Sunday, January 29, 2012

Pulling My Hair Out Kind of Morning

I just about pulled my hair out at church today!  It was one of those days that started great but after a few rash decision and rushing around, it just got worse.  We haven't been taking Trey to church to keep him from getting sick, but today we did.  He was an angel!  I mean seriously, I could hardly believe this quiet, still little boy who kept whispering "I love you, Mama" into my ear the whole hour long service was mine.  Then Pj had to leave to run some work errands and I had both Trey and Ethan for the church luncheon and meeting.  Big mistake!  Big, big, big mistake.  Turns out Trey was so good because he was so tired.  And Ethan was tired too.  And there began the screaming, kicking, throwing of food, running around like crazy, talking loudly during the meeting....  And so I ended up leaving the luncheon early, not having had a chance to eat much of anything myself, with two screaming kids while the pastor was "trying" to lead the congregation meeting.  I just wanted to hold up a sign as I walked out saying, "Yes, I'm the mom who has no control of her children!"

So I got home, plopped them both in bed (Ethan took a bit longer since he was really, really tired and upset), and now I am googling ways to control your two year old with no success.  So if you ever had a 2 year old or you have a 2 year old now.... please don't judge... just help me with ideas on how I can get him to obey!  Sometimes I feel like he controls me;-)  In fact, the other day we were out and he did something he wasn't supposed to and knew it (I forget what exactly) and before I could say a word he looked at me and said, "I bad, Mama.  Timeout!!"  LOL, what do you do with that??

Thankfully, last night was a good night for Ethan.  Drum roll please.... he slept the whole entire night without a feeding!!  I don't know if this has EVER happened.  He went 9 hours!  It was amazing.  I woke up wondering if he was okay... he was.  I don't know what happened... but I hope it happens again tonight!  It would have been smart if I had gone to bed when he did at 10 last night... but I didn't get in till 1am since I was waiting up for Pj (who had to chaperone a school dance, poor guy!).  Maybe one of these days I'll have more sense!

So if you have any words of advice, any blogs, websites, books, whatever for dealing with a crazy 2 year old, feel free to send them my way!  Or, if you have a straight jacket that is toddler sized you don't need... feel free to mail it to me (that would work too);-)

All this being said, I love my boys very much... even if my hair is turning prematurely grey!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Bath Buddies

Tonight I decided to save time by bathing the boys at the same time.  So Trey was in the tub and Ethan was in his infant tub on the floor of the bathroom.  It worked out pretty well... and there was double the water on the floor!  Anyways, I thought it might be fun to hold Ethan in the big tub with Trey to splash in the deeper water.  He loved it!  He was just kicking like crazy and Trey thought it was hilarious and started laughing... which made Ethan start laughing.... and pretty soon both of them were kicking and laughing at each other so hard their faces were turning red.  I wish I could have videotaped it... it was the cutest, funniest thing ever!!  Maybe we can get them to do that again some other night:-)

I love my boys:-)
















Bye Lilbit

This is our last day with Lilbit.  We decided a week or two ago that it was time to give him away because he was biting/scratching at Trey and also just the chaos of having a dog in a condo with two little kids.  Anyways, there have been many times lately when I've been so angry and ready to lock the dog outside... but at the same time he has been with us ever since we got married.  We bought him a few weeks after we got married and he was only 6 weeks old.  Now he's 5!  We'll be taking him tomorrow morning to a lady who belongs to the Maryland Dachshund Rescue Mission.  I feel like this is the best option.  They are very careful about who they give dogs to for a adoption and obviously people contacting them will specifically want a dachshund.  Lilbit also really needs surgery for a hernia and we just can't afford to do that.  So this way he can get the care he needs.  I'm sure he will end up with a good new family.  As crazy as it has been lately, we will miss him and I'm sure we will be tearing up tomorrow morning. 

Good memories about our dog... always cuddled with us, licked our face.  When I was pregnant he would always stay by my side especially as if he was protecting me.  He and Trey were buddies and played fetch and chase all the time.  He would lay at Ethan's feet when Ethan was play on the floor.  He had the funniest howl!  We had lots of fun trips to the park with Lilbit and it was always fun to watch him run around without his leash, his ears flapping.  He wouldn't stop running... but he always just went in circles and stayed with us (for the most part;-)).  Most of all we will miss how he always wanted to cuddle with us!

Here are some pics of Lilbit... I guess a little farewell tribute to him!





Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I really should be getting dinner ready, but both boys are sleeping (yes, still sleeping at 5pm) and I'm enjoying the peace and quiet on the couch with a warm blanket and hot tea!  What else have I been enjoying?  A week without sickness (well, people sickness at least... the dog is another matter I won't discuss)!  I didn't realize until it was over how tired and worn out I was until it was over and I'm praying we stay healthy for a long, long time... although with a toddler into everything I know that probably won't happen.  Thankfully Ethan has remained pretty healthy through all the colds that have been in our house.  Its Trey who gets them bad, poor little guy.  He's a trooper though!

Ethan had his 4 month checkup last week!  I can't believe how fast he is growing.  He's now over 16 lbs and 25 inches long!  Believe it or not, that's only 75th percentile on the growth chart though.  He looks huge however!  People think he looks like a linebacker and a Cabbage Patch doll:-)  He is still a really happy, mellow kid.  He loves watching Trey.  He just loves people watching in general.  He doesn't miss a thing, but he's still content to just sit in your lap and look around most of the time.  However he is starting to get really frustrated that he can't move on his own.  He also gets really frustrated when he can't get to his toys (or can't pull them down from his playmat).  He makes this boyish little yell that is so cute I always laugh.  It's adorable!  I'm also starting to see a hint of brown in the middle of his eyes I think, but we'll see.  They still look pretty blue!  I think the hair coming in is a light brown/dark blond (like me:-)).  He's still got alot of hair, which is nice... except for the back of his head where it gets rubbed off from always being on his back.  Tummy time is coming along!  I had a breakthrough the other day when I realized he actually doesn't mind it as much if he isn't wearing anything but a oneside... I guess he gets more of a grip on the carpet... who knows!  Whatever works;-)  He's trying to scoot.  I think he will start trying to crawl before long... this kid wants to move!!

Trey is changing so much right now as well!  He is speaking in pretty crazy long sentences these days... sometimes I feel like I'm holding a conversation with another adult (no, I exaggerate;-)).  He keeps me laughing all the time with the things he says and does.  His favorite toys right now are Mr. Potato Head, his choo choo train set (complete with train tracks and a tunnel), his puzzles, and playdough.  Favorite TV shows and movies are "Veggie Tales" (still), "Barney" (sigh, still), "Toy Story" movies, "Lion King"... however we are branching out into some other things.  Pj's parents bought him "Your Baby Can Read" set for Christmas which involves dvds, a word book and flash cards.  He loves them and I'm amazed at his memory!  The first step is word memorization and it is working so far.  My brother bought Trey Curious George matching cards for Christmas and he loves those as well... I can show him a card for one second and he'll remember it and find the other one right away.  His memory is far better than mine;-)  I feel bad for him because we've isolated him a bit this winter partly to keep him from getting sick and also when he WAS actually sick.  But now he is getting out once a week with Susie/Nana to go to library time for toddlers and get new books each week.  And on Tuesdays I take him and Ethan to Mainly Music at Mt. Airy PCA for dancing, music, snacks and playing with other kids his age.  He loves that!  I think Ethan does too.  Its fun for me to actually talk with other adults as well;-)  I can't wait till spring though... I miss walks outside and playing ball in the park with him.  And this summer I won't be pregnant, yay!!!!!

Lately I've been going a little crazy with organizing our home.  Its amazing how cluttered it can get with stuff we think we need but then don't use for years.  And I'm just as much to blame as anyone else.  I have a hard time letting go of those jeans I hope to wear again someday, or those cute shoes that hurt but are to cute to throw out, or the toys the boys aren't playing with that we don't need.  But I've made a goal to go through each room and starting getting rid/donating things we don't use in a year (unless its for good reason).  My closet was the biggest task, but cute bins from Bed, Bath, and Beyond fixed that problem and helped me organize the shelves in there.  I love how it looks in there now.  I also raised Trey's bed up with the held of bed stilts or whatever they are called and can now fit a bunch of things under there that I couldn't before.  We went through all the toys and I put Ethan's in a pretty good toy box out in the living room and all the rest are in Trey's "den".  And then to hide all of our DVD's and organize them, we bought some DVD boxes from IKEA.  I need to get a few more though!  Lastly, I organized our pantry the other day with some extra racks for cans and small items that kept falling over and some plastic containers to hold sugar, flour, etc.... oh its so much better.  I can actually see what we have in there now.  In all this, I've realized something about myself... I definitely feel alot calmer when I know everything is in its place.  In other words, I've turned into my mother who I always made fun of... which is perfectly fine to me now (she labeled and organized everything growing up).  My house may still look cluttered, but its getting to be a controlled clutter atleast now;-).

Another project I tackled this past week... I wrote out a bunch of recipes for my recipe book that have been for the longest time either on my computer in a file, or printed out and stuffed in their to "someday" be copied neatly onto a page and covered with plastic.  Yay for meeting goals! 

Pj had a nice little break this past weekend... we had him home for 4 days!  It was a nice relaxing weekend with not much going on.  He's got a busy few weeks coming up... a couple of school dances, his classes, etc.  But we're seeing him alot more than we did in the fall which I'm so thankful for!  Still... I can't wait until summer when school is out and we have him home with us all the more.

That's it for now!  This is all I've got so far for 2012 in terms of pics... Ethan sucks in his two fingers when he's sleepy:-)