In this week's news

We wait until the absolute last shred of clothing is gone ( for at least one person in the house) before we do laundry. If you take a look at the swim trunks, dog shirt, and boots you will see Jack ran out of clothes first this week. He wore that outfit to the laundry mat. Can we say--AWESOME! In the other pictures he got dressed and informed us he was daddy and was now going to school to study some math.

In other Jack news-- he has a major crush on the girl from- How to Train Your Dragon. It is a full on, gets really embarrassed, has to look at pictures of her crush. Keep in mind she is animated, but she isn't a car!

Mr. Luke is next on our list of people to talk about. He had a bit of a cold this week, and I totally flipped out, called the doctor, went in, and the whole bit just to have her tell me -um he has a cold you can't do anything for that. Which of course I know, but for some reason when a child is teeny tiny you can easily take the smallest thing and run with it. I mean Jack had the same cold and all I said to him was -quit licking your snot.

Luke went in for his two month check and is doing quite well. His height is in the 25th percentile while his weight is in the 75th percentile. The kid loves to eat. Apparently he is eating way more than he should be and thus all the spit-up. However, he is like a clock and every two hours he starts screaming and crying for food. I guess his is just a glutton.

While he loves to eat the one thing he does not enjoy -- sleep. They say some sort of nap or sleep schedule should be starting to emerge around now, and I should see some method to the madness. I don't. There is one time during the afternoon when, if you are lucky, you can get him to sleep for two hours, but you have to be lucky. He prefers to be awake and held. Sit him down and he cries. The only way he will sort of sleep is if he falls asleep while you are holding him and you keep him in your arms! He got his shots today and is currently knocked out-- so this is a welcome change because I am not holding him. Maybe it will be the start of something new.

Pete and Becky news: We are still looking for a place to live. We have an appointment tomorrow. It is in the same townhouse complex as the one we liked earlier, but this one is owned by different people. They said they take dogs.- we will have to wait and see if large dogs count as dogs.

I have been going to aerobics about 3 times a week and have been trying to eat less. I will say that while I do get hungry I am thinner. I am currently wearing pants that are some of the smallest in my closet.

Pete is still plugging away at school. He is on a grant this summer so no teaching again-- yay!! He is still playing WOW- in case anyone was wondering. Plus, he is indoctrinating our son with the news according to Jon Stewart. Jack is a big fan now- really.

Smell it Mommy

Having a 3-year-old boy is definitely fun in its own special way. For instance, I was in my room nursing Luke when a naked and proud Jack struts in. J : "Mommy I peed." Me: "Good job"
J:" Off the patio." Nice-- we live upstairs in our apartment complex so I hope no one got wet.

Other things that are fun when you have a boy-toots. We were in the car and Jack let some manly toots fly. I responded, "Oh those smell." Jack laughs and says, " Smell it Mommy smell it!"

We have been having a good time around here. Saturday we went to Springfest. Jack got to pet a rabbit and a chick then was able to look at cows, sheep, and pigs. He saw tractors and was able to play with remote control cars. He did not want to pet insects or have his face painted. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers and got a balloon. Last year they had the Purdue train running in the morning so we really hoped we could ride it this year, but it was not meant to be. We did run into the Pappy's ice cream cart and shared an oreo sundae that was very good.



Sunday took us to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Jack's bathroom victories. Jack's favorite ride was the Barney train. He used about 15 tokens on that plus the extra tokens we amassed when we put one in and got one back. Our goal was to get a large amount of tickets, and it was looking bad for us until Jack stuck in a token and won more tickets by accident than Pete and I had trying. Then our luck improved when I played The Price is Right and ended up winning over 90 tickets in one turn. We ended up with 320 tickets! Jack got two cars and a bunch of candy.



Monday we had plans to pick Pete up at 1:30 to look at a condo. The boys and I slept until 1pm so lunch was the McDonalds drive-thru. Jack got a Happy Meal with a dragon from How to Train Your Dragon. After viewing the condo Pete had the idea of taking Jack to see How to Train Your Dragon. I wasn't so sure because 1. Jack has never been to a movie theater 2. He is a typical 3- year-old boy so the two don't seem a good match 3. We have Luke and do they even let babies in the movies? However, Jack was already pretty pumped about his dragon toy and Luke is still young enough to be good through the movie-- why not. Off we went to the movies. Jack brought his dragon inside, we got popcorn, and sat down. Jack didn't understand the seating arrangements at first. When I told him to walk down the aisle to get a seat he simply sat on the steps and thought that is where you sit. Once we led him to the seats he didn't quite understand how they worked. He eventually ended up on Pete's lap because he did not like those chairs. He practically ate the whole bag of popcorn by himself. He never let go of his toy dragon and he sat on the edge of his seat the whole time. He was completely engrossed in this movie. There was even one part where he threw his arms up in the air and cheered!!! He loved the movie. Pete and I are in agreement that we loved this movie too. It was so so super cute. It was better than Up. What a great experience for Jack's first movie.

As far as finding a place to live we have not been very successful. The place we thought we were going to get told us they accept dogs, but apparently when places tell you they accept dogs they mean tiny dogs. We have had a couple different places say yes we take dogs then when we say that we have a golden retriever they say oh we don't take big dogs. The search continues.

Things that make you go hmm...

After one day at aerobics it was made clear no progress was made when a button on my jeans popped off, but after two visits...

Getting out of the car with my tiny son I soon noticed a stranger eyeing me. Could it be that after two work-outs I was "hot"? My confidence was soon soaring- oh yeah I've got it. Then I get Jack out of the car and he says, "Mommy, you have spit-up all down your back. "

This sadly leads to the whole spit-up situation. How much is too much? I feel like our house smells like sour milk and in reality I am sure it does. Every time you turn around there it is. This leads to the URGH I WANT A WASHER AND DRYER situation. When you have a baby spitting up and a son having accidents, trips to the laundry mat either occur all the time or you just have piles and piles and piles of smelly clothes everywhere. Can you tell which happens with us?

We did go look for a new and improved place today. I think we found it, and yes it does come with a washer and dryer! July/August cannot get here soon enough. This does mean that I will once again be in charge of laundry which is sad, but preferable, even to a husband going to the laundry mat.

Other things that make you go hmmm...

Everywhere you look around here you find wet diapers. ( I will say they are rolled up and not just open because even we have some standards). I must have thrown 5 away today. I crawled into my bed to read stories and diaper. I go in Jack's room to find some clothes for Luke and diaper. I go to get something out the diaper bag and diaper. I go to put toys away and diaper.

To bring things back around I will say that Pete and I were discussing ways for me to be a "hot momma" again and it was decided that I should replace all my cokes with lite beer. This way I am consuming fewer calories/ carbs and let's face it, I will be more fun.

Since what is a blog involving spit-up without pictures of my children.

Here is Jack sporting the sunglasses look.




Here is Luke with the latest smile and 'goo'

And so it goes...

Today has been a bit rough in the trying to get my children to sleep department. After many failed attempts I finally succeeded and came over to the computer to get stuff done when the power in our place keeps going on and off and on and off. Grr.... I think things are on track now- let's hope.

Jack's been pretty funny lately here are a few snippets of conversation:

- Pete: That game isn't funny
Jack: I laughed
Pete: That doesn't make it funny

-Becky: What book do you want to read?
Jack: There are too many options.
Becky: You're right. What about book "A" or book "B"
Jack: How about Books " C and D"

-Jack: Woman stop saying so many words ( this said to his dear mother)

Then there was this scenario with Pete on Easter:
Jack falls and hits his head, starts crying and wants a kiss. I am cooking so Pete offers to kiss it. Jack tells him that he does not have the best kisses and only mom has the best kisses. Then it is decided that Pete can kiss one spot but mom has to kiss all the spots. When asked what spot Pete can kiss Jack tells him he can kiss this spot, grabs the Cheez-It box, and hands it to Pete.



Jack got a Leapster Click-Start for Christmas. He was not all too interested in it at the time-- I mean he did gets cars too what was I thinking. Anyway, over the last few days he has asked to play with it every day. I am amazed at the difference a few months makes because he used to have no clue how to use the mouse-it was just way too much for him. Now he is fairly adept. Also, he used to demand that I sit by him the whole time and watch-- now he could care less. I have a picture of what his pre-teen and teen years will look like.





Potty training is going well. He wears diapers at night and that is going to continue for awhile-- I am no where near ready to tackle that monster. He will go out in public and he goes here with very few accidents. I still have to remind him every hour or two. I am pretty pleased with the results so far.

On Easter Pete sat the boys on the couch and took many many shots of them. This one gives you a taste of what all the others were like:



Here is a better picture of Luke a few days before Easter-



Today is Pete's birthday and Jack got him purple pens. For a month Jack has been talking about getting Pete purple pens. I have no idea why but that is exactly what Pete got. We are also getting sushi tonight- this is a treat because no one else here eats it, so he doesn't get it as often as he would like.

Calmness in Chaos

As I sit down to write this I look down at my shirt and there is marinara sauce all down the front, the sleeve is somehow ripped, and let's not forget the spit up. I am typing with one hand because Luke is in my lap asleep with my pinky in his mouth, and I know if I either remove my finger or lay him down he will wake up and cry. This seems par for the course these days. One difference is that I actually put on clothes and brushed my hair ( I know you are all thinking how lucky Pete is). Looking back on the week I realize that in all the chaos that is my life much has been accomplished.

One major accomplishment is cooking. Making dinner has not been on my radar at all in months- I do mean months. I might make one meal every few weeks then ask Pete to make fajitas once a week. This week I made a menu for the whole week, I wrote it on the white board, went grocery shopping, and have actually stuck to it-- I have even impressed myself. There were many times during those many months where I had dinner plans but decided it was easier to order pizza, chinese, go to some fast food place, or just eat cereal.

The weather was nice earlier in the week so I grabbed our Baby Bjorn, the camera, bubbles, both kids and we went outside to play. This was the first time I have done this by myself. We stayed outside for over an hour. Here are a couple pictures of Jack making his faces outside.

I decided that it was time to officially potty train Jack. Today was the big start day. Pete wakes up with Jack so he was in charge of reminding him no diaper today. I woke up to Jack crying, the no diaper plan was not going over so well. I came out and began to remind him what we talked about and what rewards awaited him. Jack did not care and he began to tell me why he needed his diaper. It was here that I thought- if my child is old enough to have a reasonable conversation about this he is ready to do it. He threw some toys, had to go to time out, and cried-for a very long time, but then I told him his High Five magazine could only be read in the bathroom and something changed. He went to the bathroom, and I read his magazine to him. After that the kid was all about going to the bathroom. He took a nap without his diaper-no accidents. He pooped twice, there were no accidents all day, and while making dinner he had stopped playing so I sent Pete to find him, and Jack was on the potty using it all by himself! I don't know if tomorrow will be as successful but what a great start. He has taken this being a big boy thing very seriously.

So I sit here reflecting on the past few days and realize there is a calmness in the chaos because it is a constant. Here's to more normalcy being born out of disorder.

Random Updates

We went to the doctor today for J's 3 yr check up and L's 1 month and here are the stats:
J: Height: 35 3/4"- 10-25% Weight: 28lbs - 25% ( he definitely needs to keep eating those energy bars to help pack on the pounds!)

L: Height:22"- 50%
Weight: 10lbs 12.7 oz- 75%
Head Circ.: 37.8cm- 25-50%

We are excited that Jack has started to gain some weight and has shifted out of the 10% or less percentile for weight. As for height, there isn't a whole lot we can do for that- sorry bud.

We are amazed that we have a child in the 50% and above range for weight and height-- never never thought that would happen. One other difference is head circumference, J's head was always huge and L has a smaller head. Maybe this means we will have one cerebral child and one brawny child-variety is good.

Here is a picture of our little family.



We went to KY for a few days during our Spring Break. The weather was great so we were able to play outside during the afternoons then come in and watch basketball all night. UofL let us down by going out in the first round ( we are still very sad about this) but luckily we have two schools to root for and Purdue is showing us just how scrappy they are! We are not true blue UK fans, but we do support our state, so we hope UK does well too.

We made a couple quick stops in Louisville: My Favorite Muffin and Safier's. If you make it to Louisville you have to eat at Safier's--it is so delicious. We have decided to make more of an effort to stop by when we drive through town. I love their hummus, and well just everything I have had there is delicious!

L is doing very well and starting to be more alert. He has picked up the bad habit of only falling and staying asleep while we are holding him- that has made life interesting. I am trying to wait a minute or two before picking him up again, but I am not a fan of letting babies under 6 months cry for extended periods of time.

J is doing very well with the adjustment from only child to big brother. At first he was acting out in public but this is really starting to diminish. He loves to help by picking out diapers and clothes, so we are trying to praise him for his helpfulness.

Over break Melissa T. ( she just had her baby Monday) and I were honored with a baby shower that was very delicious and unique. It was at a local candy shop- Kathy's Kandies. I had a great time and enjoyed all the yummy treats. I think I will have to go back soon to stock up on all my candy needs.

Jackisms

Jack's catchy song:

Hey Little Baby

Hey Little Baby

Hey

Jack thoughts and sayings:

- Are you a doctor? I am because I made Baby Luke feel better.

- Are you going in the front or the back? I go in the front. You go in the back. ( referring to using the bathroom).

- J: Mom we need to change my shirt and pants.

M: Why?

J: They are just dirty. ( then he looks at his hands and they are dirty)

M: What did you do? Did you touch your poop?

J: Yeah and I wiped it on myself.

-If I wear spanx under my jeans I can wear a pair or two of regular jeans. Jack saw me getting dressed today and says:

J: Mom, you are wearing two pair of pants. Are you supposed to?

- J: This is my mean face. ( shows face ) This is my happy face (shows face)

M: I like your happy face.

J: Mom you like all my faces.

-J: Why are you a girl?

M: I don't have a penis.

J: why?

M: God just thought I would make a really good girl.

J: It is because you are so pretty.