Precious Moments

haha - I totally had a Precious Moments bible when I was little and I LOOOVED it.  Bet it's floating around somewhere in the attic....  But that's not the point at all.  About three weeks ago we had our first professional family photos taken by the super amazing wonderfully talent Kate Whitmore, who I totally want to be friends with.  She's kind of adorable and the best kind of fun.  I wasn't quite sure what would come out of us playing in a deserted lot in Phenix City and I certainly couldn't have predicted that some of the most beautiful moments with our children would be frozen forever as result.  

Everybody yell AHHHHHHHHHH!

Not quite as carefree as his brother

Hilbert & Walter go everywhere with us

The KNOCKDOWN hug

Knockdown hug looked like fun...

Those eyes.  That face.  Sweet boy.

 Patrick finally decided to have some fun

Love Walter

I will treasure these forever.  And, much to Sam's chagrin, they will be printed extra large and plastered all over every open space of wall I can find.

Now go to katewhitmore.com and get your own :)

Loves!!!

Patience is a virtue....?

We have had many many moments this week when we realize that .... I don't even know what we realize.  That we are doing the best we can, we aren't doing it right, we are doing it right... I don't know.  What I do know, is that every single morning and afternoon with William was a super huge gigantor struggle.  Even donut Friday went south.  I got him a sprinkle donut instead of a plain donut and you would've though that the world was ending. Note - he did eat the sprinkle donut - so how bad could it have been?!  I don't know what to do.  Pray and hope that this unfortunate phase ends sooner rather than later I suppose.  Not sure if he needs to sleep more - bedtime is at 7pm for goodness sake and he wakes up between 5-6am - no idea how to make that lengthen out.  He probably ought to eat more, but that's also fun trying to get him to stay in his seat and eat whatever it is I have made.  And I promise you - whatever it is - he doesn't like or want it.  Wit's end.

it's just how he rolls - super cool kid that he is

 

We left work Friday at 5 and got home at 6.  It was that bad.  Usually the fight is over that he wants me to carry him and I am carrying Patrick and then we have to move on to the principle of the matter - so even though snatching him up and carrying him to the car would be the easiest way out - we can't do that - because that would be letting him control the consequences.  Not ok.  And I know, I know, pick them up when they ask because one day they won't want you to....  And I fully believe that.  But, he is also perfectly capable of walking and sometimes, he just needs to.  Maybe I've done it all wrong trying to give him a voice.  But that just sounds silly even writing it.  I just keep remembering that God doesn't just give you something (patience), he provides situations in which to learn it.

uncanny how alike these two are

Patrick went through another spout of waking up nearly every hour for a couple days.  That was not awesome.  We have gotten used to only two-three times at predictable hour ranges.  But we still only have four teeth to show for all of it.  I wish they would hurry up and pop through.  So we can move on to the rest of his mouth, slash molars - ick, and just get all of this messiness, exhausted nights, and plain ugliness over with.  No one likes being sleep deprived.  Patrick gets to take 3 hours naps at school - Mommy and Daddy not so much.

We were really just in survival mode this week - so it's kinda surprising that we managed family dinners at home every night.  Maybe it's because going out to fast food cost entirely too much now and we overspent our grocery budget just making the frig not so depressing...  Patrick ate like a champ all week long.  I think he's working on getting taller now as well.  He literally spent an hour at the table one night and it's safe to say that he's eating more than William is as a general rule.  Kid can put away some chicken nuggets.  Only four teeth - what?! haha!  I love his little belly and chubby thighs - I'm happy for him to stay little and tank-like forever.

We took the day off from church today to take the boys to Flat Rock Park.  Sam called it 'communing with nature family time'.  I insisted we atleast take their bible story book and read something.  Either way - we had a great time.  We walked A LOT, and then the boys played on the playground and played on the rocks.  It's funny how clear it is that Patrick understands just about everything we say and can follow directions.  He's such a smartie pants.  :)

this is the face we get every time we ask him to smile

William is growing in to a really great big brother.  The playground had one of those suspended bridges and Patrick really isn't big enough to do that by himself.  He was slipping on the angles and the movement kinda scared him.  I did it with him the first time, but then asked William to hold his hand and take care of him little brother.  It was the cutest thing - he did - and was so careful with him.  Really warmed my heart.  And then, when Patrick came down the slide,  William told him he was "so proud of him".  Oh my... I feel the tears coming.  Sweet sweet boys.

made Sam take a picture to prove I exist - ha!

Loves.

My little old men

We've barely taken any pictures (literally seven pictures since the park pictures - oh the shame)  and I can barely remember anything that has happened in the past however too many days since I last posted.  This will be interesting.

Patrick slept through the night one night this week (well, he slept from 7pm to 4:30am - which totally counts in my book).  Of course, I had to get up at 2:30am to be at work, so it's not like I got to enjoy one ounce of that.

William is still having very rough mornings.  I have no more ideas on how to improve them, except for making every day "donut day", and I'm pretty sure his teachers would kill us for that.  I hate leaving crying babies at school.  Breaks my heart.

Patrick has added 'night night' to his vocabulary.  And he is just as obsessed as William was with the book "Goodnight Gorilla".  Pretty sure I could do that one without the book.  Though, truthfully, there are very few words in it, so that makes it pretty easy.

This is what he will look like when he is 70... minus the paci.. I hope... haha!!

We got rid of Direct TV a week ago, and besides not being able to watch the current season of Downton Abbey (TRAVESTY!!!), we have not regretted it one bit.  We never watched any show on the right night anyhow, so the day delay doesn't matter, and with HULU & Netflix - we have a crazy supply of kid shows and movies.  William's current favorite - My Little Pony.  We are thrilled not to be watching the SAME episode of Super Why for the 70th time.

We had our first official by a real photographer family pictures taken today.  I have agonized for months over outfits, and she loved them!  Thank goodness.  Hopefully the pictures turn out - I'm still not entirely sure all four of us will be in a single shot - but fingers crossed.  She's amazing.  Kate Whitmore.  Go call her now.  I can't wait to see them.  They boys were so good.  Well, as good as can be expected.  Patrick just wanted to wander around without taking a picture with the family. And William, was, William.  Sixty miles a minute.   The whole time.  ha!

I know it's a boy thing, or maybe it's just a kid thing, but they both LOVE being naked.  It's kinda funny.  Patrick doesn't put up a single fuss about bathtime.  He usually runs to the bathroom to double check that we've started the water and then runs to their room to get his clothes taken off.  I don't know if I mentioned this, but he is excellent at following directions, and one of his favorite 'chores' is putting his clothes in the hamper.  He's so proud of himself, and loves the high five afterwards.  Then he runs to the bathtub.  If, by chance, the bath isn't ready, you can pretty much bank on him teetee-ing on the floor.  All boy.

Both boys are in a serious mommy phase, which I don't mind except that they usually both want me at the exact same time.  That's a little complicated and usually gets ugly.  And now that I think about it, both want to eat their meals sitting in my lap.  That's complicated too.  I guess it just means that I don't get to enjoy my meals.  Oh well.  There are worse things than cold food.  It's not like I'm a Five Star Chef or anything. haha

William wanted nothing to do with photos before church.  Stinker - the bow ties were so cute!!  I should've taken pictures the Sunday he wore a tie and Patrick a matching bow tie... Best laid plans.

We are fairly certain that Patrick has been working on some teeth... I can see them on the top but they just won't pop through.  For a couple nights - those stinking teeth were the bane of our existence - but I suppose they've settled down on their movement for a bit - because he's sleeping better now and no longer making us give him IBprofen & Tylenol around the clock.  Kid is going to be 2 years old and no need for a dentist!!  But he is starting to get some hair in the back - and it's definitely strawberry blonde just like William.

Sam and I are playing "The Great Big 2013 Rumer Weightloss Challenge".  I'm pretty jazzed about it.  I like a good competition.  And the super cool awesome spreadsheet I made. :)   We have until the end of March to see who loses the biggest percent.  There's a cash prize.  Which isn't really THAT exciting since we have a joint checking account - but by the end of March there are a LOT of things that will probably be on clearance at GAP that I most certainly NEED.  Don't mess with me when it comes to GAP.  I am going to win.  Mama needs new clothes.  LOL

Loves.

It's still 2013 at 5am

We didn’t even bother to pretend that we were going to stay up to ring in the New Year.  We were quite sure that it would still be 2013 when the boys woke us up at 500am…  At some point we had planned to make a slightly special dinner, but we flaked on that when we forgot to pull out the steaks.  Bet I made pasta.  Surprise surprise.  I had gotten off a little early that day, so we went to an afternoon movie (Taken 2 – loved it) complete with treats, so maybe I didn’t make dinner at all... I don’t know.  I should really start writing this stuff down immediately…

New Year’s Day, I made apple pancakes and then we took the boys to Cooper Creek in the morning.  Walked the long trails and stopped to feed the ducks.  William loves that.  Patrick enjoyed eating the bread.  Thank goodness it wasn’t really old – just leftover.  Ha!  The playgrounds out there aren’t quite as ‘safe’ and plastic as the ones they are used to – and William kept saying “I can’t”.  Sam wasn’t going to have that – so William had to do whatever it was that he was insisting he couldn’t do.  Of course, he was very proud of himself once he succeeded.  We can’t be raising a child who says “I can’t”.  I understand being afraid of something, but in certain situations, he’ll just have to be a big boy… especially when Daddy is there to help him and catch him if he falls.

Patrick has been a nightmare sleeper – but he now has FOUR teeth to show for it!!!  For a couple days (weeks) I thought we might lose our mind, as he was up every hour.  No bueno.  But now he’s back to waking up at 1000/1100 and then again at 100/200, then up for the day between 500/600.  Which, really, is pretty manageable.  And he doesn’t always get to nurse in the second wake-up.  I don’t think he does anyhow – maybe I’m too groggy to remember.  Ha.  How many teeth to children have?  I think it’s going to be a long year either way though…

Patrick is starting to use words a little more.  Sam said he said “all aboard” this morning.  And he likes to say “Car”, though he sounds like he’s from Boston when he says it.  “Mine” gets a lot of use when he plays with William.  And “UhOH” is of course a favorite.  Stinker.

William is still having really bad mornings.  He goes to bed pretty easily at 730 most nights – but he is just plain FOUL in the mornings.  Doesn’t want to do anything.  Probably because we are asking or suggesting or it came out of our mouths.  Maybe he’s just not a morning person anymore.  That is not going to bode well for our family dynamic…  We are trying to meld positive parenting aspects with a little more apparent structure.  I don’t know if it’s going well or if he’s just very three and needs to get older and outgrow whatever this is.  I guess we should just accept that we’ll never have all the answers and can only do what we can do as best as we can.  I don’t really find comfort in that though…

 

  

William’s favorite word right now is poop.  We are firmly into potty humor.  It’s great.  Seriously, poop gets tacked on to the end of almost every word, sentence, random jibberish, everything.  At first, it was legitimately funny (short-lived), then we tried to correct him, but now we are just ignoring it.  And praying that every time he goes up with the pastor for Children’s church he doesn’t say poop in to the microphone.

On that note – we are two weeks in to going to church (and Sunday school) every Sunday.  William loves going to Sunday school.  He wants to be in the four year old class, and since the three year old teacher never seems to be there on time, I might just have to strong arm the 4 year old teacher into letting William go there full time.  It’s where he wants to be anyway.  And it’s not REAL school – so really what’s the harm?  You would think it was Elementary school by the way she acts.  Whatever.  Last Sunday, when I took the boys by myself, William wanted to go “Big Church” with me (probably because of Christmas services) and I let him.  He did great, so as long as he’s on good behavior, he gets to come with us.  He does really well for being so young and then goes with the big kids to Children’s Church.  So proud.  He’s such a neat kid.  Patrick falls asleep every Sunday during Sunday School and Church.  I don’t think he’s learning very much at all.

I think it’s cool how young children make friends wherever they go.  We took them to Chickfila for dinner one night (the chicken still wasn’t thawed out by the time we got home) and he made fast friends with another little boy.  They had extensive adventures around running around the playground hiding from monsters… it was so cute.  I think I heard that the slide was a waterfall...not entirely sure.   Patrick had a good time being in the mix of all the children.  He would watch them run by and squeal and laugh.  I wonder how long this phase lasts… I’m not looking forward to dealing with bullies and mean children.  It’s so much better when they just automatically play together just because.

 Sam is kinda convinced that Patrick is going to still be ‘bald’ on his second birthday.  I might believe it.  He only now has enough hair to make it look like he has any at all (slash – his head just looks ‘dirty’).  We still can’t confirm the color – somewhere between blonde and red is our best guess.  Apparently, he has a friend (or friends) at school who love to rub his head because he doesn’t have any hair.  I wish there was some way to catch them in action – I bet it’s adorable.  I love to rub his head, makes perfect sense to me.  And I’m pretty sure my sister was held back from kindergarten because she was a late hair bloomer and she’s a brilliant surgeon – so there are worse things for sure.  Maybe that’s the key to success….  Hmmm.

Loves.

It was wonderful Christmas

Ok - here goes nothing.  Christmas 2012.

 

The weekend was a bit of a blur.  I tried to go work out after breakfast, while Sam helped his Dad with yard work before the party that evening, but there was no child care.  Boo.  And I really needed RPM for my sanity that day.  Oh well.  It did provide extra time at home to get through all the other million tasks that needed to be accomplished that day.  Namely - making cookies for the party.  William was a big 'help' and Patrick had a great time wandering in and out of the kitchen.  I was rolling the dough out on their blue table so it would be at a height they could easily reach.  William had fun helping me cut the cookies out, even if he was using the cutters upside down and would move them after half cutting them, etc.  God sure does like to teach me patience....

We decided to go see Santa at Columbus Park Crossing (free!) before we went to the party and William was super psyched!!  We let him go by himself first and he had a lot to say.  He told Santa he wanted cars, planes, and tractors for Christmas and Patrick wanted trains... (noted - stocking shopping later)  Then it was time for Patrick to meet Santa.  He was none too pleased about the ten second experience.  William tried to hold his hand to make him feel better, but it didn't work.  Atleast we got a picture of them with Santa.  Success.  And plenty memorable.

The Christmas Party at B&B's was that night and the boys had a super wonderfully wild time.  William ran around the house like a banshee and Patrick was just a sweet (sleepy) doll baby.  Our friend finally got him to sleep on her shoulder (MIRACLE!!  In the middle of the party no less - I couldn't get him to nurse to sleep in the dark!!!) and Sam took him upstairs.  It was the perfect amount of friends that we actually got to have conversation with people, instead of just flitting around and not really saying more than hello.  I hope William continues to be adorable and charming as he grows up or he is going to have to learn to calm down!!  Seriously, rain circles, dodging people, tables, and other children... Hilarious and kinda feeds my anxiety.  LOL

Sunday we went to church.  I had never heard the new pastor and he's top notch.  I like that he includes an insert in the bulletin to take notes.  My church at home used to do that I think, and I liked it.  William marched right in to Sunday school and Patrick fell asleep in the swing.  Perfection.
After nap time.... I have no idea what we did.  Seriously.  Probably something fun because I was determined to have a fun Christmas.  Or I cleaned the house.  It's a toss up really.

Monday was a good day.  We headed out early to pick up the grocery items we needed so we wouldn't run into the masses.  Got that done, finished stockings, and hunted down the last present we needed for William.  Then we made and painted ornaments for this year's crafty gift (Daddy - I need to mail y'alls...sorry).  William though that was the greatest and Patrick enjoyed painting the table...ha!  He did get a bit of paint on to the ornaments though.... so that's good.  Then we had a pillow pile and played all afternoon until it was time for Christmas Eve service.

That went pretty well.  The boys were relatively well behaved, thanks to some snacks... William of course had to go potty in the middle of the sermon, so I missed all of that because he wouldn't let someone on the end of the pew take him... So I got to squeeze out of the pew and walk in front of the entire church.  yay... (whatever, it took me an hour to pick out something to wear and I'm not so confident what I ended up with was a good choice... oh well... )  Anyhow.  Patrick enjoyed flipping through the hymnals and bible, William wanted to sing hymns with us, and they were sweet.  William even got to hold his own candle during Silent Night at the end, my favorite part, and he was way too cute.  And so proud of himself.

as dictated by William....

Then it was off to B&B's for soup with the family.  We had told William that Silly Willy would meet us there with a special present from Santa - so he took off trying to find him.  He found Silly Willy pretty easily, but then completely missed the presents...ha!  Santa sent the boys new matching 'jamas for Christmas and William found that REALLY exciting!! (Literally - he didn't take them off until maybe 3pm the next day!)  The boys stayed up playing with everyone and then when we got home, we wrote a note to Santa, left out some cookies and off to bed they went.

We were all up at 545 to open presents and William was kinda in a foul mood....until he saw that Santa came.  He, of course, commandeered Patrick's Santa presents immediately, completely ignoring his chair for a couple moments.  Once he saw the 'horse cowboy' gear, he was all ready to go!!!  he galloped around with his horse (who has now been named 'Bullseye' thanks to the hours of Toy Story we have been watching) and his hat on.  He's been killing everything in sight with his shooting gun, even though we tried to limit it to just the 'bad guys'... Best laid plans.  Patrick was pretty quiet about Christmas morning, but he played with his new trains, cars, and firetrucks.  Lots of buzzing around.  :)

Then it was back to B&B's for Christmas there.  I think it was raining, so the boys were stuck inside, much to their chagrin, but I'm sure they found something fun to play with.  William had picked out a nativity set to buy with his own money the day before, so they played with that.... new legoes that Laura & Kurt gave the boys, and a cool little train set that B&B got Patrick that is living at their house.  We put them down for early naps, so they wouldn't miss lunch (not like they ate a lot anyway) and when they got up, most of the family was there.  It was a good laid back day... We watched one of their new movies when we got home, skyped with Mima & Grandaddy, and then went to bed.  Lucky us still had to work in the morning.

We are so blessed with such sweet little boys and wonderful families.  How could we not have a wonderful Christmas!?!

Loves.

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Much love,

The Rumers

Loves.

The Island of Misfit Toys still lives.

Whew - We made it.  It is Christmas Eve and really - the only thing left on the to do list is to send two pictures to Walgreens so we can fill the photo ornaments that I bought a month ago...  Not too shabby.  I truly hate having such a long to do list.  Maybe next year I will have the forethought to spread it out a bit.  Though, it's not like baking can be done a month in advance.. so there you go.  It has certainly been a busy week though with crafting and cooking and prepping for Christmas.  I can hardly remember what happened with the boys...

William has embraced Silly Willy and Santa.  He was even excited about talking to Santa and a slight mention of Silly Willy would get him to stop his misbehavior.  I'm not wild about using the threat of Santa knowing he's behaving badly to turn around his behavior, so we try not to take it TOO far - but goodness it sure does work.  He was running away from me in Target and all I had to say was that Silly Willy was magic and could see him even though we weren't and home and back he came.  I'm just saying...it kinda works...  He's really had fun looking for him every day after he comes back from the North Pole.  Silly Willy isn't very naughty at our house, but he does find himself in interesting spots around the house.  My favorite was on the kissing ball... Sweet Willy indeed.  :)

It is now confirmed that Patrick says "thank you".  VERY CLEARLY sometimes.  He's also pulled out 'All Done', 'Sit', and 'Mama' is now super clear and defined.  He says Daddy - but it's more like 'Da.......Da'.  Still counts, but obviously he loves Mommy more.  LOL

OH!!  We now have a THREE tooth wonder!!  Patrick finally got one of his top teeth to come through!!  Which might help to explain the constant fussiness and lots of nursing during the night.  He's a cutie and clearly enjoying his new found biting ability.  Thankfully, he's only discovered that while nursing one and a half times so far.  He has some serious piercing abilities now and it's not fun.  Just putting that out there.

The boys are now rough housing TOGETHER.  Patrick is fully participating and giggling the entire time.  William has a ball and is relatively gentle for the most part with him.  They are even both beginning to play nicely together and independently.  That's kinda huge for Patrick who used to follow me around screaming to be picked up constantly.  But now he's been driving his cars around the road rug and picking out books and being a generally happy kid.  He still wants to be held a lot but we're getting slight breathers more often now.

William is doing a much better job of listening more often when we are out in public.  Today we had to run errands early to beat the crowds and he pretty much stayed right with one of us the whole time.  Patrick has even almost managed to wrap his head around the 'holding hands in the parking lot' rule and fights it less often.  We talk a lot about 'good idea/bad idea' and sometimes William even gets it right. LOL Most of the time we probably don't agree on what is a good idea though... silly three year olds.

Sam DVRd Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie (the one with the Island of Misfits) and we have watched that movie pretty much twice a day this entire week.  He's a little obsessed... haha!!  We finally went and rented another Christmas movie just because WE were tired of watching it.  So we pillow piled it up Friday evening and had a picnic of summer sausage cheese crackers in the living room.  I think Patrick only ate cheese.  haha

I've been trying to do really fun things with the boys since it's Christmas and all...  Friday before the pillow pile we decorated the leftover snowman cakes.  There were marshmallows and sprinkles and sugar crystals and lots of fun colored frosting.  William had a great time.  I think Patrick did too, but I'm pretty sure I ended up decorating his cakes.  We completely forgot to eat them.. but it sure was fun.  William helped me cut out the cookies for the Christmas party at B&B's Saturday night (the boys had a great time running absolutely WILD -haha!) and IF YOU ARE A GRANDPARENT THEN STOP READING NOW :) then we painted ornaments today.  It may not be much, but it definitely helps to assuage some of the mommy guilt of not having that much time for this kind of stuff normally.  Really, I just need to start ignoring the massive amounts of crumbs and toys all over the house and play a little more....  2013 resolution maybe?!

So, here's to us actually being excited that the boys are going to wake up at 5am to see if Santa came tomorrow morning!!!  I can't wait!!  (watch them both sleep until 7am...)

And super quick, just so I don't forget what sweet boys I have....  Sam had a slight freak out about the sheer number of broken, nonplayed with, disaster of toy cubbies on Saturday and IMMEDIATELY felt the need to clean out.  We ended up getting William involved to pick out ones he doesn't play with to give to the boys and girls who don't have as much.  He got really in to it and started picking up stuff that he AND Patrick currently play with.  So I don't know that he quite understood the whole point, but he was being awfully sweet and generous about the whole exercise.  Maybe we are raising non-greedy, UN-entitled children afterall.  Time will tell I suppose.  We'll see how they act at 13...


Loves.