My baby is growing up

This is a sad week in my house.

Sarah is growing up to fast.

This week:
We used up the last of the Dreft detergent.
We packed away all the baby bottles.
We are done with all the baby bibs too.

I want to cry!

Really bad timing Justin

Some things just have to happen. You know they will, sooner or later.

Tonight Justin choose to do one of these things at a very bad time and place.

We went with Mick to a function at his school. We stood in the hall talking to a parent. I was holding Justin when Justin decided that it was a good time to squeeze my boobs and ask "What are those mommy?"

Ummm....really bad timing Bud! Really bad timing!

Grey's Anatomy

I discovered this show during the special episode that appeared after the Superbowl. Well, of course, I became hooked. What an awesome show!

So now I am in my glory watching the DVD of Season 1!!!!

Letter to my dear watermelon

Watermelon, my beloved watermelon, why have you forsaken me?

I have always loved you. You have always been my favorite fruit. And now you turn on me. Why? Why did you do this?

As I was cutting up my latest watermelon yesterday, Sarah was nipping at my heals, begging for watermelon bites. So I gave her some. And then I gave her some more. And some more. And some more. She loved every bite of it.

And now? Now Sarah won't stop pooping the most foul poops ever and her tushy is the brightest red ever. Her rash is awful. It is so out of control and I am trying everything possible to stop if before it gets worse.

So today I have turned to Sarah's beloved Bananas. Today she has eaten bananas and more bananas and more bananas. I am trying to stop those poops. And I then need to fix that tushy.

Oh, watermelon, why have you done this to me?

Some fun Justin things..

I love when Justin wants to get up from his bed. He calls us and doesn't want to get out of his bed until we open the door. He treats it like a crib. So funny.
I love that Justin is so excited every morning to go get Sarah up. Every day, he tells me "Can you put her on the floor so I can hug her?" So precious!
I love that Justin loves to play with Sarah. I also hate it of course when he tries to hug her too hard or tries to pull her down.
I love when Justin is so excited to help Grampy fix things. He loves to use his tools and help us fix.
I love when Justin wants to see the train everytime he hears the whistle.
I love when Justin asks us every night what the hand drill is in his I Spy book. He used to just ask and laugh hysterically. Now he pretends he wants to know what everything else on the page is, and then he asks about the hand drill and laughs his ass off. I love him!

Some fun Sarah things

I love my kids so much. I want to remember some of the cute things they do.

I love when Sarah tries to steal binkies from Justin's bed.
I love when Sarah crawls to the back door to see the train when she hears the whistle.
I love when Sarah crawls as fast as she can to get into the pantry or the bathroom if she sees an opportunity. Ok, I actually hates that she does this, but it is so cute that she will do it any time you give her an opening.
I love when Sarah tried to play with Justin's feet when he is in his high chair. It's almost like she's a dog, just sitting there waiting for him to drop something.
I love that Sarah likes to play the binky game with me. She loves when I put the handle in my mouth. She just laughs and laughs.

Birthday Party Hell

Why do I lately feel like I am in birthday party hell? I used to love birthday parties. Now I just find them to be so much work. And, no I am not talking about the parties I throw for my kids. I am referring to the parties we have to attend.

My kids are at such a tough age to bring to big brithday parties. I find that they just aren't fun for me at all lately.

First there was Chuck E Cheese. I will never have a party there. Hate the place. Too crowded and you have to chase your kid the whole time, instead of talking to the other parents or kids. No fun. Not even a little. Well, a little because the kids do enjoy it. But, very little because it sucks so bad for me.

And then there are the house parties. I love house parties. I find them to be so much more personal and fun. That said, lately those suck for me too. In March, I spend the whole time following Justin around while all the other parents relaxed. And sure enough, Justin wanted to climb the bunk beds and then also put his head through the ceiling. No fun for me!

Fast forward to today. I was looking forward to it. It should have been fun. But my friends invited a lot of people and their house is small. Bad thing. It had rained all morning, but we all ended up outside anyway. Awful. The ground was wet, the toys were wet. I couldn't put Sarah down and had to hold her the whole time. It sucked. Then I had to try to feed the kids by myself. Ok, that was hell. I just wanted to fly to my home and never leave the house again. And then it was time to go home. Ugh! Justin fought me and I had to carry 2 kids to the car. When we got home, Justin asked for his favor bag. Ummm??? "Well Justin, I would have been able to get you a favor bag if I hadn't been stuck carrying both of you to the van as you fought me. Your fault kid!" Yes, I actually said that to him. Yes, the party made me Bitch Mom! What is wrong with this?

Parties should be fun. Why do they torture me so bad lately.

Hope Justin's party goes better than any of these did!

Our Day Out With Thomas!

Today we took the kids to North Creek for our Day Out With Thomas adventures!

Sarah woke up at 6am. So we all got up and got dressed. We left around 7:40am. Off to North Creek we go. In theory, it was Sarah's nap time and she should sleep for most of the car ride. Ahhh...in theory! In reality, Sarah would be awake most of the ride and pretty much skip her morning nap. She flirted with sleep a couple times, but was always awakened by Justin. She finally fell asleep 10 minutes before we got to North Creek. Grrr...


We parked at the parking site and took the bus over to the train station. It was so cool to have Justin be on a bus. He has been in love with buses for a long, long time now. He finally got to go on a bus! The weird part was having the kids on a bus with no car seats or seatbelts. Very strange, as we are so accustomed to how dangerous that is.


We got there early so it wasn't too crowded yet. We went to the tattoo station, the play station, the gift store, etc. We didn't find our friends until much later though. We took the 11 am train and we ended up on the the outdoor car. It was great. The kids were able to run and play while on the ride. And it was a beautiful day!

The kids were way too tired to do much else. So we left to go to the camp. Again, in theory, Sarah should sleep in the car. And, yeah, she did. But she woke up before we got to the camp. Then she wouldn't sleep again. And Justin wouldn't sleep either. It made for a very long day. I ended up trying to take a nap with Sarah on the bed just so I could try to sleep. The result? She poked me in the eyes, she jabbed me in the mouth, and she jammed her finger up my nose so hard that I thought I would bleed. Ahhh..fun times.


We came home after dinner at the camp and put the kids to bed very early. What a day!

More photos..

Some photos...

Here is Sarah, holding onto my legs, trying to get me to pick her up. How can you say no to that face?





Here is Justin. This was taken by me, as I was lying on my back and giving Justin an airplane ride. Do you think he liked it?

Our day shopping

Today we went to Linens and Things. Justin spent the whole car ride saying he didn't want to go to "lemons." I tried to correct him, but he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Once we got there, he had a great time riding in the back of the cart. Maybe now he won't dislike "lemons" so much.

Next we went to Sam's Club. I usually use cart covers for my kids, but I just stuck them in the doubler cart. It was my first time. Those are awesome carts! The kids had so much fun riding up front together! I wish every store had these carts. Sure would make my life easier. The funny part though came when Justin tried the popcorn sample. Since he was on the left of Sarah, he held the cup of popcorn in his right hand and tried to keep it away from her. She, of course, wanted to have what he was having. So, as soon as Justin finished the popcorn, like a great big brother, he handed her the empty cup to play with. She loved it! It was great!

The Forbidden!

What is it about the forbidden that is so appealing? Even at the young age of one, Sarah knows that she wants what she can't have. Her favorite places to explore are the bathroom and the pantry. She will crawl as fast as she can if she sees an opening available. Why? Well, in the bathroom, she likes to chew on Justin's potty seat. Really, does it get any more gross than that? In the pantry, she loves to play with anything she can find. It is both funny and annoying at the same time. Every time I want to go into our pantry (which is a big walk in closet), I have to go as fast as I can before she gets into the room. I can't even count how many times a day I close the door in her face. Poor thing.

Sarah found her legs this afternoon!

After nap time, we often play in Justin's room for a while. Today, I was on the phone and watching the kids play. All day, Sarah had been starting to plant her left foot on the floor while kneeling. This is completely new to her. So, I told my friend who I was talking to that Sarah put her foot down and again. Next thing I knew, she was up! Sarah pulled up to Justin's car bed to see what he was doing. I was so excited, that she turned around to see me and feel down. But, yeah Sarah! 1 year and 20 days old and she pulled up!!!!

One year ...

Sarah is one year old. How can a year go by so fast? Amazing!

Some memories of the past year:
- Sarah was born on a Monday at 5:07 pm. My water broke that morning at 7:03 while I was peeing on the potty. Michael had just left for work at 7. LOL
- When Sarah was in the hospital, she started to get a very red tushy. But her skin was so red in general that no one seemed to care. When we got her home, I realized that she had horrible diarrhea and was getting a horrible diaper rash. So, by 4 days old, I put her on Alimentum. That cleared the diarrhea. But then I was left with that diaper rash. For 9 days she was left with her tushy exposed to the air. And we tried every ointment under the sun. It was a horrible 9 days. I just wanted to be able to snuggle my girly and to dress her in little pink clothes. I was so sad.
- Sarah was a great sleeper when she was young. At 8 weeks, I stopped feeding her at night. And she slept all night. We had her in her car seat. She slept without crying at all.
- As she got older, Sarah had a much harder time sleeping. She needed to be snuggled for a minute or two; she needed her binky 15 times a night. I was exhausted!
- Sarah has always lit up with a day brightening smile everytime she sees Justin.
- Sarah is a daddy's girl. She loves him to the utmost.
- On Christmas Eve, Michael dressed up as Santa. Sarah stared at him as if she knew. She kept staring up at him as if saying "Daddy why are you wearing that?" So cute!

Happy Birthday Sarah! I love you!

I'll have to continue later. I need to get to bed...

Some random ongoings...

Justin has won the battle again. I put him in undies for 4 days. He wouldn't pee in an attempt to stay dry. He didn't even want to pee after his pants were wet. He wanted to sit in his wet pants. So...I am now thinking that I need to wait again. Justin is not ready yet. He wants to be a little boy for a while longer. He doesn't want to be a big boy yet. I need to let him stay a little boy then. I just don't know what to do if he isn't potty-trained before preschool. But I need to back away and put him back in diapers. His butt is red and sore and he needs desitin. So, he wins again!

It is so much fun to watch Sarah get around the house. She has so much fun playing now. And she is starting to crawl so fast. Her favorite things to do are: chew on the velcro straps on Justin's shoes, chew on his potty seat, and try desperately to get into the pantry. She is too cute. And all she ever wants to do is throw her sippy cup around. She takes a sip, throws it, takes another sip, throws it again. It doesn't stop. Annoying and non-stop.

We went to our first playgroup for Sarah. We have stopped going to the toddler group and we started with the new infant group. I am bringing Justin for now, but hopefully he will be in preschool in the fall. It was so much fun! I loved seeing Sarah with so many babies. She was so cute and so girly. She lets Justin sit and lay on her all day. But when the babies came to her, she would cry if they tried to do something to her. So darn cute and funny!

We are back to sleep training with Justin. Insane! He has been making us go into his room 10 - 20 times a night. He wants us to bring him more books. He calls us when he hears a noise. He is always is need of seeing us. It's been about 4 months now. So now we are sleep training him again. We are back to doing CIO. Pain in the ass. I am so sick of never knowing when he will stop calling us. So, for 2 nights now he has had to CIO. It should work quickly enough. He was already better tonight. Wish us luck....

I was able to go to some garage sales today. Awesome therapy! I need to do this more often again. Works wonders for the soul!

Sometimes you just have to leave it alone

I was trying to teach Justin about pushing yesterday.

Me: Justin, I am sorry that B was pushing you. That wasn't nice.
J: no, not nice
Me: Justin, next time someone pushes you, turn to them and tell them that pushing isn't nice and tell them to stop pushing you.
Justin: He won't stop Mommy. I push Sarah.
Me: (head down) Justin, we aren't supposed to push people. Pushing Sarah is not nice. You can't push her.
Justin: I just push her on her bear like Daddy told me.
Me: (shaking head) Oh...um...Justin we can't push Sarah.

Lesson learned - I need to talk to Daddy!

Pure torture

Potty training sucks. It is pure torture. I cannot stand having to potty train my son. I have tried different approaches, but it all comes down to one thing. He doesn't want to be trained yet. He wants to pee and poop in his diapers. And he doesn't mind sitting in it all day.
Now really, who is going to win this battle? That's right - Justin.
In the end, I know I will win the war, but he is really kicking my ass right now!

Teaching my boy

Teaching Justin is very difficult. He is very smart and smart enough to know what we are trying to do. If we try to teach him something, he rebels. The same with potty training. We have to walk such a fine line with him.

So, I need to try something new.

Tomorrow will be the start of color days. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this on my own. But, I didn't. I am stealing this from a mom at My Gym. So, I pulled out 3 orange shirts for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be orange day. Then we'll have a red day, a blue day, a green day, etc. I will teach this kid his colors, dang it. I will do it. This should help a lot.

We are also going to have to figure out what to do with potty training. Not sure what to do. But I need to figure out something. He needs to be potty trained in order to go to preschool in Sept. Unfortunately, even though he knows when he needs to go, he just doesn't care. He doesn't want to stop doing something to pee on the potty. He only wants to hide in his room while he poops. And he doesn't care if he pees in his pants and sits in wet pants all day. Ugh! I need to figure out what makes this kid tick. LOL Last time we tried undies, he threw a fit when I tried to change his wet pants. He never throws fits, so it was time to change plans and back off. It's been a while. I will need to start again at some point or he won't be going to school in Sept.

Teaching words to my girly!

It is an amazing thing to be teaching a baby to say words again. It has been so long since we were teaching Justin any words. He spoke well at a young age so it has been a long time. Now we are working with Sarah. It is so cute and so fun.

Last week she learned "ball." It was so exciting. And it was even more exciting when she said "ball" and then crawled over to play with a ball. So fun to see the early learning stages in action.

Now I am working with her on "justin." She has said it a bunch of times. I am just working on getting her to say it better. She says it, but she needs to say it more clearly, so we are working on it everyday.

It is so fun to be working with her on this. I am loving the process of seeing my baby girly learn to talk. This should be a fun ride!

My favorite part of being with Sarah right now is seeing how happy she gets. She claps all the time. She gets so excited and so happy and loves to clap. I love my girly!!!

Why I hate Chuck E Cheese

LMAO

We went to a party there this weekend. Both dh & I left saying the same thing we said last time we went there - "We will never have a birthday party there! The place is evil!"

Ok, yes, I can see why people love Chuck E Cheese. Kids love it. They throw an easy party for mom and dad. But, I hate it.

The place is always very crowded. My kids are still too young to run around on their own.

But, more importantly, if I am going to throw a party for my kids, I want my kids to be able to play with their friends. And I want to be able to see their friends and talk to the other adults. These things are impossible at a place like Chuck E Cheese. The kids are together just for food time. That is it. Some kids come back for the presents to be opened, some do not. It is crazy there. When it was time to hand out the favor bags, the birthday girl was crying because she couldn't find her friend and she wanted to give her her bag. So sad.

The place is too big and too crowded for us to enjoy. We prefer home parties. Of course, I can understand why people don't always want to do home parties. Fine. Understandable. But, I would never go to Chuck E Cheese. I would spend any amount to rent out somewhere else than to ever have it there. It is far too impersonal for my liking.

That's my 2 cents!

Curls? I love the curls!

I have always had straight hair, but Mick had very blond, curly hair when he was a toddler. He looked just like Justin does now. Crazy!

When Justin was born he had a small amount of hair, blondish and was still covered in peach fuzz. He lost all his hair and was bald as can be. Then it started to grow and eventually the sides and back started to curl. The top stayed straight until he was about 20 months old. Then, bang, curls everywhere!

Sarah was born with more hair than Justin and it was darker. But it looked like it waved against her head. I was sure her hair was going to be curly. Then it got straight and darker brown. Within the past month, the back and sides are starting to curl, just like Justin's hair did. Now I am so curious as to how curly her hair will get. So far ir is really following the same pattern that Justin's did with the curls. Hmmm...

Sarah's 1 yr old appt

Copied this from my mom's board b/c I am lazy!

We finally went today for her appt.

Her stats are:
weight - 22 lbs, 3 oz (60%)
length - 29 “ (50%)
head - can’t remember but it was 95% (the doctor laughed at my large headed kids)

The doctor asked if Sarah is walking. Of course, I laughed a lot and said she just learned to crawl and she hasn’t pulled up yet. My kids are so slow physically. They are fine, but very slow. Sarah just starting pulling up on her knees and kneeling. LOL I showed the doctor - hold Sarah up and she holds her legs out in front of herself. Ahhh....so funny. I checked Justin’s calendar and she is actually way behind where he was. I didn’t think that was possible.
She is fine and I am sure the doctor was glad that I laugh at it instead of worry. Even the doctor said she’ll probably be an 18 month walker.

She said to try to get her off the Alimentum, which would be awesome. I suspect she gets very gassy from dairy though. So, this week I started mixing her Alimentum with Lactose-free milk. So far, so good.

Hmmmm...can’t think of anything else. She got her shots. Cried. Had her blood drawn. Cried. Fun times.

Some pictures for fun

Does he or doesn't he?

We were asked today on my mom's board if our almost 3 yr olds know their colors. So, does Justin know his colors? Hell if I know. LOL

Everytime we ask him what color something is, he answers "green." This has been his answer for at least 6 months. Yet at times, he will surprise us by calling something the correct color. And, then he started knowing "black". Yeah!

But, overall, we have no clue because it seems like he's just playing a game with us. He hates to be quizzed and refuses to go along with a quizzing type of play. So, we have no clue what colors he does or does not know besides black.

But we do know he hates to be asked his colors.

Oh, and the same can be said for all his numbers.

Ahhh.....Justin, I hope I can update this someday soon to say you do know your colors AND your numbers! LOL

Today's Favorite Moment!

Each night Mick & I get into bed and say our favorite Justin & Sarah moment of the day. This makes us smile and laugh and gives us a chance to tell something the other might not have seen.

So, today's favorite moment for me was one moment involving both kids:
When nap time is over, I always open Justin's door, go into Sarah's room and get her from her crib, then put her in Justin's room to play while I finish up whatever I was doing. Justin usually stays in bed for a few more moments while he sucks on his binky and rubs his puppy dog ears (his lovey.) So, I leave the room. About 3 minutes later I check on them. They are both happily playing. I leave again. A few minutes later I hear them laughing. I go into his room to see them on his floor tickling each other and laughing. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I laughed with them for at least 2 minutes as they continued to tickle each and laugh. So, so, so cute.

As a mommy, I was so happy to see my kids loving each other so much and playing with each other so happily.

I know I'll regret it, but...

Today I finally let Justin take a ride on one of the pay rides at Walmart. Until now, Mick and I always avoided letting Justin do so. But, today he seems so exicited and the kids were acting so good, so I did it. We paid for our stuff and then stopped at the Bob the Builder and Scoop ride. I told Justin I'd look to see if I had enough money. It took a minute, but I found 2 quarters in my pocketbook. So, I unbuckled Justin from the double stroller and let him climb up onto Scoop. I inserted the coins and watched it start. That 50 cents was so worth it! Justin loved it. He turned the wheel to the right for the entire ride, while listening to the "bob the builder" theme song. The smile on his face was HUGE! Why had I denigned him this fun until now? Yes, I know, I did it so I wouldn't have to stop everytime we saw a ride and to avoid him yelling when it was time to leave. Well, the ride ended, I told Justin "yeah, that was fun, huh? Time to go now." And he got right off and into the stroller, still smiling, and never complaining about leaving. All he said was "We'll have to bring money next time we come!"

And I think I will!

And finally....

Here is my puppy:

The cruel irony

of motherhood. I love my children more than anything in the world. I would do anything for them. They mean everything to me.

That said-
How come something that is so darn wonderful as being a mother can also be so difficult? Why is it that the 2 people that make life so worth living, also make you come close to losing your mind?

Being a mother is the best thing that could have ever happened to me! I love being a mom! I love my children. They are so good, so happy and so content, in general.

But, boy is it a challenge to be a mother. The constant demand. The whining that never seems to end. The constant struggle with trying to feed them something they like and to potty train them.

Seriously, part of the problem is that mothers are pulled in so many different directions. No matter how little time one has, the laundry still needs to be done, the dishes need to be cleaned, food needs to be cooked and little people always need baths. Even as a stay at home mom to my kids, I find it difficult to find the time to stop working and to just play with my kids and enjoy them. I try. But it is challenging.

The biggest problem? The lack of sleep. My baby girl is a year old and I am still exhausted. Why can't she just sleep through the night? Why does Justin still need us to find his binkies and to tuck him in whenever he wakes up at night? I am tired. I love my kids more than anything in the world, but I don't need to go to them all night long. I need to sleep. I need to go to bed knowing I can sleep through the night. I need to sleep through the night.

The cruel irony - the very things in life that are so wonderful that you want to cry because you love them so much, make you cry because you can't get enough sleep - year after year! And yet, you are so happy and content knowing that they love you so much that your mere presence to them in the middle of the night is the greatest of comforts to them! The cruel irony!

I can't believe she is One!

My girly turned 1 this week! I can't believe how quickly a year can fly by!

Happy Birthday Beary!

Here she is at the park yesterday:

A great morning

I was finally able to take both kids to the park. There is a small park near my house that has a fence surronding it. I had not tried to go there before for several reasons. But, today, I packed up the 2 kids and off we went.

The park was great! We were the only people there and Justin was able to run throughout the whole area. Sarah was able to eat in her stroller while I played with Justin. And then I held Sarah on the swings while Justin was swinging next to us. It was pure delight! And it was so much fun listening to Justin saying how much fun he was having over and over.

It was fun to find a safe place where I could take the 2 kids alone. And it was great to find out that I could trust Justin on the big equipment now. He has always been behind physically and I used to always spot him wherever he went. Today I was able to let him go and to trust him. My boy is certainly growing up!

And, did I mention the sun was shining and it was getting very warm out? It was an ideal morning for a mom!

Am I Really Here?

What am I doing?

I never planned on having a blog. Well, I guess I have one now. Not sure how often I will post. Hopefully I will get into this and post a lot. We'll see....

I am sure that my 2 kids will keep me busy with things to post about! With a 1 yr old and an almost 3 yr old, I should have lots to say!