Emotions, 2010 - a year about ME!

I have a ton of emotions running through me right now. Stress, that I'm still unemployed and may lose my house, car, freedom to live on our own... any number of other things. Extremely anxious, "What if I get a job out of state?" "What if it's temporary?" "Can I really live without my kids and Kris that long?" "Will we move the whole family?" "Will we wait it out until Michigan's economy picks up again?" Obviously I can't stay unemployed THAT long but can I can really commute to some other stat that long? Not seeing my kids everyday? Am I making the most of my time with my kids right now in case that does happen? (Currently my kids are at their grandmother's house for the weekend. But Kris and I are getting some much needed time alone as well.) Not to mention any other family issues and emotions running through my head.

So where am I going with this? While I'm exercising, I don't think about ANY of this. When I think about how I let myself get away from exercising for so long it makes me push that much harder. While running on the elliptical I was reading my Self magazine about a woman's struggles to lost that last 20 pounds, and it gave me a surge to plow through that high hill on the program. Look how far I've come. When I started this weight lose battle (this time around) I was 30 pounds heavier and got SO winded just staying on an elliptical at a low resistance. Sure I have gained 20 pounds from my inital 50 pounds lost but now it's time to think about ME! 2010 is the year for me, hell it's a DECADE for ME. If you make me mad I'm just going to ignore you I don't need the extra emotions. I'm going to keep the positive people in my life and the people who make me happy, and I'm going to concentrate on making me and my family HAPPY!

So 2010 and the 2010s, is all about ME baby! Go ME!!! Go 2010!!!!

Snow Day

We didn't really have a snow day because the boys don't have school on Fridays anyway. So I'm not sure if the area kids had school today. After we had breakfast and exercised to, The Biggest Loser Boot Camp, the boys and I went outside and played in the snow. It is the first time they really ever played in the snow. They were either sick or it was too cold or storming last year so we never actually made it out. But they had a blast this year once I showed them what to do. I had to make a snow angel to show them and I just kept falling in the snow to show them that it didn't bother me. Trevor still only fell in the snow once. He would rather stand.

Alex was digging the snow angels. He really got the idea after I pushed him over and moved his legs for him to make his first one. But this one in the picture is the one he did all by himself. He was so proud of it too. After that Alex would fall in the snow and he was using the snow brick makers and making little towers of snow everywhere. Then he was the one that started the snowball fight. Though this snow wasn't very good for snowballs, the bricks he made for good packed snowbricks to throw.

Lastly, I taught the boys the joys of eating snow. Alex was mostly too busy to eat any snow. But this was an activity that Trevor digged. And don't worry I did warn him never to eat yellow or brown snow.

Long time no see

I know it's been a long time. But I've been busy playing with my boys and enjoying my time off. Unfortunately, the recession hit us hard in July of 2009. I may have to change my blog title though I hope to have another job soon. It has been fun being a stay at home mom though and especially easy since my husband is still home too. Finances have obviously been hard but we have been blessed with help from family and the state government. :-)

This year I have decided to start a new scrapbook which will incorporate daily pictures of my family. I got the idea from a fellow scrapbooker though I'll be doing my digitally so that I can fit it all in one book. I hope to have a lot of fun with it and hope that I have a better documentation of the year then I did last year. I have TONS of pictures from the second half of the year since I was not working and I did a lot with the boys. But the beginning of the year I apparently slacked off.

While I've been off I've managed to finish the boys playroom, and they love it. There's a train table, a kitchen and most of their Imaginext toys. They love their kitchen the most. They make noodles, cookies, and coffee all day long. It is hystrical. Even on Christmas Eve Alex was yelling at Brennan because he was using the noodle spoon in the coffee maker and that just wasn't right!

Some things haven't changed. The boys still wrestle and now Alex yells, "TAKEDOWN!" when he makes Trevor fall to the ground. However, when Trevor knocks Alex down, Alex starts crying and screaming for Trevor to stop. So now we are trying to teach Alex that if he starts it that he has to be willing for Trevor to stop it. :-)

Trevor was Spiderman for Halloween in 2009 and the costumes still fit them, so Alex turns into "Piderman" almost daily now. And he's usually chasing the Green Goblin, which is what Alex was for Halloween.

We have also started playing games with the boys. It is getting so fun that they are understanding the rules and actually doing pretty well. They really don't have the attention span for Shoots and Ladders or Candy Land yet. But they can make it through a small game of Memory and Go Fish (matching 2 cards not 4 yet) And they LOVE the game Cootie.

Here we are teaching the boys Go Fish. They loved yelling, "GO FISH!"

Since my new scrapbooking project kind of requires me to upload my pictures and document them more regularly I should have pictures more readily available for me to write in this blog more often. However, my most prospective job right now would require me to move to Alabama. So I would be relying on Kris to take the pictures, which I think he will doing willingly since I won't be around for all these moments either. We don't want to take the boys out of school in the middle of the school year and and the job may be a temporary job. I will hopefully know more after January 11th. Wish me luck. Actually wish me luck that I can find a job in Michigan more. Please comment if you read this so I know there are still some followers.

Happy New Year to Everyone! Here's to a spectacular new decade!

Alex Is Ready to Go!

The boys are really starting to get their personalities.
Today Alex picked up his camping chair in its bag and walked up to Kris and said, “Bye, bye Daddy.”

Kris: “Where are you going?”

Alex: “Driving”

Kris: “Where are you going to go?”

Alex: “See Ms. Lee” (Ms. Lee is their speech therapist)

Kris: “Okay have fun”

A few minutes later Kris hears his truck horn and his truck start. So he gets up to check on Alex and he had the diaper bag, the camping chair and Kris’s keys. Kris has a remote start so that was how he started the truck. Crazy kid. At least he knew to bring the diaper bag with him.

Alex is Tricky

Alex is blessed with being the only member in our family with no allergies. So recently we have started to give Trevor his Clartin at night to help with his excessive amounts of mucus. The poor kid almost never can breath through his nose. So every night while we are giving Trevor his medicine, Alex starts rubbing his tummy and says, "Alex, medicine, tummy hurts." He's showing his true colors too soon. Now we know he'll fake sick to get out of school! It is so adorable though.

Then this weekend with the AWESOME weather we've been having we were playing outside on Saturday and the boys were wearing sandals for the first time this year and Alex was running up the driveway towards his tricycle and BAM he's sliding on the ground on his knees. This is the first major boo-boo mommy has had to deal with too. But Kris told me I handled it like a champ. It is a pretty good scrape though. And now everytime Alex tries to get into his chair or on the couch he's has to stop and ask mommy for help so he doesn't rub his knee. The poor kids. However, I have also witnessed him crawling up the stairs without any problem... so is he milking the pain too????

Lastly, Alex is my boy who is not entirely potty trained yet. But we went out to dinner in Brighton yesterday. We left after the boys nap and after dinner I took the boys into the bathroom and Alex's pullup was still dry. AND he peed on the potty. It is so awesome. I think he may start training himself. He'll probably need help with the pooping on the potty though because he still does that in the corner in his pull up. I'm sure he'll get it though, and it looks like soon. He has also peed on the potty twice today and his pullup was still dry when they went up for their nap. We did lose his bandaid though while he was going potty, and he confused me because he kept talking about a "bunny". Turns out "bunny" is bandaid and he wanted a new one. Luckily, Mommy took the boys to Target this morning and got some new bandaid, Spongebob (Alex), Scooby Doo (Trevor), and some Cars Tatto bandaids. Not sure what those are yet but they really like Cars. I totally forgot the Hydrogen Peroxide though. All we have is rubbing alcohol. I'm not putting them through THAT yet.

Well that's Alex's recent history in a nutshell.

Easter Morning

The movie is a little iffy I think it was the compressing it looks fine full size. But you should be able to get the jist.

Happy Easter!

The Last 20 Pounts

As some of you may know I have been losing weight. I started Weight Watchers around Halloween of 2008 and have lost 40 pounds in 25 weeks. I have filled out a "Happy Weight" calculator and according to it I should lose another 20 pounds. That will put me in the middle of my health BMI range. Technically, my BMI still says I am "overweight"...however, it also told me I was morbidly obese at my peak weight. Though I do believe I was pretty heavy no one believes how much I weighed when I tell them. So I don't know what to think about this whole BMI thing.

This year on the Biggest Loser they started a campaign for every pound lost they will donate a pound of food to a food bank. I was able to sign up for that, though I can't remember at what stage I signed up and how much I pledged. Though I've been at a stand still for a few weeks. I have become a little lackadasical and have been having fun. I haven't gained any weight but I haven't lost significantly either.

So I thought I would try something new and blog about what I'm doing to lose my last 20 pounds. I already feel great and am amazed at the difference in my stanima from last summer to now. So I think that is why I haven't felt the need to push through this plateau and lose the last 20 pounds. I'm in my pre-pregnancy pants and some of them are even loose. So I am happy. But I know that I'm not leading that healthy life I need to yet and when I finally make the decision to stick to that then I'll be able to get the last 20 pounds off. (Or what ever amount I get to that I can maintain.)

Here are the steps I plan to take:

1. Plan my meals better to include healthy fruits and vegetables for snacks.
2. Workout regularly. I was being good for a while working out 4 mornings a week and work up to 6 days but then Day Light Savings Time came and it wiped me out! I decided I wanted to sleep and not work out. Except my Y class I haven't worked out in 3 weeks! AHHHHHGGGGG!!!!
3. Add more strength training to my workouts. I now know how fatigued my muscles should be after a workout so I know what to work towards. I took a "Women Weight Training" class at the Y and it helped a lot. Unfortunately, it is at a time that won't work while the boys and I are in their swimming classes for the next session.
4. Go grocery shopping more often to keep fresh vegetables and fruits in the house. Also more variety, not just apples and bananas.
5. Start walking the dogs, kids every day.
6. Keep writing down everything I eat and STOP splurging on the weekends. This is another factor that has affected my plateau, I'm sure of it.

I think that is a long enough list. Goal one: wake up Monday morning to workout and NOT reset the alarm to get up for work.

Do you have a weight loss goal? Do you have any more steps that may help me? Or ideas? Do you have any receipes that taste good but are low in calories and fat and high in fiber? Please share.

Until next time.

The Circus

Someone reminded me recently that I haven't written a blog entry in quite a while. Honestly, I didn't think anyone read these. I've also been VERY busy. Someone who shall remain nameless has been working me like a dog. :-) You know who you are.

But seriously. Lacey, found that the Shrine Circus was in town and because she works weekends and I work during the week we decided to go to the 7:30 pm show on Thursday night. Little did we know that apparently they do not quite gear their shows towards the family types. Because INTERMISSION was at 9:15 and we had to go to get the kids in bed. CRAZY! PLUS, where are the animals and the motorcycles. I honestly think I can only remember my experiences with the Ringling Brother Circus and never the Shrine Circus. My mom did tell me however, that for every ticket we buy 2 kids get to go for free. So at least we did good with our purchases. We also got to sit on the ground floor second row. We wanted the one row buffer to corral the kids a little bit. I really don't need my kids running under the horses (I mean unicorn's) legs. REALLY, a unicorn????

Anyway, the boys had a GREAT time. They loved the clowns and got them to give them balloons. And I showed Trevor that he could get the clowns' autographs. So whenever he saw a new clown he would grab the book and say, "clown". So we'd get another autograph. Then the show started with Chinese dancing dogs. All the boys thought that was great. Then came the trapeze artists. One of them fell twice, and Kyle and Trevor both took in a breath. Course so did Lacey, my mom and me. There was a net don't worry. However, the net did seem a little shoddy, which made me nervous. Trevor and Alex definitely liked it though. I just stared and watched them.

Then came the horses, I mean the unicorn and the pegasuses (is that a word?) I don't know if I'm just too old but I really thought it was REALLY cheesy. But the horses were pretty. They had lots of glitter and when they ran their wings actually did flap. The kids liked it too. I think they liked all shows but they all lasted too long so they got distracted and started playing and running back and forth between all our seats.

My favorite part was the contortionist. Okay I know my spelling stinks but you know what I mean. She was amazing. I'm pretty sure she didn't have a spine, and her legs were not connected properly. She spun some things on her feet but started them at different times. It was really weird. The boys also got cotton candy, popcorn, and flashy fiber optic thingys.

When we left Trevor noticed that the elephants were coming back out for people to ride. He thought that meant he was going to get a ride. So he pretty much screamed, "Trevor, ride" and "elephan" the entire way to the car. I was actually surprised he could say that much of elephant. So lessons learned:

1. 4:00pm showing, or earlier, never go to the 7:30pm with kids
2. Let Trevor ride the elephants
3. Show the boys the autograph page in their book earlier so they can get more clown's signatures
4. Sit in the front row
5. Be prepared for the older kids to try to steal the balloons from the little kids (that really annoyed me)

Now that I know what to expect, we should have a much better time next time. Hopefully, I remember to reference this blog next time I go.

Potty Training Boot Camp

I am such an advocate of Potty Training Boot Camp. No pull-ups, straight to underwear. My kids' transformation between 4 days ago and today is tremendous. I can't believe it. AND my kids were constipated. I know our fault but we worked through the pooping and we got through it. We actually did put their diapers back on because we knew they were constipated and we wanted them to poop. But they felt terrible about it and pooped in the potty after that. So there will be maintenance and trying to get through the night entirely and we'll be done. But during they day I think we've got it.

If you want info about I'm here just ask.

Potty Training Day 3

I think we're about done. We still need Trevor to poop on the potty. He hasn't pooped in his pants either though. But we only had a little bit of an accident today. Alex started to pee himself but made it to the potty in time to finish in the potty. This bootcamp potty training is awesome. I'm a huge advocate of it. So anyone out there thinking about potty training consider it. No pullups at all that only confuses the child. They need to get used to the idea that it is only acceptable to pee and poop on the potty never in their pants. Cold turkey. We also did the diaper throw away ritual. That helped. I'll let you know the progress of Trevor pooping on the potty hopefully tomorrow. Or I'll be getting a little concerned that he'll become septic...

Potty Training Day 2

Everything is going better. Alex and Trevor both peed on the potty today and they went through A LOT less clothes than yesterday. The worst part about today was they woke up at 5 AM and didn't go back to sleep so we were up. And they just got crabbier and crabbier and we kept their nap at the same time. But we made it. The best part was that Alex pooped on the potty. I think it was actually stuck and that was why he was having such a hard time with the peeing part yesterday. After that poop he turned a corner and now has peed on the potty every time with very little wetness. He even made it through nap time staying dry. Yea!!!!

That's all the news for today. As long as the kids continue to do well tomorrow we are going to go get some Blizzards (R). We are so proud of the boys.

Potty Training Day 1

The day started out fine. Alex and Trevor each threw away a diaper signifing "NO MORE Diapers!" And Alex was getting little dribbles of pee in the potty but Trevor was completely opposed to it. However, Alex was wetting himself a little before he would tell me that he needed to go so he went through quite a few pairs of underwear today. While Trevor stayed dry.

Right after their nap Alex woke up wet and Trevor was dry. We put them both on the potty and Trevor peed on the potty, a lot too, not just dribbles. Alex just dribbled. Then went and played and got wet again and came to me crying and dribbled some more. During dinner they both said they needed to potty so we went potty again and again Trevor had a really good one and Alex just dribbled.

Then after dinner Alex kept acting like he needed to poop. But every time we sat him on the potty he couldn't/wouldn't poop. He still hadn't pooped by bed time. So we'll see how tonight goes. At bed time again Trevor had a really good pee and Alex just dribbled.

I'm thinking that Trevor is getting this, which is weird based on the morning. But the rest of their milestones have all been Trevor starting out really well and Alex perfecting it and passing up Trevor. So hopefully, we'll have 2 potty trained toddlers in a few days. If Alex continues like today though we may have to abort his mission and try again later. Meanwhile, I have said, "pee", "poop" and "potty" more times today than the entire rest of my life.

Happy New Year!!! Come back tomorrow for more updates.

Christmas Time

I know it has been so long but it's just crazy that's all I can say. We have had a very busy Christmas holiday season. We are pretty much celebrating Christmas 6 times this year. First on Christmas Eve with my family, then Christmas Day with Kris' mom and the next day with Kris' dad. Then miscellaneous get togethers with friends and my cousin's family. Plus we plan to start potty training next week. Anyway, Christmas morning was a blast. We think that the boys actually understood the concept of Santa this year. We didn't take them to see Santa because they still are not talking and I assumed that they would just scream anyway. But they definitely know who Santa is and whenever they see him they say, "HO, HO, HO" It's cute. So Christmas morning Santa got them an indoor trampoline (small don't worry) and Legos and a toy vacuum. Kris and I got them some books, Mr. Potato Heads and a big cardboard playhouse that they can color themselves.

Alex and his Legos and Mr. Potato Heads.

Trevor and the vacuum

My kids are actually deathly afraid of the vacuum right now. So Santa got them this toy hoping that they would see that there is nothing to be afraid of. (Santa is a smart man.) When they opened it Alex knew right way that it was a vacuum and was starting to get upset. So I turned it on and made it make silly noises. And he got used to it and likes to vacuum the whole house now. They are still afraid of the real vacuum though. But hopefully we've made a start.

The boys also got some good stuff in their stockings. It took them a while to get everything out of them but they finally dumped them all out.

Alex cleaning up with his shovel, Trevor playing with his Magnadoodle.

Christmas Eve was spent at my sister's house with my family. The boys made out pretty well. They each got a Magnadoodle, and they got a V-Tech laptop, a LeapFrog word builder for the fridge, a shovel, and an exercise bike. The boys had a blast. And I got Kyle and Brennan a big cardboard playhouse too so we set that up and the boys were having a great time in there. It was actually big enough for all 4 boys to play comfortably.

Aunt Lacey and Alex

Trevor, and Alex and Mommy Goofy smile

We're still getting presents trickling in and the boys are having a great time. They also got a V-Tech Motion video game system (they don't quite understand this yet, but we should be able to get the full age range of use out of it), and an art table and a folding table with little folding chairs. Mommy got a Wishblade (she still needs to figure it out) and Daddy got a PS3. So everyone is having fun with their new toys.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I will blog my potty training experience for those who are interested.

Halloween

I know its been a while. But things are crazy and I can't do this at work anymore... (hmm, hope no one from Jacobs reads this... but then again...) Anyway, October was a pretty hecktic month. We took our annual trip to Blake's Orchard and have passed on the tradition of taking a bite out of the apples before you pick them to make sure they are good. So after Kris showed them this they decided they could pick any apples off the trees and just take a bite...I hope they didn't get any worms. Yuck!






We also pick our pumpkins while we were there. The boys were allowed to pick their own pumpkins. They were so proud of their pumpkins that they insisted on carrying them themselves to the stroller which then took them to the truck. Trevor's face was just so determined to get to the stroller without falling or breaking the pumpkin.




I then found some "Mr. Potato Head" type pieces the boys could use to decorate their pumpkins. They had a blast with them and a loved putting all the pieces in. So their pumpkins looked a little creepy but that's allowed for Halloween right?



The boys also had many occasions to put on their costumes. We had our Halloween party with my Moms of Multiples group where Kris and I dressed up also as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Most of the kids don't remember that cartoon though because I don't think its on anymore. But Kris won for best adult costume. Yeah!

















Then the boys and Kris went to the Berkley Moms Group Halloween party. He didn't know at the time but they have voted him in to be included in the group. YEAH!!! (to see why I'm so excited see My SAHF Frustrations Continue).

Then that same night we went to the Zoo Boo with my sister and her kids and my parents and my friend Stephanie with her niece Briana. Check out Briana's hand she was getting very friendly with Alex. She kept trying to hug Alex all night. It was just so adorable. Here's our picture of them all, Briana, Alex, Trevor, Kyle and Brennan.

If you've never gone to the Zoo Boo it is a must for little kids. And at the end there is a show for the kids which was the same as last year but my kids didn't remember so it's okay. But the star Witchy-Boo-Boo actually took a picture with the boys after the show. All the kids were completely infatuated with the show basically because of the bright lights and colors but that's okay. They had a great time.

We also did Trick-or-Treating we walked all along our 3 block street. The boys were whipped afterwards but that's good too. That means they sleep well. :-) All and all it was a very successful Halloween season. We got to do everything we signed up for without getting any sicknesses. Yeah.

My SAHF Frustrations Continue

Why can’t stay at home mom’s except stay at home dad’s as equals?

I need to understand. I am a working mother while my husband stays at home with our 2 year old twins. He has been trying to find play groups in our area since the boys were about 8 months old (we didn’t go out that first winter because they were preemies and the risk of RSV.) However, every group my husband found either ignored his inquiries or decided that they needed to “vote” on whether he could join or not. Do these women understand that my children deserve just as much playgroup time as their children? Just because our situation is reversed in our household shouldn’t cause my children to suffer in their social skills development. Now since I am the only one working we can’t afford daycare, not to mention we wouldn’t want the medical bills to go with going to daycare. We also can’t afford Gymboree classes, or other structured playgroups that cost money. And the playgroups that we have paid for usually are not worth it because we miss so many of the sessions because the instructor gets sick, our boys get sick or we get sick or something else comes up.

Here is a direct example of a situation my husband just went through recently. It was a beautiful day so my husband decided to take the boys to a park. They were having a good old time and there were 3 other mothers and their kids there. The mothers were talking and one of their little girls came over and was playing with my boys. After about 20 – 30 minutes my boys came over to my husband and got a drink of water. That is when the mother of the little girl came over and picked up the girl and said, “You can’t play with them.” My husband asked her, “Why? They were have a good time.” She wouldn’t give an answer. The little girl proceeded to scream because she wanted to play with my boys and was having fun so the mother left instead. Why was it okay for that little girl to play with my kids before the mother knew they were there with their dad? Why are dads just bad guys when they are playing with their kids and taking care of their kids? Why does it have to be so “strange” when a father is out with his children? This should be becoming a more prominent issue given the economy and some many husbands are losing their jobs. I live in Michigan so I think we’re even seeing it more than the rest of the nation. Have any of these women seen “Mr. Mom”?

I’m only going to mention this not the full story. But we have a little girl that lives right next door who is 1 month older than my boys. They have never played together. For her first 2 years she was home most days just this school year she started preschool everyday. When I asked her mom when my husband could come over with my boys so the kids could play together, nothing. She had to back pedal and try to stir us towards groups at the library…WHATEVER, you live right next door and you can’t trust my husband?!

If anyone has the answer I’m open ears. All I know is that I’m EXTREMELY frustrated and wish that our roles were reversed so that my kids could get the social development that they need and deserve. Do you know how hard it is to go to work everyday knowing that your kids would have better chances of being social if I were the one at home? I shouldn’t have to have this stress added upon the stress of being the sole provider for my family. Especially in this economy when no one knows if their job is secure.

Hopefully, there are some mothers out there that read this and maybe I can swing their opinions a little and they will allow the next father who asks to join their group to join. I understand there are concerns of sexual abuse and whatnot but guess what, background checks are easy enough and you can check the sex registry for free. And another bit of information, there are a lot of women on that registry as well as men. Do new moms have to jump through the same hoops to join your moms’ group?

Or maybe there is a stay at home father out there in the South-East Oakland County, MI area. Please contact this paper and ask to start a group with my husband so that all of our kids can get the social playgroup time that they deserve.

Or maybe you are a working mother in the same situation and you can just let me know that I’m not alone. I can’t believe the stress and frustration this has caused me. I’m actually hoping that my children will still have issues speaking next year so that they can get into the free preschool for early development next year. At least then they can play with other kids.

My husband has also set up a Yahoo group, a Google Group and a Meetup group so you can search for stay-at-home-dads in Oakland County, MI on those 3 groups webpages and you should be able to find him. All three of these groups haven’t had a single hit, so I’m curious to know if dads just aren’t looking of if truly there are no stay at home dads in our area.

Thanks for listening.

The whole house is sick

Well September has been a crazy month for the Partlan household. I decided to quit my job of 9 and 1/2 years for a better opportunity for advancement. I hope. However, I have had plenty of sleepless nights over it. I am currently working through a contract house for General Dynamics Land Systems. It is an excellent job and I'm actually doing engineering work again, yeah but that doesn't mean that I'm not freakin' out. While I'm contract I don't get ANY vacation time and I can't take any sick time. Which leads me into my next crazy September story.

Since I'm at a new job there is the whole I'm prone to getting sick for about 3 months. For me it took 2 weeks. My boys have also started speech therapy so they have been in a school twice a week which carries its own germs. So this weekend my entire family is sick. Meaning on my Friday off yesterday I slept ALL DAY and my poor husband who is also sick and takes longer to recover than the rest of us was trying to take care of the kids all day who were crabby because they are sick as well. They just have a bad cold though. I have a sinus infection or bronchitis or something but luckily I was able to get antibiotics without going into the doctor. One lucky thing about my sickness hitting me hard and quickly was that I'm still on my old insurance which is better insurance, as of Wednesday almost everything is out of pocket...

So one more crazy September is almost over. And I still think I'm crazy being a new mom and not being able to take any time off... Luckily I get every other Friday off so that will help. This is a better opportunity though I just have many concerns and I'm really nervous and this was just me venting. So if you read it thanks. And I'll be okay. Hopefully, my head will be less phlegmy tomorrow. And I can let Kris have a good restful day before Monday. And I hope the kids are good to me so that I can handle Monday too.

Torch Lake 2008

Our vacation was last week. We went back up to the cottage at Torch Lake. The boys had a good time and we had a lot more fun with them this time. They were able to do more so it made it more fun for us. One very exciting thing about a vacation is that I get to see Kris with the boys all day not just at night so I get to experience how he plays with them during the day. I took this video of some of the things he’s teaching my children throughout the day.

Wrestling is just such a good quality for boys. We also started teaching them to clap for the really good burps. Kris had a really spectacular burp and I had to clap for it so the boys caught on pretty quickly.

We also played by the “beach”. The beach of our cabin is all rocks. Though it didn’t matter all the boys wanted to do was fill their buckets with rocks and water, dump and repeat. They really weren’t interested in going out into the water. I did get them to come out once a little past the man made reef but I think the waves were too big so they were getting a little scared. Trevor also got a mouth full of water trying to drink when a wave came up.

The sleeping arrangements were similar to my (camping trips). There were beds but we brought our travel beds and the boys slept on the floor. Trevor was freakin’ out the first night. We’re not sure why but he was acting like something spooked him and we couldn’t do anything to calm him down. So we finally just held the door closed and let him cry for a little bit. After some time had pasted (since the crying stopped) we checked on them and this is how they were sleeping.

We were so proud of Alex comforting his “little” brother. It was just the cutest thing. Course them sleeping on the floor also caused other issues. For instance, on Tuesday morning Trevor was under one of the beds and stuck. He was completely under the bed and just a foot was sticking out. I had to ask Alex where he was and Alex pointed to the bed. It was freakin’ hilarious. It’s hard not to laugh sometimes.

The boys also learned about some bugs during this trip. There was a caterpillar crawling across the sidewalk and I pointed it out to the boys. They giggled over it and Alex started doing his “voodoo” on it. I’m not quite sure where he picked it up or what he thinks he’s doing but he does it to the dogs too. He just flaps his hands over the object, this case the caterpillar, and starts talking gibberish. Course gibberish is all he says right now so I guess he may think he’s saying something meaningful… Unfortunately, I missed getting a picture of the caterpillar, it crawled super fast, but Alex continued doing voodoo after it was under the truck.

Speaking of gibberish we also had our first word from Alex then Trevor this weekend. They each said, “No”. We were so excited. They weren’t telling me no either so they weren’t talking back… So we’ve been trying really hard to get them to look at our lips while we teach them new words like, “Yes!”

Tigers Game 2008

On Aug. 10th I took my parents, Stephanie and the boys to the Tigers game (they were tickets from work so they were essentially free). They played against the Oakland As and won 6 - 1. It was actually a pretty dreay day and a little bit chilly. I had the boys in shorts and luckily when I stepped outside I decided to bring the boy's sweatshirts. They definitely needed them. It also rained a little bit too, which made it even colder. Not to mention we were in the upper deck and the common area up there was like a wind tunnel.

I wasn't sure how they boys were going to handle this because the game started at 1:05 and they usually take a nap at 2. But they did very well. We sat in our seats until the bottom of the 5th inning, which meant we got to witness a Tigers homerun that happened in the 5th inning. The boys did see the fountains go off. From our seats though I'm not sure they actually saw any of the the game.

You're looking the wrong way Alex.

After the 5th inning, we took the boys down to ride on the Carousel, they rode free since it was "Kids Day", some people had free tickets for adults too but not us. ..I'll need to look into that next time. As we were riding the carousel Trevor was hopping on his horse trying to go faster. Alex, on the other hand, was a little nervous and had a look on his face like, "Are you crazy, don't make it go faster!"

Trevor having a blast on the carousel. Grandpa is holding him.

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After the carousel we waited through the 8th innining then left and took some pictures with the Tiger out front. Here are the boys with Stephanie.

On the ride home both of the boys fell asleep, and Trevor took about a 2 hour nap. Alex, however, did not want to nap so he stayed downstairs and played with Mommy and Daddy and his new Tigers gear. Alex lost the jersey pretty quickly, he was getting warm in the house.

When Trevor got up he got to play with them too. So don't worry.

Mommy Separation Anxiety

Alex is finally over his mommy separation anxiety... for now. For awhile when ever I left Alex would cry and cry and cry even though Kris was still home with him. Sometimes he would cry until I got back 2 hours later. It was very frustrating. So this past weekend my mother-in-law, Sandy, was helping us with the kids while Kris and I set up the kids' new play thing in the back yard. So she was over all day Saturday and then on Sunday she came back. Well when she came in on Sunday, Alex brought me my shoes and put them on the floor in front of me, then he hugged and kissed me and waved bye-bye. So either Grandma is a lot more fun or he's finally comfortable with me leaving. Yeah!...but....

So what does Trevor do...he started his mommy separation anxiety this past weekend. When I left the boys with Sandy he would cry and cry and cry...So I'm sure when this passes they'll just flip-flop again...

Everything's OK

It was just one day of a fever and red thoart. We went to the doctor's today to make sure but everything is negative. He is feeling fine now, a little tired but he gets energy in spurts. But he hasn't had a fever since Saturday so YEAH!!! I just wanted to update anyone who reads this blog. :-)
Have a great week.