So very thankful

I am thankful for

'big hugs' from Patrick

conversations with William

tickling monsters

chasing dragons after bathtime

vanity sizing

large beds at a crazy good deal

a husband who tells me how much he adores me

babies who like to snuggle

reading books with two boys in my lap

a good job that I enjoy

the best Daddy & (step)MOM in the world

super cool siblings 

buttercream frosting

in-laws that let us come every weekend to 'borrow' their wide open space

that there is always tomorrow.

Loves.

Need Mayo?

William and Patrick are growing up so fast.  Maybe it doesn't seem like that to you and it probably shouldn't to me since aren't the subtle changes supposed to be less noticeable if you are around them everyday... but I just can't make time stand still long enough to feel like I've adequately soaked them in.  Every time I turn around, William has improved his vocabulary, diction, something wonderful has come out of his mouth and Patrick is working on words and is just so stinking smart.  Time needs to stop.  Like yesterday.  I can't possibly remember all of this.

William said to me last week, "Mommy, Tatrick's not my best friend."  "He's not?"  "No, you're my best friend."  Oh, how my heart melts, even though one of my biggest hopes is that the boys do become best friends.  I love my sisters and my brother.  I think it's one of the greatest things - to have a sibling.  Someone who, really, knows more about your core than just about anyone.  I know my sister knows exactly what I'm thinking when something happens and we've been able to rely on each other, especially in recent years (not so much growing up - we had the typical bickery sister relationship).  And I am oh so thankful for that.  And not to leave out my other brother & sister - they totally rock too!  Love you guys!!  

Sam went to Canada for work at the beginning of last week, and in an effort to preserve what little sanity I had left, I took the boys to Family Night at Chickfila.  I figured we would survive because we were eating dinner at a crazy early hour (before 6) and they are old enough now that they can play without being helicoptered over.  I order a chicken sandwich (gasp! I know!) and a nuggets kids meal for the boys.  I'm gathering straws, napkins, ketchup, and then William is DEMANDING that I get mayonnaise.  I didn't even think he knew what it was, but he insisted that he wanted some.  Ok.  I grab the packet.  Fine.  Get to the table - he wants it opened.. Lord.  Fine.  Seriously - the kid dunked his nugget and his fries in mayonnaise.  I don't know where he learned this.  His daddy has a pretty healthy relationship with Duke's mayo, but I didn't even eat the stuff until college at the earliest.  I don't know what got into him - it was the weirdest thing!  He hasn't asked for it since, so maybe that it was a freako night....  Just strange little boys!

We had a wonderful fun time playing that night though.  William was back and forth between the table and the playground and once Patrick had eaten enough, I let him follow brother around as well.  They were so cute!  William would hold the door for Patrick and was telling everyone who would listen that this was his brother Tatrick.  I think they will be best friends after all :)  The best part was I just sat at the table munching and watching them play and have a great time with the other kids.  Nearly relaxing.

Side effect of Sam traveling is that snuggles take on a whole new meaning in the Rumer house.  Surprisingly, I got Patrick down to bed relatively easily (which I was really nervous about because Sam puts his down) but William was not having any of the bed time routine.  He wanted to snuggle.  So I snuggled.  For a long time.  Then he wanted to snuggle with me & Patrick.  Goodness.  I put that one off until about 4 am and then just brought him in the bed with both of us thinking everyone would go back to sleep, no harm no foul.  Yeah right.  Not my brightest decision.  They were both wired the minute they saw each other.  At five, I gave up and put on Mickey Mouse or Little Einsteins or something.  

The week was pretty uneventful, normal stuff.  Decided on Friday afternoon, after playing kickball at work, to go to Cleveland for the weekend.  GREAT decision!!!  Sam stayed behind, so it was just the boys and me and it was wonderful.  Super relaxing, beautiful weather, fantastic company.  I wish it was easier to go up there.  Got to have a long talk with my dad about parenting, etc. that was really eye opening and therapeutic for me.  Dads are so smart.  Or maybe I'm just really lucky.  Either way - I've got the best one.  Hopefully my kids will say the same thing about me....  I took about 500 pictures on Daddy's camera over the weekend... but then we had to leave abruptly because William was sick and getting worse, so didn't get them burned to a cd... sorry.  I think there are some really awesome ones though.

William got to ride Shake the horse, and he was SOOO excited about that!  Mima brought it up as a possibility in the morning and William wouldn't let go.  It was going to be bad if Shake didn't cooperate, but he did a great job and William was beyond excited!  So cute!  He really enjoyed feeding Jake & Shake carrots too - even got some horsey kisses from Jake, which was too funny.  

Oh - William came home with his first "homework" project. I'm not really on board with the whole concept, I think kids should be kids, etc etc... but it was kinda fun to do.  They've been reading a book about a turkey that has to hide from a farmer (based on what William has told me...) and the teachers wanted us to dress up a turkey in a disguise.  William wanted his turkey to hide as a pirate.  So, Sunday morning, I was busy tracing and cutting construction paper and making paper feathers for a pirate hat. I'm really WAY too proud of the pirate costume.  Seriously.  He has a peg leg and everything.  And really, the only part that William could be a part of was to glue the pieces together.  Well, he wasn't really in to that when he realized his hands were going to get sticky.  And so begins MOM doing his homework projects.  Oh no.  This is no good.  But - the pirate turkey is REALLY cute.  haha!

This week has been the week of sick.  We rushed home Sunday to make it to Pediatric Acute Care because William's cough was getting worse and he was throwing up because of all the drainage.  Turns out he had an ear infection.  Then Patrick's temperature spiked up to 102 that night, so we kept him home the next two days.  Then in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I started feeling icky and by 3pm I was absolutely miserable, so I left work and spent the rest of the day/night in bed and most of the day today in bed as well.  I would've sworn I had the flu yesterday I felt so bad.  Chills, aches, run over by a bus.  No fun.  But maybe now, that I don't feel quite so bad we are over the worst of it.  Though the boys are still on cough medicines and William has days left of antibiotics...  I'm living on cold pills.  So, just thinking happy unsick thoughts for us please... :)

Not a great catch up but my eyes are starting to cross and I need to go lay down again.  I'll try not to take so much time in between posts next time...

Loves.

We actually did stuff!

For once we actually had interesting things happen in our lives this week.  Granted, having a holiday midweek helps, but still.  I'm not scraping the barrel on things to say and that's nice for a change.

William was more than a little confused about why we were going Trick or Treating AGAIN on Wednesday, since we did the downtown thing over the weekend.  I tried to explain that Saturday was just for fun and that Halloween was really on Wednesday.  "It's Calloween?"  Yes baby.  Cute kid.  He began combining (best explanation we came up with) Callaway and Halloween - maybe because they sound similar in his head or he thought we were going trick or treating at Callaway... I don't know.  But it was pretty cute to hear "Happy Calloween!!"  We did make him say Halloween properly just to make sure we didn't need to start googling speech therapists...

We quickly ate dinner after getting home and then dressed the boys in their costumes.  Loaded them up in the stroller, took a picture or several, and walked a couple blocks to where we thought there might be houses open for business combined with good easy sidewalks.  It was a little slow starting but the boys had a great time.  Patrick was a bit shy but loved running on the sidewalk - or trying to make a break for the road... god help us.  William was an old pro - we had to remind him in what order to say Trick or Treat, Thankyou, and Happy Calloween - but he definitely understood the concept of treats. LOL!!  We walked and walked - had a big time - and then William up and decided he was done, didn't want to be an animal anymore, and it was time to leave.  Very well then.  Off we went.  He even got to eat a twizzler on the way home.

The rest of the week FLEW by!  We went grocery shopping on Thursday night (because we are gluttons for punishment) but only made it through Sam's Club.  William was a holy terror, Patrick was a cling on monster, and the thought of another hour minimum in Wal Mart made us want to cry.  We figured we had enough food to get through a day or two just from the warehouse trip.  Friday - I can't even remember Friday.  Huh.  Oh - got another bright idea to check out the new (relocated) TJ Maxx in Cross Country with the two mini peoples.  William was a holy terror, Patrick was a cling on monster, and all the boys sucked the good shopping vibe right out of me.  I did come out with a blue skinny belt (and a pink one) for quite the steal, and I needed a blue belt, but it's not a thrilling exciting purchase by any means.  What were we thinking?!  Seriously, I think we should become hermits for the next 4 years.

Today was the main event.  Steeplechase at Callaway!!  It's kinda a big deal and so much fun.  B&B got a family tent up at "Top of the Turn" and it was the BEST view.  We could see the horses come up the hill, make the TURN, and then go up the last hill to the finish.  It was great.  We were smart and didn't tell William about going to see the horse race until the latter part of the week (because he would ask incessantly if we did earlier) and he was pumped to say the least.  He even picked out a little stuffed horse at TJ Maxx that he bought with his mad money.  It's name is Henry and he accompanied William throughout the races today.

 

There was plenty of room for the boys to run and we got lucky because no one showed up to one of the spots on the rail, so William spent most of the day up there getting a great view of the horses.  He also convinced almots everyone in the family to take him to the 'fun place' (kid corral) atleast once.  Silly boy.  I heard that he even went down the BIG dinosaur slide.  The first time we went to the kid corral right after we got there in the morning, the boys (both of them) made it very clear that they wanted to ride the ponies.  So cute.  Both did such a great job!  William yelled Yeehaw!  Ride em Cowboy!! and talked the cute girl's ear off I am sure, and then Patrick just clapped and smiled and had a great time on his turn.  I can't believe I didn't take my camera down for it... Bill took some phone pictures though, so maybe I can atleast get those to facebook or something... We'll see.

As I'm sure you all know, William is ninety miles a minute at all times.  Well, today, we got our first taste of Patrick doing the same.  He literally hit the ground running.  All day, he would run off whenever he had the chance, and then look back slyly to see if you were following him, and then double his pace and keep going. He has no fear - so he'll start down a steep hill or step right off a step - so someone had to stay within grabbing distance of him.  Luckily, all the aunts, uncles, boyfriends, and grandparents joined in so Sam and I weren't totally spent.  I don't know if we could have kept up with him today.  He was certainly on the move! And only took a quick thirty minute nap in the stroller.  Sweet boy - it was so hot (IN NOVEMBER!!) - that we ended up just letting him run around in his diaper.  The heat aggrivates his excema and he was starting to get the rash bad on his legs & then it started creeping up - so off came the overalls.  And then, being the super classy people we are, we let him run around most of the afternoon in just a tshirt and a target diaper.  He was adorable though, and we had several offers for him to spend the weekends with strangers.  They retracted the offer when I told them he still wasn't sleeping through the night.  LOL! ha!

Sam leaves on Sunday for Toronto.  Not too bad this time - he'll be back Tuesday evening.  I am a little nervous about two days on my own, but we'll be fine.  I don't know how I'm going to get Patrick to go to sleep though.  Sam is the official sleep walker of babies.  I feed him, and then Sam gets him to sing/walk and Patrick KNOWS it's time to go to bed.  He doesn't quite get the message when I sing/walk.  So, it will be interesting.  I might have gray hair by the time Sam gets back.  We'll see.  And we might be hitting up the Chickfila family nights for dinner instead of me trying to entertain them and cook at the same time.

Oh!  So - Patrick is officially in the new big boy room as of Friday.  We dropped him off on the Toddler side.  (the teachers were sick earlier in the week, so they didn't move him over until Thurs. DAY and Friday).  He obviously likes being over there, with all the new fun things to do, but I was so sad to be leaving his infant room.  Had to go get a big hug from Ms. T and  her & Ms Tonja went in and played with P several times during the day.  They are going to miss him too.  :(  He has been sleeping worse than normal this week, combined with all the new activities - his teachers told us that he fell asleep at the lunch table with a chicken tender in his hand!!  I wish they had taken a picture!  I can't believe it.  Sleepy boy!

Things I want to remember:  William exlaiming "That's Ridiculous!!".  The boys loving on my aunt & uncle's dogs (they were at Steeplechase for the bagpipe parade!).  Patrick walking right in to the toddle side of school like he owned the place.  P is finally starting to get some hair on his head - just enough to make his head look dirty though.  No curls of any substance yet.  The way they giggle during bath time.  Patrick saying "all gone" when Sam ran out of icecream at Chill.  P got his first taste of apple juice today - he's a fan - but it's definitely not his 'baby drug' like it was for William.  William trying to tell Patrick it's ok when he's crying and giving him a hug or trying to hold his hand in the car.  How long it takes Patrick to eat one grape.  Patrick will now pick up your hand and put it on the book he wants you to read to him.  His favorite right now is an animals in different environments books (jungle, sea, pets, etc).  He points at the animals he recognizes, very cute.  William's favorites are the Thomas books right now.  Patrick is becoming very  vocal and his favorite hobby is perfecting his razz.  It's getting VERY good and VERY loud.  The best one is when both his lips get pooched out to make the noise.  William will join in if they are in the car and then there's nothing stopping them!

Loves.