weesher weesh

Preschool Craft Time

2012-01-31T12:55:00.007-06:00

Finding ~~junk to occupy the boys~~ crafts the boys can both do is difficult because A. Jonas (2.5 years old) is 80 times more destructive than Simon (3.5 years old), B. Simon can (sort of) use scissors a little but Jonas cannot, C. Jonas still puts things in his mouth, D. Jonas wants to do everything Simon does, and E. I usually have a Baby Charlotte on my hip. So unless I want paint/glue/marker/blood all over my home, my options are pretty limited.

But I had an idea last week... toilet paper tubes + pipecleaners = sculptures. Even better, add googly eyes & a bit of marker and you've got monsters! I already had all these things in the craft/activity cabinet. Here's the super easy how to:

1. Gather your supplies [pipecleaners, toilet paper tube(s), hole punch, glue (I used tacky glue), googly eyes, marker(s)]

2. Punch some holes in the toilet paper tube. [I did 8 holes]

3. Give the tube & pipecleaners to your kid(s) and let 'em have at it!

4. Hand your kid(s) a marker and let 'em have at it again!

5. Help your kid(s) glue some googly eyes on their creation(s). [I guess some kids could do this step themselves, especially if they're older, but mine can't be trusted.]

6. Photograph the creation(s) for posterity.

Simon's monster

Jonas' monster

7. Be prepared for meltdowns when the monster is inevitably destroyed.

This occupied the kids for quite some time. Plus, almost a week later, They're still playing with (what's left of) their monsters! I think I win with this one.

(If you have older kids or want to take more time preparing, you could cover the tube with some pretty paper, too, but I'd do that before punching the holes.)

Baby Food

2012-01-17T13:45:00.003-06:00

I've suspected that this one craves texture in her food for a while now. She definitely prefers to feed herself and is all about little finger foods. Charlotte is 7 1/2 months and refuses most baby food after a few bites (except stage 3 which is chunkier).

I had an idea get her to eat the food we already bought her: try mixing Rice Krispies type cereal in with her baby food! The baby cereal is too fine and would take too much to get texture, but it doesn't take much regular cereal. I just tried it (as in 5 minutes ago) and she ate it all up!

Yay! Now we're all happy! Oh, and she got her first tooth last night, too!

An Impromptu Prayer from Simon...

2012-01-11T12:46:00.003-06:00

Simon: Thank you, God, for our food, for Mommy and for Marshmallow Man.

Me: That was a nice little prayer, Simon!

Simon: That wasn't me, it was Slimer saying that.

He was playing with a plush Slimer toy.

Knock Knock

2012-01-05T10:04:00.006-06:00

The boys have really been into knock-knock jokes lately. Here are two Jonas (age 2) made up:

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Pee Wee.
Pee Wee who?
Pee Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Ghostbusters.
Ghostbusters who?
They're GUYS!

Yeah, he doesn't quite get it, but he sure is cute.

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-24T15:13:00.002-06:00

When Simon Grows Up

2011-12-13T11:26:00.003-06:00

Simon was talking to me about when he grows up. He is currently three and a half. Here is the gist of the conversation...

When Simon grows up and is big and a daddy, he will have three offices, but he will not have a guitar. His kids will have guitars and flutes and pianos, though. He will have three boys and four girls and they will like him. His friend Nella will be the mommy and she will stay home and hold the kids all the time. Nella will do the laundry and Simon will cook dinner. He will come home from work real quick to cook dinner.

Of his three offices, one is for making robot toys, one is for making Spiderman toys and one is for doing his work. He will work on his computer. He will also sleep at his office but he will come home before his kids wake up in the morning. At nighttime, his kids will sleep and Nella should sleep then, too. Simon will drink coffee and juice at his office. His kids will work making toys in the other offices.

Simon will also be a Ghostbuster guy with Jonas, but that's not his job. He and Jonas will "fight ghostes." Simon's kids might also want to be Ghostbusters and there will be lots of seats in the ghostbusters van.

This One Is 6 Months Old!

2011-11-30T14:42:00.002-06:00

My babiest baby is 6 months old! How crazy is that?

Charlotte (we often call her Charzie) now sits up on her own, a feat her brothers didn't do until at least a month later. She loves to eat and is up to 3 meals of solids a day and eats stage 2 baby food. I got her this device called the wean machine so she can eat table food sometimes, too.

She is still quite the mama's girl and will freak out if she realizes I'm not around. Charzie is soooooo wiggly and rarely stops kicking her legs. She passes toys back & forth between her hands trying to find the perfect spot to stick in her mouth. She loves the sound of her own voice and will yell just to hear herself. Her favorite game is Throw Things on the Floor.

Charlotte's favorite entertainment is when Simon & Jonas jump around. She loves taking a bath with her brothers, but Jonas doesn't like when she splashes him. Simon is absolutely in love with her.

Charzie just started being a little bit better sleeper and will actually nap in her crib. No teeth yet, but her gums have been swollen for a while...

We love you Charlotte! You're the sweetest & smiliest baby!

Simon's Christmas List

2011-11-09T16:18:00.004-06:00

Simon & I were talking about his Christmas and things on his wishlist. Here is some of it:

... Jonas can have all the R2D2 things and I can have all the C3EPO (yes, we know it's C3PO) things and Charlotte can have Darth Vader... And a Lego house for the Star Wars toys... I don't want all of those things, just Star Wars toys, and a Spiderman costume, and bath toys. And a bath ball like Charlotte's that jingles. And Star Wars bath toys. And a Spiderman bath toy. And a Star Wars spaceship for the bath... (uninterpretable excited 3-year-old chatter) ... And a kiss on the cheek...

Then Jonas announced he had to poop and I didn't hear the rest of what Simon was saying. But I did almost vomit because Jonas' poop reeked so badly.

Simon's Halloween Drink Recipe

2011-11-04T18:00:00.004-05:00

Here is Simon's Halloween Drink recipe:

First you put a candy in there [a cup, I assume]
Then you put a bubble gum
And add some ice
And some water
And some juice
Then you have a Halloweeeeen Drink!

What 3-year-old wouldn't love this drink?

October, What?

2011-11-02T20:57:00.008-05:00

I just realized that I didn't have a single post in October. Yeah, it's been crazy.

The kids like to get up before 6:00 AM.
My sister came to visit.
We went to a pumpkin patch.
Ate some Count Chocula, Frankenberry & Boo Berry cereals.
Chase went out of town.
My mom came to visit.
Both boys are daytime potty trained.
Jonas (the younger) wakes up dry in the morning maybe half the time.
Charlotte eats 2 meals of solids a day.
So far she likes oatmeal, rice cereal, green beans & carrots but loves pears.
Charlotte cries when her pears are gone.
I went to my first concert since my first pregnancy.
The Avett Brothers rocked my face, but I felt old & unfashionable... (another post soon, I hope)
The boys got their teeth cleaned at the dentist and did awesome.
Simon loves The Nightmare Before Christmas.
He thinks it's awesome that Mr. Oogey Boogey is made of bugs.
I carved Mr. Oogey Boogey for my jack-o-lantern this year.
I hosted a Halloweeney Playdate Party with a spooky snack contest.
I made skeletons on lollipop sticks using marshmallows & yogurt-covered pretzels.
Charlotte is 5 months old!
Chase's parents came to visit.
My BFF Keli brought her kids down for my party & to trick-or-treat.
Our kids were a BLT sandwich for Halloween.

That's pretty much my October. Now here are the pictures:

BLT Sandwich
Bread- Nella
Tomato- Silas
Bacon- Jonas (of course)
Lettuce- Charlotte
Bread- Simon

Wiggly Charlotte

2011-09-26T17:16:00.002-05:00

Make sure to turn your volume all the way up to get an accurate depiction of what our house sounds like.

Big Eater

2011-09-25T14:23:00.006-05:00

Charlotte has been wanting food, real food, since she was two months old. I let her start on rice cereal on Friday. She loved it. She looked very much like Jonas eating it, too.

She ate almost all the cereal and got much more in than out!

Just so you can compare for yourself, here's Jonas and his first rice cereal experience:

While I was pregnant with Charlotte, I told Chase that if she was as cute as Jonas, we're all in big trouble... Yeah, we're in big trouble.

(Simon's cute, too, just not chubby blonde baby cute. I guess I never blogged Jonas' first food, but here's Simon's.)

Things Just Got Spookier Up In Here

2011-09-23T13:17:00.004-05:00

I just finished my Halloween banner and hung it up! Yay! (I used scrapbook paper, black feathers, a hole punch & some twine.)

Halloween is pretty much my favorite holiday. I have a fondness for spooky things (as do my kids) and dressing up in costumes is just so fun. The kids were playing in the Halloween box the other day and I snapped a few pictures...

Simon in a wig & ringmaster hat

Jonas sporting the hat from Simon's lawn gnome costume from 2 years ago

Charlotte looking kinda creepy but a lot cute in the wig

That's enough for now, I've gotta go clean up my mess from making the banner...

Consequences of Being an Early Riser

2011-09-22T14:02:00.002-05:00

Somebody got up too early this morning....

He woke up 5:15-ish and fell asleep like that a bit after 11:00. I was nursing Baby Charlotte and couldn't move him until she was finished, but I could grab the camera & snap a few pictures one-handed...

Make a Cute Mobile for $5 or So

2011-09-17T20:36:00.006-05:00

Doesn't this super cute thing need some super cute things to look at? I think she does.

So I made this for her:

What I used:
small wreath (less than $2 from Hobby Lobby)
hemp rope (about $2 from Hobby Lobby)
painted wooden accents (67 cents each from Hobby Lobby)
scrapbook paper (from my stash)
hot glue gun
tacky glue
small paintbrush

Trace each wooden piece on some pretty paper
(plug in the glue gun to heat up)
Cut the tracings out
Cut rope (some for dangling pieces and some for hanging)
Tie the rope to the wreath
Hot-glue rope to wood pieces
Cover that mess with paper pre-traced & cut. I used tacky glue and spread it thin with a paintbrush.
Hang from ceiling. I used a hook that screwed in.

I think the mobile I made is cuter than most of the ones you buy & attach to the crib. Plus, you don't have to remove it when baby can reach it, just hang it higher. Depending on what you hang from it, it can still be a little accent piece in the room when baby's not a baby anymore.

The owl is Charlotte's favorite. She was talking to it in the store.

This Just Happened

2011-09-08T19:14:00.003-05:00

"Is this poop, Mommy?" That's what 3-year-old Simon asked me as he held something small, brown and rock-like. Baby Charlotte had just fallen asleep, so I told him to bring it to me because (a)they have some rock-ish-looking toys and (b) if it was poop, he was already touching it anyway. He brought it over and sure enough, it was poop.

Oh, but there was more! Sime told me there was a bigger one. Of course there was! And it was on the floor in their room surrounded by (but not touching) their toys. (Phew!) Then he showed me one more tiny one in the living room.

You see, yesterday, 2-year-old Jonas just up and decided he was going to pee pee on the potty. It was his idea, so I let him. Since he was doing such a great job and actually peeing on the potty and not the floor, I let him be naked from the waist down as long as we're home and have no visitors. He's very determined to pee on the potty and gets super excited about it exclaiming "I pee peeeeeeed!" or "I did it!" every time he pees on the potty. Plus, it inspires Simon who now decided that he also will pee on the potty. But notice how I keep saying pee and not poop... yeah...

3 Months Old Already!?!

2011-08-31T09:16:00.001-05:00

These are just some pictures of my adorable 3 month-old...

That is all.

Oink

2011-08-29T12:34:00.008-05:00

Pretty much overnight Jonas morphed from mostly complacent toddler to fussy, whiney 2-year-old. Yup, Jonas is two. We celebrated this occasion with a piggy party! We picked the piggy theme because Jonas loves, nay, is borderline obsessed with bacon.

Jonas & Daddy blowing out birthday candles

Picking birthday themes and building cakes & decorations that go with those themes is one of my favorite mommy jobs. Check out this piggy party stuff:

The invitation

Piggy cake- chocolate with buttercream icing, cupcake nose & graham cracker ears

Dangling paper piggy (alive- side 1)

Dangling paper piggy (dead- side 2)

Paper lantern piggies I made

Hanging paper lantern piggy

Food table

Chase's bacon burst (a big hit)

Chase's pulled pork (another hit, as always)

Oh, Jonas! You are so smart and have the climbing skills that rival kids three times your age. You say, "Hi!" a bajillion times to anyone and everyone we encounter while we're out and about, that is, unless they initiate the greeting. You're super social and friendly. You won't tell Daddy good morning ('uh morn-eeen!) until Mommy & Charlotte come out to the living room. You want to go somewhere, anywhere, all the time, but you want "Siney" to go with you. If Mommy or Daddy take you somewhere without your brother, you ask for him and get super excited to see him when you get home greeting him with hugs, even if you're only gone for 10 minutes! You tried to hug Papaw over the phone and tried to hug Aunt Manders while Skyping with her on the computer.

I don't know what you enjoy more, reading books or destroying them. You are super destructive. You love to dance and have incredible rhythm. You are a daredevil and go head-first off of furniture and pretty much anything at least 10 times a day. You love playing in water, dirt and mud. Outside is your favorite place to be.

You have such a vast vocabulary that it is about impossible to count how many words you know. You mostly speak in complete sentences. I adore your "play voices." When you're pretending, making your toys talk, your voice either gets super high and sweet or gravely like what I call your dragon voice. You love to tackle Daddy and to be tossed around.

You do pretty well sleeping in your big boy bed, but we usually have to tell you to get back in bed at least once every night. You sleep with a blankie and snuggle shirts (Mommy & Daddy's dirty shirts that you love to smell). Whenever you wake up from a nap or in the morning, you gather all your sleep stuff and dump it in the living room.

Jonas, you are so sweet and cute and absolutely adorable that we're all going to be in big trouble when you realize this and use it to your advantage. You are so loved. I can hardly believe my little piggy is two!

A recent Jonas picture

Newborn Jonas

A Story for Charwit

2011-08-10T18:10:00.003-05:00

This is a story Simon made up for Charlotte:

Once upon a time there was a Ba-Ba named Noonie. He had a rubber ducky way up high in a pool. Then a doggie comed. They had problems and they runned away. They lived happily ever after. And they had curtains.

Yes, I'm Crazy: An Adventure in Hobby Lobby

2011-08-03T13:12:00.007-05:00

I love me some Hobby Lobby. I often refer to it as Herby Lerby and Simon calls it Hobby Wobby. Sometimes I think I'd like to work there a few hours a week, but then I'd just blow my earnings on all the pretty things there and clutter up our house with crafts I intend to do. My BFF Kel i sent me a Hobby Lobby gift card for my birthday and I still had some birthday money to spend, so the other day I ventured out to one of my favorite stores, which is full of breakable things, with all 3 kids.

Yes, alone in the Land of Breakable Things in Small Aisles with a 3-year-old, an almost-2-year-old and a 2-month-old. Brave or crazy? Either way, I was quite the spectacle. I had Jonas (almost 2) strapped down in the front seat of the double stroller, Simon (3) in the back seat and Baby Charlotte strapped to me in the Moby wrap. The shopping carts there are just too small to do me any good while trying to contain more than one small child.

Oh, I got looks... lots & lots of looks. Most were endearing looks from middle-aged women. Some ladies seemed to pity me but a lot seemed happy to see my 3 adorable kids when they were not yet fussing. I'm sure it was also pretty amusing to watch me swerve the stroller every time Jonas leaned over as far as he could to grab something off a low shelf. Also, Simon had a big "treasure chest" on his lap that he kept putting his Mr. Smee toy in (Jonas had Capt. Hook). But then Jonas decided to head-butt the chest with the back of his head causing the chest to bump Simon who then started getting a bit disgruntled (can anyone ever actually be gruntled?).

So I then let Simon walk and dumped my loot in his seat. Simon walking caused Jonas to become disgruntled because Jonas desperately wanted to get down and ~~walk~~ knock every breakable off the shelves. This led to more Jonas leaning & stroller swerving, but at least Simon could now retrieve Capt. Hook every time he wound up on the floor. Since the boys ~~were pretty good~~ weren't awful and I'd gotten most of my intended items, we went to look at the decorative pumpkins.

Jonas had been exclaiming, "PUNKIN! A PUNKIN!" whenever we passed the fall decor display, so as a treat we went for a closer look. But Jonas was not content with looking. He started screeching, "Hold it? I hooollld it!?!" When he gets excited about something, his voice gets louder & higher. It would be quite annoying if he weren't so cute. Then he got mad that I wouldn't let him hold a pumpkin, so we checked out.

My two wall decor items were 50% off (hooray!) and I had a 40% off coupon from their web site that I used for the treasure chest. The checkout lady asked if the boys were twins (a common question lately) and when I said they weren't she said other than their hair color, they looked "identical" (they don't). Then we loaded back up in the van (which takes almost as long as the shopping part sometimes), dished out snacks & headed home.

As crazy as it sounds, sometimes I just need to load the kids up & go out to stay sane. It's not about being brave or showing the world I can handle it; going out with them is mostly about accomplishing some task and giving them (and me) a change of scenery. Many times it's a spur-of-the-moment decision (working out well with naps, meals & feeding Baby Girl). It's been way too hot lately to go outside, so shopping seemed like the best option!

Now, wanna see my loot?

Jonas with my wall art: an old French train station painted in wood planks. I liked this piece and thought it was interesting. Plus, it was priced just right on sale!

A caped Simon & the wall art

The metal "A" over Charlotte's dresser/changing station. I've been wanting to find an interesting monogram and this one was pretty, a great size, one sale & the last "A" in stock in this style.

The treasure chest! Simon has a smaller toy treasure chest from a pirate set. He insisted the small chest be in this picture. Simon picked this chest out.

The treasure inside: toys/clutter! This chest replaces a clutter-hiding wicker basket the boys destroyed. It's a lot sturdier and a million times cooler!

Oops!

2011-08-01T17:47:00.002-05:00

While trying to take this photobooth pic with Charlotte on the MacBook...

This happened instead...

Oops! I love this baby!

This Thing Is 2 Months Old!

2011-07-30T10:31:00.003-05:00

Can you believe it? This little thing is two months old already!?!

She's had her first trip to Kentucky and has met all her grandparents and great-grandparents. She's met all her uncles and just has one aunt left to meet.

Charlotte smiles a lot. She gets especially smiley during her morning diaper change.

She does not like to have pee pee in her diaper and if she has a poop, she will definitely let you know.

This sweet snuggly little thing is mama's baby and I love her.

Simon's Games

2011-07-29T13:43:00.002-05:00

This morning I got to play two original Simon games: Croc the Shank and Boots the Bomb. We would have also played Jonas the Bomb but Sime said it was "too loud and we'll wake up the beast from inside."

Water Baby

2011-07-26T21:22:00.001-05:00

This thing turned 2 months old today...

AND she took her first swim...

She loved it!

The water was pretty warm and she had quite a good time.

Me vs The Snake

2011-07-18T11:45:00.002-05:00

A snake was in our yard the other day. A big ol' black snake in our back yard. No biggie, right? I'd just keep the kids in the side and front yard til he went away. (I say "he" because as we all know yucky animals like snakes, tarantulas, hairless rats & dogs are always a "he" while pretty animals such as bunnies, ponies, kittens & dolphins are always "she." You know you do that too.) Well, I'd already told the boys that they could go swimming and had already invested way too much time putting their trunks and sunscreen on them not to do that. Oh, and the snake was guarding the water spicket, did I mention that? Yeah.

So to turn the water on to fill up the baby pool I had to get by the gigantic black snake. I tried tossing toys at him to get him to move. Unphased. Seriously, I threw probably 10 toys at that snake and he didn't care. Then I poked him with a stick. A loooong stick that Simon found. The snake recoiled enough to where I was able to turn on the hose. Once the hose was on, of course I sprayed that nasty thing til he slithered back to the woods. Yeah!

Now, I don't have anything against snakes in general. I'll touch them if I'm at a petting zoo or if it's someone's pet. I even bought the boys a book about a snake at a yard sale Saturday. But I don't appreciate a snake trying to take over my backyard and keep my kids from swimming in the pool when they've been ~~asking~~ whining to do that allll day (and you know that was the snake's plan). So if you're a snake and you're reading this blog, congratulations, you can read! And stay off of my lawn! (Also imagine I'm shaking my fist at you as I say that and then mutter something about kids [or snakes] these days.)

On Turning 29, Coffee & Beer

2011-07-15T16:02:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I turned 29. And the day before my mom turned 29 for the **th time. My mom's been turning 29 every year since I was a kid. Me turning 29 means Chase has approximately one year to pick out coffee for me.

What? That doesn't make sense to you? I guess I should explain. A couple years ago (or maybe one year, I really don't remember) I told Chase that when I turn 30, I was going to try coffee again. Why 30? For some reason in my mind that's some magical age where you're officially a grown-up. You're supposed to go out and have lots of fun when you're in your 20's, but when you turn 30 you have to grow up. I got a jump start on the whole having babies, but nowadays 30 is when you start getting serious about having kids and all that stuff. I guess I learned that from MTV or something... That's what is supposed to happen, that is, unless you're on Teen Mom.

So back to the coffee. Coffee is for grown-ups. Generally, kids don't like coffee. Kids and me. I hate, no, loathe coffee. I'm not even one of those "I love the smell but not the taste" types. I can hardly stand the smell of coffee. When I was pregnant with Jonas, I daily mistook the smell of Chase's coffee for the smell of Simon's poopy diapers. Seriously, every morning when I smelled Chase's coffee with my crazy pregnant nose, I checked Simon's diaper for poop. And there were multiple occasions when I was pregnant with Charlotte that I went to the bathroom to dry heave because of that coffee smell. Yeah, I loathe coffee, but Chase loves.

But I'm still in my 20's. Maybe when I turn 30 I'll have that grown-up acquired taste for coffee much like one must have an acquired taste for beer, at least that's what my dad told me about beer when I was a kid. I can remember asking him for a drink of his Bud Light as we all sat around watching Tales from the Crypt on TV with our pirated cable. I'm not sure how old I was, but I'm guessing between the ages of 6 and 10 (like my sons, I loved all things scary & Halloween-ish from an early age). Knowing I'd hate it, my dad told me to open my mouth as I was laying on the floor and he'd pour some in. He did and I hated it. I told him it was gross to which he replied it was an "acquired taste." Then my mom had to explain what that meant and I think her explanation was something like you had to taste it a bunch before you liked it. So I figured I just had to taste it a few more times and then I'd like beer and every once in a while I'd ask my dad for a drink of his Bud Light (as we watched more Tales from the Crypt or one of the Hellraiser or Puppet Master movies, I'm sure). He'd tell me I didn't like it to which I'd respond that I'd acquired the taste and would like it this time. I think he got a kick out of the whole thing because he'd always give me a taste and I never acquired the the taste. I say "always" and really it could have been 3 or 4 times or something. It's been years since I've had beer and as of the last time I'd tried it, I still hadn't really acquired the taste (though I did have an odd random craving for it once while I was pregnant with Charlotte...).

In a lot of ways, I think beer and coffee are alike. You have to have an acquired taste. People like to drink both socially. There are even entire establishments for both. Both coffee and beer can get you buzzed. People will shoot you dirty looks if you drink either while pregnant or breastfeeding. There's a cool factor for drinking either. Both can easily end up being expensive drinking habits. And there are more, I'm sure.

I sometimes feel left out of the coffee club. (Having 3 small children means I'm too tired to care about fitting in on the beer scene.) Other young moms "just need that morning cup of coffee to get through the day" when their small children are up at 5:00 AM (thankfully, our kids have been sleeping past 6:30 most mornings lately, and since I get up with Charlotte overnight Chase gets up with the boys in the morning). Friends like to catch-up over a cup of coffee and just hang out at coffee shops using their wifi. I'd much rather have a Pepsi and catch-up over some chocolate chip cookies, personally. Why isn't that a thing?

Since I'm growing up and want to fit in with the grown-ups and pretend that I'm a cool mom in my mom jeans and it's inappropriate to bring small children to a bar but it's fine to bring them to a coffee shop and this is a long run-on sentence and my 8th-9th grade advanced English teacher taught me proper grammar and I need to stop this sentence now, I'm going to try coffee when I turn 30. Since Chase loves coffee so much and knows what kinds of things I do like, he gets to pick out what coffee I try and maybe even like... That is, unless I have that condition my mom has and turn 29 every year for the rest of my life.

1 Month

2011-06-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

This is what a 1 month-old looks like...

That is all!

Brave

2011-06-24T13:59:00.008-05:00

I've been brave. In the past 2 weeks I've taken all 3 kids out alone to:
The Post Office
The park
Walmarts (twice!)
The mall (twice!)

Yes, that's 6 separate trips with all 3 kids all by myself! Some of the trips were because things needed to be done/coupons used, some were just to get out of the house, and some were just to see if I could. None of these trips were long and all were carefully planned around Charlotte's feedings. Oh, and there were no public meltdowns! I don't deserve a medal, but I think I do deserve a cookie! It certainly helps that Charlotte mostly does this while we're out:

The kids and I have also gone out with Chase a few times (once to see the Reptile Man) and my friend Naomi went with us to a park the other day because the fire truck was coming to spray the kids.

Reptile Man biting a gator

Simon cracking up

Jonas is amazed

Simon & the fire truck

Jonas running with the big kids

And here's a picture of Charlotte peeking out from behind her blankie all cross-eyed and cute:

I'm sure getting out and about will get more difficult when Charlotte doesn't sleep the whole time we're out, but for now short trips are quite manageable. The most difficult part is getting everyone in and out of their car seats.

Mystery Solved

2011-06-17T09:48:00.004-05:00

Both my boys were big spitters as babies, as in they spit up a LOT. I'm talking multiple outfits for them and me every day for months and months. Last week, Charlotte started spitting up quite a bit, too. I knew that if a breastfed baby's mother drinks cow's milk it can cause spitting up, so I traded my lactose free milk for soy (blek!) to see if there was a difference. None. I'd already pretty much cut out caffeine, so that wasn't the culprit either. Then after Charlotte's first major projectile spit up (it was like my baby was a tiny geyser), I did a little research and I think I've got it figured out: I have an overabundant milk supply.

Some signs of hyperlactation include baby coughing and gagging during feedings (check), early/forceful letdown [when the milk sprays] (check), baby pulling off before finished feeding (check), spitting up often (check), making a clicking sound when nursing (check), and baby gaining more weight than average (check). Simon and Jonas didn't show as many signs as Charlotte does, but they (and I) did show some. I mean, they were both huge babies! Plus, I can just tell that I've been very full. Another issue that can go along with this is the mother getting mastitis, which I had with Jonas. It was miserable! It's like having the boob flu! (Really, it is.)

Thankfully, the first possible solution for my overactive milk-makers I read and tried seems to be working. Instead of nursing on both sides each feeding, I do one side per feeding. This will ensure that Charlotte is getting a good combination of foremilk and hindmilk. Too much foremilk can can cause gassiness and spitup and make the baby not feel as full. So, by switching sides too soon so that I'd get both sides (somewhat) emptied (because I'm paranoid about getting mastitis again), Chalotte was just getting a bunch of foremilk, taking in too much, getting gassy & uncomfortable and then spitting up. Plus, the milk was coming out forcefully causing her to cough and gag.

This is day 3 of the one side per feeding and Charlotte has virtually stopped spitting up! I mean, she might spit up a tad with a burp, but it's just a tiny bit and doesn't drench her clothes and mine. She's much more content, too! I thought it would be somewhere between annoying and painful to do the whole one side per feeding thing, like my milk-makers would asplode or something, but my body's adjusted quite well.

Charlotte's gangsta pose

And when this little thing is happy, the rest of us are happier, too!

Just a side note, I find it interesting that being lactose intolerant, my body makes a substance that it cannot digest.

A Week and a Half Already

2011-06-05T15:24:00.004-05:00

Beautiful Baby Charlotte (or Charwit as the boys call her) just fits right in. She's a pretty laid back baby as long as she has her plug (aka pacifier). She loves her plug. Charlotte is a wonderful sleeper... noisy, but wonderful. She just halfway wakes up to eat overnight anywhere between 3 & 5 hours and goes right back to sleep. Only once since she's been home was she up overnight more than for a meal and it was for an hour and a half. Since she's only a week and a half old, I don't anticipate that being the normal; but I can dream, can't I? And I'll surely appreciate this while I can!

Right now it's hard to tell what the boys think of her because we've had grandparents in town quite a bit. Jonas loves to give her kisses and share things with her by throwing toys at her when she's in her swing exclaiming, "Nice?!?!" Simon wants her to build with blocks with him and talk back to him when he says things to her. Both boys think it's absolutely hilarious when she gets the hiccups.

I think this last picture is a pretty accurate depiction of how things are right now... Simon is messing with Jonas and Charlotte is wondering what she's in for!

She's Here and We're Home

2011-05-28T20:17:00.004-05:00

Charlotte Marie
May 26, 2011
6:16 pm
8 lbs. 2 oz.
20.5 inches

Charlotte Marie came quickly on Thursday... as in so quick there was no time for my epidural. I started having some cramps that turned out to be contractions around 2:30 pm, but they were few and far between. It took a while before I could determine that they were indeed contractions. They started coming more consistently by 3:30 and I asked Chase to come home. After some more pain and frequency, I called my doctor's office at 4:15 and had Chase call our babysitter. Our friend Naomi arrived about 4:30 and we were out the door in about 15 minutes or so. Jonas was sad and grabbed his sandals wanting to go with us.

We arrived at the hospital just before 5:00. It turns out I was the sixth lady within an hour to show up for labor and delivery (three more would follow shortly). There were no delivery rooms open and ready, so I had to wait in the wheelchair at the nurse's station before they could figure out where to put me. A recovery room was free, so a nurse took me there to get me changed and check my stats. At 5:20 I was already dilated to 7 cm. They pulled a switcheroo and rushed me to a delivery room.

A nurse shoved an IV in my arm and the phlebotomist drew some blood. My doc came in and told me I could either wait an hour and a half for the IV fluids to get in me and my labs to be done and then I could have an epidural, or he could break my water and I'd be in a lot of pain for 5 minutes or so and it would all be over. I had a terrible contraction and told him I thought he needed to check me. He checked and my water had already broken (don't know when, but Charlotte's head must have plugged things up!) and it was go time. After 5 minutes of agony where I focusing on not passing out and I literally saw stars, Charlotte Marie was born.

Because we didn't know when my water broke and I was GBS positive and hadn't had time to get a full IV bag in, Charlotte needed some extra monitoring. She's more than fine, she's wonderful.

Charlotte has blonde hair and blue eyes. She's basically a girl Jonas- came out on a 3 hour or so eating schedule, is a competitive pooper and loves to smell things. We came home this morning and the boys quickly bombarded her with kisses and toys.

No Progress and Some Other Stuff

2011-05-25T11:49:00.002-05:00

My 39 week appointment yesterday was a bit disappointing as my baby exit has made no progress from week 38. But the good news is that if Baby Girl hasn't arrived by 5:00 am Sunday she's being forced out! Yippee!

I thought that since this is my 3rd baby people would have stopped telling me how to get the baby to come out by now... nope. How about I just tell you how to get a baby to come out, mmmkay? Go for a walk, go yard sale-ing, eat something spicy, do something "spicy" (wink wink), pump some milk, listen to '90s alternative rock, go off-roading, do 20 jumping jacks then spin in a circle counterclockwise 3 times while humming I'm a Little Teapot, kiss a frog, rub a pineapple on your left leg, punch a dude in the face, sit outside during a thunderstorm, or just have your doc give you labor-inducing drugs!

Enough of that, so Simon pooped on the potty again! He's great at peeing in the potty if he's half naked (except that time he decided to pee on the wall and that other time he just peed on the floor for fun). It's been a while since he had pooped on the potty (he prefers to poop his pull-ups), but now he has the promise of going to see Cars 2 in the theater if he keeps it up. He's pretty pumped about that. You know what else he's pumped about? Grilled cheese sandwiches. I think it's his new favorite food.

Jonas is getting potty-obsessed. Well, actually it's more like being obsessed with being nakey. He's peed on the potty a couple times and will tell us "Pee pee potty! Pee pee POTTY!" so that we'll take his diaper off. Then he runs to the potty, stands there for half a second and then proceeds to run around the house naked. He's a manipulative chap, he is.

Speaking of Jonas, he is currently telling me, "I poot! I poot!" which means I need to change his diaper...

39 Weeks and Still Pregnant

2011-05-24T08:47:00.003-05:00

This is the longest I've ever been pregnant: 39 weeks and 2 days. Yeah, I know I'm not to my due date yet and now I have much sympathy for those ladies who have to go past their due dates!

There's a huge difference between 38 & 39 weeks: much less mobility, much more back pain, far more difficulty getting comfortable, a lot more night waking, having to pee way more, etc. I keep getting fake labor, too. I'll have contractions every 5-10 minutes for a half hour or so and then they just fizzle out. Actually, on Sunday I had them every 8-10 minutes for two hours, but I wanted to eat dinner before going to the hospital (they don't let you eat once you check in, ya know!) and by the time dinner was over, they'd fizzled out. Since the beginning of this pregnancy Baby Girl has been full of drama!

I do have an appointment with my doctor this afternoon. I'm the last one of the day. I'm hoping he'll tell me my baby exit has made more progress (I was 3 cm & 80% last week) and offer to send me up to labor & delivery and just break my water. I'm starting to get paranoid that by the time I'm having consistent contractions or that my water breaks we won't make it in time! In the past my contractions didn't really hurt until my water broke. And there are occasions that a woman's water doesn't break until her baby is coming out...

2 Weeks? 2 Days? She'll Be Here Soon!

2011-05-17T13:23:00.003-05:00

OK, Internet, are you ready to hear the progress my lady business has made for Baby Girl to come out? Ready? Ready? Here it goes... I'm 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. If you don't know what that means, ask someone who's had a baby (your mom?) or Wikipedia.

I had my weekly invasive checkup this morning. If Baby Girl follows suit of her brothers, I'll have to go to the hospital tonight. Labor with Simon started the evening of my checkup between 38 & 39 weeks, and I was sent straight to labor & delivery from my 38 week checkup when I was pregnant with Jonas. At least with this much progress it should be a matter of days rather than weeks until Baby Girl is out.

So now I'm torn between trying to rest up for labor and trying to be as active as I can to get things going quicker. I did venture to Goodwill with the boys to try to find something fun to hang up in our living room, but that was a bust. I also put away most of the boys' cold weather clothes to make it easier to find appropriate clothes in their dresser & closet for them to wear. I do need to put a few more things in the hospital bag, too (ear plugs, snacks to sneak during labor, Arrested Development DVDs...).

I have been having contractions, too, but nothing consistent. That's the way it was with the boys, though. I'll have three within 20-30 minutes and then nothing for an hour or two. I guess I'll just hang out until my water breaks or until they get painful (which doesn't usually happen for me until my water breaks).

So, any guesses on when Baby Girl will come? How big do you think she'll be? Name guesses? (You're not allowed to post a name guess if the name has been leaked to you!)

2.5 Weeks to Go (And Some Other Stuff)

2011-05-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

My weekly invasive checkup the other day proved no progress from 36 to 37 weeks. I'm disappointed. We're ready for Baby Girl to come out! Jonas goes to her bed set up in our room several times a day and says, "Nap! Bebe nap!" He also goes to her car seat (also in our room) and says, "Bebe ride-it!" Simon is excited for our friends to come take care of him when we go to the hospital. He talks about that a lot. I'm ready to just not be pregnant anymore!

Last weekend we took the boys to Big Truck Night at the mall parking lot. There were lots of kids climbing in and on big rigs, cement trucks, a fire truck, an ambulance and more. Plus, there was a llama. (Yes, like you when I think Big Truck Night, I think llama.)

The boys on a cement mixer

The last two days it got pretty hot out, so I busted out the sprinkler for some easy outdoor entertainment.

Yes, Simon kept drinking the water.

And can you guess what this is?

No, we did not get a pet; it's the hair I cut off the boys. It was summer haircut time. Simon's hair is so thick he gets so much more sweaty when it's long. I had to cut Jonas' hair to keep myself from putting it in a ponytail!

Simon's summer hair

Jonas' summer hair

I wanted to leave their hair a little longer on top, but they wouldn't hold still long enough. Their curls will come back soon, though.

Hopefully the next time I post something it'll be pictures of our baby girl!

4 Weeks to Go (or 36 Weeks Preggers)

2011-05-03T14:24:00.002-05:00

It seems kinda weird to me to just tell people how much I've progressed in the whole baby-coming-out process other than when the doc says, "anytime now..." I mean, basically, when I say, "I've dilated to such-and-such centimeters," I'm saying, "This is how wide my lady business has opened!" But when you're pregnant, people (well, other women) are generally excited or at least curious to know these things...

So, Internet, as of this afternoon, I am at 1 cm.

At this point with my previous pregnancies, I was already at least to 2 cm and was told to take it easy since a pregnancy is considered "full-term" at 37 weeks. So this is a bit of a relief because there are some things I'd like to do that involve going out and about this week.

Also, I haven't gained any weight since my last check-up two weeks ago. I find that hard to believe with all the cake and junk food I've been eating, but then again, not much fits in my stomach anymore...

Which brings me to this: people keep asking me how I've stayed so thin this pregnancy. I don't think I've really stayed that thin and my doc says I'm doing good with weight gain, but I guess I can share my pseudo-secret anyway...
1. Have terrible heartburn/reflux the entire pregnancy. This will keep you from wanting to eat to begin with.
2. Have at least 2 small children in your house at all times. This will force you to exercise and you'll get both cardio from chasing them around to keep them out of stuff and strength-building from lifting them into their carseats/boosters/high chairs and off of tables.
3. Be lactose intolerant and/or develop food aversions. Although I'm not as picky as I once was, I'm still a bit of a picky eater. Add being lactose intolerant on top of that plus random food aversions (eggs, sometimes bacon, peanuts, occasionally other foods), and my food choices are limited. Of course, I do crave Pepsi, cookies & donuts, but with the terrible heartburn, I can't have much of those things anyway.

So there ya go, a pregnancy update. I'm really hoping Baby Girl makes her appearance in a week or so. When do you think she'll come?

Oh, and the picture with this post is from a family photo shoot the awesome KellyBeth Konieczka did for us this past Friday.

Simon's Circus Party

2011-05-01T07:59:00.005-05:00

Simon turned three this weekend and we celebrated with a circus party.

The invitation I made

I baked him a circus tent cake and cupcakes with circus animals on them...

I used a giant cupcake mold for the tent and Simon picked funfetti cake.

Sime blowing out his #3 candle!

We had some circus decorations...

Strongman Jonas

Circus tent made of tablecloths

And we had lots of fun with friends.

At three years old, Simon is a very smart boy. He likes to make up stories with his daddy, to jump (he does a lot of jumping), to play with Jonas, to color (especially with markers), climbing, going to the park, stickers and many more things. He's borderline obsessed with bugs and claims they are all his friends. He's also a huge fan of the circus (hence the circus party).

Simon, Mommy & Daddy love you very much and can hardly imagine life without you! Now you just need to use the potty all the time and sleep in a little later...

(Our friend KellyBeth took this pic during our family portrait session Friday)

Happy Birthday Simon! (And a Circus Video)

2011-04-29T12:55:00.004-05:00

Simon is three years old today! We're celebrating tomorrow with a circus party. I'll do an official Simon birthday post later, but to celebrate now here's a video taken on Chase's iPod of him (and Jonas) at the circus two weeks ago:

Gross Poop Story

2011-04-27T16:00:00.000-05:00

Seriously, this is a gross story about poop. You have been twice warned...

Saturday morning I awoke to find the boys playing happily in their room with some little white things strewn about between their beds. At first I thought it was toilet paper, but Simon told me it was "tastey" and he doesn't eat toilet paper (though Jonas might). As I got closer I could smell a minty scent. Then I realized that white stuff was gum. I had half a pack left in my purse and they had turned some into gum confetti and had a little celebration in their room while eating the rest.

I figured they hadn't actually ingested that much, maybe a stick or two each (it was Orbitz, which is small anyway), so there wasn't a need to take them in to prompt care. They'd probably just be a little constipated and then it would come out in a few days.

Fast forward to last night (Tuesday).

Simon pooped his pull-ups and as I was wiping him I noticed something hanging out of his booty. I about freaked at first because it was almost flesh-colored and sort of bulbous. I thought he either had a gigantic roid or something was terribly, terribly wrong with his pooper. Oh, the things that were going through my head! I was going to call Chase at work and get him to rush home so he could take him to prompt care and then I'd meet him there once we found someone to stay with Jonas.

Then I remembered the gum incident and thought maybe, just maybe, it was the gum. I grabbed the bulbous nastiness with the wipe and Sime didn't seem in pain. I gently pulled and couldn't get it off. I asked Simon if it hurt and he said, "Yes," but he didn't act like it (and if he is in the tiniest amount of pain he makes sure you know!). So I grabbed it again with the wipe and yanked pulling out twice as much gooey nastiness as I thought was there.

I'm 99% sure it was two to three sticks of gum.

Quite the Eventful Easter

2011-04-26T19:04:00.006-05:00

Easter started out quite uneventful. I dressed the boys a little bit nicer than usual and even brushed their hair (which makes it super fluffy).

My fluffy boys

Jonas or Frances from Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

And I just took a couple pictures of them since we're getting our family portraits done on Friday.

Jonas is making almost the same expression as last year's Easter pic of the boys

Simon's learned to smile a little better, though!

We had our church gathering and Easter dinner here and then the boys played with Daddy a bit.

And then right before we were about to start clean-up time and the bedtime routine, Jonas tripped over a cushion on the floor and busted his eye on the rocking chair!

We debated taking him to the ER and consulted a nurse friend. We didn't want to put him through the trauma of the ER if it wasn't necessary. She suggested we take him in case it needs some help healing (he wouldn't stop rubbing it which made it bleed more). After calling around, our neighbor ended up coming over to stay with Simon. Chase took Jonas in while I got Simon ready and in bed, and then I met them at the ER.

Seriously, Jonas was a bloody mess since face injuries bleed so much. Chase had asked if we should clean him up before going in, but I said no because a bloody baby will get treated much faster! You can click here to see the wound and here to see the shirt (which has been trashed). We were only there for a little over an hour. Jonas was so sweet and chatty except when he was being cleaned, restrained and glued (three people held him down while one glued the wound). He got to eat half a popcicle and then we came home.

Jonas is doing just fine now and the glue should just come off when it's ready. This is what he looks like now:

I guess it's only fair that Jonas makes an ER trip the week of Simon's birthday since Simon had one (complete with ambulance ride) the week of Jonas' birthday... Hopefully this won't be a trend!

Funny Things Simon Has Said

2011-04-19T19:00:00.002-05:00

These are some funny things Simon has said recently:

We can ride flamingos!

We can't ride flamingos; they're for babies to ride... and little people.

(Talking about Daddy's shirt) That's just my size! My new size!

(Talking about the baby in my belly) She can play with the food in your belly!

I bounce my head on your belly cuz your belly is like a ball.

(A handyman was installing a new faucet and water leaked out in the process) There's wet in our house, Mommy!

I speak squirrel!

I don't want to reach my hand up my booty! There's poop in there!

I like to see my poop.

I lookin' tough.

I can't feel my eyebrows!!!

Can I feel your mustache, Daddy?

6 Weeks to Go (or 34 Weeks Preggo)

2011-04-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

With 6 weeks (maybe) left, Baby Girl's clothes are washed and put away in her brand new dresser and in the kids' closet.

Simon helping (well, hindering) Daddy putting the dresser together.

Doesn't it look nice in our living room? I really like the color; so different but it goes with so much! I think it'll be quite convenient to have it in the living room, too. So does Jonas (who likes to pull out the neatly folded clothes and such).

And it's getting filled with cute little girl clothes... and a few things the boys wore.

And here are a bunch of Baby Girl's little dresses nestled all cute between her brothers' things in the closet.

Having 3 kids in a 2 bedroom place (at least while they're little) doesn't seem as difficult as I first thought it would be. Their small clothes fit just fine in their closet and dressers for now (plus, out-of-season things can be stored in the garage on our nice new shelves!).

And now for the "coming home" outfit...

I bought this dress for her shortly after we found out she's a she! We just need to set up the pack-n-play in our room and pack the hospital bag and we're ready for Baby Girl to come on out! Hopefully she thinks 3 weeks from now (when she's 37 weeks and "full-term") is perfect timing...

Circus

2011-04-16T20:15:00.004-05:00

This morning we took the boys to the circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, actually. (Well, I wouldn't call it the greatest show on earth...) Their one ring show came to town this weekend. If you have tickets to a show, you can go an hour early for the pre-show and get some close-up entertainment and meet some of the performers & animals. The boys enjoyed the pre-show better than the actual show, but some of that had to do with substituting lots of snacks for lunch and pushing naptime for the show. One of the performers helped Simon do a tightrope walk, but unfortunately I missed it because I was sitting on the ring with Jonas watching the elephant (his favorite) at the time. BUT Chase did get it on video on his iPod. If he posts it, I'll link to it.

So here's what you really want... pictures!

Simon's circus excitement while we wait to go in

Jonas with me at the pre-show

Acrobats

Simon doesn't understand what it means to "line up"

Suzie the elephant

We weren't sure if Simon understood that we were going to watch the circus and not be a part of the circus when we left the house, but he seemed to do pretty well. He practices his "circus tricks" at home with Daddy!

Fun with Toilet Paper

2011-04-12T14:18:00.003-05:00

When your almost 3-year-old comes and tells you your 19-month-old is "having fun with toilet paper," it is not a good thing...

Ah, my Little Destructo

8 Weeks to Go... Maybe

2011-04-02T13:16:00.000-05:00

At 32 weeks preggers:

Medium maternity pants no longer fall off! (Smalls have been getting a little snug lately). This is good because all the maternity shorts & capris I have are mediums.

My belly is starting to peek out a little of most of my maternity shirts (granted, most have been through the wash a gazillion times already).

Baby Girl feels locked & loaded.

I still crave donuts, Pepsi & ice cream.

I need Tums at least once a day.

Baby Girl simultaneously headbutts me in her exit route while pounding on my bladder with her fist.

My feet are swelling ever so slightly and sometimes it feels like there's some Jello under the skin of my left foot (the same foot the swelled more with both boys).

Baby Girl rubs her head on my belly bra. She doesn't like when I wear it. But wearing that thing is a must if I still want to be able to walk at the end of the day.

I have to take iron supplements for anemia (blek). This also means I eat fiber cereal.

Baby Girl doesn't kick so much but she's constantly pushing, stretching out & rolling around. It hurts. She keeps me from sleeping. Did I mention she pounds my bladder? Yeah, that makes me feel the urge to pee when I don't need to... and keeps me from sleeping.

I've been on a cleaning/organizing spree. So far I've done our mail/office supply area on the kitchen counter, my sewing stuff and the boys' coloring books/stickers/etc. Today Chase is doing the garage, then I can do closets and move bins o' clothes out to the garage on our new storage shelves. Tomorrow we (well, Chase & some recruits after church) move the couch and then we'll put together Baby Girl's dresser (which will double as her changing station) in the living room sometime this week, hopefully. Once that's done, I can wash and put away her clothes! We also just got rid of a bunch of junk. Chase took a load to Goodwill, some to the dumpster and some to recycle.

I've started filling out my cord blood donation paperwork and will do the hospital preregistration forms to drop off this week. I highly encourage cord blood donation! It's just discarded after babies are born but it can be used for so much because it contains stem cells! For example, it can be used in a bone marrow transplant or for research. If enough is donated and gets used for research, there won't be a need to do stem cell research on lab-created then aborted embryos. My doc is all about the cord blood donation and has received the "Golden Placenta" award for it! Hah!

Well, that's enough blogging for now. I've got some stuff to sort through from the garage while Jonas is sleeping and Simon can play outside.

My Little Big Boys

2011-03-23T12:30:00.006-05:00

Simon and Jonas are getting to be big boys. Simon can almost dress himself. Jonas can talk in (short) complete sentences and we understand most of what he says. Today I took them both for a walk up and down the street for the first time without a stroller! Of course I put Jonas on the baby leash because he darts and being 30 weeks pregnant I cannot run after him.

Another big boy thing they got to do recently was ride the tricycles they got for Christmas! They had to stay in the driveway (it's pretty big since we're in a duplex that connects at the garage). Both boys insisted on wearing their boots to ride. Jonas can't reach the pedals, but his trike has a handle we can use to push and steer. Simon got the hang of his rather quickly.

This is how Jonas rides

Simon is almost a pro!

I don't think either of them fell completely off their trikes, but Jonas did take some spills on our walk this morning. He wasn't even running or anything, I think he was just so distracted by all the sticks, leaves and flowers that he didn't pay attention to what he was doing. He skinned his knees but was unphased.

My baby big boy's skinned knee

Simon usually doesn't believe me when I tell him Jonas is going to be a big brother, too. He says that Jonas is still a baby. Jonas begs to wear Simon's pull-ups (not that they're that different from a diaper, but Simon can take them off and pretty much get them on himself and he thinks they're for big boys...). I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most about Baby Girl coming (other than just not being pregnant anymore) is more babies holding babies! I think Simon & Jonas will make great big brothers.

10 Weeks to Go (or 30 Weeks Preggers)

2011-03-20T18:32:00.007-05:00

I guess we can officially start counting down... 10 weeks 'til Baby Girl's due date. The doc says she's little... yet I waddle. She feels humongous and takes up every bit of womb she possibly can. She doesn't kick so much but she's constantly squirming and pushing and it hurts! I bought what I call a belly bra (a pregnancy support belt) to hold up my belly.

I tell ya, the thing is amazing. It's just sorta uncomfortable when sitting down so I usually take it off then. I can tell a huge difference between days I wear it and days I don't. I sure wish I had one of these when Jonas was in there!

Some might say my nesting* has begun. I'm not so sure about that, but I do want to get things ready as soon as possible just because I feel like I very well may be immobile by the end of this pregnancy. (OK, I probably am nesting or trying to, but most of the things I want to do I can't until we get rid of a couch, put together Baby Girl's dresser and get shelves in the garage... I should start a list, but I hate making lists...) Already my left foot has started swelling on occasion and I can barely waddle at the end of the day.

Baby Girl is due May 29, but if she's on the Simon & Jonas track, she should arrive about mid-May. I sure hope she's on the Simon & Jonas track!

*So maybe the day Jonas was born I arranged our junk in the garage and swept it out so we could park a car in there...

Too Cute for His Own Good

2011-02-21T14:21:00.004-06:00

Today, I said, "I love you, Simon," and this was his response:

And I love Daddy!
And Daddy loves Jonas!
And I love Jonas!
And Daddy loves meeee!
And you love Jonas!
And I love you, too, Mommy!

Sometimes Simon is just too cute for his own good...

Simon's Valentine

2011-02-10T15:50:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I took the boys to a Valentine play date. On the way there I asked Simon who he was going to make a valentine for...

For Nella? No
For Daddy? No
For Mommy? No
For Neena? No
For Granny? No
For Papaw? No
For Grandpa? No
For Aunt Cassie? No
For Aunt Manders? No
For Aunt Paige? No
For Aunt Laura? No
For Uncle Nein? No
For Uncle Joel? No
Who are you going to make a valentine for? (No answer)

While we were making the valentine he still wouldn't tell me. As soon as it was finished I asked him who it was for...

For Jonas!

Simon sure loves his brother!

Hopeless

2011-02-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

I had a glimmer of hope. Had. Now the hope is gone, all gone...

Last night Simon pooped in his room. Pooped. In. His. Room. A giant turd and five or so smaller turds. Of course this was about two minutes before clean-up time. I was in the living room with Jonas (who was pretending to pee on the potty) when I realized Simon was being too quiet in his room (again, anyone who has kids knows with the exception of sleep times, quiet = bad). I went in to check and there, in the middle of the room, on his Ikea playmat, was a giant turd. I mean this turd would be big for an adult. It was huge and there was a trail of smaller turds behind it. Simon had poop all over his legs, too.

I herded the boys out of the room, shut the door and got Simon cleaned up. Then I disposed of the turds and then rolled up the mat and stuck it in the garage. At least it fits in the washing machine.

I'm completely giving up on potty training Simon. He can just learn to change his own diapers.

Funnier in Retrospect OR A Laugh at My Expense

2011-02-08T14:22:00.005-06:00

It's funnier in retrospect, but I was not amused at the time... "What?" you ask? Simon pooping on his toys.

That's right, Friday morning Simon pooped on some of his toys. And, no, he did not dump in his dump truck (although he did pee on a bulldozer). It was one of those mornings where I was extra tired and camped out on the couch kinda dozing while the boys played and watched some TV. Yes, I sometimes use TV as a babysitter, go ahead and judge me and make yourself feel superior; if you were pregnant and also had a clingy 18 month old and a 2.5 year old who regularly screamed in the middle of the night and got up waaaaaay too early, you'd have TV days as well... or you have a nanny or can ship the kids off to their grandparents' for the day...

Anyway, I had just started feeling well enough to get up off the couch and do something productive when I realized the boys were playing a little too quietly together in their room. Anyone with kids can tell you that other than bedtime and naptime, too quiet equals bad news. As soon as I walked into the boys' room Simon hid. There was a mess, but their room didn't seem too messy. And Jonas was just sitting on the floor playing with some stuffed animals... Then I smelled it... POOP! My initial thought was that Jonas pooped in his diaper (because in our house, if anyone poops, Jonas will also poop not wanting to be outdone). I checked, no poops in his diaper. Simon's been going pantsless around the house to make it easier for him to use the potty by himself, so I knew there was no poop in his pants... and that there must be a turd somewhere in the room! The search began.

I asked Simon if he pooped. First he said no but then quickly recanted. I asked him where and he pointed to the area between his Bounce-n-Spin Zebra and their chest of drawers. He had stacked his puzzle rack (with puzzles still in it) on top of a container for their zoo toys. On the very top puzzle was a turd! Why did he poop there? How did he poop there? Then I noticed another turd in the bear cave of their zoo toy. OK, how did he do that? It turned out that he had stacked the puzzles on the zoo container to stand on and reach something on top of the chest of drawers. While he was standing and reaching he must have just let the turds fly as he grabbed the object of his interest (a piece to one of his Matchbox cars). One turd landed on the puzzle and the other landed in the zoo which had fallen over at just the right angle to catch some poo in the bear cave.

Oh, I was livid. I made Simon watch me clean it up and then put the all the zoo pieces and puzzles in the garage. (Oh, and in the course of cleaning the poop, Jonas got into the toilet bowl cleaner. Thankfully, I was able to yank it out of his hands just as he was about to shove it into his mouth!) The rule is if Simon pees or poops on his toys, they are going into the garage until he can go on the potty and treat his toys properly. As I was gathering the rest of the puzzles I saw a puddle of pee on and around his bulldozer toy, which was about three feet from where the turds were. So not only did he poop on some toys, he went over either before or after to pee on another. After a cleaning, that toy also went to the garage.

The kid has bladder and bowel control, he just does not want to go on the potty. Well, he'll tell me he wants to be a big boy and that he wants to pee and poop on the potty and get a treat (always emphasizing the treat part), but he doesn't actually do it. He'd much rather crouch in a corner to poop or let it fly as he's running across the room (something he also did last week). Maybe he'd be more keen to the potty stuff if Jonas were to pee & poop on the potty, too. As obsessed as Jonas is with the potty right now (seriously, if he hears the word "potty" or he sees Simon pee on the potty, Jonas will dart over and act like he's peeing and pooping on the potty!) and as crazy as I feel, I just might try that. I mean, I'm already cleaning pee & poop up all the time as it is, so why not?

Potty Time!

2011-02-03T16:01:00.002-06:00

Simon is reading some potty books and waiting for a poop. If he poops on the potty he gets a treat, gets to wear undies and we get to go visit Daddy at work tomorrow!

Jonas wants to join in on the fun and is also reading potty books. But Jonas tries to push Simon off the potty so he can sit there. He really likes to stand and pretend that he's peeing when Simon is finished. If Jonas was a little bit better at communicating, I'd go ahead and let him start potty training, too! Maybe he can do that this summer.

Just Some Craziness Around Here

2011-02-01T19:29:00.002-06:00

As you can probably guess, things are pretty crazy around here. Jonas has his two bottom cuspids getting ready to bust through and it's making him a super crank. With this teething comes slight fever, runny nose and cough (from the runny nose), and of course the pain of teeth trying to push through his gums. Plus, Simon has been biting Jonas (unprovoked), also making Jonas a super crank. Jonas being a super crank means lots of crying & screaming on his part... and sometimes my part (but I mostly blame that on pregnancy hormones).

We're on potty training attempt number four with Simon (we gave up after attempt three because Simon got sick, Daddy had to travel and Mommy was sick and pregnant and then we were all going to be traveling for Christmas and didn't want to deal with it then). Simon has been saying he wants to be a big boy and go on the potty, so today was the first day of potty training... yet again. With the exception of peeing on his toy box, Simon has done a really good job today.

It seems that life with Simon is a battle. Okay, the entire day is not a battle, but every meal, nap time (which I gave up on and we have rest/movie time while Jonas naps), clean-up time, bedtime, potty training, etc. are battles. And a lot of those battles are just because of his will. For example, we can give him a dinner full of all of his favorite foods and he'll say he's hungry but will only want to eat two bites and then ask for a treat. Mealtime battles have nothing to do with whether or not he likes the food or whether or not he's hungry; he just has some control issue or something. It's the same with our last two potty training attempts; he understands the potty, has bladder and bowel control, and he even says he wants to go on the potty and be a big boy (and get rewards, of course)... but he would just pee and poop in his undies after getting rewards.

As crazy and frustrating as things get around here though, we have two very smart, hilarious and sweet boys. There are lots of kisses, hugs and snuggles. Simon looks out for Jonas and gets so excited when Jonas wakes up from nap. Simon can sing the alphabet with only two or three mistakes (...H-Y-J-K-M-&-M-O-P...) and Jonas can sing the alphabet a little, too (most of the letters are B)! Simon seems to remember everything, so we need to watch what we say around him. Jonas sometimes speaks in phrases (he said, "Car in'ere" [car in there] the other day!). Both boys like to imitate things we do and each other, too.

Oh, and we've narrowed Baby Girl's name down to two choices... probably! Of course, her name won't be revealed until she's born as we did with the boys. We're going to stay in our two bedroom place for this year (there's a lot more living space and storage [hello, garage!] than in the three bedroom places we've looked at, plus we have a great deal on rent since Chase does the yard work). So we've got some rearranging and purging to do and new furniture coming before Baby Girl makes her appearance. Things are only going to get crazier around here, I expect, until, well, maybe forever!

***Update***
So, Simon peed a little on the floor during clean-up. Gah! He still didn't do too badly for day one, though.

It's... A...

2011-01-11T09:49:00.003-06:00

It's time to bust out the tutus and hair bows because Baby #3 is a GIRL! Here are her ultrasound pictures from yesterday:

She's all curled up and was like that for most of the ultrasound

Her arm next to her head

Such a modest girl with her legs crossed... She wanted to keep them that way making it difficult to get a good look, but with some persistent prodding the tech was able to get her to move and give us a peek!

Baby Girl's profile

Now I've got to go purge some baby boy clothes to make room for little dresses!

I Guess I'm Pretty Tall

2011-01-07T10:24:00.003-06:00

As I was fixing my hair in the bathroom, Simon came bouncing up to me with a tape measure and said, "Let me check you!" He measured me (sort of) and proclaimed, "Mommy, you 5,000 tall!" Then he went and sat on Jonas' head.

Simon on the Phone

2011-01-03T13:17:00.003-06:00

This morning Simon wanted to call his granny & papaw. In his conversation with Granny, he said, "Fluffy might like a flute, a quiet flute." (Fluffy is her cat.) When he was told Papaw was at work, he flipped the phone over thinking he could just talk to Papaw on the other side of the phone. Silly Simon.

An Email from Simon

2011-01-01T10:11:00.002-06:00

My mom sent an email to Simon and this was his reply:

uuu00opoop0op9uiuoioo.[.0]0p-- \-j 8yhjufgufhj'7fryytfg-hj neena [Simon typing]

Simon, doggie, cars, kitty cats, cow, snake, turtle, lion, ostrich, rabbit, chick, crocodile, fish, cars, snowman, cars, snowman [Simon dictating]

Love,
Simon

Buzz Lightyear & Ribs

2010-12-01T17:30:00.000-06:00

This is Simon's current favorite shirt:

Yup, a hand-me-down blue tye-dye Buzz Lightyear shirt. He's never even seen Toy Story, but he gets excited every time he sees this shirt in his drawer and asks to wear it. He says he "wuvs" it.

And for more fun Simon stuff, here's a recent conversation we had while he was laying on the floor shirtless and puffing out his chest:

Simon: (feeling the bottom of his ribcage) What doze [those]?
Me: Those are your ribs.
Simon: I wuv dem [love them]!... (moving his hands up a bit) What deez [theese]?
Me: Those are more ribs. You're so skinny because you don't eat, and now you can feel all your ribs.
Simon: I wuv dem!

Yup, Simon loves Buzz Lightyear and his own ribs... and a suction cup spider toy.

Jonas Says, "Amen!"

2010-11-18T20:23:00.004-06:00

Tonight Jonas thought himself quite hilarious when he said, "Amen!" after prayer. Naturally, I recorded him.

Oh, and he sneaked in a "Dada" at the end, too!

Kitchen Wrestling

2010-11-04T13:03:00.001-05:00

The boys were wrestling in the kitchen this morning. At this point, Simon was winning, but Jonas wasn't putting up much of a fight...

Halloween Costumes & Cupcakes

2010-10-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here ya go... our Halloween costumes!

Simon & Jonas were both characters from the movie Beetlejuice. Never seen it or has it been a while? I found this YouTube clip that has both of their characters in it:

Here's Jonas as Betelgeuse:

The ghost with the most! Betel-Jones!

And Simon as a Sandworm:

Simon as the thing that eats Betelgeuse at the end

I sewed Simon's costume myself with the last bit of black & white striped fabric that the fabric store had, some green fabric& polyester fiberfill for the mouth, zebra print foamy paper stuff for teeth and red poms for eyes. Jonas' costume is the tux Simon wore in some weddings this summer with white duct tape and the sleeves and pants cuffs tucked under.

The boys together

Now before I show you my and Chase's costumes, you need to watch this video (or at least some of it because only one person at the party we went to got it):

Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Uploaded by hushhush112. - Explore more music videos.

And now the costumes (including our friend Feng who was part of our trio):

Feng, Chase & me as the Beastie Boys as actors as 70's type detective characters from their Sabotage video

Our costumes came from a combination of our closets, Goodwill, Wal-marts, and one of the Halloween stores.

Now something that needs no explanation, the Halloween monster cupcakes I made for the party on Friday:

Chocolate cupcakes with homemade buttercream icing in Halloween skull wrappers!

Happy Halloween!

A Post Not Entirely About Poop

2010-10-29T10:55:00.003-05:00

My dear blog followers, I must inform you that by my estimation, there will be at least three more years of poop posts on here. So if that makes you roll your eyes in disgust, check back in three years and there just might be a new subject matter on here... but I make no guarantees!

Now that you're informed, I'll give an update on the kiddos...

Simon, as you know, is potty training. He's starting to get the hang of it! I knew he was able and ready, just unwilling until I found the right motivator. He's pooped in his potty several times now and has gotten M&Ms, stickers, matchbox cars and most recently, Cars undies! He loves his new undies. He's been doing some Kumon maze, tracing and cutting books and loves to draw pictures of bats, spiders, pumpkins and ghosts. If we pass a house with Halloween decorations, he'll exclaim, "It's HA-WO-WEEN!" He's super pumped about going trick-or-treating and talks about knocking on doors and saying, "trick-or-TREAT!" Simon's starting to try to refuse his afternoon nap, but I don't think he's ready to give it up quite yet... or maybe I'm not ready for him to give it up quite yet. Hopefully I can at least keep him napping until I'm into my second trimester...

Jonas is quite silly and is the snuggliest person I've ever met. He loves to snuggle and sleep with my and Chase's dirty shirts. If I try to put one in the laundry, he'll find another in our room. He must have one of Mommy's and one of Daddy's in his crib as well as a blankie. Sometimes he just walks around the house snuggling them, too. Jonas wants everyone who comes into our home to pick him up... immediately! He's a big Daddy's boy right now and freaks out if Chase walks out the door or goes into the bathroom. He still climbs on everything and now has quite the vocabulary. He says: Mama, Mommy, Dada, Daddy, Papa (Grampa/Papaw), heeeyyyyy, bye-bye, baby, (and bye-bye baby to babies), dis (this), dat (dat), wuz dat? (what's that?), who's dat? (who's that?), skisy (squishy), e'wo (hello), pat pat pat bas'off! (pat pat pat blastoff! from Little Einsteins), down, more, tan'kew (thank you), stop (don't think he knows what that means), poop, boo, get out, no & ball (his favorite). He signs: ball, more, eat, thank you, bird, stop, baby, shoes, no & car (and maybe a couple others I'm forgetting). One thing Jonas enjoys doing is rearranging; he moves picture frames and hides the remote. This guy still takes two naps a day. He also likes to go in time-out after Simon is finished serving his time...

We're thinking Baby #3 is a girl (won't really know 'til January) and Chase & I may have even decided on a name! Woo hoo! Girls' names are really difficult for us. As usual, we'll keep this name a secret until she's born. I've felt sicker this pregnancy but thankfully haven't thrown-up. I don't have any cravings, but usually I get food aversions (with Simon it was peanuts and with Jonas it was eggs). So far I haven't found my food aversion this time, but mouthwash tastes absolutely terrible! One thing that's different this time is for the most part is that food tastes way better than usual! Hopefully that doesn't cause me to gain 80 pounds!

We've got a Halloween party to go to tonight, so I'll have a post with pictures of our awesome costumes coming soon. Here's a hint about the boys' costumes: they're different characters from the same movie and are mostly black & white striped... (If I've already told you what they are, please refrain from commenting about it!)

Illusive Sleep

2010-10-25T10:36:00.003-05:00

Simon is a terrible sleeper. Anything that disrupts his daily schedule also messes with his nighttime sleep. Missing a nap messes with his sleep. Going to bed too early messes with his sleep. Going to bed too late messes with his sleep. When he's sick, it messes with his sleep. Simon has a cough, and of course, it's messing with his sleep.

Last night was like having a newborn again. No wait, like having Newborn Simon because Newborn Jonas came home from the hospital and slept 6 hours his first night! (It didn't continue that way, but he ususally slept 4 and 5 hour stretches the first few months... until he got sick...) Last night, like when Simon was an itty bitty baby, this guy was up every 2 hours. Every. 2. Hours. Thankfully, he only woke Jonas up once and Jonas went right back to sleep. But at 4:50 this morning I suggested to Chase that he bring Simon into our bed, then Chase could get some sleep on the couch.

Simon was very comforted by having Mommy right next to him... but he wouldn't go back to sleep. The kid has been up since before 5 this morning... just like when he was a newborn. At 6:40 he got mad because I wouldn't keep switching spots with him, but Chase came in and relieved me so I could get some rest.

Needless to say, there are some tired people in our household today. Tired and cranky. Plus, Jonas is working on the dreaded 1-year molars and those wonderful teething tablets have been recalled!

Oh, and to top it all off, this morning Simon pooped on the floor right next to his potty. At least Jonas was napping and didn't pick it up this time. (Did I not mention that? Last week Jonas picked up a Simon turd...)

We Have a Poop!

2010-10-23T09:48:00.001-05:00

Big news, world: Simon just pooped on the potty!

And maybe he ran outside naked from the waist down to tell his daddy who was doing some yard work...

More Potty Talk

2010-10-21T15:48:00.008-05:00

As I mentioned last time, I'm ~~super motivated~~ desperate to get Simon potty trained (the whole having three in diapers thing is super unappealing). Today, I changed my strategy a little...

After a few days of TV deprivation and missed pooportunities* and after hearing what some friends and relatives have done, I decided we'd camp out on or around the potty and read books, eat snacks and watch TV until the boy poops, by golly! We even skipped Simon's nap because as soon as I put a Pull-up on his bottom for nap he's bound to fill it with poo. Besides, he's not exerting that much energy being a TV zombie anyway.

Watching TV, snacking & waiting for a poop

So far, no poop... BUT he's peed TWICE on the potty ALL BY HIMSELF with no prompting or help from me! The first time, I heard the sound of pee hitting what I thought was the floor, gasped then saw him standing up and peeing into his little potty, then he turned around and watched some more TV. He's very excited about this accomplishment, and so am I! I'm sure it helps that he's naked from the waist down today, too...

Now, I'm not making him sit on the potty the whole time. Every once in a while I'll tell him to sit and try to poop, but mostly he just sits or stands near it and reclines on the ottoman.

Hopefully we'll get a poop soon, but I'll take the pee pee progress over nothing! I'm starting to see a light at the end of the potty training tunnel!

*poop opportunities, I thought my made-up word was fitting!

Potty Talk

2010-10-19T20:48:00.003-05:00

Simon's been potty training for a week now. He's great at peeing on the potty when I take him and now wakes up from naps dry and even woke up dry this morning! But he is vehemently against pooping on the potty. He just will not poop.

Well, let's backtrack to the pee pee... Simon has only told me twice that he had to pee, the rest of the time I just took him to avoid accidents. He's not great at telling me he has to go but he's good at going when I take him. He wears a Pull-up if we take him to the store or the park or someone's house and they stay dry. Thankfully, he's not one of those kids that pees himself just because he's wearing a Pull-up. Actually, I think this is because he really doesn't care if he's got a wet diaper, Pull-up or undies, so he's indifferent about what's covering his booty. None of those things bother him one bit.

You know what else doesn't bother Simon? Sitting in his poop. That's why potty training him is so difficult. Since his birth he has never minded sitting in his own pee and/or poop in the least! He has the promise of matchbox cars if he poops on the potty as well as promises of M&Ms and Cars undies. Simon is very excited about all these things and talks daily about going to the store to get cars (and then adds other things he wants), but it's not motivation enough to make him poop on the potty.

But I think I've found Simon's motivator: TV. This kid loves TV. As of Monday afternoon, the rule has been no TV for Simon til he poops on the potty. And you know what? He's gone from saying he doesn't want to poop on the potty to actually trying to today! He sat on the potty for almost a half hour while we read books but pooped himself five minutes after he got up. But he did make another attempt of his own accord even though he didn't have to go... because he wanted to watch TV!

We've (I've) given up potty training twice now because I just didn't want to deal with it, but this time I pretty much have to or wait a year. If I don't do it now, I might as well wait til after Christmas because we'll be traveling and there's no sense in starting it a couple weeks before traveling. By March I'll be in my miserable 3rd trimester of pregnancy where I have little motivation to do much of anything, so there's no sense in doing potty training then, and besides that, he's very likely to backslide when Baby comes in May especially if he was just recently potty trained. I also won't have the time or energy to handle potty training while I have a newborn plus, I really, really, really do NOT want to change diapers for 3 kids when one is more than able to go on the potty (and just doesn't want to).

Simon is two-and-a-half. He's old enough to use the potty. He shows plenty of the typical readiness signs for potty training. It's a matter of breaking his will against it, and by golly, I think his TV deprivation just might do that... and if not, well, at least he won't be a TV zombie.

Oh, the Potty!

2010-10-14T11:32:00.004-05:00

Simon is officially potty training (for the 3rd and final time). He's not really interested in the potty, but Jonas is. We have to keep the pee-catching "inner potty" piece up high when it's not in use because Jonas likes to take it out and put it on his head. If Simon is standing up to pee, Jonas likes to try to climb in. Until today, we've been able to keep Jonas out/off of the potty while Simon was using it. Today, you see, Jonas was so excited to see Simon's pee pee in the potty that he reached right in to feel it before I could push him away. Maybe Jonas will potty train easier than Simon since he's already so interested...

Simon's Big Announcement

2010-10-11T20:50:00.001-05:00

My Little Thrill-Seekers

2010-10-03T10:42:00.003-05:00

Simon & Jonas love a good thrill. Here are some videos to show it...

Here's Simon at a festival a few weeks ago riding a racecar ride. It's hard to hear over the noisy ride, but Simon is screaming in delight most of the time.

And here's Jonas going down a giant slide this past Friday at a pumpkin patch play barn. His expression may not show his enjoyment, but he kept going back to the slide wanting to go down.

Pumpkin post coming soon!

Magic Bars

2010-09-26T15:09:00.005-05:00

I'm not much of a cook, but I do enjoy baking when it's something I'm excited to eat... something like this:

Yeah, it's in my oven right now!

Magic Bars
in layers:
2 tubes of choc chip cookie dough
1/2 cup of coconut flakes (pressed in)
brownie batter (double fudge!)
1/3 more cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup (or so) Ande's baking mints
1/2 cup of semisweet choc chips
all baking in a greased pan at 350 for 45-50 mins

The recipe actually called for 1/2 cup of pecans, but I'm a chocolate mint fanatic and substituted Ande's mints instead!

Apple Festival

2010-09-20T09:46:00.007-05:00

Jonas is sick today. He had a fever of 102.6 when he went to bed (early) last night and woke up with a fever of 101.1 this morning. With the help of medicine, his fever is gone now. He refused to nap in his crib this morning (had a royal freak-out) and fell asleep on me while watching Sesame Street. He's snoozing on me as I type this, poor guy!

But this post isn't just about my poor little sicky... We went to the Apple Festival this weekend and I wanted to show off some pictures Chase & I took of our awesome boys.

Jonas watches the racecar ride

Simon waits not-so-patiently for the racecar ride

Weeeeee!

He screamed with excitement the whole time!

Simon models the hat we bought him at a craft booth

Jonas isn't quite as thrilled to wear his

The boys in their hats!

We let Simon ride one ride at the festival (3 tickets/ride at $1/ticket...) and he had such a good time and wanted to ride more and more and wouldn't stop talking about the rides til after dinner. We do have some pretty awesome video of him on the racecar ride and hopefully I'll be able to get that together and posted soon. Chase liked those hats at one of the craft booths (and so did I) so we got 'em for the boys! Maybe next year a set of grandparents can come up for the festival when both boys will be big enough to ride rides and they can ride more than one! That would make a fun present for the boys, hint hint!

Better Videos

2010-09-15T20:55:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple better videos. The first is the boys dancing in the kitchen earlier this evening while listening to Here Come the ABC's by They Might Be Giants. The second video is of Jonas using iChat to type to Daddy at work.

A Breakfast Conversation with Simon

2010-09-15T07:40:00.000-05:00

Simon & I were eating breakfast recently when we heard something shift or fall in the pantry...

Simon: I hear somesing
Me: You hear something? What do you hear?
Simon: I hear a op-po-pus
Me: You hear an octopus?
Simon: Yes, I hear a op-po-pus. (Pause) I eat a op-po-pus.
Me: You want to eat an octopus?
Simon: Yes, I eat a op-po-pus.

A Bunch of Phone Videos

2010-09-13T15:58:00.003-05:00

Here are a bunch of videos of the boys... but they were taken on my dying phone, so while they are cute, it's low quality. Enjoy anyway!

Swinging Backward and Forward

Walking with Sticks: Part 1

Walking with Sticks: Part 2

Big Boy Carseat

Simon and the Onion

Jonas in the Little House

Simon and the Bicycle Pump

My Little Destroyers

2010-09-10T13:24:00.010-05:00

I now have two ~~babies~~ ~~toddlers~~ destroyers.

Jonas, the younger- age 1, is systematically making his way around the duplex and ripping off every doorstop he can find. He's had two successes so far and several interruptions. His crib is covered in bite marks. Forget about dust covers for books, you might as well just throw those away before allowing that book to cross his path. Any paper object is ripped to shreds and/or eaten by this guy.

Simon, the older- age 2, isn't quite as disastrous around the house unless he's in cahoots with Jonas. His destructive skills are best displayed when we're grocery shopping. He rips open boxes and chews tags off any item I let him hold in the cart; but today, oh today, he made me simultaneously angrier at him than I've ever been on a shopping trip and want to crack up laughing... Today as I was checking out some multi-surface cleaner I hear, "Mmmmm! Yummy hotdogs!" from the basket of the cart. Simon had eaten a hole through the plastic packaging and bit a chunk out of some kielbasa. Of course this was after I'd told him five times to take it out of his mouth. I think I had to tell him to take 50% of the items in the cart out of his mouth at one point or another. On top of that, somewhere between the cash register and our refrigerator we lost a gallon of milk. I don't know if the bagger didn't load it in the cart or if I didn't get it from the cart to the van. Either way, I can't ever fully pay attention because I'm too busy wrangling the ~~boys~~ destroyers.

I think they're going to end up destroying me soon... or at least my sanity.

***UPDATE 5:00 pm***

This late afternoon Destroyer Simon unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper (with Jonas' encouragement), got a time-out for it, and when asked if he's allowed to mess with the toilet paper he said, "Yesh." I tell him he's not allowed to touch it til he pees & poops on the potty by himself.

Also, together the boys unscrewed at least one bolt from our dining table and Simon was happily munching on it. I guess we'll eventually find out if Jonas ate one...

But Chase & I do get a kid-free dinner tonight! Hooray for babysitters and Houlihan's free birthday entrée coupons! (Seriously, join their email club and they'll email you a coupon for a free entrée, any entrée, for your birthday!)

Jonas Toddles

2010-09-08T17:28:00.001-05:00

Jonas is officially a toddler!

We Are a Big Mans

2010-09-07T09:55:00.004-05:00

Simon's been saying, "We are a mans! We are a big mans!" a lot lately, so I thought it was time for him to do something manly...

Simon got his first tatoo this morning.

It really represents where he is in life right now...

Note: I've been watching a little LA Ink lately.

Jonas' First Birthday: The Movie

2010-09-05T07:48:00.004-05:00

Here it is, the movie all of Jonas' aunts & uncles have been waiting for...

A Conversation While Swinging

2010-09-01T13:06:00.003-05:00

The boys were swinging at the park as Simon asked me what sounds things made (really just wanting me to ask him what sounds things made).

Simon: Wha soun a ow-l make?
Me: What sound does an owl make?
Simon: Hoo! Hoo! Donas, a ow-l say, "Hoo! Hoo!"
Me: Jonas, an owl says, "Hoo! Hoo!"
Jonas: Aaaahhhh!
Me: Simon, you taught Jonas the sound an owl makes!
Simon: Wha soun a beer make?
Me: What sound does a bear make?
Simon: Scratch! Scratch! Wha soun a swowr make?
Me: A what?
Simon: Wha soun a swowr make?
Me: A flower? I don't think flowers make sounds; they just grow and look pretty and smell good.
Simon: Wha soun a tree make?
Me: A tree? Well, their leaves rustle in the wind, so I guess they go "rustle, rustle."
Simon: I slying!
Me: You're flying?
Simon: No, I salling!
Me: Oh, you're falling!

He had scooted down in the swing and thought he was falling.

Buddies

2010-08-30T12:47:00.004-05:00

Chase recently asked Simon who his best friend was and Simon's response was Jonas! Simon's nickname for Jonas is Buddy. When Jonas is getting into something he's not supposed to Simon will say, "No, Buddy! Noooo!" Of course, that is also Simon's response when Jonas is playing with a toy Simon wants... or when Jonas is doing something Simon just doesn't want him to do... or... well... I pretty much hear "No, Buddy! Noooo!" all day long, but at least it's cute!

Simon and Jonas imitate each other. Simon likes to make Jonas' baby noises and crawl around and pull up on things like Jonas does. And Jonas likes to say the things Simon often says, like "Wa-go!" which is Jonas-speak for the common Simon phrase "Ready to go!"

These boys crawl around chasing each other, climb into cabinets together, wrestle with each other, put buckets on their heads together, snuggle each other, and just plain look cute together. They often coordinate their poop schedule, too. I smell one (or maybe both) now...

Rough but Fun Couple of Weeks

2010-08-30T09:10:00.006-05:00

It's been a rough couple weeks but also a fun couple weeks. It's been rough because I've had to monitor Simon's temperature since his seizure which means making sure his night waking isn't because of a fever. He's been fever-free for a week and a half now, so I can rest a little easier... when the boys let me rest! We've got to get back into the swing of sleeping through the night. Simon had gotten used to getting up overnight and that makes for tired parents. I'm pretty sure he's over the getting up because he's used to getting up routine, but now Simon's problem is kicking his covers off and fussing til someone comes in and covers him back up. So we've got to work on that. Oh, and Jonas the one-year-old is getting teeth. I suspect the dreaded molars. We've all gotten to sleep through the night twice these past two weeks...

The last couple weeks have been fun because we had Jonas' first birthday party! There were friends and family and cake! The boys and I also took a trip to a children's museum with friends and we also went to a sensory activity playdate where the kids all got to play in shaving foam (but not Jonas since he'd eat it), water, paper shreds and much more.

Daddy, Mommy, Birthday Boy & CAKE!

Simon helps Jonas with the smash cake

My parents with the boys

Playing in sand at the children's museum

Jonas liked the skeleton

Simon escaped from a hungry, hungry hippo

Me with my boys at the museum

Jonas playing in paper shreds at the sensory playdate
[photo by Joanna]

I also took Jonas' one year pictures. He's mighty cute. He even took his first step during the photo shoot! Here are some favorites if you think you can handle them:

Sweet, sweet Jonas

The first step captured!

My favorite pic!

We don't have much planned for the upcoming weeks. We plan on having weekly picnics in the park (weather permitting) and will hopefully be spending more time outside!

Fever-free Night

2010-08-20T07:21:00.002-05:00

We had a fever-free night! Hooray!

But Jonas kicked it off with a royal freak out when Chase & I were about to get ready for bed... And then Simon woke up a bunch wanting his covers pulled back on and then wanted a drink. He wound up in bed with us a little after 4. Then wanted to get up at 5:30 but he fell back asleep til 7 after I told him it wasn't time to get up yet.

Now my zombabies are watching preschool shows on TV and talking about all the family that will visit this weekend (and the toys they'll bring).

Jonas the One-Year-Old

2010-08-19T13:50:00.000-05:00

Jonas! You're one year old today! I can hardly believe it's been a year since you came out into the world.

You're massive. You wear size 24 month clothes for the most part. I suspect your massiveness is why you're not walking yet, but you are standing... and climbing! Boy, you are a daredevil! You climb folded chairs like ladders, you climb onto the couch and into Simon's bed, and you climb the tiny furniture and then stand up in it! When you climb down, 90% of the time it's head-first, but the face-plants don't usually phase you (unless you're sleepy).

You love to eat. You'll eat anything except peach cobbler. You like to eat dirt, grass, wood chips, possibly poisonous berries, and basically anything you can get to your mouth before I take it away from you. Whenever I give you milk in a bottle, you usually prefer a sippy; and whenever I give milk to you in a sippy, you usually prefer a bottle.

Boxes are a new favorite for you. You like to be in and on them, and you like to destroy them, too. You especially like to cause Simon great distress by getting in his way when he's trying to "close the doors" on them. Really, your favorite toy is whatever Simon is playing with at the moment. But you do really like balls and trucks. You recently started making noises for the trucks when you play!

You love your brother. One of your favorite things to do is lounge on Simon even though he doesn't usually like it. You especially love to climb into his bed after nap and snuggle him which usually gets him fussy.

You're pretty good about going down for naps and bed. You love to snuggle blankies and it's super cute.

You are getting pretty silly. You do what I call your battle cry every time you knock blocks down. You also have what I call your dragon voice. You love to dance and you sometimes sing "Mama" to the tune of the Blue Danube waltz by Strauss.

Jonas, you're such a big boy, but you'll always be my (giant) little baby... even when you're 30! I love you and am so excited that I get to be your mommy!

A Jonas Birthday Blog is on the Way...

2010-08-19T12:34:00.001-05:00

It's Jonas' birthday today! A Jonas birthday blog is forthcoming...

The Simon Situation

2010-08-19T12:21:00.003-05:00

Last night Simon woke up again at midnight with a fever of 102.9. Some medicine brought it down and he said he wanted to sleep in his own bed. He's been having a low or no fever during the day but it spikes at night.

We had a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician this morning. He couldn't find anything wrong with Simon or anything specific to cause his fever. The doc said to take his temperature every 4 hours or so and monitor it for a while. He also said to give him some acetaminophen or ibuprofen before bed even if he's not running a fever as a preventative measure.

I asked if there was a certain temperature that I needed to call in and he said there's no magic number; he's had kids get seizures as soon as their temp goes over 100, others once it hits 104, and yet others that get temps of 105 and nothing happens.

So I bought an instant ear thermometer since I'll have to take Simon's temp a LOT. For now the situation is to just monitor and wait.

Rough Night

2010-08-18T07:23:00.003-05:00

Since I was exhausted I went to bed just after 9:30 last night... Jonas woke up at 10, spent a short time in bed with us wiggling around not sleeping and then he went back to his bed about 11... Simon woke up at midnight with a fever of 102.7.

Thankfully Simon wasn't upset, but he was kinda loopy. He was soooo silly and just saying all sorts of funny things. He kept talking about Neena & Grampa and Granny & Papaw and Aunt Cassie. Then he'd list all the characters from Dora the Explorer. After some medicine, an attempt at a coolish bath and an attempt with a cool washcloth (he didn't like those things) his temperature went down to 101.4 and then 100.4 and he went to bed with us around 2:00 AM snuggling his sippy.

The boys woke up about 6:15 this morning in good moods. Simon's temperature was still 100.4, but after some more medicine, breakfast and some Mickey Mouse on TV it's down to 99.0.

I'm hoping we can all take a nice nap this afternoon!

Just an Evening Spent in the ER

2010-08-17T20:20:00.006-05:00

We're back from the ER and the boys are in bed and fine.

What? The ER? Yup.

Early this evening I found Simon having a seizure on the floor in his room. I called 911 and as I was talking to the operator he stopped seizing and fell asleep in my arms. The ambulance came (right after Chase got home from a day trip for work) and took Simon and me to the ER. Thankfully some friends came over to watch Jonas so Chase could meet us at the hospital.

The diagnosis is a febrile seizure which is caused by a high fever and is common in 1-2 year-olds. And since Simon's had the shakes/light convulsions from high fevers before, the ER doc suspects he's just more prone to them. So we've just got to keep his fever down and follow up with his pediatrician in a few days.

Bedtime No's

2010-08-14T12:57:00.002-05:00

Every time I tuck 2-year-old Simon in to bed for naptime and bedtime I tell him, "No yelling, no screaming, no squealing, stay in bed and do not get up and steal Jonas' blankies!"

Today I had to add "no roaring" to the list.

Rawr!

2010-08-13T09:55:00.004-05:00

This morning Simon and I made puppets using brown paper bags & markers. I showed him where to draw eyes and he drew some! I asked him if it was a monster and he said it was, so I added pupils, nostrils, and a mouth. It needed eyebrows and he wanted them to be angry. The Sime picked out all the colors. When it was finished he told me it was scary, but he likes it.

Summer

2010-08-09T15:09:00.006-05:00

Wow, I've really been neglecting this blog! The reason is I haven't had anything particularly interesting or insightful to say. I still don't, but I guess I'll let my 3 followers know what's been going on in case they're not also my facebook friends...

Let's see... We're under contract to purchase our first home, but it's a short sale and that means it's complicated... Ummm... We've done some traveling... Aaaaand what else?... Jonas is almost walking and almost one year old! Oh, and Simon was in two weddings and now his curls are gone. That about covers it.

Here's what you really want- pictures!

Visiting the Billingsleys in Urbana, IL

Jonas and me at Madeira Beach, FL

Simon joins Granny & Papaw as they cut their 40th anniversary cake (which I made)

Simon enjoys a popcicle sans curls

Now here are a few videos of the kids:

Simon loves Dora the Explorer

The kids have a hand-me-down baby pool and LOVE it

The kids also have a hand-me-down play house and love it as well

Simon playing piano with our friend Mark

Wha' Happened?

2010-06-30T19:57:00.001-05:00

Can you guess what happened next?

Just Another Trip to the Store

2010-06-14T17:27:00.002-05:00

The boys and I just got back from a trip to the store. Halfway through shopping Jonas realized that he wasn't getting out of the cart and just sucked it up. Simon, on the other hand, never came to that realization and ~~asked~~ whined to get out the entire time. But at least no one ended up with shoe polish all over and my eggs remained in tact.

Just Another Dance Party

2010-06-09T14:22:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when we hang out with the Billingsleys:

A BillingslAbner Dance Party from Keli Billingsley on Vimeo.

(This is a video Keli took on her lappy.)

Another Video

2010-06-04T16:49:00.001-05:00

I know, I'm having a videosplosion, right? But I don't hear any complaints... So this is another video of Simon acting weird when he sees himself on the monitor...

Crawling & Singing

2010-06-02T21:40:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple more videos. First, Jonas crawls...

And now Simon sings...

Jonas Types to Daddy (and Claps)

2010-06-01T15:35:00.007-05:00

Jonas and I were just hanging out using iChat while Simon napped.

Cupcakes

2010-05-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

This morning The Sime and I made some cupcakes while Jonsie napped, and of course, tasting the batter was involved.

Then this afternoon, we iced them!

Our finished product:

And this evening, some friends helped us eat them. Chocolate cake with buttercream icing (leftover from a cake I made). Yum!

Hooray for Bubbles!

2010-05-13T14:46:00.003-05:00

I believe Simon has 5 teeth trying to come in right now. That paired with his two-year-old understanding of the world has made for many many tantrums lately. Thankfully, he's napping now, but this morning we had a few raw moments. To get my mind off of those throwing-himself-on-the-ground fits, I'm posting happy pictures of Simon with bubbles. Enjoy!

Bubble excitement!

His arms stayed up like that the whole time!

Running after bubbles

Giving the little bubble the stink eye

And of course, we can't leave Jonas out! Jonsie has been a bit of a tough one lately, too. He's refusing baby food for the most part and only wants to eat what Simon and I are eating, which would be fine if he wasn't super slow at gumming up his food! He'll get better, though. Jonas is always totally pumped when I give him bites from my plate.

Preparing to crawl

JONAS!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T16:47:00.005-05:00

For Mother's Day, Simon gave me this:

He made a card and potted some flowers in a cup with his picture during Sunday School.

Jonas pooped in my hand mid-diaper change. (Actually, it was in a wipe I was holding, but still...)

Happy Mother's Day!

Cake

2010-05-08T14:11:00.005-05:00

Here are the most recent cakes I've made. The first is Simon's birthday cake- chocolate with homemade butter cream icing.

Fresh out of the guitar-shaped cake pan

All decorated
(and maybe the icing stained the wood board...)

Sloppy edging, but I'm improving

This next cake is one I made for my friend Katie's baby shower which was this morning! Yellow cake with homemade butter cream icing.

Sleeping baby with blue viney flowery things

This was the first time I used an edging wedge to make lines on the side, so it's a little sloppy.

I was actually able to ice and decorate this cake while the boys napped!