Timber!

It lasted longer than I thought it would, but today the Christmas tree finally bit it. Two weeks after the tree went up...it came crashing down. Alex decided that he would go behind the tree. Then once he was there he decided that he needed to come back to the front of the tree and instead of crawling underneath it like a good little boy, he opted for the more difficult route and attempted to shimmy his way between the tree and the couch. Due to space constraints, there was about a centimeter between the two and, needless to say, not enough room for a two year old to clumsily amble through. Before I had time to react, the tree lay helplessly on it's side with a guilty...and smiling...Alex standing next to it. He, of course, was proud of his accomplishment. This tree has fallen a few times in the past thanks to cats. But I suppose it only had one fall left in it. The base of the tree, made from cheap plastic, cracked into 4 pieces and is not fixable. I think I'm gonna try to find a new base for it this Thursday on my weekly run into town. Until then, it is leaning pathetically against the bookcase and the wall. Another victim of two-year old mischief. Poor thing...didn't even see it coming.

Frosty the Snowman

Winter is upon us and with the season comes many changes. Snow, colds, holidays, and much much more. And kickin' off the beginning of the winter season was a nice first snow. Alex was very excited about the snow. We have put up our Christmas tree and lights and the snow was just an added bonus of the week. Even though it makes driving conditions a bit on the worrisome side, it is nice to see the pretty white blanket of snow outside. Last year, Alex was a bit too small to appreciate the snow in all it's glory. This year though...wow. What a difference a year can man. We went outside yesterday and made our first snowman. Talk about bringing back childhood memories. The last time I can remember making a snowman was pre-high school. After making one with Alex, I realized just how much I've been missing in not making one every year. It was really fun. Abby stayed inside while she napped in her warm crib. Alex and I got all dolled up in our snow gear and headed to the backyard for some fun. He got a kick out of it and even put on the staple carrot nose. We finished off our hour outside with snow angels and snowball throwing then it was back into the warmth of the house for lunch. He was by far, no masterpiece. But nevertheless, here is our handsome snowman. He is the same size as Alex.

Note the pink snowboots. Well...my wonderfully giving sister-in-law has passed along many girl shoes for Abby. Oddly enough, these fit Alex right now and well...we don't have any boy boots for him as of now. I hope to get him a pair for Christmas though. Wouldn't want him to grow up with a complex, you know?

Anyhow, my poor little monkeys have been fighting...and I do mean fighting...a nasty cold. They both got sick over Thanksgiving and have been battling their best to get rid of it. Turned out that they got Croup and then after 12 days of green snot, coughing and sleepless nights, we headed off to the doctor for some meds. I would have waited it out, but Alex developed a fever of 103.5 and couldn't seem to shake it. Then to add to the fun, he got a nice head to toe viral rash. 15 days later, we still have green snot and wet coughs, but it does seem to be improving a bit for both my poor little monkeys. You see, when my kids get sick...the go all out. And for more added joy, Josh got really sick and then trailing the group in last place...I too have been hit with this lovely virus. Now believe me when I say it is a big deal that Josh is sick. In the entire time I've known him, he has been sick maybe 3 times. So this is big news. The guy must have superman's immune system. The doctor said that this was a pretty bad group of things for the monkeys and said that maybe this was the world's way of getting it all out of the way for the winter and we might get a nice illness free Christmas. Here's hoping.

Here are the monkeys enjoying a little playtime despite their colds.

And guess who just turned eight months old? Miss Abby! Hooray for my little girl! She is movin' along so quickly too. I sometimes can't believe that in a mere 4 months, we will have a one year old. *sniff* She is growing so fast. And just a couple of days ago she decided to try out a balancing act and let go of the couch to stand for about 3 seconds on her own. She cruises everything now and is using walker toys to make her way around the house when crawling just won't cut it. I looked back at Alex's baby book and she is moving a bit faster than Alex did. She wants to play with her big brother so badly. I imagine that this is the reason for her motivation.

Until next blog, I hope you all are having a Merry Christmas season and enjoying the

A Seinfeld Moment

So I have absolutely nothing to blog about right now. I actually have a spare moment to myself and time to sit here with my cup of ice cream and blog...and I have nothing. So I will take a Seinfeld moment. If you ever watched the show 'Seinfeld', then you would know that it was a show about nothing. So today I shall just mention a few moments of the past week or so.

This seems to be the only way I can get a picture of both of my monkeys together. Poor Abby.

Annoyances: The weekly Wal-Mart trip that I once enjoyed is now the one day of the week that I dread most. And today was the icing on the cake. After asking Alex to poop before we go to the store (he is a morning pooper generally), he proceeded in telling me 'no'. After waiting until about noon for the um...bomb to drop...I figured that his bout of diarrhea was over finally and decided to chance the trip in hopes of a poop-free outing. Alas...upon entering the doors of Wal-Mart, I caught a wiff of a dreaded dirty diaper. I lifted his shirt up to check if it was him or Abby, only to find that the poop had crept it's way up his back. I guess if you think about it, When you are sittin' there strapped to a carseat, the poop really has no other way to go but up. *sigh* I never thought i'd be hosin' down a kid in the Wal-Mart bathroom. These are things that no one ever warns you about.

How many people do you know that can have 5 cats all in the same picture at the same time? Oddly enough, this happens more than you think for us.

New findings: Every kid is completely different. To use a bulb syringe on Alex's nose is like pulling fingernails out with pliers. The screaming...the kicking...the crying...and that's just when he sees the bulb syringe in my hand. Abby, on the other hand sees the bulb syringe in my hand and smiles from ear to ear. She waits eagerly for it to go up her nose and giggles when I suck the boogers out. Alex wouldn't eat anything I put in front of him even if it was deep-fried in chocolate sauce. Abby inhales anything that is placed in front of her. Alex can thrive on zero sleep even at his sickest moments. Abby requires a minimum of 4 hours of beauty sleep per day or there will be hell to pay in the evenings. It's just weird how two kids can come from the same two parents and be totally different.

My dearest family chillin' on the couch. Don't we all have a keen fashion sense?

Current concern: What the heck am I gonna do with my poor Christmas tree this year? It is an older tree and has weathered 7 cats, 1 ferret, and 1 very curious toddler. I'm not so sure it has enough life left in it to weather an even more curious 8 month old who is currently pulling up on everything and putting any and all findings in her mouth. I guess tinsel is out this year...and ornaments...and lights....and a tree skirt...wait a minute. Why am I even putting the tree up?

Daddy plays WOW while holding daughter. How many men across the country do you think have this very same picture?

Don't mind me, I'm just chewin' on my toes while I watch George of the Jungle with my trusty blanket and Ape at my side. (I find it odd that he is so fascinated by people in loin cloths.)

Thanksgiving

Another year, another Thanksgiving. A day set aside to be thankful for what we have been blessed with. Not to mention a day to eat until you bust a gut. This year we packed up the monkeys and headed off to spend Turkey Day with my in-laws. It was nice to have a change of scenery for awhile. My brother-in-law, Ben, made a fantastic turkey and there were plenty of sides to go with it. My wonderful sister-in-law made all the efforts to make it completely Alex friendly with the one exception of the green bean casserole (a dish that would be impossible to be dairy-free). Of course, despite all of our efforts, mr. Alexander decided to not eat a single thing. This is, of course, including the pumpkin pie that took me almost 4 hours to make (boiling down soy milk takes a loooooong time.) All in all, it was nice to see everyone, but it is nice to be home. The trip had a few downfalls. And when I say downfalls, i mean fall downs. True to form, Alex was his usual monkey-self and proceeded on putting on a pair of snowboots. One of these boots has been not-so-affectionately renamed as 'the snow boot of doom'. He enjoyed wearing them around. It was cute...yeah...until he decided to wear one while going down a flight of stairs. You see, we live in a small house so stairs are very rare to come by for my kiddos. He is physically capable of going down them on his own, but apparently wearing one tennis shoe and the one snowboot of doom when you are really tired, makes for a disaster. He took one step down and tripped on said snowboot of doom and tumbled all the way down. One black eye and many bruises later, he is fine and back in the comfort of stairless land. I'm seriously reconsidering have a dual story house. Anyhow, to add insult to injury, both Alex and Abby got a nice cold that turned out to be croup and poor Alex got a secondary virus that involves explosive diarrhea. Poor kiddos. They are much better today and I think I may actually get a night of sleep tonight. On the upside, Alex LOVED being with his cousins. He loved it so much that it he refused sleep much of the time. He also has great fondness for his Uncle Ben. He talks about him all the time. Abby on the other hand did not enjoy herself so much. She was very clingy and hardly let me out of her sight. But on the last day or so, she finally warmed up to everyone. So right now, we are just hoping for an injury and illness free Christmas. My camera died while we were away so I didn't get any pictures of the trip, so here are some pics of the monkeys at home. I hope you all had a great holiday!

Alex and his best bud, Penny.

Abby sporting her headband...now all she needs are some leg warmers.

Adios My Old Friend

Finally. The day has arrived. I thought it might never come, but to my surprise and much awaited delight, the last days of the dreaded pacifiers have come to it's end. Just over two years ago, little Alex (not really so little as he was born at a whopping 9 pounds) was born and within 24 hours of his birth, I did the ultimate 'no-no'. After 29 hours of labor and hours on end of crying, a very tired mama (that's me), decided to give the little guy his first pacifier. It worked, and I slept. It was wonderful. Over the last two years, the pacifier has been Alex's best friend. In the night, he would happily suck it non-stop for his comfort (and mine). During his many trips to the hospital and doctors, he would calm down quickly with a pacifier to ease his distress. During colds, the pacifier would ward away his tears as he combated his snotty nose. It was his his true blue friend for two whole years. And then the pediatrician said it must go. We opted for the Pacifier Fairy for our battle to rid the house of the sucking monstrosities. It worked...for awhile. For two weeks, we were to say good-bye to one pacifier every third or fourth night. Alex would choose which of the 5 pacifiers he would never see again and place it in a basket. And the next morning, the Pacifier Fairy would leave a nice toy in his basket as a trade. 5, 4, 3, 2,....and then there was one. Upon this last night, utter horror broke loose at bedtime. Alex refused to say goodbye to his last orange pacifier. All hope was lost. I feared that I would infact have a 16 year old still hooked on this devil's chew toy. Then earlier last week, I sat down and had a nice talk with Alex. I explained how he was a big boy and that he wouldn't want to go see his cousins for Thanksgiving with a pacifier. And if he were to get rid of it, that next morning when he woke up, we would celebrate with a candy and ice cream breakfast. I, of course, was just floored when he looked up at me and said, "Okay, mommy. By Paci!" And that, my friends, was the end.
He slept without a pacifier for the first time in 2 years. The first thing he said to me when he woke up was "Ice cream and candy, mommy?" So we celebrated his 'big-boy' day with ice cream shakes (soy ice-cream), candy, and ice-cream cones. Prouder, I could not be. Here is my big boy with his celebration breakfast.

Abby has never really caught on on the pacifier. She is a thumb-sucker all the way. And I couldn't be happier. If a third kid is in the picture, I do believe I will avoid the pacifier. It may have a few pleasant advantages, but the side-effects can be a royal pain in the...um...mouth. And here is a picture of miss Abby. Ain't she just a doll?

Napping Hiatus

It's a phase right? At least that is what I keep telling myself. Alex has decided to give up napping. He's only two, so this has got to be a phase. I was under the impression that children needed naps up until at least the age of four. I have tried everything. He refuses to stay in his bed for even "quiet time". So I've come a a point now where I just don't know if I can keep forcing him to stay in there. It doesn't effect him though, if that is what you are thinking. He can go from morning to night without so much as an ounce of sleep and is just as happy at 10:00 in the morning as he is at 10:00 at night. Actually, he is crankier after a forced nap than he is without one. And to be honest, it's destroying poor Abby's sleep routine. She needs her sleep. And I do mean needs. She is a disaster if she doesn't get her 3 to 4 hours of daytime sleep. And now that they are sharing a bedroom (a joyful experience I hope to rectify one day with separate rooms), Abby just can't get sleep with Alex in there with her. He insists on keeping her awake. And the real trouble is that when she is sleeping soundly in her crib, Alex will go to take his 'nap' and will yell at the top of his lungs to entertain himself. He will then jump on Abby's crib railing and say "Abby, wake up!" This ends in the waking of Abby within moments and only leads to a very unhappy Abby. I'm not sure what has led to Alex's need to stay awake all day, but I'm starting to think he needs to have his brain stimulated more during the day. We already do playdough, markers, crayons, letter of the day, books, and dancing. He knows his alphabet and numbers for the most part, shapes, colors, and has mastered almost every puzzle we have in the house. What the heck else am I supposed to do with him for now? So unless I tie him to the bed kicking and screaming, it's either two frustrated children, or two happy children. I'm opting for the latter.

Thank You....You're Welcome

Manners. Do unto others...yadda yadda yadda. In the end, it really does pay off when it comes to your kids. Ever since Alex was born, i've made it a point to say please, thank you, and you're welcome when ever appropriate. Apparently it has all rubbed off on him. I remember working so hard to get him to attempt to use baby sign language and taught him to sign 'please' whenever he whined to get something. (I say whined, because at that time, he was incable of using speech to articulate his needs and wants). It worked for the most part, because he generally will say please now for whatever he asks for. But up until yesterday, 'Thank you' was not something he said on his own. Oh...he would say it when I asked him to say it, but it just doesn't mean as much when you have to force it out of him. Today when I asked Alex what he wanted to eat for breakfast and I gave him a choice. He asked for pancakes much to my surprise. I asked him if he wanted chocolate chips in him and he said yes. After dishing them out to him, he sat down to eat and before taking a bite, he looked up at me with those adorable eyes and said the magical words to a mother's heart. "Thank you mommy." I instantly melted and said "You're welcome". Well, later in the day I asked him to put his cup in the sink. After saying thank you to him for doing what I said, he looked at me again and said "You welcome mommy." Adorable.

Here is Alex in all his craziness. No, he isn't naked...there is a diaper in there somewhere. And yes...he got in there himself.

And here is Abby showing off her mad new skills. Pulling up before 7 months...I'm in trouble.

On some new notes, the kids have been sick over the last week so things have been kinda crazy around here with all of the lovely snot rockets coming out of everyone's noses. But that hasn't slowed either of the monkeys down at all. Abby is full on crawling now. She crawls pretty fast now and pulls up to almost everything...including my legs. She has also started to climb small obstacles in her way. She tried her hardest to climb the indoor slide we have, but has yet to master that feat...thank goodness. She also uses her ability to crawl, to make her way to any item that is considered a choking hazard. Hence, why we had to call 911 for a choking episode for her this past week. Lovely. Don't worry folks, she got it up before the ambulance arrived, but they checked her out anyways. Alex has continued, in spite of his illness, to learn a few new tricks of his own. Mind you, they are not necessarily good tricks. Apparently he just discovered that he has two holes in his nose and has decided that there are many new things that can fit up there. Great. And he is now learning cause and effect. So I spend the better part of my day explaining to him that just beCAUSE Abby is sitting there happily playing with a toy, does not mean that he can EFFECTively push her over to see what happens. Poor little girl has had more bumps on her head than I can even begin to count. Alex has also decided that whatever he eats, Abby can have too. So to date, miss Abby has had nearly every food that they tell you to NOT have until the age of one year. Milk and nuts excluded of course.