Sunday, September 28, 2008

Not quite the message I was going for

No photos, don't worry...just a memory book item (and this blog is probably the closest I will ever get!!).

I try very hard to keep nuts away from Eric, both the food kind and the people kind. I probably do better at keeping him away from human nuts. In the past couple of months I have learned, sometimes after the fact, that store-bought pesto contains pine nuts (hey, I usually make my own), the difference between brand name and generic teddy grahams is that the generic ones 'may contain nuts', plain old Chex cereal has peanut flour (glad I checked the box on that one!), and there are way too many things that 'may or may not contain nuts' or 'may have been processed in a facility that also processes peanuts.' Seriously? What's with the 'may or may not' thing?

Anyway, this was not meant to be a peanut rant, but that may or may not thing has me spending a LOT of time reading labels. Utz is my friend...I think they're the only potato chip brand that doesn't taunt my with the possibility of nuts.

I try to teach Eric that he can't have nuts, since clearly I am not the most reliable source (thankfully Evan does a pretty good and is not afraid to tell people to keep their PB&J sandwiches away from his little brother). One of Eric's current favorite bedtime books, Peekaboo Bugs, has a picture of a nut (chestnut?) and peanut in it. Whenever we point to those pictures, I say "not for Eric" and he responds "Oh! Thank you Mommy!"

Whenever we point to the picture of the Earth and another planet, he says "Not for Eric!!"

Not quite sure how to fix this one...

One of life's mysteries

How can someone so darn cute be such a holy terror??




Another Saturday, another amusement park...

What a bunch of Saturdays...this week's adventure of choice was Six Flags for a work outing. Unfortunately, the weather was not very cooperative and we only stayed for a couple of hours (and one massive downpour) before heading home. Kids got to go on a couple of rides though, so not a total loss.

Eric and I on the carousel (boy loves that ride!!)



Looks like he's practicing to be a politician...


Notice how you can barely see Eric's head
...maybe Evan is practicing to be the next 'Evel Knievel'

Stay tuned for next Saturday and Evan's 5th birthday party...at a bowling alley!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Freaking Hilarious and Not So Much

What Happens in Vegas? Laughed my skinny butt off. Ethan looked scared that I thought it was so funny, but did admit it was a funnier version of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Baby Mama? I think there were more funny scenes in the previews than the actual movie itself.

And hubby, I am really trying get hold of Made of Honor and watch it before you come home, but...if not...Thursday IS my birthday. Wait! No! Grey's is back on Thursday! Hmmm...

Whew...found Made of Honor at the Redbox near my work and will pick it up tomorrow!!

Mine! I do it!

Evan is anal. He likes to do things in a certain order, things must be in their place, and he is pretty fanatical about cleaning up...I have never worried about breaking my foot on a race car when walking to his room when it's pitch black.

Eric? Good grief. We are in the "I do it myself!" stage which means that whatever it is that he wants to do himself must be done in its entirety or you (I) will feel the wrath. Evan tried to help him clean up his blocks this morning and Eric dumped the entire box back on the floor because he didn't want the help. If I try and scoot the cereal forward on the shelf, Eric will close the pantry door and start all over. Getting him dressed is the only place I still seem to have some shred of control and I'm sure that will change any day. Tonight he was getting ready for a bath and undressing himself, which was hilarious. If the tub hadn't been filling up, I would have grabbed the camera to chronicle the order in which he removed his clothes.
  1. Diaper
  2. Shoe
  3. Sock
  4. Shoe
  5. Shorts
  6. Sock
  7. Mommy! Come help me!! (can't quite get the shirt himself)
He also thinks everything is "mine," including my iPhone and Car Dog. And when I tell him "it's not yours, it's mine" his response is "It's not yours! It's mine!" so then Mommy has to start talking about herself in the third person to make sure we understand each other.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

KD 2008

Yesterday was our annual trip to Kings Dominion with my local family...always chaotic, always a good time. I remember last year was really warm and the lines were really long for everything. This year was gorgeous and I don't think we had to wait too long for anything. Even the newest roller coaster (which I did not go on, but hubby, dad, and bro enjoyed). Not really any stories to tell, but some good pictures...

Evan likes to 'help' Eric smile for the camera...
if only we could get him to push his lips into a smile :-)

Evan and Ethan on the carousel

Eric and I on the carousel...
for the third time

Cousins Nicholas and Benjamin

Evan and his latest jungle gym/piggyback ride victim
(my sister's boyfriend)
Evan on the pirate ship
(but I really posted this one because the little girl at the top cracks me up!)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!

I love my kids. I seriously do. But they are making me absolutely positively CRAZY today!! This is the quietest they have been all day and they only got that way when I turned on the Philadelphia Eagles game. And for anyone who has witnessed my husband watching an Eagles game, Evan is about half the volume of Ethan, but talks twice as much. For those who have not had the joy of witnessing my boys watching the Eagles, I may as well be at the football game standing in line for a hot dog--that is the level of noise in my house at this moment.

Check that, I just had to pry the phone out of Eric's fingers, so we have resumed the full screaming volume. And then he got his elbow stuck in the back of the chair??

Deep breath.

Hubby is out of town for work until Thursday. I managed to put together some homemade mac & cheese so I can save takeout/pizza for a night when it gets REALLY bad ;-)

And Evan is asking me if I have ever died before. Sigh. It's going to be a long night.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Things that make my forehead wrinkle

When my 2 1/2 year old cannot remember the number 12, but can chant "E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!" and lead the rest of the family in singing the Eagles fight song.

When my husband is obsessive about never having an empty tissue box or less than 2 rolls of toilet paper in every bathroom, but has no idea where we keep the toothpaste.

Eric has to go see a specialist because his legs are a little bent...pediatrician gave us a couple of names and said no rush. First choice doc had a 6-8 month wait list. Second doc could have seen us tomorrow. Or pretty much any other day we want.

We're getting estimates to have some rooms in our house painted. Big rooms and hallways. The second guy was one-FIFTH of the cost of the first guy.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Hair Observations

My hair has been out of control lately. My last haircut was in February, my new hair dryer broke and I keep forgetting to call to get it fixed/replaced, I ran out of my magic serum...I really could go on and on about the things that have caused my hair to be in a permanent ponytail for the past 2 weeks.

I finally got my serum, so at least I won't have 300 little hairs sticking up off the top of my head. Evan tells me he likes my hair best in a ponytail, so at least there's that.

I went for a haircut yesterday, and my hair is a little shorter than I intended, but not too bad. We're sitting at dinner last night and Evan notices my hair is shorter and tells me I don't look like Mommy anymore. I ask him who I look like.

Apparently, I look like my mother.

Another week already?

So I've become quite the blogging slacker. I blame it on getting into the school routine and the fact that I am busy busy busy at work (with no access to outside email and people running internet usage reports on a regular basis).

School is good. I don't know why it is impacting anything because, in reality, we're following the same routine we've been following all summer which really isn't that different from what we were doing the 2 years before that. Evan loves kindergarten and we love that he loves it. We are still arguing about changing clothes after school, which stinks. I really wish he would sleep a little longer because he is one tired dude, which also means he is one cranky dude. Ethan convinced him to take a 2 hour nap yesterday and he slept until 7:30 this morning, so hopefully that buys us a couple of happy days.

Eric is making tiny steps in potty training. He's gone a couple of times at daycare, but no go at home. I bought more diapers at Costco yesterday and told Ethan this was going to be the last box of diapers...so I have about a month to at least get him to the pull-up stage, which I figured was reasonable. And I'm all about reasonable goals!!

Work is good. I don't advertise where I work, but it's one of the companies that Henry Paulson declared the government was taking over last week. It's interesting to be a part of this, but in reality it has not changed my job and I really don't have any concerns about my job security. My boss is finally letting me do some work without checking in on me every 30 minutes (we're up to about 90 minutes between check-ins), so I feel like I'm getting into the swing of doing what I was actually hired to do and I like it!!

Hopefully I'll get a little more blogging in this week...

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Back to reality

In honor of our anniversary (7 years tomorrow!), my hubby and I had a night away last night while my sister spent the night with the kids. She says they weren't too much trouble, except for Evan waking up at 5:30 AM with a stomach ache...but at least he was content to watch TV and didn't actually get sick.

So hubby and I braved the rain and wind and checked into a swanky hotel down the street and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. The best part is the the hotel and restaurant are connected by a mall, so once we got there? No need to drive. Awesome. We were seated at one of those semi-circle booths so we were also able to enjoy the people-watching. I had to take notes through dinner so I could remember them all, we were laughing so hard. There was the guy in the plaid short-sleeve shirt with a loose necktie and his 'date' kind of resembled Prince, but was a girl. The other couple they were with...middle aged guy with a big gut wearing a t-shirt, but his date was really good-looking. Although my favorite was the kid who was power walking every time he went past in his stylish Star Wars t-shirt. Very strange. But we had a great time and got to sleep way later than 5:30 AM.

And then we came home to find Hanna had dropped a tree branch on my truck, denting the frame and breaking the piece that holds my side mirror onto the truck. Argh. This was the tree we have been begging our HOA to cut down because it rains acorns on our vehicles every fall and they said no because it wasn't a liability. Hopefully this will cause them to reconsider...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

At least he's consistent

When Eric was born, it was a chaotic moment. The doctor almost didn't make it into the room, the clamp on the umbilical cord came undone, and Eric peed everywhere. It was quite a fountain. Thank goodness for the epidural!

On Friday, Eric announces to one of his teachers that he needs to go potty and starts tugging at his shorts. Since his teachers are truly angels, she didn't look at him and say "really? You do know you're wearing a diaper, right?" like I have done. Instead, not thinking anything would really happen, she took him into the bathroom, helped him get situated, and waited.

He really needed to go.

He did not follow the instructions of keeping his legs closed.

There was quite a fountain. We have the bag of peed-on clothes to prove it (Eric's clothes, I think the teacher was able to escape).

But hey, he went potty!!

Note: He told me this morning he needed to go and I put him on the potty sans diaper, but no such luck.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Think before you speak

We went shopping this past weekend to buy some fall/winter shirts for the boys. Evan was confused as to why we were buying him more shirts when we had just purchased a bunch of school shirts. I, without thinking, told him the shirts were for after school.

Not smart.

So now, every day, he wants to come home and change clothes. We get home around 5:30. Eric gets ready for bed around 7:00, and Evan is usually not far behind. In between 5:30 and 7:00, we eat dinner, play with some toys, maybe get the mail/go for a walk/sit on the deck. There is no need for him to change clothes for 1.5 hours, but because I made one little comment, it has turned into a huge battle.

And it's only the third day. Help.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

2 kids, 'normal' job--that's enough for me

I am not a political person. And I just now discovered that 'apolitical' is really a word, so there's a bonus. Anyway. I keep my opinions on politics to myself, but since everyone else in America is blogging about Sarah Palin, why not? But I don't really want to talk about her politics and what she would do or wouldn't do, because everyone has their own opinion and I'm not really in the mood to argue, especially when it's all based on opinion and most people who like to argue based on their opinion act as though their opinion is the absolute truth and there can be no other way.

Did you get all that?

But in all seriousness...I have enough on my plate with 2 kids and a normal 9-5 (ish) job that requires no travel and husband who participates in the family as much as I do. And some days this life is more than I can handle. I could not possibly even begin to imagine having 5 kids and a job that takes you anywhere anytime with an entire world watching your every step. I mean really, the criticism I take from my own house is enough to drive me nutty.

So best of luck to Sarah Palin and her journey to the VP slot, but on the other hand I hope she doesn't become the new benchmark of the 'working mom'!

Like a really bad car accident

I watched the all new 90210 last night. As soon as I remembered it was on, which was at about 8:30, but after a little research online I don't think I missed anything important. Like who is the father of Kelly's baby, which is really the main thing I wanted to know after watching the show. Ethan came into the room at some point and after hearing what I was watching, retreated to the basement where I'm sure he watched manly shows and did manly things just to make up for the 30 seconds he had been exposed to such trash TV. And I have to admit, it was pretty bad. But, like a horrible 12-car pileup, I just couldn't bring myself to stop watching it and will probably find an excuse to sit myself in front of it in the upcoming weeks.

And I don't know how Jennie Garth manages to look EXACTLY THE SAME after all the years, but she really needs to give Shannon Doherty some tips because Shannon was really not looking good. Not good at all.

I can't hear you

My office is at the edge of the earth. The building location is actually very convenient to my home and where the boys spend their days, but my office itself is in the farthest possible location from anything. I have to plan bathroom trips in advance because, if I waited until I really needed to go, I probably would not make it in time. And whenever I go to the bathroom, people suspect I am leaving for the day because of all the stuff I have with me...cup for my water, lunch, meeting materials, purse, etc.

It's also damn cold where I sit. Freezing. Supposedly you can call a number and someone will adjust the temperature, but since I'm the newbie, I try not to mess with what other people have been used to for however long they've been there.

And then there's the lady who sits on the other side of the 'wall' from me. She talks on the phone to someone (husband I assume) several times throughout the day, which is fine, I don't care. She's not loud or anything, but I swear either she needs a hearing aid or he needs to SPEAK UP because she's constantly saying "I can't hear you." About 10 times in a 5 minute conversation. Every conversation (that I can hear). Several times a day. I figure I hear the words "I can't hear you" about 50 times a day.

Maybe I should check the volume on her phone when I get in tomorrow and make sure it's turned up all the way.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

No tissues, lots of potty trips

The first day of kindergarten went well...I fully expected Evan to come bounding in jumping on us like the scene from 'Finding Nemo': "First day of school! Wake up! Come on. First day of school!" but instead it was the usual routine of Evan muscling his way into our bed at 7:01 AM, requesting the Disney channel.

So when I picked Evan up this afternoon, he insisted on one more trip to the playground, and his synopsis of the day was "I didn't have to use any of my tissues, but I had to go potty a lot." There you have it, that's what kindergarten's all about. At least on the first day.

The infamous backpack...

I'm not sure who's more excited!

Me and my guy

Daddy, looking very proud!

Monday, September 1, 2008

An unexpected twist

I started to blog about the big day of a new classroom for Eric and kindergarten for Evan, and it somehow turned into a potty training stream of consciousness. Sorry 'bout that!!

Big day tomorrow...Eric moves into the official 'toddler' room where hopefully they can whip his temper and napless habits back into shape. If anyone can do it, it's the teachers in this room! Also good timing, as he will lately jump up and announce "I need to go potty" and head for the bathroom. Being the slacker 2nd time mommy that I am, I have not done anything with this except sit him on the big potty fully clothed and then let him wash his hands afterwords. But the toddler class teachers also hold a very special place in our heart because of their ability to potty train practically overnight, so I think I'll let them take the lead and just follow the train. Isn't it amazing how you get so tired of changing diapers yet the ordeal of potty training is that much harder? Just when I was able to get rid of the diaper bag, now I will need to start carrying it again with extra clothes, the potty topper...sigh. And how lazy am I for complaining about my kid wanting to be potty trained?

And the BIG event of course, is Evan starting kindergarten!! We went to the 'welcome night' last week and he knows a few kids from camp and we actually knew a set of parents who used to live down the street from us. They have a daughter who's a few weeks younger than Evan, but it's nice to have a familiar face in the parents meetings or someone to call when you need something school-related. And (stay with me, heading off topic) the school also had a uniform 'swap' where you could go pick up stuff for FREE!! I had already bought most of the stuff for Evan, but it was nice to get a couple more polo shirts with the logo on them, plus a sweatshirt, t-shirt, etc. Did I mention it was free??

Anyway...so the boys have fresh haircuts, the clothes are all washed and un-wrinkled, camera is charged, so I think we're ready!!

If only Evan would go to sleep. I know he slept until 7:40 this morning, but after a morning of running errands, going to the park, NOT sleeping at naptime, and talking my ear off the entire afternoon, I thought he'd crash pretty hard. But I guess not. Fingers crossed that he's not too grumpy tomorrow morning for his big day!!

Quiet time--ha!!

We used to be a house of weekend naps and (mostly) peaceful bedtimes. I'm hoping that if I blog about these days being gone, then maybe they will return. I'm also going to wish that Santa Claus will do all the shopping/decorating/wrapping this Christmas, because THAT is probably more likely to come true than nap time returning.

Okay, so bedtime hasn't been too bad. It's not the glorious breeze that it was during the pacifier days, but it's a piece of cake compared to nap time. Nap time has truly become a dreaded time in our house. I mean, how long can you force a 2 yo to stay in his room quietly? If you don't know the answer, not long. And whereas Evan used to stand at his door calling "Mommy? Daddy?" in an angelic voice that turned annoying after 20 minutes, Eric will stand under his window and run full-force into his door, scaring the bejeebies out of everyone else in the house. I'm tempted to set up a webcam so I can have a record of this, but haven't gotten around to it yet. So where am I going with this?

We have given in to the fact that Evan is beyond naps, especially since Kindergarten only requires 1 hour of quiet time a day. Our new rule is that he must stay in bed with his eyes closed until his music turns off (about 25 minutes) and then he can play/read quietly in his room for the rest of the time. He's following those instructions pretty well, so hopefully it will soon be a routine.

We have tried removing excessive items from Eric's bed (extra stuffed animals, bedrail that he kicks his legs on), sitting with him and patting his back, giving him a book, putting him down later...nothing. He fell asleep in the car at 4:30 yesterday afternoon when we were about 3 minutes away from a friend's house. And either he is being darn quiet right now, or he has just finally fallen asleep almost 2 hours after putting him into his room. While Evan is down here talking my ear off.

I need nap time back...I can't run full steam all day with these guys!!