My precious first born baby boy

I am so glad I started this blog, because I would be devastated to lose the moment I had with Caelan last night.

Since he was about 3 months old, I've been singing him Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am." It became "his song." For some reason, though, over the last few months, I haven't been singing it to him as much... just the craziness of life, I guess. I haven't been singing as much in general, and when I do sing, I tend to sing regular kid songs, like Twinkle Twinkle and Ants Go Marching. But last night, as I was rocking him in the chair in the living room, I realized he wasn't really ready to go to sleep yet. I pulled him into a hug and sang him "The Way I Am." When I was done, he asked for more "Way I Am," then after I sang it a second time, he wanted it again. At one point, he looked up into my eyes and, in his little angel voice, whispered "Again, Mommy? Again and again and again?" I almost cried on the spot. I love that he loves that song. I love that he loves me singing to him. I love him SO SO SO much.

Teensy Caelou with Mommy...

From Caelan - First month

Big boy Caelou with Mommy...

From Caelan Louis - Twenty Sixth Month

'Cause I love you more than I could ever promise... and you take me the way I am.

Recent Caelanisms, catch phrases, and sweet moments

"NO WAIF!" (meaning "No way!")

"I don't think so!"

"I don't want to!"

While lying on Daddy's chest getting rocked to sleep: "It sounds like a little drum!" (hearing Daddy's heartbeat)

Mommy: "Caelan, do you feel sick or do you feel fine?"
Caelan: "I feel HAPPY!"

Mommy: "Caelan did you have a nice morning with Daddy or a grumpy morning with Daddy?"
Caelan: "I had a HAPPY morning with Daddy!"

Heard by Mommy while sleeping with Caelan on a recent night when he was sick: "Pa... pa... POOPIE!" followed by an explosion of giggles, all while sound asleep.

My New Year's Resolution

Welcome New Year! Welcome 2010! My New Year's Resolution at the beginning of this new decade is to do a better job capturing all the big adventures and little moments in my family's life. So, without further ado, I present "Scrapping and Yelling," the new McIlwraith family blog. Our blog's title comes from one of Andy's and my favorite movies The Royal Tenenbaums. For those of you reading this via LiveJournal, I will repeat the quotation at the top of the blog for you...

"I'm having a ball. Scrapping and yelling and mixing it up. Loving every minute with this damn crew." ~Royal Tenenbaum

That's how Andy and I feel every moment of our lives, with each other and with our two amazing sons. Life, with all its immense goodness coupled with the bad we're challenged to overcome, is an absolute PLEASURE. We don't want to forget the things that leave us laughing or crying or just in AWE every day, and we want to share them with loved ones who can't be with us all the time. So... welcome to our world!

I leave you with a few silly pictures of our crazy crew, courtesy of the lovely and talented Jessica Manzano: