2 steps forward, 2 steps back

Why must parenting be so hard??

Eric made some excellent strides in potty training today. No accidents, and he actually went to the bathroom as opposed to just holding it in all day and then going when he finally gets a diaper on at nap/bedtime. AND he went on the potty at home which is a flipping miracle. Life is good, right?

Sadly, we are going to have to go back to having the boys in separate rooms for a while. Despite the '21 days to form a habit' theory, no good habit is being formed and it's been waaaay more than 21 days. The only way to get Evan and Eric to go to sleep in the same room at a decent hour without injury is for Ethan or I to sit in the room until they both fall asleep. And we have better ways to spend ~10 hours a week. So unless someone has a brilliant plan, Eric will go back to the 'baby' room tomorrow night, which is sad and pitiful because we already put the toddler bed away and essentially he'll be sleeping on a tiny little crib mattress while there's a nice big-boy bed in the next room over. But the boys need their sleep and us parents need our sanity.

And can I express my disappointment in the internet and its lack of help in the room-sharing crisis? I know Eric is the 'spirited' child, but I can't be the first person to put a feisty 3 yo in a bedroom with his 5 yo brother, can I? But if you google things like "sharing room" all you get is people putting an infant and a toddler together, or people wondering if it's wrong to have a boy and a girl share a room. Internet, how can you let me down in my time of crisis??

I have NO idea where he learned this one...

I was taking Evan to school this morning, which requires a u-turn on a relatively busy road. We had to wait a few minutes for the cars to break and let us through, which is always a pain because clearly it would kill people to wait the 8 seconds it takes for me to make a u-turn when the only thing they accomplish by NOT letting me go is to get to a red light faster, but I digress. Where was I? So the cars finally stopped, but only because there was no road left between the intersection and the red light, and we made our turn. As we go past, Evan says:

"THANK you cars for NOT stopping to let us go through." And then tells me "Mom, I'm not really thanking them, because they weren't being very nice to us. Like last night, when a car was beep-beep-beeping and I said 'THANK you car for making that NICE beeping noise.'"

I have no idea where he could have learned sarcasm at the ripe old age of 5 1/2. Because, CLEARLY I would never make comments like that ;-)

All I wanted was some nasal spray...

After yet another night of not sleeping too well because of the clogged sewage system that is my sinuses, I called the doctor. I just wanted to know if there was something I could spray into my nose that will let me breathe so I can sleep. Really, that's all. Just something a little stronger than saltwater to help me breathe.

The nurse yelled at me to get my tail home and into bed and drink fluids until I could handle no more. Ok, maybe she didn't really yell and she did ask some questions first, but after hearing the answers (fever, kids were sick, I was at work), she very sternly told me to go home and asked where to send the doctor's note.

So I'm home, at least through tomorrow, when I will go to the doctor and let them confirm that my head is congested and maybe they should let me take something to clear it out. And I figured I better not do anything more strenuous than watch TV and play on the computer until then because the mean nurse might have some sort of spy cam on me to make sure I'm following her orders.

And I'm not really all that impressed by the movie 'Juno'

Ketchup...again

I'm so far behind, I'm not sure I can get away with just catching up, but you gotta start somewhere.

Our house survived a near disaster about a month ago when a pipe burst in our neighbor's basement and flooded into our basement. It was right before St. Patty's Day, so I figure we must have found a leprechaun somewhere and the fact that we have a hole in a storage closet, a beautifully cleaned carpet, and didn't pay a dime out of pocket must have been the pot of gold reward.

Baby #3 is healthy and well, and also a boy. Evan spent the next couple of days asking if maybe it will turn into a baby sister, but it's amazing how a couple of McDonalds happy meals can make him think that another little brother isn't such a bad thing.

Eric turned 3 a few weeks ago. I'm a horribly bad mother and have no pictures to mark the day, but technically his birthday party isn't until this weekend, so I'll make up for it then. We had high hopes that turning three would magically rid him of the terrible two's, but I think I would have had better luck wishing for Santa Clause to slide down our chimney with a sleigh full of presents. But he has been sick for most of his 3yo life (more on that later), so we're trying to cut him some slack.

We took a brief vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, which was a blast for kids and grown-ups alike. Eric went down the little water slide at least a hundred times, and based on the grin on his face and the light in his eyes, every time was like the first time. Evan was tall enough to enjoy most of the rides in the waterpark (with dad's help), and there were plenty of 'dry' activites to keep everyone happy. I'm not sure if Ethan's favorite part was the fact that you could drink beer while in the waterpark or the Starbucks/ice cream shop located in the hotel. It was a great trip.

And now I'm sick. Eric got sick right before we left Great Wolf, but seeing as how he could get sick in a bubble, I can't really blame it on the waterpark. Add spring allergies into the mix and most of the house is pretty miserable. So today I am relegated to my bed with crappy daytime TV and the hope that sleep and Tylenol will make all my troubles go away.