Why lying is sometimes a good thing...

For those of you who know Al, you know that he is a rather picky eater.  I'll be honest - I wasn't prepared for this.  I mean, where does this come from?  As you know, my side of the family thoroughly loves to eat and the Holland side, while not AS into food as my side is, they still enjoy it and Josh still grew up with the "just try it - if you don't like it you don't have to eat it, but you must try" rule that I did. 

So, where did we go wrong with Alex?  Avery pretty much ate anything and everything from the day that she started on solids and we still have no problem with her eating habits. In fact, just the other night, she ate nearly all of Josh's parent's scallops and then had some filet and then some duck.  Really???  Alex?  Well, Alex stuck with his chicken fingers...which, brings me to a confession....he has had WAY too many chicken nuggets in his lifetime.  But, here is the thing - and, not that this is an excuse, but we're really freaking busy and sometimes (far too often), dinner just needs to consist of whatever is easiest.  And, by "easiest," I mean, 1) quick and 2) something that will not lead to a meltdown because, really, that is not what any of us needs at the end of a long day and before a long night ahead of baths, getting ready for bed, etc.  So, chicken nuggets it's been. 

I will say that it started out with baked chicken nuggets, which weren't great, but they at least made me feel somewhat better, but then the grocery store stopped selling them for some reason, so it then turned into chicken nuggets that I would assume are fried and that have more sodium in them than I care to even read about.  Well, finally, I decided that Alex is now of the age where this just isn't going to fly.  He is old enough now that he needs to start to try new foods and he needs to stop eating chicken nuggets.  So, how did we start this new phase in his life?  We lied!  We told him that he has now eaten every single chicken nugget that was ever made and there just aren't any more for him to eat.  And, he believed us!  :)  Now, that doesn't mean that he has stopped asking for them, because he still does.  However, we have moved on.  We are now eating baked chicken instead of nuggets.  No salt, no nothing.  Just baked chicken.  And, he likes it.  AND, he has started to ask to try things all on his own!!!!  So far, he has tried:

Prime Rib
BBQ Ribs
Pizza
Spaghetti
Mannicotti (with spinach and all!)
Steak
Brats
Pork (which we said was chicken, but that's beside the point..)


You may be saying to yourself, Whitney - those things aren't necessarily much better for him than chicken nuggets.  My answer to that is a) it is a VARIETY and that is really what we are trying to achieve here and b) we really don't have a problem with anything other than the main course.  He LOVES broccoli, most fruit and black beans.  So, I do think that he has had a well rounded diet in the sense that he has a fruit and vegetable with every meal.  It is just the main thing that is a problem.  So, we've made progress, people.  We've made progress. 

There is Hope

Alex built this "train" the other night.  You may look at it as just a random line of toys.  I look at it as

hope...

As you may notice, half of the line is quite organized...

The other half?  Not so much.  In fact, it is the exact opposite of organized, as he took just about every toy in the living room and just threw it onto the chair in a random pile.

This is not the end I would like for you to focus on - we'll refer to this end as the "Whitney End."  The back half of the train?  We'll refer to this as the "Lexi End."  Because, you see - my sister is FAR more organized than I am or than I will ever be.  Some may even say she is a bit OCD.  So, THIS is why I have hope.  CLEARLY Alex has SOME of Lexi in him somewhere and even if it is just a little bit, it is a little bit more than I have.  The idea of a Holland growing up to be organized?  Pretty exciting. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

As you can see, it was another unbelievable morning of holiday picture taking in the Holland household today.  Bless her heart...

 As you can see, even Al is becoming a bit concerned...

 Oh - and, you can't see it in the pictures,but Alex's shirt says I 'heart' you where the I and the O and the U would typically go in the alphabet - it's pretty cute.  Thanks again, Grammy for the annual Valentine's day shirts!

Today

was crazy hair and mix/match clothes day at school!!!

I have to say that I think that my throw-it-together outfit was a pretty good mix/match outfit.  The hair?  Well, that is as crazy as Avery would let me make it. 

Making Progress

In the singing department - not so much in the "it isn't really all that manly to be wearing pink" department...

As it turns out, the big Al man just may have inherited some of his mother's musical abilities.  As you may remember, Al's first performance of Twinkle, Twinkle went like this and then we moved up in the world and his second performance went like this. 

Well, people, I'm happy to report that I do believe Big Al has mastered Twinkle Twinkle AND you can even understand MOST of the words...

Surprise!

Yesterday was my mom's 60th birthday.  So, given that it was kind of a big milestone, we wanted to make sure it was extra special.  And, what better way to do that than to have me show up for the celebrations!  :)  Kidding.  Kind of.

Given that it is my busiest time at work, I wasn't sure we could make it happen, but we ended up finding flights that allowed for me to not miss any work. Granted, that meant being in Houston for approximately 36 hours and arriving at 12:30 in the morning on Friday night/Saturday morning, but it was worth the trip. 

So, clearly, given my arrival time, Mom was dead asleep when I got to the house, but just to make sure she didn't see me, William and Lexi thought it would be best if I slept on a totally different level of the house than her.  For those of you who are familiar with her house, you may be asking yourself, but there is just their bedroom on the first floor, so where could you have possibly slept?  Silly you.  The closet, of course!  Don't worry - this is Texas after all and everything is bigger in Texas - including my little sister's closet, which as it turns out, can fit a QUEEN SIZE BLOWUP MATTRESS in it.  But, I'm not jealous. 

William had a great plan for the actual surprise.  Mom was in the family room with the girls, so I waited in the bedroom (which is right next to the family room) while William went into the kitchen and - 1) Asked my mom if she wanted some coffee, 2) Asked Lexi if she wanted coffee and then 3) "Whitney, would you like any coffee?"  We missed that part on the video, but you can at least see my mother's reaction, which was pretty cool...

The rest of the trip was great.  That day, Lexi, Mom and I went shopping and then went to lunch - it was 70 and sunny, so we were able to sit on the patio and enjoy a bottle of wine - just the girls.  It was great!  That night, we went to dinner at a local Brazilian Steak House.Holy meat, batman!  I think that I consumed my weight in cow, pig, lamb and chicken. But, it was delicious.

I think that mom actually ended up with 3 cakes out of the deal.  This one from the restaurant...

And, this one that Lexi made for that evening after dinner decorated with....tea lights?  Apparently, the Davie household was out of candles at the time...

And, then Lexi made her cupcakes on her actual birthday.  Note to anyone who is reading this - I too would enjoy 3 different forms of cake on my birthday, please.  Thanks for your consideration.
Sunday, we just relaxed (as you can see I was taking full advantage of no kids and no responsibilities that day) at the house and had Mom open her presents. 

Not only was it great being able to surprise mom for her bday, but it was also really nice to get away and recharge for a bit.  Both kids were being rather challenging the week before I left, so I really needed a break.  At one point, Josh looked at me and in all seriousness asked if I was actually going to return home after the trip.  When he asked me?  I wasn't sure.  However, you will be happy to know that I was very excited to return and I do in fact like my kids all over again (don't worry - I never stopped loving them. But, liking them? Well, I may have stopped that for just a bit), so it was a successful trip on many fronts!  :)

Happy 60th, Mom!