Traveling

We travel a lot by plane. I think we have it down pat. We know what to take on board, how early to get there, when to eat and anything else you can think of. After our trip yesterday, however, we decided that we should never trust that mommy knows when the plane is leaving. When daddy was checking in online - because we are such a well oiled machine that we were all set nice and early for our trip yesterday- he discovered that the plane was leaving in an hour and a half, and we hadn't left for the airport yet... and the Little Man was still asleep in bed, and mommy and the little man hadn't had breakfast. OOPSY!!! So, we quickly got out of the house and were probably going to make it in time to get onboard. However, there was an accident on the way (we live 5 miles away, maybe) and we just missed the 45 minute cutoff for checking baggage. So, we were there nice and early for our new flight... which connected in Chicago (which is really cold this time of year) and made it just a couple hours later than we had expected. The flight was wonderful and the boys were equally so. The Little Man didn't take a nap all day (not so good) and the squeaker slept most of the day away. All in all, it was a great trip, considering.

Also, I should mention that Daddy did a great job too!

Oh, and make sure that your 2 year old has socks on before leaving the house, in the event that he is wearing crocs and it is below 30 degrees outside.

And, oh yah, the Saturn Relay is a really ugly van/car/something. And, difficult to figure out how to fold seats without a manual.

"like mommy does"

The little man wanted to wear a moby wrap like mommy does. I thought this was too cute!

oh, and he named his baby doll Billy. :)

Things I Never Would Have Known...

... if I did not have a child.

• Spit up sometimes stains
• All castles built with blocks have playgrounds on the top level
• Wipes left in the car overnight (in VA during winter) will freeze
• 2 year olds who need impromptu diaper changes in the parking lot of the grocery store in 30 degree weather, when wearing a winter jacket, overalls (with no crotch snaps) and a onesie, deserve to be cleaned with a frozen wipe (no, he doesn't really deserve it... mommy does for choosing his outfit and hurrying the grocery store visit before the morning diaper change) - oh, and listening to a 3 month old scream in the backseat cuz he met his 15 min quota for remaining calm in the carseat. (seriously, 15 min is all I get!)
• Although difficult to do, yogurt can be eaten by lapping it up with your tongue
• There is no such things as too much Little Einsteins

Wish us luck on our upcoming 5 hour flight. :) Actually, I am much more concerned with the time change as the Squeaker has been sleeping from 8-6 pretty regularly now.

Probably more amusing if you were there

Recent dialogs with a 2year old:

Me: Do you want a balloon or a sticker? (at Trader Joe's - and he doesn't like balloons much)
Him: A balloon
Cashier: What color do you want?
Him: Blue, it's right there, that one.
Me: Are you sure? Don't you like stickers better?
Him: No, I love balloons.
about halfway home
Him: Mommy, I don't love my balloon anymore
Me: Oh how come?
Him: I don't love it. Mommy hold it. (of course, i am driving)
Me: When we get home, we can throw it in the trash
when we get home
Him: Mommy, let's throw the balloon in the trash
Me: Go ahead. you can do it.
Him: It doesn't fit.
So, we let the air out and then threw it away. We talked about it all day and shared the news of the balloons demise with daddy when he got home. It was a big event. So, he now realizes that he doesn't love balloons as much as he thought he did.
-----------------------------------
Him: Mommy, lets play chase.
Me: give me one minute, and I'll play
Him: play chase with me. I run away, you come chase and get me. It be fun!
Me:you don't have to convince me
Him: Ya, pretty fun game. let's go!
-----------------------------------
Him: Mommy, sometimes mommy gets sad.
Me: Really, when does mommy get sad?
Him: mommy is sad when her two boys are crying... like this (he demonstrates). It makes mommy sad.
Me: You are right, I want my boys to be happy all the time and no crying.
Him: me too, i like to be happy too! (although sometimes I wonder!!!!!)
-----------------------------------
Me: Mommy has lots of boogies in her nose
Him: Blow your nose, mommy
Me: I can't, they are stuck.
Him: use my nose spray (simply saline)
Me: okay, sure, I'll use your nose spray, thanks!
he runs to go get it
Him: here you go, mom ("mom", what the heck, are you 10?)
Me: thanks. oh, that is much better
Him: ya, i love it (his nose spray - i guess he uses 'i love' for more than love, cuz who would LOVE nose spray?)
----------------------------------
there are plenty more conversations like this - I'll have to post more so that i can look back on them when he is being a holy terror and remember how cute he is! :)

What if there were no such things as cleaning ladies?

I have to admit, I feel a bit like a failure. I am not sure how my mom did it, but our house is not getting clean. I am normally a pretty neat person, but the clutter is intolerable! Not only for me, but for my neat-freak husband. We can't figure out how to get it done. There are things that take up our day - multiple nebulizer treatments a day, multiple doctor visits a week, grocery shopping, and trying to figure out how to get the squeaker to get to sleep on his own. We realize that there are plenty of things we do that don't 'need' to be done - like blog writing, uploading video to the web, running errands together on weekends, etc. But those things are fun and we want both fun and a clean house. So, I am seriously considering a cleaning lady. Daddy is not a big fan of the idea, but has lessened his opposition to the idea after he realized that our pigsty is going from bad to worse. There are many solutions to our problem, i realize, but am not sure we are ready to get rid of the little man's toys or clean every night before bed.

I think the biggest problem is that we are on round 3 of various illnesses. There are GERMS in my house and they won't leave!!!!! So, maybe a neutral 3rd party (who gets paid to do a better job than I am currently doing) is the best option???

Growing and I don't know what

So, the Squeaker is growing, apparently. He wakes up ravenous after only a few hours sleep at night and from all his naps. He screams until he gets to eat... which is so unlike him. So, I decided that he must be growing. This was decided after I fed him (he drank plenty of milk) then an hour and a half later, we decided to 'try' a bottle before bed and he downed a 5 oz bottle and the additional 1.5 oz I warmed up after that. I refused to give him more cuz I can't believe that his tummy can hold that much! He slept all that night. But, now he is getting frustrated because Mommy doesn't have enough milk to satisfiy him sometimes and he gets M.A.D. Last night he was up eating at 2am and 6 am. This would normally be fine (fine in a relative, this is going to end one day, sense), however...

The Little Man is trying to torture his Mommy! For some reason, and I have NO idea why, he was up at 12 and at 1. At 12, he was crying and best we can discern, he was tired and probably not feeling well. After some fake crying for like 20 minutes, he decided to go back to sleep. Then around 1am, I heard his door and then nothing else. I gave him a few minutes to show himself in our room... but nothing. So, since Daddy didn't wake up, I decided to climb out of bed, yet again, and check things out. Sure enough, The Little Man was sitting at the end of the hall outside his bedroom, wide awake... just sitting. What in the world. I told him it was still time for sleep and he went to bed with no complaints or crying. He slept until his light came on.

I figure I got maybe 3 hours sleep last night -- sounds like fun, right?

I'd sleep now, except I can't walk in my house without a. breaking a toy, b. hurting myself on a toy, or c. both.

Videos at last

Just trying something out...


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

FINALLY... SNOW

So, it hasn't really felt like winter out here. Well... Virginia winter, anyway. It has felt more like winters of my youth :). But, today that all came to an end. Check out these pics:

So... we celebrated with banana splits! :) The Little Man ate the entire thing (and that was after a huge dinner) and asked for more.

Living in a pigsty

I can't even imagine keeping this place clean enough to invite people over to play, let alone put it back on the market. Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks this house is a mess. The other night, I had cleaned the coffee table off (books, mail, sippy cups, toys, puzzles,etc) to use it for laundry folding or something. When The Little Man came out in the morning, he says, "Oh, Wow, look at that! What happened?" Oh man, it really is that bad!!!!!

It wasn't my fault

I didn't post yesterday about the Squeaker's sleep progress because I didn't want to jinx it. I wanted to, don't get me wrong... I was SO impressed. The Squeaker slept from 9:30pm-8:00am on Tuesday night. I, of course, woke up a couple times during the night to check on him, but he was sleeping as snug as a bug! Unfortunately, not writing about it seemed to jinx us... he did wake up last night around 2am. Oh well, I am sure he'll do it soon... sleeping all night again will be wonderful!

The Squeaker's Home Sweet Home

I have about 6 more pictures that show the basket covers I made and the pictures on the wall... but I thought these were better at showing the 'big picture'. :) I think it is such a warm room... it is quite colorful now, too. You can't see the fun orange, yellow and green rug in front of the crib in these pics, though. It matches the quilt Melissa made soooo well!

Not quite finished...

The Squeaker's room is almost finished. I plan to have pictures posted tomorrow. A couple of things that won't be done in the room: appropriately themed drawer pulls and an altered bedskirt. The drawer pulls might be a future project, if the mood strikes... the bedskirt is staying in its originial full size, just finagled to fit the crib.

The reason it is not done today, as I had hoped it would be:

I sent Daddy and the Little Man to Joann's yesterday to get an additional 1/2 yard of fabric to finish a basket liner. They arrived at 5:45 and the cutting table was closed for the evening (it was sunday). So, I went first thing this morning... and wouldn't you know it, they were out. So, I called around and found a store that carried it. I took the Squeaker to the pediatrician (again) and sent the other boys out to Joann's again to pick up my fabric. So, I wasn't able to finish it up during naptime. I had to wait until bedtime. Anyway... I am pretty much done. Just a couple of things to go up on the wall and it will be picture ready. stay tuned for the upcoming reveal!

Such a good helper

The Little Man was so excited to help out... Squeaker was less interested in the whole eating thing. He played with the bottle in his mouth while alternating between staring at his big brother and his mommy... then his milk was too cold to drink. Once we warmed it up, Daddy finished the process (it took like an hour - good thing we didn't have any evening plans!).

Just like his big brother

Here is a picture of the Little Man with his nebulizer about a year ago.


Here is a picture of the Squeaker wanting to be like his big brother. I have to say though, it was much easier to get the squeaker to use it for the first time than it was with his brother. I guess being little has some advantages.

Neb time

I guess it should have been expected, and I should give in to the idea that I am going to be drugging my children for years to come... I took the Squeaker in to the pediatrician today to get checked out because his cough is still quite yucky and he sounded like he was still wheezing. Sure enough, he has now joined his brother in the ranks of wheezers. We will be doing the nebulizer every 3 hours until we return to the pediatrician in the morning. Poor little guy!

If you want to find a silver lining, we already had the meds at home so I didn't have to go fill a prescription and pay another copay. :)

On a side note, it really isn't fair that the squeaker won't sleep in the car. He has gone 2 mornings without napping well or at all. Tomorrow will be 3 days, since we will be headed out mid-morning... at the exact wrong time! :(

Sorry for the venting. it had to be done. I feel better now.

No wait, I don't feel better... I am also sick, and as it turns out, Daddy is getting sick again too. I can't wait for winter to be over.

Ahh, poor baby

Yeah, our first illness for the Squeaker. He was pretty much doomed, I think. So far it is just a cold, but as a precaution, and due to his wheezing, he is on medication to help his lungs. I feel bad for him, but he is doing a pretty good job handling himself. The sad news is, I think I am getting that same cold. Inevitible, I know, but sad, nonetheless. Send over all your healthy bugs. what a way to start off the new year! Happy 2007!!!