yanks them right off.

Mommy, Finn, and Jack (in the background)

*Funny Jack Story*

Scout vomited two days ago on the carpet in our family room. I was in our bathroom with Finn, getting ready for the day, when Jack appears mumbling something about 'poopy'. The poopy word could mean many things in our house: he needs to, he already did, he is about to, he wants a lollipop, etc. Jack says, "Common' Mommy" and starts walking to the family room where he stands over the newly discovered pile of dog vomit. Jack looks at me and says, "I poop in the floor?" It was so funny. The vomit resembled poop and Jack thought that he must have done it, but by the tone of his voice it's like he was saying, I surely don't recall doing this, but it was obviously me. He then proceeded to scold himself and take away his rewards: "No, no, Jack. No poopy on the floor. No M's (M&Ms). No lollipops." After explaining that it wasn't him, but Scout, he then scolded Scout.

ATL

We spent this past weekend in Atlanta! John went to see Jeffrey for his 21st birthday and to attend a baseball fundraiser. Jack, Finn and I held down the condo fort and had some mommy son time. We also got to see our newest friend, Kelsey Galbreath, and take a trip (or 2) to a real mall!!! Gigi, Papa and Jackie were also there, which was fun. It was a great weekend, but as always we were happy to be back in our own beds and cribs. If only our cars had room for those items....we may travel a little more often!


We weren't sure how the potty training would play out during the car rides, so I made every possible purchase we might need. I got a portable potty, a potty seat cover and a pad to put in Jack's carseat should he decide to wet hit pants. None of these were actually used. Above you can see John helping Jack pee in the roadside toilet, but with the passing cars and honking horns, he was too distracted to go. So the potty training took a 4 hour hiatus.

This is Kelsey Laine Galbreath, Phillip and Shannon's daughter. She was born on the 7th, weighing a whopping 5lb 9oz! She's so tiny and precious, and she has a ton of jet black hair. Welcome to the world, sweet girl! Her brother, Carter, is doing well with her! He and Jack had fun playing while we visited.

Here's Mr. Suckadalip. This is Finn's new favorite pass time. He'll suck one of his lips into his mouth and go to town! I think we may try some rice cereal this week....oh boy. Gone are the easy bottle mornings!

After all of the ATL excitement, Jack slept the entire way home and only woke to smile for this sweet, little picture. JUST KIDDING!!!! He cried "Watch a MOVIE!" until we actually did watch a movie, only for the dvd player to break about an hour before we got home. He fell asleep just in time to take a mini nap and awoke in the worst mood ever. He screamed once we got home for no apparent reason and after two hours of me trailing him around the house, he finally went #2 on the potty. It was a nightmare. We even tried to avoid this scenario by visiting a local playground before hitting the highway back to Bluffton. Our efforts were worthless. The only thing we gained from going to the playground was learning that we're glad we don't live in Buckhead. Everyone was cordial. Let's just say we didn't exactly fit in. Our children don't have names like Kakhi, Whit, Manning, or Wilson, which are some of the names we heard being yelled around the playground. And our Chic-Fil-A kids' meals wouldn't fit in with the Snap Pea Crisps, which happened to be the only snacks circulating around the monkey bars. Jack's Target outfit happened to stick out like a sore thumb against Cornwell's collared shirt and john-johns. John and I both got back in the car and breathed a sigh of relief that we live in good, ol' Bluffton where your kids can say their names without being asked for a spelling and the occasional chicken nugget is welcome. But should you choose to have a uniquely named child who eats chick peas for fun, that's okay, too!

Last night Jack asked to hold Finn ('hold you, Finn?") We aquiesced, and saw the above adorable scene. To our surprise, Jack yelled to John, "Daddy, get the tamera(camera)!" Too funny, that Jack.

On a side note....it appears that I will die one day while watching a UNC basketball game. Perhaps during the ACC tournament of this year should we play Clemson again. They are surely giving us a run for our money. And yes, I still stand by my preference of a gazillion paper cuts over losing to dook. It's the worst.

Ducky Did It

The Super Bowl came and went, but the pizza is still here. The following pictures will show you why. I ordered it from Monster Pizza, which is a very appropriately named store. The pictures don't do it justice, but after 7 adults chowed on this thing, we only reduced it to half it's original size. Jack has enjoyed playing with the box more than anything. Finn can't eat yet, so he just stared at it like he does at everything else.


So far the Ussery household has managed to escape the visitation from any imaginary friends. Instead of an invisible companion, Jack has chosen for his beloved Baby Ducky to take on his own personality. He smiles for pictures, kisses us good night and goodbye, uses the toilet (gets thrown in the toilet), and even manages to coax Jack into trouble.

Here's the response when asking Jack to smile for the camera. He holds Baby Ducky and says cheese for him.

This picture has nothing to do with Ducky, but it's a good shot of Jack chasseing around the house in his boxer briefs. Never knew they made them this small. He's been doing well with the potty training. He's stayed dry at home for 2 days, and today he even used the toilet at CBS and went twice in the woods at Hampton Lake!:) Boys will be boys I guess.

Here's where BD starts to get Jack into trouble. Jack tipped the exersaucer over on purpose yesterday and looked at me afterwards with the look that said he knew better. Without skipping a beat he says, "Ducky did it."

Last night Papa and Gigi came over for dinner. We were all entertained with Jack's usual antics. Again, BD made an appearance during this photo op.

Finn still manages to steal a few glimpses and kisses in between his brother's craziness. He's such a cute baby.

I hope that this blog will serve as a reminder to the little things that the boys did while growing up. Finn likes to hold his hands over his eyes when he eats. It's so cute. He looks like a little otter.

Okay, so THE GAME is tonight at 9. I'm nervous. Restless Leg has settled in, and my stomach is doing flips. I don't have a good feeling with Lawson not playing. It's increasing the speed of the restless leg as I type. Just for the record, I'd rather self inflict 1 million paper cuts to my fingers than lose to dook.

S'More Mimi and Poppy

Jack was a very happy boy this weekend.  Why?  Because Mimi and Poppy came for a visit!  John and I were also spoiled because they took the morning duties of feeding, changing and tending to the boys 100%.  Thanks, Mimi and Poppy!  You're probably exhausted after your 'vacation.'  

Jack also got to go to his first circus on Saturday.  He loved it!  It was a small circus act, but they performed for about 2 hours.  Jack was entertained by the animals and acrobats, the box(es) of popcorn that I gave him, and the gigantic lollipop that the little boy behind us had.  Between those distractions, he behaved pretty well.  We managed to escape with only 1 circus souvenir, which was a success for me.  I'm an easy sell....especially when it comes to white tiger cups...which is what Jack chose to take home with him.  EIGHT DOLLARS for that silly cup filled with a slushie.  He didn't even eat it.  I did!  Anyway, the circus was very fun.  Jack kept talking about the 'circle', which I thought was his confused way of saying circus, but I think he was honestly referring to the circus ring that enclosed the performance area.  

There were a few differences I noticed from my childhood memories of the circus. One, is that the clowns are no longer very clown looking.  That's a good thing seeing as how a recent study showed that the majority of children are afraid of clowns.  They don't have much face paint, silly hair, etc.  They're pretty much reduced to sloppily dressed adults.  Depending on the day you catch me, I could qualify.  Another difference, and this may not be a difference at all, but there were plenty of adult humor jokes in the circus.  Nothing too outlandish, but stuff that may have very well been in the circuses I went to but just didn't catch.  The other difference is that I didn't find much entertainment in the tight rope walkers, guys who balance long poles on their heads while a woman stands on top of the pole, or other stunt men.  I was legitimately nervous.  Not sure if it was the nurse, mom, or adult in me that made me realize that no, these people aren't mere entertainers.  They're freaks with serious thrill issues.  Enough about the circus.  Jack loved it.  Mission accomplished.  (I would have posted pictures, but the only ones I got were of him eating popcorn with random people in the background.)

The rest of the weekend was spent having fun with Mimi and Poppy.  On Saturday night, John had the great idea of going to Hampton Lake for dinner and then roasting marshmallows over the the fire pit for dessert.  Papa Johnny joined us there, and we had a great time.  

Jack is a new fan of marshmallows.  He tries to say it, but it comes out 'mush mehows'.  We made s'mores, which were obviously fabulous.  
This is the looking in the face of a marshmallow craze.  
Mimi had fun with her boys!!!!  Poppy was off entertaining Finn.  Thanks, Poppy!

Finn sort of looks like he was smiling here, but he was actually crying.  Oh well. 

This is me loving on my hunky husband.  John is out of town for a few days on a business trip, so the boys and I are missing him from Bluffton.  This is his blog shout out.  So far he's missed Jack peeing on the floor and hearing his exclamation of "Oh Man!" afterwards, our small group Super Bowl party, Finn rolling around and smiling and eating, me jumping all over the house because of the exciting Super Bowl outcome (GO GIANTS!!!), and Scout doing his usual pee, poop, sleep routine.  It may sound like the same ol', same ol', but it wasn't without John here.  We miss you, and we love you, Daddy!!!

Funny Jack Story:  

As aforementioned, we're attempting to potty train Jack.  Tonight during our Super Bowl party Jack asked to go pee pee on the potty.  I took him.  He went, and then he looked at me and said, "Don't pee pee in your pants, Mommy."  It was funny.  Obviously.  

An Interesting Turn of Events

Potty training is in the air! After having multiple conversations with friends who are potty training their children, I decided to let Jack give it a whirl yesterday. We were at home during the morning, which is a rarity for us, so Jack got the chance to run around the house in the buff. The purpose was to see if he gives any sort of signal before he pees. And he does! His signal is to stand still and throw his hands up in the air. Yes, it's an easy signal to see, but not as easy to get to in time when I'm busy with Finn. Needless to say, we're glad our carpet came with the Scotch Guard feature. After about 3 dribbles on the carpet, 10 complete urinary successes and two #2 victories, I'd say yesterday could be considered a toilet triumph! We're not getting our hopes too high, though, as we have heard of many such temporary thrills over potty training only for it to be found dull and overrated the next week. However, we're so proud of Jack! His interest in the training has been a pleasant surprise. And if I do say so myself, he looks so cute in his Elmo tighty whities.


Sitting backwards on the potty seems to be the rave these days. I think Jack feels some sort of comfort and security with the narrow end of the seat towards his backside. Fortunately the only items that we've gone toilet diving for are baby ducky (who did get a washing machine bath afterwards) and Jack's glasses, which we thoroughly cleaned. Flushing the toilet multiple times is also a fun pass time. Another favorite is peeing for about 2 seconds, flushing, screaming "All done!", washing his hands ("with thoap"), drying his hands, and then returning to the bathroom to repeat the scene 5 more times.


Here's what Finn does all day when we're running to and from the bathroom with Jack. No, he just sat here for a few minutes so we could eat breakfast the other morning. Finn is still drinking from bottles. No food yet. I'm sure there will be some bloggable pictures from that experience. I think we may try food at 5 months.

The weather has been nice for the past two days here, so we've been maximizing our time in the great outdoors. John did a fabulous job rearranging the garage a few weeks ago, so now all of Jack's riding toys are all in one place. He's able to see the toys when we pull into the garage. Some days I hear, "Mommy! Wide bithicle!". Somedays it's, "Wide thcootuh!" Today was a scooter day. When Jack tries to put his helmet on himself, he puts it on backwards. It looks very aerodynamic and very Tour de France-ish.

This is one of Finn's many good angles. Today he managed to collapse his play gym on top of his face. He's getting better at grabbing onto things, and his kicking is coming along as well.

And Finley has definitely mastered the art of drooling. I think my friend, Heather, titled these types of pictures best when she called him "Teethy McTeetherton" Hands in the mouth, drool collar at all times....yep. Let the teething olympics begin!

Sugar, Part Deux

Thanks to wikipedia.com, Jack's current state of behavior has a definition.  It's called "sugar rush." A sugar rush is defined as a 'temporary rush of energy caused by a recent consumption of sugar or another saccharide.'  The only non-applicable part of the definition is term 'temporary.' 

Jack went to Gracen's 3rd birthday party this morning at Color Me Mine, which is a local pottery painting place.  It was such a fun, cute party!  The kids got to choose a piece of pottery to paint and we'll get to pick it up in a few days after they fire it in the oven.  I was secretly excited about the location and theme (princess) of the party because, having sons, I'll never be able to throw one of those myself.  Unless it's for me.  Which isn't completely a bad idea....hmmm.  

Gracen got a lot of princess loot and enjoyed her day.  Happy Birthday, Gracen!!!  We're so happy to be a part of your life and see you grow!

We had to leave the party early to make it to Jack's hair cut appointment.  (Somehow throwing the word 'cut' into that sentence made it much less girly.)  And what happened as soon as he sat in the chair?  "LOLLIPOP!!!"  Unfortunately he associated the chair with yet another dose of sugar.  So I weighed the options of enhanced sugar high vs. flailing 2 year old in chair yelling for a lollipop and getting cut with the lady's wielded shears.  Lollipop obviously won.  We've entered the 2nd weekend in a row of sugar insanity.   You're welcome, dentists!

Below is a picture of Finn and his new trick.  There's obviously no audio  to actually hear what the new trick is, but I thought this visual might help some.  He's into making this awful dinosaur-ish sound.  I'm not quite sure what sound a velociraptor made, but I'm thinking it may have been similar to Finn's new sound.  It's the kind of noise where you're not quite sure if he's happy or sad.  When we take him out in public, everyone says, 'Oh, poor thing.  He's upset."  Oh no.  He's just Finn.  Loud Finn.

The picture below was taken at our dinner table a few nights ago.  When we bow our heads to pray, this is what Jack does.  The image doesn't do it justice, but he usually spends the 30 seconds or so with his eyes tightly shut, moving his head all around.  He looks like he's writhing in pain.  It's insane looking.  The other insane part is that he's wearing his pajamas in this picture because he we ate so late that night, he went to bed right afterwards.  The 3rd insane thing is that I actually thought it was a good night to try and give Jack a big boy cup to drink out of.  A 'big boy' cup is a normal cup without a lid.  Pretty much add 'big boy' or 'big birl' to anything and that makes it adult-size and normal.  Needless to say, this is not the pair of PJs he wore to bed.