The Things Kids Do!

Yesterday was quite the day to say the least. G had a horrible night because he got his first cold and could not get comfortable, so this Mama was TIRED in the morning. Finally once we found a good spot for him to stay sleeping longer than a 20 minute period, it was not the best spot for me! He fell asleep with me holding him, but then I couldn't sleep because he was snoring because he couldn't breathe, and he had a fever, so his hot head was on my arm and it was...HOT! Poor buddy. Needless to say, we need to teach this kid how to sneeze properly. He kind of does this sneezing spitting thing with his lips so his spit and snot goes EVERYWHERE when he sneezes! Now I have experienced both spit up and snot in my face. It. Is. Awesome.

I woke up, called the Dr right away, got my sister to be on board with staying with T, and headed out the door. Something about my boys...they loooooove the nurses. They definitely put on the charm for them. He definitely got everyone to feel sorry for him with his sad, droopy eyes. We were in and out and I returned home with now a little guy who is a hot mess not only because he spits up, but add in the major drool, runny nose, goopy eyes, a fever, ear infection and an infection in the eye and you have one pathetic looking baby. They called his "eye situation" a form of pink eye. His cold/ear infection went to his eye and it was actually his eye lid and underneath that was red. He looked sick for sure.

I get home and am ready to give G his first dose of Amoxicillin, baby ibuprofen and teething tablets...and then I learn yet another thing about my baby. He HATES medicine. He sure enjoyed spitting it back in my face, however. So now I have 1 child who barely likes any food, but loves the taste of medicine, and 1 child who loves food and hates the taste of medicine! These boys can not be any more opposite from each other. The only thing that they are alike is...they definitely have the same Daddy! They don't have an ounce of lookin like their Mama in them. In fact, when I was working and had T's pictures hanging up at my station, you would not believe how many people asked, "is this YOUR baby?!" Ummmmm OK, seriously? I get it. Some people put pictures up of their nieces and/or nephews and such, but these are clients that saw me pregnant for 9 months! Needless to say, I have 2 boys. They are complete opposites from one another. And they look like their Daddy. But yes, I am their Mama.

After the production of giving G his medicine, I look at T. He has thick, yellow snot coming out of his nose. Seriously? Now there's something about T that is once again, very different than G. Unless you visibly see something, you will never know if he's sick. Ever. You do not know how many times I took him in because of a high fever, and we came out of the Dr's office with a double ear infection. He gave no signs whatsoever that anything was hurting. He's the kid that would just wake up with a tooth. Other than the fact that he would be drooling a lot, we wouldn't even know he was going to cut a tooth. The kid is a brute. So I decide to take him in just to be safe he doesn't have an infection anywhere as well...Hooray! First time EVER I brought him in for no reason, other than letting him show off some mad break dancing skills in the Dr's office that I haven't even seen him do at home (not joking), getting a sticker, and telling me, "He's a good check up!" Everyone is a "He" these days and he was meaning "She was a good Dr." I had told him he was having a check up, so hence, "He's a good check up!" Lol. Oh, and when the nurse started asking what we were there for, as I was telling her, he decides to really put on a good show and let out some majorly fake coughs. Thanks buddy for trying to make Mommy feel better by pretending to be more sick than you really are!

We get home, and T decides to talk on his "phone". He starts pacing back and forth, the way I'm sure a lot of people do when they're talking on the phone, and my sister tries to ask him something. This is no lie...he puts his hand up and kind of waves his hand at her, along with giving her a look like, "I'm on the phone! You have to wait!" He then gets off of the "phone" after a couple minutes, and Auntie C asks him,"Who were you talking to bubbas?" He responds very matter of fact, "Aunt Sharon." So Auntie S, he may be a stinker, but he loves you!

I will leave with showing you some awesome pics of how my child fell asleep. Lol. I mean, he asked for some books, they're in the exact same spot as when I gave them to him. He literally passed out. His legs crossed and arms spread out. Surprised he didn't wake up with a major back or neck ache!

Yay for a Birthday, New House, Teething and Bananas!

Can't believe it has been 5 days since my last blog! It has been yet ANOTHER busy weekend. It's kind of funny too because one of the nights this week when my hubby came home, I think it was Wednesday or Thursday, he said we can't keep going 100mph hour on the weekends or somethings gotta give. He was also referring to me having something to do every night of the week. Well, little did he know, because I was NOT going to bring it up during this particular conversation, but we are booked every weekend until the 3rd weekend in June! So if anyone wants to get together, go camping, hike the Boundary Waters, whatever, you let my hubby know...we're free that 3rd weekend in June! He would LOVE to do something! Haha. Anyway, to me, we're not really "booked", we just have something going on every weekend. Even if it's not every day of every weekend, my hubby still says it's too much. Boo.

With that being said, after 13yrs of being together I have learned something very valuable about each other that is important when making sure things work. He's an introvert and I'm the extrovert. As I've gotten older, however, I have definitely become more of an introvert as well. I don't do as well in a group of people that I don't know. I completely shut off. But as my husband has gotten older, I think he has become more extroverted and outgoing than he ever was when he was younger. So maybe we are still trying to figure out that "happy medium" after 13yrs of togetherness :) As extroverted or introverted as I am, I am a busy body. I can not relax. I always have hundreds of things on my mind. Hundreds of things to get done. Which then means, hundreds of things on the "honey do list". This drives him crazy. My husband on the other hand...he likes being home and relaxing.

Extrovert vs. Introvert

So there's a little background information for you on the type of couple we are. We actually do work well together and balance each other out...most of the time :)

 Back to our weekend...my step-sister was in town from NYC to celebrate her birthday. She came over and hung out with the boys and myself on Friday. It was great to see her and have a little one on one time with her. As many stories as I have about T, you would think we have this outgoing, free spirited little boy. This is NOT the case. Believe it or not, he takes a looooong time to warm up and start interacting with people he doesn't see as often. It actually can be quite frustrating for us as parents because we want him to be that silly kid we see on a daily basis when it's just us at home! Of course, kids never perform the way you want/need them too though. So it was nice she was able to come spend the day with us.

Playing with chalk!

Going for a little stroll down the sidewalk.

Oops. Mommy spoke, so the "stroll" got cut short because he needed to come back.

Next time Auntie K comes to visit, maybe T will actually PEDAL the bike! :)

Saturday we headed to Auntie K's birthday party at my parent's new home. I was bummed because I packed my camera in my purse...but then decided not to bring my purse, just the diaper bag. Hence, I didn't have my camera with :( The party still went on, and it was lots of fun! I can not wait to spend many more birthdays together in that house.

Luckily Auntie C, having her IPhone, we could still get some pictures of Auntie K and G together. Note to self: Take pictures earlier in any event we attend. If you wait too long, G will have eventually been stripped down to a diaper, and he WILL be fussy because he just wants to go to bed...

This picture does not flatter his tummy by any means :)

Happy Birthday Auntie K!

We eventually had to go home because G was NOT giving up and was screaming bloody murder in his car seat. I thought he had just been over stimulated and didn't want to miss out on the action. But turns out, the next morning we felt a tooth! One would think I should know that my child is teething. But you have to understand something about G. He is as unpredictable as they come. He smiles huge...he pukes on you. He shoves his whole fist in his mouth for 2 months...he's not teething, he just wants to eat All. Of. The. Time. He can sit by himself...but he wants to stand. G can not stand by himself. My arm muscles are getting a good work out in every day because if this. We literally tell G to "SIT" as if he were a dog! He stiffens up and does everything in his power to not bend any of his limbs. We have to force him to "bend at the hips". He's fine once all is said and done. But the process brings a lot of grunting on his part, and us saying "G. You...have...to...sit!".

Sunday's Funny Moment of the Day: Daddy decides to mash up some bananas for G being he JUST had a bottle and was still acting famished. He feeds G and the bananas go everywhere. You also have to understand, G is an aggressive eater. He wants that food fast. It then turns into getting all over himself, all over ourselves, and all over the floor. All of a sudden, Daddy looks at me in the corner of his eye with a crinkled up nose and says, "This is so gross! He's getting it everywhere and now we're going to have ants!" O.M.G. How much more dramatic could he be!?!? Lol.So G finishes his bananas and I sit him on the floor, G turns his head to watch what T is doing, and out oozes banana from his neck rolls. Not even exaggerating. Then he turns to the other side, and more banana oozes out of his rolls. This kid had mashed up bananas in every roll possible! This only made the husband be that much more dramatic about G's eating "skills" or lack there of.

My weekend ended with being able to meet up with my old college roommate. That's two long time friends in the span of just over a week that I have been able to get together with and we were able to pick up as if there was no time in between that had passed. Life is good.

Have Patience

Have you heard the song that goes like this:

Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember. Remember. That God is patient too, and think of all the times when others have to wait for you.

And then the song goes on from there. Well, ever since having kids, this song, more than ever, pops into my head. As young kids, we used to listen to this cassette...yes, a cassette tape...on our family vacations. It's called Bullfrogs and Butterflies. I actually just found it online and may have to order the CD for my kids to listen too! Anyway, tonight as I was doing my Mother-in-laws hair, the hubby put the boys downs for bed. Now, when you put G down for bed, either he goes to bed peacefully...or he doesn't. Tonight...he didn't. The hubby had to go in there, ohhhh, maybe 4 times to put his pacy back in and flip him back over onto his back.(because he LOOOOOOVES rolling onto his tummy and then gets pissed off and doesn't roll back over. Oh, he knows how...he just likes screaming until we flip him over instead :)) Anyway, by the 4th time, he says to me with a very annoyed tone of voice, "I don't know. What does he want?" Then to his dad he mumbles, "The kid gets 4 chances, after that he has to figure it out." As I am laughing under my breath and whisper to my MIL, "Guys have noooooo patience!" She looked at me and smiled. She knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. You see, I also think this is one of the many reasons why we get along so well. Like father like son. My husband is exactly like his dad. So we can go to each other and vent because we know exactly what the other person is talking about. It's quite therapeutic, actually. Anyway, I go into G's room. He's taking his pacy in and out of his mouth, and crying with his eyes shut. Kind of rolling from side to side. He's just trying to get comfy and fighting not going to sleep! I rub his head. Hold his pacy in his mouth for a few seconds. Rub the silky edge of his "kiki" on his face. And to sleep he went. The magical Mother's touch, if I do say so myself. I try to tell the Hubby over and over, babies and kids can tell when you're tense. You need to relax. You may be going in there and turning him over or putting his pacy in his mouth, but HOW are you doing it!?! Lol. After all is said and done. I must give him credit where credit is due. He has gotten much better with patience when it comes to this whole "baby phase" than he was with our first. And he knows his limits much better too. I just had to laugh about it....I love my Father-in-Law dearly, also! The guys are just a lot alike :) So, M, if you're reading this we were just laughing...we really don't vent all that often! Lol

Now for patience with kids. So I give G some cereal at dinner time tonight, and the kid could not get enough. I mean, he acted as if I hadn't fed him all day long! First, he saw me make a bottle and while I was making the bottle he was doing this hard breathing thing he does when he gets excited about food. So he may do this for 80% of his day. Well, he tried grabbing it before I could shake it up and had a melt down when he noticed it wasn't going straight to his mouth. I then proceeded to talk to him about "being patient, Mommy is making him some food." The melt down continued until I actually got the spoonful of cereal...to his mouth. He thought he had to "help" me feed him so he would grab my hand and jam the spoon in his mouth "faster".

...Then all of a sudden, that wasn't fast enough. He would take a bite, when he would notice the bite was gone, he would have a complete melt down. I mean, arching the back, screaming, the whole nine yards. Then he would get another bite. Be fine, and then repeat this same pattern over and over. I was laughing hysterically while my child was arching his back out of his bumbo seat and screaming at the top of his lungs. I was just baffled. What could be so terribly wrong with having to wait a few seconds for the next bite??! I may be in trouble with this one...

But then, he just had a melt down for a good 10 minutes. He would not calm down. He has not cried this long or this hard for a long time. And then it came...he probably spit up 80% of what he had just eaten. So now I was confused. Was he crying because he wanted the next bite so bad. Or was he crying because he wanted the next bite so bad but it hurt going down? 4 hours later and I'm STILL trying to figure out what the deal was.

On a lighter note about my day. This morning when I was making myself some iced coffee, G was fussing a little bit in his swing, so T came over and brought him what he says is G's "favorite book!" It was probably the sweetest brother moment to date. He then said he needed to "read it to him"...so in his skivvies and all...T read G a book...

My husband just asked if T is EVER in pants. Yes, he is...it just happens that I get my pictures when he doesn't have his pants on! He would be naked all day long if I let him, though.

G on the other hand, I admit...I never dress him unless we are going somewhere :)

Here are a couple more pictures of some cute brotherly moments I was able to capture before T told me "no pictures!" When does this stage end??!!

T was trying to get G to laugh. So they were both laughing at each other.

T thought he should share his milk.

Notice the Cheetos face...he decided to have G eat his tray instead of his milk. Lol

Lovin' My Weekends With the Family

What another CRAZY weekend! I don't even know where to begin!...

Saturday I got up at 6:15am to get ready to go to my Rock U training for Scentsy, which was an hour and a half drive. It was so worth it! I have the most amazing Scentsy family and these training are always so motivational, I can not wait to see what the Scentsy Convention brings in July!...I'm headed to Vegas!

Then it was a mad dash back home to pack (which I didn't do the night before), wrap a birthday present (which I also didn't do the night before), and leave to go to our nephew's 5th Birthday Party! It was a blast. The boys absolutely loved it! G even forgot he was hungry! I mean...this kid HAD to have been having fun to forget to eat until I brought him back up to our room! It was only 7:15pm, I'm feeding him for his bedtime "meal" and all of a sudden I feel us BOTH jerk!...We had fallen asleep. Oopsies! The birthday party was cut a bit short for me as I climbed into bed...with my clothes on...by 7:30! I was E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D! I can't remember the last time I woke up at 6:15 am and STAYED awake. G usually wakes for his morning feeding at 4 or 5am and then falls back asleep. Wakes up again at 6:30-ish for a "snack"...and falls back asleep until around 8:00! Then T strolls out of his bedroom anytime after 8am. (Sometimes 7:30, but not too often) So I am blessed to have boys that at least let me sleep in a little. This Mama is like her Grandma...we need LOTS of sleep to function. I am not a morning person or a night person. I am forcing myself to become more of a night person or I would never get anything done. So here I sit, trying to pull my eyelids open as I type :)

Auntie S, Cobo, Gamma and Baby G

Daddy and T going down the slide!

G LOVES noses :)



Gamma with Cobo and G

Birthday boy getting a little assistance from Papa and his Daddy to get the water going

Mama and my rolly polly baby G

Transformer Party! Cobo was NOT interested!...The one in the Angry Birds shirt is the Birthday Boy :)

My little Transformers

We got home and I immediately started working on packaging up all the Scentsy to be able to deliver it to my Hostess by today!

Look at all the FREE and 1/2 price items my AWESOME hostess got! There's actually 1 item missing in this picture I realized after I took it.

Now this was fun...I just kind of sat back and listened as I was packaging, but didn't really "react" like I was listening the whole time as my husband was watching the boys on the couch. A few comments I kept hearing over and over and over again were:

"G! You have to SIT!...you...have to...sit!!" (with a little grunting as he was trying to make him sit)

"G! You need to pay attention! C'mon, it's right here! Your food is right...here!:"

"Awwww G! Uck! Can...can you get me a rag!?!"

"G! You have to start realizing how old you are! You can't do that yet...you need to just...SIT!"

Talk about cracking up to myself but trying to act like I can't hear so that I can keep getting my stuff done! As I am writing this, it's cracking myself up even more! Lol! I just want my hubby to see why some things can be very difficult to get done when you're by yourself with the kiddos and have no help. Don't get me wrong, my hubby is the best Daddy those two boys could ask for! And boy does he make T mind his Mama! Even when he's snuggling up to his Daddy, if T gets sassy with me, he lets him know it is NOT OK! He's absolutely wonderful. But, I'm sure I'm not the only Mama out there that still realizes that even though they have the "Best" husband and the "Best" daddy they could ask for...they will still never completely "get it". It's not in the male genes to completely "get it". So anyway, I had fun listening :)

I delivered my Scentsy and got back home. Ate some dinner and gave G a bath. This kid has now officially made our house stink. I came home from my training yesterday, walked in the door, and asked my mother-in-law if G had been spitting up a lot. She said it wasn't too bad, but boy did it stink in the house like he had been! I immediately put in some fresh new Scentsy as I didn't have time to give him a bath and scrub down everything he had probably touched that day! Ha!

We were able to Skype with my dad and L. It was fun to do with G as he was trying to pull their noses through the screen. But T...he was non existent. When we talked loud about him getting a big birthday present, he finally came over to say "hi", but then I think he left because he noticed there wasn't a birthday present for him right NOW! Oy. Welcome to the day in the life with a 3 year old, I guess.

That about wraps up our weekend. It was another exhaustingly awesome weekend! Nighty night...this Mama is going to bed!...I will insert pictures tomorrow when both eyes can stay open to REALLY see what I'm doing :)

T and His Obsession with Tiger Stripes

Mama! Do you want to be a tiger too?!?!...This is what I woke up to this morning. I open my eyes, without my glasses on or contacts in, I could see it. Blue stripes all over T's arms and chins, and smeared all over his face! I jumped up as fast as I could. Where in the world did he get yet ANOTHER marker...and how long has he been awake?? I already put the crayons up as high as I could a couple weeks ago so that he has to ASK me if he wants to color...and I then know not to leave the room if he has a crayon in his hand. I also put the markers away. I have not used a blue sharpie marker since I can remember. Where in the world did he find it? My sister says she thought she saw it on the kitchen table last night. However, I have no clue why it would be there. Anyway, what was done was done. Not only was he a "tiger", but he colored on the table he eats at, my sister's black chair she's had since she was little, and oh yeah...he had to get the window too! Seriously!?!? The window!?!?



Admiring his art work before I made him get in the bath

 He wouldn't let me scrub his tiger stripes off, so the bath didn't do a whole lot. As I was telling him, "Mommy needs to get the marks off your skin!" His reply to everything was, "It's FINE Mommy! You need a BREAK! You...you, need a time out Mommy!" Excuse me? I mean, I know he's coming up with this stuff because this is what we say to him. But does every kid seriously take EVERY WORD you say to him and make it come back and bite you in the tush!? Oy. So the day started...

I knew I had a lot to get done being our day tomorrow is jam packed FULL. So since I needed to get a bunch of things done, this also means that G won't nap. It's like babies can sense if you really need to be productive or if you are going to have a "lazy" day...whatever that means. But it never fails. The days I REALLY need him to take a nap, he is up and ready to party. All. Day. Long.

I had a BIG Scentsy party delivered which means I need time to label every product and package it up to deliver to my hostess. This takes some time. This is something that only gets accomplished while your child is napping. It needed to get done, and therefor, G wouldn't take a nap :)

This is with 12 bars already being delivered...

...and with 4 warmers already being delivered!

Biggest Scentsy Party to Date! So fun!

 ...Then my hubby had to come home and re-talk about the "one goal a day" rule and ask why it wasn't done. He asked me a simple question of "Why did I start it if I wasn't going to complete what needed to be done?...Now we're going to have Scentsy on the table for the next 3 days!" O.M.G. He did NOT just go there! I have been working on this all day long, amongst a tiger running around and a 5 month old that won't sleep. What he didn't know was that my goal is to deliver it Sunday because we are busy all day and night tomorrow, so it HAS to get done. However, the way he was looking at it was this...

~ I'm leaving to go meet up with an old friend from High School (as soon as he got home from work)
~ After dinner I have to go to Target
~ After Target I have to come home and try to pack and wrap our nephews birthday present.
~ Tomorrow I have to wake up by 6:30 to get ready and drive an hour and a half to a Scentsy training
~ Training from 9-1 (while he helps my parents move into their new home)
~ Drive back an hour and a half and pick him up to go to the birthday party at a hotel
~ Sleep at the hotel
~ Get home some time early afternoon

OK, so maybe it doesn't all add up with how I will get it done, but what I was thinking was this...

~ He's going to help me label and package everything up! Simple as that! Lol! So wish me luck. I don't think we could possibly pack one more thing into 1 day!
Hope you all have a good night from our past out tiger!...it's exhausting living up to being a TRUE 3 year old!

One Goal a Day

Since I've been home, my husband has come home to the house being in a little bit of disarray more times than not. You see, I am one of those people that thinks I can get 200 things done in one day. With 2 little ones at home, that is extremely difficult. As I've gotten older, I've also got less attention span than ever before. I jump from one thing to the next. One thing reminds me of something else, so I leave that "one thing" I was working on and go to that "something else". It is a never ending process. So before I know it, I have 10 different things going on! Projects, laundry, 1/2 a bathroom cleaned, food out but not heated up or eaten. I mean, I am all. over. the. place. I also think it's in the female gene to focus on more than one thing at a time. Whereas, I tell my hubby to do 5 different things within a 7 minute period and he says, "I CAN ONLY DO ONE THING AT A TIME, SO WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO!!??" Hmmmm...I have to think on this for a while because I want him to do it ALL, right NOW! Ha! So, he came home from work one day, looked at the house, and laughed. He said something has GOT to be done differently. I do mean well, but I'm a little over my head sometimes. Between the boys (my #1 priority), Scentsy stuff (my #2 priority), the house and all that comes with a house, ViSalus, taking care of 3 dogs, and of course facebook, pinterest, texting, email and now blogging...how can one divide her time? Yikes! So he said he wants me to set ONE goal for myself per day. What? Are you KIDDING me? Apparently we are NOT wired the same! However, I do have to take a step back and figure out what is realistic. So I agreed to this "one goal a day thing". It has helped but I definitely haven't mastered it. My brain does not function only concentrating on getting ONE thing done in a day.

Yesterday I had to get the house clean, bring G to the Dr, go to Target and have our ViSalus Challenge party. All with caring for 2 little boys who are far from being independent at this point :) Well, one realistic goal I have now set is that yes, I want my house picked up and put together, but it is extremely unrealistic to think I can clean it the way I used too when we were first married and keep it clean for more than 5 minutes! When we were first married, even for having our parents over, I drove my husband crazy because I would scrub the floors, dust every ledge, vacuum...I mean, the apartment had to be clean from top to bottom. Not only that, but a clean house to me also meant all the laundry was completely done, folded and put away. Fast forward 5-1/2 years and now cleaning the house for people to come over means the kitchen is clean with no dirty dishes in the sink, even though there may be some dirty in the dishwasher. The couch pillows ON the couch, not on the floor trying to be a fort or surrounding baby G. The bathroom picked up and at least the toilet cleaned, because who wants to use a toilet that an almost 3 yr old gets off of when he's not QUITE done going potty!? Not me! The toys are actually put IN the toy room. Floors are maybe at least swept and swiffered a bit, but swiffering a floor is not cleaning a floor to me. And mind you, this is NOT the treatment our family gets any more, this is for people who aren't family. Sorry to all of our immediate family. And thank you to my mom, for showing me what "clean", compared to "picked up" really means.

Anyway, everything was accomplished! Hooray! Even bringing both boys to G's Dr appointment was a success. If I remember correctly, this is the first time I brought both boys with to the Dr. And all by myself. I brought G to the Dr just to get his reflux, or whatever you want to call it, checked out again. As it has gotten increasingly worse. However, he is a "happy spitter", he's not uncomfortable and he's thriving with growth, so there's not a whole lot we can do. She wants me to try cereal on a consistent basis for a week and give her a call to let her know if that has helped. She said we could go to Children's and get an upper GI test done to see if there's anything else going on than just reflux, but our chances sound pretty slim because he's a "happy spitter". If there was something else going on, he would most likely be uncomfortable. However, if it doesn't calm down by the time he's 9 months old, than we will have the test done. Seriously...4 more months of this? Lord, help us! :)

Trav and I had a successful ViSalus party with getting one promoter on our team! This week I've gotten one promoter for ViSalus and one recruit with Scentsy! I LOVE my jobs! I love every ones support and encouragement. And best of all, I love being appreciated for my hard work when it doesn't even feel like I've been working hard...because I love what I'm doing! I can not wait for my Rock U training with Scentsy this weekend!

When I went to my first Rock U training the weekend before I started back at my job, someone gave this to us. She's been reading it every day for years now. I haven't been as good about reading it daily, but I do read it here and there and it definitely spoke to me. I will leave you with this...

The Optimist Creed

~ To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

~ To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

~ To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

~ To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

~ To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

~ To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

~ To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

~ To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

~ To give so much time to improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

~ To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The Curse of the Day After a Holiday Weekend...With Kids

Wow! What. A. Day. The hubby just left to go on his nightly run. G is going in and out of sleeping and crying. T is "reading" himself some books in his bed. In the dark. With much excitement and enthusiasm with whatever story it is he THINKS he is reading. I...I am here, eating my child's chocolate Easter candy and blogging. Don't judge me. I guess he doesn't like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! Who knew!? Lol!

I'm going to throw this out there and just ASSUME I'm not the only mom that has struggles with her kids the day after a big holiday weekend. I mean...T woke up and immediately gave me "spirit fingers" and with much excitement and a huge grin and a little question at the end he exclaims, "I WANT CHEETOS!!??" I replied with great enthusiasm back along with some "spirit fingers" (which he didn't appreciate btw), "No! You may not have Cheetos for breakfast!" And the day began...

Complete. Meltdown. So then he decided to switch to wanting a chocolate bunny. And another meltdown happened. He finally agreed on having a banana, and ended up having a whole one, plus a little more of another one. Success! He continued with agreeing to Plain Cheerios, because we were out of Peanut Butter Cheerios. Normally...that's a HUGE mistake. But I think he was already worn out from his first 20 minutes of being awake and not getting his way that he was tired of melting down on me. Parenting can be hard. Parenting and not giving in, is 10x harder.

By the end of this whole "breakfast production", G was ready for a nap. With his kiki (blanket) in hand, rubbing the silky edge in his eyes, I put him in his swing. The kiki made it so I couldn't really SEE the buckle, so I buckled him in by kind of fiddling around until I felt where it was that the buckle needed to go. Bad. Idea. I clicked, and my child's eyes got huge, mouth went open with a scream...and he turned purple. You see, G is dramatic, and doesn't like to breathe when he's mad. I immediately unbuckled him and picked him up. I KNEW what had happened. All that Easter chocolate in my milk made his chubby little thighs get even a little more chubbier. Yup, I pinched him and he had a small red dot to show for it. I felt awful. Going back a little...this swing and this child has been the death of me since way back. It's the same swing we used for T, but somehow, it always went smoothly with T in it. They put buckles on infant things for a reason. To buckle your child in, right? Yup, well I learned that the hard way. I don't even remember how old he was, but in the early morning when he used to wake for a feeding, I would go downstairs. Feed him in my sleep. Transfer him to the swing. And go back on the couch and pass out. This particular morning, what woke me up was a big thump and my child screaming. Yup, he rolled out of the swing. Face down, on the hardwood floor. Awesome. T never even attempted to roll out of the swing, so I will admit, I very rarely strapped him in. I mean...it's not like a roller coaster ride swinging way up and down! However, G is different. G has been different from his brother since we found out I was pregnant. We now...buckle G in to EVERYTHING! I have another story about not buckling G in to something, but I'll save that for another day. Too many things in one post and you may start to wonder if I'm a fit mother. Lol!...I'm really not THAT bad. I just like to think that not every mom is as openly honest with the mistakes she's made :) I make mistakes, learn from them, tell people about them, then laugh and move on.

Now, for lunch time. The blessed lunch time routine. The routine goes something like this. I make a plate full of food. Try to get a protein in (usually chicken nuggets or a turkey dog), fruit, a vegetable, a starch and a dairy item all on his lunch plate. This is what today's lunch looked like...

Some left over Easter food. Ham, potatoes, bread from a loaf that was made into a bunny, mixed fruit and cheese. Oh, and I threw in pickles. Now...this is his lunch an hour later...

Do you notice anything?? Yep, he only ate the pickles. In fact, he asked for more pickles. I brought him 3 more and said, "Talan, these are the last pickles you are getting until you eat some more of your lunch." His reply, "What? I can't hear you!" I repeated myself. He replies, "WHAT? I CAAAAAN'T HEEEEAR YOUUU!" Then I knew he was playing a game.Seriously. Where do kids come up with these things? Tonight when Daddy told him it was time for bed, he replied, "What? I can't hear you!" O.M.G. THIS is what parents have been talking about. The wonderful 3's. He will be 3 at the end of May, and we have been dealing with more of a 3 year old natured little boy for a few months now. HELP!!!!

After lunch T was watching the Cartoon Network. They play all those old school cartoons, and he really enjoys them. Well, a commercial came on. I wasn't paying attention because I was feeding G at this point. All of a sudden I hear, "Hey Mommy! Look! It's Gampa It's Gampa on that show!" I look up, and it was Popeye! Not thinking much of it, I say, "Oh, Popeye!?" He says very excitedly, "No! Not Popeye! It's GAMPA!!" Oh. my. gosh. I was dying. It's nice that I can tell who he's talking about because he has different names for his 3 Grandpa's. My dad is "Grandpa", My step-dad is "Gampa" and my hubby's dad is "Papa". So "Gampa", T thinks your Popeye :)

Late in the afternoon I decided to call the Dr about G's spitting up. After yesterday...and now today, I HAVE to see if they can help ME any more. I seriously should have taken a picture of the big pile of rags and towels that we went through yesterday at my mom's. It was ridiculous! And now today, it finally happened. I held G up before bed, was talking to him. He's giggling and smiling at me, and then it came. He spit up everywhere. Some went in my mouth, down my shirt, in my lap, on the couch. Everywhere. All with a big smile! I was laughing hysterically because I could not believe my child just spit up some in my mouth. Please tell me I'm not the only one! So to the Dr. we will go tomorrow. Wish us luck.

That's pretty much all the excitement that happened in my day today! I hope you all had a wonderful "day after the holiday weekend"!

Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone reading this was able to enjoy this Easter weekend with their loved ones! My family had a wonderfully busy and exhausting 3 days! Let me explain some background information on why things take a little more effort...

With my first child, I didn't go many places in the beginning because I had a little bit of the baby blues and was just not as motivated during my maternity leave. This time around is much different as to why we don't go many places. With our little G, we don't go many places because he spits up. He spits up...A LOT! I mean, I talk to people all the time how their child had bad acid reflux as well. So we talk about it. What helped. What didn't. What their advice may be for me. But then they come over...and they SEE what I am talking about. And now that same person I was talking too is saying, "Wow! My child spit up a lot, but NOT LIKE THAT!" In fact, it's so bad, all people can actually do is laugh with somewhat of a confused look as to how I am holding a conversation with them while my child is spitting up all over the place, as if I should be paying more attention. Trust me, if I stopped to concentrate on my child spitting up before resuming the conversation, we would be here forever. We are lucky he is such a happy little guy and it obviously doesn't hurt him, as one of his signs can be smiling with excitement. You don't know whether you should smile back and talk to him about how cute he is or if you should quickly dive for the nearest bath towel. Yes, you heard it...a bath towel. Just keep these thoughts in your head as you continue to read and understand why doing anything takes a little more...effort.

Back to our Easter weekend...Good Friday, I took the boys to see the Easter Bunny with my mom. That in itself, was quite the trip. We had G in a plain white onesie until we got to the mall, and put on his Easter outfit. As quickly as we could, we put a bib on that guy. It wasn't quick enough, as he did in fact get spit up on his outfit immediately. No big deal. It's inevitable at this point. But then came getting the boys situated with the Easter Bunny. As I was handing G off to sit on the Easter Bunny, he let loose! And by letting loose, I mean, spitting up all. over. the floor. Both my mom and my shoes and my pant legs got "hit". He managed to get my mom's arm as well. Luckily I held him out and I saved the outfit! Hooray! However, the Easter bunny spread his feet apart, looked down, and hesitantly took G from me while I was laughing hysterically telling him, "You'll be alright! Hopefully he's emptied out for a few minutes for you!" I can only IMAGINE what his facial expression was under the costume as I didn't even want to see the looks on people's faces that were waiting in line!...Then there was T. I had to bribe him to sit all by himself so the Easter Bunny would bring him even MORE candy! Did I really just say that?!? Oy. I did. So T hesitantly sat by the Easter Bunny, and gave us a sheepish grin as if he was learning how to smile for the first time. Do all kids go through this phase where they think about what they're doing so hard, that they make the funniest/goofiest smiles!?...Well, here it is. You can tell we were trying to "just get it done" as only one of T's sleeves is rolled, his shirt looks like it doesn't know if it should be tucked in or out, and G's romper is being hiked up to look like he's getting a diaper wedgie :)

The boys and I did make it to Good Friday Church, which was a wonderful service. The hubby stayed home with eye issues. Poor Daddy.

Saturday...was a busy day at home! As I didn't start anything I needed to get done for Easter until the day before. Oops! That means, once again, I have done yet another holiday project with the boys for the Grandparents...but obviously didn't get them in the mail to receive by the actual holiday. I still have their Valentine project for one set of Grandparents. I mine as well send them together. Or, since the one is so late already, I should just keep it until we see them in May! It's the thought that counts, right??...maybe?? Anyway, here is what I had them make. I found the inspiration through Pinterest, but tweaked it and I think they turned out super cute!

Easter Bunny foot prints. T's feet are the ears and G's feet are the bow ties. T did the smiley faces all by himself too!

We luckily accomplished that project with having to only bribe T once with a big bowl of Cheetos for when he finished!...Then I went on to baking the Easter dessert with yet, another Pinterest inspired recipe. As you come here, you will probably notice I have a slight obsession with Pinterest :) I made a No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake. It was simple and yummy. However, the more cooking and baking I do from Pinterest recipes, the more I realize how many kitchen "tools" I don't have! For instance...a funnel! Hope no one could taste the paper in the chocolate! Lol!

Yep, I had to use a piece of paper to pour the chocolate into a bottle I had to be able to drizzle the chocolate on top and make it look pretty! Note: I didn't post this until AFTER Easter brunch when people had already eaten my cake. They didn't mention it tasting like paper! Hooray!

 Then onto playing "Easter Bunny"...oh how bad I felt when I noticed all I had for G's basket was some ball toy that I only bought from Pottery Barn to be able to get my $25 off of a $50 purchase! I did get him a toy, but it wouldn't fit in the basket. T, on the other hand, had a basket full of goodies AND a toy that wouldn't fit in the basket. So I decided to put one of T's books in G's basket for the pictures. Sorry G...you'll make out better next year! I promise :) This year was the year to buy his basket and liner from Pottery Barn.

By the end of the night, as my husband and I were admiring the Easter Bunny projects, he (meaning my hubby) started sniffing me because he smelled an awful stench. That stench...was me! Lol! Not only did I have paint and powdered sugar all over me, but Baby G was spitting up on me all. day. long. I am a mom, and I'm proud of my stench. Most of the time. Yes, I was able to take a nice relaxing bath when the boys went to bed.

Finally, this has brought be to Easter Sunday...He is risen! He is risen indeed!...and so have the children. G was the first to wake up so we did his Easter basket, or I should say, his Easter toy with him. It is so fun to see how different T and G are from each other. Not one is better than the other. Just different. Yes, even though G is only 5 months, he acted as if he wanted to rip that box apart and start playing with the toy already! Whereas with T, it wasn't until maybe age 2, that he actually played with toys. He would carry things around. But he's the kid that was happy with a box or Tupperware...or a movie! I'm sure G would be fine with that too, but he grabbed onto the car as if he knew how the whole thing was going to work. OK, maybe not, but pretty close :) Then T woke. We showed him his basket and his toy the Easter Bunny had brought him. As excited as I was about what the Easter Bunny brought him, all his eyes were focused on was the candy. And that began our day...filled with never ending candy...

We went to Easter morning church and then headed over to my Mom and W's house. This will be the last holiday we will be celebrating in this house. It is a house with 13 years of MANY memories that we will never forget. Our family has done a lot of growing and coming together in this house. This house is where we became a family.

 My main goal for the day was to get a family picture taken before G spit up on his outfit and before T had chocolate drool all over himself. This happened...however, we did not get the best family picture :( The "photographer" was great...it was just my children. G constantly looks like he had just found an ant on the ground and WOULD NOT look up, while T once again, was thinking too hard on HOW to smile and gave the most awesome grins ever...along with the exaggerated squinting of the eyes because it was so bright. Oh, and his other excuse for not looking..."I. Got. The...Hiccups!" We have a month to work on this before his big 3 year "photo shoot"! Wish us luck!

The day has now ended. I am still in my outfit that was spit up on for what seemed like more than ever. When in reality...it just feels that way because it was on an outfit other than my pajamas, which I tend to stay in if I don't have to go anywhere.

I am sorry for such a long post. A lot happens in a weekend, including the start of my blog! I promise they won't be as lengthy in the future. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a Blessed Easter!