Birthday Bug

Naturally, true to form, a lovely little cold bug decided to attach itself to one member of our family just in time for the birthday celebrations. Josh brought home a nice little cold last week. Apparently working on a rooftop in rain and cold temps can lower your immune system. It's not a bad cold...yet. (anyone have some wood to knock on?) So, of course, this nasty little germ spread itself through the house. Well...not all through the house because it hasn't hit me yet. Abby got it first and Alex followed suit within half a day. So now snot is free flowing in from my little monkeys and it couldn't come at a worse time. Alex was sick on his first birthday. He actually was in the hospital with brochiolitis/RSV. So Abby is just following in suit and getting sick on her first birthday. Poor thing. I hope it doesn't make for a bad party. Hopefully by Saturday, the worst will be over. I'm just hoping that Alex doesn't start wheezing. His asthma isn't kind to him during colds. Oh well...that's that and so without further ado, I give you a couple of pictures to enjoy.

Don't you wish you could eat chocolate marshmallow cereal too?

Alex being his cheezy self

And don't you wish you could sleep as comfortably as a cat?

Mama-me-time

Being a mom can be incredibly frustrating at times. Now, now...don't misinterpret my words. I do so love being a mom. Better yet, I love being a stay-at-home mom. It's rewarding in many ways on many days. Then you have a day from H-E-double hockey sticks, and realize how incredibly hard it can be at times. These type of days are the ones where it is imperative that you have mama-me-time. If this...well, sort of word...had a definition, I believe it would be as follows:

Mama-me-time [mah-muh-mee-tahym] : The time allotted for any mother during a day to unwind and otherwise relax for the soul purpose of keeping one's sanity in check. (i.e.: Reading, watching movies, random hobbies.)


Now, of course, the only way to fully appreciate mama-me-time is to remember that in order for it to really count as personal time, the time must be spent doing something completely, totally and without a doubt, selfish. And by selfish, I mean you really have to enjoy it. If you are watching a movie, you can't fold laundry at the same time. Put the laundry down and grab a box of chocolates in it's place. If you are reading a book, you can't be expected to prepare tomorrows dinner in the middle of a good chapter, so grab a twinkie and mug of hot cocoa instead. I've just recently realized that a lack of mama-me-time made me a very agitated mommy/wife/homemaker/superhero. (You choose the right word for you.) So each night, I make it a point to do something totally and completely selfish. As soon as the kids hit the sack, I actually look forward to sittin' back and doing something for me. I've come to understand, that when you become a mom, you can easily forget other parts of who you were prior to children. Don't get me wrong again, I don't long for my old life before Alex and Abby. In fact, my life wouldn't be complete without them. But before they came along, I was an obsessive nerd hell-bent on collecting as many cheaply-made-miniature-busts of movie characters and cheezy posters while watching the movie for the hundredth time just so I could break my last record and beat my brother-in-law at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Say that ten times fast. So I tuned back in to my geekier side and have been watching my movies, reading my books, and enjoying my alone time every night now for well over a month. Josh says he has noticed a change in my attitude because of it. I enjoy it. And I think my family enjoys the happier person I've become. I thought for awhile that I had to say goodbye to my old friends; Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Harry Potter and Jack Sparrow. I am happy to say that all of my old friends are now back in my life and I've even added a couple of new ones, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. So if you you're a mom and haven't given in to your guilty pleasures. I shall just say this: Ahhh...Mama-me-time...tis a grand and beautiful thing.

Let me introduce you to...

My good 'friends'...see anyone you want me to introduce you to? A Jedi, a Hobbit, a Wizard, a Pirate, and a Vampire...hmmm...I keep good company...he he he

Sweet Success

It's official. I found the secret to sleep. Or at least the secret to getting my kids to sleep. If you have followed along with my many sleep related posts, then you will know of the many struggles I've had, for quite some time now, of getting my kids to sleep. This includes naps and bedtime. I wasn't going to count on it being a success until at least a few weeks had passed and now that time has come. The secret to both of the monkey's success is to cut out Alex's nap. Believe it or not, he is only 2 1/2 years old and has officially given up his naps. Now, there are the occassional times when he will catch a quick cat nap in the afternoon if it was a really crazy day and the timing is right. And by timing, I really mean having him in the car and in motion to knock him out. He has only fallen asleep three times or so in the last three weeks. I guess that is averaging out to one nap a week that lasts at the most, one whopping hour. So he gets up at a decent time in the morning (between 7:30 and 8:30) along with Abby. They both wake up together and go to bed at night together. By kickin' the nappin' habit, he zonks out by 9:00 or 9:15 now at night. It takes, at most, 5 minutes for him to pass out for the night. He has replaced nap time with quiet time. He gets to watch a movie and sit on the couch. I'd like to say that he is actually quiet too, but I think that is asking a bit much. He does so well now. He's happier and I'm happier. Abby is happier too. She goes down in her crib for her beauty rest and catches a nice long 2 to 2 1/2 hour nap per day without the noisy and nutty Alex waking her up too soon. She goes down at night just has wonderfully. I tell ya...it was a crazy time trying to figure all this out. They won many battles...but I won the war! Tis a good good thing to have my evenings to myself now. My new battle is purely Abby related. It's the battle of the boob. It's weaning time. One out of four feedings down, and three to go. Wish me luck.

Here are those pictures I was promising you. Not great ones, but with the big birthday party for miss Abby (one year old already? How did that happen?), I hope to have a nice cute blog this weekend sometime.

Sock time! Thanks again Aunt Heather!

Just call me Mr. Potato Head. (yes...those are Mr. Potato Head's glasses).

Applesauce time! My first time with a spoon...hmmm...pretty!

It is quite tasty and i'm so good with the spoon already.

And I do believe the spoon tastes better than the applesauce!

Hey, I like applesauce too Mom! I even turn my bowl upside down to indicate I'm done.

My Twilight Void

*sigh*

It appears now, that I have a void in my life today. As you may know, I've been engrossed in the Twilight series for about a week and a half now. It has consumed my every spare waking moment. Alex has given up his naps (for the most part) and so I also get to read during his quiet time, but in the end, it doesn't really feel like the time I had added up to enough to get me through an entire book series in such a short time. But, alas, as of last night, I have completed this most compelling saga that has greedily taken over the minds of the many women (moms being a large part of that number) in the world. I have fallen prey to the books. I finished the fourth book around 2:00 a.m. last night and went to bed with visions of vampires and werewolves dancing through my dreams. I woke up this morning in a slightly off mood. I wasn't aware of the reasoning behind this until speaking to my friend Mandy. She said that I am now experiencing the Twilight void that so many others are also now enduring. What will I do with my spare time now that I have no Edward-Bella drama to keep my mind fascinated? I have no other way to put this but to simply say...I want...no no...I need more. So now that I've read the final words of the story, I must do what I can to keep myself busy until the next movie, Twilight: New Moon, graces us all with it's shining moment in the theaters. November can't come soon enough. I'm sure though, that my children will be more than happy to have the full, undivided attention of their mom back. Obsession can be so annoying. And just a little shout out to my sister-in-law Heather, whom I was happy to hear has fallen prey to the series as well. Enjoy your time with the books. You shall miss them when you are done. You've been warned. (hee, hee)

(and I promise to get some pictures of the kids up here soon. I've been a bit...um...distracted. :-)

And the Verdict Is...

Well...the verdict is in and the jury finds our house to be a danger zone for dairy. Our sentence is to be dairy free for at least another year. Naturally. I really don't feel like going into massive detail, but I suppose that I could humor my readers. I'm a bit miffed as is, so recounting the events again is a bit of an annoyance to me. Call it frustration, call it anger....call it whatever you want, just don't call us to borrow a cup of milk.

Basically, they told me that if things went south after Alex or Abby drank milk, that they needed to be prepared. They checked for good veins and got the meds all measured out. Abby went first and took her 2 teaspoons of chocolate milk well. Alex was SO excited. He wanted to try the chocolate milk too. 2 teaspoons of milk later and all the hopes of eating celebratory ice cream cones went straight out the window. Within one minute he coughed once. I knew as soon as he coughed just that one cough, that it was gonna end badly. 10 seconds later came the tongue itching, 10 seconds more and it was ear pulling and coughing more, then he started crying and drooling. It was a very long minute indeed. They gave him benedryl and he started to get better pretty quick. I'd like to say I was jumping the gun and didn't give him enough time to see where it would go, but when they checked his vitals, they said his oxygen dropped and his pulse rocketed. His body was fighting it pretty bad for such a small amount of stuff. Feeding him that little dixie cup of milk was literally like feeding him poison and as I made him drink it I felt as though I was giving him a cup of bleach to drink. *sigh* It was all I could do to hold my internal struggle together and not scream at myself for essentially poisoning my baby boy. Abby turned out fine. One and a half ounces later and no signs as of yet, but she needs to be watched for later intestinal problems in the 24 hour critical period. But the doc said no milk for her either to avoid any cross contamination for Alex. Poor thing has to live a life of allergy even without one for now. So soy will be filling her soon-to-be-weaned sippy cups. They also are having me get a medical bracelet for him to wear outside of the house in the event he is separated from me. As much as I had convinced myself otherwise, I guess I had a little hope deep down that we'd be stopping by Dairy Queen on the way home. But alas...until the day they start selling Soy-Ice Cream there, we shall avoid that place like the plague. Good thing I'm a pessimist. Otherwise, I could have been twice as disappointed. Dang...this sucks...

Here's that other video I promised y'all in the last blog. Listen in the beginning for Alex's adorable comment about Wesley. Enjoy...

Buddies

This will be a fairly short entry, as I am still engrossed in the Twilight series. Book four and lovin' it! Yeah...this may rival Josh's World of Warcraft obsession yet! Anyhow, really just an update for anyone interested. Tomorrow I'll be dragging the monkeys into the doctor's office to be tested for milk. They are both getting a milk food challenge so wish them...us all...luck. Needless to say, I'm not optimistic in the slightest bit. But who knows...

I shall leave you with a video I took today. Wesley came over and they got to be a bunch of crazy kids. I actually have two videos. One of them I will post tonight, the other tomorrow (if I'm not too lazy). Wesley and Alex really are going to be good buddies down the line. Cute.

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!