This That & Fun

The past two weeks have been full of fun.  Or maybe we were relaxing.  Wait, no, we have two boys, we were most definitely not relaxing.  haha!!  I do know that we were much too busy doing whatever we were doing to take a lot of pictures.  I realized this at some point and tried to remedy the situation, but, let's just say, that what you are about to see is not my finest work.  Or even good work.  But it's our life and the boys are always cute, so take what you can get.  ha!

Patrick is developing the cutest personality.  I think he's finally discovered that he can compete with the bigger tornado, especially if he gets a head start (like getting out of the bath first...)  One of William's favorite games is "scaring mommy" with his dragon towel on his head.  Lo and behold - Patrick has one too - and I suppose after a year of watching William play dragon - he wanted in on the fun.  He toddled around with the hoodie towel on, growling and laughing.  He didn't even mind when the hood would fall over his eyes and he was walking around blind.  And when the towel would fall off - he'd pick it up and throw it on his head over his eyes and keep going.  We had two very silly dragons - so much for calming down after bath.

he decided Daddy should have his cow's milk cup - what a good sharer we have

William is one of the friendliest kids I know.  He will literally talk to anyone!!  He told every one at the donut store that he smashed his finger in the door and that he was going ot get a bandaid at home.  it's so funny to think about how as a parent we might be influencing our kids, etc.  And he definitely gets the outgoing/never stop talking gene honestly.... I think it will serve him well.  With sweet red curly hair and a big smile - no one will be able to tell him no.  haha!!  I just hope that he only gets our good qualities....though he does seem to have a mean stubborn streak.. I'll blame that one on Sam... (my Daddy is laughing at me right now... I know I know)

giving Daddy a kiss... so sweet

Since we are one of the first parents to drop kids off in the morning, we hardly ever get to talk to the other parents.  At pick up, we met the mom of the boy who is apparently Patrick's best friend.  She was telling us that the other day, she brought C* to school and sat him down.  Patrick brought him a car and then went to get himself one and then they drove the cars around together.  She said she couldn't believe that Patrick would give C* a car before getting his own - how sweet it was - that she was nearly in tears just watching it.  Which of course, put me nearly in tears hearing about it.  It's kind of strange & interesting to think that such little kids, babies, could be learning compassion, kindness, etc - but obviously they are capable or much more than we give them credit for.  Simply amazing.  I hope growing up doesn't strip him of his sweet giving spirit.

Patrick is beginning to have spurts of happy independent play time.  He's always been a little bit happier than William was by himself, but he also has a VERY strong attachment to me.  He will cling ot my legs crying while I cook or get ready in the morning, desperate for me to pick him up.  Which is so sweet, but a little frustrating at the same time.  It's a nice relief to see him playing in the room with toys or in the living room with his brother.  He loves going out on the porch, so I've been opening the porch doors and letting him go back and forth.  I'm sure he will only get better at this the bigger he gets and is more able to play with William.  And then maybe separation anxiety will begin to take a back seat...

On Saturday, Sam had a wonderful idea to rent a kids' movie (Alvin & the Chipmunks) and watch on the floor in a pillow fort.  Little did I know that a pillow fort = a pillow pile.  We grabbed literally ever single pillow in the house, including the boppy, and threw them on the floor on top of two quilts.  We bought butter popcorn, Nilla wafers, and Reese's icrecream - because you have to have treats for movie afternoon!!  It was SOO much fun!  And both boys paid attention and laid relatively still watching the movie.  They both apparently love popcorn and Patrick likes to share his food, especially half eaten cookies... It was one of the best afternoons this year and we didn't leave the house.  I love snuggling with the boys.

Patrick stuffing his face with a mini-cupcake

I celebrated my 30th birthday by going to Six Flags with my Daddy.  Seriously - might've been the best idea of all time.  We had an awesome time riding all the roller coasters.  I even got legitimately scared on one of them.  And then immediately wanted to ride it again...haha.  And the best part - while we were looking at the best deal for tickets - turns out that if we got four season passes for 2013 it was basically the same price (with free parking!!) - so we can all go next year too!  With William!!  I am trying to figure out when just him and I can go ride his first roller coaster together.  He went with M&G and loved every minute of it - but they saved the roller coaster for me.  So thoughtful.  Sam has no use for roller coasters, but that has always been something that Daddy and I loved, and I hope to have the same with my boys.  I have a picture of the two of us on my 8th birthday on the Georgia Cyclone.  Of course, that was the first one we went on Sunday, and they no longer take a picture on that coaster.  Talk about disappointed.  I was all pumped to get the picture again, but the memory will have to suffice.  8 hours of fun and lot of time to talk while we waited in line.  A great birthday.  And I even came home with a cheesecake.  Perfection.

William taking the mini-cupcake in one bite

Patrick celebrated my birthday by finally cutting a tooth.  Success in parenting!! ha!  I did not birth the toothless wonder.  We celebrated by sleeping just a little bit better and without him screaming bloody murder every couple hours.  Thank goodness.  That was getting OLD!  Now, of course, we are going to have to figure out how to nurse with a very sharp little tooth that is rubbing mommy the wrong way, but we will work that out.  I'm just glad that he has teeth and I'm sure he is too.... Real food is easier to eat with teeth.  On that note - he has been expanding his tastes in food.  He has now added chicken to the list of things he will eat at home.  And roasted potatoes.  He threw the green beans on the floor though.  Bread is still his number one favorite though - cinnamon raisin bread is the only way we are able to get any peace in the morning getting ready.  (the same as it was two years ago with William)  ha!

William has started adding to his nighttime routine a pleading request to snuggle.  I think it's just to stall actually going to sleep, but it's so hard to say no.  He's so sweet and really - how much longer is he going to request snuggles?!  I'll usually give in a couple times a week.  Last night when I snuggled, he petted my chest saying "I love your baby food".  Sam is worried that he's going to start petting strangers asking about their "baby food".  hahahahaha!!!

Loves!

Patrick's Party

One of the funniest sentences that William uses frequently is "that's not good for me".  Not quite sure where/how he picked it up, but when something other than the show he wants to be watching comes on - like, say a commercial - he pulls that one out.  Occasionally, he will use the sentence appropriately and there really will be something on that we don't want him to see, but usually Caillou has ended and he doesn't want to wait for the DVR to cycle through the next three minutes for another one to come on - so he tries to get us to fast forward through it because it's "not good for him."  Silly boy.

for some reason William refused to wear a swimsuit while swimming in the pool the entire weekend.  fine with us - we forgot to bring the swim diapers that he insists he still has to wear with his shorts.

Patrick has discovered that he can throw a tantrum.  Complete with shaking fists and stomping feet.  Unfortunately for him, it's still quite amusing to watch him to do this.  But when he commits, he commits hard poor baby.  I suppose we should celebrate some kind of developmental milestone that comes with the ability to throw a tantrum, but I just know that it won't be quite so novel in a couple weeks...  yay for being an experienced parent.

      

Oh!  Patrick's birthday party!!  It was absolutely wonderful.  We made a four day weekend out of it and that was one of our best decisions.  This year I decided that M&G (Mimi & Grandaddy) had done their fair share of traveling and it was time that they get to stay put, so we had the party at their house.  I meant for it to be an easy, laidback kind of party, but of course they wouldn't have any of that and were busy making food and doing yardwork.  Just can't get those two to sit still!!  The weather was beautiful, right up until party time.  Then it kept pouring rain every 45 minutes or so.  Lucky for us, we were all hanging out on the basement patio drinking beer, so the rain didn't matter a bit.  Except that I really wanted to go swimming and that wasn't going to happen in the rain.

It was really a super fun time - lots of family came - and the boys played with their (second?) cousins. I don't know that they stopped playing inside with the trains, foosball, and air hockey table for over an hour.  But then the sun finally came out after most of everyone had left, and Dash & William had the BEST time making HUMONGO splashes and behaving like boys in the blow-up pool.  Patrick nursed through all of it - poor baby was so tired.  I was impressed that he could focus through all the noise!

But yeah - Patrick only slept for 45 minutes all day - so he was basically exhausted for his entire party. He got lots of great snuggles with everyone though, which I know they (and he) enjoyed.  He did NOT smash his cake, which was a huge disappointment to me.  I spent all year making sure he never really had a taste of cake or treats so when he got the cake he would kind of freak out.  Nope.  He was too tired or didn't get it or who knows.  Rumer boys just don't smash cakes.  I give up.  It was a really cute cake though too.  And we barely had enough of the big cake for everyone - literally only 1.5 tiny pieces were left.  Everyone went home on a sugar high I am sure - 3 batches of buttercream on the cake.  Totally worth it.  I loved the cake and really enjoy icing them now.  Not intimidated at all.  Hopefully the boys will appreciate all the work when they grown up... maybe in 20 years.  Probably more like 30 though.  When they are watching their wives frost their children's cakes... oh my.  So not ready for that.  ha!

William stayed with M&G for the week and we went home midday Monday because Sam started his NEW JOB the next day!! (Tuesday)  He's now an Account Manager and so far he loves it!!  We are so proud of him and I'm trying to not be irritated by his blackberry.  He thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread - we've even had to buy a fancy new holster for it because apparently it is very inconvenient to try and figure out which phone is ringing when they are both in your pocket.  I'm going to have to take his word on that one.  I'm clearly not that important yet.. haha!!!  One day.  So, yeah.  One week in and I think he's rocking it.  Which of course he would be.  No surprise there.

 

I swear when I picked William up at Great Grandmother's house in Atlanta he was inches taller, his vocabulary had doubled, and he was just all around a bigger boy.  It had been 5 days.  Five days and I was convinced that he had drastically changed.  I just can't believe how much they change.  I'm in awe of it every time I slow down enough to have it shoved in my face.  I was talking with the "breakfast club" at work this morning, and we all have to remind ourselves that as much as we want to rush and see them grown up, that we also need to slow down and enjoy them as mini people too.  That it is all fleeting and we need to soak it in.  Because one day they will be teenagers who eat all the deli meat and barely talk to us... haha!!

Knock on wood - Patrick has been going down to sleep a little easier the past couple nights.  I was putting him down last night, then had to leave to flip the roasting potatoes which of course made him cry, but by the time I had gotten the whole pan turned, back in the oven, and walked back to the room - he had stopped crying (maybe 60-90 seconds at most).  I tell you - that is total progress.  Even counting the thirty minutes previously invested in getting him to sleep.  We will take it where we can get it.  I really truly don't mind getting up with him to nurse him all night long, but it strains us both when he won't go down easily.  And since I won't let him cry it out (because - really what is so wrong about teaching your child that you will be there to meet his needs) this usually causes the put down process to drag out a little if he's not in a cooperative sleepy kind of mood.

Patrick is definitely growing, we had to buy him bigger shoes yesterday.  Up to size 5.  We had zero size five in our stash - now when he hits 5.5 - he is set.  More than set.  And truthfully, maybe he should have been wearing size 5 this whole time, because they sure are easier to put on then the 4.5 red keds.  Oh well.  Hopefully he won't hold it against us.

I don't know how he is managing to grow though, he won't eat anything besides bread at this point.  He loved garlic bread tonight - smart boy...  He just throws everything else on the floor - hotdog, biscuits (I don't think he realized that biscuits are like bread - just with butter and jam), fruit, chicken, everything.  And we are 0 for 2 on getting him to drink from a sippy cup at school.  Luckily, they will just pour the breast milk into a bottle for him to drink, but the pediatrician wants him off the bottle and we can't find a sippy cup that he will drink from?!  Who knows.  I guess since he still nurses all night long, I should stop being SO concerned about the lack of swallowing table food nutrition wise, but I don't know....  He also doesn't have any teeth still - so maybe he's just waiting for those to pop in.

Loves.

Patrick by Numbers: 12

I simply cannot believe how fast the past year has gone by.  I can literally remember every minute of of the day a year ago.  How I felt my heart actually enlarge and spill over in joy when he first cried.  It amazes me how much babies change in twelve short months, and as much as I want him to stay little, I also can't wait to see what kind of boy he becomes.

*Weighs 22 lbs 5 oz (just under 50th) - 30.5 in tall (just over 50th)

*Walks like a pro and runs after his brother.  He can play a mean game of chase.

*Loves animals.  Will chase the cats and is not afraid of dogs - atleast the smaller ones he has seen up close and personal.  We still haven't let ours run him over yet, but he is very interested in them.

*Has had a mini-taste or two of real milk and wasn't impressed!  That's my boy!! ha!

*LOVES greek yogurt!! And Italian sausage.  He will gobble gobble and beg for more.

*STILL no teeth.  None.

he didn't want anything to do with the pictures at first and cried so hard

I will do anything for this sweet little boy

*Had roseola, which made us quite uneasy, but it finally disappeared after more than a week.

*His most favorite toys are trucks and he loves to make the engine sound by razzing.

*He believes that he can swim and will try to be sneaky walking around the pool to find an opening to jump in without you - he has NOT been successful so far.  He absolutely hates his floaty seat.

*Prefers to be barefoot and does not mind grass, pinestraw, mud, etc.  This is the exact opposite of his brother, though , I think Patrick is beginning to influence him on this one.

*Begins the night sleeping in his crib, then moves in to the bed with mommy.  I love it, he loves it, I don't see this changing any time soon.

*Is very distractible while nursing, but when he's REALLY hungry he can focus through anything.  Even two rambunctious boys in a small pool making BIG splashes.

*Still nursing all day and all night long.  Goes about 3 hour between during the day if he gets a good meal, but sometimes on the weekends he just snacks all day.  He can go 3 hours at night, but he usually prefers every 2.  He's gotten really efficient though, so we are rarely up more than 10 minutes at the very most, usually it's only 5.

*Loves raspberries on his belly.  His laughter makes the world a better place.

*One of his favorite activities is putting things in things.  We found the car keys in the mop bucket one day (after twenty minutes of searching).  It is helpful when we are picking up toys though - he thinks it's fun and has no idea that it's a chore!  haha!!

he refused to stay still on the floor or on his feet - it's a wonder we got this one at all!!

Watch out world - Patrick is ready and on the move!!

*Is a bit of a cling-on.  But since he loves Mommy best, I'm usually ok with it.  Breaks my heart in the morning at school though.  Sam has to practically drag me out of his room.

*Falls asleep on the highway.  Thank goodness.

*You know he's done with his meal when he starts throwing all of it on the floor.  This is fine when it's just puffs, not so fine with it's pasta covered in sauce.

*Love loves loves bread.  He is his momma's child.

*Took his first trip to the Gulf of Mexico.  He loved the sand and the ocean.  He's going to be a beach bum for sure.

*Lives for bath time.  He also thinks he's big enough to crawl over the edge by himself.  We've got to watch him for sure!

*Definitely a climber.  He can get himself into Sam's lap in the chair all by himself.

*Likes his paci, but can live and sleep without it.  Definitely not an obsession like his brother had.  we lose a lot more of them because of this though - he will toss them out without a though and before you know, we've gone from 10 pacis to frantically searching for 1.

*Has nearly outgrown most of his 12 month clothes.  He is rocking the 18 month clothes and he wears a size 4.5 shoe.  Nothing cuter than him in red Keds.  Can't wait until he's in size 5 for the brand new green ones we got him last fall though.

*Thinks it is funny to clap his hands and like to wave bye to his teachers.

*His fun personality really starts to come out in bursts when his tornado older brother isn't around trying to outshine him.

*Is starting to follow simple directions.  "Go to the room" "Pick up the paci"  "Give Mommy a kiss"  I especially like the last one :)

Loves.

A very nice weekend.

It's been documented several times that William has an endless and active imagination.  Well, this weekend we got our first imaginary friend - Dino.  He's very silly and likes to run off, so we have to search all over and find him in funny places.  I think it's the cutest thing ever.  I also think that the guy in the Wal Mart parking lot thought we were crazy for loudly calling "Dino Dino Where are you?!"  (note - he might not be totally imaginary - I think Dino might be from an episode of Caillou...)

We spent nearly all day Saturday playing with long lost (well, temporarily relocated) friends.  We went to Cooper Creek to take turns riding bikes, tormenting feeding the geese and baby ducks, and having a ball.  The boys had a BLAST!!!  They're only six weeks apart in birthdays and oh so cute together.  It was fun to hear their conversations and see how well they get along, atleast when they are well rested and not hungry... ha!!  To our surprise, they were really great at taking turns and sharing most things.  How'd we get so lucky with such wonderful boys?!

Patrick has unbelievably sensitive skin, so when he got a rash all over his body, we didn't think too much of it.  Definitely called my doctor sister though (so nice having a doctor as a sibling) and she said most rashes all over the body in kids were viruses, but not to be too worried unless he had a high fever.  He did not.  The rash started to look better the next day, no fever, no worrying.  We thought maybe his whole body decided to reject his teeth - William always got a really bad rash on his face during teething...  Then it got worse on Saturday, especially after playing outside for a couple hours (turns out that of course heat makes a rash look worse because of blood..something...I need a doctor to really explain).  Freaked Sam out for sure.  Still not too worried.  UNTIL I look at William and he has little red bumps on his head and arms and chest.  Oh lord.  But, still neither has a fever.  We made the executive decision though that we didn't want to be the parents who let our kids die of flesh eating rash because they didn't have a fever to prompt us to visit Pediatric Acute Care.  $55 later we find out that it is a virus, not to be worried unless they have a fever, it will run it's course in about a week, and it is called roseola.  Noted.

The word of the week has been "favorite".  William has a favorite everything.  Favorite blanket, favorite drink, favorite animal, favorite towel, favorite parent, the list goes on.  I find it adorable.  You probably don't know this, why would you..., but "You are my favorite" is something Sam and I have said to each other nearly daily for most of the 9+ years we've been together.  So I think it is beyond sweet that he might be picking up on it.  Or he just has a lot of things he prefers and it's not sweet at all.  I don't know about you, but I hope it's not the latter... haha!!  Plus, I like it when he says I am his favorite ;)  Though, he also says "that is NOT my favorite" a good bit of the time though as well... moving on...

It really was a super full weekend of kiddo playing.  Nearly all of Saturday was spent with Henry, Sunday morning we went swimming with Henry again, and then Sunday after nap we went to Callaway with little Will and baby Jules.  It was absolute perfection.  And I realized on the way home, that I hadn't stressed one time about cleaning the house or what I was 'supposed' to be doing.  I was all caught up the whole time in playing with all the kids that the thought "I can't because I'm supposed to be...." never happened once.  And honestly, it has about the same effect as going to the beach.  Just relaxing and nice.  Breathing is easier kind of feeling.  It was a BUSY weekend, but I feel so good about it all and not overwhelmed or anything.  Now, granted, the floors are still dirty and there are a billion loads of laundry to be done... but atleast we had a fun weekend instead of one filled with normalness.  It's nice to have these kind of productive, non-productive weekends.

The countdown to Patrick's birthday has officially begun.  T-minus 6 days.  Poor second baby.  I have almost nothing ready for the party either.  I think I am going to reuse the table cloth (IF I can find it in the attic) I made for William's first birthday, his party outfit, "1" tshirt....  I WILL make a new cake .. haha!!  But seriously..how terrible is all that?!  It's his FIRST BIRTHDAY and I'm nearly acting like it's just another day.  Patrick - I promise your second birthday party will be amazing.  It will be your turn for a "friends party" and it will be the coolest thing any 2 year old has ever seen.  I have managed not to let the mini person have a single bite of cake or any real treat this whole year, so hopefully he will be REALLY excited to eat/smash/enjoy his personal cake and we'll get good pictures of the whole thing.  I love a good icing nose picture :)

That's Henry's dog Ava and William is in love.  She is so sweet, perfectly sized, totally well-behaved, and everything our dogs are not.  (which, admittedly, is probably our fault)  He was sad when she had to leave the house - he wanted her to stay with him all day/night/forever, and he woke up Sunday asking where she was... sweet boy.

Random points of interest from the past couple days - William corrects me when I start to sing him Jesus Loves Me, telling me that it's not my favorite - Twinkle Little Star is my favorite.  He won't stop telling me this until I switch songs.  We have seriously conditioned the kid.  Patrick walked out of his room today and then turned around to wave bye to Ms Shay - one of the most adorable things ever.  We just spent nearly an hour and a half trying to get Patrick to sleep.  I don't know why this surprises me anymore.  Success - he went to sleep in the crib without being walked and without being left to cry.  He did cry a little in protest, but I was there the whole time to reassure him.  Maybe we will give sleep training another try, but I think I'm in charge this time.  I have the patience for it.  Tonight anyhow.  haha!!  We will not be bringing William's preschool teachers surprise donuts - I think they are inventing policies so they don't have to deal with certain situations.  Truthfully, maybe it is a policy that he can't have a donut when no one else in the class (2 girls that he doesn't even know and are very focused on playing at a different table) has food, but now I miss Ms Phyllis that much more.  Cue Real Tears.  I may never get over this.

Loves!

Just words.

We have not taken a single picture the past week, maybe two...  Bad mommy...I know.  Though, I did take a 3 minute blurry video on Sam's phone this morning of Patrick walking down the hall at school like a big boy.  I don't have the slightest clue how to get that to the blog though, and even if I did, I doubt you would want to actually watch it.  I mean, he's cute and all, but it's three minutes of blurry.  Only I will watch it over and over I am sure.  And cry just a little bit every time, because it means that my baby is that much closer to not being a baby anymore.

William has been doing really great with his new classroom this week.  He usually runs right in without any tears and then, after checking on the giant dinosaurs, comes back and gives us all big hugs and kisses.  I'm hoping his new teachers grow on me, because right now, I'm still in mourning over Ms Phyllis.  I had a long talk with her, well as long as you can have in a busy daycare parking lot, at the beginning of the week, and I miss her.  She geniunely cared about William.  Loved him.  And these teachers are giving me attitude that he is having poopy accidents.  It's not ok.  I guess it's silly to think that anyone will be as good or replace Ms Phyllis, but I suppose I'm disappointed that they are falling so short.  It's only one year.  It's only one year.  And William has no idea and loves being with his friends.

He has started using the word Best Friend.  Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's Daddy, some days it is Garrett or Jude... It's so funny to hear him talk about his friends.  And it seems that nearly everyday he tells me that someone hit him.  Which is inevitably followed with "I hit him too".  I don't know how many conversations I've had with him about why we don't hit, it hurts, etc etc.  He always says that his friend hit him first though...  Right... I will believe that only because I want to.

We have abandoned the idea of sleep training Patrick.  Sam lost patience and I refuse to let him cry, so we were at a bit of an impasse.  I guess lucky for Patrick, Sam agreed to maintain the status quo - so kiddo gets to continue sleeping with me.  I am not the least bit disappointed.  Remember - I'm clinging to my baby... haha!!  He is a bit of wiggle worm when he sleeps though and somehow I'm relegated to the VERY edge of the bed.  He's a mini person and I'm the one sleeping within 6 total inches.  Goodness.

Patrick has been teething this week.  Atleast we think he has been teething.  And he gets ALL the symptoms - diarrhea, crazy bad diaper rash, painful mouth - it's just been ugly.  But no teeth yet.  Kid is going to be a year old with nothing to show for it all.  Google tells me that it is perfectly normal not to have teeth yet though, so I'm going to hold off on my panic that I have birthed a truly toothless child who will need dentures in kindergarten.  Not having teeth doesn't slow him down when it comes to eating though.  His new favorite food is italian sausage.  Which is good, because we eat a lot of it.  Unfortunately, he hasn't quite come around to chicken yet, and we eat a lot more of that...  He'll learn.

William had his first real dentist appointment this week and he did great.  We practiced saying AHHH and how he would open his mouth so the dentist could see his teeth.  The office has a rule that parents don't go back with the kids, which is fine by me as long as William is behaving.  He did request that I walk back there with him, but released me with an "I love you" once he got in the chair.  Big boy.  His teeth were shiny and white, he got a really cool Cars toothbrush that he loves, and no cavities!!  Dr Lawrence said everything looked good and we were on our way.  Easy cheesey.  I'm just glad that all the "shake milk" hasn't rotted his teeth out.  Though, I still maintain that it has less sugar than apple juice.  Just saying.

Recently William has been ALL about holding Patrick.  It's really cute.  He's starting to really try to play with him and involve him in activities.  And he definitely always have to give him a hug and a kiss at school during drop off.  Patrick returns the love and follows William around, now even faster that he can walk!!  Brothers are cute.  They are lucky to have each other.  Wish we were going to have more...

Loves!

The Rumers go on vacation

It has been two long years since we had a good vacation.  Last year, I saved all of my vacation days for maternity leave, so there was none left over to go anywhere... which was fine.  But this means that when August came around this year, we were READY to GO.  We desperately needed the time away for all kinds of little and big reasons and we were not disappointed.  We may not be well rested, but I do feel more relaxed (which should count for something, people at work say I am "tightly wound"... whatever that means haha)

The weather was wonderful, even if it did rain every day, highs in the 80s.  I can absolutely become a beach bum with temps like that.  It will be great when both boys are big enough to play independently (or, god forbid, happily with each other) and Sam and I can truly just sit back and watch.  That being said, we had a great time building sand castles and riding the waves with the boys.  William kept wanting to crash my moat, and I had to remind myself that I was building the moat and castle for him... to not be upset that he was destroying "my" castle.. haha!!!

 

Patrick was convinced that he could swim and kept diving for the water.  William was super excited to play in the (very calm) waves the first day, but then swallowed some ocean water, which caused him to gag and throw up... so he was a little less than thrilled about playing by himself in the water for the rest of the week and tended to cling to Sam or me.  I don't blame him.  Both boys loved playing in the sand, but William kept having to wash his hands off.  Atleast he was in the sand this time!  Patrick thought it tasted good...silly boy.

 Oh - much to our surprise - we ended up potty training while we were down there and he only had 3 accidents total!!!  By the end of the week, and on the ride back home, he started telling us when he had to go.  Way to go William!!!  And, just because I KNOW you want to know, he even pooped on the potty!!!  "It was a good poop" too - such a silly boy.  Not sure where he learned that one.... I'm a little afraid to know really.  It's so funny - something obviously just clicked - and he was ready when he turned 3 and not a moment before.

 William got a king bed all to himself at the house and he must have loved it, because he didn't fight bedtime all week.  That might be because he was exhausted every day as well, but still.  Too bad kiddo - back to the twin at home.  haha.  Patrick slept with us in the king bed downstairs.  Oh, how I wish we had a king now.  Maybe one day.  But then we'd have to spring for the really expensive sheets... big bed = $$ sheets.  haha.  But William did really well in the bed all by himself and even let me take a snuggly nap with him one day.  Love that little boy.  He definitely started to develop a bit of Mommy phase down there and I'll take it.  He's always preferred his Daddy, so I'll enjoy it while I  can.

The rain finally stopped long enough for us to get our very talented cousin to snap a couple family photos of us and the boys.  I know that they will change far too much to actually use the picture for Christmas cards, assuming we even send any out this year, but I can't help but feel like it's kinda mandatory when you're at the beach to take the picture.  I'm still on the fence about whether we were TOO matchy or not, but I think I have almost decided that it doesn't quite matter.  It's hard to find outfits that coordinate between four people and not buy anything to make it happen... Just saying.  Anyhow - here are some of my favorites...

our very own mini Karate Kid

 

So, yeah, I guess those are the high points.  We swam.  We played.  We ate.  Sam and I even squeezed in a date night.  Good times were had by all.  I'm thinking we might go back to Destin, same general location, just the four of us next year...

Loves.

Patrick by Numbers: 11

I am desperately trying to hold on to my baby.  Which I realize probably puts me in some lump of mom categories that is not at all flattering - but I can't help it.  Every time I turn around he is more of a big boy than I want to believe.  This is certainly not helped by the fact that he is toodling around everywhere.

*Who knows how much he weighs now.  I'll make an uneducated guess at 21 pounds.  This is based on nothing.  Our scale lives at my office and he hasn't been sick recently (yay!!)... so yeah.  Totally guessing here.

*Is wearing 12 months clothes.

*Walks more than he one legged crawls.  Can make a U-turn, side step, and lower himself to a squat and then back up again.  He walks a little bow legged and usually has his arms in the air.  I love it.

*Wakes up every 2 hours still.  I will admit that this is partly my fault, he wakes up to nurse because of the sleep association we've developed over the past 11 months, and that's the only way he thinks he can get back to sleep.  Hopefully by the time he is one we will be halfway to waking up far less and making the transition with as few tears as possible.  Wish us luck, it starts tomorrow...

*Refuses to eat baby food.  But he doesn't want any party of most of what we eat.  He throws puffs on the floor for fun.  He LOVES bread though and baby rice cakes.

*His favorite game is "Switch the Paci".  Doesn't matter how many times he does it, but stuffing the paci into mommy/daddy/grandaddy/etc mouth is THE funniest game.  Hands down.  We play often because who doesn't want to hear his laughter?!

*Patrick loves to drive cars and trucks around the floor and makes the Vroom (BBBbbbbb razz) sound to go with it.  Cute kid.  I think he and William will get along JUST fine...

*Says Mama, Dada, and uhoh.

*Understands what no means, and it hurts his feelings nearly every time.  The best is when he cries into the floor in protest.  With real tears.

*Really wants to see what being electrocuted feels like, as evidenced by his persistence in sticking his fingers in outlets.  See above for his reaction... ha!

*Is a great snuggler.

*Finally gives open mouth kisses - I've been waiting for this one.

*Has no teeth.  Zero.  Not one.  Which is good when the open mouth kiss turns to gnawing on my chin.

*Enjoys clapping.  And when he's REALLY excited he waves his arms in the air, shakes his head side to side, and smiles so big.

*Plays coy/shy often.  I love it because he buries his head in my shoulder.  He's going to be a real flirt one day.  God help us.

Only one more month number to go.....

Loves!!