Home Skunked Home

I can't believe I haven't written since mommy and Hadley came home from the hospital; but it has been really busy around here. Mommy and Hadley came home Monday afternoon, and we had approximately 36 hours of calm before calamity set in. Wednesday morning, mommy and I were in the playroom playing with my trains when mommy caught a whiff of something terrible. She asked Gran if she smelled it, too, so Gran opened the back door to see if it was coming from outside. Almost simultaneously, the odor permeated the entire house. It smelled like a gas leak and a chemical fire. It was awful. Gran went to wake up daddy while mommy looked up the fire department's phone number to see what, if anything, we should do. The fire department said we needed to evacuate the house immediately, so we all piled into mommy's brand new SUV and carefully pulled out of the ice-covered driveway into the cul-de-sac. Good thing, too, because the fumes in the house had been so strong that they were making us all dizzy. Oddly enough, we seemed to keep smelling them in the car.

Moments later, not one, not two, not three, but FIVE fire trucks came roaring down our street with lights and sirens blaring. It was AWESOME!!! So much excitement - and it wasn't even 7 AM yet! It was a little scary, too, though. The fireman got out of the truck and almost immediately declared that we did not have a gas leak, but we (read W) had been sprayed by a skunk! No wonder we kept smelling the gas in the car since W was in there with us.

We spent the rest of the week trying to recover from our visit from Pepe le Pieu. Mommy and Gran did at least 50 loads of laundry; while daddy gave the boys a billion baths and scoured the carpet, furniture, and everything W came in contact with. Still, the smell lingers. It lingered on daddy when he went to Pet Smart to get some skunk-be-gone and all of the dogs barked at him. It lingered on Gran when she went to the grocery store and people kept saying they smelled something bad. It lingered on daddy and me three days later when we went to a birthday party and people kept whispering about how they smelled something awful. It lingers still.

Mommy thinks that maybe God sent us the skunk so we would be able to forget how scary Hadley's arrival into the world was. She made the mistake of saying she didn't think she'd ever be able to sleep again after Hadley was born; cleaning up after Pepe changed all that. We sleep like babies - soundly until it is time for the actual baby to eat!

In the mean time, I've at long last been rapidly expanding my vocabulary. I can name all of the "Really Useful Engines," can say "stop and go," "Ghee = Gran," "please," and "thank you," to name a few. Also, I now say "cheese" anytime I see a camera within 10 feet. I can't let my two week old sister upstage me, you know.

Speaking of which, I'm loving being a big brother. I give Hadley kisses all the time. Mommy tells me that I need to be gentler with her; but I know that Hadley really wants to bounce really high in the bouncer, and I'm all too happy to oblige. I also know she doesn't mind when I try to thoroughly examine her eyes, nose, and mouth with my fingers.

The End of the World As I Know It

Well, I finally met this little sister I've heard so much about. I'll tell you more about it when she and mommy come home from the hospital (which should be on Monday), but until then, this is how it went when I met her for the first time.

I really like Hadley's toes - and the fact that she has a crib with wheels!

Giving her the Official "Mr. T" Inspection

Even though she looks nothing like me, she likes Pacis, too! Clearly, we're related.

Gran and Nana helping me with my initial assessment

I have something Hadley doesn't...

Before going back to terrorize the nurses, I just had to check out those toes one more time.

Turning Two

I will post more later, but wanted to bookmark a place for my second birthday. It rocked.

Heading to the Movies to Celebrate Turning the Big Two

Blowing out the Candle on my Carrot Cake

My Super Cool "Cars" Cake we had when some of My Grandparents Came to Visit

You Could Actually Drive the Car on the Cake!!!

Mommy Looked Really FAT at my Birthday Party

Milking It for All It's Worth

Well, I'm enjoying my last days as an only child and trying to make the most of it. I'm trying to spend most of the day in my pajamas - and insisting that mommy take a picture of me everytime I see the camera even remotely near her hands.

I figure I need to start practicing my smile for all of the pictures I'm going to be taking with my new sister next week. Plus, I won't have the limelight all to myself much longer, so I need to ham it up while I can...and work on upping my game so I'm still numero uno around here.
Daddy also needs some attention, so he bought a couple of fedoras, which has really riled mommy. She thinks they are too silly - almost as silly as I look when I wear them.

I've also been spending as much time as possible on the phone with the grandparents. Usually, I give them the silent treatment so they think I am concentrating really hard on what they are saying to me. In truth, I'm just punishing them because they are sending presents to the house for this little girl who hasn't even been born yet and are leaving me high and dry. Well, not really high and dry, but every package that arrives on this doorstep needs to be for me and they need to understand that.

Of course, the biggest question of all is whether or not I'll be sharing my blog with this thing that is occupying mommy's tummy and making it impossible for me to sit on her lap. Personally, I think she should have her own, but I don't know how long it is going to take for her to learn how to type. I was about 11 weeks old before I started blogging, so we'll see if she can meet the high bar I have set for her. Until then, I may have to post updates for her. I've already thought of a great name for her website, though: Danja Days. In case you didn't know, Mommy has decided that Hadley's street name will be Danja (as in "danger"). If she and daddy can't decide on a middle name soon, that might be her legal name as well!

Happy New Year

I've been hearing people are upset because I haven't blogged in awhile. All I can say is I haven't seen any of you blogging--or any of your comments on my blog since my Thanksgiving post--either! We had a fabulous Christmas, and I'm slowly warming up to the idea of this Santa character. Apparently, he heard that I'm not all that jazzed about him, so he pulled out all the stops and brought me a car of my very own - one that I can actually drive. It is really cool, so I think I may give the fat guy in red a second chance. I really enjoyed opening my presents on Christmas morning, which rather annoyed daddy who wanted me to tear into one and move right on to another. What can I say...Mommy and I like to savor the day and make it last as long as possible.

Opening my first present, a dinosaur book. I spent a good 10 minutes reading this before realizing there were other things--things with wheels--waiting for me.

My very first car - a convertible, no less!

Naturally, I had to test drive my new wheels, with a car in hand of course.

Mommy and daddy gave me an M&M car. You push down on the red M&M's arm and the trunk pops open and pours out M&Ms. It rocks!

Making a big train on my new train table. Choo choo!

New cars from the movie "Cars." They are my version of American Express - I don't leave home without them.

To ring in the new year (and to prepare for the imminent arrival of my baby sister), we went car shopping. As many of you know, daddy likes to get a new car about as often as most people buy new shoes. He's been driving the Volvo ever since he traded in mommy's Mini Cooper when I was born, so he was getting the itch. Mommy, however, declared that it was her turn to choose the vehicle and that we needed something with optional third row seating to accommodate our rapidly growing family and all the company we have. She decided that a Honda Pilot was the way to go, so we spent last Sunday in heaven, which is what I have dubbed the Honda dealership. I was there for almost three hours and "test drove" at least four different floor models all by myself while mommy and daddy sorted through paperwork and other stuff that didn't seem nearly as fun as honking the horn of a bright blue sports car. I think they are still trying to get my fingerprints off of the doors.

In other news, I am fighting a cold, have mastered the word "no" (which I pronounce very similarly to Homer Simpson), and have decided I need to wear my Thomas sunglasses to bed at night. Other than that, I'm just trying to milk being an only child for the next three weeks.

Lovin' the Ladies

Yesterday at lunch with mommy, a girl walked by wearing a mini-skirt, fishnet tights, and high-heeled boots. I spied her the second she walked in the door and, thankfully, she lingered near our table while getting her utensils and drink. The whole time she was there, I never took my eyes off of her and just kept laughing and saying, "ho, ho, ho." If only I knew how to say, "Hubba hubba..."

Preparing for Christmas (and Big Changes)

We've been busy readying the house for that joker Santa's arrival. I keep telling mommy and daddy that I don't need Santa when I have grandparents, but they insist on subjecting me to him year after year.


To help decorate, I put up my very own nativity scene in the dining room. You probably didn't realize that John Deere was at the birth of our Lord, but let me assure you that he was. How else do you think the shepherds got all the way from the fields to the stable?




I've also been adjusting the decorations on the tree. Mommy clearly did not have some properly positioned.


To reward all my hard work, mommy and daddy let me open my Christmas present from Nana and Papa. It is a car bed for big boys!!!! Daddy and I put it together last Sunday night and I've been sleeping in it ever since. Mommy bought me some really cool car sheets to go on it, and I even have a magic pillow, underneath which all of my pacifiers seem to magically appear at bedtime. I think it is hilarious and quite possibly the coolest pillow ever.