Lately

So, I'm a terrible blogger. I think we established that a long time ago. I just thought I would post a quick update as to what's been going on around here.

Last Friday, I took both of the boys in for checkups at the doctor. It was Garrett's 5 year checkup and Cooper's 15 month checkup. Everything went well beyond arguing a bit with our doctor over flu shots. We don't get them, he thinks we should. That's the gist of it. Cooper still had to get 2 shots, unrelated to the flu, but Garrett didn't have to get any. Garrett is about 44 inches tall (if they measured him, they didn't tell me how tall he was. So that is just from a height chart that they have in the exam room.) and 38 pounds. He's still my tall bean pole. Cooper is 31 inches and a few ounces short of 24 pounds. He's 50th percentile for height and 45th for weight. Which is so funny to me because Garrett has always been 85-95th percentile for height and barely 10th for weight.

Either the shots or teething (or a random bug) gave Cooper diarrhea beginning Friday afternoon and ending yesterday. We're still dealing with a yucky diaper rash as a result. Because of his "issues," Keith stayed home with him yesterday morning while Garrett and I went to church. This would end up being a very bad thing.

As I was backing out of our driveway, I hit Keith's truck with my SUV. Awesome. I've never done anything like that before (if you don't count kind of rear-ending someone in the high school parking lot when I was a junior. But that didn't do any damage to either vehicle.) I actually went on to church before telling Keith because I was dreading it. I knew he would be really upset because keeping our vehicles looking nice is important to him. We just spent a good bit of money fixing his truck where someone had backed into it awhile back and they didn't have any insurance. Thankfully I didn't do any damage to his truck, but got a nice little dent in my SUV.

Once I got home from church, I immediately went in and told Keith what happened. Partly because he would see it as soon as he went into the garage and partly because I knew if I wasn't the first one talking, Garrett would have immediately blurted out "Momma hit your truck!" And that wouldn't have looked good. Keith thought I was joking, but of course I wasn't. He spent some time outside looking over the vehicles and then sweeping the garage (in order to calm down, I'm sure.) But ultimately he was really nice and forgiving about the whole thing. Of course it was completely an accident, but I wasn't paying attention so it was totally my fault. Thankfully it looks like we might be able to do paintless dent removal rather than having to take it to a body shop and have it fixed and painted. It will cost less this way, plus it will be fast and probably look better in the long run.

During the time when I was at church, I taught Garrett's SS class. His teacher was out and the other Pre-K teacher was out as well, so I had both pre-k classes combined. But thankfully that only ended up being about 12 4-5 year olds. It's such an interesting age. I got to hear lots of "our teacher doesn't do it that way!" and "I wanted to be line-leader!" sob sob sob. Surprisingly enough (or not), both were from my child. I hope he's much better, behavior wise, with his regular teacher than he was for me.

We are enjoying the nice finally-fall weather down here. Yesterday and today's highs were only in the 70's!! I sat in the driveway while the boys played yesterday afternoon and Keith mowed the yard. I also managed to trim the boys hair while we were out there. It's so much easier to do that outside than it is inside. I didn't use my electric clippers this time, I'm trying to let their hair grow out just a little, so all I did was trim around their ears and neckline.

This morning, we did our weekly grocery trip and I learned a new trick. We used one of the carts that has the extra kids' seating on it. (I hope that makes sense, there's a spot for 2 additional kids and they sit facing the child that might be sitting in the regular cart seat.) Garrett sat in the bigger kid seat and Cooper sat where he always does in the front of the cart. Doing it this way, they were facing each other which meant that Cooper was much better than he normally is. Who knew? Though pushing that cart through Walmart was a bit like driving an 18 wheeler, I think we'll try it again next week. Cooper did manage to get a hold of a box of Ritz and ripped the barcode right off of it (thankfully I found that piece and the lady was able to check it rather than having to call for price check resulting in everyone behind me in line forming a lynch mob.) But that's much better than throwing a dozen eggs on the ground, breaking half of them.

And now you are caught up on us. Minus pictures of course. While I do take pictures somewhat regularly, I'm just not great at getting them over here. I apologize for that!

15 Months

Yesterday, Cooper "turned" 15 months old. He's really changing a lot lately and learning all kinds of new things. I just wanted to jot some of this down for my own personal record.

•Since starting school, he has taken 2 naps on his napmat. The first one was an hour long and the second was a little over an hour and a half. I seriously cannot believe he's been doing this with little problem. One Thursday when I'm not quite as busy, I have to sneak down to his room during naptime and get a quick picture of him doing this. There's actually quite a few things that he's been doing at school that makes him seem so grown up, that I would also love to catch on camera. I may have to sneakily follow him around one day and get some pictures. I must say Cooper's first year of MDO has started off 100 times better than Garrett's did. Though I have felt guilty about starting him so young, that may turn out to be a good thing.

*He walks all the time now. He still has a bit of the "frankenstein" look to his walk, but he's pretty steady and has no problem bending down, picking something up, and carrying it around while he walks. He hasn't taken to running just yet and surprisingly he really hasn't tried to climb much yet. He was attempting more climbing when he was still crawling than he is now. Though the other morning when I went to get him out of bed, he had one leg hiked up trying to sling it over the side of the crib in order to attempt an escape. Thankfully that side of the crib will raise up a few more inches if we need it to, so he should be contained for awhile longer.

•He has been sleeping terribly lately. I'm assuming it's teeth, but who really knows. He's relatively cheerful during the day so I don't quite understand why his teeth only bother him at night. But he's typically up for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours almost every night. It's loads of fun. I've found myself sleeping through some of his crying because I'm so tired. Keith always hears him though. One of us usually goes into his room after he's been crying for 10-15 minutes (to try and give him time to go back to sleep if he will) and we check to be sure he's not sick or stuck somehow or without a pacifier. So far none of that has been the case. I've tried a multitude of things to see if anything would remedy the situation. Putting him down in less clothes, putting him down in more clothes, turning on his ceiling fan, turning off his ceiling fan, turning on a nightlight, turning off the nightlight. Nothing has helped. I assume it's a phase that will eventually be outgrown.

•He's starting to say quite a few things. This is surprising to me because Garrett was a late talker. He didn't say much until he turned 2 and after that. Cooper says the following somewhat regularly: here, hi, bye, eat, all done, more, momma, daddy, night night, go, bath. I also hear him copying words that we say randomly. His teacher told me the other day he said "here it is" at school very plainly.

•He also understands a lot. I can say "it's time to eat" and he walks over to his highchair. If I say "it's bath time" he walks to the bathroom door. If I say "it's time to go night night" he walks to his room. (That's not to say he goes to bed happily. He always cries for 30 seconds to a minute after I put him down for a nap or for bed. He must let me know he's not ok with this, even if he's cooperating.) If I ask him if he needs his diaper changed, he lifts his shirt with one hand and pats his bottom with the other. Sometimes he will just do that if I haven't asked him if I need to change him and I know that he needs a new diaper.

•On the negative side, he's really aggressive. He throws things, he hits (so far no one but our family. I hope he doesn't start hitting other kids.), he throws fits (laying on his stomach and kicking his legs type of fits), he screams and yells when he's mad or frustrated. A funny story related to this: last Saturday our family went to eat lunch at Texas Roadhouse. We love eating there. It's always really loud so I don't worry about our boys disturbing other people since we can barely hear each other. I had given Cooper some pieces of a roll to snack on while we waited for our food. Keith and I each had a Coke we were drinking plus a new cup of Coke that the waitress had brought to us. Cooper had been throwing things, so I had taken everything away from him except for the bread. He picked up 2 pieces of bread and threw them in Keith's direction. One landed in Keith's current cup of Coke and the other landed in Keith's new cup of Coke. I have to confess that we both just busted up laughing (which I know is terrible, but it struck as so funny.) Of course a little bit later, he picks up a bigger piece of bread and throws it at Garrett, hitting him in the head. I have a feeling we will be cutting back on our eating out pretty soon because of him. (We only eat out once or twice a week as it is, but that may drop to once or twice a month.)

Lastly I had to share another funny story. Yesterday, the boys and I ate lunch at Cici's with a friend of mine and her son. We were done eating, the 2 older boys were in the game room playing video games and she and I were talking. Cooper was playing with a Spiderman action figure. I looked down at the table and he has Spiderman laying down on his back, with a cracker under his head as a pillow and a napkin over his legs as a blanket. I laughed so hard that I cried.

5 Years

(I started this right after Garrett's birthday last month, but I'm just now getting around to finishing it.)

Dear Garrett,

You are now 5 years old. I can't hardly believe it, but you've been telling me your age constantly so it must be true. You are most definitely the light of my life (alongside your dad and your brother of course). Some of the things you tell me just blow me away. I'm always in awe of what you know and what you've learned. You don't talk about kindergarten much, but I can say that I'm not quite ready for you to start yet. I'm pretty sure you'll love it though. You enjoy most opportunities to spend time with other kids your age and you love to learn (most of the time.)

Here's what you're up to lately:

•You weigh about 40 pounds and you're roughly 45 inches tall.

•You have taken to biting your fingernails lately. I'm not sure why.

•You're at the beginning stages of loving sports. You seem to be a lefty with throwing a ball, but you do pretty much everything else with your right hand.

•You're very competitive and do NOT like to lose. I'm trying to get it through to you that "it's just a game" but you're not buying it.

•While you have your moments of inability to sit still, you're finally showing me that you can sit still when necessary. We went to our first story hour Wednesday morning at the library and you did really well sitting still while the librarian read 3 (3!? Really? These are preschoolers. That seemed way too many.) books. You even contributed to the conversation when appropriate (and you would have just kept on talking if I didn't shush you.)

•You are a great brother. Rather than arguing with me over the fact that Cooper is your brother, like you used to, you now tell me I can't do or say certain things to Cooper because "he's my brother". It's nice to see brotherly love going on, but you're learning quickly that your argument isn't going to get you far with me.

•The other night at church, a boy in your class ripped your "scroll" that you had made. (This boy was very proud of this and made sure to come up and tell me that he ripped your scroll when I picked you up...) You really surprised me by acting as if it was no big deal. I was so proud of you for not crying about it or throwing a fit or hitting the other boy for doing it (I was kinda tempted on the last one, I will admit.)

•Your handwriting is getting better all of the time. You can write almost all of the letters, legibly, and you like to practice writing our names.

•You are very determined to learn how to tie your shoes soon. You want to practice a lot, but so far it just results in a big knot.

You are such a great kid. Always willing to help out. Very much a "rule-follower" (when you're of a mind to do so.)

We love you so much!

First Day of School

Today was the boys' first day of school. Insert first day of school pictures here. (I promise I'll post them later.) Yes, I dressed them in matching outfits for their first day. (You know you were dying to know that.)

The first day of school pictures almost didn't happen. I looked everywhere for my camera and couldn't find it anywhere. My cell phone takes really bad pictures, so my only other option was a 35 mm camera (which is, incidentally, out of film). I called Keith asking him if he had any idea where the camera might be and he didn't know. Finally I found it on our kitchen countertop, which is not a place I normally put it. I took a couple of mediocre pictures (Cooper was not cooperating) and then we left 5 minutes later than we should have.

When we pulled into the parking lot, the skies opened up and it started flooding. (Thank you Hurricane Hermine...) So I got to wade in 5 inches of water, back and forth, with, first, an armfull of backpacks and lunchboxes, set them on a bench in a covered walkway leading up to our church. Came back out to the car, grabbed 2 bags of school supplies that never made it to "Meet the Teacher" last week, took them to sit on the bench. Then finally walked back to the car for the boys. Don't worry, the car was only about 10 feet from the end of the covered walkway so I wasn't leaving them to make these treks. But I was wading in water the entire time I was going back and forth. Not to mention trying to juggle an umbrella. And did I mention I was wearing close-toed shoes and jeans, rather than my usual capri pants and flipflops? That made it even better.

Thankfully the drop off went pretty smoothly. And I was headed up to the church office in no time. I was able to get a good amount of work done in a couple of hours and then I headed out to run a few child-free errands. My pantlegs were still wet at this point, by the way. Before I left the church, I peaked in on the boys. I have to tell you that Cooper looked so cute sitting at the table eating his lunch like a big kid. I had to giggle a couple of times while sneaking a peak at him through the window in the door.

After my errands, I swung back by the church and picked up Cooper. I didn't want his teacher to have to suffer through naptime if I could avoid it. That won't be the case every day, but since I was free today, I picked him up and took him home for a nap. I was able to eat my lunch in peace and quiet and even catch up on watching the news and reading a book. Cooper woke up at just the right time for us to head back to the church to pick up Garrett.

Both of the boys had great days. Garrett got to be lineleader for the day which he was thrilled about. He behaved himself and did a good job participating. I think he's the oldest in his class, so I hope he's setting a good example for the other kids. Cooper's teacher said he did great. She couldn't believe that he ate everything I sent for his lunch. What can I say, he's a big eater! She said he did not appreciate the other kids attempting to hold his hand or "baby" him in any way. That doesn't surprise me at all. (He is the youngest in his class, so I'm sure the others think he is a baby.) She sent home his "colorsheet" which was cute. He had scribbled a little with a purple crayon. Now my main concern is when he does have to nap there. On Thursdays, I work a longer day, so I may not be able to pick him up until 2 (which is when school ends) so hopefully their naptime won't be too crazy.

The best part of the day was the staff members who made a quick pass through the hallway where the boys were to see Cooper at "school" and then coming back to report to me how he was doing. They would say "He looks so cute sitting at that table with his paci in his mouth!" It's nice when other people care about your kids.

Garrett's 5th Birthday

Today is Garrett's birthday. And not just any birthday, but his 5th birthday. Half-way to 10, birthday. One year from kindergarten, birthday. It's funny how fast that time seems to fly when you look back over it from this vantage point. But in the beginning, it feels as if your child will never outgrown this stage or that phase. And you'll forever be cursed with a child who plays in their poop (or some other crazy phase that you just have to suffer through with some kids.)

Garrett is smart, loving, loyal, friendly, talkative, stubborn, cautious, persistent, crazy kid. It's awesome to think of how much kids learn over a very short time-span and how firmly developed his personality already is.

I have many stories about him that I want to share. However, we've had a very busy weekend full of partying and presents, cupcakes and little sleep, so I'll share the stories later and just stick with pictures for now.

This year, for the first time, we had a "friend" birthday party. We've always just stuck with family parties and invited one couple who we are good friends with (and they have a son who is close to Garrett's age.) But this year I figured Garrett has some pretty well-developed friendships so it would be fun to invite some of those friends to a party. We had it at a local kids' gymnastics facility and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure how many people to expect at the party because I limited the number of invitations we sent out. While Garrett is a people person and loves doing things with his friends, he's not a huge fan of big crowds, so I didn't see any point in overwhelming him with every friend he knows. We sent out 10 invitations to friends of Garrett's from school and church and everyone came except for one. I was really surprised by the turnout, but it was great.

Here are a few of the pictures from the party.

Things that Stay at Home Moms Would Like You To Know

I've read a lot of different articles based on the "Things that .... wish you knew" so I thought I would take a stab at one for SAHM (stay at home moms). This will NOT be an all-encompassing list. Some of the things I list, certainly do not apply to all SAHM and I know there will be things I neglect that others would have the top of their list. I'm also not writing this as a complaint, just an observance after having been a SAHM for a little over 4 years now.

•Our husbands' don't make loads of money, therefore allowing us to stay at home. We cut back a lot in order for this to happen. I could go off on a tangent describing all the areas we cut back in, but I'll save that for another post.

•We do not sit around eating bon bon's all day. If I have a snack of any sort, I would have 2 beggars right at my feet asking for a bite. It's not worth the trouble.

•We don't sit around watching soap operas all day. If I even show an interest in turning the TV on and changing the channel to a non-animated show, there would be lots of cries of "I want to watch my show!" Again, it's not worth the trouble. If I happen upon some freetime during naptime, I might watch a show on my computer, but that's the extent of it. (And it wouldn't be a soap opera. I'm just sayin'...)

•We get asked to volunteer for a lot of different things because everyone assumes we have lots of available time on our hands. If we turn down your request, please know it's truly because we don't have the time for it. We're probably already up to our ears volunteering in other areas and really don't have the time to add anything else.

•We really don't have lots of free time during the day. Lots of time is spent doing the following: preparing meals, serving meals, cleaning up after meals, getting out toys, playing with toys, putting up toys, getting out a game, playing the game, putting up the game, discipline, time-outs, reminders of why we don't jump on the furniture, tending to bumps and scrapes from when the kids don't remember why we don't jump on the furniture, refereeing fights (yes, I'm already there and Cooper is 14 months old), reading books (sometimes many, many times on the same book), chasing toddlers, keeping toddlers out of rooms they shouldn't be in, keeping toddlers off of things they shouldn't climb on, keeping toddlers away from toys and things too small for them to play with safely, arguing with preschoolers, explaining rules and manners and basic etiquette to preschoolers, doing crafts and cleaning up after crafts with preschoolers, answering one million and one questions throughout the day. Notice I didn't even touch on housework (aside from cleaning up after meals and toys). No laundry has been done yet, no bathrooms have been cleaned, no vacuuming, dusting, mopping. Not to mention the volunteering most participate in. The errands to run. The playdates scheduled. The groceries to be bought. Our days really are full. Even if it may not seem like that's possible to some.

•Our homes are not always clean. Very, very far from it. Sometimes we contemplate hiring a housekeeper. Until we remember the fact that we don't, in fact, have any money to pay them.

•We do not have home-cooked meals every night. There are many cereal nights. Sandwich nights. Breakfast for supper nights. Fend for yourself nights.

•We don't love our children more than anyone else loves their children. We don't think we're better than working moms. We get just as stressed out with our kids as everyone else does. Maybe moreso since we rarely get a break.

•We don't constantly go and do things. I personally limit the trips we take to places like the park, zoo, museums, etc. I want them to be special experiences, not routine and expected.

Bottom line, we want people to know that we're just like everyone else who works a "real job". We don't always get a lot accomplished. Our days can be tough and hair-pulling. We sometimes question whether or not this is what we should be doing. But we continue to stay at home with our kids. Not because we don't have other options in the work place. Not because we don't want our kids around other kids. Not because we're "old-school" and think that a woman's place is at home.

But because it works best for our families.

One Year

One year from today, I will be preparing myself and Garrett for his first day of school. Laying out clothes, fixing a lunch, getting his backpack ready, stuffing Kleenex into my purse and all available pockets on whatever I will be wearing that day. Just generally rushing around, trying to make it to school on time along with everyone else.

Can I just say that I'm not ready? That typing this actually gives me great feelings of apprehension and lots of sadness? Yes, I know that's life, kids grow up, they start school, but it really does feel like this has come up on me so fast. I remember when I was teaching school, I used to silently make fun of the parents who would be seen leaving the kindergarten hallway on the first day of school in tears. I always thought those kids looked plenty big to be bringing to school and I couldn't figure out why in the world parents would be sad about this day when they knew it would eventually come. I want to go back to that old me and slap her a little.

Yesterday morning at church our pastor talked about a tradition he started with his boys where they would say a quick prayer when they dropped their boys off at school every morning while they were still in the car. He started this when his oldest son was in kindergarten. His son just recently turned 16 and will now be driving himself to school so those mornings of his dad praying for him in the school parking lot before he walked into the building are a thing of the past. Just hearing that story made me tear up a little. How ridiculous am I.

What I do plan on doing is to attempt to savor this next year. Do breakfast out on occasion, go fun places during the day while school is in session for everyone else, just generally try to soak up these remaining 364 days I have of being the main focus for my child. I will soon become someone on the sidelines along with many other someones: teachers, coaches, principals, friends. I'm just not ready for it yet.