Reagan and I are fighting...

 

I take two seconds to bring Ashton to the bathroom only to return to mass destruction.  Reagan expertly swiped everything off of the coffee table and ate handfuls of my hummus  That little punk! 

Christmas with the Cathcarts

We decided on a whim to go to Charleston for Christmas.  Jimmy rearranged his schedule about 10 times to figure out the perfect mix of work and vacation leave, and all of the juggling enabled us to spend the holiday together.  Ashton was quite relieved that Santa was able to find him despite the short notice...

Before I release the much anticipated Christmas pictures, I thought I should brag a bit about the kids' most recent tricks.  First of all, I caught Reagan climbing up the third step yesterday and today, she started clapping.  I'm telling you, this kid is a genius and must get it from her mother.  (I can say this since I am the writer and editor. :)  I know that every child develops at different rates, so I haven't signed her up for the Gifted and Talented track at school... yet... but we are watching from the sidelines in amazement as she goes through developmental milestones at what seems like hyperspeed.  I think she also gets her competitiveness from her mother...

Reagan standing.  Please excuse the photography, I finally caught her with a camera ready!

Little Miss Curious testing out Grammy and Papa's baby proofing... or lack thereof.

In other news, our little guy is fully potty trained!  To the non-parent readers the significance is lost on you, but every mother and father in the world knows what an accomplishment this is.  As a parent, it is like finishing a marathon, without killing anyone.  A little known fact is that about 90% of the training has nothing to do with the child.  You learn how to recognize the "pre-pee signs" while constantly doing math (without a calculator) to determine if too much time has passed since the last toilet visit, and then literally dropping whatever you are doing to make a chaotic dash to the restroom upon the slightest utterance of "pee" or "poop," and finally, forcing yourself to celebrate every time any activity occurs, no mater the biological significance, and without regard to the time of day, your current mood, or energy level.  I feel like it is safe to call him potty trained since Ashton did not have one accident on our Christmas car trip, totaling over 22 hours.   Both Jimmy and I were shocked every time we checked his little pull-up for the disappearing rocket only to find it fully intact.  What a rock star... (Truth be told, we did have two very uncharacteristic accidents at Trevor and Jo's house, but I am chalking that up to all of the distractions including the oh-so-cool fish tank, five dogs, and hoards of people...I mean, give the kid a break, right?)

Ashton sporting a vintage (circa 1985) Buffington Foot Specialists t-shirt as his pants were being washed at Trevor and Jo's.

 
Christmas in Charleston was perfect, due entirely to my family.  My parents took it upon themselves to play Santa with the help of Elf Lauren, so there was very little for Jimmy and I to do.  The house was decorated exactly as it had been for every Christmas in my memory.  Santa even brought balloons, a signature Buffington family tradition and Ashton's favorite part of the morning. When we officially take over Santa duties Jimmy and I have a lot to live up to.  We had a great time during our short 60 hour jaunt, and it was more than worth the sleep deprivation.  Ok, now for the pictures...

Offering words of admiration to the chef on Christmas eve. 

Trevor, Chelsea, Ashton and Grammy

Super couple Trevor and Jo.  10 years and going strong!

Ashton with his Godparents.

Lauren, Ashton, and Papa, who is feeling sick, but still smiling.

Jimmy, Reagan, and Grammy after dinner.

Christmas morning!

This is the coolest "motorcycle" ever, according to Ashton.

The joy on Reagan's face and her constant squeals are contagious!  She is having the time of her life on that riding toy!

Ok, which one of you has a driver's license?

Unorthodox but functional!

Patty and Reagan became fast friends.

Either I am waiting for my turn at the wacky gift exchange or a drink from Jimmy, but I am still cheery!

Jon and Patty Lazzeri (Joanna's parents) spent Christmas with the Buffs.  We have all decided it wouldn't be Christmas without them!

Love our wacky gift exchange!  Trevor just scored a rasta man hat from Jon.

Lauren we hate you!  That was supposed to be a wacky gift, but you somehow make it look chic.

Sweet baby Rea is happy.  Are we surprised? 

Jimmy enjoying a brew.

Joanna had a rasta baby with Trevor! 

Catch Phrase should be an Olympic sport. 

Happy New Year!

Snowflake Elegance Noir Christmas

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Let it snow!

As anyone with a heartbeat has heard, it snowed in the DC metro area this week.  How fun, our first snow fall!  I personally love snow.  I grew up in the south, so it has always been a novelty.  Additionally, my parents took us skiing from a very young age, so snow always meant lots and lots of fun. 

I felt it my motherly obligation to take the kids outside (by myself, I might add because Jimmy was working) and play in the 20 degree weather.  This is where most other more wise mothers would have said, "It might be better to wait until tomorrow, which is supposed to be in the 40s."  But no.. when I get my mind set on something it is pretty much impossible to redirect me...  So we went out in the snow...  Ashton had been talking about the snow all day, so I knew he would get a kick out of it.  We got all suited up, which is a PROCESS to say the least, and out we went into the white paradise.

Ha.  Yeah right...  To be fair, Ashton did love the snow.  He was jumping around and running in it, and probably could have been out there all day.  Reagan on the other hand was in misery.  From the start, she hated, hated, hated all of the snow gear.  But then I thought if I could just get her outside she would see that all of this was worth it.  Not.  She just wailed the entire time.  And, because I am no longer in the running for mother of the year, I decided, smile or not, we were taking a picture.  I kept hoping my neighbors wouldn't look outside and see me forcing the two into a picture because I know I looked like a picture psycho.  At least we have it for memory's sake, right?!

Reagan is clearly not jazzed and Ashton is mad because he wants to run around. 

Ah that's better!  Ashton enjoying the snow. 

Ashton Turns 2

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Reminicing on the old days

With two kids of two different genders being under two years apart, the house has started to fill with stuff without our noticing... until I decided to shampoo our carpets... Our neighbors let us borrow their steam cleaner and I decided to go to town on our basement two nights ago.  I had to drag a bouncer, a play mat, a jumper thingy, and countless baby toys to the laundry room and it occurred to me that all of the aforementioned items have since been outgrown by our kids.  Humph.  Time flies. 

Luckily, we have a couple of close friends who have kids who can use these items and the piles and piles of clothes in our kids' closets.  So, I have since gone though all of our gently used baby gear and given it to our friends for their children.  It feels really good to have it used by another child since baby stuff is expensive and used for a total of 5 minutes. 

Tonight while giving a bath to the kids, I wrapped Reagan up in a bath robe, used tonight for the first time, that I plan to give away tomorrow (incidentally, another pricey, very cute, but totally impractical item) and immediately thought of a picture I took of Ashton about one year ago.  I think going through all of this baby stuff has made me sentimental.  We are so blessed to have such happy and healthy little ones.  The stuff we surround ourselves with is just the icing...

Reagan- December 10, 2010

Ashton- October 14, 2009

Swiper no swiping!

A week ago we learned that Jimmy will be moving to a new position at the beginning of January and relief filled the air.  I won't steal his thunder and tell you what exactly he'll be doing, but he will be getting out of police work and we will be able to get off food stamps.  (ok, the food stamp part is a joke, but this new job is not only a great opportunity, its pay is a heck of a lot better than being a police officer.)    Jimmy is rightfully sad to be saying goodbye to the good people of the New Carrollton City Police Department, his take home car, and beloved gun belt.  He'll get over it soon enough.   I insisted we celebrate this accomplishment with sushi and a babysitter :)))

Another milestone from last week included my entering the fun category of "late twenties."  yay.  I was surrounded by birthday wishes and had a chance to exercise my right as the birthday girl and had some good ol' fun.   Friday the 3rd I went out for dinner and drinks with former co-workers while Jimmy babysat and Saturday Jimmy and I went out with Kevin, Katie, Justin and Megan for Hibachi and bowling.  Both nights were a perfect break from my daily routine and I had a great time with friends. I couldn't think of a better way to ring my next year.

This past week, Ashton has been pant-free as part of potty training and we have had no accidents!  We are going to be adding special underwear to the mix in the next day or so, so he can get used to pulling them down.  I think we're going to be fully trained by Christmas.   We have a little routine after he uses the potty: we do the pee-pee dance, wash our hands (as a little reward, he can wash as LONG as he wants), then we get a sticker.  He's so proud of himself. However, according to Ashton, the entire family is in training.  You haven't lived until you've seen Ashton run in the bathroom and yell "YAY DADDY!!" and start the pee-pee dance when Jimmy successfully uses the toilet.  This never gets old.

Ashton going potty all by himself!  (please ignore lunch all over his shirt)

Sweet baby Rea doesn't stand idly by with all of the attention on Ashton, so she decided to start pulling up and standing this week.  She'll just stand with nothing to hang on to for a couple of seconds, which hasn't given me enough of a chance to grab the camera and snap a shot, but I keep trying. Also as she gets older and more mobile she has started to really get on Ashton's nerves.  I call her Swiper because she'll come right over to him and swipe whatever strikes her fancy.  He is incredibly tolerant of her, but after a couple swipes of his paci or toy he gets agitated, so I've taught him to say "Swiper, no swiping!"  Just like Dora. 

Reagan playing with her music table.  Just saw the doctor and she's 17 lbs and 9 oz and 26 3/4 in long.  Our peanut is getting big!

Here are some recent videos of the kids: 

Video of Ashton showing some tricks
Video of Reagan eating
Ashton washing his hands

Everything happens for a reason

In starting this blog only a few short weeks ago, I remember thinking to myself, "why must you continue to add to your already overflowing plate?"  I felt overwhelmed by the task of being home with the kids all day and thought this blog was going to be another burden, but I LOVE IT!  This is so much fun!

However, transitioning into this new role has not been a walk in the park.  I have gained so much more than I ever thought I would, but I have lost a few things in the process:  my identity as a trail-blazing working mother, my mostly 9-5 work day, and a few relationships, to name a few.  Additionally, a SAHM has alot of pressure, thanks to all of the super women out there...  Most of the pressure revolves around the children being a very public display of my parenting skills.  I feared that everyone who met them would look at me and think "man, that woman should not have any more children!"  Which truth be told, is something I have thought many a time when an unruly child disrupted my dinner/movie/shopping/etc (clearly wasn't a parent when I thought those judgmental thoughts!).   Anyway, I come to you tonight refreshed, confident, and very, very happy.  I have grown over the past month and am enjoying being home with the kids tremendously and am not worried one bit about them becoming ax murderers.  I am seeing them learn right before my eyes, and I  might be giving myself too much credit here, but I feel like they both have had huge growth spurts due to my interactive and often embarrassing play with them.  We're getting into a little rhythm here and I am really liking how things are going. More than ever, our house is full of laughter and quality time together and for that I am eternally grateful.

Picture with Santa!

Ashton is excited to see Santa... just has a unique way of expressing this...

Of course Sweet Rea has no issue with Santa!

Ashton is so proud of his ability to put on his own hat!  I love how much he enjoys our time together. 

 

It's beginning to look alot like winter.. Reagan's pictured here in the stroller on our walk.

 

Reagan as a bundle of purple (my favorite color on her!) after the walk.

Babies this good should be cloned!

Mommy will do anything necessary to get Ashton to cover up a minor boo boo that he keeps making worse!