Who needs naps?

So the week of no day care continues. How do stay-at-home moms do it? Seriously. I get nothing done when the kids are here. Add to that the fact that I'm supposed to be working full time this week too, and and it gets pretty crazy. Fortunately, practically no one I work with is working this week, so that means there's not much going on. There were enough people to scrounge together for my weekly Wednesday meeting I run for my current project. Only problem was I have 2 kids at home and Braden was running practice this morning during my meeting. Thank goodness again for Blythe's friend Ashley and her mommy who had Blythe over for the whole morning and then some. My meeting happened to fall when Ethan takes his morning nap, so we were covered. Phew!

I picked up Blythe and we got back around 2pm, just in time for her nap. And she was starting to get Krr Anky, so I was glad to put her down. We read a story, kissed, hugged, etc. Then I put Ethan down. Took him a while, but I finally had them both down! Or not. I heard Blythe banging stuff around in her room, so I went in there to check. She had tried to baracade the door by moving her stool in front of it, but I was able to overcome the obstacle and enter her room. She was playing with her magnetic letters. As soon as I came in she said, "I'm just going to do 'T' and 'D' and then I'll take a nap". Okay. So FINALLY we were down for nap. I went downstairs to get back to work. A short while later Blythe came downstairs and declared she wasn't going to take a nap. Ugh! So this is a first. A first I an unto happy about. I have always said that whenever Blythe gives up naps, I will have her observe "quiet time" and play quietly in her room for an hour or so (hopefully more like two). So, I figured I might as well start that routine from the get go. I explained to her that she didn't have to take a nap, but that she had to play quietly in her room by herself while I worked for a while. I told her she had to stay there until Ethan woke up or until I came to get her. She was agreeable and off she went. She was in her room maybe 5 minutes before she made her way to my bedroom, then the bathroom, then the guest room, then back to her room, all the while slamming /quietly closing each door behind her until miraculously Ethan woke up. Go figure.

So we all came downstairs to get a snack. After I (smoked some crack) ate a cookie, I decided to take BOTH of my overtired children to Walmart to get groceries. Actually, I have no good stories from Walmart, as both kids were remarkably very good.

4 more full days until they are back at daycare, not that anyone's counting.

More Christmas pics

Forgot a few more pics from Christmas #2. Lynette has a cool "photo booth" program on her computer that makes crazy pictures. Blythe LOVED playing with it. Here are some of her crazy pics.

Christmas adventures and Ethan takes steps!

It's been a little while since I wrote...guess things got a bit busy there with Christmas and all. The holidays were good. Nice to spend time with the families and it was fun to have the kids open their gifts. After Santa came on Christmas Eve, I could hardly sleep I was so excited. Felt like when I was a kid and was so excited to open all those presents, except this time I was so excited for my kids to open their presents.

On Christmas Eve we went to the family service at church, which is code for the "whiny children/crying babies" service. Since we have whiny children and crying babies, we're banned from the other service (just kidding, but it would be terrible to have them at that one). The kids were a little sick last week, so our normally happy little Ethan was a nightmare! Nothing made him happy. So we just kept feeding him snacks because then the cries weren't so loud. Blythe, on the other hand was pretty good. Though during the first song (I think it was Away in a Manger), she started dancing and "shaking her booty" in church. Then all of the children went to the altar to hear the Christmas story. Blythe and her friend Ginsey weren't really paying attention. Between Ethan's crying spells, I could glance at Blythe and see her showing Ginsey her new dress and pretty bow. Next time I looked up there, they were both lying down with their legs in the air (and both wearing dresses), basically showing everyone at church their underpants. I had to laugh. And if I wasn't dealing with Ethan, I'd have picked up my camera and got it on film.

After church, Blythe got to open 1 present. She opened the princess rollerskates we got her. She was much better than at the skating rink, but still not very good. Needs practice. The next morning, Santa came and brought Blythe the blue baby, the legos, and the yellow castle. The yellow castle was the Candyland Castle game (good thinking, Santa!). Ethan got megablocks, a soccer ball, and a pop-up toy. Then they opened like 8 million other presents before we had to say good bye to Peep, Grams, and Hampton before they hit the road. We too packed up and hit the road to drive to Gommy and Poppa's house.

Here's a few pics from Christmas at our house:

At Gommy and Poppa's we had Christmas #2 the day after Christmas. Blythe got an easel and a scooter and Ethan got the "push along alphabet train". We all gave my parents a Wii for Xmas, so we played A LOT of Wii when we were there. And now I'm sore.

Here's a few pics from Christmas at Gommy and Poppa's (Gommy got a new camera so she took lots of pictures and I didn't...thus the reason there are only a few here):




Exciting news for Ethan yesterday. Just before we left Gommy and Poppa's, Ethan took his first steps! He was cruising (holding onto furniture) and I put out my hands for him to come to me. He didn't even think about it (which is probably why he did so well), and just walked 2-3 steps over to me. And then he even kept standing for a few seconds (so not the walk-and-fall-type first steps). In a month, that boy is going to be quite the handful. As soon as we got home last night, he kept making a beeline for the stairs to climb up them. So we dug out a baby gate and put it up and he was VERY unhappy with us.





So anyway, now that we're home, the challenge is finding places to put ALL this new stuff. Won't be easy. Oh, and the other challenge will be trying to work this week with the kids off of daycare all week. Won't be easy.

So much for those plans

Yesterday afternoon I had my hours carefully planned out to:
1. pick up Blythe's room
2. clean up the guest room so it's set up for company
3. exercise
4. take a shower
5. clean the basement bathroom and the kids bathroom
6. wrap 2 more presents
7. put away all the wrapping stuff
8. set up the aerobed "guest room" in the basement

After #5, daycare called and said Ethan had a 101 fever and we had to come pick him up. So much for my afternoon plans.

Today the guys went hunting so my modified plan (since Ethan was home) was to take Blythe to daycare for a few hours (since today is her last day in the 2's room before she moves to the 3/4 room after Christmas break), get some work done (since I have no vacation days), pick up Blythe and take her to lunch and for some last-minute shopping. But Blythe woke up with a fever, so so much for those plans. She missed her last day in the 2's room, which made me remember that she also missed her last day in the toddler room because she was sick. Guess it's a trend now.

She wasn't THAT sick, so I still took her to lunch and to the mall with me for some last-minute shopping. Nice to get out just the two of us. Hasn't happened since Ethan was a month or two old, so it was time we needed to spend together.

Ah, the cleanliness

Ugh! So I forgot to make the Rice Krispie treats last night that I said I'd bring to Blythe's "winter" party today at school. Party isn't until 3 though, so I have time. Though I have to look online for the recipe for how to make them. Does that mean I'm not quite an official mom since I don't know how to make them? I know there are Rice Krispies and marshmallows, but I don't know the ratio of each. And I'm pretty sure there's a little bit of butter involved. They used to have the recipe on the Rice Krispie box, but not anymore. I guess they figure everyone in the world knows how to make them, so it's no longer necessary.

I didn't blog all weekend because we were having such a fantastic time CLEANING! But I'm happy to report that the whole freaking house is clean....except for my office (God, I never get that clean!) oh, and my bathroom. Don't ever go in there, it's not part of the house tour. I taught Blythe how to wash windows and mirrors, and she did a fine job at it. Ethan is no good at cleaning. While Blythe and I were washing the mirrors in my bathroom (we did get that part cleaned...nothing else), Ethan was busy unrolling the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper in my bathroom.

Other than cleaning, I can't say we did a whole lot this weekend. While Daddy was replacing the broken garbage disposal (that we've lived with now for several months), I took the kids to the library to read some books. They did quite a bit of playing and very little "reading" of books. And our big outing out on Sunday was to the grocery store where both kids rode in the car cart and were so cute and having a blast until Blythe got a little too "huggy" with Ethan and he wanted out.

Nowadays Blythe likes to tell other people what they are going to get from Santa. Tommy - yesterday she pretend called you and told you Santa was bringing you a snowman...a little one. And she told Gommy Santa was bringing her Coors Light (okay, maybe we told her to say that one).

And what does Mommy get from Santa?

Last night at the dinner table Blythe was again telling us how Santa was going to bring her a blue baby, legos, and a yellow castle when she stopped mid-sentence and told Braden Santa was bringing him a microwave. That was interesting. So we tried to get her to say what he would be bringing me. After interjecting her normal "Mommy, you're Poco Loco" (Braden taught her that and she tells me I'm "a little crazy" at least 60 times a day), she said Santa was bringing me soap. Great. Just what I need. And also, according to Blythe, Santa is bringing Ethan a chicken. So we told her that wasn't fair that she was getting 3 things and each of us were only getting 1. So she said Daddy would also get a plate and I would also get a cup. Whoopee! Ethan apparently is still stuck with just a chicken.

And as we were conversing she went right into Santa bringing "sticks" for Mommy. Braden got in on it again and this was the outcome. This joke has run its course, so promise this is the last "stick" video:

Oh, such innocence.

I also just wrapped a few presents to put under the tree, so she now realizes Mom and Dad give presents too. So now she has to be nice to us as well (which is good, since the "be nice for Santa" routine is becoming not quite as effective).

And Ethan said "cow" at day care yesterday too, so it wasn't a fluke. My boy can talk!!!

Ethan said his first word!

Ethan said his first word this morning! He's been saying "mama" and "dada" for weeks now, but I don't count those as real words (even though I guess they really are). Anyway, should have known my little chunk-a-roo who will eat anything you give him would have a first word of "cow".

His room is decorated with farm animals (and college penants...I know, they totally don't go together). He has a farm animal blanket hanging above his changing table and he always loves to touch the cow. Every day I tell him that's a cow. Yesterday he started trying to say it, but could only get out "Ga". Today he figured out the "Ka" sound and said that a few times. I kept working with him and he finally finished it and said "cow". He was SO proud of himself. We went and told Daddy and of course he would not repeat it again.

It's funny with those little ones. You really have to keep your ears open to hear what they are saying. It's not like they just start talking one day. With Blythe, I was the only one who heard her first word. She pointed to my dad and said "Pop" (which is what he went by before Blythe renamed him to "Poppa"). She said it so quietly only I heard her. Then I didn't catch another word out of her for at least a few more weeks. Made me question myself on whether she actually said it or if I just imagined she did. But when she did start up with a few more words, "pop" was definitely one of them, so it confirmed what I had heard. I'm thinking the same thing will happen with Ethan. I wouldn't be surprised if he says no words again for a few weeks. But we'll see.

A visit to Santa Claus

My mom pointed out to me that I didn't blog about taking the kids to see Santa a week or so ago. We told Blythe Santa was making an appearance in Blacksburg to take orders for Christmas, so she had no choice but to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted otherwise he wouldn't know what to bring and may bring nothing at all.

For Blythe's first Christmas, we went to the mall to see Santa. Going to the mall is a rip though because they won't even let you take your own pictures and they charge you an arm and a leg for a 5x7 and 2 3x5's (and who even uses 3x5's?).

So once a year, on the day of the "famous" Blacksburg Christmas parade, Santa makes an appearance at the Lyric Theatre (an old 1 screen theatre in downtown Blacksburg that still runs new movies today). I looked online and it said Santa would be there 4:30-7:00. So we picked the kids up from day care and headed over. Just after the people in front of us went in, a lady came and put a dinky little sign up that said basically "no more people can see Santa". We were like, "what's up with that?" Since we were next in line, she made eye contact with us and told us Santa had to go to the tree lighting and to the parade. My Bitchy McGee self started up with "online it said he'd be here until 7:00, blah, blah, blah". Here sign was so small that people were still coming in and getting in line and no one was turning them away, so we thought screw it, we'll just get in line to because I sure as hell don't want to go see him at the mall. Anyway, people kept coming and people kept being seen by Santa, so eventually the lady took the sign down. Maybe there was a second Santa who went to the tree lighting and the parade? So lots of kids didn't want to sit on Santa's lap and were crying, but our kids were on a mission to communicate "baby, yellow castle, and legos", so they got the job done and we were out of there.

So on to the second part of the story....

We are members at the Blacksburg Country Club. Yes, we are rich young yuppies who hang out at "the club". No, not really. Braden got a free membership when he was promoted to Associate Head Coach. It's not quite free though. We have a $30 minimum we have to spend on food each month (and alcohol doesn't count toward that minimum). That's no problem at all in the summer when the pool and snack bar are open, but the rest of the year we have to remember to go eat there once a month (and it's 15 minutes away so it's not exactly down the street). In Blacksburg, 15 minutes = clear on the other side of town. So we saw in the newsletter that there was a "Santa Brunch" on Dec. 14. Was $14 for each adult, free for kids under 5. So that would take care of our $30 minimum (or just about....yes, I can add). So I called and RSVP'd for that.

We got there and they had tables all set up and our table had our name on it. There were probably about 15-20 tables in all. And Santa was just sitting over there waiting for someone to come see him. Stark contract to the mall and the Lyric where people are pushing and shoving to go see him. After we finished our meal, we went over to say hi to Santa. We told Blythe she should ask him how her baby, yellow castle, and Legos are coming along. It was crazy because as soon as we sat her on his leg, she started going on asking Santa how he was doing, how his elves were doing, how were her toys coming along, telling him she actually wanted a yellow baby, but she already had a yellow baby, so mom and dad said she might want a blue baby instead, and that she used to want a car for Christmas, but then she decided she wanted legos instead because daddy said elves can't make cars, and that she wanted a yellow castle just to throw everyone off because really, where can one find a yellow castle....

See:

Just kidding, actually, she didn't say all of those things. She of course acted very shy, but did finally tell him the 3 things she wanted and asked him to say "ho, ho, ho". Ethan also sat on Santa's lap and seemed quite mesmerized by the white beard:

After they were done, Santa gave them each a wrapped present. Each said "To: Holloways From: Santa". Blythe got the "Cootie" game and Ethan got a stuffed teddy bear. So I have to give a big shout out to Blacksburg Country Club. They actually took time to see how old our kids were and buy age appropriate toys, wrap them, and address them to us. Made us feel like the privileged, rich people that we are not.

And next year we know not to bother with the mall or the Lyric and just sign up for Brunch with Santa.

Bowling

Today we decided to try bowling with the kids. Virginia Tech has an 8 lane bowling alley on campus, which is nice because it's never crowded, it doesn't smell like smoke, and it's incredibly cheap to play. And they have toddler sized bowling shoes.

Initially we tried using the ramp with no bumpers up. For some reason, every time Ethan bowled (i.e. we put his hand on the ball just before it rolled down the ramp) he would do quite well. Had a couple of spares I think. But then when Blythe did the exact same thing, gutter ball every time. So eventually we had them put the bumpers up and then we tried to get Blythe to send the ball down the lane to the pins all by herself. She did okay. She ended up bowling a 48, but we were there for quite a while. Could have had something to do with this (notice the bowling ball making it's way down the lane):

As has been the case each of the few times we've bowled, I beat Braden. It wasn't even close. I mean, I demolished him. I beat the ever living....okay, you get the picture. All in good fun though, not competetive at all.

So, I think the "threatening to call Santa" thing has now backfired. Tonight I told her it was time for her to go to bed because I was tired. Then I pretended like I was going to sleep. She said no, that wasn't allowed. Said I was being bad. Then she picked up her fake cell phone and said she was going to give Santa a call. She proceeded to tell Santa I was being bad. Then she told me Santa said to give me dicks (make sure to read previous post for explanation). Then she held out her hand and said, "Here Mom, here's a dick". Then Braden got in on it and told Blythe to give me a big stick and of course she then said, "Here Mom, here's a big dick".

If you're bad, Santa brings you...

Last week a couple of the blogs I read on a daily basis talked about their "elf on a shelf". This is an elf that sits on a shelf, or anywhere you want to put it, and watches people to report back to Santa whether they've been good or bad. I thought this sounded like a good idea for our household, especially with Blythe at her age right now in which she believes EVERYTHING we tell her.

The problem is that we don't have an elf. I already had to buy a new Christmas tree this year, and any additional Christmas decorations were not in the budget. Fortunately, I have a mother who has more Christmas decorations than the White House, and she just happened to be getting rid of 3 large boxes of decorations. I sorted through the breakable stuff, the tacky stuff, and the "is that really a Christmas decoration?" stuff, and pulled out a few items I would like to keep. None of which was an elf.

But there was this snowman:

So he's now our version of the Elf on a Shelf. Except he's a snowman and he doesn't sit on a shelf. So far, we just call him "Mr. Snowman", though I guess he could also be referred to as "Santa's Snitch".

Mr. Snowman is working out well so far. I'm really loving using the "you better stop that or Santa won't bring any toys" routine. Wish I could threaten that all year long. I'll be sad in 2 weeks when I can't use it any more. Nowadays, we say "Mr. Snowman is watching you and he's going to tell Santa you're being bad". Blythe gets a temporary look of fear on her face, then tries to fight back the tears, then usually starts acting normal again. When Mr. Snowman isn't around, we reach for the phone. I have Santa on speed dial. There are 3 things Blythe wants from Santa: a baby, a yellow castle, and Legos. So I just use, "okay, I'm calling Santa and telling him not to bring a baby". Has been working quite well.

According to Blythe, Santa brings toys to good little girls and boys and bad children get....well, you see for yourself:

What did she say? Did she just say bad girls get....dicks? That may very well be true, but 2 year olds shouldn't be saying those things. We're trying to work with her on her "st" sounds...

The mystery of the stolen food

Recently we discovered that there seemed to be some food missing from our refrigerator each morning. Well, not every morning, just every now and then. Initially, a few things of yogurt were missing. Then we noticed the american cheese was dwindling away. The apple juice seemed to be disappearing as well. Then even more recently it was the cottage cheese and the hot dogs. One day Braden seemed to think one of his beers was missing too. Naturally, we blamed each other. I mean, really, who else could it be? But I don't drink beer and Braden doesn't eat cottage cheese, and cold hot dogs are just plain disgusting.

The dogs sleep in kennels, and unless they figured out a way to unlock them, get out, open the refrigerator, then lock themselves back in their cages, it couldn't be them.

Our neighbors have a key to our house. Just from process of elimination, we started to suspect them (and considered getting an alarm system for the house).

Anyway, we were able to set up our camera on night vision and set the timer to take pictures every few minutes throughout the night. So imagine our surprise this morning when we found this image on our camera:

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Crazy, huh?

Baby models

So I got this "babytalk" magazine in the mail the other day. No, I didn't subscribe to that. I get it free for some reason, probably after signing up for baby formula coupons or something. Anyway, I look at the pictures and read the large print just like basically any magazine I get.

So I see this baby in the magazine:

Seriously??? That baby looks like an elf. Apparently any baby can model for print ads? My children should be on the covers every single month if that baby can make it as a model. Sorry, it's a bit crinkled and torn since Ethan tried to eat it.

Anyway, I know that was a bit out in left field, but I just had to share it.

Ethan went for his 9 month appointment yesterday. He is 20.2 lbs and 28 inches long. About the 50% percentile, where he has been since birth (well, not birth since most babies aren't 8 and a half pounds). I checked Blythe's baby book and she was 19.5 lbs and 29 inches long at 9 months. That surprised me because Blythe was such a little chunk and Ethan doesn't seem to be. He had to get 2 shots, which he of course cried about, but he got over it quickly, so that was good.

I've been trying to teach Blythe the days of the week. Apparently at day care they don't teach the 2 year olds the days of the week because they "are incapable of learning that...it's memorization, which they are not capable of". Or so says the administrator. Last time I checked, letters, numbers, shapes, and language in general is memorization and Blythe seems to have taken to all that pretty well. So every day we look at the calendar and I ask her what day it is (and then we also mark off the day so she knows how far away Christmas is). And every day she is clueless about what day of the week it is. Maybe she'll get it when she turns 3.

"Girls" weekend?

This past weekend was supposed to be my "girl" weekend. Or at least that's how it was played out in my head when I first thought it up. My best friend is turning 30 in a few weeks so a while ago she was thinking of having a party or dinner on the 6th to celebrate. Braden didn't have a meet planned, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to get away and for Braden to have some "bonding" time with the kids. Didn't quite turn out that way.

Instead, Braden had to go recruiting in Raleigh so I took the kids to my parents house. So on Saturday, I left in the morning, drove to Greensboro where we met my mom and sister for "Disneyland on Ice", then drove another hour or so to my parents house. I was able to "relax" for about 30 minutes, before I left to drive another hour plus down to Charlotte to meet up with my friend Emily. We had a great time and went shopping and out to dinner and then I drove the hour plus back to my parents house, spent the night, hung out for a while the next day, then drove 3 hours back home with the kids.

Braden, on the other hand, did some recruiting, went shopping, hung out with his friend Magnus, went to lunch with his friend Greg, and hung out with Doug and Lynette.

Somehow, my "girls" weekend turned into a weekend with the kids. And Braden's "bonding time with the kids" weekend turned into a "boys" weekend for him. Not quite the way I had it all playing out in my head.

Oh well. It was still a fun weekend. Disneyland on Ice was actually really good (much better than Elmo). And Blythe got to go check out the fire station where Poppa is a volunteer fire fighter. He had her pull the cord to do the horn and it was super loud and Blythe didn't like is so much. She said, "Don't do that again". Then later when he did the siren, she cried.

Here is our little firefighter who is afraid of loud noises:

The Elmo Show

Last night was the big night...Elmo show! The Sesame Street Live Elmo show comes to our area every December and yesterday marked our second annual trip to see Elmo. And cookie monster, Big Bird, Telly, Grover, Zoe, Oscar, Oscar's girlfried (I want to say her name is Willamina, but it's something "trashier" than that), Ernie, Bert, Abby Cadaby, Betty Lou (or Sue Ellen, or whatever her name is), and several more...can't remember them all.

As with everything "special" that we do with the kids, we hyped it up big time. I couldn't find the Elmo stuffed animal (the regular sized one...we have the giant one, the Elmo chair, tickle-me Elmo, and countless other Elmo plastic toys and figurines), so we brought the Cookie Monster one and presto, Blythe was the biggest Cookie Monster fan alive.

Of course, I had thought earlier in the day that I'd pick them up from school a bit early so we could get dinner done early and get everything ready to go at a nice leisurely pace and be out the door by 6 o'clock. But Murphy's Law kicked in and I got 37 work calls between 5 and 5:15, so didn't leave the house to pick up the kids til 5:20. I'm not sure if that's really Murphy's Law, but it sounds good so we'll go with it. So anyway, that left for some major hustling when we got home and some really quick eating. We were rushing Blythe so she got upset a few times and we threatened to leave her home while we went to the Elmo show. Like that would actually happen, but she doesn't know that so it works. We left the house at 6:07. Not too bad.

I was hoping Ethan would sleep on the way there, and he did. He fell asleep 3 minutes before we got there. Great. That's worse than not sleeping at all. I was actually really worried about how Ethan would do, but he did quite well. He almost fell asleep at the end of the show, but got his 4th wind and made it to the end.

The beginning of the show was the best part. Seeing the faces on both of the kids as all of those furry creatures came out on stage. They were both so excited, so it was all worth it. The show drags on a bit long though. It started at 7pm and as soon as it hit 8pm, you could hear the whole arena reach a higher level of crankiness.

See you next year, Elmo!

Blythe and Ginsey

Yesterday after day care, Blythe's friend Ginsey from next-door came over to play. Immediately they went up to Blythe's room to change into the princess clothes. Actually, apparently one outfit is "princess" and the other is "Barbie". Ginsey is 9 months older than Blythe, but she is quite small so Blythe towers over her. See here:

They've been friends since before Blythe could walk, which always amazed me back then (when Ginsey was WAY older) since Blythe was basically about Ethan's age now. Since Ginsey is older, she's usually the boss or the one that decides what they will do. We always say Ginsey is the brains of the operation and Blythe is the brawn.

So Ginsey the brains decided they would play hide and seek. Blythe still doesn't quite get the game. When we yell, "where are you?", she doesn't stay quiet or giggle softly. She yells back "I'm in the office!" But Ginsey helped her out and they actually found a couple of good hiding places. Then we switched roles and Braden hid while they tried to find him. They would count to 10 and then ask, "Braden - are you ready?" One time he didn't answer (since he was so close) and they just sat there waiting for him to respond. I finally told them he was ready so they could go find him.

It's so nice now that Blythe can play nicely with her friends. Used to be she was so excited when they came over, but she had such a hard time with sharing that they would just end up fighting a lot. Finally she is starting to share pretty well (except for with Ethan - I'm guessing there will be no sharing for quite some time there).

Pushing buttons

Oh, how I love organizing! It's not so much I love organizing, but being organized. And to me, nothing can ever be organized enough. But if I'm close enough, I'm happy. Recently I've been feeling very disorganized. Probably because I spend most of my day in my office, which is the most disorganized room in the house. So I'm on a mission to organize again. You'd think I'd start with my office, but I usually end up doing it last (which means I never get to it...thus the disorganization).

So I'm starting with the upstairs, which is all of the bedrooms. I started with Blythe's room first yesterday since it was a disaster zone. I put all of her fake food away in her play kitchen, put away all of her dress-up clothes, and put away all of her books. I know better than to "really" organize the food, the clothes, or the books since she can destroy hours of work in a split second. As I was going through the books, I pulled a few out that were too "baby" for her and that she hasn't looked at in a really long time. I decided to move those to Ethan's room. He's starting to show an interest in books recently. Blythe must have at least 100 books in her room, and I moved about 10 or 12 books to Ethan's room.

So anyway, after I put Ethan down last night and it was time for Blythe to go to bed, I asked her to pick out a book to read for her bedtime story. And what book does she ask for? "I want the Truck book" "where is the truck book?" "It's my favorite book". Of course it was one of the books I moved to Ethan's room since she NEVER reads it. How does she do that? How does she know that quickly which books are missing? And secondly, WHY does she do that? Why does she always ask for something she knows she can't have. Like when I pick her up from daycare and she says "I want Daddy" when she knows he's at work. Or she knows we ran out of apple juice and only have Orange juice, so she insists on having apple juice. Doesn't take long for a child to figure out what buttons to push. Can't wait until Ethan's there too, and I have 2 kids pushing my buttons!

MOM! Watch this...

Back in my younger days I remember sometimes saying to my mom, "Hey Mom, look!" "MOM! Watch me do this!". Then she'd say, "Yep, I see you" when she really wasn't looking. It would drive me crazy! It was one of those things that I thought when I was little "when I'm a mom, I'll never do that".

Fast forward to today. This is what I hear all morning and evening long...Mom, look at me, Mom, watch me...Mom, you're not looking, Mom, look at me, Mom, watch me (flip my hair), Mom, look at me (stick this in my mouth), Mom, watch me (touch my toe), Mom, Mom, you're not looking, Mom, watch this, watch me (put my shirt on my head), did you see that? Mom, look over here...Mom, Mom, Mom, look at me, watch me do this (jump off the toy box wearing dress up high heels) Mom, did you see that? Mom...Mom...Mom!

This is multiplied by 10 if I'm busy with Ethan or if I'm talking on the phone. Multiplied by 20 if I'm on the phone with someone from work.

So now I can see why mom's don't always look when their child says "Watch me do this!" It's physically impossible to do it every time.

In other news, Blythe can now spell her name. I thought she could also spell my name too, but apparently not (quite).

As for Ethan, his favorite thing to do is still to ride on his little car. Though his second most favorite thing to do is to push it around and walk behind it. If he runs into something, he tries to turn it and it becomes unstable and he usually falls over with it. So we've been trying to have him use the walker toy instead. Here he is walking from the front view:

And from the back:

Christmas Tree

Yesterday we put up the Christmas tree. This year I went out and bought a new one (one of the Black Friday door buster deals). Our old one was one where you had to put in every branch and it wasn't pre-lit, so it took 3 days to put up (1 day to put in branches, 1 day to rest, and 1 day to put the lights on). So I was determined to get a pre-lit tree that comes in 3 pieces. Since it was the first time putting it up, I had to arrange every "tip", which took quite a while. Having 2000 tips makes the tree look more real, but arranging 2000 tips is not fun. Made me think back to the old fake tree we had growing up. We also had to put in every branch, but each branch had 3 tips. I'm guessing there were about 60 branches, so there were 180 tips. 180 tips = not very real looking.

Blythe had fun helping with the tree and actually was helping. Ethan was not so helpful, except to test maybe the durability of the tree. Here is a pic of Blythe putting the angel on the tree.

We also decided to take the kids to the pool yesterday. Neither had swam since the summer, so we wanted to get them reacquainted (plus they have a really nice hot tub). The pool water was a little chilly, but both kids did well. Blythe wasn't as comfortable as she was at the end of the summer, but she still went underwater a few times with no issue. Ethan loves the water more than Blythe did when she was that age. He is completely comfortable in the water, even on his back. And he loves splashing!

Blythe and Ashley will be taking swimming lessons starting in February, so it's probably a good idea to keep going every now and then before she starts. I think we may also sign Ethan up for water babies. Then we can trade off and each of us would only have to get in 3 times.

When I was downloading pics from Grams' camera on Saturday I came across this pic from the end of summer which I think is so funny.

Rollergator continued...

Here's a video of Blythe and Ashley rollerskating

Rollergator

Yesterday was Black Friday. Although I did have to work, I headed out in the morning to Walmart for the doorbuster deals. But I wasn't one of the ones there at 5am. I went at about 8:30. I still got basically everything I went out to get. I parked probably closer than I normally do and didn't have to wait in line to check out. Sounds like all signs of a bad economy. Anyway, I got one thing for Ethan and several things for Blythe. While the kids were napping I unloaded the bags and threw them in my closet.

This morning Blythe came and woke us up. She went with me to the bathroom so I could put my contacts in and get dressed. She darted out to get the stool she always gets...in my closet. I realized quickly and thank goodness the lights were off, but she still said, "LEGOS!" My quick wit thinking rang in and I responded with, "Uh..no...those aren't legos...get out of there...you can't go in there". So, note to self - hide gifts better than that or they will surely never believe in Santa!

Today Braden and his dad went to the Hokie football game, so Braden's mom (Grams), Blythe, Ethan, and I went to Adventure World so Blythe could try rollerskating (or rollergator as Blythe says). We met up with Blythe's friend Ashley, and her mom Amy and brothers Luke and Matt. In addition to rollerskating, they have moon bouncers, so those were a big hit. The girls were not so good at rollerskating to say the least. But it was hilarious! Grams got some video footage, so when I get a chance to try downloading from her camera, I'll post it.

I think she probably just needs more practice...indoors...on carpet. So I'm considering getting her some for Christmas.

Here's a pic of Ethan sitting in a moon bouncer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

My in-laws are in town, so we've been hanging out each evening, which is why I haven't posted much this week. It's been an eventful week, though not really blog-worthy (I can't think of any funny stories). Tuesday night we went out to eat and since it was "kids eat free", I got a meal for Ethan too. So that's his first kids meal. The boy is an eater though. I think he definitely ate more than his sister. And apparently he really likes pizza (unlike his sister). Now that he can pretty much eat anything, he can have most of the lunch menu at day care and thus I don't have to buy him much food these days.

Last night we took the kids to the Hokie basketball game. They got free tickets from the Hokie Kids Club, so it's not like it was a waste that we only stayed until halftime. They both did well, though Blythe was begging for popcorn the whole time and her begging got her nowhere.

I bought a paper today to search the Black Friday ads and it looks like Walmart is where it's at (at least for the things I need to buy). I'm considering waking up quite early tomorrow to go. Not to beat out the other shoppers really, but more because I actually have to work tomorrow, so might as well get it done early.

Anyway, we're eating around 5pm today. Had to pick a time that both kids would be awake, which doesn't leave a lot of options. We're having Turducken, which I've never had, but it looks delicious! I'm in charge of rolls and pumpkin pie. A little bit ago Blythe and I made banana bread too. Blythe sat on the counter to help and for every ingredient she said, "I wanna dump it BY MYSELF!" She did well, unlike the other times she has tried where she dumps in half and the other half ends up on the counter.

The wine bar

Our "weekend" project was to install a wine bar where this leaning desk used to be between our kitchen and living room.

Turned out to be more than a weekend project, as we didn't finish completely. It was quite the project! I had enlisted the help of my dad to help where needed (i.e. do the whole thing). He and my mom drove up on Saturday morning so my mom could watch the kids while my dad and I worked. While they were driving up, I took the kids with me to Lowe's to get a few supplies so we would be ready.

Ethan was a little tired, so normally I would have been a bit concerned about a meltdown, but I put both kids in the shopping cart "car" and they seemed happy. One of the steering wheels was missing, so Blythe insisted she had to drive, thus Princess Blythe got her way, and poor Ethan had to sit there with no steering wheel. Blythe wouldn't look at me for a picture, so this is the best I could get on my cell phone.

All was good until I really had to use the restroom. I had to get the kids out of the cart and take them with me. Fortunately we got into the handicap stall, but as soon as I put Ethan down he did his whole back-arching and crying routine (just too tired). So I had to hold him on my lap while I went. And he was crying the whole time. And Blythe was in there too yelling "Mommy, I have to poop!....MOMMY I HAVE TO POOP!" All the while I'm holding a screaming baby and telling Blythe she has to wait til I'm done. So that was loads of fun. There were 2 positives: 1. the bathroom in Lowe's is new and clean, 2. no one else was in there.

So we started on the project on Saturday and worked all day and then woke up Sunday morning and worked all day. We didn't quite finish. Still need to secure the countertop, add the crown molding, the shoe molding, and the lower cabinet hardware. But it looks beautiful! A great addition to the house that will definitely free up some cabinet space for me in the kitchen. Here's a pic (and instead of telling Blythe to say "cheese", we told her to show Gommy her teeth).

Flu shots

Both kids were CRANKY this morning! I expected it from Blythe. She's always cranky whenever Daddy is out of town. She'll be okay for a day or 2 and then after that she's so moody. She kept saying "I want Daddy" even though she knows he's out of town.

And Ethan didn't like his new shoes. I bought him new shoes at Target yesterday. They are "almost shoes". One step up from the Robeez he's been wearing, but softer and more flexible than regular shoes. They're the first "almost real" shoes he's ever worn and he didn't like them so much. Kept trying to take them off. And he was cranky too.

So what better time to go get flu shots?!

We've been meaning to go and since it's Ethan's first flu shot we wanted to go to the doctor's office instead of Walgreens or CVS or Kroger. Since it's 20-some-odd degrees out, snowing, and blowing 30 mph, I figured the doctor's office might not be as crowded as normal. Though not that fun to load and unload the kids twice in all that.

We had Blythe go first so she wouldn't know what to expect. It worked. She didn't know what to expect. though she did cry. A lot.

Ethan did well. Cried too of course, but not too much. Poor guy though. He has to get another one in 30 days (the very first time you get a flu shot, you have to get it twice). Oh and between now and then, he has to go for his 9 month appointment and get more shots.

Anyway, no one is here that I can complain to, so I'll complain on my blog. My arm hurts from my flu shot. Anyone feel bad for me?

Shake your booty

Blythe's favorite color has always been yellow. She likes yellow EVERYTHING. When she colors, she always reaches for the yellow crayon first. Until recently. Now for some reason she likes to color with the black crayon. Here's an example:

I wonder if I should be worried that she'll turn into an angry goth teenager one day. Let's hope not.

She's also obsessed with her "booty" recently. I'm not quite sure where she learned this behavior. I honestly think she may have made it up herself and then people laugh at her when she does it, so it encourages her and she keeps doing it. This is just a brief clip of some of what she does.

Today at day care they wrote in her log that she "likes to show her classmates how she can shake her booty and she says "What are you talkin about Willis" a lot...she says she learned it from her Daddy". Ha ha!

First snow of the season

To my surprise this morning we woke up to a white covering outside...snow. I'm not a big fan of snow and cold weather and especially not in November, but we do live in the mountains of Virginia, so there you go. It was blowing pretty hard and quite miserable, but I made Braden and the kids get together for a photo of the first snow of the season.

I don't think it was technically Ethan's first experience with snow. Since he was born March 7, we likely had snow sometime in March and/or April, though I don't think he went anywhere near it. Anyway, it's melted now (even though the high today was only 29 degrees, it did somehow melt). Good riddens and don't come back until around Christmas time when we're ready to go snow tubing.

This morning Ethan woke up around 6:45. I laid in bed for a while wishing I could sleep a little longer, but knowing that eventually his "talking" would turn into fussing then all out crying, so I might as well take this opportunity to get dressed, brush my hair, put on a little makeup and look presentable. While I was doing this, I heard Blythe in her bathroom. I heard her lift and close the toilet seat (presumably to empty the small potty contents in). Then I heard the sink running (probably washing out the small potty). Then I figured she'd come in to my room to see what I was doing and to tell me she went potty. But she didn't. I thought, "Oh, God, she spilled some of the pee pee or poopy on the floor and is now attempting to clean it up herself with God knows what. Well, I might as well finish putting on my makeup (since it's really my only opportunity) and then go in there and check. So I did and Blythe wasn't in the bathroom. And there was no mess. Clean as a whistle. And she had gone back to bed.

I simply cannot believe that less than 8 months ago I was changing her diapers and now she gets out of bed, goes potty, cleans it, then goes back to bed. When I went in there later she said she got up to go poop. So that makes it even more amazing because there was no sign of it anywhere (and I even checked the bathtub).

She's been a good little helper recently. She brought in 4 or 5 bags of groceries the other day. She's picking up her toys much better. She can match and fold socks.

Makes me happy.

Penants

We went to Doug and Lynette's this weekend for their baby shower and it was lots of fun! They had all of their immediate family there and several friends and I think they made out pretty well on the gifts. They've been lucky too and have already gotten lots of clothing and toy hand-me-downs. We weren't that lucky with the first, though now we have the hand-me-downs coming on Ethan and it's great!

Anyway, today while we were in Durham we went to the mall for a bit so Blythe could get some energy out at the mall playground and so Braden could buy some penants. A while ago he had the idea to get a penant for Ethan at each college he visited so one day Ethan could hang them in his room and tell his friends his Dad got all of those for him. Since Braden's a college coach, he goes to a lot of different schools. Well, "one day" became right away as soon as Braden started collecting them. I fought him on it, because I don't want them in the nursery. I'm fine with putting them up when he moves to a big boy room, but for now he is a baby and the nursery is decorated with cute farm animals and it just doesn't go with college penants. Maybe it's me holding on to his babyhood. I want him to be a baby forever. Well not forever, but I'm not ready for him to be a big boy right now.

All that said, I lost the battle. But it was only a few, so not too bad. We still didn't have NC State (both of our alma mater), so today he wanted to get NC State, Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest. The guys went to the sports store at the mall and they came back with like 15 of them. So much for getting them while visiting each school. And so much for having only a few in the nursery. I just want my baby nursery to be for babies. 8 months old is too young to be a big boy!

Watcha talkin about Willis?

Last night we had 3 of Braden's swimmers over for dinner. Blythe was kind of shy at first, even though one of her favorite swimmers, Megan, was over (Blythe has even named her favorite baby doll 'Megan'). Anyway, they must have put Speed in the fruit salad they brought over because she was a maniac after dinner. Either that or it had something to do with the m&m's and chocolate cake she had after dinner. She was literally running laps around the living room while singing and screaming as loud as possible. I tried to give Ethan his bottle during this time, but he would just sit there with his mouth open watching Blythe wondering, "what is going on??" She was singing every song she knew, getting out almost all of her toys, "fixing" everyone's hair, and generally just having a good time.

One thing she was saying a lot was "Watcha talkin about Willis?", which Daddy had taught her. It started way back when Blythe was a baby and we took this picture, which Daddy said it looked like she was saying "Watcha talkin about Willis?"

I got her on video this morning saying it:

Tomorrow we're headed to Durham for Doug and Lynette's baby shower. Should be fun times and we're looking forward to it!

Cinnamon Toast

Blythe and Ethan (and me) all love Braden's cinnamon toast. Here's how he makes it:
On a cookie sheet, lay out the bread slices. Top them with a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Then cut small slices of stick butter or margarine and lay on top of the cinnamon/sugar. Broil on high for a couple of minutes.

When Blythe sees Braden cutting the butter slices, she tells him "I don't want that on mine". So he tells her it's cheese and asks her if she wants cheese on hers and then she says "yes". A cinnamon/sugar/cheese mixture doesn't sound too good to me (unless it's cream cheese). Anyway, it's a regular breakfast item at our house and Ethan seems to love the cinnamon/sugary, buttery goodness.

Ethan finally seems to be feeling a little better today. No telling how many clothing items he has ruined in the last few days. I haven't washed them yet...and yes, I know that the longer I wait the chances increase that they are permanently ruined. I'm just glad he's starting to seem normal again. Yesterday he fell off the bed. I put him in the middle of the guest room bed, where he is always content to sit and play with toys while I left the room for a second to grab his clothes off the dryer. Apparently he made a beeline for the edge of the bed because within seconds of me leaving I heard a loud boom...and then crying. Oops. Fortunately it's carpet and the bed isn't that high, so I think the damage is minimal, but that was my "bad mom of the day" award for yesterday. I gave him a little Tylenol in case he had a headache later. Blythe was right at the end of the bed too. She didn't save him from falling. I wouldn't be surprised if she actually pulled him off. Now that he's crawling and getting into "her" stuff, she doesn't think twice about pushing him or knocking him over. I keep trying to tell her that he's trying to learn how to stand and she needs to be careful, but I don't think she cares.

Ethan's first plane ride

Ethan took his first plane ride this weekend. I took him to Dallas for the weekend for my grandmother's 80th birthday. It was a surprise party so I couldn't blog about going beforehand because it would have ruined the surprise. Blythe didn't go...she stayed home with Daddy. Too expensive to take everyone (Ethan flies free sitting on my lap). Anyway, Ethan did great traveling! He slept on the plane most of the way there and most of the way back. Blythe never did that. She would never sleep on the plane. I attribute some of Ethan's sleepiness though to a bug he seems to have. It's making him not want to eat much, vomit a couple of times, and have many "blowouts". Fortunately he did none of that on the plane rides. Here we are on the plane:

(and my mom took the picture, so I didn't ask some stranger next to me to take a photo of me).

The surprise party was a success (was a total surprise) and I got to see a lot of my family that I haven't seen in a long time. So it was a fun trip.

As I said before, Blythe stayed home with Daddy. I picked her up from day care today and the teachers said she had crazy hair this morning. Daddy said he was able to dry it however he wanted since the "hairdryer nazi" wasn't here. She was also very talkative today. From the moment I picked her up to when she went to bed she wouldn't stop talking. And her favorite word of the day was "Ya". "Blythe, did you have a good day at school?" "Ya" "Blythe, did you miss Mommy and Ethan?" "Ya". "Blythe, did you smash pumpkins with Daddy?" "Ya" "Blythe, are you Canadian?" "Ya".

It was a fun trip, but I am glad to be home. I haven't slept past 5:10am the past 3 mornings, so I'm praying I get to sleep until at least 6:30 tomorrow (which is actually only 5:30 Dallas time).

Breaking the law

I had to break the law this morning. Ethan and Blythe woke up at 6:30 this morning and a quick 2 hours later we were finally ready to head out to day care. I went to put Ethan in the car and there was no car seat. Braden picked up the kids yesterday so he had Ethan's seat. And Braden was at work. I had 2 options:
1. Call Braden and wait for him to come home to bring me the seat
2. Put Ethan in Blythe's seat and buckle Blythe in a regular seat

I went for option 2 since the trip is 1.5 miles long. Ethan loved sitting forward since he could see the TV! He's still too young to make that permanent though. Blythe initially couldn't see the TV, so I had to stop and move her to another seat. Did I mention the commute is less than 2 miles? Yes, we are THAT dependent on the TV in the car.

Tonight Braden and I are going to the Hokie football game. We actually found a babysitter (they're hard to come by during game times), though it'll be her first time babysitting for us so hopefully all works out. That means I need to clean the house today, and figure out what the kids will do for dinner, and get all their bedtime stuff out...oh, the work involved just to get a night out!

Ethan's car

Ethan's favorite thing to do these days is ride on his car. He gets so excited when you put him on it and SO upset when you take him off. Normally we push him around the house chasing the dogs, but here he is going back and forth in front of the mirror (he really loves to watch himself ride).

And here is Blythe's most recent obsession:

How a 2 year old finds out about a movie I didn't even know existed (and knows about it the day it comes out), I have yet to figure out. This movie came out last Tuesday and ever since then all I've heard is "Tingabell" this and "Tingabell" that. Initially I said maybe Santa Claus would bring it and then I realized Christmas is over 7 weeks away. So I caved and bought it for her. She's watched it twice already. Pop that sucker in and we don't hear from Blythe for 1.25 hours. Anyway, I guess we've hit the beginning of the effect of advertising (or peer pressure or whatever) on the wants/needs of a child. And me caving and buying probably didn't help matters. Oh well.

The kids did finally approach an almost normal wake up time this morning. Both were about 6:45am...phew!

Fall Back

"Fall Back" does not equal one extra hour of sleep for those with young children. Fall Back means a regular night of sleep on the night of Fall Back. Then 1 less hour of sleep each night for the next 2-3 nights. Yep - even after pretending we were on Sunday's schedule on Saturday (meaning eating an hour later, napping an hour later, bath an hour later, bedtime an hour later), both kids still woke up at the same time, which equated to 5:45am. Ugh! Well, maybe after the full day of an hour ahead then they would get it. Fortunately Blythe did, but Ethan was up at 5:30 this morning. Not good! Actually Blythe was up at 11:30pm and came to our room to say she had a bad dream. Braden is still trying to convince me that we should close her door at night as if that might deter her from coming to our room. At least in the middle of the night we're able to take her right back to her room and she's fine. For now.

Tomorrow is election day, so make sure you go vote. Here's how Blythe feels about the subject. It's weird because we didn't prompt her to say any of this :)

Duck Pond

We had 2 very tired children tonight. We had to keep them up as late as possible since we "Fall Back" tonight. Blythe was running into walls as she was going to her room...that's how tired she was. Let's hope it doesn't backfire and they still wake up at 5:45 tomorrow morning.




Anyway, today was a day of firsts for Blythe:


1. First time peeing in the woods.


The weather was spectacular so we went to the Duck Pond (a pond on campus with lots of ducks). We forgot to have Blythe go potty before we left. She had to go, so Daddy took her in the woods. There were no issues, but Daddy made sure to let her know she can't do that very often. Last thing we need is her dropping her pants to go outside unexpectantly (like our next door neighbor's son....but that's another story). Anyway, after we ate lunch we were able to feed the ducks. They can get quite aggressive there. Take a look:

2. First time cleaning out her own potty.

Braden was at practice this morning so it was just me and the kids. I had a work project go bad last night, so I got a phone call while Blythe was pooping on her potty. She kept screaming at me telling me she was done. I kept telling her to hold on. Then I had to run downstairs to look something up and by the time I got upstairs she was standing at the sink rinsing out her potty. I had visions of poop in the sink, but I looked and there was none. I looked in the toilet ("big potty") and there it was. She had dumped it in the big potty and then rinsed it in the sink and didn't get any on the floor. I was so proud!

Until tonight when we went to fill up the bath tub and there were poop pieces in there.

3. First time wearing Mommy's boots.

I had them upstairs from my cow girl costume. She put them on and then thought the tutu would add a nice touch.

And this doesn't really go with the rest of the blog, but I think it is funny. Blythe's negotiating "skills". She has actually been eating more of the things we have for dinner these days, albeit reluctantly. Halfway through dinner she wants to get down to go play, so we have to do a little negotiating. Goes something like this:

Daddy: Blythe, you can get down and go play if you take 3 more bites

Blythe: No, five

Daddy: How 'bout six?

Blythe: Seven

Daddy: Okay, fine. Seven more bites and you can go play.

Happy Halloween!

So of course since I had said Blythe would probably be a monkey and a flower on Halloween, she instead was Princess Leia and a skeleton. That's right, the skeleton which got no votes was the winner for trick or treating (she wore Princess Leia to school). We painted her face though too so she would look scary. She was hard to recognize in all her scaryness.

Daddy dressed up as a....actually I'm not sure what he was. Scary farmer I think. I was a cowgirl (it's the only costume I own...oh, except Dorothy...Mom - I still have that one). And we got Ethan into the chicken costume without any fussing, though he didn't trick or treat for long...too tired! Here's a pic of the whole family:

We had practiced the trick or treating process with Blythe beforehand. "Ring the doorbell, then what do you say?" "trick or treat". Then they give you candy, then what do you say? "thank you". Great! We forgot to tell her the part about taking only 1 or 2 pieces of candy. Girlfriend kept taking handloads until the giver was smart enough to pull away. At one house they had left a bucket on the porch. Blythe told Daddy to stay back while she went to that house. He wasn't paying attention and then looked back at her and she must have taken several handfuls. So needlesstosay, we have A LOT of candy...for Mom to eat. I better dust off that treadmill.

Here she is with all her candy:

And one last pic of her while out trick or treating (at a neighbor's house):

Ethan takes a "regular" bath

I'm anal about the way Blythe's hair has to be blow-dried. Any girl with hair long enough to blow dry will tell you that if it isn't done right, you will just end up with a bad hair day. Problem is that Daddy likes to blow dry Blythe's hair and it just doesn't meet my standards. This was okay before Blythe had her bangs cut because no matter how crazy he dried it, I was able to fix it the next day by putting it up in pigtails or whatnot. Ever since she had her bangs cut though, I have taken over the task. I really like drying her hair...not sure why, maybe it's a "girl" thing so it's a type of bonding. It's not an easy task...I'd relate it to drying Bogie's hair (our dog). It's like hitting a moving target. Anyway, tonight Braden wanted to dry her hair and I just knew it wouldn't be right (I'm telling you I'm anal about it). He kept brushing me off saying, "she's 2...who cares" or "you're just going to put it up tomorrow anyway". But I had visions of crazy bangs and of course, tomorrow is Halloween so there will be lots of pictures. So I wouldn't give it up and finally he got mad and then let me do it. In hindsight, it probably wasn't worth arguing about.

And we took Ethan's bath seat out of the tub. I finallly got around to buying a new bath mat (so he won't slip). The last one had a lot of black mold..probably toxic. He loved it! He was splashing and playing with all the toys. Then about halfway through he started getting so tired that he couldn't even sit anymore, so that was a pain trying to make sure he didn't fall over and drown while trying to wash Blythe's hair. Blythe was super-tired too. Today was the first day that day care has ever circled "No nap" and "Not quiet" on her log.

Tomorrow there is the "Fall Festival" at day care, which means I have to: prepare the temporary tattoos, bring the supplies for the face painting (and create some designs), bring some bean bags, oh, and bring a 20 oz bottle and some "materials" for the 2's music project tomorrow. Then I have to be there at 2:30 tomorrow to help set up and then paint faces on wiggly children. Why exactly do I have the inability to say "no" when I'm asked to help?

Ethan is waving

I think Ethan started waving today. Either that or it's a fluke. Check it out:

Pretty crazy I actually got him on film doing it the first time. I was actually just trying to capture him "walking" from one toy to another. Really he just hangs on for dear life while shuffling over as close as he can to the next toy, then lets go and leans over to the next one. This results in many falls, but, hey, he's learning.

Braden is gone again tonight...they swam against UVA in Charlottesville. I'll be glad when the Fall recruiting period is over so then he's not gone so much! I took off work a bit early today to run a few errands. One errand was to head over to Home Depot to see if they had this wine cooler we're wanting for our new wine bar we're building. I have a Home Depot coupon (that I bought on ebay so am determined to use), so I wanted to make sure our Home Depot had the cooler so this weekend (when Braden is here) we could go and get it or drive to another Home Depot to get it. Anyway, they had the one I wanted and it was actually marked at $50 less than it was supposed to be. They said they'd give it me at the discounted price, so of course I had to get it today! I didn't have my coupon though, so I told them to put it on hold and I'd pick it up later. But now it was time to pick up the kids and I was already dreading going back to Home Depot with 2 kids by myself to pick up a refrigerator. Fortunately, I was able to send Blythe over to her friend Ashley's house so it was just me and Ethan. Thank goodness for good friends! Only downside is that Ethan does not like being in the car without Blythe so he cried the whole way there and back (maybe it would have been easier to have Blythe with us).

Eating and Drinking

Sometimes Blythe acts like she's going to the store. She'll take her baby in her stroller and walk around the house and say she's going to get "Cheetos, cookies, and beer for Daddy". When I ask her what she's going to get for Mommy, she'll say "I'm gonna get wine for Mommy". Makes us sound like a bunch of alcoholics! Daddy drinks usually one beer each day when he gets home from work and me, maybe 1-2 glasses of wine a week. Today in Blythe's log at day care they wrote, "Blythe had a great day today...blah, blah, blah....she likes to talk about what Mommy and Daddy drink at home". Awesome.

One thing I do think I'm doing a pretty good job on is getting Ethan to eat anything. When Blythe was his age, we didn't know the difference between choking and gagging. So anytime she gagged on a food she didn't really like, we'd jump up, try to pull her from her high chair, and then realize she was fine. But we were so worked up about it, it was like "we're never giving that to her again!". So it's no wonder she's the pickiest eater on the planet. With Ethan, anytime he starts gagging, I just say, "No, no, no...don't give me that...you eat that". And presto, he's stops gagging and eats it. If only I knew when Blythe was a baby that that would work. Tonight Ethan tried cottage cheese for the first time. It's definitely a completely different taste than cereal, fruits, and veggies, so I knew he would gag. By the end he was liking it pretty well though.

Last night our neighborhood had a Halloween carnival. Considering we are such a small neighborhood, it was really a good party. There were all kinds of games for the kids, a haunted trail, and a showing of "It's a great pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Fortunately they did an "age 4 and under" haunted trail first (with no people that jump out at you). When Blythe was coming out of the trail, one of the neighbors was getting ready and had her mask on and Blythe freaked out and cried. That was the first time she's ever been afraid of a mask or Halloween thing. Usually everything is "cute". Blythe did win the "guess how many candy corn" game. It's a good thing Mom added 400 to her guess of "5". We were the closest, even though there were actually 710. Here she is with her prize:

And it looks like Princess Leia and the flower tied on the Halloween costume vote. I really love the Princess Leia costume, but she was actually that last year so not sure that we'll do that one this year. She'll dress up twice on Halloween, once at day care, and once for trick or treating. I think we'll go with flower and monkey, but it'll really be up to whatever she wants to wear. Hopefully it'll warm up here...tomorrow is supposed to be high of 40 and maybe a few snow flurries...yuck!

Blythe's Halloween costume

Vote on the poll to the right on what you think Blythe should be for Halloween. Here are the options:

Princess Leia

Monkey

Skeleton

Flower

Ballerina

And Ethan's going to be a 3-D movie-goer:

Just kidding. Just thought the picture was funny. He's going to be a chicken (whether he likes it or not).

Chick-fil-a

Today Braden was planning to have dinner with a recruit and her family that were in town. So I picked up the kids from day care and was going to go to McDonalds but then decided to go to Chick-fil-a since it was close to Target and Target had baby formula on sale. Chick-fil-a is the only restaurant in at least a 25 mile radius from where we live that has a playplace...and it's even a small playplace. Basically just an oversized slide. So of couse I hyped it up. "If you're good in Target, you can go to the big slide". "Put that down or we're not going to the big slide". "If you eat all of your nuggets you can go play on the big slide". I have to say she was perfect in Target and ate all of her nuggets and was wasn't whiny or overly dramatic. The big slide worked like a charm.

Until we found out it was closed.

For Christ's sake, they should put a sign on the door as you walk into Chick-fil-a that the slide is closed. Not a little tiny inconspicuous sign on the door to the slide. But we still did pretty well. Fortunately she got a game in her kids meal, so we played that. Then she asked if she could go down the slide now. Not sure how many times I tried to tell her that it was closed and we weren't allowed to go in, but it was clear she wasn't comprehending. With the promise of ice cream at home we were able to leave before the meltdown that would have been coming.




As for Ethan, he was dressed in his gangsta rap outfit today. Check it yo...



Blythe's best friend Ashley has a little brother that is 6 months older than Ethan. He's also #4 so they are done having babies. So, we've been getting lots of cute hand -me-downs which have been great because I haven't had to buy anything for Ethan (or at least not much). I'm not a big fan of buying boys clothes anyway. Girl clothes are so much more fun to buy.

Ornament for Christmas

The other day when we were playing in the guest room (our favorite nighttime play area), Blythe opened a drawer and found a box. In it was a Christmas ornament that had been forgotten about. She asked if she could have it. I said. "No, it's an ornament for Christmas". She ended up bringing it downstairs where it has sat for the last couple of days. She picked it up today after dinner and this is how the conversation went:
BLYTHE: This is for Christmas?
ME: Yep
BLYTHE: I like Christmas
ME: Yep, me too
BLYTHE: I remember Christmas
ME: Mmm hmm
BLYTHE: I remember he held me. I like him.

So this is when I realize she thinks Christmas is a person. So I'm trying to explain that Christmas is not a person, it's a holiday, a celebration, kind of like a birthday "you get presents for your birthday and you get presents for Christmas". It's pretty hard to explain a non-tangible thing to a 2 year old. I'm sure once she watches "Frosty the Snowman" again, the whole Christmas thing will come right back to her. We watched that at least 57 times last year and watched it well into probably February.

Daddy came back from his trip today. Blythe says to him, "Why'd you come home?". Nothing like feelin the love (or lack thereof). She saved herself by saying she was glad he was home and didn't want him to leave again.

Playing in slippers

Today Braden had to go out of town to visit a recruit so it was just me and the kids after day care. I got the camera out so I could try to get a few good shots and maybe some decent video clips. I've written about Ethan talking (and he did say "mama" again today, so he's definitely got it down) and I managed to get some video of him talking at the dinner table.

Here's a cute pic of Ethan at the dinner table too. Normally he's not that messy, but he wasn't the biggest fan of the "Vegetable Beef Dinner" and kept spitting it out.

After dinner we went upstairs to play in Ethan's room. We almost never play in there, so it was a nice scenery change. Searching through the toy box in his room, I found the Elmo slippers Blythe had when she was a baby. Here he is wearing them and showing off his standing skills.

Then of course Blythe wanted to get her slippers too. She came back to Ethan's room with her Dora slippers and I tried to get the two of them together for a picture with their slippers, but they weren't having that. Blythe wanted the two of them to get in Ethan's crib to play. Here they are playing in the crib. Ethan is tickling Blythe (or so it seems).

Not only did Blythe come back with her Dora slippers, but she also put on bikini bottoms over her pants and a swimsuit skirt over all that. She also wanted to wear the bikini bottoms in the bath, which I let her do. Why not.

Ethan says "Mama" (I think)

Just as I was about to start typing, I heard Blythe get out of bed up there. She was in the hall when I went upstairs. That was the first time she has come out of her room after I put her to bed and closed her door. Ugh! I have visions of that Super Nanny show where the kid would get out of bed like 38 times before actually falling asleep. Please don't let this be the start of something like that!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure Ethan said "Mama" today. I kept trying to get him to repeat it, but then he switched to "Dada" and "Baba"and wouldn't go back to the "M" sound. Today he was also very interested in "walking" while holding on to something (the chair, ottoman, whatever). He's starting to get more comfortable with moving around. He's also kind of attempting to pull himself up on something (like a pull-up). Definitely not strong enough (or nearly coordinated enough) to do that, but is that a sign that he's going to be a climber? I wonder. I think he also might be cutting his 4th tooth (the other top one), so a big day overall for Ethan.

A lazy weekend

I feel like I spent the whole weekend cleaning, yet my house currently looks like a tornado just hit. How does that happen? I probably should be doing a better job of making Blythe clean up after herself, but it just takes so darn long for her to do it! She did do some dusting today though. While I was changing Ethan, she pulled a wipe out from the dispenser then went over to the end table and started dusting it. She moved the coasters and dusted, then moved the lamp and dusted. Wipes don't work all that well for dusting, but she definitely gets an A for effort. That's one chore I don't do very often, so it was quite surprising to see her do it.

We had a very low key weekend and stayed in most of the time. Yesterday we took the dogs to the Vet School Dog Wash fundraiser. We thought it was free (donations accepted), but it turned out to be $10 a dog! For a 3 minute wash. Oh well, it least it was going to a good cause. The kids napped at the same time yesterday for over 2 hours!!! I wish I could say I did something productive during that time, but now I look back and can't even remember. I think I watched HGTV or something. The Hokies were playing at 8pm last night and our neighbors had invited us over to watch it. We weren't sure how we were going to swing that since Ethan is pretty unflexible in his "no later than 8pm" bedtime schedule. But they said to come over around 6:30 to eat so we figured we'd at least get some social time in. As was expected, Ethan was getting tired at about 7:30. We decided to try to get the pack n' play and bring it to the neighbors and have Ethan sleep there until we were ready to go. We would have never tried that with Blythe. We were always so afraid that if we woke her in the middle of the night that she'd stay up, or at least have a really difficult time going down. Ethan had no problem going to sleep in the pack n' play and when we were ready to go, I picked him up and walked up the street with him (in the cold) and put him in his crib and he never woke up. How easy was that!?

After such a successful naptime yesterday, I guess I should have expected a difficult nap time today. We went up around 1:30 and read books in Blythe's room til Ethan got tired and I put him down. Then I went back to tuck Blythe in. About 20 minutes later Ethan was crying and I knew he was still tired, so I figured I'd rock him back to sleep. On the way, I stopped by Blythe's room and told her to go to sleep. It took a while, but I got Ethan back to sleep. Before going back downstairs, I told Blythe to go to sleep. A bit later I needed to go to the grocery store. Just before I left Braden went up and told Blythe to go to sleep. I went to the grocery store, came back and Blythe was still not asleep. A little while later she must have fallen out of bed (while playing, not while asleep), so she cried. Braden went up there and told her to go to sleep. Finally, she went to sleep. Around 5:20, we went up there to wake her up. She was so cranky because she didn't sleep long at all. Though she was in her room for about 4 hours!

This may have been our last lazy weekend for a while (since Braden's swim season is starting up and we've got some traveling in November), so it was nice to truly be pretty lazy. Yet I'm still so tired. Hmm..