Not quite a month's worth...

Lo and behold Chick-fil-a finally realized that this town needed a Mommy & Son event - so Saturday evening William and I had a date.  We got moderately dressed up (and took a picture - which truthfully surprised me at the weight loss - go mommy me!) and off we went to the Date Knight!  They had the back part of the restaurant all dressed up like a castle, complete with a King (James) and a prince and princess.  William wanted me to sit next to him (aww...) and we dined in style.  He sat on my shoulders to see the other boys get knighted by King James and had the best time when it was his turn.  Perk of being THE last one in line - LOTS of time to play and ham it up.  By the end of the night - half the employees had been knighted by King William and he was doing a great bossy "impression".  haha.  Love that kid.

While we were on a date - Patrick was getting some fun time with Daddy.  I can't remember what they were eating while watching tv - but apparently right before we got home - P was having a great time pretending to eat Daddy's shirt & stomach.  Sam said he was making big "grabs" and putting them in his mouth and chewing up.  I love this age - when playing pretend really starts to happen - so cute to watch the wheels turn and see what their mind is capable of.

  

William started swimming lessons this week at the YMCA.  Twice a week and there are 4 kids in his class.  We were a little apprehensive about how lessons would go this year after last year's disaster  but it's like he's a whole different kid.  HE LOVES IT!!!  He's not scared anymore and always wants it to be his turn.  But he is listening really well to the child young adult teacher, staying where he's supposed to and trying to do what is asked of him.  Obviously, I don't think we will hit the beach in July a full fledged swimmer, but I'm just wanting him to be comfortable in the water - we can work on the kicking, floating, etc. in time.

Not sure what hit our house, but Thursday Patrick had a fever and then Friday William started running one.  Sam has a crazy busy job right now - lots of meetings - so I picked up my laptop and "tried" to work from home.  Total bust with Patrick.  He either wanted to be in my lap, nursing, or hitting every button.  Luckily, nothing on my desk was pressing and the one thing that needed to be done could be done by anyone, but it was frustrating.  Then, after William ended up in our bed at 2am and was still pitiful at 6:30, I stayed home again.  Fully thinking - Great - atleast I can work with William here.  Yeah.... my 'extra' power cord is apparently dead, so "working" didn't last too long.  Oh well.  Poor bambinos.  First two sick days of the year though - not TOO bad.

Mother's Day was good.  I decided that Sam was buying me a new dress for the occassion - ha - so that was fun.  Even more fun - I'm now a Medium at a BOUTIQUE :)  That was gift enough!  The boys ended up giving me my gift early - William can't keep a secret....  Sam had helped them do a handprint flower on a wooden plate.  It was really really wonderful.  Absolutely perfect.  But while I was working on nursery fabrics for a preggo friend - William decided it needed to be clean and "washed" it with a wet wipe.  Yep - you guessed it - the paint is not waterproof.... Poor guy - I did my best not to overreact but I did exclaim that he ruined it.  Not proud of that.  It really upset him, and him being upset made Patrick cry too....  It was a bit of a mess there for a minute.  But sweet boy has been randomly apologizing since Mother's Day and keeps reminding us that they need to paint (to fix it).  I had finally decided just to let it be an indication of our crazy life this year but the day I took it to work I spilled coffee all over it.  Lawdy.  Maybe we'll start over after all! LOL!!

The waterpark at school opened with a bang and the boys could not have been more excited!  Patrick stuck close for a little bit but by the end he was just as independent as his brother.  It was really nice not to have to hover over any children and be able to stand in the shade with other parents chatting.  William ate his weight in fruit and they both got spoiled on sugar cookies.  Patrick could not get enough cheese puffs.  Ms Vicki actually just sent us home with them he was eating so much.  Not an ounce of nutrition in them - but he LOVED them.  We compromised and got him "veggie sticks" at Publix over the weekend.  I don't think they have any nutritional value either, but I sure do feel better giving him a bowl full and he doesn't get covered in orange dust! ha!

Patrick had SUCH a good time at the waterpark that he slept all the way through the night Friday AND Saturday night!  It was such a treat.  I don't mind 5:30am wake up nursing when it's not preceding by 1 & 3am! Unfortunately, the sleeping didn't hold and he was back to waking up atleast once by Sunday.  Oh well.  It was nice while it lasted.  One day he will sleep and I'll try and remember to enjoy the nursing snuggles while I still can.

Since I began this post, ahem weeks ago, William has regressed in swim lessons.  I send him with Sam one day and he no longer wants to participate at all.  I'm not saying there is a link there... I'm just saying.... haha!  (History - Sam refused to learn how to swim until he was something like 10 years old - his parents still laugh about it)  B&B obviously found it hilarious then that William is his father's son...  By Thursday he didn't even want to kick, but I told him he couldn't get out of the pool.  So he sat on the stairs for 45 minutes watching his friends.  I don't get it, but I'm not going to push it either.  Just like Patrick sleeping, he will swim when he's ready.

 

The whitewater downtown opened today.  We took the boys and what was intended to be a quick see - turned into several hours of fun downtown.  We ran into some great friends with kids close in age and one of our best friends stayed with us and walked around.  It really was a great time.  The boys did so good considering we didn't leave until 3pm.  They both loved watching the boats (rafts & dragon boats) and even did a decent job of listening.  Patrick did want to play in a really nasty puddle on the rocks and got fairly wet doing so - but that was the only thing a little hairy.  I'll call it a complete success.  It was really fun downtown - so many people out and about - barely even felt like Columbus.  For once - there was plenty to do and see - we were all saying we could get used to this!

 

On the topic of listening, this morning we had to come right home after Chickfila, instead of going to market days before the river, because William needed to go to his room.  He was doing a terrible job of using his listening ears and had basically decided that he was  the one in charge.  It has hit a tipping point.  We really can't take it anymore.  I don't know if this is preFours or what - but it's not ok.  He's starting to back talk a little too - definitely not ok.  So.. we aren't doing the corner, I will never spank them, but there are silent moments in the car and time in his room.  I did hold him a little while he fussed initially and explained as much as I could what was going on and why he was there.  Fortunately, it made an impact on him and he quickly decided he was ready to listen.  We didn't give in though and that was good - but he needed to stay in his room until we left (he never did leave the room).  And he really did do a pretty good job the rest of the day.  He had to be reminded about going to his room a couple times, but that's all it took.  We'll see how it goes....

The boys are playing together more and more and I just can't get enough of their laughter.  It fills the house with happy.  They were bouncing on their knees on the bed last night - thought it was hilarious! Today William found a dog leash and they took turns being the "puppy" with it hooked to the collar of their shirt.  So funny!!!  It really warms my heart that they enjoy each other so much.

They are both in a HUGE mommy phase though and that is making life a little interesting.  They BOTH always want me.  And I'm totally find with that except that I am not the world's strongest mom and I don't have five arms.... Bit of a problem.  haha  William always wants to snuggle and ended up in our bed SEVERAL times in the middle of the night this week.  Fine if he goes to sleep.  Not fine if he decides to talk and play.  It always turns to play time when Patrick walks in to nurse.  They see each other and it's all over.  So much for the last 45 minutes of sleep... ha!  Life with boys.  Shoot - life with kids! ha!!

Patrick said "William" earlier this week but it makes William mad when you say his name for some reason.  I don't get it but whatever.  It was really cute!   And there's even a couple mini curls of hair in the back - so he won't be bald forever.  P gives the best hugs and kisses and ugga muggas.  You ask and you receive - it's wonderful.  But he pretty much refuses to smile for a picture.

Loves.

Sweet Southern Drawl

William has developed the cutest little southern accent.  It is especially evident in words like 'grass - fast - now - yeah".  They are ATLEAST two syllables.  I love it.  My Mema was famous for drawing out her words and it was beautiful.  It's kinda like a flag got switched though - I swear the drawl came overnight.

Patrick follows his brother in everything.  Funniest moment - William likes to be the 'helper" in the morning dropping off Patrick.  So he speeds down the long hallway to P's room - he inevitably falls because he is the clumsiest kid I know.  Patrick is running as fast as his little legs will carry him and then purposely throws himself on the ground to be like his big brother.  So cute.  Oh - and P's "ready set go" stance might be the cutest thing ever - always trying to be like 'big little'.  Sweet boys.

Patrick managed to get himself a double ear infection.  Of course, Sam went out of town for a couple days, and P does nothing but scream all Thursday night.  I thought he was just getting some teeth, I mean, the kid barely has ten in his mouth and that might be an exaggeration.  But I got a call while out on the bike after nap on Saturday, that his ear had done some serious draining and he was acting pitiful.  Twenty minutes later, I'm back, changed out of workout clothes and on the way to Pediatric Acute Care.  Under an hour later and we are headed to Publix with a prescription for antibiotics.  Poor baby.

William has finally hit the superhero phase - though, truly, he's already moved on.  But last week, it was ALL about Batman.  Thank goodness for Netflix or I don't know what would happen to the kid.
And ChickFilA has the cows dressed up as superheroes on their bags and that was BIG stuff today at lunch.  (He had a dentist appt today - so as a treat - he got to have lunch with mommy)  Though, I'm not sure he bought that cows can have super powers.  He's too smart for that.  Batman is TOTALLY real though.

They are starting to actually kind of play together.  I swear.  Sometimes it's just around each other.  But they both really enjoy turning Patrick's bed into a house with a roof and doors so they can hide from the monsters.  It's fun to hear the laughter.  Especially when it's not followed by screeching and tattling.  Oh - I think William is becoming a tattle tale.  He keeps talking about telling on his friends... Not sure what to do about that.  He's telling his friends "I don't like that" like he's supposed to, but then he goes and tells the teacher.  Maybe we should put more focus on ways he could handle the 'situations' himself... Any ideas?  Though, really, how bad is being a tattle tale...? And is it Tale or Tail? Goodness - the things I have to think about now.

We just had to put "stanky cup" on the bad word list.  Somehow Poopie isn't on the list but stanky cup was just getting ridiculous.  haha.  It's on there with 'stupid' and 'shut up'.  We get called on the bad words frequently.  Usually it's just 'stupid' used in a harmless way, but when William decides he doesn't like something, he determines it is a 'bad word' and we shouldn't say that.  Sometimes we  can't even tell what word he doesn't like - that gets interesting.

Patrick said Good this week.  And he "quacks" for all birds, not just ducks.  He is starting to say more - in his own language of course.  He'll probably be just like William and be kinda late about it.  Not worried about that at all!! William is MORE than making up for whatever faux verbal delay I was concerned about 1.5 years ago.  Whoa!

I did realize this past weekend that Patrick has a bit of an obsession with his paci.  As evidenced by not wanting to give it back to him at some point because I just wanted to stare at his face.  I found myself thinking that he was so beautiful and I never get to see his pretty face because of that paci.  He doesn't throw tantrums over the paci like William used to, so I don't think we need to start phasing them out... but I might have to make sure it's 'put away' a little more often.  Maybe start a routine of him putting them in the duckie or something...  I don't know.  I just like looking at his face.

William is signed up for swim lessons at the Y.  They start next week.  It is not a Mommy & Me class.  There are only 5 kids in each class and I'm hoping that he will learn to rely on himself a bit more since he won't be able to cling to Mommy or Daddy.  I'm a little nervous to see how it goes but I am optimistic.  I mean, it can't be any worse than last year! ha!  I'm still debating whether or not to put Patrick in swim lessons this year.  We are leaning towards no just because he's more comfortable in the water than William ever was and last year was such a terrible experience.... Seriously a little scarred.  We'll see.  I wish we could afford the ISR classes - those are amazing.  But I don't have $500 laying around to throw on swimming... or anything else for that matter!

For a couple days we were having mandatory outdoor time after dinner.  It was wonderful.  William decided that he does like baseball (he got a giant ball & bat - blowup but still - for Eater) and Patrick likes to play in the dirt.  I am starting to successfully let go and let him throw dirt in his hair and all over himself because he thought it was fun.  Not sure what happened, maybe it rained, but definitely need to make sure the outdoor times happens more than it doesn't.  It's so easy just to snuggle in on the sofa with them - they sweet and smell good - but I know that playing is better developmentally than constant snuggles.

Quick things I don't want to forget:  William's night night prayers thanking God for every task in his day, including a good nap and the pictures on his wall.  How he really tries to make Patrick happy when he's upset/crying (most of the time anyway).  That William loved having his nails painted until a teacher implied she didn't like them - I definitely spoke to her - but William wouldn't go see her until we remembered to take off the polish.  Patrick loves to be tickled under the arms and down his sides.  Patrick is becoming quietly defiant - here come the Twos.  William & Patrick are both in really wonderful 'love' phases - lots of kisses and hugs - I'm loving it.  They both love bananas and poptarts - but not the fudge kind - those are not a favorite...lesson learned.

Loves.

Dates with monsters

So because we switched our computer to be hooked up to the TV for the best Netflix/Hulu experience (ie faster load times), I find it really hard to squeeze out time to blog.  I mean, RescueBots will beat out Two Little Rumers every single time.  So here goes the past three weeks.

  

 We took the boys to the air show that comes to Columbus every year.   Patrick is more than a little obsessed with airplanes, every time one flies over our house (which is often – we’re on the flight plan) he throws his hand up in the air and yells “aahpaane”.  So cute.  William likes them too – he used to do the same thing when he was little, they just aren’t quite as thrilling flying over anymore.  Anyhow.  We got there ridiculously early – note to self – no need to be there 3 hours before the planes start flying.  They had a great time running around looking at the planes on display though.  We delayed nap (and Patrick had a stinky and we didn’t have a spare on hand) so we left about half way through.  It was so cute to see them get excited about the planes doing the flips and one even tried to land on a moving truck!!  

 

  

William spent the night with Bebe & Grandaddy after the airshow and Sam & I took Patrick on a date to Zoe’s Kitchen, Barnes & Noble (train store -  ha), and then to Chill.  He is really the coolest, funniest kid.  I can’t get enough of him.  It’s really amazing how his personality and behavior changes when he is by himself.  It’s kinda like an actual shadow is lifted….  I’m sure he’ll come into his own as he grows up.  But he is so funny!!  Kid has such a sense of humor -  which feels a little strange to say when he doesn’t really have words – but we spent so much time laughing WITH him.  I don’t know how to explain it.  He’s just fun.

I’m sure cute things happened during that week – but I have no idea.  I do know that I had spent the entire week planning on and looking forward to taking William to Six Flags on Sunday.  Well, the idiot weathermen decided to scare us all into thinking there was going to be bad weather, so I canceled that plan.  Thank goodness I hadn’t told William about it!  Instead, I took him to an afternoon movie (thanks to the Judge), with candy (he chose malt balls of all things – weird kid – I hate them), LARGE popcorn (thanks to the Judge again!) and a drink of his choice (well – Strawberry Fanta – he chose the pink part – I chose the non-caffeine.  He NEVER gets carbonated though – so there’s the treat in that one).  He was all excited about going on a date with mommy.  I had made the mistake of telling him that after nap we were going, so he laid down for maybe two minutes then said he was done and it was date time.  Sweet boy.  We got all dressed up – him in a tie and me in a dress.  It was the most fun.  It took us about twenty minutes to choose a seat – up and down all the stairs several times.  I’m sure everyone found us VERY entertaining.  Oh!  I had to touch up my nail polish before we left and he had me paint his nails blue too.  He was so proud – showed them off to everyone.  Sam wasn’t very pleased but he let him have his fun for a couple days anyhow.  I really need to remember how special one on one time is with each boy and to do it more often.

 

Again, I’m sure really wonderful things happened during the week.  The small highlights that I can remember are: we (William helped) made cookies to give for Easter gifts (not really a thing –I just like making cookies and had new cutters) for the boys’ friends, I scored two goals at my soccer game, and William started calling his little brother Patrick instead of Tatrick.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I know we’ve been trying forever for him to say the P, but now that he has, I’m a little sad that there isn’t a special brotherly nickname of sorts.  Though, everything is still blahdy blah poopy.  “Silly poopy mommy” is a favorite.  And someone at school has obviously taught him “butt” and we are NOT happy about that.  So we now have three bad words “Stupid, Shut Up, and Butt”.  I have a feeling that list is going to be VERY long by the end of the year.  Lord help us.

Saturday William had a birthday party for the twins in his class at Monkey Joe’s.  He had a really great time and even decided that he liked the jumpies and the slides.  Yay!!!  He was sweet and wanted to sit by me and ‘snuggle’ during pizza and cake time and stinker stole my piece of cake.  Actually, it was kinda ok because it meant I didn’t eat all of it but it was tiny and good.  Oh well.  When we got home, it was basically time to turn around and head out to Callaway for the Easter egg hunt.  That was kind of a big let down (too many rude people) but then we went to the Discovery Center, got a snack and played while waiting for the bird show.  After 2.5 birds – they were in full non-nap moods, so we left for home.  It was a good, but busy day.  And the weather was gorgeous.  

we took a lot of pictures trying to get a good one.... this out-take cracks me up

 

Easter Sunday was lovely.  The boys were just beautiful.  Ahem Handsome.  Nope – I’m sticking with beautiful.  Takes my breath away.  William in seersucker and Patrick in smocked – sweet sweet boys.  WHO REFUSED TO TAKE A PICTURE TOGETHER.  They would not cooperate.  So frustrating.  But they were really excited about the Easter bunny and their baskets and hunting eggs.  We were able to hold them off until just before 8am I think.  Even Patrick started getting the hang of it and was picking up eggs.  We went to church and then to B&B’s.  After church, William wanted to ride with B&B, so it was just Patrick & me walking to the car and all of sudden I was just overtaken with an intense feeling of pride ( and sadness ) watching him walk with on the sidewalk by himself, holding his blue balloon dressed in his saddle oxfords.  He’s becoming a big boy and I want to remember everything about this time.  It’s so hard not to take moments for granted – I feel like I’ve already forgotten so much of when William was little...

At B&B’s we finally managed to get one or two decent pictures of the family and then it was on to more Easter baskets.  The boys were thrilled with the cars and treats and William got some cars undies and our new favorite movie “Rise of the Guardians”.  The egg hunt was adorable again – William was a speed demon and Patrick was only interested in holding all of his cars.  Ha!  Neither one took a nap, though, we didn't even try to get William to take one… I think they ate a little bit of the dinner and then we all went home and laid down.  All in all, a pretty wonderful day.

It goes without saying that Patrick is going to do whatever his brother is doing.  This is at a whole new level now.  Literally EVERYTHING that William does – Patrick will copy.  Bad behavior, noises, running, etc.  EVERYTHING.  Sometimes it’s adorable.  Other times it’s loud.  And then there are the times when it just isn’t ok.  So, raising two boys isn't easy, but it certainly is fun and interesting.  What we didn't count on was William learning from Patrick.  William has always been the kid that will stay in bed until we come and get him.  Period.  Patrick didn't get that gene.  And he has now taught his big brother that it’s ok.  I honestly, don’t really mind being woken up to little boys in the bed (shhhhh don’t tell Sam).  I think it’s the best way to wake up actually.  As long as it isn't ridiculously early….  It was 6:10 this morning – perfect little alarm really.

Oh – Sunday after naps – Sam wasn’t feeling well (pollen gets him every year), so I took the boys with me to Old Navy to return something and then as a treat, we all walked down to Toys R Us.  Somewhere between Old Navy and bedtime, we either totally lost or Patrick “put away” Walter the piggy.  Either way – we can’t find him.  I swear I remember seeing him that evening as I was putting too small boy clothes in a tote for the attic, but he is N.O.W.H.E.R.E.   Finally broke down last night and ordered a new one after a bad night of sleep due to Henry the horse being a bad substitute.  A new Walter will be here on Friday.  Good thing we never washed him – so the new one shouldn’t be TOO different.  I just keep thinking atleast it wasn’t Hilbert – that would be a real family tragedy and William would not recover from that.  Plus, we’d have to go run new Hilbert through the leaf blower vacuum thing to get him in the same condition he is now – hahaha!!!   I do feel really bad that I might be to blame for losing Walter though – Mommy isn’t supposed to do that.  I also hate that there will be a replacement one and not the one that we bought for him before he was born.  But I suppose in 20 years I won’t really feel that guilty about it.  Atleast I hope not. Ha!

 

Things to remember:  "Mommy - why are your baby foods small?" Trying to teach William that there's a time for play and a time to be serious - dinner is the latter.  "Roger" seems to be coming up more frequently - we aren't sure who or what he is.  He might be a toy airplane but we aren't confident about that.  Sam spinning the boys in the kitchen - they both squeal, fall over, and then beg to do it again.  Patrick has to be touching my hair or holding my hand - nearly constantly - in the car, at the table, while nursing...  Patrick's words: choo choo, airplane, car, mommy, daddy, eat, mine, no, more, meow for cat, lots of animal sounds.  He begs to go out side, and sometimes the porch just doesn't cut it.  Guess the backyard makeover just moved to the top of the list.  William called Patrick an old woman at dinner yesterday - definitely don't know what to make of that.  We are still trying to figure out how to pronounce the word for orange in Spanish.  It's not going so well.  I've taken to affectionately referring to the boys as my little monsters. 

 

Loves.

Baaaa Mooooo OINK

yeah yeah... so I took a mini break from blogging that turned into a two week hiatus.  I'm really not even quite sure why I continue to post - it's a time suck but I suppose I want to be able to remember the monsters as little people when I am old and gray and wrinkly.  So here goes nothing.

When we got back from vacation, William had to go through a learning curve of figuring out who was in charge again.  For some reason, he seemed to think that he was in charge.  Which I don't quite understand, because I know for a fact my dad would never let a 3.5 year old rule the house, but either way, Sam and I were not William's "best friends" for the better part of a week.  I'm pretty sure that means we were being awesome parents.  ha

this is the result of Shaun the Sheep....

Patrick took the past two weeks to truly punish me for abandoning him.  No kidding.  I couldn't move to the other side of a room unless he went with me.  And if he didn't, hysterics. I mean, he's always been a bit of a mommy cling-on, but this was a whole new level.  Lucky for all of us, he seems to have come to terms with it and no longer thinks I am disappearing from his life completely EVERY time I move.  Back to only 70% of the time.  Stinking status quo.  Good thing that baby is adorable.

He also started nursing like his life depended on it.  You would have thought that I stole the magic boobs away from him......... oh wait.........  haha  Anyhow.  He is still getting his snuggles and milk in the morning and evening and whenever he wants on the weekend.  Though, he's started this new "buffet attitude" about it during the day, and I'm honestly a little tired of getting every thing out and situated for a total of 7 seconds.  Just to repeat 5 minutes later.  It's not ok.  I say that like I'll refuse him asking... ha.  He knows better...  All he has to do is point.  **Oh - to remember in the wrinkly moments - he "has" to be able to play with my hair while he nurses.  And even when I hold him - it must be some kind of "safe" thing for him.**

this is what happens when I turn the camera on William "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese"

What was really cute was the moment when William & Patrick were reunited at B&B's.  Truly heartwarming.  They genuinely love and care for each other just like brothers.  BIG BIG hugs.  So sweet.

Patrick is getting REALLY good at his animal sounds.  Baa... Quack....Oink (Sam is trying to teach him to do it the non-cute way with his nose)....Neigh and then OOO OOO for monkey complete with shaking his head back and forth.  CUTEST. THING. EVER.  This really works out because we have barely changed the channel from Shaun the Sheep or Timmy Time (baby sheep).  Both boys are oddly enamored with it and there is not a single word.  Not one.  And they could watch for hours.

We have teacher conferences this week.  I already know what they are going to say about William - lots of energy, hyper, fast, talks a lot, focusing is sometimes an issue, big emotions.  I mean, for real, his nickname from the teacher is Red Rooster.  He's a loud red head.  And he got it all honestly... I should start each school year with an apology that he is just like me.  LOL

Patrick is, on the whole, sleeping much better every night.  He still has some extremely bad nights, but usually he's only wakes once and some nights not at all.  Sam is loving it since he's the one who gets up with him now.  I am loving the full night's sleep (not that I don't wake up to crying babes).

I am seriously contemplating only doing one, maybe two posts a month, just to give myself a pass.  I know that SO MANY PEOPLE will be disappointed that I'm not posting weekly... haha...

Loves.

Ok ok... so I missed them

Long time .... no see..  The Rumers went on a real vacation!  Sam and I had our first vacation all by ourselves.  We slept and ate and played outside.... and I missed the boys terribly.  It took a couple days for a real live meltdown, but I did not like not seeing them.  (Sam has pointed out that I will have to get better at it for when I travel for work.  I pointed out that atleast both boys will be at home with their Daddy and not separated, out of their routine.... not that their grandparents aren't FULLY capable)  It was very quiet and more than a little strange and we kept seeing things that I wished the boys could see.  It didn't help that on Monday the phone at the cabin rang and it was Becky saying that Patrick had a fever and was sick.  I especially did not like being 4+ hours away from my sick baby. (He stayed home the next day and was back to school on Wednesday and back to normal on Thursday...easy peasy.  Sam was not going to be pleased if we had to leave....)

SOAP BOX ALERT:  I absolutely believe that married parents need to take time to take care of their relationship and relax and just take a moment for themselves.  I think it is important for the boys to have the time for some independence, and know that their parents value their relationship.  I'm not saying that we are going to do it every other week, every month or shoot - probably at best only once a year.  We really do like our children and being surrounded by their quirkiness - but someone might have unleashed their own (and their friends) insecurities on me about leaving my children and it's been on my mind.  I think taking a week to work on my relationship with their dad is better than a life time of being shuffled from house to house because I didn't.  Just a thought.

I insisted on calling morning and night to check in on the boys.  Bebe would report how Patrick slept and ate, he ate better than he slept.... B&B finally got to here him wail one night, not that that is a good thing.  Both said they had never heard him cry!  Oh he cries all right.  Poor baby.  We tried a couple times to talk to him but he would just stare the phone curiously.  William would get on the phone and very quickly tell me about his adventures and then just as quickly get off the phone saying I love you BYE!!  So funny.  I go back and forth between thinking he's so big and then that he's still so little.  Just can't make my mind.  And that's probably the point of this age... and the root of many many tantrums.

In light of a meltdown, Sam let us leave a little early and come to my parent's house on Thursday afternoon after some fun shopping. (we bought the coolest train car prints for the boys)  I was so excited to smooch all over William's face.  Of course he ran to Daddy to get a hug first... stinker.  But then he snuggled with me all night long.  Even asked at the dinner table if I would watch Dora and snuggle (best way to get out of dishes ever! haha)  Love that sweet boy.  He's been quite the Momma's boy all day Friday and for the most part, I'm totally ok with that.

He's so neat.  His pretending has taken a new deeper turn in the story making and he's very insistent and demanding on the stories.  He is REALLY specific about where you stand and how you play.  William got lucky and Daddy had to replace the HVAC outside box thing (unlucky for the Kennedy's) and there was a huge box.  That was immediately turned into a house with a door and a window.  He and I would get in there (me just barely) and we'd hide from the monsters (Daddy & Mima)!!!  Really so much fun playing him.  Later, pieces of the box were used to make a 'truckrocketsleigh'.  Seriously.  That was what I made.  We only got as far as the four wheels though -  he didn't like I how I was planning to make the seat, threw a tantrum, and we changed plans to go outside and ride bikes.  I really could just watch him all day, complete with an always on video camera.  He says the funniest things.  "No you can't go in the mud, I have to rescue you" - Uncle K just came and told us...

I'm anxious to snuggle with Patrick tomorrow.  I'm sure I will be in awe of how big he has grown in just a week, and I bet his two most recent teeth are halfway out of his gums now looking like real teeth.  He might even have more hair on his head.  And I cannot wait to snuggle, nurse him, and put him to bed.  I hope he hasn't decided to wean just because I was gone all week.  I pumped every morning so the boobs wouldn't get the wrong idea... I know it's silly, and I need to let him decide, and I will.  But I will be so sad if he puts the kibosh on that special time.  Guess I'll find out soon enough...

Doing this on my Dad's super cool IPAD with keyboard stand thing... so no pictures.  But honestly, there aren't any new pictures of the boys.  Only of Sam and I and waterfalls.  haha!  

Loves.

Little Swashbucklers

Sam and I are going on a much needed vacation next week, so I figured I better do my February duty and squeeze in a blog before we leave.  I know you are all DYING to know what the boys have been up to. Haha!!  At the very least, I need to document SOMETHING,  since this blog is acting as their baby books…  I never got William’s all the way filled out and we didn’t even buy one for Patrick.  Oh the mommy shame!! LOL

Patrick has made us oh so proud by deciding to finally sleep through the night after weeks and weeks of Sam getting up to comfort him back down.  I suppose, in the end, we really did kind of do the Elizabeth Pantley No Cry Sleep Solution, just adapted our way (ie – no real schedule to any of it) but it worked.  Every night it would be a little longer and a little easier to get him back to sleep and then one night he slept all the way through until 4:30 or so, and then went back down again.  It’s wonderful.  Granted, it’s not that way every night, but gone are the days of getting up every hour… unless he’s cutting teeth.

 

Which he totally did!!!  Sweet boy has two more top teeth that have FINALLY broken through!  That means we are up to six and as soon as those two come down and look like real teeth – he won’t be so snaggly smiled any more!! Haha!!  He loves brushing his mouth 'full' of teeth - he beats William to the bathroom every time.  I’m sure he will love having the extra teeth to bite into all of his food with – the kid is a bottomless pit.   Seriously though, most nights he eats more than William does!!  He’s a bit more deliberate (SLOW) with his eating though.. so maybe that’s why.  William is in such a hurry to get back to being busy!

Little known fact - I am an expert pipe works builder.  

I know it is well documented that William has a rough time in the mornings and sometimes even with bedtime.  We got the bright idea, well Sam says it was all his idea, earlier this week to make a chart so he would know what was expected and we could give him stickers/checkmarks/surprise/SOMETHING to get him on board.  Turns out I had a little extra time on Monday and got them made and sent off to Fedex to be printed/laminated.  THE BEST $7 WE HAVE SPENT IN A LONG TIME.  The kid is JUST like his Momma and will do just about anything to get a check mark!!  He will get dressed by himself, brush his teeth, follow directions, etc if it means he gets a sticker!  Granted, this morning wasn’t quite so easy and he was 3 stickers short… but, honestly, that is still an improvement.  And the arguing about going to school has disappeared!  No tantrums about going to his class or anything.  I swear it’s related!  Or atleast I hope so because we are enjoying the trend!

Patrick has learned how to cross his fingers.  It’s so cute to watch how proud he is of it and does it over and over and over again!  He also REALLY likes giving ‘knucks’.  He goes back and forth between everyone around and makes the exploding noise, without exploding his hand – we’re still working on that one.  Haha!  He is growing up much too fast and is much too smart.  I know it’s because he has a model to watch constantly, but still, must too fast.  He follows directions so well and wants to be big so badly.  This Momma just isn’t ready yet.

We might be crazy, but Sunday morning we decided it made perfect sense to get both boys pirate swords.  We had to repeat SEVERAL times that we do not swing swords in the  car and not to hit Patrick in the face...  Both boys had a great time playing with them though and I'm sure we put on quite the show in the front yard.  William takes his pirate-ing very seriously.   Patrick preferred to hold the sword by the blade, we never could convince him that the handle was better!  A friend at work now knows where I live (not that I was hiding it) because he happened to be driving by during the sword fight. Oh my!

Obviously, today is Valentine’s day.  It started early for me making Pink Heart pancakes (I made the batter last night to save some time).  Wouldn’t you know that I was the only one who ate them?!  William took two bites, sans syrup, with his hands and was done.  Sam wasn’t hungry at 6am and Patrick only wanted boobs.  I’m not going to lie, my feelings were more than a little hurt, but RPM during lunch fixed all that.  William kept switching puzzles with Patrick, since he slept in a little more, and that was funny.  He couldn’t decide whether he wanted the house or the train, and then he wanted to know if where the fire truck was that I got the hat from… silly boy.  Always full of questions.  (His version of why is “tell me ‘bout it”)  I had big plans for a pizza picnic, lots of movie snuggling, and extra special homemade pink heart cookies.  Life had other ideas that kept the event a little more lackluster than I had intended.  But that's why you get for making plans and having expectations with small children.  haha!  This is Sam’s and my 10^th (crazy) Valentine’s day and we’ve had pizza every one of them, except the one year the in-laws wanted to cook us filets.   Rumers don’t say no to steak, so we skipped the tradition that year.  Haha. 

So here’s to a day full of love, hopefully just like every other day.  But there only fun cookies today.

PS.. Because I want to remember this.  Currently, I am William's best friend and Daddy is Tatrick's.  "You're my best friend Mommy"  melt heart into little puddle, unless he's only saying this to get me to stop holding Patrick and pick him up, then I melt a little less.

Loves!