For all the people who think my kids are perfect....

You are absolutely right!

However, every once and a blue moon, one of my children will somehow do the most random, inappropriate thing that makes me think..."Who is this kid?"

Take today for instance. I had the most perfect day. Asher is feeling much better, he is loving and sweet, quiet and happy. Back to his old self. I spent my morning skyping with my sweet cousin which is like a virtual play date. It is fabulous because I get to talk to someone I love, but I also get to do it without worrying about my hair or makeup. :)

After I picked up Izzy from school and we ate lunch, the boys played quietly all day and entertained themselves without interruption. It was completely lovely. I accomplished so much today I couldn't believe it. They went down at 2 for a nap without a peep and I worked away until 4:30 when I heard Asher wake. Then it happened. The random, what the heck moment....

Izzy came in happy and skipping but in a totally different outfit than I put him to nap in. Makes a Mom wonder. So I asked him and he said, "I just felt like having different shorts." Sounds reasonable. I go into his bedroom just to make sure everything is on the up and up and find a pair of socks completely soaked lying on the floor. When I confronted him about the socks and why he really changed his clothes, that is when he went all wishy-washy on me. Cut to 10 minutes later when I am trying to piece the truth together. He tells me he woke up from nap, pottied and then played in the sink and that is why his socks are wet. Doesn't make sense does it? I walk into the bathroom and find a huge trail of pee water from the toilet to the door of the bathroom. I turn to give him "the look" and he turned purple and sobbed so hysterically he couldn't be understood. I told him to spill it and finally I got the real story. Apparently, he got up from nap early (breaking a rule) went to the potty, didn't flush and instead took off his sock and put them in the toilet. Why? He just wanted to see what would happen. But, it doesn't stop there. He goes into his closet get his socks from yesterday and puts them in there too. I guess then after seeing that nothing really does happen to socks sitting in pee, he decides he better take them out and clean himself up. He obviously will not make a good criminal (Thank God!) because he left the evidence in the middle of his bedroom floor. 4 pee socks, a shirt wet to the shoulder and a dirty towel.

Mommy=LIVID.

I realize how much work I had ahead of me. Clean the carpet, clean the entire bathroom, another load of laundry, clean Izzy and all of the punishment that the child had coming his way. First things first, Izzy needed a shower. I open the shower curtain to find he had opened a brand new shampoo bottle and poured it out directly into the bathtub leaving a huge blue puddle. Are you kidding me! I turn around to see him literally melt in front of me. He told me the truth that he had done all of it at the same time. I decided to get a roll of paper towels and make him clean his mess up. So he wiped up the mess on the floor and cried and apologized the whole time. Then he got in the shower and cleaned himself up while sobbing. I scrubbed the bathroom clean, threw in the laundry, cleaned up the rest of the mess and decided the punishment. I decided he would be grounded to his room for the rest of the night and not allowed to speak or leave his room even for dinner. Needless to say, he was devastated. It has only happened once or twice before, but it is the worst punishment he can get. He requires connection to people and to have to sit in a room and think about what he has done and listen to all of the fun he is missing out on...too much for him. I also decided that he will take money out of his piggy bank that he saves like Scrooge, and make him buy a new shampoo. At one point, he knocked on the door to ask permission to use the bathroom. I looked inside his room and he had cleaned his room perfectly. It was really hard to not let him out of his punishment early because he was taking it like he should have and he so obviously understood what he did. I stood my ground though, brought him his dinner to his room and he promised he would knock on the door when he was done. After his dinner, I went in his room to talk about what happened and why he got into so much trouble and make sure he understand what exactly I was so upset with and he understood exactly.

This is our convo verbatim:
Me-"Izzy, Mommy is very disappointed in your behavior today. You broke lots of rules and you did things that you clearly know are wrong. Can you tell Mommy why you think you got punished?"
Izzy-"I know just what I did. Ok. #1-I lied to you. #2-I played in the toilet and that is gross because there are yucky germs. #3-I put my socks in there to see what would happen and clothes don't go in toilets. #4-I played in the sink. #5-I put my pee socks on the carpet and now you have to do lots of work. #6-I wasted a shampoo and that is not for playing.

It was really nice to hear, without prompting that he knew step by step what he did wrong. It also makes it even more frustrating because he KNOWS better. He is 4, but he is like 50. He is so responsible and mature for his age, so when he does age appropriate things it just blows my mind! As a baby, he never did a single thing baby like. Never broke a single thing, never wrote on anything that wasn't paper, never touched things that were off limits, followed rules, didn't hit, bite, throw tantrums, nothing. He is and always has been consistently obedient. With that kind of history, it is so confusing as to why at 4 you would decide to find out what happens when you put things in the toilet. What is that about? Marcus and I talked about it and all we could do is laugh because that is totally how his brain works. He loves to figure things out. But what is intriguing about urine? I hope my kid is not the only one who found this to be interesting.

Izzy and I spent some quality time together talking and to sum it up, Daddy gave him some good wisdom to live by. If you are about to make a choice before you do it you should think to yourself, Would this make my Mommy and Daddy proud of me or sad? Izzy wanted to give us examples from his school day and then he told me "Mommy, I don't copy people. Copying people only gets you into trouble. Well, you can copy the girls in my class, because they never do anything bad." :)

We ended the night with a bedtime prayer and our 5's. I told him 5 character qualities about him that I really admire and I told him that no matter what silly things he does and no matter how angry I may be for the moment, I love him more than this whole world. He held my hand and said in a shaky voice "Mommy, I am so sorry that I did that today. I am so sorry that I didn't make you proud." How can you stay mad? I couldn't have been more frustrated while cleaning that bathroom, doing the laundry, cleaning the carpets all when I should have been making dinner, but this one incident brought out a lot of lessons. Self-control, honesty, wasting, obedience, and responsibility.

Leave it to my Dad to give me a reality check and remind me that most young boys do these kinds of things on a daily basis and I am quite blessed to only have to clean up silly messes a couple of times in four years. A quick reminder of my brother at Izzy's age, and I just wanted to run in and kiss him 1 billion times.

When my brother was 3, he had a problem with sleep walking. My parents had just put in new cream carpet throughout the house. One night, my brother walked into the kitchen dumped a dozen eggs on the floor, and took out the Hersheys syrup. He drank some and then carried the bottle upside down from the kitchen, through the living room, hallway, into his room and in his bed, then my parents bed and then falling asleep with me. When we woke up, we were stuck to the sheets, covered in sticky chocolate syrup and our carpets were left with a messy chocolate trail identifying all of his sleepwalking adventures.

So really...whats a little pee? :)

Weird People

Are people getting weirder or is it just me?

No joke, I feel like I should keep my phone on the camera setting so I can always be prepared to take pictures of the weirdness I see every day and then I can share the love on my blog. I have a feeling it would blow up like peopleofwalmart.com.

Today I have seen:

• A large man walking a lab at 8:30 a.m. on a trail across from Izzy's school. The weird part, he was dressed in a superman t-shirt and what looked to be boxer briefs. People, I am going to give you a minute to process..... He was wearing adult UNDEROOS! I promise, I did try to take a picture of this one, but I was in front of the car line with angry working moms behind me that obviously didn't see the hilarity. Blast my phone delay!
• As I am pulling into my drive-way, I see a mother pushing a stroller on a walk. The weird part: She was dressed in the tightest black jeans, a tank top obviously bought at Hot Topic, more jewelry than Claire's sells and what looked to be a pair of 12" black high heels. The time is now 8:34 a.m. Where is she going?
  

Two weird people in the span of 4 minutes. Unbelievable.

Today, Asher was a little under the weather so I took him to the Doctors office. I can bet, that I could have described 12 more weird people, but I didn't look anyone in the eye. Doctors offices creep me out. Is it just me? Asher and I just looked at each other, holding our breath and praying they would call us back quickly. It worked.

Tomorrow, I am going to make a point of putting my camera setting on before leaving the house. Who knows what tomorrow holds.

Random Rant:

Don't ya hate it when you have had a long day and you decide to relax with a nice hot shower before bed you get the perfect temperature you go through your whole routine you get out dry off and go to lotion and realize you completely forgot to shave your legs. Shampoo. Rinse. Repeat shower. What is up with my brain lately? I believe it is time to start taking a daily ginkgo biloba.

Double-booked

Thanks to my memory, which seems to have taken a vacation as of late, I kind of double booked myself today. I like to think of myself as a pretty organized person. You can always find me with a list, no scratch that, an excel spreadsheet with to-do items. I am normally very scheduled and organized. I don't know what has happened to me in the last two weeks, but I hit a point and my memory checked out, and I was too busy to sit down and fill out my beloved google calendar, my phone calendar or jot down a simple note. I relied on the ol' brain. Last week, within a period of an hour, I realized I TRIPLE booked myself for play dates, same day, same time. OH MY WORD. Luckily I have very forgiving friends, who hopefully know it wasn't purposeful and I will make it up to them. Today however, I booked two very important appointments within minutes of each other. Not on purpose, but the appointments are hard to come by, so I couldn't reschedule.

Morning in review:
-My lovey who normally I have to wake up at 8:15, decided on the day Mommy has a crazy day and isn't feeling so hot, to wake up bright and early at 6 am. I brought him into bed with me and for about .5 seconds I was frustrated and then a teeny tiny little hand rubbed my arm and grabbed hold of my hand so we could sleep the last hour holding hands. Well, alright. He is forgiven.
7-8 was spent getting myself fully ready (not just school pickup ready :) and the boys ready.
8-8:20- Breakfast
8:30- Drop off Izzy at school.
8:30-9- Store
9:00- Izzy's Kindergarten screening and enrollment. The appointment was from 9-9:30. Of course, when I was already cutting it close, I sat in the office waiting my turn until 9:15. This is when I start sweating. They bring Izzy from class and he told me all about his day so far. Keep in mind it had been about 15 minutes of actual class time. :) They weighed and measured Izzy, 54 lbs and 48 inches tall. Off the charts! What did I expect, I guess. I know he is super tall, but when they have to put a greater sign in the percentage spot...it just confirms. They did a vision and hearing test. Here is what I learned: Izzy has the most insane vision. It got to a point, where the school nurse, with glasses, couldn't even read the answer key and Izzy just kept going. Pretty big deal, when you look back at his 8 week premature state and his 1 year constant visits to the pediatric optometrist for his little preemie eyes. Yay!!!!!! Hearing is perfect as well. Something else I learned, Izzy prefers to be called Israel. Hmm..didn't know that. Lots of paperwork and testing later, Izzy is enrolled in Kindergarten and they said he is more than prepared. Super Yay! and Super Sad.

They had me walk him back to class and then I literally ran to my car to rush home because my next appointment, this time for Asher, would be there in 10 minutes. As I pull into my driveway, I see Kelly my PAT contact pull up as well. By the skin of my teeth, I made that appointment! Had a great visit and learned that Asher is about 35 inches tall. Today I realized my kids are gigantic. They tested his vision and hearing and he passed with flying colors. I love PAT day, because it reminds me you don't need thousands of dollars in fancy toys. Asher sat quietly and played with a jar and twist top lid and 4 wooden blocks, lacing beads and a puzzle for 30 minutes. Then she melted his little heart, when she busted out a phone book wrapped as a present and taped with clear packing tape so that it is a tightly wrapped step. She showed him how to stand on top of it and jump. He likes to take things to a new level so he never followed her directions exactly, but instead opted to get a running start from one side of the living room, jump onto the book, off the book and run into the kitchen. This was the remainder of our visit. Each jump/run was ended with a cheer by Asher. He likes to self motivate/congratulate. He didn't want her to leave, my kids never do. They love those visits so much. Once she left, it was time to load back into the car to get Izzy from Preschool.

I have learned a lot today. I am very blessed to have 2 very healthy boys who are right on target in everything. I am raising giants. I can't afford to not take the time to check my calendar and rely on my memory to make future appointments. I think I need to get my eyes checked because I could only see like row 2 of the eye chart.

Now that my crazy morning is almost over, I need to focus on the home front. Lunch, laundry, nap, party planning, dinner, cleaning, calendar updating, special time with the kids, hopefully fit in a convo with my hubby at some point and then this Mommy is C.R.A.S.H.I.N.G.

Disorganization makes you exhausted.

Just a quick thought...

Wouldn't it be so cool if everyone you loved, all lived in the same neighborhood. I have family spread far and wide across the country, friends all over, and sometimes I wish I could just step outside and say hello to my neighbor who also happened to be my best friend and say want to sit outside and let the kids play? No need for play dates or arrangements, everyone is right there. I would be able to let the kids play a little more freely, everyone could watch out for one another and if you needed to make a quick run, there would surely be someone to help you out.

Last night I skyped with my cousin and we had a blast talking, but all I could think is how much I wish we lived close enough to walk to each others house for a cup of coffee instead. Another sweet friend of mine hurt her back very badly this week, and I wish I lived just next door so I could have helped her through the day.

I am feeling very Donna Reed right now, wishing I had a cute apron and all of my loved ones close. :)

The Awkward Update

I have learned a lesson, and it is, if you have something you are worried about, flippin get it taken care of quickly. I am annoyed with myself for not learning this lesson earlier, especially with all of the health issues I have dealt with. I should know better.

The guess is that I have a fibrocystic breast mass which should be benign, but I have to get a mammogram and an ultrasound to confirm. If that is what it turns out to be, they will take a needle into the mass and drain the fluid. O.U.C.H.

Something else I learned, in most cases, cancerous tumors do not cause pain (which mine does) and they are normally hardened to one spot (which mine is not). Either way, with my family history, I should have gone in immediately to have it checked and I won't risk it again. I am dreading the mammogram. I have had one before and it is awful. Question: I have to get an ultrasound post mammogram because my breast tissue is very dense and the mammogram can't read well. So why then don't they just skip the mammogram all together and do just the ultrasound and save me some pain and humiliation. Answer: Just because that is how it is done. Not everything makes sense. I can't like that answer.

As if going in for a breast exam is not humiliating enough, two things happened to up the humiliation scale.

1) A 3rd year medical student came in to do my work up. Very nice, but looked exactly like Seth Green. Oh, and he goes to school with my Hubby. I didn't breathe until he assured me he was going to have the female NP do my exam for me. Annnnnnd breathe.

2) NP asked that I undress from the waist up and put on a gown. She couldn't find a gown in the room, so she called for a Medical Assistant to find one for me. She placed a paper gown on the bed and repeated the instructions. After she closed the door I put the gown on and realized very quickly there is a reason baby hand and foot prints were the design on the gown, because it was a CHILD SIZE!!! The gown is open in the front, so it is like a shirt with no buttons and I couldn't even close it. So imagine me in the room waiting for 10 minutes for the NP to return with a tiny size gown and when I try to make it cover myself it rips. FABULOUS.

Luckily, I didn't have Seth Green doing the exam, that would have been even more embarrassment and I had quite enough thank you!

Thanks for all of the prayers and loving emails from all of my friends. I think everything is going to be just fine, but I am sure I will have another tiny gown story coming your way from mammogram day. :)

What every woman dreads...

Today is one of those days I hate being a woman. I'm a little on edge, with a splash of anxious and a huge dose of emotional. I have an appointment with a new Doctor today. He is a man whom I have never met and at my first appointment what do I have to go in for???? A lump. *wince* Exactly.

Last night, while I should have been sleeping, instead I imagined how the appointment would go. Let's just say, no matter how clever and cute my responses might be, it will be no less awkward. I have had 3 babies, too many "womanly" exams to count, laparoscopic surgery and hormone injections into my backside. One would think my modesty would be all but gone at this point, but it seems to be in tact.

I feel at peace with this appointment. My instincts say everything is going to be fine, but my family history is floating around my brain as well which is freaking me out a bit.

My maternal Grandma, my best friend, and the kindest person you would ever meet, died of cancer which began in her breast and spread throughout her body. My paternal Grandma who we call "Granny" informed me this weekend, she has had 24 benign cysts removed from both breasts. Not exactly what you want to hear going into a week like this, but medically helpful none the less.

I am going to request it to be removed regardless because the pain it is causing is ridiculous about 2 weeks out of the month. Looking back at my jaw situation, if I had removed that cyst when they first found it, I would have been saved from a year of pure torture. This thing needs to come out, and the sooner the better.

Updates soon....

Happy Tuesday!

Food Revolution

Pretty sure I am late to the game on this one, but I just watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution tonight. It was devastating. Izzy is going to be in Kindergarten next year, and I am now scared to death to see what the school might offer our children for lunch.

My kids eat fairly healthy. I don't fight with them to eat foods they don't like, because I too was/is a picky eater, and there is nothing worse than people forcing you to sit in your seat until the food you detest is all gone. I try not to make food a battle ground at my house. (That opinion was also backed by my Pediatrician) I think the best thing that ever happened for us as a family was when we went on South Beach. Lean meats, fresh produce and whole grain EVERYTHING. My kids only drink water and milk with the occasional Crystal Light drink. Well scratch that, Izzy had never had juice until he started preschool. Hrmph.

This reminds me of a quick story from this weekend. Friday night we took the kids to the first Royals Vs. Red Sox game of the season. We are HUGE Red Sox fans. We like the Royals too, but if they play against each other, we cheer for the Sox. It was Ashers first game and a very fun and exciting night. A bottle of water at the game is like $5.00. Ridiculous. Hubby went to get the two of us a soda for the game. Asher had a sippy of water and I quickly realized, I hadn't thought enough ahead for Izzy. Hubby offers to share his soda with Izzy. At first he was in love. He has never been allowed to have soda except for a very rare root beer as a reward. The love didn't last long, because as I was trading Asher from my lap to Hubby's Ashers foot kicked over their drink. No more soda. Izzy was so sad. A little time passes and he starts to cry and he tells me that his tummy hurt and that he never wants to drink a soda again and from now on will only have water and milk like every other day. Then the angels sang. :)

Do my kids love chicken nuggets? Like they were eating flipping nuggets of gold! After watching episode two of Food Revolution, I almost vomited when I saw what "rib meat" really meant. O.M.G. How can I get Izzy to have an epiphany about nuggets like he did about soda? How can I ensure that when I pack a healthy lunch, he isn't going to trade for a plate of fries?

Reminiscing....I remember back in High School, my lunches on a daily basis consisted of a giant plate of salad with mounds of their delicious dressing and a separate giant plate of crunchy golden french fries and I washed it down with a soda, every single day. Why did I eat that? Well, one those were the two things that didn't make me want to throw up in my mouth on a daily basis. The smell from the other choices were awful and unappetizing. Those two were also the options you were able to serve yourself and nothing made my stomach turn like watching someone slop your lunch onto a tray and hear your food go "splat". Yuck.

I say all of that to say this. I was one of those kids he was talking about on his show. The food choices in my school were unhealthy and unappetizing. This show gave me a wake up call. I have very little time with my boys to show them healthy meals and show them how to make good choices so that when I am not around, they aren't following my bad habits of sitting around with a plate of french fries.

My kids don't drink juice or soda or get candy or sweets unless as a reward, but that just isn't good enough. Jaime Oliver threw down a challenge and this family accepts.

Relief!

This was finals week, which means I have been working as a single mother for 2 weeks. I. am. exhausted.

On top of finals, Asher has molars coming in and a growth spurt, we have had a birthday and a holiday, a family member came into town unexpectedly, lots of shopping trips, lots of play dates, found a new doctor, filled out kindergarten paperwork, scheduled appointments, party planning, we set up Izzy's new big boy bed, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, late nights with friends, and the biggest of all caring for my two little guys. All of this has left me feeling very drained this week.

Today, my big plan was to take an hour for myself, go to the gym and enjoy a class, but instead I woke up at 5:00 like "how did I get here?" One minute I am on my computer looking up the gym schedule, and next thing I know it is 3 hours later and my workout consisted of closing my eyes. *sigh*

I don't know about you, but I am totally the girl who takes in everything that is going on in the lives of people I care about and right now, it seems like almost everyone in my circle is facing challenges of some sort. In no fault on their part, I not only internalize my problems, but theirs as well. Which many nights, leaves me almost sick and unable to sleep until I process and figure out a solution. I am pretty sure this is just how all women work, but I do need to take better care of myself and learn how to turn off my brain and relax a little bit. Many nights, I find myself thinking out my day and trying to prepare myself for the possible battles of the future and how I might better attack those issues that might have gotten away from me. In short, my need for problem-solving is slowly killing me.

Take Tuesday for instance, not such a good day on the Asher front. He wasn't feeling well, and his temper showed it. I spent that night rehashing the situations and figuring out what I should do if the day played out much the same on Wednesday. Luckily, it did not and he was back to his normal happy self. But if it had, I would have been in a better frame of mind, or would I? I probably laid in bed thinking about it for 3 hours that I could have been sleeping. It is like a sick cycle that I can't seem to break.

Then Thursday came. Finals are over, Hubby is back and we can resume family life!!! My kids were beyond excited to see Daddy and tell him stories about their week and have some play time. After the boys went to bed, Hubby and I decided to go on an impromptu date night. My mom was home, and offered to sit with them so we could go out and catch up. I can't even tell you the relief my heart felt, just having a normal conversation with my Hubby. It is amazing how much you can take your partner for granted until you are put in a situation where they aren't available for little chats, advice and affection.

We went shopping, and grabbed a bite to eat and I just felt relaxed again. I can't imagine how he feels during this time. My brain can't fathom studying from 8am-11pm for 2 weeks straight. What I do know, is today was the first time I have seen him smile in a few days and that made me very happy.

I started reading this book called "Cinderella meets the Caveman-How to stop boredom and jump start the passion in your marriage."

It is intended to be a couple read that you both answer questions at the end of each chapter. Obviously, I can't exactly ask my Hubby to add another reading assignment to his already insane school schedule, so I have decided to do the work on my own for now and hope that on his break he will be able to catch up with me. I think I can safely say, we are at probably the best place in our almost 10 year marriage. We have issues just like everyone else, but we have really chilled out on each other and the stuff that used to drive us insane, well blame it on the schedule, but neither of us want to spend any of the time we have together nagging at the other. But with the schedule also brings little time to have quality time and deep conversations. I am hoping this book will show me how to make my time more intimate and break some bad habits and I know Hubby will appreciate that. :)

If you are looking for a great book on marriage, this is it. I think it should be a pre-req to marriage. It is an honest look at the emotional make-up of men and women and shows you how to break common bad habits in marriage. And really, who doesn't want more passion in their lives?

My new goal is to take better care of myself and funnel that extra energy into my marriage. It is too easy to become completely drained and give your spouse the almost nothing that is leftover. It is time to refuel. :)

Regroup

I posted earlier about having a rough day with my little Lovey-Asher. I had a million things to do today and didn't get to any of them and spent most of my day feeling frustrated. I think there are a lot of factors that added to my frustration, not just Ashers random behavior.

1. Weather. It is raining, then sunny and hot, then severe storms with hail. My house is like completely different temperatures in every room. My room is a steady "humid laundry mat" temp, which is making a restful sleep extremely difficult to achieve.

2. Finals. This is Hubby's GI finals week. Translation: Single Mommy for about 2 weeks. :(

3. Not sleeping well. See #1.

4. My flippin jaw is hurting like crazy. This severe weather is causing my jaw to ache like i'm 100 years old. Imagine the worst tooth ache you have ever had, but it is every tooth on one side of your face. *Send sympathy this way*

So here I am having a rough day and I put my boys to nap and come crash for the remainder of the afternoon. I wake up to a phone call from my Dad offering to take us out to pizza because he heard I was having a rough day. Score! Get the kids up from nap and I was so happily surprised to find my lovey was BACK! Happy, smiling, bouncing around. Apparently he just needed a 4 hour nap to regroup and so did I.
He did great at the restaurant and we came home and played together and watched the storm outside. After the kids were in bed for the night, I got the sweetest email from my friend. She is such an encourager, always has something positive to say and constantly praying on my behalf. I can't even explain how much I appreciate her friendship.

I was catching up on some blogs and realized how even though I had a not so fun day today, how much I have to be thankful for. My bad days are so few and far between. I have an amazing, faithful, loving husband who I am so very proud of. Parents and a brother who love, love, LOVE us and our children beyond words. I have friends who support and listen, but most of all encourage and that is so priceless. Then there are my precious healthy boys. They are my entire world and I don't ever want to take a day for granted with them, even if it isn't a smooth day. I want to be so careful to not wish time away, because I know first hand, just how valuable time is.

Izzy and I did our "5's" before bed and he also wanted to do "Highs/Lows" before we prayed.

Izzy's:
High- "Playing Play-doh on the deck with you. It was so fun and I like being with you."
Low- "I get sad when it is bedtime because I know after we pray I know you are going to leave me for a long time and I won't get to see you until tomorrow and that makes me miss you too much."

Annnnnnnnnd I'm back. The time we spend talking before bed is the sweetest time of the day. No matter what has happened during the day, everything melts away when I hear him say something like that.

This Mommy is thankful for good family, good friends and two amazing little boys that overflow this house in love. Some days, just may be a little louder than others. :)

And the whines don't stop!

I am not sure where my little lovey is today. He has been replaced with a toddler who looks like him, but who has been whining since he woke up this morning. Gone is my happy boy who rolls with the punches and instead I have heard nothing but, "uh-uh" all day. He points to something, I give it to him and then he bawls hysterically that I gave it to him. He is a 1,000,000 piece puzzle today and I just can't figure him out. It kind of started last night at dinner, when I couldn't figure out what he wanted to eat. Apparently, he wanted waffles and sausage. You can imagine how many food items I suggested before I got to that. If he starts to cry or throw a fit, I sit him on the stairs for a time-out. Normally he immediately stops, smiles and says sorry with a hug and we move about our day like it never happened. Not today. He throws a fit, I put him on the stairs and then he cries so hard he hyperventalates and chokes on his own spit. I have been consistant all day, but it is tiring. I had a list of things to accomplish today, but I crossed out Tuesday on the header line and wrote Wednesday in its place. Hopefully, that title can stick and I can actually accomplish something other than discipline and eating in a day.

My gut says we are in the midst of a growth spurt, because Lovey wants to sleep non-stop. Yesterday when he was just playing, he passed out in Izzy's bed and slept about 90 minutes. His nap isn't until 2, so that threw our schedule off for the day and hence the not so easy dinnertime. He wants to be held constantly, he wants to sleep all day and night, and he doesn't want to eat. The only person in the house he hasn't gotten offended with today is Izzy. His eyes lit up when he got out of school and he smiles at him constantly. If I say something to him, he scowls and says "uh-uh."

Thank goodness for Izzy's sweet demeanor. I really needed it today. He came home and saw how Asher was reacted to me and said to Asher, "Ash, whats the deal? We are having big problems today. We need to watch that attitude." LOL!

After lunch, I took the boys out to play with some Play-doh on the back deck and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. Thought it might help Asher to relax and ready him for nap. He cried at the sight of it, until Izzy sat next to him and then he got into it. How can a kid get upset about Play-doh? This just proves that today, no matter what I do, it just isn't going to make him happy. Izzy saw that I was frustrated and he said, "Mommy, you know why I love you? Because you are the best Mommy in the whole world. You love us and you play fun stuff with us. And we just really like you." Isn't he the sweetest? It is like he can read my mind and just when I am about to lose it, he says something to raise my spirits.

Today has been challenging for sure, but I know that everyone has bad days...even toddlers. Hopefully a good nap will do the trick and my little lovey will return. Either way, I know the first thing I am offering him for dinner. :)

Weekend full of Candy!

Our weekend was full of sweet treats, so of course my kids had the best weekend ever. Saturday was our friend Eden's 1st birthday party and we celebrated her with a super cute Candyland party. Her Mommy worked so hard and it was ridiculously cute and all of the kids were very happy with the candy decorations. :)

Something very big happened while we were at the party too. Asher who is beyond shy and very clingy in large groups of people, actually went into the play room and played by himself for a large part of the party. I hope this is the start of him feeling a little more comfortable with people he doesn't see on a regular basis. I know my back would really appreciate a break from carrying around a 30 lb toddler for insane amounts of time. He refuses to go to nursery at church, and instead sits very quietly on my lap for the service. But I do have to hold him the entire worship portion and yesterday I spent the rest of the day in spasms! Crossing my fingers...hope this happens a little more often!

Easter Sunday was lots of fun too. We went to church and had an amazing service and Izzy walked away with a much better understanding of exactly why we celebrate Easter. After lunch, we gave the boys their Easter baskets full of fun little treats like, puzzles, movies, punch balloons and books. Uncle Jarrod and I hid what seemed to be 1,000 plastic colored eggs filled with coins and candy. Expecting my boys to bolt out and fight over the eggs, I was surprised when Izzy quietly and calmly just walked around with a big smile asking politely if it was ok if he got each one. Asher walked out and burst into tears when he couldn't figure out what was going on. We had him watch Izzy for a minute and then he was off to find some too. It was so sweet and they were so kind and helpful to each other. Izzy left all of the "easy" ones for Asher who gave big "gasps" of breath when he saw a new egg. Of course I took a million pictures.






The kids played in the yard after the egg hunt and then the whole family (minus Daddy he was studying for finals :( watched a movie and relaxed a bit. The kids were so wiped that by 6:32, I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was Asher telling me he was done and ready for "ni ni". After he was asleep, we set up Izzy's new big boy bed, and he loved it. It has 3 drawers for storage, and before I could even throw away the packing trash, he had them filled up with underwear and socks. He is so cute.












This morning, I was cleaning and reorganizing Izzy's closet and Asher climbed into the new bed, got under the covers and motioned for me to turn off the lights. He pretends to be Izzy a lot, so I didn't think anything of it. I walk into the kitchen for a minute and walk back into Izzy's room to find Asher fast asleep! I guess the 14+ hours of sleep he got weren't enough and he needed a morning nap.

This was a great weekend. Lots of candy, fun and great memories. Mommy is W.I.P.E.D. Lots of consecutive nights with little sleep, my calendar is blowing up and my kids and I want to spend every second we can running around outside. This makes for a very tired Mommy, oh and my back is still a hot mess. I think I will take this rainy Monday and give myself a little break. Mommy needs a hot pad and a nap.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!