Carter Gets A Shiner And Counts To Ten!

Yesterday, the boys were chasing each other around the house and Carter ran smack into the couch with his face. He cried for a good 4 to 5 minutes and then was ok. Poor guy got a huge shiner right below his left eye and I tried to get a good picture of it, but it just doesn't do it justice. Oh well, one of the many shiners I suppose he'll get throughout his childhood!
Also, Carter can count to 10! One day last week I heard him mumbling something and after listening really closely, I realized he was trying to count. I suppose he's hearing Jackson count and just picked it up b/c it's definitely not something we've been teaching him. Here's a video of my little genius. He missed "5" in the video, but you get the idea :-)



One other note, we have taken Carter's "binky" away from him during the day and only let him have it in his bed during nap and night-time. Granted, this is only the second day of this and it's been a little rough - especially since he can say "binky", we hear it quite often. He's also a little fussier which is to be expected since his pacifier always calmed him. I figured I should just go ahead and bite the bullet since he'll be going to Mother's Day Out in a month and I don't want him walking around with it all day. I DID give it to him after his head-on collision with the couch, though...poor baby needed to be comforted! Hey, baby steps :-)

Here's just a random pic of the boys, but I figured I needed to include Jackson in this post too :-)

Busted!

Every now and then, when I'm in the boys' bathroom, I catch a whiff of something not so pleasant. So, I look around to see if something is causing the foul odor and then I just dismiss it since little boys don't have the greatest aim. He has to miss sometimes...that's probably what the smell is. The weird thing is that I always smell it when I'm getting them ready for their bath and running the bath water. The toilet is right next to their tub, and again, little boys miss, right?

So, we get home from school today and Jackson has to go to the bathroom. After a couple of seconds I hear a splash and know that can't be good. I open the door to find Jackson peeing in the bathtub!!! on top of his washrag!!! in the middle of all of his bath toys!!! Gross!!! And to think I have been bathing them in the tub that he's been peeing in!!! Needless to say, a decontamination is desperately needed so I guess I'll get to work.

Note: Don't just assume little ones are peeing in the toilet once they are potty trained! And to think that I was only worried about him missing the toilet. Why didn't I think to check the bathtub :-) Live and learn!!!

My Baby's 4!

I can't believe that Jackson is 4 years old. It feels like the time has just flown by at lightning speed and yet, I can't imagine (and hardly remember) what life was like without him. Right after we had Jackson, people would always ask me, "Can you even remember what life was like without him?" And I always thought "uh, yeah I remember! I actually had a life that didn't revolve around another little being! Yes, I remember!" I never understood why people always asked that. Anyways, now I can honestly say that I can hardly recall what life was like when it was just David and me. 4 of the 7 (almost 8) years we have been married, Jackson has been in our lives. Of course it was wonderful when it was just the two of us, but now we have these two little people running around making us smile and laugh. We really are so blessed.

Happy birthday Jackson! Thanks for filling our home and hearts with so much love and joy!!! We love you more than you'll ever know.

Sorry for the sappiness (is that even a word?) but I thought his birthday blog deserved a little sap!

This "Mommy" Thing

It seems to be really weird timing, but since David's been out of commission for a while, I really feel like I've gotten the hang of this "mommy" thing. (I know I'm going to regret saying that and today I'll have a totally horrible day and then come on here and blog about it!) Anyways, back to my point, maybe it's the fact that I've been the sole care-taker for over a month, but I find myself getting less frustrated and overwhelmed which is strange because I figured that it would be completely the opposite. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still times that I'd like to pull every single hair out of my head, but those instances are far less frequent. It could be due to a few things. The boys are playing a lot more with each other which is nice to at least be able to unload the dishwasher or put in a load of laundry without a "helper" at my feet. We've been able to get to the swimming pool a few times (which Jackson loves and Carter hates). We've kind of gotten into a daily routine since summer began and we can count on the weather to be consistent...scorching HOT!!! It usually consists of walking to the park in the morning and then having lunch, then nap and then either pool, errands or playtime, then dinner, bath, etc. I know lots of people that just fly by the seat of their pants and don't have any sort of schedule, but I keep my sanity by having one and I think the boys like it as well. We have always kept the boys on a pretty regular routine including nap times and bed time. As soon as we could get Carter on Jackson's schedule we did it and it helped so much! Although I mentioned that they boys are playing a lot together and having so much fun, this also means that they are fighting over toys and TRAINS. Oh, the TRAINS! We have a new rule, if Jackson wants to play with the trains without Carter interfering (which is always), he has to go to his room and shut the door. Otherwise, it's a neverending battle and screams and yelling can be heard down the street. Those darn trains!!! It's so funny, when Jackson's at school, Carter will take all the trains and gather them up and carry them around as if he thinks someone is going to take them away. I can't imagine where he would get that idea!

Although I said that David has been out of commission, he has really been able to help out a little more this last week or so. He got up with the boys the last 2 Sundays. He can't change any diapers, but he was able to feed them breakfast and I got to sleep a little later which was very nice. Sadly, I think the hardest part of the day is getting up in the mornings. It's taken a while to get used to getting up every morning with the boys since David and I usually switch off mornings. Every other day one of us sleeps in until 8 while the other one gets up with the kiddos. I know, I'm spoiled! But, this is how we have always done it and it really is wonderful! David's like that though. When the boys were waking up in the night for a feeding when they were babies, we would always rotate shifts and every other night he would get the middle of the night feeding and THEN go to work! Yep, I have it pretty good!

I know I said that mornings are rough (although I'm pretty used to it now), but bedtime has gotten a bit stressful as well. Carter has decided that he wants nothing to do with bedtime. He wants to stay up and party like a rock star. He went thru this phase when he was about 13 months old, but then it ended. Well, it's now back with a vengeance. The other night he was up until 9:30 after trying to put him down at 8:15, 8:45 and then 9pm. We would get the screaming child out of bed and then bring him back into the living room to watch a movie, which is what we usually do before bedtime to calm them down. Well, after 3 times of doing this, we thought "DUH!" Why would he want to go to bed when he gets to come out here and watch movies if he cries??? So, now we have been laying him down at around 8:15 and then letting him cry for a bit (which never gets easier to hear might I add) and he only cries for a minute or 2 now before falling asleep. He has gone as long as 30 minutes though. He throws his pacifiers out of his crib so after he falls asleep I have to ever so quietly go in there and put them back in his bed so he doesn't wake up. It's pretty comical now that I think about it. I open the door and then shut it and then get on my hands and knees raking the floor with my hands looking for his 2 or 3 binkies in pitch black. Yes, he sleeps with multiple binkies in case he loses one in the night over the edge of the crib :-)

Ok, I think I'm done rambling!!! Here are a few pics and a video of Jackson singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". I was shocked at how well he stayed on key!

Stay tuned for birthday party pics. Jackson's birthday is Thursday, the 17th and his party is this Sunday. Big 4 year old!!!

Back After a Blogging Break

Note to self: Never take a break from blogging! I have no idea where to begin!

First of all, let me update on David. He has been back at work for about a week and a half. He is still in a considerable amount of pain off and on - especially during the night. He doesn't have to use a walker (he actually only used that for about the first week or so) and will wear a back brace for the next 8 weeks. It is a very slow process, but hopefully it will be one that he will look back on and be thankful that he went through. We should see a great deal of improvement in the coming months.

Now, on to Jackson and Carter. They have been quite the little characters lately. I feel like I always say that, but they just constantly do things to crack us up! I posted on an earlier date about how they love to run around the living room like wild children after they have their pj's on. It's like it's their cue to gear up for craziness. Anyways, their newest thing is to get their hooded towels from the bathroom and put them on their heads and pretend to be super-heroes. Jackson usually prefers the Lightning McQueen superhero towel and Carter sports Mickey Mouse, The Superhero. Carter is so cute when he comes up to me and asks for his towel. In his cute little voice he'll say "hewo" (as in "hero") and point to the towel.

We are gearing up for Jackson's big birthday. We will have a small family get-together for his actual party and then next Wednesday we're going to have some of his friends help him celebrate at our neighborhood pool. I can't believe he's going to be 4! I feel like I'm going to blink and Carter will be 2!

Also, I decided not to go back to work in the fall after all. I know, I'm so wishy-washy. But, the truth is, the closer it came time for me to actually go back to work, I decided it might not be so much fun after all :-) By the way, did I mention that both boys will be in Mother's Day Out 3 days a week starting in Sep? I think those 3 days may have been what changed my mind :-) I know there is so much more to catch up on, but for now, I'll just leave you with pictures. The video at the end is a glimpse of the superheroes in action.