Friday, July 30, 2010

Inspiration

Things around here have been pretty crazy, busy and stressful. I have been full of anxiety and have had no time nor inspiration to write on my blog. Usually writing provides me with a release, but lately I have had zero time to even check my email, so writing on my blog becomes non-existent.

I know I have written about this week after week, but the boys right now are requiring so much of my attention and by the end of the day I am exhausted. Not only are the boys a handful, I am beginning to work a lot more for Woman's Place and taking on more responsibility and becoming much more active in the Domestic Violence Community. Although this is exactly what I want to be doing, it is picking up at a time when I feel I have very little if any extra time to relax or just to myself.

Not only are all those things happening, but Dave and I have decided that we are going to build our next house. I am pretty sure we just purchased the lot (I say pretty sure because lately I can't remember anything and I am just not sure where we stand in the contract, closing etc. process). Since I have a very type A personality I am already thinking non-stop about what we are going to do and what colors, cabinets, doors, hinges, locks ...... you know the list goes on of things we are going to have decide when it comes to the house.

All of the things going on in our lives are very exciting, but overall I am worn out and stressed out. So basically I am saying that my posting is going to be completely sporadic until I get organization back into our lives. Which I must have in order to function properly.

I am off to try to eat some breakfast and drink some coffee. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Not much time

I am finding lately that I have very little time to myself if any during the day. It is hard to post when I barely have time to sit down and eat. Right now I am shoveling in my breakfast and I hear Samuel is already getting up. Joseph luckily is playing in his activity center thing on the floor, so I have about 5 minutes or so to write.

Dave and I talked that probably this weekend we are going to take the step and move Samuel from his crib to a big boy bed. We think it just might be time. I am nervous because I don't want Samuel to start skipping his naps or having issues with him getting out at night, but I really think he is ready. Plus he is so close to being completely potty trained and I bought some overnight Pull-ups, so maybe if he is in a big bed he will learn to get up and go to the bathroom at nap and night time (I am not expecting this anytime in the near future, but I am trying to be hopeful).

I have a babysitter today, so I am going to go shopping for a comforter and bed sheets for his room. I am pretty excited. I also need to get a bed rail. Anyway, I just have a bunch of errands today and I am excited to run them without the boys!

As I mentioned, Samuel is pretty much potty trained. He hasn't had an accident for a few weeks now, but he will not poop in the potty. He waits until I put him in a pull-up and take him to child care at the gym and then he poops. I feel bad for the workers because he literally poops every time I take him to child care. We have tried everything to get him to go in the potty. Samuel is not really motivated by food, so giving him chocolate treats after he pees or poops does nothing. However, we have found he is motivated by money. He wants to put money in his piggy bank "Oink Oink" and we continue to give him pennies for peeing and we tell him he would get silver coins if he goes poop, but it only worked one time. We will keep trying.

Joseph is continuing to talk up a storm. I love his babbling. He gets so animated.

I think I am becoming obsessed with spinning. I love it. I could do it all the time. I am also loving my yoga class. I feel like I am finally getting into a good mental state because of my exercise, which in turn in helping me eat healthier and I am feeling so much better.

Well, sorry to cut this short, but Samuel is really up now and I have to get him.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Happy day

I am beginning to like my kids again. The past few days have been great. Thank goodness it is Friday and we have a weekend. I don't want to press my luck by myself.

Here are some pictures from the week.

Joseph is loving his rice cereal now. At this point he was more interested in me taking his picture then eating his food. I also think it is funny how Samuel is posing in the back and I wasn't even trying to take his picture. When I actually ask him to smile for the camera, he isn't really cooperating lately.


See this picture is an example of his non-cooperation.


They were having so much fun playing in Joseph's crib. I know I shouldn't have put Samuel in there, because now he wants to get in all the time, but Joseph loved it.

Here is my happy baby. Thank goodness he is back to being happy:


His forehead looks extremely large in this picture, but he still looks cute to me:


Lastly, here is a picture of my beautiful boys. Hope this feeling lasts a while!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Time Zooms By

I can't believe that it has been a week since I posted. Admittedly, I have had no desire nor time to post anything. The past few weeks have been absolutely terrible here. Thank goodness this week has been better or I would be checking myself into a mental hospital. Joseph and Samuel have been behaving terribly and have required tons of attention, which in turn completely wears me out. I would say that in the past two and a half weeks (other then yesterday) I have had about 2 hours of alone or down time during the day. Yesterday was wonderful though. I put Samuel down for his nap at 1pm and then Joseph was asleep by 1:40pm and I had to wake them both up at 4pm. The break was wonderful and I was able to get a lot of things done around the house, which isn't really a break, but at least I didn't have one of the kids screaming as I was doing it.

I think I am also more sane this week because our babysitter who normally comes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons came back from her vacation and is babysitting again this week. I really need that break.

In exercise news, I actually got motivated on Monday and went to spinning class at 8:15 am. It was wonderful and I felt great, but then I proceeded to eat everything possible all day long because I was so hungry. Kind of defeats the purpose of working out, when I burn 600 calories, but then consume 1000. Now that I am getting myself on a good exercise schedule, next is to really focus on my food intake. I know that is the reason I can't lose the last few pounds of baby weight. I also started a yoga class on Wednesday mornings. Oh how I miss taking yoga. I feel so stretched out and relaxed when I am done. I really need that hour or so of relaxation and calmness. If only I could keep that state of mind the rest of the day.

The boys have been doing new things lately too:

1. Joseph is talking like crazy now. Along with all his babbling, he is saying "Dada" all the time. Dave is pretty happy since Samuel didn't say Dad or Daddy or Dada until he was over 2 years old.

2. Joseph is loving his rice cereal. I am mixing it with a little bit of applesauce to help with his digestion, since he still has pooping issues. It seems to be helping because he is actually going on his own now with no apple juice.

3. I also started to mix his rice cereal with formula, since I don't want to defrost a whole package of breast milk and know that he won't eat the remaining amount in a bottle. He likes that too.

4. On Monday, Samuel decided that he was ready to start climbing out of his crib. The good thing is that he hasn't tried it again since Monday, but I now know he can do it without getting hurt. It might be time for a big boy bed soon. Not ready for that.

Samuel was pretty funny when he got out of his bed. I was in Joseph's room trying to get him to sleep and all of the sudden I heard Samuel's door knob jiggling. I went to his door and opened it up and there Samuel was standing there just looking at me. I put him back in his bed and told him to take his nap and then I left his room.

About a minute later I could tell he got back out of his bed again, so I went and stood by his door. He slowly opened his door to peek out and saw me there and said "Hello Mommy". I couldn't help but laugh. Then I went in his room and he had thrown his blankets and pillows out on the floor and I guess used that as his landing pad when he jumped out of his bed. I told him that he needed to take a nap and he ran to his pillows on the floor, laid down and covered himself up, closed his eyes and said "I am sleeping." I told him that I didn't care where he slept as long as he took a nap, so I just left his room. I was still in Joseph's room trying to get him to bed during this process. Then the telephone rang and Samuel opened the door to his room and yelled "Telone (his word for telephone) ringing Mama." Then he went back in his room and closed the door. That made me laugh. He knew he wasn't supposed to leave his room, so he just wanted to tell me the phone was ringing and then he went back to bed. A few minutes later I heard him making a lot of noise in his room, so I went back in there. He was trying to get back into his crib. He said "me take nap now." So I put him in his bed and he went right to sleep. It was an interesting exchange and I am just happy he hasn't tried it again.

5. Samuel has this weird issue when I wear my hair up in a ponytail. He goes nuts, throwing a tantrum and telling me "hair down". He hates it when I wear my hair up. When our babysitter came on Tuesday she said that he started yelling at her too about her hair being up in a ponytail. It is the strangest thing ever and I really don't understand why it bothers him so much.

I think that is all the updates I have. I know more things have happened in the last week, but I am so drained that I can't remember anything. Now off to try to get Joseph to take his first nap of the day.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

5 months old

My 5 month old:



I can't believe it but Joseph turned 5 months old yesterday. The time has really flown by. I would say that overall he has been an awesome baby, very easy going, predictable and loveable. I say overall because this week has been pretty difficult. Joseph has turned into a real momma's boy. He doesn't want me to put him down at all. He screams if I am not holding him and if I walk by when Dave is holding him he throws a fit. His naps haven't been very long either and it just seems like this week the boys are on totally different nap schedules which means that I haven't gotten a break at all. The longest break I got was 18 minutes (I got on the treadmill as soon as I put Samuel down for his nap and Joseph had been sleeping for about 30 minutes, so I thought for sure I would get in a good 30 minutes on the treadmill. I was wrong, only 18 minutes).

It makes for a very long and tiring day when I am constantly with one or both of the boys. When my day starts at 5:30 am with Joseph and doesn't end until 8:30pm when Samuel goes to bed, I am pretty worn out. Today hasn't been too bad because the boys have been pretty good. I know these crazy days will pass quickly, but it is hard to keep that in mind when I am so exhausted.

Okay, now for Joseph's updates. We have his 5 month doctor's appointment next week, so I will know his statistics then, but for now this is what he is up to:

1. He rolls from his back to front and front to back.

2. He also just rolls around.

3. He wakes up (at least the past two mornings) and rolls himself to his music box and turns his music on in the morning. He stays in bed about an hour to hour and a half longer after he turns his music on. He normally sleeps at the other end of the bed, but in the morning he rolls himself to the opposite end, turns himself on his side and smacks his arm against the music box until it comes on. Kind of crazy how a 5 month old can figure that out.

4. He prefers to sleep on his sides. He starts off on his back and then sleeps most of the night and nap times on his side (I love the video monitor. I can check him out while he is sleeping).

5. He has just begun to eat rice cereal. The last few days he has consumed about 1 tablespoon at eat feeding time. He gets so excited when he figured out how to actually eat it and goes nuts trying to eat the spoon. (I think he is finally feeling full. Last night he slept from 8 pm until 5:30 am. What a nice break).

6. He doesn't suck his thumb or use a pacifier.

7. He does suck on his hand and loves to play with his feet.

8. He loves laughing and watching his big brother.

9. He is super close to sitting up on his own, but he leans so far forward that he normally falls over. I give him a few more weeks and he will probably be sitting by himself.

I know he is doing a lot more but I can't think of anything else right now.

I still have 5 more pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. However, my goal is to lose at least 15 more. I am feeling pretty depressed about my weight lately. Next week I am going to try to exercise everyday and try to get on a consistent schedule. That has been my problem lately.

I am going to try to shower now before one of the kids wake up.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Long Weekend of Firsts - Lots of pictures

There are so many things that the boys experienced this weekend for the first time. Here are the ones I can remember:

1. Joseph took his very first flight to Michigan;
2. Samuel took the first flight that he will probably remember and had his own seat (which on the way home we let him sit by the window and he LOVED it);
3. Samuel went fishing for the first time at the Glasser pond;
4. Samuel touched his first worm (which he almost didn't do because I was so grossed out and screamed when he was about it touch it, then when I realized that I freaked him out I told him it was fine and he didn't hold back. He enjoyed playing with those disgusting slimy worms);
5. Samuel touched his first fish and then continued to pet each one that he and Dave caught (before throwing the fish back in the water, he would always say "Bye Bye little fishy");
6. Joseph met his cousin, Jacob and Aunt Melissa for the first time;
7. Joseph met all his Canadian family for the first time;
8. Samuel took a nap in a big bed one afternoon (just for 40 minutes or so and I had to wake him up, but he did great); and
9. Last night Joseph attempted to eat rice cereal for the first time.

Last Thursday we went to Michigan to celebrate the 4th of July with Dave's family. All the Canadian family came in town on Saturday and we had a BBQ and relaxed all day. The weekend went very quickly.

The flight to and from Michigan was pretty good. Samuel did really well considering he had his own seat and on the way home was functioning without a nap. Joseph did well also. I was a little worried about Joseph because he only eats when he is hungry, so I was worried that if I tried to feed him when we were taking off or landing he might refuse to eat and therefore have issues with his ears. On the way to Michigan he ended up eating both at take off and landing, but on the way home he was asleep before landing and woke up as we were descending and I think it really bothered his ears. He has been super cranky since we got back from Michigan.

The last few days have not been the greatest for Joseph. He is screaming so much, which is out of character for him. I don't know if he is teething and it is really bothering him, if his belly hurts or if he is hungry. He is just annoying me and I have zero desire to deal with him. I feel sorry for Samuel because I hate to say but I am taking out my frustrations on him. Joseph has been screaming so much and Samuel is his normal self, getting into everything, wanting to cook and bake, throwing his toys around and etc. etc. Anyway, I am taking out my frustrations with Joseph on Samuel. I need to take a chill pill, but I am just so exhausted and I have to keep reminding myself to calm down.

Okay, so back to our trip. Samuel was so busy the entire weekend. He did not slow down. He only took one nap the entire weekend. He was just so excited to be playing and running around. Because he didn't nap, we had to deal with many meltdowns, but they were defused quickly. Samuel really liked fishing. He was first really afraid of the fish, but Dave was patient with him and Samuel quickly wanted to touch every fish. I have absolutely no desire to touch the fish or the worms, but it is fun to catch and reel in a fish. I caught a few myself.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.


At the airport ready to leave:
Joseph relaxing:

Samuel went and picked flowers everyday with Oma and brought them back to me. It was adorable:

Samuel fishing for the first time with Oma and Opa:

The boys enjoyed the slip and slide:

They also had a blow up pool:

All the Michigan and Canada family (this was during one of Samuel's complete meltdowns, so everyone looks great, except Samuel is screaming and Joseph couldn't stop looking at Samuel. Nice.):

Kristen was the master at putting Joseph to sleep:

Samuel loved eating all the ice cream all weekend:

Samuel's first attempt at T-ball, he actually made contact with the ball:

Having fun on Opa's tractor:


Samuel and Dave fishing:


Uncle Joe with Joseph:


So yesterday evening we tried to give Joseph rice cereal for the first time. He has been acting really hungry lately. He follows our food and drinks and gets really cranky when we are eating dinner. I figured we would see if he was interested in the rice cereal and maybe it would make him less cranky. He hated the food last night. He spit out all of the food. I really don't think he ingested any of it. However, today I mixed up just one tablespoon to see if he would like it again and he totally figured out how to swallow the food. Today he was cranky because I wasn't feeding it to him fast enough. I guess we will continue to give him rice cereal everyday and see if that helps with his unhappiness. Here are some pictures: