How to balance everything?

I feel torn. I want to be a great wife/housewife but also want to be a great mom. I somehow can't find out how to balance the two equally. For instance, today I decided to make lots of homemade goodies for Christmas gifts. I have never made candy before but I am pretty good at following directions so I decided to try it. I spent hours in the kitchen making batches of peanut brittle, peppermint bark, and truffles. Tomorrow I am going to attempt fudge and Logan and I are going to make sugar cookies with sprinkles in different Christmas shapes. When I do things like this (which happens rarely) I really enjoy it. I feel like a good housewife. But then I feel guilty, like a bad mom. I neglected the kids and didn't pay enough attention to them and it is only me with them this week. I know they got a few experiences out of my antics. They loved the pounding of the candy canes with the wooden rolling pin.

Later, I would hear "Hit, Hit, Hit" from the kitchen, then Lucas would come crying out of the playroom. I would stop what I was doing to give a timeout, have one apologize to the other then get back to my candy. Then it would happen again but this time Logan would come crying out of the playroom. I am sure that this kind of behavior seems to get worse in my home when I am not paying enough attention to them.

I was reading Logan a new story before bedtime, Puff the Magic Dragon, and it made me stop after hours of not paying the attention to my children as I should have, and think how much they love me and just want me to spend time with them. I loved Puff the Magic Dragon as a child. I don't know if it was the music that goes with it or the fairy tale. But, I ordered the book from scholastic and read/sang it for the first time to Logan and afterward he said "Mom, I really love that book!" Then he said he was going to sleep with it. I smiled to myself, knowing that when he wants to sleep with something it is very special to him. I can't help to think that he liked it so much because of my enthusiasm and special time we had together this evening while reading his new book. Thankfully, children at this age are very forgiving. Maybe a day or two of less attention won't affect them too much after all.

Change of plans

I am a planner. I love to have plans, make plans and count on the plans I made. E and I have had next week all planned out for months. I made tickets for the early flight to go to Virginia for Christmas with E's frequent flier miles so he could drop us off and go to work on time. He was going to take us to the airport, help us get checked in and see us off through security. That was my plan. I was nervous about the plan because I will be traveling with the kids by myself as anyone would be. You just never know who will scream, whine, kick the seat, spill their juice or wrestle with you the entire flight. I always expect the worse and when it is better than that I am pleasantly surprised. Lucas is still on my lap because we are cheap and don't want to pay the extra money. Which means that I am completely exhausted and need a stiff drink when we land.

So, last week E calls me and tells me plans have changed. In addition to him being gone practically the whole month of December, he is now going to be gone the day I need to travel. I listened to his story, tried to act like a nice, supportive wife, then almost had a panic attack. I said to him "So, you are telling me that I have to pack for 2 weeks for the kids, pack the car, get the kids up by 6 am, drive to the airport, park in satellite parking, ride the shuttle bus with 2 children, stroller, luggage and carry ons, check in, get through security, and take a 3 hour flight all by myself!!!" Some days I do feel like super mom but the thought of this really is sending me into a panic attack. Not only does it affect this scenario but also the one where I was planning on picking E up a couple days later at the airport to visit his parents. Now all of those plans have to be re figured out.

I have told this story to a few friends and thankfully I have had some offers of help. I know something will work out. It seems like a whole lot to ask of someone to drive us and help us this early in the morning. It is all E's bosses fault. I know he has to go but it has thrown a wrench in my plans. I hope she gets us a nice Christmas present!

A love/hate relationship

Yes, this is what it looks like. Logan is trying to strangle Lucas.
But then they play together, laugh together.....

Love on each other

Hug...

And sometimes have those really special moments. I am so glad they have each other.

Messiest eater in the world

I know kids are supposed to get messy when they eat but this is ridiculous. He needs a bath after every meal!

This is after a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. I just started letting Lucas eat it since his protein sources are limited. He doesn't like meat.

This is after a bowl of oatmeal. He looks like he did a face plant in the bowl.

And this is a healthy lunch of pizza, apples, and carrots with ranch dip. YUM! O.K. not so healthy with the pizza and ranch but Lucas actually asked for more carrots. I was thrilled. I gave him a bath after this meal. I do bibs but the cereal still runs all over his lap or he drags an arm through his food. We are still going through several outfits a day if he is dressed. This explains to anyone who has stopped by to see us why Lucas is always in a diaper. It is easier to wipe his skin than wrestle 4 outfits on him a day. I am willing to take any advise on how to keep him and my home a little cleaner. Anyone???

Recent activities

I have lots to blog about recently but not enough time or energy to do it. I could blog about the surprise date night that my husband has had planned since June. It was very sweet of him but a little out of character to plan a 200 dollar date night to a Sarah Brightman concert. I really appreciate the thought but I can think of lots of things to do during 6 hours away from our kids than go to a concert of someone that I have never heard of before. My take on it was an opera singer gone pop. Half of the songs were in some other language. Apparently, she is a huge star around the world, opening for the most recent Olympics. I thought the concert was entertaining but very strange.

I could also blog about the fact that after two weeks after Lucas got his vaccinations he is finally acting more like himself. He does have his incisor teeth coming through so that also can account for his fussy, foul mood.

I am kicking myself for not figuring this out before now. I have found the perfect solution to my nap drama. I don't know why I have not thought of this before now but Logan has been taking his nap in the playroom. It is completely dark and isolated in that room. There are no windows. I put him in his Diego air mattress and he has taken a nap without any fuss every day since we started this. It is great!

Lucas used the potty again last night and today. He says "I poo-poo". I say "Do you need to sit on the potty?" and he does his business. I can't believe it. Logan was a few months over three before he did this well. I am not going to push things but am hopeful that we will be out of diapers before he is two.

As many Moms probably experience, I seem to get sick with my children's illnesses all of the time. This is at least cold number 3 for me this season. Lucas had it first then me. Logan had the stomach virus then me. I swear I wash my hands 50 times a day but I guess all of the nose wiping and food handling just infects me every time. I need to really work on strengthening my immune system.

I can barely move after taking a workout class called No Limit Circuit. Note to self: If something says, No Limit, then do not attend this class. It was seriously like torture. I like to exercise and this was torturous. I was hurting right after the class and two days later hurt even worse. We were doing 3 minutes on each circuit then coming back to your own station to do some more exercises. Lots of squats, lunges, weights, running and jumping. It was a full body workout to say the least.

I thought my cat might have come home yesterday. There were two cats outside and one really resembled our cat that ran away. It was much smaller but I thought maybe she just shrunk from not eating. I figured out from the markings that the cat could not be ours. Then she ran straight up a tree and I knew she was not our cat. Ours can't even jump up on the counter top. I gave them food and water. They seemed really hungry but they were not friendly and seemed really wild. We are getting used to having only one cat around.

We have been decorating for Christmas since we won't be around very much in the month of December. My least favorite thing is fluffing the two artificial Christmas trees. I enjoyed pulling out the ornaments that Logan had made last year especially the one's with the boys hand prints. It was fun to see how much their hands grew in a year. It was really adorable to see them decorating the tree together. Logan would hang one and then Lucas would take his ornament to the tree and ask Logan "Will you help me Logan?" They hung most of the ornaments on one branch but they thought it looked great.

House guests

E's family came to visit us for an early Thanksgiving. We had lots of fun with them. We had a turkey feather hunt with our neighborhood mom's group, fed bread to the fish at the park, went swimming at our gym, ate a great Thanksgiving meal and went to the Dallas museum of Science and Nature. I will post pics later.

Logan let his aunt Michelle sleep in his room and did really well sleeping in his Diego blow up bed on the floor of his playroom. Lucas is still not himself since his vaccinations last Tuesday.

It was nice to have family around and celebrate a family Thanksgiving. I will not be cooking again on the real Thanksgiving day. I think going out to eat sounds good to me.

Logan's artwork

Logan's self portrait.

I have been taking pictures of all of Logan's artwork so I don't have to keep it all.

18 month update

Lucas had his 18 month well check yesterday with his pediatrician. There was a medical student observing the doctor and the first thing he said to her in the room was that Lucas was born in the car delivered by his daddy. I like that our pediatrician seems to know us and is interested in our lives. Here are Lucas' stats:
Weight: 22.3 lbs (5-10th percentile)
Height: 32 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 19.3 inches (90th percentile)

Lucas had a Hep A and flu vaccine. The nurse hit an artery or capillary on one of the injections and he has a bruise on that leg.

The pediatrician was very impressed with his observations while in the room. He said his language skills were of a 3 year old. Just a few days ago Lucas said "Mommy, Can you open this for me?" I am still amazed that he is able to use pronouns correctly at this age. Lucas is counting to twelve, recognizing the color blue and green, jumping, singing lots of songs, recognizing some letters and started to play as a peer with Logan. Lucas even peed and pooped in the potty with E yesterday. Lucas and Logan have been getting along so much better in the last few weeks. Finally, I am starting to see the benefit of having my children so close together.

In the afternoon Lucas slept for three hours, which is unlike him and when he woke up he had a temp of 101 F. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and the fever has not returned.

Poor Logan

The week started with a head injury and ended with a stomach virus for him. Logan has only had a stomach bug one other time and I don't think he remembered it. This time was so sad because at first he did not know what was going to happen, then he realized when he started to feel sick he would be throwing up. He would cry and whine just anticipating it. After he got sick he would say "Mommy, I'm not sick anymore!" Then two hours later he would say "Mommy, I think I am really sick." It was so pathetic to watch. I could completely empathize because I think I had it the night before. No, throwing up just feeling like it and wanting to die.

I spent the night running back and forth between my room and the room he was sleeping. I would hear him moaning on the monitor and run into his room to hold the bowl for him. The downstairs guest room is now officially our "sick room". Fortunately, this virus was a quick one. It is only 12 hours of real misery and followed by days of nausea and no appetite. It works great if you are trying to loose weight. And also Lucas and E seem to have escaped this round of sickness.

We ARE going to have a great week. No sickness, no head injury's, no falling down into the window sill teeth first and getting paint chips in your mouth (Lucas)...only happy times. The in laws are coming Thursday so we all need to be well and happy.

getting through another week

The week started out with our fun family trip out to dinner on Monday. We love kids eat free places. We were leaving and Logan (who falls and trips far too many times to be normal) tripped and banged his head really hard on the corner of a brick wall. Huge lumps and indents formed right away. I called a few friends, my mother and then the phone nurse to figure out what I should do. After all of the advise we decided to do ice on his head and keep him awake a little longer. I had to wake him up every couple of hours all night long and make sure he could awaken. I was checking pupils, asking him who his name was and feeling the bump on his head. I made him sleep downstairs in the guest room so he would be closer and then decided I should sleep with him. By 12:30 he awoke enough to realize I was in the bed with him and he was too excited to go back to sleep. I had to leave him to sleep by himself after that. I instructed the teachers on what to look for and it seems as if Logan is not going to require a trip to the hospital for this injury.
I am not sure if it is the two weeks in a row that E has been gone or something else but my patience is growing thin. I wish that my kids would go to sleep at my appointed nap time of 1, wake up at 3 then go to bed at 7:30. Whenever E is gone it never seems to go like that. I can't count on anything. If I plan to go somewhere then someone is not going to nap then fall asleep on the way somewhere and be so cranky later. Yesterday Logan actually took a nap and 18 month old Lucas would not take a nap all day long. Naps are my nemesis. I am seriously considering getting rid of any kind of schedule all together. I am tired of fighting with them to take one, hearing them jumping on the bed instead of sleeping, and whining for me to let them come out. I think I would rather have both of my boys on the run all day long then put them to bed at 6 pm every night.
It is only hump day...but I am really ready for the weekend.

Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Holly. So, now it is my turn to tell you 7 random facts about me.

1. I have always loved marine life and the water. I went snorkeling in the Bahamas for the first time when I was 21. I have been snorkling in the Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Brittish V.I., St Thomas, St. Johns, Bahamas and La Jolla, California. I took an 8 week class through PADI and learned how to scuba dive when I got my first job. I never took my open water dive because there was not anywhere convenient to go to in the winter in Central North Carolina so therefore I did not get certified...plus all of the talk about your lungs exploding if you don't do it right turned me off.

2. I was born without some permanent teeth. There are three molars that never formed so I had my baby teeth until I was about 21 then I had to get bridges put in. Insurance considers teeth cosmetic so my poor parents had to pay thousands of dollars.

3. I am the only granddaughter on both sides of my family. I have a brother and five male cousins who are all younger than me. I always felt left out at family get-togethers...and some of my cousins tried to pull my bikini top off.

4. I know most of you probably already know this but my youngest son was born in our mini van. It was a labor that lasted 1hour and 45 minutes from start to birth. My husband and I were the first to see and hold our baby. We delivered him together without any help. Not too many people have this experience and I am blessed that everything went well and everyone was healthy in the end. Sometimes I think about all of the what ifs...

5. I hated high school but loved college. I'm not sure what was the difference other than maturity and independence. I think college was the highlight of my life. No real responsibilities, parents still paying for most of everything, no wrinkles, cute little body, guys everywhere, party's to go to and wonderful friends that were like family as roommates. Sure, I had stress from taking organic chemistry, parasitology, anatomy, physiology and statistics but somehow it was the best worry free years of my life.

6. I love to learn, read and teach. When I start a book, most of the time I can't stop until I am finished. I get obsessed. Since I can't put a book down to deal with daily life I restrict myself from reading. I would be a perpetual student if I had the money and time. I have never had much experience in teaching except for my last job. We had students come and we would train them in the laboratory. I always was given compliments by them that I explained things well and they liked learning from me.

7. I have never forwarded a chain letter or email chain. They drive me crazy. I am fine reading them but don't want to think about who I am going to send it onto, or that something bad is going to happen to me if I don't send it and always worry it might be some kind of encrypted email and cause someone's computer to crash.

So since I am not good with chain stuff then let me just choose a few people to "Tag"

Juli

Haley

Vicki

Kayla

Lori

Rhonda

(the last three were already tagged but I don't have anymore blogging friends and they did not post anything yet)

So here are the rules:*Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.*Tell seven random facts about yourself on your blog* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs*Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Are you gonna put water in it?

Logan cracked me up today when I was making him and Lucas chocolate milk. He was watching my every move and when I was about to put the top on his cup he asked "Are you gonna put water in it?" and pointed to the water spout on the refrigerator. I guess he figured out that I dilute his juice half/half with water that I should do that to milk too. I thought I was being sneaky. I told him we only add water to juice.

Then later I realized Lucas was pushing buttons on an unused telephone/answering system. It turns out that he had turned it on who knows when and it had two messages on it. I was sitting on the floor trying to figure it out and Logan asked "What are you doing in the corner?" I am sure it looks to him like he would look when he is in trouble so I told him "I am having a timeout" He looked at me as if I have time outs all of the time and said "What did you do?" I told him "Daddy said I was in trouble" and he said "Oh". I guess it made sense to him why I was sitting in the corner. I don't know why I was making it up, just wanted to see what his reaction was going to be.

We spent the evening at the library. I did not bother bringing my stroller inside and Lucas was running around like a banshee screaming and at full stride. Logan and I were running around after him trying to catch him. Logan is a huge Dora the explorer fan and we have a box set at our house and even the new Dora saves the Snow Princess. We have read almost every single Dora book 100times each but we found two at the library that we have not read. It made Logan's day. He is so excited to have a couple new Dora books to read over, and over, and over again.

Pushing any kind of button is like giving candy to my boys. I finally got smart and realized it today. Leaving the library is usually like a wrestling match but today I said "Who wants to push the button on the elevator?" They both went running out of the library yelling "I do, I do" I smiled to myself thinking "that was easy, I am finally figuring this whole parenting thing out"

More Halloween activities

Just a few pictures from our Mom's group Trunk or Treat get together. We lined our cars up, paraded the children down to one end and they trick or treated to every one's trunk. I was a little worried since Lucas did not have a nap this day but my whole family really enjoyed the evening. It was so much fun to see all of my friend's children all dressed up together. The kids got great non-candy treats and we had a nice spread for the pot luck dinner.

Eric was stuck grilling hot dogs, but he seemed to really enjoy it. This was the first time the grills were used at our new park.
Prince Logan with his princesses and friends. Logan wanted to be a princess but I talked him into being a prince. The little Elmo in the picture cracks me up!

Lucas was a lion...a very skinny one.

Logan's favorite things in his basket was the kazoo, necklace and glow stick!

First NBA game

Not for me, but for the boys. Eric and I have been to the Maverick's games a few times before. Basketball is actually one of the few sports I enjoy watching. Part of it has to do with the fact that our high school football team never won a game and my college did not have a football team. So, I could care less about football.

Logan really enjoyed going to the game. He was fascinated by the lights, people, music and players.

Lucas did not seem to have the same fascination. This was one of his only moments that he was sitting down.

Box seats through E's work at the Maverick's game. We had a fun night! Logan tried to climb over this glass in front of him. Not sure why he thought that would be a fun idea. It would have been a long fall.

Food always helps keeps my boys happy. No $5 pretzels for us, we brought our own pop-tarts!

Our only family shot, not so good.

Thursday, E called from work asking if we wanted to go to the Mavericks game. I asked if we could take the kids. I thought it was short notice to get a babysitter. There was three tickets available and Lucas did not need a ticket. It worked out perfectly because both boys got really great, long naps that day. Logan (who normally doesn't nap) slept 2 1/2 hours and Lucas slept 3 1/2 hours. We only stayed through the 3rd quarter and got home before 10. I think it was a neat experience for them. I can't wait until Lucas is Logan's age and both kids will be able to enjoy things like this.

Neighborhood Fall Festival

After attempts at naps today, we got the boys dressed in their Halloween costumes. We went to the annual fall festival that is in our community. I thought they did a really great job this year. It was lots of fun for everyone. Logan made out great in the candy department. He came home with candy, pens, pencils, coupons for free food, foam airplanes, pumpkin, cupcakes from the cake walk and kettle corn. There were bounce houses, face painters, lots of different games scattered through out, pony rides, petting zoo, train rides and food for sale. It has been such a beautiful day. I have really enjoyed being outdoors all day today. Poor Logan has a cold and none of us want to catch it. He fell asleep in the car at 6:30 on the way home without any dinner. Eric has a migraine and could not even eat dinner he felt so miserable. I, on the other hand, am feeling great. Maybe this double dose of prilosec will be my miracle drug.

It was just Lucas and I hanging out until bedtime. He is so stinking cute with his constant singing and counting. He is such a happy child as long as Logan isn't messing with him. He likes to do things and then tell you "silly!" I have noticed lately he is speaking even better than before. He really does speak in complete, descriptive sentences using pronoun, adjective, verb...everything. It took my mom and dad a day or two but by the time they left they could understand almost everything he says. I love this age (17 months)...it sure beats the 3 year old phase. That is about to kill me!

On another note, our indoor cat of 7 years is gone. She escaped sometime on Friday morning (I think) On one hand I am sad thinking about what could have happened to her, where she could be or worse yet...run over by a car. But on the other hand, I am pissed that she would run away from such a good situation. She got fed twice a day, loved on some of the time, soft bed to sleep on and her litter box scooped for her. I sort of feel like, go if you want to go. She has done this twice before and somehow found her way back. We will see if she makes it back this time. If she does come back, she is in for it. I will be de-worming her and micro chipping her ass!

Round up on the Range

We spent the morning at Round up on the Range put on by the city of McKinney. It was at a park near by and we thought it was really fun. It made us feel like we were back in North Carolina with the leaves turning, 70 degree weather, breeze in the air, and hills all over the park. There was definitely a Texas theme with an indoor show with a dog that was friends with the famous Skidboot. There was covered wagons cooking lots of goodies that you could eat if you purchased a ticket for 15 dollars. I still smell like some kind of smoked meat. There was a section that had Indian folk music and dancing. Pat Lobb Toyota was setting a Guinness world record with 254 people in the largest hayride ever. It had 7 trailers the truck was towing.

We had some kettle corn and ate our picnic lunch that we threw together this morning. Logan enjoyed the bounce house and the live music. Lucas and Logan both danced a little to the country music. There was face painting, pony rides, petting zoo, tepee to climb in and a few games to participate in. Most of all, the weather was beautiful. I am sure the fall is my favorite time of year.

Hola, Mexico was fabulous

The hotel lobby in my new dress from Black House White Market

Me after a margarita and 3 martinis

E at the swim up pool, we are more beach people so did not spend much time here.
Nicose salad at the French restaurant
A nice evening on the beach
Our last night at the Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda

Five days away from reality was wonderful. E got us upgraded on the flight so we flew business class both ways. It was fabulous. We got a quick shuttle in a van to our resort and were the first ones to be dropped off. We were given a cold towel, greeted with a welcome drink, told "welcome home" and were promptly shown around the sprawling resort. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and spent some time on the 1/2 mile long stretch of beach they had and then checked out the huge swimming pool. We could not even see from one end to the other.

Eric and I had delicious, several course, gourmet dinners every night. We ate at the Mexican, Japanese and French restaurants for dinner. We enjoyed everything they served. Some of our meals were shrimp with mushroom risotto, tequila shrimp, jicama salad, beef and chicken satay, shrimp chuba soup, beef teriyaki, shrimp with soba noodles, quiche Lorraine, french onion soup, nicose salad, sea bass, scallops, chocolate mousse with grand marnier, chicken with mole sauce and grouper. Those were just the dinners. All of the portions were small but we liked it that way so that we were able to try so many different things. For breakfast and most lunches we had the buffet. It was more than any standard buffet I have been to. There were so many choices for people from Europe, to the US to the Latin dishes.

In addition to eating we had lots of fabulous drinks. My favorite was the chocolate martini and the white chocolate mint martini. We actually left a tip for those. I drank 12 drinks while I was there and Eric had 26. We also watched their nightly entertainment in an open air theater with bar included. Everywhere we turned there was a bar. The shows that we saw were Grease, Latin dancing, Vegas night and a fire show outdoors. We went dancing in their discotheque two of the nights. We took naps every day so that we were able to make it up past 9 pm. E and I took a stretching on the beach class twice, water aerobics class. We played against each other in a 6 on 6 volleyball game. Eric played boccie ball on the beach, we took a bike tour around the huge resorts complex, play each other in several games of pool and ping pong. We made guacamole and learned Spanish in a cooking/Spanish class. We walked up and down the beach for exercise, to look for beautiful shells and to search for sea creatures in the resorts tide pools.

The weather was in the 80s the whole time during the day. It would drop in the 70s at night. We had some beautiful sunny days and some rainy ones. There were lots of mosquitoes but somehow we only ended up with a few bites.

I enjoyed our trip very much. It was much fancier than our honeymoon was. We missed the kids but knew they were having a great time with G-ma and G-pa at home. E and I sort of pretended that we did not have kids most of the time. We actually found lots of other things to talk about. If anyone is wondering, the name of the resort is Valentin Imperial Maya. It is about 30 minutes south of Cancun. It is adult only, all inclusive (even tips) and you get the feeling that they will do anything to make you happy. It is a new resort and will probably raise their prices in the future. I am so happy that we took this trip and spent some time on our marriage. It was great to feel like newlyweds again!

cockroaches and bird poop

I had a very busy but strange day today. We ran around from the time we got up at 7:20 until we went to bed tonight. Drop off at school, stay to talk to the school administrator, get blood work drawn across town, fill front tires with air, home to do vacuuming, dishes, and filing papers, out to lunch with friends, to the mall. Now this is where it starts to get strange. I went to the ladies bathroom upstairs in our local mall. I saw and killed 3 cockroaches of varying sizes while I was in the restroom. I don't know if they just sprayed the food court and they were all retreating to the bathroom area or maybe they normally have cockroaches all over the place but I was thoroughly disgusted.

Lucas and I walked around the mall for a while after that. I don't know if this is just our mall but I am getting so fed up of being hassled by the people working at the kiosks in the center of the mall. They are getting to be too forceful and rude. It really brings down my shopping experience. I just told they lady I am not interested in her lavender scented hot pad, go into a store for three minutes, then get hassled by her again as I am leaving the store. LOOK LADY, I DON'T NEED YOUR CRAP!

Then Lucas and I are leaving and walking through a parking garage. I feel something hard hit me. I scream and quickly brush off my nose and realize that a large bird that must have been up in the rafters pooped all over my face. I am really disgusted now. I am seriously about to gag with bird poop on my hand and my nose. I had a large box of wipes in the car and I take a quick wipes bath and use hand sanitizer on my hands. Seriously, what the hell are the chances of a random bird timing it perfectly to get me right in the face. A girlfriend of mine told me it is good luck if a bird poops on you. Maybe I should start playing the lottery.

accidents happen

The boys and I headed over to the library after naps today. We had books that were overdue that needed to be returned. And if I have to read one of our own books again I will go insane. We were having a great time. Lucas had his 4th poopy diaper of the day and I was worried the diaper might not hold it in (if you know what I mean). We headed over to the restrooms. I don't know if some other people kids have this problem but my children had always hated the changing thing that hangs from the wall. They must feel like they are going to fall because it wiggles. I forgot to bring wipes so I had to wet some paper towels before I started. I asked Logan if he needed to go to the potty and then started changing Lucas. I was in mid-wipe and Logan announces he really needed to go to the potty. I can't see him because the pottys are around the corner but I hear him jumping and doing some crazy pee pee dance. He starts screaming and screeching at the top of his lungs. While I am still elbow deep in poop with Lucas screaming and crying I calmly tell him to go ahead and pee pee in the potty. I swear if anyone came in at that moment they probably would have thought they needed to call CPS on me due to all of the wild noises coming from my children. At one point I actually started to giggle because I truthfully did not know what else to do.

Logan still has a hard time getting his pants down when he needs to go to the potty quickly so I usually do it for him and put him on the potty. Logan is still screeching at the top of his lungs then it turns to sobs. I finally finish wrestling Lucas on the changing table and walk around the corner to find Logan with a large pile of pee on the tile floor. I console him and clean up the floor. We quickly check out books and I tell Logan that we have to go home because he has pee pee on his pants. I drive home with Logan naked from the waist down and Lucas in his diaper. I guess I should still keep an extra change of clothes in the car but Logan hasn't had an accident for months now. Lesson learned....accidents happen. We didn't get to go to the mall afterward like I had hoped.

feeling a little nostalgic

E is gone to Singapore. I am home with the kids for five days but I am in a remarkably happy mood. I can cope with anything because I am going on a vacation with my husband in less than a week. It will be like we are newlyweds again. We can pretend that we don't have any responsibilities. We can listen to each other without interruptions, rekindle our marriage and enjoy each other's company. I am so excited!

This makes me feel a little nostalgic. I will tell a little bit about our meeting and how our relationship began.

I was living with two roommates who happened to be male and brothers. One of my roommates was E's roommate in college. He grew up with E, went to high school with him and was a neighbor down the street. My roommate, Todd, got back in touch with E and they decided to rekindle their friendship. E came to visit Todd and stayed at our apartment. At the time I was working at Duke University's hospital laboratory on 3rd shift. I had worked the night before, slept and was baking anything I could think of. I loved to cook and my roommates liked to eat. I think I made cinnamon rolls from scratch, dessert pizza and rice krispie treats.

I was kind of excited to have a visitor stay with us and watched him on our TV as he pulled up to our front entry of our apartment complex. You had to buzz your guests through the gate and you could see them on our TV. As soon as I saw him on the TV I thought "I think I am in trouble!" He walked into our apartment and I was already interested. I was introduced to him and then he saw all of the desserts that I had made. He has always loved desserts and I think that is when I caught his attention. Thankfully, my roommates wanted to include me in the days festivities. We went to the North Carolina state fair then out to some bars afterwards. I think the guys stayed up watching some movie and I excused myself to my room. The next morning Eric left and I did not get to say goodbye. I called my Mom later in the day and told her that I would move to Hickory, NC for that guy. She knew that I must really like him if I was telling her my possible plans to move. After a few more visits we had gotten pretty serious. E traveled frequently and I worked 3rd shift for 10 days straight in a row. So we would go for long stretches without seeing one another. I would cry most of my 3.5 hour drive home from a visit with E. Eventually, I rented a one bedroom apartment in Hickory and found a new job so I could be closer to E. Around one year later he proposed to me on a beach as the sun was rising. I was on a cloud and couldn't be happier. We were married one year later and the rest is history.

It was such a romantic and exciting start to our love affair. It will be so nice to go away by ourselves and get to pretend we are newly married again.

Nature walk and craft

This morning we had a nature walk and craft with our neighborhood Moms group. We had a nice turnout and a fun time. Thankfully, E was home this morning because I don't think I would have had everything ready if he wasn't there to help with the kids.

The plan was to walk from my house to the new hike/bike path, collect nature things along the way, and make a craft at our new park that has a pavilion with our rocks, leaves and sticks. I made caterpillars out of peanut butter, oatmeal and dry milk powder the night before and brought the things to make mini bagel birds nests (keeping with our nature theme). They had cream cheese, shredded wheat and raisins for the eggs on them.

I think it was fun and the children seemed to enjoy it. Lucas is still a little too young to enjoy something like this but the three and four year olds really seemed to like making a craft. The best part about it was not having to worry about a mess. I am sure the birds and squirrels will enjoy our crumbs that we left.

lovely, UTI

Off to CareNow I went this morning. This is my third UTI ever but of course it had to happen on a weekend. I love CareNow. It is so great to sign in online, all of my info is available on their website, have them call me and tell me when would be a good time for me to show up. I came in, signed on paper, waited for 5 minutes, then was seen. It is very efficient. Hopefully 7 days of macrobid will clear this up. Definitely want to avoid this scenario before our upcoming trip to Mexico.

So exhausted

I have not had the energy or enthusiasm to blog in the last week. I feel exhausted. I have been napping while there is quiet time in our household.

News in our household

Lucas is now weaned. It has been 16 months of breastfeeding for him. Although I have made my desires of him weaning known, I still feel sad and a little guilty for weaning him. He has been asking every day since last friday. Tomorrow will be a week since he last nursed. I don't know if it is the thought of never breastfeeding a baby again, losing that closeness and quiet time with Lucas or the hormones that must be changing by the weaning that are making me have such mixed emotions.

I got my results from my chest and neck CT scans. There is no mass that looks like cancer in my neck. It is an inflammed Carotid artery. I do not know the cause or how long it will be inflammed. I am taking Aleve for 7-10 days to decrease the inflammation and pain. If it does not go away with n0n-steroidal anti-imflammatories then I will get tested further and maybe take steroids like a low dose of prednisone. The chest CT scan saw a couple more nodules in my right lung and possibly one enlarged lymph node. The radiologist could not say if it was just the way I am vs. enlarged node. This means I need to go back in six months for another chest CT scan and then once a year after that.

I went to a physical therapist today for an evaulation for my right sided abdominal pain that has been going on for over a year. I really like her and I think she may have found my problem. She thinks that I am out of alignment and my hip flexor muscle is having spasms having to overcompensate. It is all due to pregnancy and my weakened core muscles. I will go back to get lots of exercises to help. She will even give me exercises to help the stomach muscles pull back together that separate with pregnancy. If this works I will kiss this lady. I can't believe it could be this simple. The bad news is she is out of network with our insurance.

Logan is in some kind of hitting his brother stage. I hope it will end soon because I don't know how much more I can take of it. Poor Lucas gets his head banged against the window, face slapped, pushed and smacked on the head. Time outs, telling him "hands to yourself", and even a spanking two nights ago have not helped. I put him to bed without reading a book at 6:15 because he was being so mean to Lucas. Logan is getting plenty of attention so I don't think that is the cause. Not reading a book before bed is a huge disappointment for Logan so I hope that might make him rethink before he hauls off and hits Lucas. I hope this is a stage. Thankfully he does not do this at school because I get glowing reports about him. It is just his brother he is supposed to love.

That's our news for now. I hate it has been so long.

Happy Birthday

Since E is going to be out of town for his birthday this week, we celebrated on Saturday. We gave him Halloween decorations and another brand of the "magic bullet". His sister sent Planet Earth DVD set. I made a nice dinner of shrimp with feta cheese over Rigatoni, broccoli and salad with chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. The kids only ate the dessert.

My cheepo cake out of the box. The kids don't care what kind they eat and at least I won't feel bad throwing away this 3 dollar cake after the initial birthday cake cutting.

E thought I was being so fancy with my made from scratch dinner for him. In this picture I was igniting the brandy to pour over the shrimp. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? Actually this is a dish I have been making since college and it is not hard at all. I love this meal and thankfully so does E. Happy Birthday my sweet husband!

Logan and gymnastics

In our area there are many different gymnastics gyms to choose from. This is the county where Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin are from. This is gymnastics country. All of the gyms seem to offer a free trial class for your child. I have been wanting to put Logan in some kind of class for a while. On Wednesday, we tried it out.
This is why I have not taken the initiative to sign Logan up for a class yet. Lucas was not thrilled with sitting around with me and watching Logan having all of the fun. The snacks kept him occupied for about 30 minutes and the last 20 minutes were very challenging.

Logan loves to imitate and play follow the leader. He is a pleaser and want to make his teachers happy. He was very serious about paying attention and doing everything the teacher asked him to do.

The boys salute like this and the girls salute like the teacher. There were only three kids in the class. There were two girls and Logan.

Logan getting ready for his ASI gymnastics instruction. It was fun observing him in a class. I have never really gone to observe him in his preschool classes. He really did well following directions and the teacher told me so after class. He liked it but did not love it. I don't know if I will sign him up for weekly classes or not. There might be something out there that he would love to learn...karate, swimming, music class, Spanish, reading? Anyways, it was fun to take a free class and I enjoyed watching him.