Swingin'

I just thought I'd post a couple of pictures of the kiddos enjoying their swing-set. They do so love their swing-set. I actually removed their 'baby' swings this week. Alex still enjoys one of them, but unfortunately he is just too big for it. his feet drag the ground and we can barely get him in and out anymore. Abby was never a big fan of her slightly different baby swing. She just loves to swing on her tummy on the big-kid swings. I'm just waiting for them to knock heads together. Anyhow...enjoy!

Grandpa

My dad - AKA, Grandpa - is great with grandkids. He is sort of the grandpa that all little kids look at and say, "Wow! Grandpa is so cool!" And Alex and Abby adore him. He's a wild and wacky guy. (And I mean my dad by that.) He is always entertaining the kids with some crazy little trick or funny face. They just can't get enough of Grandpa. I even have proof that Grandpa is a favorite around here. I have been waiting for miss Abby to say those three wonderful words to me. You know the words I speak of. "I love you." I remember the first time Alex said it to me, my heart just melted. Actually, it still melts when he says it. Abby has been talking just wonderfully. Words are flowing from that little mouth and she learns something new everyday. But one evening, my mom and dad were leaving from our house. As my dad was getting into the truck, Abby waved through the window at him and said, "I love you grandpa!" Now keep in mind, that when she says 'grandpa' she really pronounces it like "tampah". Just adorable. I know the words weren't meant for me, but hearing her say "I love you" to my dad was just precious. Since then, she has said those wonderful words to me as well, but I will always tell her that her first 'I love you' was for grandpa.

Peanut Fail

If it was appropriate to utilize four letter words (the bad kind) on a blog, I would be using them right about now. But I am doing my very best to refrain from writing or saying them for the moment. As you are aware, if you read this blog regularly, then about a month ago I decided to try and turn our house into a peanut friendly zone. Three years of avoiding them with a child who has never tested positive to peanuts on his allergy tests was long enough. So I finally became brave enough and began the great peanut challenge. It went fine. I actually got the guts to rub a little on both Alex and Abby's lips and they didn't react. Day two I gave them a teeny, tiny amount to eat. It went fine again. So since that day about three or so weeks ago, I've been randomly giving them about a pea sized amount to eat every so often with out even the slightest hint of danger.

Until today.

I was braver today and decided to give him a bit more; about the size of two peas. He put it in his mouth, told me it was bad and that he didn't like it. Then about 2 minutes later he was complaining about his throat. He asked for a drink and after the drink I looked in his mouth, only to find red, swollen spots around his tonsil area. There were a couple of, what looked like, puss-filled pockets. Keep in mind that it is really hard to look into a reluctant three-year old's mouth. But I did my best. I find myself at a loss of words for this moment. Okay...that's a lie. I'm not totally at a loss for words, but the words I want to use are not appropriate for a PG rated blog. I suppose I just don't understand the black cloud that is hovering constantly over our house lately. I have adjusted to the milk allergy and the asthma, the dog allergy, the mold allergy...blah blah blah. The list goes on. But after having so many family and friends reassure me that 'he'll be fine with the peanut test', I suppose I just expected that things would turn out fine. He'll have to go in to be officially tested, but I don't know when I am going to be willing to subject him to getting his blood drawn again. Until then, I guess it's back to soybutter for the time being. Abby, on the other hand, was fine with the peanut challenge. I suppose this is just another thing to add to my list of things to fret about. (As if having no income wasn't enough.) I'd say that things are going to look up soon, but the house might spontaneously explode. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go knock on wood...

I am Woman

I'm not a feminist. Not even in the slightest. I couldn't care less about being 'empowered' or whatever you want to call it. I am, however, born of a long line of very independent women. So I can take care of things pretty good when push comes to shove. So today I told Josh to let me do the talking to the unemployment people and guess what? Josh gave them permission to talk to me instead of him and lo and behold! Problems solved! Yup, that's right folks. We are officially going to receive unemployment benefits for Josh's down time. Woo-hoo! We won't have to live in a cardboard box after all. Okay, so it really wasn't an option to live in a box, but I did start to worry. The lovely lady I spoke to on the phone was more than helpful and we joked about how if you want something done, ask a man. If you want something done right, ask a woman. :-) Hey now...I'm only kidding people. I just got a kick out of talking to this lady. She was very nice and I'm now thankful that things are going to get back on track...sort of. I am woman. Hear me roar...at my children who are throwing things across the front room again.

Urban Legend

*************venting about to commence*************

It is my theory that people who get checks from some organization called 'The department of labor', do not, in fact, exist. They are an urban legend. There is no such thing as unemployment. It is merely an artificial organization created by some twisted individual to keep people with out jobs 'busy' in-between jobs. They tell you to call and file your claims through some crappy automated response system that is horribly constructed only then to put you on hold and tell you that the call volume is too high. Then they proceed to hang up on you and tell you to call again later. And it is even virtually impossible to actually talk to the one lone employee that answers the phone for customer service. There is no money. No check. No help. It...is...a...myth. This can be the only explanation. We have spent nearly three weeks attempting to file Josh's claims. We have been sent papers to sign to explain accusations that were false in the first place. We've been told our claims are not valid. We've been repetitively told that the claims were fixed and filed and we should expect payment shortly only to find out the next day that our claims were totally suspended pending investigation. What the heck?!? What are you supposed to do when it comes to this, folks? They leave me no other option but to believe that the entire organization is false. If we actually get a check from them, it will be a miracle because you can't get a check from something that doesn't exist.

*************venting complete*************

5 Seconds

It's amazing how the concept of time changes when you have kids. Time speeds up and so much happens so quickly. I have watched them grow into two toddlers in the blink of an eye. It's amazing and you start to respect the time that you have more and more the quicker they grow. Blah blah blah...okay...sappy part over. Time has come to mean even more to me. I just discovered that five seconds to me is nothing compared to five seconds to a three year old. I went to grab a washrag for Alex while he was in the tub, I peeked out to see what Abby was doing and I couldn't have had my back turned for more than five whopping seconds. In that five seconds, Alex grabbed his full bottle of shampoo and proceeded to squeeze it all over the tub. No...seriously...ALL over the tub. I walked back around the corner and he said, "See mom! I made a bubble bath!" Of course about 50% of it ended up dripping outside of the tub down onto the floor as well. Five seconds! Five! Ugh...it seems that a toddler can create total chaos and mass destruction in five seconds. It took me five minutes to get him rinsed off. Apparently, shampoo isn't meant to be used as bubble bath. *sigh*

My BFF

How long is a relationship meant to last in such innocence? I watch as Alex and Abby grow together. The older they get, the more they rely on one another as playmates. They are nearly never separated anymore. Where one is, the other is surely near. If Abby is finding a way to leap off of the couch into a pile of pillows, Alex is there waiting to give her a good...um...nudge. Yes, I shall call it a 'nudge'. What Alex didn't figure out how to do until he was two, Abby is quickly learning to do much sooner and much more efficiently. They are always making each other laugh...and cry. But I watch them play and giggle together, talk to each other, and ask where the other one is when they can't find one another. I can't help but wonder how long they will enjoy being friends like this. When they are 5 and 7, will they want to play together? When they are 12 and 14 will it stop being cool to be friends with your sibling? And what about when they are 22 and 24? 33 and 35? 86 and 88? I think it will be interesting to see how they grow together. I hope that I am raising them so that they have a close, lasting relationship together. But honestly, they already fight over the last cheerio. So I suppose it's only a matter of time before they will be fighting over who gets to drive the car on Friday night.