Snow Day and Monkeys, maybe even Snow Monkeys

We have a snow day today.  Although it doesn't look that bad outside to me every single school is closed here in St. Louis.  They said on the news the roads are really bad and slick and it is supposed to get worse because the weather is going to continue to drop all day, but it just seems like any little bit of snow we get around here everything shuts down.  I know it is better safe then sorry.  I guess we are going to be baking cookies and playing lots of games today.

As I mentioned before Samuel has been having lots of nightmares at night and is waking up 3 to 4 times a night.  Last night was better because I think he just called out a few times and we only went in once.  Two nights ago he finally told us why he was scared when he went to bed.  He called Dave back upstairs after we put him down and he was so scared and said there were monkeys in his bathroom.  Dave took him into the bathroom, turned on the lights and walked around and showed him that there were no monkeys in the bathroom.  He seemed to be fine, but then about 30 minutes later he was calling me into his room.  He again was pretty scared and said that although Daddy told him there were no monkeys in the bathroom he was sure there was a little baby monkey and that the mommy and daddy monkey were there too.  I told him that there were no monkeys and everything was going to be fine.  He ended up going to bed, but he continued to wake up many times in the middle of the night.  Then last night when we put him to bed he again said he thought there were monkeys in the bathroom.  We have this nightlight that my Uncle gave to Joseph that is a turtle and projects stars on the ceiling of the bedroom and we have been putting it in Samuel's room to help him at night.  Last night Dave told Samuel that there was no way that the monkeys were going to get him because they are really scared of turtles and the turtle would protect him.  I think that really helped because as I said he only yelled out a couple of times last night.

I think he is having a combination of vivid imagination and night terrors.  I have noticed many times when I run into his room at night that he is still asleep, but yelling out.  His pediatrician had told me about the possibility of these happening.  The problem is that a kid will have a night terror, still be asleep, but freaking out and you basically have to calm them down until they wake themselves up and then as soon as they are out of their dreaming state they go right back to bed.  This is just hard because Dave and I are so tired from waking up all the time.  Hopefully he will get out of this stage soon.  I read some stuff that night terrors can occur when the child is going through a growth spurt, so maybe he will grow soon and everyone can get some rest.

Joseph is now 11 months old.  He is cruising along furniture and pushing around his walkers, but isn't quite ready to let go and walk yet.  He is talking up a storm though.  He is so different then Samuel in that way.  He clearly says Mama, Dada and ball.  He says other things randomly, but he is just so much more verbal then Samuel was at this stage.  Samuel didn't even say Dada until he was over 2 years old.  Samuel preferred to sign things.

I need to post some pictures soon of the boys and our house.  Things are really moving with our house.  Today the painters are coming to do the first coat of paint.  The interior doors were delivered yesterday too.  They look awesome, I am so excited.  Next Monday, the flooring guys are going to start installing our floors.  They are starting with the tiled areas, then the wood floors go in and then the carpeted areas.  I can't believe how quickly things are going.  It looks absolutely wonderful.  I have been really happy with the building process.  We have only had a few issues, but I think that is pretty good.

Lastly, I have finally had time to read a few books.  If you are interested in a really easy entertaining ready you should pick up the Hunger Games Trilogy (Hunger Games, Catching Fire and MockingJay).  They are considered young adult books, but they are pretty gruesome.  Once I started I couldn't put them down.  The first two books I was able to anticipate some of the story line, but the third book surprised me throughout.  I only anticipated one part at the end.  I really like books that aren't predictable.  I read all three in about 2 and a half 3 weeks.

I am about to start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.  I plan on starting those this weekend.

I will post some pictures later.  Everyone stay warm and safe!

Road Trip

Today I had to get out of the house. I couldn't stand another minute just hanging around and I think Samuel was sick of it too. So I decided to load up everyone (including George) and head out for a road trip. I just wanted to drive around and I figured Samuel would like it and would enjoy watching a movie in the car also. We drove around for a little over an hour.

Now there is a big difference between Samuel and Joseph when it comes to car rides. Samuel could stand being in his car seat. He would scream and scream until we took him out. Now Joseph screams as soon as we put him in the car seat and he gets beat red. However, as soon as I start the car and start driving he passes out. It is so nice to have a baby that sleeps in the car and doesn't scream like crazy.

Now both boys are napping and I am trying to get lots of stuff done. I already cleaned all the dishes, made my grocery list, my to-do list, hung up most of my clothes in the closet and I am about to get my book and start reading. By the way, I am reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It is so good. It is such an easy read and I got into it immediately. I have no idea how the book is going to end, which makes it a great fast read because I am wondering what is going to happen next. It is based in Jackson, Mississippi and it is written from the perspective of three women (one young white woman and two black maids (the help). All three women are very strong-willed and intelligent. They are each trying to change the racial lines and discriminatory views of the people around them. It is great so far and I have about a fourth of the book left to read.

Here are some pictures from the past few days:

Doesn't this picture just make you smile:

I left Joseph on the couch while I ran into the kitchen to get something to drink and I came back to this. Any opportunity Samuel has to snuggle with Joseph he does. Don't mind Samuel's outfit, he has decided this week to dress himself and he obviously isn't into matching.

Thank goodness for the weekend

I am in some serious need of reinforcement.  I am so happy it is the weekend and Dave is home to help with Samuel.  It isn't that Samuel has been bad or anything, but I am just tired.  I am just not in the mood to deal with him.  I know it is bad to say, but Samuel has just been very clingy.  He follows me everywhere.  He has located the tupperware drawer in the kitchen and he won't stay out of it.  I don't mind him playing in there because those things are easy to clean, but it is just a little annoying.  

I didn't leave the house at all yesterday and I didn't shower.  Isn't that gross.  I just didn't have time.  When Samuel was down for a nap I was busy cleaning up the house and just relaxing.  Then when he went to sleep for the night I went straight to bed too.  Now I am drinking coffee and relaxing.  Eventually I will get around to showering sometime today.  

I started reading "The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers."  I read her first book and I thought it was great.  This book is good so far.  I am only 50 pages into it.  One thing she did say at the beginning was that you need to tell your baby what you are going to do before you do it and continue to talk them through things (like for instance, changing their diaper so they don't cause problems).  I tried it yesterday afternoon.  I always thought I was very verbal with Samuel, bit when I made an effort to talk to him about changing his diaper, I realized that I never talked about what I was doing while I was doing it.  It sounds absolutely ridiculous but I basically talked to Samuel the whole time, telling him what I was doing and how fast it was going to take and he actually paid attention to me and didn't squirm around.  When I put his diaper on him I told him he did a great job.  It was a successful changing diaper day yesterday.  I have no idea how it will be today or if it was just a fluke yesterday, but I thought I would pass this along to everyone else who is having diaper changing issues.  

Have a great weekend.

Thank goodness it is Friday

This week has worn me out.  Luckily Dave gets off early today.  He told me he would take care of Samuel while I tried to clean the house up a bit before Book Club tonight.  Yes, I have started another book club.  I am really excited about the group we have because everyone is so laid back and hopefully we will pick some good books.  This is our first gathering, so we are going to hang out and pick a book tonight.  Any suggestions? 

I am so happy that it is Labor Day weekend.  Hopefully Dave and I will work on getting Samuel to sleep through the night.  I am pretty tired. 

I have lots of stuff to do while Samuel is asleep.  Have a great weekend.  

I am going to try to relax today, but I am not sure if I can accomplish that. Since I have been off of work, I have read two books.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Nanny Diaries.

The first book was actually pretty good, once I got into it. I think it would be especially good for young teenage girls. It was entertaining and a very easy read. I really did not like The Nanny Diaries. It took me a while to get into and I really hated all the characters. I just was annoyed the entire time I was ready it. If I ever become super rich and treat others with zero respect and act as self-centered as the "Mrs. X", someone will need to shoot me. I was so happy to finish that book, so I would never have to pick it up again. I hated it.

Today I am going to start reading again The Happiest Baby on the Block. I figured I really needed to get back to reading some baby books now. I just have that one and then one on breastfeeding to finish. Then I think I am done with those books.

We have a big book shelf in our basement and Half of the bottom shelf are all the books I need to read. I have borrow about half of them and I would like to give them back to their owners sooner rather then later. I really enjoy being able to read whatever I want. I haven't read a book in several months, so it is nice to start reading again. I will keep you all posted on what books I am reading. If you hear or read any really good books, please comment and let me know what they are and I will get them to read.

FYI, if you want to get really cheap books you can go to half.com. There are discounted books for very cheap. (they also have cd's too).

So I woke up every hour last night to pee. It was horrible. Around 2 a.m. I ran out of toilet paper in the bathroom and there was none under the sink and I didn't want to run all the way down the cold hall to get more toilet paper, so I just used kleenex the rest of the time. Then as soon as I knew Dave was up this morning, I started complaining about how we didn't have any more toilet paper in the bathroom and so he went down the hall to get it. (He was getting up anyway, so don't feel back for him).

This whole peeing thing is really a pain. I want to go back to sleeping all night. I guess it will be a while for that to happen.

Does anyone or did anyone have horrible pelvis pain, where it felt like your pelvis was splitting apart in the middle of the night when you were or are pregnant? When I sleep on my side and then roll over to get out of bed, I have to sit for a while because if i move to quickly, my pelvis feels like it is going to split open, then if I start walking I feel shooting pain in my back. After a few minutes it goes away, but it is just the initial few seconds when I get out of bed that are horrible. Anyway, I just felt like complaining about that too.

I am off to watch the today show and figure out what I am going to make for dinner with ground bison. Yum Yum!