Busy Busy

Last Friday was such a wonderful day. Samuel was in a great mood and we ran tons of errands and played without any incident.

I have lots of pictures to post.

If you know Dave, you know that he loves to watch Red Wings Hockey. One our friends is also a huge hockey fan and he sent both Samuel and Joseph these personalized hockey jerseys. They are both huge on the boys, so they really can't wear them for a while, but it was cute to get some pictures. They say "S. Glasser" and "J. Glasser" and the numbers 1 and 2, respectively.

On Saturday we decided to have our very first family outing (other then the grocery store or running errands). We went to Grant's Farm. Jonathan and Laura came as well. It was so much fun. I can't believe that we haven't taken Samuel there before. It is only about 10 minutes from our house. They had a tram ride which Samuel LOVED, baby goat feeding, a carousel, animal show, wild animals, snow cones, yummy food and FREE beer. Samuel had so much fun and Jonathan really wore him out having Samuel run after him. I asked Samuel on Sunday if he had a good weekend and what his favorite part of the whole weekend was and he said "Jonathan", then he added "and Lala". It was the cutest thing ever.

Here are some pictures from Grant's Farm:

We gave Samuel his hat and sunglasses and got in the car to start driving. When I turned around to look at him, this is what I saw... he put it all on himself:

On the tram at Grant's Farm:

Samuel's first carousel ride. He loved it:

Uncle Jonathan and Joseph:

Samuel with purple lips from his grape snow cone:

Feeding the goats. Samuel was terrified by the goats and wouldn't let Jonathan put him down.

Joseph wearing Jonathan's shades:

Leaving to go home:

and this is how we ended the day..we were all tired:

We also went to a Carnival at Samuel's new preschool. It was so freaking hot, but Samuel's favorite part was getting up into the fire truck they had. Dave said that Samuel actually got in the back, sat in the seat and buckled himself him. They had a hard time getting him out of the truck. Samuel was so tired on Saturday night. We had some friends over for dinner that have two kids close to Samuel's age. Dave and I had planned to let Samuel stay up as late as he could, but at 8:30 Samuel came up to me and said "Mommy sleep." I was shocked. I figured he would want to stay up and play, but he was exhausted. I took him up stairs and he didn't even want to rock, he just wanted to get in bed and go to sleep. I guess I need to try to wear him out like that more often.

On Sunday, Dave and I took the boys on a 5 mile walk. After that we were all tired. It was such a great family weekend. We had so much fun.

I cant believe that it is already Wednesday. Again we have just been really busy and the week is flying.

Hurray!

Joseph pooped today!! You know you are a mom when you are excited when your child poops.

I tried every suggestion the doctor gave me and finally he pooped. I think he is feeling more comfortable now, finally.

In the event your baby doesn't poop, here are some suggestions (from my pediatrician):

1. A warm bath with 1 tablespoon baking soda;

2. Use a pediatric glycerin suppository and/or

3. 1-2 oz of apple or pear juice.

Okay enough about pooping.

So here is an example of who one day Samuel can be terrible and the next awesome.

Today we went to Trader Joes again because we were totally out of milk and tons of other food. Samuel held my hand the entire time in the parking lot, got his little cart and followed me completely around the store and didn't put anything in the cart I didn't tell him to, stayed in line checking out, put his cart away and then helped me take our big cart out to the car. It was amazing. It wasn't stressful and it was actually a lot of fun.

I have had a wonderful afternoon. Both Samuel and Joseph have been sleeping for almost two hours. I have relaxed, baked banana chocolate chip muffins, caught up on Real Housewives. I still love this show. I caught up last night on New York and now I am watching New Jersey. Love these terrible shows.

So happy it is Friday.

Rain

I am not excited about all the rain that is currently coming down and is fore casted to come down all day. It is kind of chilly outside too, which makes the rain even less fun. We are supposed to go to music class today and to be honest I am not excited about it at all. I am not looking forward to dragging both boys out in the rain and then trying to get Samuel to cooperate for an hour during class. Hopefully I will gather up some energy in the next few hours.

So I have decided at least for the next couple of days (and this started yesterday) that I am not going to drink coffee. I continually get clogged milk ducts in my breasts and they are super painful. Luckily the pain only lasts for a couple of days, but I get them all the time. I eat pretty healthy, so I don't really think it is what I am eating and I am wondering if caffeine if causing it. I had green tea this morning, so we will see. Yesterday afternoon I got a pretty bad headache, but other then that I felt great. I am just going to keep it up for at least a week or two and see what happens.

I have a serious question and I know this is disgusting to talk about, but I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions. If you don't like to talk about pooping, skip this entire paragraph. Joseph has not had a bowel movement (BM, doesn't make me think so much as poop, but reminds me of my grandmother who would use those initials all the time when it came to pooping) since last Monday. That is 10 days ago. He pooped three huge ones last Monday and nothing since. I called the doctor on Tuesday and they said that babies that are exclusively breast fed can go a really long time without a BM, but that 10 days is really the longest they have really heard of. They say that breast fed babies use all the nutrients from the breast milk, so they don't really have much waste. This is so opposite of Samuel who had a BM once or twice a day his whole life. Anyone had this issue with their kids? Any suggestions on what I should eat that might help him? I am calling the doctor again today and I know they are going to tell me to give him a suppository which is going to totally gross me out. HELP!!

On a positive note, Joseph has been taking great naps. I actually had an hour to myself yesterday, when both boys slept. I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Speaking of nap time, it is only 8 am but it is time for Joseph to go down for his first nap. He has been up since about 6:30.

Have a wonderful Thursday. I can't wait for the weekend.

Time

Where does the time go? I feel like the days just seem to fly by and I don't get anything accomplished. Yesterday I was so busy all day and I barely did anything. I am really working on Joseph taking naps in his crib now. It is difficult because I want to keep Samuel busy, so that usually requires us to get out of the house. Normally Joseph naps in his car seat while we are driving around or in his carrier. However, today I feel pretty successful. This morning Joseph took about a 25 minute nap in his crib. Then he napped in his carrier while we were at the park. Then this afternoon he slept for about 45 minutes in his crib. I didn't get anything accomplished while he was asleep. I am so worn out from dealing with both kids all morning long that when I had this very rare opportunity of alone time, I literally just sat and stared at the TV. I could not tell you what was on, just just completely zone out. I finally decided to get off of the couch for a little bit before Joseph woke up and I cleaned the windows which were full of Samuel's little syrup filled hand-prints.

Now Joseph is up and I decided I would do a little blogging before Samuel woke up and we all headed to the gym.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Oma bought Samuel a Toy Story sticker book. Samuel loved it so much he proceeded to put all the stickers on him. When I say all I mean he put on every single one from the book.


Oma and the boys:
Dave having some quality time with the boys this weekend:

Some free time

I had a whole day alone with the boys today. Dave had a work even tonight, so I was all alone ALL day. It is 9pm and I finally have some time alone. It is so nice and quiet. Today was a very trying day. I don't know if my patience level for Samuel is getting shorter or if he is just getting more and more difficult. Today, since I knew I would be alone all day and night I wanted to get out of the house. I figured we would go to Trader Joes, return movies (rent another one for Samuel for tonight), go to the park and then have a picnic on our porch. The only thing that happened today was going to Trader Joes.

Joseph slept in until almost 8:45 this morning, so Samuel and I had some alone quality time together which was wonderful. We ate breakfast and just relaxed. Once Joseph got up I fed him and we all got dressed to head to Trader Joes. I really needed to get some stuff there, but I also like to go there because they have little carts that kids can push around. Samuel usually LOVES pushing them around and helping me grocery shop. He actually did a great job and only put one thing in the cart that I didn't want to buy which was chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. Even though we didn't need them and normally I don't buy things that he just slips in the cart, I decided I would let this one go, since they looked so good.

Anyway, Samuel was being great and for once Joseph was terrible. He screamed and cried almost the entire time we were in the store. I think he was tired and just couldn't fall asleep, but he was terrible. I was trying to rush to get everything with needed, while letting Samuel push the cart and listening to Joseph screaming. I was getting more and more stressed out by the moment. While we were in the check out line, Samuel helped unload all the groceries which totally irritated the check out guy. I don't know what his problem was, but the last time I went to Trader Joes he checked me out as well and he was super annoyed with Samuel then too because was helping with the groceries and naming everything.

After Samuel unloaded all the groceries and the guy was putting him in the bag, Samuel went and put the cart back where it was supposed to go at the front of the store and then he immediately returned to my side, which was I thankful and impressed. I thought things were going fine, except for the fact that Joseph was still screaming non-stop. But then all of the sudden Samuel totally lost it. He was grabbing at everything, trying to climb on another cart and then when I told him to stop, he took off running OUT OF THE STORE. Here I am with a screaming baby, a cart full of groceries and I have to leave them all in the check out line to run after Samuel out of the building. I grabbed him and yelled at him and he was laughing like it was a fun game. I carried him back into the store and another check out lady said she would help me to car because it was obvious that Samuel was completely out of control. Thank goodness for this lady. She said that she had two kids that were 18 months apart and she had to deal with this kind of situation all the time when her kids were younger and she knows how difficult it can be.

ADVICE: How would you have handled this situation? I don't care what your feelings are on spanking (you can spank if you want to, it is fine with me), but I will not spank, but today I was so close to it when Samuel ran out of the store. It wasn't like I could put him into timeout. I was very stern with him and told him no (I had additional words with him too), but I just don't know how to deal with a situation like this. It is more then him not listening to me, it has a lot to do with his safety. It isn't like I am going to stop going to the grocery store. I have to get out of the house. Please help, any advice would be appreciated.

Needless to say, Trader Joes was the only errand we ran today. We did go on a walk this afternoon and this evening wasn't the easiest, but I gave the boys both baths and put them to bed and everyone survived, so I feel like we ended the day successfully.

I am going to head to bed soon for some reading time and more relaxation.

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to wish my wonderful and amazing mom a happy mother's day. Being a mother now makes me really appreciate how hard she worked to raise my brother and me and I think we turned out great. Thanks mom, I love you so much.

Also, happy mother's day to Dave's mom as well. She did an amazing job raising Dave and I am so fortunate to have married him because he is the most wonderful husband and father.

Lastly, happy mother's day to all the mothers and to-be mothers out there.

Last night Dave popped open a bottle of champagne for celebrate Mother's Day early. It was so delicious. I was hoping for a relaxing night, but I am pretty sure that Joseph is teething and growing at the same time. He is pretty cranky and he wants to eat constantly. He was up every two hours last night, which is not normal for him at all. I hope tonight he goes back to sleeping well.

This morning, we planned to go to the Missouri Athletic Club for Mother's Day brunch. It wasn't as relaxing and enjoyable as we had hoped. Samuel and Joseph were not that bad, it is just that they were on the brink of a breakdown the entire time. Samuel wanted sugar packets non-stop, he sucked down a huge cup of chocolate milk, ate fruit, eggs and bacon and almost threw a fit about being in his booster seat, so we shoveled food down our mouths and got the heck out of there. Dave and I were really looking forward to the brunch because we have been eating really healthy all week and we were waiting to pig out, but we weren't able to eat as much as we wanted. I guess it was for the best.

Here are pictures from this morning before we headed to brunch.

At brunch:

I realized when I downloaded the pictures from today that I hadn't downloaded pictures for over a month, so here are lots of pictures.

We went to the park the other day and we got some great pictures of Samuel:

Is this not just pure happiness:

Samuel and Joseph:

Joseph's 3 month picture.

Look at his big huge brown eyes:

Here is Samuel chowing on a cookie. Look at his big blue eyes:

Other 3 month pictures of Joseph:

Comfy and cozy and his carrier and enjoying his fingers:

These are a cool series of pictures. Samuel was throwing a fit and jumping up and down and I was able to get him jumping and I thought even though he was driving me nuts and going crazy, at least I got really cool pictures. He got a lot of air on this jump:

How do you know when..

your son has watched Toy Story way too much?

Answer: (If you have seen the movies this will make sense to you). When he pulls a pen out from the drawer and tries to write his name on the bottom of his foot. Samuel was saying "my toy" and drawing all over the bottom of his foot.

He has been cracking me up lately. This morning I told him that I loved him and he looked at me from the side, rolled his eyes and said "I know." It seems like every time I say something to him his response is "I know".

I think I figured out why he has been extremely cranky, other then the medication he was on. Yesterday at music class the teacher normally plays a dancing song where the parents and kids dance together. So I was holding Samuel and dancing and I leaned him back and he opened his mouth really wide and I say that one top molar has completely cut threw and the other one is super swollen and red, so I am sure the other molar is going to come threw any day now. I am sure that is why he has been so cranky.

In other news, my sweet baby Joseph is 3 months today. I will post pictures later, as soon as I get some. The time has flown by and he is still wonderful. I think he is teething also. The gums on the bottom are getting swollen and white, which I think means teeth are coming. Samuel got teeth at 4 months, so I am sure they are coming regardless. These 3 months of having a new baby have actually been wonderful. It all has to do with the fact that Joseph is such an easy happy baby. I can't imagine having another baby as difficult as Samuel was. If I was waking up every 2-3 hours every night I don't think I would be functioning. Things are going so well that I may even consider having another baby!

Last night I had my Wine Tasting Fundraiser for Woman's Place. I put a lot of time and effort into the event and I think it was a success. I will know more when I find out how much money Woman's Place actually made, but it seemed like everyone really enjoyed the event. Dave did an amazing job with the boys last night. Joseph actually took a bottle and passed out around 7:15 and then Dave had some alone time with Samuel. Joseph slept all night until 4:30 this morning, so obviously Dave did a great job with him and Samuel woke up in a great mood. Maybe I will have to plan evening events more often!

I am going to play Trains with Samuel. Have a wonderful weekend!

We have been super busy this week. We are about to head to Music Class and I am really nervous considering last week was such a disaster. I will post more later, but I just wanted to wish

MY WONDERFUL AMAZING DAD a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. We all love you!!!!

Thank goodness

I was so happy that this past weekend came when it did. We actually had a wonderful weekend. Being able to double team Samuel was great. Saturday was full of errands and a birthday party (Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Vaughn!) Then Sunday was pretty relaxing. We went for a walk into Old Webster and ate lunch with the boys. We ate at a restaurant near the train tracks and luckily for us a train went by, so Samuel was super excited. On our way back home Samuel fell asleep in the stroller which has never ever happened. So we put him in his bed around 12:30 and he slept until around 3:30. Once he was up and moving we headed to the park, wore Samuel out, ate dinner and he was out early. It was a wonderfully nice weekend.

The week has started off nicely too. Yesterday I was so busy from the moment I got up. I forgot how easy it is to run errands and be able to attend a meeting with just one little baby. Joseph is so easy and predictable.

Last night Joseph slept from 7:40 pm to 6 am. I couldn't ask for anything better then that. I need my energy for when Samuel wakes up, which is starting to happen right now. Last night when I was putting him to bed he asked me if we could have pancakes and eggs for breakfast. He is so my son. There couldn't be a better breakfast then pancakes and eggs. He also told me that he wanted to wear his buzz undies today. I really hope the day goes well. I am keeping my fingers crossed.