Like most of you along the east coast, we've had a real taste of spring these last few days. William has been spending lots of time outdoors, and enjoying every minute of it. His daycare class spent the whole morning outside, and Seth's class got outside for a good hour, too. And of course, as soon as we got home, William wanted to play outside. With the extra hour of daylight, who could resist? We sat outside and William played with his trucks and diggers while Seth enjoyed crawling around in the grass and dirt, picking up sticks and mulch. I'm so looking forward to warm weather and no more jackets and playing outside and swimming!
The time change hasn't messed us up too badly this time around. We went to Ed's parents on Sunday and William skipped nap, so he fell asleep in the car on the way home and was in bed asleep by 8:30. This morning and tonight were totally normal, up around 6:15 a.m. and to bed by 8:00 p.m. That's a relief!
I'll end with some video of Seth. I was trying to capture his new trick of spitting every time he gets a mouthful of baby food or yogurt. He so clearly does it because he knows he's not supposed to. He gets this devilish gleam in his eye. At the end of the video, though, I got him to do his three tricks. I didn't even know he could clap (which explains why I sound so excited at the end). I've been trying to teach it to him, but that was the first time he did it for me. It's kind of long, but still cute.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
A New Place to Live
We found a new place to live today. We looked at three places, and while that may not seem like a lot, based on what we've seen and what we know is out there, it wasn't hard to make this decision. There are some definite trade-offs. It's a townhouse with a brick patio and no "yard" to speak of. The patio isn't even fenced in. There's no garage--just two parking spaces in front. (At least there are two in front, though!) And while it's closer to the city than where we live now, it's still farther away than I had hoped to be.On the positive side though, it's pretty big and has a nice layout. The kitchen, while not modern with granite and stainless steel, has lots of counter, cabinet, and drawer space, and a pantry! (Woo-hoo!) It also has a gas stove, which I'm very excited about. There's a family room off the kitchen with a gas fireplace. The master bedroom has two walk-in closets and a soaking tub in the bathroom. The other two bedrooms are decent-sized. And the laundry room is upstairs! (Can I hear a "hallelujah!") The basement rec room is huge and has a bump out area for an office. It also has a nice-sized room for storage, or whatever, a full bath, and even a little room/closet set up as a workshop. All of our basement furniture, including William's playhouse, will fit there with no problem. In fact, all of our furniture should fit fine, including our piano. It's the lawn/garden stuff that we may have a problem with.
The community has a pool and tennis courts. There are tons of walking trails, and there's a lake close by. There were all kinds of kids and families out and about, so that was nice to see. There's a very small tot lot at the end of our block of townhouses, and an elementary school with a nice playground within walking distance. And the clincher is the rent. We'll be paying $200 less a month than we pay now for our mortgage. Also, the couple who own the house seem very nice and cool and easy to work with. They're local and bought the townhouse as an investment two years ago. So that's a nice plus. Ultimately, it was a decision of paying more for a smaller place with fewer/no amenities but closer in, versus paying less for bigger, with amenities, but further out. The fact that it's not as far out as we live now, though, helps. It will probably take about 15 minutes less to get home.
I wish I could say I'm jumping-for-joy excited. But I'm still feeling very ambivalent about the whole thing. I'm disappointed that we couldn't find something with a better "yard," or at least a fenced-in patio where I could turn William loose and not have to worry about being outside constantly. We have patio furniture that I'm pretty sure won't fit on either the patio or the deck that's off the family room/kitchen. I'm not even sure we could use William's sand box on the patio. We can probably figure something out. Just beyond the patio is a grassy common area, and beyond that is a big resevoir-like basin, but it's totally dry. I think it's an overflow, catch-all, in case of heavy rains or something. It's like a big, empty pond--but grassy. Hard to explain, but with the snow we had last week, it had clearly served as a great sledding hill. There were a couple of abandoned sleds at the bottom. So that's actually a positive, I guess.
It's a nice community and I bet we'll meet a lot of nice people there. I liked the socializing that occurred among neighbors when we lived in our condo community, and I get the feeling it's the same way at this place. I'm sure once we're there, I will be happy that we moved. It will be fun to have the pool this summer, and to have a new area to explore, and to make new friends. And it's not like this is forever. So let the packing begin! Aghhhhhh!
Friday, March 06, 2009
I "heart" My iPhone
Did I mention before the I LOVE my iPhone? (This is for you MJ!) I completely forgot to mention the iPod and instant connection to iTunes. I've purchased several songs on the fly (two from Cars, and one from Madagascar--"I Like to Move It"--for William, along with a couple just for me) and I love the instant gratification! I've also downloaded a couple of podcasts, and love that I can do it right when I hear about them, as opposed to having to remember later to do it.
I also love the camera, and being able to snap instant pictures. My digital camera is pretty big and is usually "put away" so capturing those spontaneous moments does not always happen. With the iPhone, however, I've caught some good stuff. Including this:
And this:
(Capturing the joy of licking the bowl after making brownies!)
I also love that I now have pictures whenever anyone asks. I mentioned the boys today to some of the women in the class I've been taking, and they asked to see pictures. And I could show them some! Now I don't seem like an uncaring mom for not carrying pictures of my kids around in my purse!
I think I mentioned this before, but I took notes from my class on my iPhone notepad, and then instantly e-mailed them to myself when the class was over. Brilliant, huh? I no longer need to worry about keeping a pen in my purse.
Tomorrow, we're looking at three rental properties, and on Sunday, we're looking at two more. So I entered each property into the map and bookmarked them, and tomorrow and Sunday, we can just pull up the map and then ask for directions from one property to the next. In the notepad, I made a separate note for each property with the rent price, contact name and phone number, and some of the questions I have for each one. Tomorrow I'll just jot down my notes and impressions as we look at each one. I have never been so organized! And yes, I could have done all of that on a pad of paper, but this is just so much more accessible to me. It rocks!
I keep my grocery list on my iPhone, and I have several apps which look up recipes, along with access to the Internet and any of the recipe sites I want to look at. A few times I've looked up a recipe while shopping and then been able to get all the ingredients I need. It's awesome for menu planning--especially when I see something on sale that I had not put on my list. (This process takes a bit of time, so I can't really do it when I'm shopping with the kids, but it's great to have the ability to do so!)
The calendar is great because I can send myself alerts. I've used the weather feature a lot, although I wish that app had more information. It only gives high and low temperatures, and a picture to indicate sun, rain, clouds, etc. Good enough, though!
I could go on and talk about some apps I've downloaded and other things I love. But I think you get the picture. And BTW, my plan is only $75/month. I'm on the low end of the minutes (400/month, I think), but I really don't talk much on my phone, so it's fine for me. And it includes a limited number of texts (200/month, maybe?), but again, I don't text much, so that's not a problem. (The texting feature is really nice to have, though! It has come in very handy.)
So that's my pitch. Go get one MJ! You won't regret it.
I also love the camera, and being able to snap instant pictures. My digital camera is pretty big and is usually "put away" so capturing those spontaneous moments does not always happen. With the iPhone, however, I've caught some good stuff. Including this:
And this:
(Capturing the joy of licking the bowl after making brownies!)I also love that I now have pictures whenever anyone asks. I mentioned the boys today to some of the women in the class I've been taking, and they asked to see pictures. And I could show them some! Now I don't seem like an uncaring mom for not carrying pictures of my kids around in my purse!
I think I mentioned this before, but I took notes from my class on my iPhone notepad, and then instantly e-mailed them to myself when the class was over. Brilliant, huh? I no longer need to worry about keeping a pen in my purse.
Tomorrow, we're looking at three rental properties, and on Sunday, we're looking at two more. So I entered each property into the map and bookmarked them, and tomorrow and Sunday, we can just pull up the map and then ask for directions from one property to the next. In the notepad, I made a separate note for each property with the rent price, contact name and phone number, and some of the questions I have for each one. Tomorrow I'll just jot down my notes and impressions as we look at each one. I have never been so organized! And yes, I could have done all of that on a pad of paper, but this is just so much more accessible to me. It rocks!
I keep my grocery list on my iPhone, and I have several apps which look up recipes, along with access to the Internet and any of the recipe sites I want to look at. A few times I've looked up a recipe while shopping and then been able to get all the ingredients I need. It's awesome for menu planning--especially when I see something on sale that I had not put on my list. (This process takes a bit of time, so I can't really do it when I'm shopping with the kids, but it's great to have the ability to do so!)
The calendar is great because I can send myself alerts. I've used the weather feature a lot, although I wish that app had more information. It only gives high and low temperatures, and a picture to indicate sun, rain, clouds, etc. Good enough, though!
I could go on and talk about some apps I've downloaded and other things I love. But I think you get the picture. And BTW, my plan is only $75/month. I'm on the low end of the minutes (400/month, I think), but I really don't talk much on my phone, so it's fine for me. And it includes a limited number of texts (200/month, maybe?), but again, I don't text much, so that's not a problem. (The texting feature is really nice to have, though! It has come in very handy.)
So that's my pitch. Go get one MJ! You won't regret it.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Hodge Podge
Rather than try to be coherent and blog around a theme--and end up not blogging at all because that's virtually impossible at this time in my life--I'll just lay out my random thoughts.
Part of why I haven't been blogging at night is because I've been searching CraigsList and the MLS for rental properties. We've started looking at places on the weekends, too. Ugh. It's making me a bit depressed, as I think I will really miss our house and yard. The places closer to DC are really expensive, and if they're affordable, then they're basically dumps. So we're either going to spend more in rent than our mortgage on a place that's not as nice, but is closer in, or we can stay close to where we live now (we could get a bit closer to the city, but not much), live in a pretty decent place, and pay the same or less as our mortgage. Aghhhhh! I just keep having to remind myself that we're only talking two years here. We want to buy before William starts kindergarten. I can do anything for two years, right?
William and I played in the snow yesterday while Seth took a nap, but I didn't bring out my camera because it was too cold. Mostly we shoveled the snow. I worked on the driveway, and I shoveled it off, William would shovel it back on. It was pretty funny. We went out again later after Seth woke up, but by then, William was really tired and didn't want to play so much. When Ed came home at 6:00, he and William went back out to finish shoveling the driveway and William had a great time.
William is really into Superman right now. He loves the original Superman movie and wants to watch it all the time. He runs through the house with his arms out in front of him and sings the theme song. It's pretty cute. One day I found him a Superman shirt at Walmart. He would wear that shirt 24-7 if I let him. I hope it's a durable shirt because I wash it just about every other day. At least he's wearing something other than a truck or digger shirt, right? The next step is Superman pajamas. And I also plan to order Superman underwear. Maybe that will convince him to use the potty.
Seth is balancing and starting to try to take steps now. He turned 10 months old last week. (I did get chair pictures, but not of both him and William. I'll post them soon, with a proper "Seth is 10 months old" title.) He's also eating lots of people food now, like macaroni and cheese, cheese toast, waffles, pancakes, cinnamon toast, cereal bars, soft meatballs, goldfish, diced squash. He doesn't like green veggies, though (like peas or broccoli), or carrots. Mind you, he still has no teeth. I think the bottom ones are imminent. Time will tell.
I'm taking a class at GPO this week (Government Printing Office). It's on printing processes and terminology. Today was the first day and I've already gotten a lot out of it. I wish I had taken this class when I started this job. It's nice to be doing something different for a few days.
I'm finding it virtually impossible to read anything. I simply cannot fit it into my day. After I'm done with my evening chores (wash bottles, make bottles, make lunch, prepare sippy cups and breakfast for next day, do any prep work for next day's dinner), I either get online and catch up on blogs or search for rentals, or else I fall into bed and watch TV. I've tried to pick up a book, but I can't concentrate. I keep thinking it will be better when I get more sleep.
I don't think I've mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my iPhone. I've been taking notes for my class on my iPhone, which I can then email to myself. I've downloaded apps for keeping a grocery list and for recipes, which have been awesome for grocery shopping. I've used the mapping feature quite a bit when we've been house hunting. I can save different locations and then get instant directions to and from each one. And I can instantly search the Internet or my emails to see various listings, get their addresses, and agent phone numbers. But the most useful feature of all has been the timer. The timer is my best friend when I need to get William to do something. If he's not ready to stop playing or change his diaper or get out of the tub or leave school, I set the timer for 2 or 3 minutes, and when it goes off, he's instantly ready to go. It's amazing. He woke up this a.m. at 5:15 and I finally convinced to go back to sleep in his bed, by himself, by leaving my iPhone propped next to him with the timer on. It was set to go off at 6:30 a.m., and then he could come into our room. It was a bit of a risk leaving it in his room, as he's already figured out how to slide the bar to activiate the menu. But it was worth it for him to go back to sleep by himself in his own bed. Actually, this ode to my iPhone probably should be it's very own blog post. But this will have to do for now.
I'm sure there are more thoughts swirling around, but I should end it here. It's 10:15 and I still want to look at rental properties. Why can't there be just a couple more hours in each day???
Part of why I haven't been blogging at night is because I've been searching CraigsList and the MLS for rental properties. We've started looking at places on the weekends, too. Ugh. It's making me a bit depressed, as I think I will really miss our house and yard. The places closer to DC are really expensive, and if they're affordable, then they're basically dumps. So we're either going to spend more in rent than our mortgage on a place that's not as nice, but is closer in, or we can stay close to where we live now (we could get a bit closer to the city, but not much), live in a pretty decent place, and pay the same or less as our mortgage. Aghhhhh! I just keep having to remind myself that we're only talking two years here. We want to buy before William starts kindergarten. I can do anything for two years, right?
William and I played in the snow yesterday while Seth took a nap, but I didn't bring out my camera because it was too cold. Mostly we shoveled the snow. I worked on the driveway, and I shoveled it off, William would shovel it back on. It was pretty funny. We went out again later after Seth woke up, but by then, William was really tired and didn't want to play so much. When Ed came home at 6:00, he and William went back out to finish shoveling the driveway and William had a great time.
William is really into Superman right now. He loves the original Superman movie and wants to watch it all the time. He runs through the house with his arms out in front of him and sings the theme song. It's pretty cute. One day I found him a Superman shirt at Walmart. He would wear that shirt 24-7 if I let him. I hope it's a durable shirt because I wash it just about every other day. At least he's wearing something other than a truck or digger shirt, right? The next step is Superman pajamas. And I also plan to order Superman underwear. Maybe that will convince him to use the potty.
Seth is balancing and starting to try to take steps now. He turned 10 months old last week. (I did get chair pictures, but not of both him and William. I'll post them soon, with a proper "Seth is 10 months old" title.) He's also eating lots of people food now, like macaroni and cheese, cheese toast, waffles, pancakes, cinnamon toast, cereal bars, soft meatballs, goldfish, diced squash. He doesn't like green veggies, though (like peas or broccoli), or carrots. Mind you, he still has no teeth. I think the bottom ones are imminent. Time will tell.
I'm taking a class at GPO this week (Government Printing Office). It's on printing processes and terminology. Today was the first day and I've already gotten a lot out of it. I wish I had taken this class when I started this job. It's nice to be doing something different for a few days.
I'm finding it virtually impossible to read anything. I simply cannot fit it into my day. After I'm done with my evening chores (wash bottles, make bottles, make lunch, prepare sippy cups and breakfast for next day, do any prep work for next day's dinner), I either get online and catch up on blogs or search for rentals, or else I fall into bed and watch TV. I've tried to pick up a book, but I can't concentrate. I keep thinking it will be better when I get more sleep.
I don't think I've mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my iPhone. I've been taking notes for my class on my iPhone, which I can then email to myself. I've downloaded apps for keeping a grocery list and for recipes, which have been awesome for grocery shopping. I've used the mapping feature quite a bit when we've been house hunting. I can save different locations and then get instant directions to and from each one. And I can instantly search the Internet or my emails to see various listings, get their addresses, and agent phone numbers. But the most useful feature of all has been the timer. The timer is my best friend when I need to get William to do something. If he's not ready to stop playing or change his diaper or get out of the tub or leave school, I set the timer for 2 or 3 minutes, and when it goes off, he's instantly ready to go. It's amazing. He woke up this a.m. at 5:15 and I finally convinced to go back to sleep in his bed, by himself, by leaving my iPhone propped next to him with the timer on. It was set to go off at 6:30 a.m., and then he could come into our room. It was a bit of a risk leaving it in his room, as he's already figured out how to slide the bar to activiate the menu. But it was worth it for him to go back to sleep by himself in his own bed. Actually, this ode to my iPhone probably should be it's very own blog post. But this will have to do for now.
I'm sure there are more thoughts swirling around, but I should end it here. It's 10:15 and I still want to look at rental properties. Why can't there be just a couple more hours in each day???
Monday, March 02, 2009
Snow Day!
We finally got our first measurable snow today (in March, no less!). I'm home with the boys, and William can't wait to go outside to play. I'm waiting until Seth goes down for a nap. I want to get pictures and doubt I'd be able to if I have to hold Seth the whole time. I don't have snow gear for either of the boys, so we will have to improvise. Even if William and I just shovel the driveway and the sidewalk, he'll have a great time.
Here are a few pictures. This is our front yard, early this morning, right about dawn, I guess:
And our front yard a bit later, around 8:30 a.m.:
And our back yard around 8:30 a.m.:
Hopefully more to come!
Here are a few pictures. This is our front yard, early this morning, right about dawn, I guess:
And our front yard a bit later, around 8:30 a.m.:
And our back yard around 8:30 a.m.:
Hopefully more to come!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Time to Jump Back In
I have devolved into a vicious cycle of not blogging for a while, and then sitting down to blog but never finishing the post, and then it's even longer since the last post, and then there's too much to blog about and so I never finish the post . . . It's not pretty. So rather than try to explain my long absence, I'll just jump back in.
I wish I could say I've been doing lots of productive stuff, but I haven't. Just trying to keep my head above water, mostly. The boys are doing pretty well, though, so I have that to be thankful for. William and Seth having been playing with each other quite a bit lately, and it absolutely warms my heart. They do things to make each other laugh, and William is starting to show Seth how to do things (even though Seth is really too young to do them). One of their favorite games is for them both to get on their ride-on cars and race around the house or the playroom. I have to push Seth on his car, of course. But they could do this for hours. It completely wears me out, but the giggles are so completely worth it.
I'm not sure if all kids are like this, but Seth and William will play by themselves (and together sometimes) with no problem--as long as I am in the room and paying at least a little bit of attention to them. If I have something I need to do, like laundry, or using my iPhone, I have to first give the boys my undivided attention for a little while. Then I can start doing what I need to do, and they will continue playing on their own. If I try to leave the room, however, they'll come find me in two minutes flat. It never fails.
That said, Seth decided to assert a little more independence today, which left me with my heart in my throat. William had woken up from his nap and was in need of a lot of attention. (He is an absolute bear when he wakes up, and it's purely for my benefit. He's fine at daycare and when Ed is with him.) William and I were in the kitchen and Seth was in the family room--just out of my line of sight. I could hear him playing as I held William and got him a cup of orange juice. When I went to shake the OJ, however, the lid wasn't all the way on and OJ went everywhere. So I had to put William down--which started him wailing--to clean up the OJ. After a few minutes, I realized that I couldn't hear Seth. He wasn't in the family room. I walked by the stairs and heard something upstairs. Seth had climb the entire flight of stairs and was in Ed's office, just happy and proud as could be. Just thinking about what could have happened makes me shudder. Thank God he was fine. Little stinker.
William is still waking up a lot at night, wanting me to lay down with him, and wanting chocolate milk. Haven't made much progress there. It seems like we take one step up and two steps back. So we're starting again. We'll see how it goes. William's classmates have started turning 3, and we're on the birthday party circuit now. He had a party last weekend at Pump it Up, and next weekend, there's a party at Glen Echo Park, featuring the play, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." It should be really cute, and what a great idea for a kid's party. I've already started planning William's party, but I'm really bummed because the place where I want to have it is only available Memorial Day weekend. And half the kids in William's class won't be able to come. Hopefully William won't notice who's there and who isn't.
Okay, now I'm just babbling, so I'll officially end this post. Hopefully I'll get back into the habit of blogging, even when I don't have much to say. In the meantime, I'll include a few pictures, since it's been a while.
William enjoying pizza at the birthday party:
Seth being, well, Seth:
I wish I could say I've been doing lots of productive stuff, but I haven't. Just trying to keep my head above water, mostly. The boys are doing pretty well, though, so I have that to be thankful for. William and Seth having been playing with each other quite a bit lately, and it absolutely warms my heart. They do things to make each other laugh, and William is starting to show Seth how to do things (even though Seth is really too young to do them). One of their favorite games is for them both to get on their ride-on cars and race around the house or the playroom. I have to push Seth on his car, of course. But they could do this for hours. It completely wears me out, but the giggles are so completely worth it.
I'm not sure if all kids are like this, but Seth and William will play by themselves (and together sometimes) with no problem--as long as I am in the room and paying at least a little bit of attention to them. If I have something I need to do, like laundry, or using my iPhone, I have to first give the boys my undivided attention for a little while. Then I can start doing what I need to do, and they will continue playing on their own. If I try to leave the room, however, they'll come find me in two minutes flat. It never fails.
That said, Seth decided to assert a little more independence today, which left me with my heart in my throat. William had woken up from his nap and was in need of a lot of attention. (He is an absolute bear when he wakes up, and it's purely for my benefit. He's fine at daycare and when Ed is with him.) William and I were in the kitchen and Seth was in the family room--just out of my line of sight. I could hear him playing as I held William and got him a cup of orange juice. When I went to shake the OJ, however, the lid wasn't all the way on and OJ went everywhere. So I had to put William down--which started him wailing--to clean up the OJ. After a few minutes, I realized that I couldn't hear Seth. He wasn't in the family room. I walked by the stairs and heard something upstairs. Seth had climb the entire flight of stairs and was in Ed's office, just happy and proud as could be. Just thinking about what could have happened makes me shudder. Thank God he was fine. Little stinker.
William is still waking up a lot at night, wanting me to lay down with him, and wanting chocolate milk. Haven't made much progress there. It seems like we take one step up and two steps back. So we're starting again. We'll see how it goes. William's classmates have started turning 3, and we're on the birthday party circuit now. He had a party last weekend at Pump it Up, and next weekend, there's a party at Glen Echo Park, featuring the play, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." It should be really cute, and what a great idea for a kid's party. I've already started planning William's party, but I'm really bummed because the place where I want to have it is only available Memorial Day weekend. And half the kids in William's class won't be able to come. Hopefully William won't notice who's there and who isn't.
Okay, now I'm just babbling, so I'll officially end this post. Hopefully I'll get back into the habit of blogging, even when I don't have much to say. In the meantime, I'll include a few pictures, since it's been a while.
William enjoying pizza at the birthday party:
Seth being, well, Seth:
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Dinner and Pictures
Today was another good day. We got off to a bit of a rough start because William woke up at 4:30 a.m. and came into our room. He had peed through his diaper, and because I didn't feel like changing his sheets at 4:30 a.m., I let him sleep in our bed after changing his pajamas. He had woken up with a horrible, croup-sounding cough though, so before getting into bed, I put his jacket on him and we went and sat outside for a few minutes. By the time we got back in bed, he wasn't very interested in going back to sleep. We dozed a little, but by 6:00 a.m., we were up and downstairs, ready to play. (Will he ever sleep in?)
Anyway, his cough didn't end up being bad during the day, so that was good. We played, ate breakfast, went to the grocery store, played some more, ate some lunch, took naps, played outside, played inside some more. And my Valentine's Day present to Ed was a special dinner that turned out excellent. I made a leg of lamb, asparagus, and dinner rolls, with chocolate mousse for dessert. The most amazing part is that William actually ate the lamb and asparagus, and he especially loved the chocolate mousse. Life is good!
I finally got the camera out to take pictures today. I didn't get any great ones of William but got a few of Seth.
First, William wanted me to take a picture of his workman:
He played outside this morning, but refused to look at the camera:
Meanwhile, Seth has become quite taken with Ritz crackers.
He eats them meticulously until there's hardly any left.
Look at that face. He is too cute. Yes, life is good!
Anyway, his cough didn't end up being bad during the day, so that was good. We played, ate breakfast, went to the grocery store, played some more, ate some lunch, took naps, played outside, played inside some more. And my Valentine's Day present to Ed was a special dinner that turned out excellent. I made a leg of lamb, asparagus, and dinner rolls, with chocolate mousse for dessert. The most amazing part is that William actually ate the lamb and asparagus, and he especially loved the chocolate mousse. Life is good!
I finally got the camera out to take pictures today. I didn't get any great ones of William but got a few of Seth.
First, William wanted me to take a picture of his workman:
He played outside this morning, but refused to look at the camera:
Meanwhile, Seth has become quite taken with Ritz crackers.
He eats them meticulously until there's hardly any left.
Look at that face. He is too cute. Yes, life is good!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Sweet Moments
Happy Valentine's Day! Since I had no expectations for today, it actually turned out to be a really nice day. The boys wanted to show their love for me ASAP, so we were up by 6:00 a.m. Ed had a very nice card for me. Ed's parents agreed to last-minute babysitting so that Ed and I could go out to lunch and then a movie. We saw Slum Dog Millionaire, and it was very good. It would probably be just as good on DVD, but it was nice to be in a real theater. It's been a while!
The boys had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and we didn't get home until after 6:00 p.m. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home, so they were a bit wound up once they fully woke up. We let them play for a bit, then fed them dinner late, and then let them take a long bath together. Seth LOVES taking a bath and practically nose-dives into the bathtub. We've always bathed William just about every night, and it looks like Seth will be following the same pattern. Anyway, our usual routine for bath and bedtime is for me to get Seth out first, put on his pjs, and give him his bottle, while Ed takes over the rest of bathtime for William and gets William out and dressed in pjs. Ed usually reads William one or two books, and then after I've put Seth to sleep, I read William two or three books.
On Saturday nights, however, I do the bath and bedtime routine solo. Ed plays clarinet in a jazz band that has a gig every Saturday night in downtown DC. He doesn't get home until 3:30 a.m., so he usually takes a nap after dinner on Saturday nights. When I do the routine solo, I usually get Seth out of the bath first, put his diaper and pjs on him in the bathroom, then get William out and get him dressed. Then I set William up with his nebulizer treatment and a video while I give Seth his bottle and put him to bed. Then I can read to William and put him to bed. Tonight, however, we gave William his nebulizer treatment when we got home since he wanted to watch a video. So I told him he could play with his trains in his room or read books while I put Seth to bed.
As I sat in Seth's room, giving him his bottle, I heard William walk down the hall into our bedroom. I felt bad for Ed, because I know he was trying to sleep, but I didn't hear Ed say anything, so I just decided to wait and see. William started reading Go Dog, Go and it was everything I could do not to laugh out loud. He said, "Dog. Big Dog. Uh oh! Honk! Honk!" (That's the "dog out of a car" page.) "Wanna wear my hat? No I don't. Good-bye." "Dog going up! Dog going down." It was hysterical. He was reading with the same inflection and expressions that I use when I read it to him. When I finally put Seth into his crib and walked into our room, I found the room dark, Ed lying in the bed with the covers over his head, William sitting in the bed propped up on pillows, happily reading away. By the time I got there, he had started reading Goodnight Gorilla, so I lay down beside him and let him finish. It was one of those moments that makes you love parenting. Ed later said that William climbed into our bed all by himself (our bed is on risers so it's high off the ground), got himself situated, opened his book, and just started reading. Ed didn't have the heart to make him go back to his room. Definitely a sweet way to end Valentine's Day.
Switching gears here, I wanted to update on how the "operation Get Tough" is going with William. It should be called "operation not-tough-enough." I've been partially successful. I've been able to say no to the chocolate milk. But not lying down with him is a bit harder. It's an emotional need that's hard to say no to. For a couple of nights, I've gone into his room, spent a few minutes talking to him about how he needs to sleep all by himself, how he has all his "friends" (stuffed animals) around him, how Daddy and me are just down the hall and will come if he needs us, etc etc. And I've gone back to our room. But then less than 10 minutes later, he's either back in our room, or crying. So long story short, it's slow going. We keep trying to entice him with the offer of fruit snacks when he wakes up if he stays in his bed all night. (We've also offered fruit snacks if he'll poop in the potty.) So far, that hasn't been quite persuasive enough. So we'll see what happens.
The boys had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and we didn't get home until after 6:00 p.m. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home, so they were a bit wound up once they fully woke up. We let them play for a bit, then fed them dinner late, and then let them take a long bath together. Seth LOVES taking a bath and practically nose-dives into the bathtub. We've always bathed William just about every night, and it looks like Seth will be following the same pattern. Anyway, our usual routine for bath and bedtime is for me to get Seth out first, put on his pjs, and give him his bottle, while Ed takes over the rest of bathtime for William and gets William out and dressed in pjs. Ed usually reads William one or two books, and then after I've put Seth to sleep, I read William two or three books.
On Saturday nights, however, I do the bath and bedtime routine solo. Ed plays clarinet in a jazz band that has a gig every Saturday night in downtown DC. He doesn't get home until 3:30 a.m., so he usually takes a nap after dinner on Saturday nights. When I do the routine solo, I usually get Seth out of the bath first, put his diaper and pjs on him in the bathroom, then get William out and get him dressed. Then I set William up with his nebulizer treatment and a video while I give Seth his bottle and put him to bed. Then I can read to William and put him to bed. Tonight, however, we gave William his nebulizer treatment when we got home since he wanted to watch a video. So I told him he could play with his trains in his room or read books while I put Seth to bed.
As I sat in Seth's room, giving him his bottle, I heard William walk down the hall into our bedroom. I felt bad for Ed, because I know he was trying to sleep, but I didn't hear Ed say anything, so I just decided to wait and see. William started reading Go Dog, Go and it was everything I could do not to laugh out loud. He said, "Dog. Big Dog. Uh oh! Honk! Honk!" (That's the "dog out of a car" page.) "Wanna wear my hat? No I don't. Good-bye." "Dog going up! Dog going down." It was hysterical. He was reading with the same inflection and expressions that I use when I read it to him. When I finally put Seth into his crib and walked into our room, I found the room dark, Ed lying in the bed with the covers over his head, William sitting in the bed propped up on pillows, happily reading away. By the time I got there, he had started reading Goodnight Gorilla, so I lay down beside him and let him finish. It was one of those moments that makes you love parenting. Ed later said that William climbed into our bed all by himself (our bed is on risers so it's high off the ground), got himself situated, opened his book, and just started reading. Ed didn't have the heart to make him go back to his room. Definitely a sweet way to end Valentine's Day.
Switching gears here, I wanted to update on how the "operation Get Tough" is going with William. It should be called "operation not-tough-enough." I've been partially successful. I've been able to say no to the chocolate milk. But not lying down with him is a bit harder. It's an emotional need that's hard to say no to. For a couple of nights, I've gone into his room, spent a few minutes talking to him about how he needs to sleep all by himself, how he has all his "friends" (stuffed animals) around him, how Daddy and me are just down the hall and will come if he needs us, etc etc. And I've gone back to our room. But then less than 10 minutes later, he's either back in our room, or crying. So long story short, it's slow going. We keep trying to entice him with the offer of fruit snacks when he wakes up if he stays in his bed all night. (We've also offered fruit snacks if he'll poop in the potty.) So far, that hasn't been quite persuasive enough. So we'll see what happens.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Got Milk?
We've slipped into a bad habit of getting William a cup of chocolate milk as soon as he wakes up in the morning. This is okay when he wakes up at 6:00 a.m. or later. But sometimes he wakes up around 4:00 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. and he wants his chocolate milk. He'll go right back to sleep once he's had it, so of course, it's easier just to get it for him. But now we've fed the monster, and he's gotten into the habit of waking up at 4:00 or 4:30 a.m. and he expects his chocolate milk. And he also expects to either get into our bed, or for one of us (Ed or me) to get in bed with him.
So this week, we've been working on slaying the dragon. No chocolate milk until the morning. No getting into bed with William, and no William getting into bed with us. Except for last night, when he peed out of his diaper and ended up with a huge wet spot in his bed. And the night before when I got into bed with him, only to hear him ask every 30 seconds or so, "Can I have some chocolate milk? Can you get me some chocolate milk? I want some chocolate milk! I want some! Can I have some chocolate milk?" I held out until 5:30 a.m. That's pretty good, right? I can't remember why I got into bed with him in the first place, but I'm sure there was a good reason for that, too. (Probably because I forgot that we were laying down the law this week.)
So tonight is the night. I'm really going to say no. And I'm going to let him pitch a fit, even if it wakes up Seth. (Which it will.) And I'm going to remember that we're saying no, too. Even though sleep deprivation drives a person to do what.ever.it.takes to go back to sleep! So wish me luck.
(P.S. Seth is doing better, and went to daycare yesterday and today. Thank goodness! He went to the doctor this morning, and he just has a cold. He's still pretty congested, but definitely improving. I'll just ignore the fact that he had two very loose poops at daycare today.)
(P.S.S. Ed came up with the title for today's post. Pretty clever, huh? He never reads my blog, but just happened to be passing by. I guess he's good for something, huh?)
So this week, we've been working on slaying the dragon. No chocolate milk until the morning. No getting into bed with William, and no William getting into bed with us. Except for last night, when he peed out of his diaper and ended up with a huge wet spot in his bed. And the night before when I got into bed with him, only to hear him ask every 30 seconds or so, "Can I have some chocolate milk? Can you get me some chocolate milk? I want some chocolate milk! I want some! Can I have some chocolate milk?" I held out until 5:30 a.m. That's pretty good, right? I can't remember why I got into bed with him in the first place, but I'm sure there was a good reason for that, too. (Probably because I forgot that we were laying down the law this week.)
So tonight is the night. I'm really going to say no. And I'm going to let him pitch a fit, even if it wakes up Seth. (Which it will.) And I'm going to remember that we're saying no, too. Even though sleep deprivation drives a person to do what.ever.it.takes to go back to sleep! So wish me luck.
(P.S. Seth is doing better, and went to daycare yesterday and today. Thank goodness! He went to the doctor this morning, and he just has a cold. He's still pretty congested, but definitely improving. I'll just ignore the fact that he had two very loose poops at daycare today.)
(P.S.S. Ed came up with the title for today's post. Pretty clever, huh? He never reads my blog, but just happened to be passing by. I guess he's good for something, huh?)
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Too Good to Last
Because I foolishly said "out loud" that the boys were both healthy "going on two weeks," the fates had to show me who is boss. Daycare called Thursday afternoon to inform me that Seth was running a slight fever (100.7) and I needed to come pick him up. They said his mood was fine, and he wasn't acting fussy or cranky. And the lead teacher even said that if he had a good night and his fever didn't come back, I could bring him back Friday. (Usually, a child has to be fever-free for 24 hours before he can return to daycare.) We speculated that he was teething and I crossed my fingers and hoped this was it.
Unfortunately, his fever continued through Thursday night, and he had kind of a rough night, so we stayed home on Friday. His nose started running on Friday, and he was pretty cranky. His fever continued on Friday, and Friday night, and Saturday, and Saturday night. Saturday night he had a crying fit for 30 minutes that freaked me out. I think his teeth were definitely bothering him, on top of being totally congested and just feeling pretty miserable. He started coughing a bit, too, so you can imagine how anxious I've been feeling this weekend.
Today, however, he was much better. He took a power nap this morning (almost 3 hours) and hasn't had a fever since he first woke up. His nose is still very congested, but that seems to be the worst of it. We have a follow-up doctors' appointment on Tuesday, which is also when he's scheduled to get his 9-month shots, so they'll check his ears and teeth and make sure everything is okay. Hopefully he'll have a good day at daycare tomorrow (barring any fever tonight). I feel like we've dodged a bullet, but of course, I shouldn't speak too soon!
Besides nursing Seth back to health, we had a nice weekend. Ed took William ice skating again on Saturday. William fell asleep in the car on the way home, so when he got home, I laid down with him in his bed hoping he would go back to sleep. He barely opened his eyes as he snuggled with me, and when he was almost asleep, he opened his eyes and looked at me and said drowsily, "I had a good time ice skating wif Daddy. It was swippery!" And then he fell asleep. So sweet! Today (Sunday) the weather was gorgeous, so William got to play outside for a good part of the day. We got out his tricycle (kind of a cross between a tricycle and a Big Wheels) and he "rode" around the block. I say "rode" because he refuses to pedal and just pushes the tricycle with his feet. He'll figure it out one day, I guess!
So that's our weekend. I wish it hadn't involved sickness, but that's just par for the course. The beautiful weather did a lot to improve the outlook. I can't wait until spring! I'm hoping that wherever we end up will be part of a community with a pool!
Unfortunately, his fever continued through Thursday night, and he had kind of a rough night, so we stayed home on Friday. His nose started running on Friday, and he was pretty cranky. His fever continued on Friday, and Friday night, and Saturday, and Saturday night. Saturday night he had a crying fit for 30 minutes that freaked me out. I think his teeth were definitely bothering him, on top of being totally congested and just feeling pretty miserable. He started coughing a bit, too, so you can imagine how anxious I've been feeling this weekend.
Today, however, he was much better. He took a power nap this morning (almost 3 hours) and hasn't had a fever since he first woke up. His nose is still very congested, but that seems to be the worst of it. We have a follow-up doctors' appointment on Tuesday, which is also when he's scheduled to get his 9-month shots, so they'll check his ears and teeth and make sure everything is okay. Hopefully he'll have a good day at daycare tomorrow (barring any fever tonight). I feel like we've dodged a bullet, but of course, I shouldn't speak too soon!
Besides nursing Seth back to health, we had a nice weekend. Ed took William ice skating again on Saturday. William fell asleep in the car on the way home, so when he got home, I laid down with him in his bed hoping he would go back to sleep. He barely opened his eyes as he snuggled with me, and when he was almost asleep, he opened his eyes and looked at me and said drowsily, "I had a good time ice skating wif Daddy. It was swippery!" And then he fell asleep. So sweet! Today (Sunday) the weather was gorgeous, so William got to play outside for a good part of the day. We got out his tricycle (kind of a cross between a tricycle and a Big Wheels) and he "rode" around the block. I say "rode" because he refuses to pedal and just pushes the tricycle with his feet. He'll figure it out one day, I guess!
So that's our weekend. I wish it hadn't involved sickness, but that's just par for the course. The beautiful weather did a lot to improve the outlook. I can't wait until spring! I'm hoping that wherever we end up will be part of a community with a pool!
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Stopping the Bleeding
You probably thought this was going to be another post about how I injured Seth. Fortunately, Seth is fine. But by now you might have guessed the big news I was alluding to in my previous post. We sold our house! We put our house on the market in October, and after four long months and several low offers and reducing the list price once, we sold for $5,000 under list price. This is pretty good in our neighborhood. Home prices are falling FAST in our neck of the woods, and there's a foreclosure on our street that is listed for $170,000 less than our home. Ouch! Some of the other houses on our street have gone for $30,000 or more below list price. So we're feeling pretty good. Although we lost money--$52,000, to be precise--we feel like we've stopped the bleeding.
Let me back up a bit, and tell you why we decided to sell our house. First of all, while we both like our house a lot, I can't say we really LOVE our house. (Mistake number one when buying a house!) There are definitely things I love about it, and that I will dearly miss. I love the hardwood floors (although they are so beat up after just a year and a half), I love the huge back yard (even though there are many trees that need to be removed and it's too shady to grow grass in more than half the yard), I love having the basement playroom with the full bath, I love the huge laundry room (although it would be nice to have a laundry room upstairs), I love the garage with the work bench, I love our neighbors on one side, and I love how close we are to the elementary school. But there are lots of things I don't love. I like the layout, but the dimensions of all the rooms are a bit too small (except the basement and master bedroom). It's very hard to fit furniture into the rooms. (It's a good thing we don't have any decent furniture!) The kitchen is pretty small, and doesn't have enough drawer space, nor does it have a nice big pantry! The master bathroom is kind of weird, because the area with the sinks is open to the bedroom.
So anyway, when we moved in, we were thinking that we wouldn't be staying there forever. (Mistake number 2! Buy a house that you wouldn't mind staying in forever!) We thought maybe 5 years, 6 or 7 max. Meanwhile, the market tanked and housing prices started spiraling downward. My astute husband could foresee the market bottoming out wayyyyyyy lower than what we paid for our house, and rather than continue to lose equity and get stuck in a house and a neighborhood we don't love, we decided to cut our losses and put the house on the market and see what happens. Since we weren't desperate to sell, we felt like we could wait for a good offer. And worse case scenario, we don't accept any offers and we end up stuck, no worse for the wear. But fortunately, our patience paid off. We've stopped the bleeding! Now we plan to find a place to rent for a few years as we look for our dream house and the dream location.
Which brings me to the silver lining of losing $52,000. Hopefully, we'll be moving to an area much closer to the city, which will significantly reduce our commute. When we first looked at moving out to the suburbs where we ended up, I really struggled with how it would affect our quality of life. We were living in a cramped condo with a tiny kitchen, but it was a great area and only 8 miles from work. So what's more important to quality of life--having a shorter commute and more time at home? Or having a nice house with a big yard and lots of room in a nice area? It would be great to have both, and maybe one day we will. But after doing the long commute for one and a half years, I think I'm ready to tolerate a smaller place with not-so-great amenities in exchange for a shorter commute and more time (and less stress!). The frustrating thing is that when we first moved to the 'burbs, I swear the commute wasn't that bad. We were getting home at 5:15 or 5:30 at the latest. But traffic seems to be getting progressively worse, and now that I'm dropping off/picking up two kids from daycare, that adds time to our day, too.
Anyway, although I've had really mixed feelings about selling our house, I know now it's the right thing to do. When we first put our house on the market, our families gave us a lot of crap. Everyone kept saying that the market will go back up, we just have to ride it out, if we sell now, we'll lose money, this is the worst time to sell, yada yada yada. When it comes to all things money, though, I completely trust my husband. And his research and his instincts told him that the market is going to continue to drop, and will probably bottom out at 2001 prices, and then stay there for a long, long time. So add that to the fact that our daily grind is really wearing me down, and it just makes sense to bail. And I think the current state of the economy and the real estate market is proving Ed right. But even if he turns out to be wrong, I still trust him 100%, and want him to follow his instincts. You don't learn if you don't take risks.
So now we're looking at rentals and locations and whether we want to rent a townhouse or a single family home. Ed would like to not have to deal with yardwork for a while. But I hate the thought of not having a yard for William to play in. We MUST have a place for his sandbox! LOL. Who knows what we will find. We're keeping an open mind, that's for sure. Our closing isn't until April 20, so there's a good bit of time between now and then. And the fat lady hasn't sung yet, so there's always the chance the deal could fall through. Still, the potential for change for the better is exciting! And while I worry about William having a hard time with the move, I know he'll be fine. He just wants to be where we are and will adjust like everyone else.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Time to Blog
I've been having a really hard time lately finding time to blog. Between traffic and me having to stay at work a bit later now (our HR department decided to crack down on the 8.5 hour day--I was working 8 hours and skipping lunch, but can't do that anymore), we've not been getting home until 6:00 p.m. I try to feed the boys dinner at 6:30, but since William usually needs (and deserves) my undivided attention the minute we get home for at least 15-30 minutes, we haven't been eating until closer to 7:00, and our whole schedule has been pushed back by half an hour. So Seth's not going to sleep until 7:45 or 8 and William's not going to sleep until 8:15 or 8:30. I haven't been wrapping up my evening "chores" until about 9:30. And all I want to do by then is crawl into bed. So I haven't been blogging. I really wish we had about two more hours in each day. Too bad time can't evolve like people do!
Despite the drudgery of life right now, things are going well. Seth and William are both healthy, and it's going on two weeks. Seth has not sustained any more serious injuries (other than the bruises and bumps that accompany a cruising, fearless baby). William has been showing more interest in the potty. He's been peeing in the toilet for a while, when prompted (doesn't tell us when he needs to go yet), and he's just this week started sitting on the potty to "try" to poop. This is a big step. In the past, he's always refused to sit on the potty. He hasn't actually pooped yet, but we'll get there. Fortunately, they're working on it at daycare, with the chart and stickers and peer pressure. I'm really not worrying very much about it. They'll tell me when they think he's ready to get serious. Yet another HUGE benefit to daycare.
Seth has started cruising with a vengeance. He's walking behind push toys and trying to keep up with William. He loves drinking out of sippy cups--especially if he can swipe William's! He's sleeping so much better, too. He typically wakes up once, around 4:00 or 4:30 to drink a bottle. He lost over a pound while he was sick, so I'm reluctant to make him give up that nighttime bottle just yet. He's starting to eat table food but still loves his bottles.
So that's our life right now. I shouldn't complain. Really, I have nothing to complain about. We have good jobs, a place to live, families, and our health. Everything else is gravy. And anyway, things might be changing a bit in the not-too-distant future--for the better. But I'll have to save that for another post! (How's that for a cliffhanger?)
Despite the drudgery of life right now, things are going well. Seth and William are both healthy, and it's going on two weeks. Seth has not sustained any more serious injuries (other than the bruises and bumps that accompany a cruising, fearless baby). William has been showing more interest in the potty. He's been peeing in the toilet for a while, when prompted (doesn't tell us when he needs to go yet), and he's just this week started sitting on the potty to "try" to poop. This is a big step. In the past, he's always refused to sit on the potty. He hasn't actually pooped yet, but we'll get there. Fortunately, they're working on it at daycare, with the chart and stickers and peer pressure. I'm really not worrying very much about it. They'll tell me when they think he's ready to get serious. Yet another HUGE benefit to daycare.
Seth has started cruising with a vengeance. He's walking behind push toys and trying to keep up with William. He loves drinking out of sippy cups--especially if he can swipe William's! He's sleeping so much better, too. He typically wakes up once, around 4:00 or 4:30 to drink a bottle. He lost over a pound while he was sick, so I'm reluctant to make him give up that nighttime bottle just yet. He's starting to eat table food but still loves his bottles.
So that's our life right now. I shouldn't complain. Really, I have nothing to complain about. We have good jobs, a place to live, families, and our health. Everything else is gravy. And anyway, things might be changing a bit in the not-too-distant future--for the better. But I'll have to save that for another post! (How's that for a cliffhanger?)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Gross Negligence?
Poor poor Seth. I think he greatly suffers from second-child syndrome. I begged his daycare teachers this morning not to report me for gross neglect.
A few weeks ago, I picked Seth up when I was standing at the sink--which is next to the stove. I had forgotten that I had just taken a pot off of the back burner (I always cook on the back burners) and had set it on the front burner. Seth's hand brushed up against the pot and he burned his two little fingers! I felt sooo horrible.
Then a few days ago, he was crawling around under me in the bathroom, and the blow dryer that I had carelessly rested on the sink counter fell down on his hand (thank God it was just his hand!) and banged and cut his finger just below his nail bed.
THEN this morning, he was crawling around under me again as I tried to get ready for work. I put my old makeup bag down for him to play with (stuff that he can't figure out how to open yet) and forgot that the pencil sharpener was in there. I looked down after a few minutes and noticed little drops of blood everywhere. He had managed to cut the tip of his finger and fingernail. Wow--did I feel horrible.
THEN, when I went to put him in the car seat to head to school, I notice that the side of his face is scraped--right on his cheek. I have NO IDEA when or how he did that, but it was in the span of just a few minutes. He cried and fussed a bit off and on this morning, but there wasn't any anguished, painful kind of cry. I guess he's pretty tough!
So I'm hoping he can get through the rest of the day without sustaining any more injuries. Clearly daycare is the safest place he can be right now! Poor Seth.
A few weeks ago, I picked Seth up when I was standing at the sink--which is next to the stove. I had forgotten that I had just taken a pot off of the back burner (I always cook on the back burners) and had set it on the front burner. Seth's hand brushed up against the pot and he burned his two little fingers! I felt sooo horrible.
Then a few days ago, he was crawling around under me in the bathroom, and the blow dryer that I had carelessly rested on the sink counter fell down on his hand (thank God it was just his hand!) and banged and cut his finger just below his nail bed.
THEN this morning, he was crawling around under me again as I tried to get ready for work. I put my old makeup bag down for him to play with (stuff that he can't figure out how to open yet) and forgot that the pencil sharpener was in there. I looked down after a few minutes and noticed little drops of blood everywhere. He had managed to cut the tip of his finger and fingernail. Wow--did I feel horrible.
THEN, when I went to put him in the car seat to head to school, I notice that the side of his face is scraped--right on his cheek. I have NO IDEA when or how he did that, but it was in the span of just a few minutes. He cried and fussed a bit off and on this morning, but there wasn't any anguished, painful kind of cry. I guess he's pretty tough!
So I'm hoping he can get through the rest of the day without sustaining any more injuries. Clearly daycare is the safest place he can be right now! Poor Seth.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Weekend Report
Wow--I haven't done a weekend report in a long time! I guess this goes to show that things really might be getting back to normal. Our weekend was really nice and uneventful--just like they should be! On Saturday Ed and I cleaned and cleaned in between playing with the boys. We went to a local Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Today we went to the mall and William got his second haircut and a new pair of shoes! When we walked into Stride Rite, I didn't expect William to have much of an opinion about his shoes. Although he's picky about his shirts and pants, he never seems to care about what shoes he's wearing. I should have thought twice. He got one look at these:
and that was it. In case you can't tell, that's a MONSTER TRUCK on the shoe. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Ed was horrified by the flashing lights and tried to convince William to go for another pair. But then he realized that most of the shoes in that store are at least $50 and these were only $35. So William gleefully wore his tacky, light-up MONSTER TRUCK tennis shoes out of the store. (He's a size 8 now!)
When we got home, Ed and William turned right around and met Ed's family at a Japanese steakhouse (where they cook in front of you) to celebrate his grandparents' 59th anniversary. We thought it might be too much for Seth, so Seth and I stayed home. When William came back, all he said was, "Mommy, I saw FIRE!" I had already put Seth to bed, so I got to give all my attention to William as we did his nebulizer treatment, changed into PJs, and read stories. It was awesome to get one-on-one time with both boys tonight. And it was awesome to not feel worried about the boys' health this weekend. Seth's appetite is back and he's got much more energy. And I think he's finally stopped retracting. So we may try to send him to daycare tomorrow. We'll see how he looks in the morning and how his night goes.
So that's our weekend report. Hopefully our week will be as uneventful as our weekend!
and that was it. In case you can't tell, that's a MONSTER TRUCK on the shoe. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Ed was horrified by the flashing lights and tried to convince William to go for another pair. But then he realized that most of the shoes in that store are at least $50 and these were only $35. So William gleefully wore his tacky, light-up MONSTER TRUCK tennis shoes out of the store. (He's a size 8 now!)When we got home, Ed and William turned right around and met Ed's family at a Japanese steakhouse (where they cook in front of you) to celebrate his grandparents' 59th anniversary. We thought it might be too much for Seth, so Seth and I stayed home. When William came back, all he said was, "Mommy, I saw FIRE!" I had already put Seth to bed, so I got to give all my attention to William as we did his nebulizer treatment, changed into PJs, and read stories. It was awesome to get one-on-one time with both boys tonight. And it was awesome to not feel worried about the boys' health this weekend. Seth's appetite is back and he's got much more energy. And I think he's finally stopped retracting. So we may try to send him to daycare tomorrow. We'll see how he looks in the morning and how his night goes.
So that's our weekend report. Hopefully our week will be as uneventful as our weekend!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Seth is Nine Months Old!
I have so much to talk about--the inauguration, our visit with Laura and Heather, the boys recovering (fingers crossed!) and childcare options--but before I get to any of that, I remembered that today is Seth's nine-month birthday! And I even got chair pictures. (Not great, but they'll do!) I think I've mentioned before that William loves to "write" with pens. He discovered an old daytimer calendar of mine and was pretty busy recording goodness-knows-what in there.
Seth, meanwhile, was quite busy with all of the nebulizer tubing that we've accumulated over the last few years.
It's getting harder and harder to take pictures of him on the chair. He's usually trying to take a nose-dive off the chair! As you can tell by the pictures, his nose is still a faucet, but I think he's slowly improving. His appetite has picked up a lot in the last two days. He's eating cheerios again, and babyfood (but only if it's fruit), so that's promising. He also hasn't had any fever in two days. We went to the doctor again today for a follow-up, however, and he now has a double ear infection. So he's on Augmentin. The doctor said to continue with the nebulizer for his breathing, and as long as he continues to improve, they don't need a follow-up for two weeks. If he doesn't improve or gets worse, they'll see him right away. As for daycare, he can go back when his breathing is better (not retracting), his appetite is back, and his cough is just residual. It could be Monday, it could be a week from Monday. I'm hoping for Monday, but on the other hand, I'm really scared to send him back to daycare. But that's fodder for another post.
What I should be talking about is how much Seth is doing these days, and how freaking adorable he is! He has figured out how to climb, and he is so proud of himself when he does it. He especially loves to climb onto the fireplace hearth. And yesterday, he figured out how to get on the dishwasher.
He also figured out how much fun toilet paper can be.
And when you ask, "How big is Seth?" he does this as you're saying, "So big!":
He's starting to cruise a bit, too, so I'm wondering if he'll walk around the same time that William did. (12 months) It's crazy to me that he's already nine months old and passing all of these milestones. It's even crazier that he still doesn't have any teeth! Not one tooth! He is saying "Mama" though! And I think he knows that "Mama" is me.
Even though it's Seth's nine-month-birthday, I don't want to close without at least mentioning William. He has been equally as adorable, and has really been using his imagination so much these days. He has a set of blocks that have some pieces that are long and thin, and he stuffs these between the sofa cushions and pretends they're his controls and levers for operating his diggers. One day it will be an excavator and one day a backhoe and one day a crane. Today we were upstairs trying to get some work done, and there was something in the basement he wanted, so he went down there by himself. And when he came back, he was lugging his huge CAT backhoe. He carried that thing up two flights of stairs! And he was so proud of himself. He said, "I be ve-we careful Mommy!" I think he must be having a growth spurt, because he's been eating more lately (not much, but more than he was) and not fighting naps or bedtime. One of his favorite books right now is At the Auto Repair Center. He loves any of the Tonka books (I'm a Great Big Eighteen Wheeler, Pure Power, Rescue Action, etc. etc.) and studies them very seriously. There has been no diverting William from his love of all things truck! He's also been saying that he "loves" things, like, today at Target he said, "I lub dat twuck, Mommy!"
He is fully recovered from his pneumonia and his nose has even dried up. Praise be! He went to daycare today and had a great time. He told me that he likes his friends today when I picked him up. That's because in the morning, before we get to daycare, he usually tells me that he doesn't like his friends and he doesn't want to go to school. Once he gets there, though, he happily pushes me out the door.
So that's where we are right now. Not perfect, but much much better. I still have so much to say--especially about the inauguration and Laura's visit, but I'll have to save that for another night. This turned into a much longer post than I had planned, but that's good, because it means things are maybe possibly getting back to "normal," whatever that is!
Seth, meanwhile, was quite busy with all of the nebulizer tubing that we've accumulated over the last few years.
It's getting harder and harder to take pictures of him on the chair. He's usually trying to take a nose-dive off the chair! As you can tell by the pictures, his nose is still a faucet, but I think he's slowly improving. His appetite has picked up a lot in the last two days. He's eating cheerios again, and babyfood (but only if it's fruit), so that's promising. He also hasn't had any fever in two days. We went to the doctor again today for a follow-up, however, and he now has a double ear infection. So he's on Augmentin. The doctor said to continue with the nebulizer for his breathing, and as long as he continues to improve, they don't need a follow-up for two weeks. If he doesn't improve or gets worse, they'll see him right away. As for daycare, he can go back when his breathing is better (not retracting), his appetite is back, and his cough is just residual. It could be Monday, it could be a week from Monday. I'm hoping for Monday, but on the other hand, I'm really scared to send him back to daycare. But that's fodder for another post.What I should be talking about is how much Seth is doing these days, and how freaking adorable he is! He has figured out how to climb, and he is so proud of himself when he does it. He especially loves to climb onto the fireplace hearth. And yesterday, he figured out how to get on the dishwasher.
He also figured out how much fun toilet paper can be.
And when you ask, "How big is Seth?" he does this as you're saying, "So big!":
He's starting to cruise a bit, too, so I'm wondering if he'll walk around the same time that William did. (12 months) It's crazy to me that he's already nine months old and passing all of these milestones. It's even crazier that he still doesn't have any teeth! Not one tooth! He is saying "Mama" though! And I think he knows that "Mama" is me.Even though it's Seth's nine-month-birthday, I don't want to close without at least mentioning William. He has been equally as adorable, and has really been using his imagination so much these days. He has a set of blocks that have some pieces that are long and thin, and he stuffs these between the sofa cushions and pretends they're his controls and levers for operating his diggers. One day it will be an excavator and one day a backhoe and one day a crane. Today we were upstairs trying to get some work done, and there was something in the basement he wanted, so he went down there by himself. And when he came back, he was lugging his huge CAT backhoe. He carried that thing up two flights of stairs! And he was so proud of himself. He said, "I be ve-we careful Mommy!" I think he must be having a growth spurt, because he's been eating more lately (not much, but more than he was) and not fighting naps or bedtime. One of his favorite books right now is At the Auto Repair Center. He loves any of the Tonka books (I'm a Great Big Eighteen Wheeler, Pure Power, Rescue Action, etc. etc.) and studies them very seriously. There has been no diverting William from his love of all things truck! He's also been saying that he "loves" things, like, today at Target he said, "I lub dat twuck, Mommy!"
He is fully recovered from his pneumonia and his nose has even dried up. Praise be! He went to daycare today and had a great time. He told me that he likes his friends today when I picked him up. That's because in the morning, before we get to daycare, he usually tells me that he doesn't like his friends and he doesn't want to go to school. Once he gets there, though, he happily pushes me out the door.
So that's where we are right now. Not perfect, but much much better. I still have so much to say--especially about the inauguration and Laura's visit, but I'll have to save that for another night. This turned into a much longer post than I had planned, but that's good, because it means things are maybe possibly getting back to "normal," whatever that is!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Not To Be Outdone
Seth decided William was having all the fun this week, so he one-upped him. Seth and I spent the day in the ER.
When last I left you, it was Wednesday. Seth had been wheezing, and the doctor put him on Albuterol and an antibiotic, and wanted to see him on Thursday. So Thursday morning, Ed took Seth back to the doctor. Seth was sounding much better and he didn't have a fever. The doctor said to continue albuterol every 6-8 hours, or as needed, if his breathing started sounding labored. He was fine the rest of Thursday, and had a pretty good night Thursday night. He also didn't have any more diarrhea. So we decided to give daycare a try on Friday.
Well, his morning was good. But his fever came back on Friday afternoon at daycare, and his breathing was a bit labored. So we went home and did a nebulizer treatment and I gave him Motrin. He had a really fitful night and I nebulized him again at some ungodly hour of the morning. At that point, I considered just taking him to the ER, but he managed to go back to sleep and his fever went down, so I decided to wait and take him to his pediatrician in the morning.
So this morning we went to the doctor and they sent us to the ER. They didn't think he had pneumonia, and he wasn't wheezing, but his labored breathing definitely pointed to something--most likely RSV. So we went to the ER. He was so pitiful when we got there. He hadn't had any Motrin since the wee hours of the morning, so his fever had spiked, and he felt and looked miserable. His nose was so congested. We were admitted pretty quickly and the nurse and an intern and the attending doctor all examined him. The nurse gave him Motrin, thank goodness, and the doctor came back and said that he has bronchiolitis, which is brought on usually by RSV. They did a nose swab and sent him for a chest x-ray just in case. The nose swab came back positive for RSV and the chest x-ray was negative for pneumonia.
Initially the doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital for overnight observation. He was worried that Seth's breathing could become so labored that it would wear him out and he could go into respiratory failure. But he ordered a nebulizer treatment, which Seth responded really well to. And the Motrin had kicked in, so Seth was visibly improved. So they sent us home with orders to nebulize every 3-4 hours and to keep his fever down by alternating Tylenol and Motrin. They also gave him an oral steroid and we got a prescription for that.
I asked the ER doctor if we should consider getting a nanny and keeping him out of group care. He said keeping him home might limit how much and how often he's exposed to viruses and bacteria, but he'd still get sick and still react in the same ways. And since he already has an older sibling who will expose him to lots of germs, it probably wouldn't do a whole lot of good to have in-home care. That made me feel a little better. But I'm also going to ask my pediatrician/s what they think. I can't help but think there's something I'm doing wrong--some obvious reason that my kids keep getting so sick when other kids aren't. It just doesn't make sense--they weren't preemies, I breast fed exclusively until 6 months, and continued to nurse beyond that. There isn't a long history of asthma or other respiratory illness in our families. Or even bad allergies. Are both of my kids going to end up with asthma? Should I move somewhere with a better climate or less pollution? Should I stay home with them instead of sending them to daycare? I wish the answers were crystal clear.
As for operation sanitization, I've made good progress. I got all the beds stripped and the house Lysoled. I got about three-quarters of the toys sanitized. I need more Clorox Anywhere. And to end on a positive note, William is much much better. His nose is still runny, but his cough is winding down. Even though he's been a little more clingy to me in the last few days--wanting me to hold him or play with him--he's also been enjoying playing with his toys and even had a great day at daycare on Friday. I'm praying that we've been through the worst of it this winter. And I'm also thanking God that this is a four-day weekend for us. We get Tuesday off because of the inauguration, so hopefully Seth will be recovered by then. I used two days of sick leave this past week, and I'm not even sure I had two days of leave. And I think I have one day of annual leave left. But my new leave kicks in on Feb. 1, so that's a relief.
Anyway, this hasn't been a very interesting blog lately. But I think I'll be glad I recorded all of this later. Hopefully, I'll look back and think, "Wow--things were really hard then. But that was the hardest time, and it all got better from there." Wishful thinking, huh? I don't think it gets easier--the challenges just change. Despite the stress and worry and guilt, I still wouldn't trade motherhood for anything in the world.
When last I left you, it was Wednesday. Seth had been wheezing, and the doctor put him on Albuterol and an antibiotic, and wanted to see him on Thursday. So Thursday morning, Ed took Seth back to the doctor. Seth was sounding much better and he didn't have a fever. The doctor said to continue albuterol every 6-8 hours, or as needed, if his breathing started sounding labored. He was fine the rest of Thursday, and had a pretty good night Thursday night. He also didn't have any more diarrhea. So we decided to give daycare a try on Friday.
Well, his morning was good. But his fever came back on Friday afternoon at daycare, and his breathing was a bit labored. So we went home and did a nebulizer treatment and I gave him Motrin. He had a really fitful night and I nebulized him again at some ungodly hour of the morning. At that point, I considered just taking him to the ER, but he managed to go back to sleep and his fever went down, so I decided to wait and take him to his pediatrician in the morning.
So this morning we went to the doctor and they sent us to the ER. They didn't think he had pneumonia, and he wasn't wheezing, but his labored breathing definitely pointed to something--most likely RSV. So we went to the ER. He was so pitiful when we got there. He hadn't had any Motrin since the wee hours of the morning, so his fever had spiked, and he felt and looked miserable. His nose was so congested. We were admitted pretty quickly and the nurse and an intern and the attending doctor all examined him. The nurse gave him Motrin, thank goodness, and the doctor came back and said that he has bronchiolitis, which is brought on usually by RSV. They did a nose swab and sent him for a chest x-ray just in case. The nose swab came back positive for RSV and the chest x-ray was negative for pneumonia.
Initially the doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital for overnight observation. He was worried that Seth's breathing could become so labored that it would wear him out and he could go into respiratory failure. But he ordered a nebulizer treatment, which Seth responded really well to. And the Motrin had kicked in, so Seth was visibly improved. So they sent us home with orders to nebulize every 3-4 hours and to keep his fever down by alternating Tylenol and Motrin. They also gave him an oral steroid and we got a prescription for that.
I asked the ER doctor if we should consider getting a nanny and keeping him out of group care. He said keeping him home might limit how much and how often he's exposed to viruses and bacteria, but he'd still get sick and still react in the same ways. And since he already has an older sibling who will expose him to lots of germs, it probably wouldn't do a whole lot of good to have in-home care. That made me feel a little better. But I'm also going to ask my pediatrician/s what they think. I can't help but think there's something I'm doing wrong--some obvious reason that my kids keep getting so sick when other kids aren't. It just doesn't make sense--they weren't preemies, I breast fed exclusively until 6 months, and continued to nurse beyond that. There isn't a long history of asthma or other respiratory illness in our families. Or even bad allergies. Are both of my kids going to end up with asthma? Should I move somewhere with a better climate or less pollution? Should I stay home with them instead of sending them to daycare? I wish the answers were crystal clear.
As for operation sanitization, I've made good progress. I got all the beds stripped and the house Lysoled. I got about three-quarters of the toys sanitized. I need more Clorox Anywhere. And to end on a positive note, William is much much better. His nose is still runny, but his cough is winding down. Even though he's been a little more clingy to me in the last few days--wanting me to hold him or play with him--he's also been enjoying playing with his toys and even had a great day at daycare on Friday. I'm praying that we've been through the worst of it this winter. And I'm also thanking God that this is a four-day weekend for us. We get Tuesday off because of the inauguration, so hopefully Seth will be recovered by then. I used two days of sick leave this past week, and I'm not even sure I had two days of leave. And I think I have one day of annual leave left. But my new leave kicks in on Feb. 1, so that's a relief.
Anyway, this hasn't been a very interesting blog lately. But I think I'll be glad I recorded all of this later. Hopefully, I'll look back and think, "Wow--things were really hard then. But that was the hardest time, and it all got better from there." Wishful thinking, huh? I don't think it gets easier--the challenges just change. Despite the stress and worry and guilt, I still wouldn't trade motherhood for anything in the world.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Good News . . . and Bad
William is much much better today. Infrequent coughing fits, no fever, and back to his energetic ways. Seth, on the other hand, is much, much worse. He started coughing a lot overnight and his diarrhea has continued. He woke up with a fever, and started wheezing. He was so lethargic all day. So back to the doctor we went today--the third time in three days. The doctor prescribed nebulizer treatments with albuterol, and an antibiotic. She wants to see him tomorrow morning, and if he hasn't shown improvement, she'll send him for a chest x-ray. Ed will stay home with both boys tomorrow. William could probably return to school, but we figute it's better to give him one more day at home.
I'll be doing some major disinfecting over the next few nights. I've got my Lysol and My Clorox Anywhere. Toys that can will go in the dishwasher. Others that can get submerged will go in a bathtub of Clorox. The rest will get sprayed with the Clorox Anywhere. And all household surfaces (doorknobs, cabinets, faucets, etc.) will get Lysoled. All sheets and towels and pillowcases and washcloths, etc., will get washed on the sanitary cycle (super hot). I will become the handwashing Nazi, and will not go anywhere without hand sanitizer.
On a lighter and far more pleasant note, William has been thanking me lately for all kinds of things, like making his dinner, giving him a bath, turning on a video. It's really cute. Today, as we walked from our car to CVS to fill Seth's prescriptions, William said, (in a really sweet, almost excited voice) "Dank you for holding my hand while we cwossed de stweet, Mommy!" It was so completely unprompted, and so genuine and ernest. I laughed because a lady had just walked out of CVS in time to hear him say that, and my first thought was (although I didn't say this out loud), "Don't worry--he's not always this polite! It's just a phase." It's nice to have William back to his old self. Now if we can just get Seth there!
I'll be doing some major disinfecting over the next few nights. I've got my Lysol and My Clorox Anywhere. Toys that can will go in the dishwasher. Others that can get submerged will go in a bathtub of Clorox. The rest will get sprayed with the Clorox Anywhere. And all household surfaces (doorknobs, cabinets, faucets, etc.) will get Lysoled. All sheets and towels and pillowcases and washcloths, etc., will get washed on the sanitary cycle (super hot). I will become the handwashing Nazi, and will not go anywhere without hand sanitizer.
On a lighter and far more pleasant note, William has been thanking me lately for all kinds of things, like making his dinner, giving him a bath, turning on a video. It's really cute. Today, as we walked from our car to CVS to fill Seth's prescriptions, William said, (in a really sweet, almost excited voice) "Dank you for holding my hand while we cwossed de stweet, Mommy!" It was so completely unprompted, and so genuine and ernest. I laughed because a lady had just walked out of CVS in time to hear him say that, and my first thought was (although I didn't say this out loud), "Don't worry--he's not always this polite! It's just a phase." It's nice to have William back to his old self. Now if we can just get Seth there!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Pneumonia
William has pneumonia. It started Saturday, when he woke up with his typical, tight, dry cough. He was coughing a lot, and his breathing rate was a bit high. So I nebulized him with Albuterol. It didn't seem to help a lot, but he was in a pretty good mood, so I didn't worry too much about it. He started running a fever at some point on Saturday. The fever was not his typical MO, but it wasn't very high, so again, I wasn't too concerned. He took a nap, and when he woke up, we went to Ed's parents house to spend the night.
Overnight, his fever got worse, and he was definitely wheezing. We nebulized him again and gave him Motrin. The Motrin brought the temperature down, but it would go back up. On Sunday morning, I called our doctor to ask if I should be concerned about the fever. I told them that he wasn't struggling to breathe, but he was still wheezing and the Albuterol didn't really seem to be helping. The nurse didn't seem too concerned, and since we were in Maryland at Ed's parents, I decided not to take him in. His fever went up and down all day Sunday and he was coughing a lot. Sunday night was more of the same, so Monday morning, Ed took him to the doctor. The doctor sent them to get a chest x-ray, and an hour later, diagnosed him with pneumonia and gave him a prescription for Augmentin. She said we should see improvement within 24 hours.
He spent the rest of Monday with Ed's sister and I think he felt miserable all day. Monday night was pretty bad. He coughed and coughed and his fever continued to go up and down. Today, fortunately, he was much better. He didn't have a temperature, so that was good. But he was still coughing like crazy.
Meanwhile, Seth has not been himself, and now he has diarrhea again. He's not eating, and is pretty clingy. He's also taking really short naps. So I took him to the doctor today and William tagged along. The doctor concluded that Seth probably has a virus, but when she heard William coughing, she was concerned. We did a nebulizer treatment to see if that helped his coughing, and then she prescribed him an oral steroid. And if he doesn't improve by tomorrow, she wants to see him again. Tonight he woke up crying an hour after he went to sleep, and sure enough, he's running a fever again.
Last night, William slept in our bed. Tonight, I might sneak into his bed. I feel better being right next to him when he's sick like this. I'm hoping that the diagnosis of pneumonia sounds much more serious than it is. I know it can be very serious, but in most cases, it's easily treated and recovery is quick. So I hope that's true for William.
Overnight, his fever got worse, and he was definitely wheezing. We nebulized him again and gave him Motrin. The Motrin brought the temperature down, but it would go back up. On Sunday morning, I called our doctor to ask if I should be concerned about the fever. I told them that he wasn't struggling to breathe, but he was still wheezing and the Albuterol didn't really seem to be helping. The nurse didn't seem too concerned, and since we were in Maryland at Ed's parents, I decided not to take him in. His fever went up and down all day Sunday and he was coughing a lot. Sunday night was more of the same, so Monday morning, Ed took him to the doctor. The doctor sent them to get a chest x-ray, and an hour later, diagnosed him with pneumonia and gave him a prescription for Augmentin. She said we should see improvement within 24 hours.
He spent the rest of Monday with Ed's sister and I think he felt miserable all day. Monday night was pretty bad. He coughed and coughed and his fever continued to go up and down. Today, fortunately, he was much better. He didn't have a temperature, so that was good. But he was still coughing like crazy.
Meanwhile, Seth has not been himself, and now he has diarrhea again. He's not eating, and is pretty clingy. He's also taking really short naps. So I took him to the doctor today and William tagged along. The doctor concluded that Seth probably has a virus, but when she heard William coughing, she was concerned. We did a nebulizer treatment to see if that helped his coughing, and then she prescribed him an oral steroid. And if he doesn't improve by tomorrow, she wants to see him again. Tonight he woke up crying an hour after he went to sleep, and sure enough, he's running a fever again.
Last night, William slept in our bed. Tonight, I might sneak into his bed. I feel better being right next to him when he's sick like this. I'm hoping that the diagnosis of pneumonia sounds much more serious than it is. I know it can be very serious, but in most cases, it's easily treated and recovery is quick. So I hope that's true for William.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Still Struggling
I'd like to say 2009 is off to a great start, but the boys are sick again. We couldn't even get through one week of daycare. Seth came down with a fever and diarrhea on Thursday, so he stayed home on Friday (half the day with Daddy and half with Aunt Meredith), and on Friday, William started coughing. By Saturday morning, he was on his way to wheezing and had developed a fever. His fever has been up and down--down thanks to Motrin--and we've been giving him Albuterol to control the wheezing. He hasn't been this sick in a while, poor thing. Seth is better, though, so he'll be going to school tomorrow while William stays with his Aunt Meredith.
When his fever has been under control, William has been in a pretty good mood. He's thrilled that we've been letting him watch so many videos. He saw My Dog Skip twice and loves it. Tomorrow he'll get to see Wall-E for the first time. He's also been playing with Seth, which has been pretty cute. Seth has started following William around, and wants to play with whatever William is playing with. And of course, if I'm playing with Seth, William wants to play with whatever we're playing with. Fun times. I've also been bathing the boys together lately. Seth loves it and it's easier and less time-consuming than bathing them both separately. I got a few pictures of them together tonight so I"ll post them. I've been working on adjusting the flash so that's it's not quite so bright. Here are the full flash pictures:
And here's one with the flash adjusted a bit:
And finally, in the bath:
Let's hope William will have a good day tomorrow! And Seth, too, for that matter. It's always something.
When his fever has been under control, William has been in a pretty good mood. He's thrilled that we've been letting him watch so many videos. He saw My Dog Skip twice and loves it. Tomorrow he'll get to see Wall-E for the first time. He's also been playing with Seth, which has been pretty cute. Seth has started following William around, and wants to play with whatever William is playing with. And of course, if I'm playing with Seth, William wants to play with whatever we're playing with. Fun times. I've also been bathing the boys together lately. Seth loves it and it's easier and less time-consuming than bathing them both separately. I got a few pictures of them together tonight so I"ll post them. I've been working on adjusting the flash so that's it's not quite so bright. Here are the full flash pictures:
And here's one with the flash adjusted a bit:
And finally, in the bath:
Let's hope William will have a good day tomorrow! And Seth, too, for that matter. It's always something.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Christmas Morning Madness
Christmas morning was noisy at our house. Santa Claus brought a ball popper toy for Seth which turned out to be the hit toy of Christmas morning for both boys. What makes me laugh the most in this video is Seth squealing.
The boys had a great time playing with their new toys, although it was a bit overwhelming for them. Santa got a little carried away this year. We'll have to remind him of that next year! William got lots of different trucks (forklift, skid steer loader, front loader, garbage truck, LP car carrier, matchbox trucks), LP Spin n Crash Raceway, a mini space shuttle, , books, play dough, a few DVDs (he loves the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD), markers and paper, gears, plastic fruit he can "cut," a blower, and a fire station and doll house (neither of which he is very interested in, but Santa got them both for a steal, so that's okay). Seth got the ball popper, fish aquarium toy, Peek 'n' Play discovery dome, and lots of small, infant-type toys. He also got pajamas and Robeeze-type shoes.
In fact, the boys got so many new toys that even after cleaning out and putting away lots of old toys, we still needed to figure out a better toy storage system, so Ed went to Ikea and bought shelves to house all the toys. It makes the playroom look sooo much better. Although I'm embarrassed by how many toys we have.
Santa was not just good to the boys, though. I must have been a really good girl last year because here is what Santa brought me:
In my opinion, it lives up to the hype. I LOVE it.
So all the gift opening and playing with new toys was awesome, but the best part of Christmas was the early morning, when William and Seth both ended up in our bed, and then later, watching the boys play and interact, and making Eggs Benedict for Ed and me, and just relaxing and enjoying our family. In the afternoon we went to Ed's parents and had Christmas all over again with Ed's family. That was really fun, too. Even with all the stress leading up to Christmas, Christmas 2008 will still be hard to beat!
The boys had a great time playing with their new toys, although it was a bit overwhelming for them. Santa got a little carried away this year. We'll have to remind him of that next year! William got lots of different trucks (forklift, skid steer loader, front loader, garbage truck, LP car carrier, matchbox trucks), LP Spin n Crash Raceway, a mini space shuttle, , books, play dough, a few DVDs (he loves the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD), markers and paper, gears, plastic fruit he can "cut," a blower, and a fire station and doll house (neither of which he is very interested in, but Santa got them both for a steal, so that's okay). Seth got the ball popper, fish aquarium toy, Peek 'n' Play discovery dome, and lots of small, infant-type toys. He also got pajamas and Robeeze-type shoes.
In fact, the boys got so many new toys that even after cleaning out and putting away lots of old toys, we still needed to figure out a better toy storage system, so Ed went to Ikea and bought shelves to house all the toys. It makes the playroom look sooo much better. Although I'm embarrassed by how many toys we have.
Santa was not just good to the boys, though. I must have been a really good girl last year because here is what Santa brought me:
In my opinion, it lives up to the hype. I LOVE it.So all the gift opening and playing with new toys was awesome, but the best part of Christmas was the early morning, when William and Seth both ended up in our bed, and then later, watching the boys play and interact, and making Eggs Benedict for Ed and me, and just relaxing and enjoying our family. In the afternoon we went to Ed's parents and had Christmas all over again with Ed's family. That was really fun, too. Even with all the stress leading up to Christmas, Christmas 2008 will still be hard to beat!
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Seth is 8 Months Old! (Ummmm, 2 weeks ago!)
In all the commotion leading up to the holidays, I missed the chair pictures on Seth's 8-month birthday. And then I forgot the next day. And the day after. So almost 2 weeks later, I finally took the chair pictures!
Note the bruise on Seth's forehead. His sole purpose on Earth right now is to pull himself to standing--on anything and everything that looks even halfway stable. This has resulted in multiple falls, bumps, and bruises. And it doesn't help that William has no appreciation for how unstable Seth is. Poor Seth--I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. Despite the bruises, Seth remains his adorable happy self. Besides standing, he loves to eat. It's so nice for a change to have an eater! He's babbling lots, too--lots of consonant sounds. He doesn't really have a favorite toy right now because all he wants to do is pull himself to standing and attempt to cruise. He also goes crazy for his bath, and he can't stand getting his diaper changed. You'd think it was the worst form of torture possible!
So without further ado, the chair pictures! It's getting harder and harder to get good chair pictures. There's lots of motion and little cooperation. But these turned out pretty cute, in spite of that!
Note the bruise on Seth's forehead. His sole purpose on Earth right now is to pull himself to standing--on anything and everything that looks even halfway stable. This has resulted in multiple falls, bumps, and bruises. And it doesn't help that William has no appreciation for how unstable Seth is. Poor Seth--I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. Despite the bruises, Seth remains his adorable happy self. Besides standing, he loves to eat. It's so nice for a change to have an eater! He's babbling lots, too--lots of consonant sounds. He doesn't really have a favorite toy right now because all he wants to do is pull himself to standing and attempt to cruise. He also goes crazy for his bath, and he can't stand getting his diaper changed. You'd think it was the worst form of torture possible!
So without further ado, the chair pictures! It's getting harder and harder to get good chair pictures. There's lots of motion and little cooperation. But these turned out pretty cute, in spite of that!
Friday, January 02, 2009
New Year's Resolutions
Instead of writing a list of things that I resolve to do in 2009, I'd rather phrase things this way:
- 2009 is the year that I will get a full night's (meaning at least 8 hours) sleep.
- 2009 is the year that I will get to sleep in every other Saturday.
- 2009 is the year that I will stop biting my nails.
- 2009 is the year that I will take more and better pictures, and then print the pictures and put them in albums or frames.
- 2009 is the year that I will become a more thoughtful person by sending cards and gifts to friends and family.
- 2009 is the year that I will do a better job of getting dinner on the table and packing lunch for work.
- 2009 is the year that I will go on a date with my husband more than a handful of times.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
2008 in Pictures
Happy New Year! Ed and I got to dress up last night and enjoy a fancy five-course meal at a great little Belgian restaurant. It was pricey, but well worth it--if not for the food, then for the chance to go out, just the two of us. Resolution number one for 2009 is to establish a regular date night. We have enough family in the area that there really is no excuse.
Annnnyway, I'll talk more about resolutions in my next post. For now, I want to review 2008. I got the idea from Laura, who got the idea from Goddess.
February
Annnnyway, I'll talk more about resolutions in my next post. For now, I want to review 2008. I got the idea from Laura, who got the idea from Goddess.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
August
September
October
November
December
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