It's Good to be Home

This weekend I left the boys in the very capable hands of my wonderful husband (who did not whine or complain or call to ask me how to do anything!) and went with some girlfriends to West Virgina for a scrapbooking weekend. I had a really good time and I got a lot accomplished. I finally got started on my Disney album from the trip we took in January and I got almost halfway through it. Collin was so excited when he saw it. He kept looking through it and exclaiming over all the pictures and remembering all the fun we had. I need to make more time to do the Friday night crops around here so I finish it faster. Its much cheaper and its a lot easier to ask my husband to watch the kids for a few hours than a few days. That being said, the boys had a really good time with their dad. In fact, at one point today, Collin said he'd rather play with Daddy than with me. I think its good for them to spend that kind of quality time together. As much fun as my trip was, I am so glad to be back home. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight.

Sometimes it SUCKS to be right!

I'll refer you back to the post before this one where I mentioned how my kids have slept through the night since they were a month old and seldom wake up in the middle of the night. I glibly stated something to the effect of watch, now that I've said that, one of them will be up in the middle of the night tonight. Fast forward to 3am this morning....

Collin: Mom?

Me: Ugh...Did I hear something...bury my head in the pillow.

Collin: Mom! Mom! MooooooM!!!!

Me: muttering-Damn. I hate being right. Out loud- Whats wrong Collin?

Collin: Can I watch Phineas and Ferb?

Me: NO! Its 3am go back to sleep!

Collin: I want to watch Phineas and Ferb! Then he begins sobbing and wailing.

Me: Go back to bed, you can watch it tomorrow. I then listen to him cry for the next 15-30 minutes as I desperately wish I could sleep and dread the awful wake up that's going to come in 2 hours.

Fortunately, Collin was pleasant 2 hours later when we had to get up. He cooperated with everything I asked him to do and didn't whine at all. I, on the other hand, felt like I'd been run over by a Mack truck all day long. I think its definitely time to reduce the amount of TV we're watching. The thing is, we really don't watch all that much of it. The kids watch cartoons while I'm getting dinner together before Tim gets home. Once we sit down for dinner the TV goes off. Any suggestions for how to cure the TV addiction?

Baby Borrowers

NBC's new show Baby Borrowers premiered tonight. I didn't think I would be watching but there isn't a whole lot to choose from on TV and I wanted something mindless while I organized all my scrapbooking supplies. The basic premise is this: 5 teenage couples experience adulthood. They move in together then the next day they "get pregnant" and wear a pregnancy belly the entire day. They attend a class on childbirth and infant care at a local hospital and have to put the nursery together. The next morning the baby arrives for 3 days and nights. After the baby leaves they will have 3 days with a toddler then a grade schooler (I think), a teenager and finally an elderly person. The couples undertook the challenge for various reasons, like proving to their parents they can handle it or proving to one another that they are/aren't ready for children. The parents prepared in depth manuals about their baby and can watch from a nearby house. There is also a professional nanny following each couple to assist if there is an immediate crisis. Other than that, the couples are completely on their own. After the first day with the baby, one person will have to go to work while the other stays home to take care of the baby.

Sort of like real life, but not really. First of all, I wish someone provided me with a swanky house in a nice cul-de-sac with neighbors my own age in exactly the same situation. In reality, unless you're parents are filthy stinkin' Rich and can afford to set you up nicely, teen parents are either going to be living at home with Mom and Dad or they're going to be in less than desirable living quarters. Second, it's not fair to take a child who's had 6 months or more to bond with their parents and develop a routine with them and suddenly hand them over to unsure teens, even with a detailed how-to manual. By the way, I wish my kids came with one of those. If I handed my kids off to perfect strangers they'd be fine for a little while, but then they'd want us and would get cranky. I guess this is exactly what the producers want because crankiness is part of parenthood and the experiment isn't meant to be a walk in the park.

What shocked me the most was how ridiculously some of the teens behaved. One girl locked herself in her room and refused to wear the "pregnant belly" because he boyfriend laughed at her, another one declared that she was done with watching the kid after a visit from the mother who was concerned about her child not eating. The way they spoke and how quickly they got frustrated and gave up really surprised me. When I got pregnant with Collin I used to joke that I was much better prepared at 16 to have a baby than I was at 26. At 16 I did A LOT of babysitting. By the time I was ready to have a baby, I hadn't changed a diaper in years. I know all too well how frustrating having a child can be. This show made it look like some of the teens were really struggling with things like feeding and bedtime. The first show ended at the end of the first day with the babies with the couples trying to put them to bed. It seemed like the babies were up and crying a lot. I guess this is the part where I have to thank my lucky stars that both of my boys slept through the night long before 6 months and seldom wake up in the middle of the night now (watch, since I typed that, Nick will probably wake up in the middle of the night tonight).

I still haven't decided how I feel about this show. In some ways it's close to reality and it at least makes you think, babies aren't always cute and smiley and if they're yours, you're the one getting them back when they're cranky instead of being the one giving them back. There has been so much in the media lately about teen pregnancy, it seems to be sort of the "it" thing to talk about. I just saw a trailer for another TV show staring Molly Ringwald about a teenage girl who gets pregnant and I don't even know where to start on the subject of the school in Massachusetts where 17 girls are pregnant. 17 Girls! All under 16! Pact or no pact, how does this happen? It seems like every time I turn on the TV, teen pregnancy is the topic. I'm not sure where this show fits into that. It doesn't seem to be glorifying parenthood, which I'm glad to see. What it does seem to be doing an excellent job of is highlighting how ridiculously immature teenagers really are. I kept thinking, was I like that when I was that age? I couldn't have behaved that immature! Could I? Truth is, I was no different than any other teenage girl and I was certainly subject to my share of emotional outbursts and tears. I can only apologize for my self centered attitude and thank my parents for letting me live to discover what a pain in the ass I must have been. I'm sure my boys will pay me back in spades. I'm going to continue to watch the show because I'm interested to see where they go with it. And I can't wait to see what the couples do with the toddlers. I so hope at least one is in the middle of potty training. Anyone who thinks changing a poopy diaper is bad, ought to change a poopy pair of underwear. I'll take the diaper any day.

3 Going On 30

Saturday night I took Collin to Michael's with me to get some scrapbooking supplies. Since he's been really good lately and didn't want to ride in a cart and I really didn't need one I decided to let him walk with me. He was perfectly fine through most of the store. At some point he decided he'd had enough and took off. I took off after him but he turned the corner on the aisle and was gone. I ran up and down the nearest couple of aisles but couldn't find him. Since I was close to the front of the store I ran up front and asked if anyone had seen him. Someone said they'd just seen him zip by and pretty soon the whole store was looking for him. I was terrified since we were so close to the front of the store and I didn't know whether or not he would go outside, not to mention all of the other horrifying things that could potentially happen to a lost child. Fortunately a couple of employees managed to grab him by the hand and lead him back to me. He was only gone a couple of minutes but it felt like an eternity. When he saw me, before I could even open my mouth to speak to him, he ran to me and hugged me and said (I swear to God he really said this) "Mom! Where have you been? I was so worried about you!" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I was so relieved to see him. It was like he was reading my mind and knew exactly what I wanted to say to him! Needless to say we had a long talk about running away from Mommy and Daddy and strangers and he will be in a cart from now on, no matter how good he promises to be.

Vacation Story

We spent last week visiting Tim's parents in North Carolina on a much needed vacation. While I couldn't wait to get down there and see Tim's parents, the idea of spending somewhere between 7.5-9 hours in a car with two small children was enough to give me nightmares. I have to say that while there were a few moments when I'd have given anything to be there already (like 15 minutes into the trip when Collin asked "are we there yet" for the first time), for the most part the boys could not have been better behaved. They really surprised me. We had tons and tons of fun while we were there. We ate crabs, went to the beach, the pool and the Dixie Stampede, rode rides, and did just a little shopping. We packed a lot of fun into one short week. The boys really loved the beach. Nick preferred playing in the sand but Collin took to the ocean like a little fish. We couldn't keep him out. The water was beautiful, it was 80 degrees. The neatest part was that we saw tons of little fish swimming around our feet and I managed to catch two little hermit crabs to show the boys (we let them go after a little while of course). We even saw a mollusk, a blue crab and a jelly fish. I can't remember ever being at the beach and seeing so much marine life. Tim, Collin and I worked together to dig a hole that was deep enough to have water in the bottom which Collin thought was really neat. All the sudden he said "Watch out, here comes the Collinator!" and jumped in. We made lots of trips to the ocean to get buckets of water to make the water deeper. I'm proud to say that as much time as we spent in the sun, none of us got overly burned. I turned a little pink but my boys are just nice and tan. I can't imagine a munchkin with a sunburn, it would be miserable. We rode rides at Broadway at the Beach which Collin absolutely loved. He couldn't get enough of them. His favorites were the boats and the race cars that are like the whip from my childhood. They also had a really cool area where kid could play that Collin calls the "volcano water" because it shoots up out of the ground. Both of my boys ran around and got soaking wet in it. I was really proud of Nick because even though he was intimidated at first, he got over it and really enjoyed himself. He was the smallest one out there. Friday afternoon Tim's Aunt and Uncle joined us for dinner. It was really nice to see them again. Collin was anti-social but Nick was perfectly happy to be held and played with. We left early Saturday morning and I must say that as good as my little guys were on the way down, they were even better on the way back. Nick slept most of the trip and Collin was perfectly happy to chat with us and listen to his CD's. They had just a couple of moments. I think my favorite was Collin informing me that he had to go pee. At a McDonald's. And get a happy meal. Oh, they're still serving breakfast? I can wait. Manipulative little stinker isn't he. When we got home we went to Red Robin for dinner because who wants to cook after driving all day long. Here is a slide show of some of our photos from the week. Check out the boys playing in the water. Nick gets absolutely dumped on!

Check-Ups

The boys went for their yearly check-ups today. As usual they are doing just fine. They've both exceeded all the milestones they need to be meeting by this point in time and got clean bills of health from the doctor. Nick was 23.5 pounds and Collin was just 10 pounds heavier making them both good sized kids. I have no idea how tall they are because I missed that part of the appointment. Collin was so good while the doctor examined him, he wanted to use the stethoscope to listen to his heart. When I asked him if the doctor was going to find anything in his ears or nose he told there were worms there. Fortunately, there were not. Nick was not as happy about being examined but did well. He's not as lucky as his brother, he needed 3 vaccinations this time around (better than the 5 I thought he was going to get). Of course, they've changed the guidelines and no longer give 2 of the shots in the thigh. They must be given in the arm, oh and by the way, it can't be the same arm. Poor little guy got a shot in each arm and one in the leg. Tim waited with Collin in the waiting room while I held Nick down for those. It was a miserable experience for both of us. Next time I'm sitting in the waiting room and watching Buzz Lightyear with Collin. The shots don't seem to be bothering Nick any. He was right back to his usual sunny disposition as soon as we left the doctor's office. What a trooper!

Fun at the Pool

I took Collin to the pool tonight to play for a while. I've discovered he goes to bed easier if he gets to run around in the sun at the pool for a while after dinner. Anyway, I was sitting in a chair on the edge of the baby pool while Collin was playing happily in the water on the other side of the pool. All of the sudden he went under the water. This is my child who can't stand to have his hair washed because he might get his ears or his face wet. I immediately jumped off my chair and was halfway to him when he popped up and yelled "I did it Mom! I went under water and it wasn't even that scary!" Maybe for you dude, but you just took about 10 years off my life. There was no warning whatsoever that he was going to try that. Normally its all I can do to get him to stick his face in the water to blow some bubbles. I won't panic so much next time but I really thought he was in trouble. It's definately time for swim lessons. The problem with that is finding some that aren't during the week at 10am. I've been looking for programs to get Collin involved in but EVERYTHING is Monday-Friday during work hours. I get that they reserve evenings and weekends for kids who have to be in school during the day but its really not fair to little kids who have parents who have to work. They should be able to have some fun too and there just isn't much available to them. Fortunately, Collin doesn't know what he's missing so its not too big a deal right now. I on the other hand feel guilty because I do know what he could be doing but isn't because I have to work. I have a couple of options to look into for swim lessons (they are rediculously expensive though) but if anyone knows of a soccer program for 3 year olds, please let me know because he's dying to play.

Nick

I know that you're not supposed to compare your children. Mine are certainly unique individuals with totally different personalities. Collin is very outgoing while Nick is a little more shy. They are both bright and have excellent motor skills. Both walked well by the time their 1st birthday rolled around, but Collin had a whole vocabulary by that point. Not just one or two words but probably 20 or 30 including things like thank you. Nick on the other hand only says Mama and Dada and Hi and something that sounds like Yeah when he claps his hands. He imitates us all the time and you can see he's comprehending what's going on around him. In fact sometimes I watch him studying things intently and then trying to do them himself. We took him today for a follow up appointment with the doctor to check his hearing. He hasn't had any more ear infections which is great but it turns out that both ears are full of fluid. Back in April one of his ears was still OK, so things are getting worse. In fact, his doctor said to me "No wonder he's not talking, he isn't hearing worth crap". We're going to check his hearing again next month and see if its gotten any better, if not Nick's getting tubes. My poor little guy! Both boys go for their well visits later this week. We're spending lots of time at the doctor's office again.

At Least I Know He's Listening

Since the weather has gotten nice lately (OK, it was nice before it got ungodly hot) we've had the doors and windows open which means that my dog goes nuts every time someone walks by or she catches a whiff of another dog. She started the other night and before I could even open my mouth Collin turned around and yelled "knock it off Sadie". It was a spot on imitation of me. I am forever saying that to her because I don't want to say "Shut-Up". I'd really hate to hear that out of my child's mouth.

Another favorite phrase of mine is "I'm done with ..." Fill in whatever's getting on my nerves at the time. Tonight Collin was blowing bubbles outside while Tim was grilling. I popped out to check on them and Collin informed me "If Dad pops my bubble I will be so done with him" Again spot on imitation of the tone and inflection of my voice when I use this phrase. All I could do was shut the door and burst out laughing. I could see Tim was trying hard to hold back his own laughter. I did hear a "way to go Er, that is so you" through the glass.

Hey! At least I know he's listening to me when I'm talking to him and apparently everyone else too.

How I Know We Watch Too Much TV

We were shopping in Target last night and I stopped in the toothpaste aisle to get some toothpaste because we were almost out. I discovered that the brand I like is at least $0.50 cheaper than the grocery store, but that's besides the point. I really like the Crest with Scope brand and went right for that section. Collin apparently watches way to much TV because he said "Mom, that's not Colgate Total" Huh? I wasn't sure what he'd said at first so I asked him to repeat himself. Colgate total? Is that what he'd said? Really? It really was what he'd said. I was floored. The only way he'd know about Colgate Total is from the TV because I have never even tried that kind of toothpaste and its not like people sit around discussing toothpaste and the merits of one brand over another. I had instituted a TV ban from the time we get home until we go to bed because when the TV is on, Collin tunes the rest of the world out and I don't like it at all. We watch TV on weekends, especially when we're exhausted and just want to keep him occupied while we doze off for a bit, but we try to keep it pretty minimal. Maybe we should cut back even more...

Viewer Discretion Advised

If you have objections to sexual humor then don't watch. When Tim found this the other day we laughed our butts off. It's kind of long. Consider yourselves warned....

Nick's Baptism and Birthday

Nick's Baptism turned out to be very nice, despite a few minor mishaps. Like the fact that we were running late and so was everyone else and I think the priest thought we weren't coming. And the fact that it rained. Everything ended up just fine though. The ceremony was very nice and Nick was exceptionally well behaved. He didn't cry at all. I can't say the same of his brother. I don't think he actually cried, but he ran all over the church and called out during the ceremony. I was really embarrassed. When the priest asked what name we gave our son we told him "Nicholas Timothy" but he later referred to him as Nicholas and Collin yelled at the top of his lungs that it was Nicholas Timothy. My dad teased me months ago when I kept putting of Nick's baptism for various reasons that poor Nick would be walking to his baptism. Sure enough, he is walking like a champ now. He's been taking steps here and there for a while now but this past week or so he's really taken off.

Since we waited so long to baptise Nick we decided to combine it with his birthday since they fell so close together. The party was a lot of fun. Once the rain stopped we were able to go outside and the kids got on the moon bounce. I wouldn't be a party if Collin didn't take his pants off. Since he was playing outside his pants wound up soaking wet and he removed them. He did at least leave his underwear on. Tim was going to put new ones on him but we quickly realized that would be pointless if he was going to play outside some more as his pants would just get wet again and he would take them off again. When it came time for the cake we sang happy birthday to Nick and put his little cake in front of him but he wanted nothing to do with it. I think he was just overwhelmed by the whole experience. The next evening I put him in his high chair and gave him his cake again. He quickly decapitated the bear and made short work of it. All in all, everything went very well. I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Tim's parents who came up early and helped us get everything ready to go, and to my parents for making the ziti and coming over early to help set up and to Tim who is pretty much solely responsible for making the house look nice. I definitely could not have done it without you guys!

Happy Birthday Nick

Pictures from the Baptism and Nick's 1st Birthday Party



Pictures from the Gigantic Moon Bounce at the park today



It's late so I'll write about all this stuff later but it was a very busy and very fun weekend.