Oh social life...I have missed you so.

Between Hubby's school schedule, a wicked winter and random kid sicknesses, I thought I had completely lost our social schedule. As of this week, we are back on track! The boys enjoyed a great play date. We were busy every day with fun activities. Daddy's schedule was pretty easy and we enjoyed lots of family time. Mommy got a night out with my Super Mommy friend Katie and she was so sweet to cut and color my hair and wax my eyebrows just for fun!!! We chatted and laughed all night and it was just what I needed. Not to mention, the next day I got hit on a few times at the market! Mini-makeover=Success!

Friday night, we had our friend Chris over for dinner and we had such a fantastic time catching up. We made big plans for this coming year and I can't wait until it all happens so I can blog about it! Side-Note: Chris came over with FLOWERS for me! I told him he needed to call his Mama for me and tell her that I said she did a fabulous job. How sweet is he? You just don't see much of that anymore. I am working very hard to teach my boys much of the same.

Saturday after Hubby was finished studying, he headed off for a movie with our buddy Nate. We are so blessed to live with such wonderfully supportive parents that after my boys were fast asleep at 7, I headed over to Katie's house to help prep for their newest addition. I was lucky enough to get the job of sorting through baby girl clothes, insert heart melt here. *sigh* Cutest little things and immediately, I got it. THE BABY FEVER. Why does it have to be so contagious? I told her I will have to visit each week so she can take a nap and I can snuggle her sweet newborn. Hopefully, that will buy Hubby and I a little more time! :) The guys met up with us after their movie and we chatted until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. It is always so much fun with them.

Today, I am trying to nurse my little lovey back to complete health. He is doing much better today, but has had a nasty cough only at bedtime. Hoping tomorrow he is even better, because the next month is jam packed with fun stuff. Lots of friends and birthdays, school activities and Daddy has spring break!!!!! So excited and thankful for such good family and friends.

Izzy's Quote of the Day: Me-"Izzy, please sit down and use your manners when you eat your dinner." Izzy- "Sorry Mama, but tacos just make me need to dance!!!"

2 in a row!!!

Wow!

So remember yesterday when I said a compliment from a complete stranger is the best? Well we have 2 in a row, people!

Today I took the boys on a lunch and play date with Izzy's friend Ella. We had a blast and stayed hours past what we intended. The kids were having so much fun and playing so well together and Ella's mom and I were having a grand ole' time just chatting away and relaxing. When we decided to declare the play date over, I took the boys to the bathroom and a nice lady stopped me midway to tell me she watched my kids play and just wanted to say, "I think your kids are so great. They are just NEAT!"

I know it is such a simple thing, but it is so nice to know that other people notice my kids and not for outrageous behavior...but just because they are good kids.

This time, Izzy overheard the compliment and yelled "Hey Mom! Did that lady say I am the BEST boy she has ever seen?" Followed with, "Can you move my pirate for that?" :)

I think I might just have to take them out again tomorrow and see if we can keep this streak going!!!

Izzy's Quote of the Day: "Mommy, I think you are going to have a baby in your tummy soon. I think it is going to be a boy and we are going to name it, Little Bill."

Heaven on Earth

Today I found Ashers heaven on Earth. The library. My baby loves to read. Now that Christmas break is over and Izzy is back in school, all morning long you can find Asher in his room sitting on a mountain of books and quietly reading to himself. So today when I took the boys to the library, he walked in (first time not in the stroller) and squealed like it was Christmas and took off for the kid section! How did he know where to go? I was cracking up! A few people gave me a look like "Oh great...here comes one of those..", but I would like to think they were pleasantly surprised. Asher ran to the kid section grabbed a book off the shelf and plopped himself down to read. Izzy found a couple of books quickly and then was off to do a puzzle. They were both super quiet and well behaved. Asher wanted to look at every book and was more than disappointed when it was time to leave. I gave Izzy his library card and some books and gave Asher one to carry too. He copied Izzy and gave it to the librarian and was so proud of himself.

Here are the lessons from my day:

1. Asher isn't too young to enjoy all that the library has to offer.
2. Mommy only has two arms and without the stroller to stuff all of our junk in, I definitely need to make a library tote for each of the boys.
3. Next visit to the library, I am going to have to schedule some more time for our visit. My kids love it there and they proved they can handle it. Even if the little one isn't strapped in the stroller! :)

And to make our visit even better, I got a compliment on our way out! *Cheer*

One of the librarians stopped me and said, "I am very proud of your boys, they did great!"

Compliments from strangers are the best. Am I right?

Izzy's Quote of the Day

My little guy has been so funny lately, and I can hardly keep up on all of his cute sayings. So here is a quick recap of the few I can remember from recent days:

Papa had tacos for dinner and Asher wanted one. I told Asher if he could say "Taco" he could have it. Izzy said, "Hey Papa, if I say Taco, can I have one too?" :)

Papa drives a Toyota Tundra. Izzy misunderstood and told him, "Papa you go take your Toyota Toilet and go to McDonald's and get me a Happy Meal!"

Once again, the idea of marriage came up in Izzy's mind and when told that he couldn't marry me, or Grandma he said, "OH GREAT! Just who am I supposed to marry then?"

Asher had a horrible fall last week, and as blood gushed everywhere, Izzy said "Oh you poor baby!" He ran off to his room and returned with his acoustic guitar and said,"Ash, sometimes when you are feeling sad, you just need to sing a song to feel better!" He sang a song that went, "Oh don't worry Mr. Sunshine, you'll come out again. When you do I'll be happy. Oh Mr. Sunshine!"
It totally worked and brought Asher out of his hysteria. (I could not agree more with that song by the way.)

One day Izzy didn't want to go to school. He asked me for the millionth time if I could home school him. In my attempt to make him excited for school, I explained that he needed to go to school so he could learn how to read and write sentences and be like his big boy cousins Jayme, Taylor and Logan. I said, they go to school and get really good grades and then they are going to go to College and play baseball and basketball. He stopped me right there and said, "See, I told you! I don't need to go to school. I can play those sports at the YMCA!!!"

While watching Max & Ruby, Izzy asked me, "Mommy what does Privacy mean?" I said, "Well, it is when you want some time to yourself." He said, "Oh, I know. Like when you are in the bathroom and I try to come in, you always say, "I need some privacy." Me: "Yes Izzy, exactly like that."


I am going to try to post his quotes more often. He is just constantly say things that make my day. I came across a notebook for Mommy's called "My Quotable Kids" and each page has a spot for the child's name, date and then space for their cute sayings. I thought what a great idea for a new mother. If it weren't for this blog, I would have forgotten so many sweet things he has said.

Well, it is almost time for me to pick my funny guy up from Preschool. Who knows what his creative mind will come up with today?!?

Obsessed.

I am slightly obsessed with Baby shows. I can't help myself, I love babies. Lately, I have stopped watching A Baby story and Bringing Home Baby and now fill my obsession through "I Didn't know I was pregnant" and "Pregnant And", both on Discovery.

On last nights "Pregnant And" they showed an almost 30 year old, married, mother of an 18 month old son, who happened to be homeless and 9 months pregnant. Her son was being cared for by a Grandma, but neither sets of family would help the parents. The husband had a criminal record and found it difficult to find another job after being laid off. They lost their house, and started camping on a mountain in a National Forest. She bathed in a creek, and pan handled for enough grocery money to buy healthy food for her and her unborn baby. The story broke my heart and I cried the whole way through. Having a baby is scary enough, but not having a home to keep your new baby warm and safe is devastating. She was able to get prenatal care through the state, but they warned her if she didn't set up housing, she would most likely lose the child to the system. Just two days before having her new son, they found someone who would exchange temporary housing for work. The couple were able to bring both of their boys home and applied for food stamps to provide meals. It reminded me, in this economy, how quickly your family lifestyle can change and how grateful I should be that I can provide such wonderful shelter, warmth and fill my babies tummies without much thought at all.

As if that wasn't gut-wrenching enough, I followed it up with a "I Didn't know I was Pregnant" episode. Now normally, I just sit and scoff at the idea of a pregnancy without a single symptom or more so, that these women tend to have most of the symptoms, but just don't show (no cycles, mild weight gain, mood swings, cravings, morning sickness) and still have no clue. This episode was slightly different in that, the young woman had MS which caused lapses of numbness and paralysis of her right side. Her cycles remained consistent and she had gained 10 pounds, but didn't know that she was pregnant and already had a baby with a severe heart defect. Next thing you know she is screaming in pain on the toilet and has the urge to push. Then they see that she has given birth to a baby girl and are in a complete state of shock. As they are wrapping up the baby, she continues to bleed heavily and having pain. Thinking she is delivering the after-birth, pushes again, but is once again shocked to find ANOTHER baby girl. A woman gave birth to identical twin girls in her toilet without a single clue she was pregnant. OH MY WORD!!!!

The babies were premature, but healthy. Another miracle is that for the entire year previous to their birth, her right side was paralyzed. While waiting for word on her new twins and wondering how they were going to care for them with her sickness and paralysis, the feeling came back and she went into remission!!! Her son had surgery and was completely healthy, her MS was in remission and two premature babies that were born in her toilet were perfect and well.

Needless to say, I passed out in a puddle of my own tears.

What a weekend!

I spoke too soon on my last post. Late Thursday and Friday were spent crying and sick. I am not a wimpy person, I have been through MANY things and lots of them physically painful, but I have never had such a horribly painful stomach virus in my life. I felt so sorry for my poor babies and what they had been through just days earlier.

Once again, my Superman rushed in to save the day. He took care of the kids before school and set me up for my day. I plopped myself on the couch and cried for mercy. Just a couple of hours later, I got a call from Superman himself telling me he had done his mandatory work and was coming home to rescue me. He studied from home for the rest of the day, took care of the kids, cleaned and cooked. *heart melt*

Hubby then woke up at 6:45 on a SATURDAY morning and studied for 12 hours. Sunday was the same routine for him. I know that I could look at this different ways and maybe be a little resentful of the time and dedication it takes to do well in med school, but I simply can't feel like that. I have always been proud of my Hubby. He has from day one of our marriage, put our family first. He has worked so hard and put time and extra effort into every job to not just do his job, but succeed in every position. Every boss he has ever had has said the same thing about him: Give him something to accomplish and he will get it done successfully and in half of the time of anyone else. He is fantastic at time management and has managed to completely balance our family life and the overwhelming demands of med school. Saturday night when I thought he would just collapse (keep in mind he was sick just like the rest of us, and still studied the whole week through) instead, he asked me out on a surprise date. We asked Mom and Dad if we could just run out for dinner and some grocery shopping once the boys were in bed and they gladly sent us on our way. Now dinner and grocery shopping might not seem like much of a date, but these days, it really doesn't matter what we do if we get the chance to catch up and spend some quality time. We had such a fun night and at dinner we couldn't stop laughing. After the week we had, it was exactly what we needed. Once we were home, we snuggled in and watched a movie. Just enough of a break so that poor Hubby's head didn't explode.

The virus wasn't done reeking havoc on our family just yet. Late Saturday night my Mom came down with it. Sunday morning she informed me that my Dad had a very important client that had bought tickets for the 4 of them to go to the New Dinner Theater and she was too sick to join. Guess who got to sub? ME!!! Mommy who spent her whole week, cleaning up vomit, consoling crying kids, hubby, and even myself, cleaning, the non-stop laundry and just plain ol' exhaustion, got to get all dolled up and go on a special fancy work date with my Dad. The dinner was delicious, the show was hilarious and I felt refreshed.

Sometimes caring for everyone can make you just feel like a robot. It was so nice for two days in a row to go out and feel like a young woman. Turns out, I didn't do so badly as my Dads date because his client loved me. If Dad earns a bonus, I might need a cut of it! Cha-Ching!

All in all, last week was a rough one, but ended on a great note. I have a new appreciation for myself and my Hubby. I learned you can will yourself to do pretty much anything even if it is cleaning up vomit one more time. I learned that there is no limit to the pride I feel for my Hubby. He just constantly amazes me with how well he takes care of us and still manages to do really well in school. I don't know anyone else who would put the kind of time in he does and I love him so much for it.

Good News!

Mommy didn't get sick!!! YAY!

My boys and Hubby are all getting better by the minute. Izzy ate his first meal successfully and we are just waiting for his leg pain to go away. I am sure he will be good enough to return to school tomorrow.

On a side note: Isn't it amazing what a hot shower does to a Mommy? Immediately I feel refreshed and ready to start again. I just closed my eyes and pictured my spa day for a really long time.

I am officially over feeling sorry for myself, so you don't have to worry about reading the pity posts anymore! ;) YaY for you!!!