plastics, dyes, and DIRT!!

Do you remember back in the day when we used to drink those sugary sweet juice drinks that were in the little jug looking things? I forget what they were called, but boy they sure were GOOD on a hot day. Well I bet you a hundred bucks they were FULL of red dye 40, and were in plastic containers that contained BPA, not to mention they probably contained 50 tablespoons of sugar per guzzle...but hey, they were cheap right?!
Man, we had it easy back then....and so did our parents! I'm constantly trying to keep up with the conflicts that plague parents these days. Lately all I seem to do is check labels, read about vaccines, and plastics, chemicals, etc....and try to figure out WHAT THE HECK TO FEED THESE kids!! I do the best I can...I got rid of the BPA plastics, I try to avoid red dye 40 and other artificial coloring. High fructose corn syrup is on the black list, and I have switched to organic milk...and now, I really don't want to eat, drink, or play with anything from China either. There you have it. I AM one of "those" Moms. What can I say I want the best for my children....and I don't want to find out 40 years down the road that their colon cancer was from the pesticides, hormones, and chemical that I fed them when they were kids.

But at the same time, I no longer use those plastic mats that stick to the table for Cohen to eat off of in restaurants, he eats off the table....he hardly ever wears bibs, and he has already had eggs, chocolate, ice cream and french fries....he's not even a year old yet! So I am still a bit of a slacker Mom. Poor Caleb suffered a fry-less existance until he was at least 18 months old! Oh, and I caught Cohen in the toilet the other day....not just splashing happily, but with a wad of wet toilet paper hanging out of his mouth. Yeah, yeah, HA HA....very funny...all I can say is it's a good thing I forgot to put the clorox tablet in the toilet last week!

Kids will be kids, they get dirty, they eat stuff they shouldn't, they stay up past their bedtimes and they love it :)


A couple weekends ago we took the opportunity to let the kids do just that. My sister was in VA for a horse show, so we thought it would be fun to go and visit. We decided to rough it, and camp out. Caleb LOVES camping, Cohen not so much. But that was probably because I made him sleep in a winter hat.....(we went to tuck the horses in right before bed)


He did however love the cheeseburgers

and ice cream, and most of all the DIRT!! I think he ate 2 lbs of it....Caleb enjoyed the grunginess too, and the junk food, and most of all his PEPSI!! That is what he had for dessert. And he was a stark raving lunatic from it....good thing it only happens on special occasions :) Here is Caleb in all of his dirty sugary glory...

Sometimes...I think we have to let the rules slide...and let the kids be kids...even if it involves eating a little horse poop :)

Cohen~the forgotten child :)

I promised to spend some more blog time on Cohen, so this is for you little buddy :) I did not realize how consuming Caleb was of my time...that is until he was gone (at school). No I didn't give my kid away LOL. But honestly, my day revolves around my kids. Caleb mostly, and Cohen until now has just been along for the ride. Now, with Caleb at school for a few hours, Cohen gets to run the show! It is very quiet with out him here, but Cohen is learning to compensate for him. He is quite the jabber jaw now that he is trying to increase his vocabulary. We currently have Mama, Dada, some "Ba" sound that I believe means "Caleb", and he is starting to sign as well. He is signing "milk" pretty consistently, which is ironic since I really want to be done nursing when he is a year old....which, well, sadly isn't too far away. More on that later!

I am really enjoying having some more one on one time with Cohen, and it is so interesting to see how different he is from Caleb. He is quite sassy, as you can see here. He LOVES to eat, and loves stuffing his little sausage fingers into his mouth whenever he can.

He is very determined....I'm pretty sure he'll be walking before he's a year old vs. Caleb who pushed his little wagon around until he was 15 months!! He was SOOO cautious. Not this one, he is a risk taker :) I know, I know, that just spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. He is such a doll, and like his brother, a total Mama's boy. But, the one he really looks forward to seeing everyday....Caleb. He loves his brother. He misses him like crazy, and is so happy to see him get in to the car when we pick him up at school...he just lights up. He was smiling at Caleb when I snapped this picture.
And here is a little video of the boys playing...I believe Cohen thinks HE is hitting Caleb with the ball...or maybe he just thinks Caleb is really stupid for hitting himself with the ball...well for whatever reason, this kid has a belly laugh like no other, so turn up the volume and enjoy!

first words

Cohen said "Mama" :) ...he has yet to say Dada....I think he might be the only child in history to say Mama first....I think he might be a genius!