Hallelujah!!

It is a new day...it is a good day. The time is slowly approaching when I shall be a one-size-only diaper buyer. For today is a new day and Alex's potty has been upgraded in status from a Number One Potty, to a Number Two Potty. Yes folks....he pooped in the potty! Funny story actually. He has been slowly getting better and better at peeing in the potty. I haven't pushed him at all. He goes when he wants, and he uses his diaper when he wants. He gets better and better by the day and the more the week wears on, the fewer diapers I have to change. But up until today, he would specifically tell me he was pooping in his diaper. Not a chance or a waver in the direction of the potty for this act. Today, he was in the bathroom with the door closed and I assumed that he was merely peeing. I went in to check him and caught a whiff of that tell-tell odor we all hate to grace our olfactory nerves with. I thought the worse, that he took off his poopy diaper and spread it around the nice clean floors. But I was surprised to see him dumping a potty full of poop into the toilet. He smiled up at me and said, "Mommy I pooped in the potty. Can I watch A Christmas Story?" I told him about two or three months ago, that if he wanted to watch that movie on a non-Christmas season, he would have to poop in the potty. I can't believe he remembered! Kid's minds are amazing. So he is happily watching his movie on the couch with a dum-dum and and a temporary empty bowel. I couldn't be prouder!

Can't Blog...Reading Twilight...

Okay...that is really all what I wanted to write as my entire blog for the day, but it would probably be kinder to my readers, what few of you there are, if I actually wrote more than those few blog title words. I mean, I gotta eat dinner anyways. Seeing as how I'm reading a borrowed book (thanks Mandy), It might be kinder not to subject the pages to my greasy fingers. I'm sure she is kindly thanking me as she is reading this.

So yes, I have joined the ranks of middle aged women who have hopped on the Twilight train. I'm sure there are some of you rolling your eyes at this and others who are cheering me on until I finish that last book. I told myself I would read it someday, but I had to finish the Harry Potter series (again) and do at least one productive thing before I would allow yet another obsession tp creep it's way into my life. As if Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter aren't enough, right? Well...I'm only 200 pages into the book and, yes, I'm beyond hooked. My friend, Mandy read it before me and she went to go see the movie with her hubby. But he isn't willing to be dragged to the sequel so she begged me to read it so we can go in November together. So here I am...typing at warp speed so I can cozy up on my couch and soak up some more Edward before I go to bed. (You who have read the book, know what I mean). So great, the obsession begins. You might be asking, "Jessica, does a teenage vampire love drama actually interest you?" Um...heck yeah! "Is it really that addicting?" Um...You bet your bottom it is! Seriously, read it if you don't believe me. So to conclude, I did, in fact, finish reading Harry Potter and actually did accomplish one productive thing. So here is a picture of my productivity. Yeah...I said I would never make a quilt again, but if it's one lesson I've learned over and over again, never say never. It will always bite you in the butt.

Anyhow, Alex loves his new tractor blanket. It's all cotton, due to his polyester sensitivity. He hasn't woken up itching at night since he has used it. He picked the fabric. Click on the picture to see a bigger version.

So if you will excuse me, I have some serious reading to get done. I need to finish the book by Friday so I can borrow the movie from Mandy.

A New Addition...Kind of

No...I'm not pregnant. I'm sure that many reading the blog title are thinking that. By "new addition" I really am talking about our new cat. Well...sort of new cat. He really isn't ours, but he is a welcome sight when he comes around. For anyone familiar with us, we already have five furry felines residing in our humble abode, so to think of adding another one into the mix would be pure and outright insanity. Josh has put his foot down on the idea of any more additions to the house, whether it be animal or human. (though I think he could easily cave, the ol' softy. He really does love cats) Anyhow, one day, while I was outside playing with the kids, a friendly neighborhood cat came wandering into our backyard for a little attention. He is a strange lookin' guy. Well worn from the elements, ya know. He is actually missing half of his tail. Whether from birth or by means of a car, I can't really say. I'm afraid we shall never know the many tales of our new furry friend. In honor of his unique appearance, he has been dubbed Stubs. Naturally, being the sucker for animals that I am, I fed him. He stuck around, needless to say. He has his days where he has not shown up. But for the last week or so, he has been here faithfully every evening to eat his meals. I have no idea if he has a 'real' owner or if he is just merely a stray tomcat lookin' for love in all the places he can. But I, myself, have grown very fond of Stubs. Sometimes he stays over night in a box I put out for him with some fluffy old rags. He's not the most reliable member of the family. But Alex loves him. Abby loves him a bit too much, so we have to be careful with her. Josh refuses to become attached in the fear that I will invite him inside. So for now, he will remain our outdoor come and go kitty. I just can't help but wonder just how many names Stubs has.

Here's a coulple of pictures of Stubs.

Milestones They Don't Mention

Everyone who becomes a parent, or at least mostly everyone, knows what the word 'milestone' is. First smiles, rolling over, crawling, then walking, on to jumping and speaking sentences. These are all the milestones we hear about from every parent. Well...what you don't hear is about the "other" milestones. Yes, there are other, far less pleasant, milestones that each lucky person is bound to experience in some form or another. I never really thought of these fun little moments as being milestones with Alex, because everything was a first. Now with Abby, I am seeing that those annoying little habits they pick up along the way, are in fact, the annoying milestones. There is not a section about these in "What to Expect the First Year". But I think that there should be a book about them. Let me share these fun little moments with you...

Throwing temper tantrums: Baby will thrown themselves down on the floor (Face down or face up...either is normal) and commence with the waterworks until they get their graham cracker/rock/stick/toy/choking hazard back.

Biting: Baby will get teeth and then want to figure out what damage they can do with them. Those handy chew rings are a waste of money so to practice chewing, any number of things will do fine. (i.e. cat's tail, magazines, books, brother's finger, and for lucky mom's still breast-feeding...the boob will work too.)

Food tossing: Baby realizes that food does not necessarily need to go directly to mouth. Food now becomes an object of fascination for said baby and can be tossed across rooms, spit out, smashed, picked at and screamed at.

Fearless behavior: Baby can walk off of the couch/chair/steps without concern for falling face first into the floor. It is perfectly normal in this milestone to do it over and over again, not learning from previous goose-eggs on the forehead.

Chalk eating: Baby should have digested at least one full piece of chalk by the age of 11 months. Color of chalk not important.

So these are just a few of the major milestones that I think important to mention. Abby must be advanced because, she has eaten at least two pieces of chalk.

I'll end this blog with a few pictures for your entertainment. Enjoy!

"See how creative I am mom? I lined them all up and everything!"

"Hmmm...I shall undo all of Alex's hard work. Now if only I could reach them."

"NO PICTURES! NO PICTURES!"

If this isn't the poster child for 'Adorable', then I don't know who is.

Sleepy Drama

Another week has come that I am without Josh. Due to the fun fun economy, Josh's company that he works for has been having trouble finding work. So in a desperate attempt to keep the hours coming for them, he was sent out of town again. Lucky guy gets to live it up in a hotel, eat tasty food, and play video games for hours on end without the interruption of kids...or a nagging wife. So I guess he can't really say he is suffering because of the economy. Anyhow, so that leaves me at home with two kiddos and lots of craziness.

The drama continues in dreamland here. On saturday, we had the pleasure of skipping Alex's nap. We went to celebrate the birthdays of my Dad and his twin sister, my Aunt Ronnie. But with the celebration, came other kids and Alex's lack of the desire to sleep. My latest theory when going back to the drawing board, has been that perhaps Alex's issues with sleep at night lie solely in his mental stimulation department. I have thought that he isn't getting enough stimulation during the day and that he needs two more hours of play to keep him from wanting to stay up two extra hours at night. Of course, the only section of the day that I can find two extra hours, is his nap time. So when he skipped his nap on Saturday, I half expected him to break down towards evening. He did he opposite and was a wonderful kid all day. He had a few times where he would sort of just whine a bit, but nothing excessive. Actually, he didn't even fall asleep on the way home from my friends house after a bout of late time play. He sang the whole way home....in the dark....in a car....at 9:30 at night. What the heck? I mean....that kid should have passed out from sheer exhaustion. So he slept like a rock after taking a whopping 10 minutes to fall asleep in his bed. Nice. Then day 2...same thing. No nap and he was a doll. Took 10 minutes to get him to fall asleep again and he slept through the night without any complaints. Today is day 3 in my experimental anti-napping time. He was once again the happiest kid around and fell asleep in 5 minutes. But now I'm worried that the lack of napping might throw off his immune system. Anyone know if that is something that can happen? I hope not, because we have actually been doing well with the number of colds we have had this year. Anyhow, so I suppose the drama will continue. At least for a while.

A Dirty Garden and Fear

Look what we have here! A blog entry before Sunday. It must be a miracle! Nah. Really, it's just a timing thing. Apparently the kids are perfectly happy destroying the house with Josh so that they don't notice that I'm missing for the moment. So let's get bloggin'!

This year, I have decided (much like I have decided the past two years), that I must make a lovely veggie garden in my backyard. Due to either being uncomfortably pregnant or freshly off the choppin' block from giving birth, spending great amounts of time outside for personal enjoyment have been hardly likelihood. Visions of making a strawberry patch have been swimming in my mind for a few years now. But alas, I have yet to make my dreams of fresh vegetables and juicy berries a reality. But I am not to be thwarted this year. Oh no...I will be tasting those vine-ripe berries soon. I can already envision Alex and Abby plucking the berries while I water the rest of the garden. So to begin my steps into this adventure, my wonderful mother borrowed my Grandma's tiller and helped me make the starting spot to where my new garden will grow. However, it became an instant play-spot for the kids. Once the tilling was done, they were both ankle-deep in the dirt. Abby took a few bites for good measure, and Alex made it his own personal tractor playground. Needless to say, they both got very good baths that evening before dinner. The pictures say it all of course.


Part two of this entry is about Alex's new found fear. Or should I say fears? Thus far, he has been mostly a fearless kid. The only sign of fear he has ever really shown towards an object has been that of his massive fear of doctors. Who could blame the kid though? I mean, he has had way too many run-ins with the hospital for his age. Of course, that fear has slowly become a bit more controlled. He doesn't scream bloody murder thanks to the switching of his pediatrician (see this blog for the story behind it). Anyhow, last night we had one of the first bigger storms of the new spring season and with it came the expected thunder and lightening. It has been awhile since Alex has actually heard a storm, and I didn't really think much of it. (in actuality, I was thinking about whether or not we were going to be sucked away by a tornado if the storm got bad enough) Alex disappeared into his bedroom to get his pillow and after a rather nasty little crash of thunder/lightening, he came running back to me screaming with tears pouring down his little face. Terrified beyond measure. Poor little kid. He clung onto me until the storm passed, crying with every bolt of lightening or rumble of thunder. He kept telling me he was scared. This is all very new in his 'fear' category. He only really has one other fear right now. For some reason, he has become afraid of bugs, spiders, and bees. At first, it was an irrational type of fear, but has lessened over the last few weeks. Now he just avoids them and asks me to squash them whenever he sees them. Other than these two bits of fear, he remains, to the day, an almost fearless little kid. Though I fully expect to be sharing my bed on those quickly approaching rainy nights.

Honestly...

I know I've been quite possibly the biggest slacker for this poor abandoned blog. I could easily say that the reasoning behind this abandonment is my busy schedule with having two kids or my husband's relentless online gaming habit. Both are easily believable excuses. Not a soul would contradict me. But okay...I'm going to be honest. My slacker nature can only be blamed on my obsessive geekiness. I'm once again totally absorbed in the Harry Potter series and have nearly completed my third time of the entire seven book series. Ms. J.K. Rowling...you have once again amazed and captivated me and sucked me into your awesome world. Unfortunately, you have also destroyed my will to clean, blog, or do anything else of productive nature. I am nearly 1/4 through the last book so I hope to be back to my non-obsessed state with in the next week or so. So...here to amuse you today on this rare blogging moment, I shall share with you the past week of fun with the monkeys.

We're Goin' To The Zoo!

We went to the zoo this week. It was really fun. My friend Mandy and I loaded our kids and two wagons up in my trusty steed, the mini-van, and headed off to enjoy the gorgeous weather at the Zoo. It was a ton of fun. Alex is the perfect age for the zoo now. And to my surprise, Abby was the perfect kid. She never cried or got bored or annoyed in the slightest. It got a bit crazy when Alex wanted to run off in his own direction. Two against one isn't the ideal situation, but being the super-mom I am, I managed it well and the day was a total hit. So without further ado...here's the zoo.

Alex got a kick our of all the monkeys. I can honestly say I've never seen them so active before. Must be spring fever kickin' in.

Abby got to pet the sheep. She was actually really interested in them.

This was one of the gorillas. If it weren't for the smudgy glass, it would look like they were making contact in the wild.


Alex was very helpful with his buddy Wesley. He is helping him get his footing on the mini-bridge.


We got to watch them give the elephants baths with giant hoses. They loved it!

The giraffes and monkey Alex.

The bears were takin' a swim and all three of the kids got a kick outta seein' them so close.

Sleep Disorder

Yes...I'm aware once again in my lack of blogging. But seeing as how only about two people look at this blog, I'm sure you will learn to forgive my lazy nature. My finger is still sore, but the splint is off and I'm back to my preferred typing standard. Occasionally I'll hit a key on the keyboard the wrong way and searing pain will overtake my poor finger, but I figure it probably won't cause my finger to fall off, so I'm gonna go ahead and use it.

So we have a bit of a sleep disorder...or maybe sleep disarray would be more accurate. I'm not entirely sure. But as anyone who has kept a close watch on my blog would know, I haven't exactly had two perfect sleeping kiddos on my hand. In this skill department they are...er...lacking should I say? It has been quite testing lately to be honest. In the last couple of weeks, they have poked, prodded and pulled at my last strings of patience. I am sad, and somewhat ashamed, to say that for the last three or four months, I've had to rock both of my children to sleep. Naps and bedtime alike. Please note that one of these children is, in fact, almost two and a half years old and should not need to be rocked to sleep. He should have the confidence it takes to comfortably fall in to dreamland on his very own. Part of me has been oblivious to the true insane nature of rocking said child to sleep. But then, when talking to my friend, Mandy...also a mother of a boy around the same age...I mentioned to her that rocking Alex to sleep has become near impossible because he won't sit still for love nor money. The look on her face was one of utter shock and disbelief. She apparently was unaware of this. This look she gave me made me realize how bad it must sound and my shame surface. Most kiddos seem to fall asleep on their own and I truly feel bad that I have failed to teach him this most important skill of confidence. So here I am at a fork in the road. Alex won't rock to sleep, but when lying on his bed, his brain immediately switches into overdrive and he becomes a total chaotic child. Singing, yelling, jumping on the bed, kicking, etc. It all ends in the same result. Waking of poor sleepy Abby. She does not take the waking of her beauty sleep well and it's back to square one with her bedtime routine. *sigh* My fork in the road goes two ways so it is either go down the right fork in the road and continue to battle rocking him to sleep (which can now take up to an hour or more) or the left fork and let him wake Abby up over and over again until he can finally wind himself down (which can take up to two hours). So um...I'm open to suggestions on this little dilemma. If you wanna leave a comment on this blog, I would be glad to take any and all suggestions into consideration. Until this storm clears, I suppose it is back to the sleep disorder boy.

Here are a couple of pictures. I've started to lag in my picture taking skills. Bad mama...

Abby loves to climb and dangle from objects now...so big.

Alex got a big-boy hair cut. It's so hard to tell in a picture, but he really does look so grown up now.