A weekend at the pool

You didn't really think I'd miss making it to 15 blog posts for May, did you?

Finally a beautiful weekend! Though apparently when they say "Mostly sunny, 80 degrees, mild wind, and no chance of rain" what they really mean is "Partly sunny, 72 degrees, very windy, and overnight thunderstorms with heavy rain". Oh well, most definitely could have been worse!

Because it was promising to be so sunny and so warm, we headed to the pool yesterday and today and were pretty much the first ones there both times. Though the water was warm (because it's heated), the air was not so much, but got better each day the later we stayed as the day became sunnier. It's a good thing I got Blythe swimming so well on video during her swim lessons in April, because she now acts like she never had those 18 swim lessons. She won't give up her noodle, she won't even put her head underwater, and she certainly won't swim by herself unassisted. In fact, she freaks out every time we try to get her to so that she draws the attention of the other parents and the lifeguards who are probably thinking we are terrible parents who are trying to get this poor girl to swim who doesn't even know how. She seriously cries and screams and even a bribe of ice cream won't work. I tried. So she spends most of her time standing in the water, or swimming with her noodle, or playing in the sand at the playground. Here she is NOT swimming (but looking cute nonetheless):

Ethan, on the other hand is a swimming machine. Every time we turn our backs, he is heading to the water to "jump" in (and by jump I mean ungracefully fall in). Loves it though. Today he discovered the small water slide in the shallow section of the pool. And so we then did that over and over and over and over again. Here he is swimming with his Daddy:

Because floaties aren't allowed at the pool anymore (and we tried them on him in Hilton Head and he wasn't quite ready anyway), going to the pool isn't exactly relaxing for us. But it sure keeps the kids happy and entertained. We were able to stay on Saturday until 1:30 and today until 1:00 before Ethan got too tired. He crashed in the car both days in less than a minute of being in the car.

After we got back today, I took Blythe on a Mommy/Daughter date to the movies to see "Up". I wasn't sure how she'd be since we went during her normal naptime, but she did great and the movie was quite entertaining. I would definitely recommend it. Very cute.

Rain rain go away

Well all week they've been forecasting a nice weekend and still so far it hasn't changed. So maybe we'll FINALLY be able to spend some quality time out in the sun at the pool. Course they have to throw in that 10% chance of rain "just in case". I think we had a 30% chance today and it's rained like 4 times already. Enough to probably ruin any chance we had of going to a free summer concert tonight at VT campus.

I'm a big proponent of my kids going on field trips at day care. The day care building isn't all that big and seeing the same things day in and day out I'm sure gets old. Plus experiencing other places and things usually sticks better in a child's memory than going through the same motions every day. But unfortunately the rain cancelled Ethan's field trip on Wednesday this week and Blythe's today. Actually Blythe's is just postponed until Monday. But man, this rain has really dampened my mood.

So we continue to play with our same toys in our living room each evening. And one of Blythe's favorite things to do is to jump on the leather chair and to jump from the ottoman to the chair. And Ethan always whines because he wants to do it too, but he can't get up on the chair (which is a good thing because he's quite reckless and would likely fall off head first). Well, he's had time to practice quite a bit this week so now he can get on the chair by himself. Crap. I had to catch him from falling off at least 5 or 6 times yesterday, but I'm not always going to be there. He's probably just going to have to fall, cry, and learn his lesson to be careful. He's making progress though - I used to freak out every time he was on Blythe's bed that he would fall off. But this morning he got off all by himself very carefully down the step stool next to her bed.

Dry diapers!

For the first time ever, Ethan woke up this morning with a dry diaper. I see potty training in our distant future! And it was a really good thing he didn't soil his diaper because it had broken! The sticky/velcro portion became detached from the rest of the diaper, so if he had gone we may have had a big mess to clean up.

The boy's got game

Ethan has a new favorite toy.

Just when we thought we couldn't fit one more toy into the living room. Actually the plan is to keep it in the garage for now so he can play with it outside. If it will ever STOP FREAKING RAINING!!! (it did stop for a brief bit yesterday thus the outdoor picture).

Mmmm...ribs

Braden spent all afternoon yesterday cooking up some ribs, so we could have a very summer-holiday-like meal. And they were DELICIOUS! Mmmm....ribs.

Today he had the leftovers for lunch and said they were even better than they were yesterday. Then proceeded to eat them all and not offer me one single bite.

Actually, I let him have them all since that's the nice, loving wife I am.

And I had the pleasure of taking Blythe to the doctor today. I was pretty sure she had a bladder or urinary tract infection. So yep, I got to hold the cup while she peed in it, and around it/near it onto my hand. Fun times. Her (whatever applicable medical name) levels were slightly elevated, so she might have one. We got her some antibiotics for now and they'll send it off for a culture. The girl with the bladder of steel suddenly started having to pee every hour and couldn't make it to the potty in time usually, so we've had lots of accidents the last few days. Very unlike her. And she was crying a lot before peeing because she said it hurt. Seemed like a no-brainer to me.

Mill Mountain Zoo

It's a sad, sad time in Blacksburg. Taco Bell is closed for renovations for a couple of MONTHS! Before we left for vacation, all was good. Now, it's down to the studs. Completely gutted. What are we to do?

To help drown out our sorrows (of the Taco Bell and the cloudy weather we brought home), we decided to go to the zoo. Roanoke has a very small zoo called the Mill Mountain zoo. I had been there once before when Blythe was about Ethan's age. Though small, it is very nice, very well kept and it sits on top of Mill Mountain, so you can't beat the scenery. They also have a neat little train, called the "Zoo Choo" (such genius naming, right?). Unfortunately the Zoo Choo wasn't functioning today. Boo.

They have a small petting area with sheep, goats, and a cow. They have a red panda that we saw get fed. They have birds, monkeys, a wolverine (Braden's favorite there...he really was cute), leopards, a cougar, a red wolf, and various other animals I've never heard of. When I asked Blythe which animal was her favorite, she said the tiger.

As you can tell, that one wasn't even real.

After we left the zoo, we picnicked out by the car, which was still at the top of the mountain and there was another playground there (there was also one inside the zoo). This playground had a really neat slide you actually had to climb up. No stairs.

And I've been trying for months to get a good picture of the kids together so I can replace my blog picture which is from last summer. Do you think one of these will work?

The vacation ends

We made it back from Hilton Head. It ended up being a really nice trip, though I REALLY wish the weather had cooperated. It actually rained every single day we were there except the day we got there. We told our neighbor here in Blacksburg that it was rainy and he said, "Really? Didn't rain here all week." Though I already knew that, it was still hard to hear.

Yesterday it rained first thing in the morning and then didn't rain the rest of the day. The sun even came out. So it ended up being our 1 nice day. We certainly made the best of it. We had been waiting all week to take our family beach picture, so we did that first. Lynette took the photos on her camera, so I'll share when we get some back. Then we headed to Harbourtown to check out the lighthouse. We went inside and climbed to the top then looked down and waved at Gommy and Poppa down below. After Harbourtown, Doug and Lynette packed up and left. They had to leave a day early for some weekend wedding festivities. Braden and I took Blythe to the beach (finally!) to build sandcastles (while Ethan slept). Then we came back and swam in the pool, then went back to the beach (after Ethan woke up), then went back to the pool. Had to cram in all the "beach" activities during the one day of nice weather. We even have sunburns, which may actually turn into slight tans.

And wouldn't you know when we woke up this morning and packed up the car, it was pouring down rain. If we'd have stayed any longer, we would have needed an ark to get off that island.

It was nice spending the week with the kids though. Ethan made some great progress in his speech. He can now say "Hi!", "Car", "Truck", "Daddy", "There", "Bye" (sometimes), "Go!" and he's doing quite well with his animal noises. Many times as it was raining and we were inside, he'd go to the window, point at the pool and say "Go there". And I'd just say, "I wish, Bud. I wish."

What's really nice is that we have 2 more days now at home before back to full reality. Hopefully we didn't really bring the rain back with us and maybe we'll be able to go to our pool here. We'll see.

Seriously, what are the chances?

Still raining. And windy. And cold.

Really, what are the chances that it would be overcast and unseasonably cold for an entire week, which would happen to be the one week we’re here for vacation? At least we have the Wii.

And alcohol.

If I had no kids, I might enjoy just laying around inside reading a book. Maybe go watch a movie. But with 2 kids, and the same 3 toys that we brought, they start to get quite restless. Or at least Ethan does. Blythe is content playing with the 3 Barbies we brought. We each take turns being Beauty and Ariel (Blythe is always Jasmine).

We’ve done most of the inside things we can do. We went bowling (which, by the way, Ethan LOVED). We went to the McDonalds just to play on the playplace. We went to a children’s museum.

Here’s Blythe as a mermaid at the museum:

Yesterday we did have some portion of the day when we were able to swim in the pool. We called the homeowner the other day and asked them to come by and heat the pool. Thank goodness we did! At least the pool was nice and warm. Unfortunately Ethan was napping that whole time, so he has hardly been outside since we got here. I was able to take him to a playground across the street for a little while yesterday. But mostly he’s been inside trying to get creative with the stuff we brought. Here he is dressed up as Elton John.

Ahhh, maybe later today it will stop raining long enough to at least go back in the pool. The wind is kind of prohibiting our beach visits. Probably will be the first time I’ve gone to the beach for a week where I’ve come back whiter than I came here. And for those of you in Blacksburg enjoying the beautiful weather you’re having while I’m gone….watch out, I’ll be back on Saturday and I’m bringing the clouds and rain with me.

Made it to Hilton Head

Well, we made it down to Hilton Head on Saturday in just short of 9 hours. So apparently having kids adds 3 extra hours to your travel time. Not really - we made a few stops and hit some traffic, but it sure was a long day! The house here is beautiful. Perfect for our family (we're here with my parents, sister, brother, sister-in-law, and niece). After unloading, my parents and I took Blythe and Ethan down to the beach, which was Ethan's first encounter with the beach. He LOVED it. He laid in the sand, stuck his face in the sand, mushed the wet sand in his hands, threw the sand, and then headed for the ocean. Neither Blythe or Ethan wore their swim suits, so they stripped down to their panties and diaper and played in the water.

Eventually Ethan's diaper got too full, so we just had to take it off.

What? You didn't know Hilton Head was a nude beach?

Anyway, the house has it's own pool, so yesterday we played in that for a bit. I guess Ethan's still not quite ready for the arm floaties, but he had fun throwing rocks in the pool, which he especially loved doing after we yelled at him and told him not to. The kids were exhausted from the travel the day before and staying up late, so we chilled in the afternoon while the kids slept most of the day.

By that time the rain had started anyway, so it was an indoor day. And the rain has now continued ALL day today. Of course it would have to rain here. It's rained for 2 weeks straight in Blacksburg, so we go on vacation and it follows us here. Ugh! And of course, now that we're gone, it's beautiful in Blacksburg. Oh well. We're making the best of it. This morning the girls all went to get pedicures. Even Blythe. She was so patient and waited for all the rest of us to get pedicures first and then she sat perfectly still and hardly spoke a word. So unusual for her! She was just going to get her toe nails painted, but the lady there was great and gave her a mini-massage and painted flowers on her toenails, then painted her finger nails too and put rainbows on them.

Gotta dry those nails!

And all us girls with our beautiful pedicures...

We're thinking of going bowling later and praying that tomorrow's weather will be much better!

Anyone want a dog?

A 4 year old white Westie who barks incessantly, isn't good with kids, and pees all over your house? Anyone? Anyone? No? Well, it was worth a try.

That's our Bogie for you. He used to be great. For the 1.5 years he was alive before Blythe started crawling. Ever since then, nightmare. Though he's never bitten anyone (on purpose), he growls at the kids anytime they come near him (or even if they just look like they might come near him). He used to be potty trained too. Anytime we left the house, we'd just leave the dogs out and not have to worry. Nowadays, anytime we leave him out of his kennel when we're gone, he goes on a peeing rampage lifting his leg on the couch, the kids toys, or anything we might have left on the ground. Sometimes he even does this when I'm home in my office working. He has no fear. And yes, I had him checked out to make sure he doesn't have a bladder infection. He doesn't. He's just a jerk.

But I don't really want to get rid of him (though that feeling changes by the hour). I still like him and he does like to cuddle with me when the kids go to sleep and he loves playing with our other dog, Juni. And unlike Juni, he loves playing with dog toys. Sometimes I won't even notice that he brings me toys all day in my office until the end of the day and I look down and there are 5 toys at my feet and I never threw a single one for him.

Anyway, I like him enough to tolerate him for the next 8-10 years (hopefully closer to the 8 side). However yesterday I took him to get his hair cut and there was another woman picking up her Westie. Though I couldn't tell it was a Westie. Because the dog was 19 years old! Holy crap, I may have to deal with Bogie for another 15 years! I was quite discouraged yesterday.

In other news, Ethan went on his first field trip yesterday. 16 one year olds packed in a van to play at the park and have a picnic. Sounds like fun, huh? Actually, I'm glad they are taking them on field trips and I wanted to help to make sure they didn't cancel future planned field trips for lack of parent support. So I went too (along with a few other parents). Though chaotic, it was fun. I tried to get some pictures, but every time I picked up my camera I had to run after Ethan or make sure some other kid didn't fall through the gaping hole on the playground equipment. I got one or two not so great ones. Here is Ethan with his girlfriend Madeleine:

I'm sure they show each other their love by pushing each other down, stealing each other's toys, and occasionally giving each other loving bite marks.

Only problem with me going is that I have to take him back to the daycare afterwards and say goodbye again, which he and his separation anxiety are not very happy about.

Later when he got home, he got to make a mess of himself at dinner which made him very happy.

Remember when...

Remember this?



Welcome to my life.

That's Blythe's "thing" now.
"Mom, member when I fell on the sidewalk?"
"Yes"
"Yeah. member when I didn't want to play in the mud?"
"Yes"
"I don't like mud. member when we went to Texas?"
"Yep"
"I member that"

"Hey Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Member your bike?"
"Yeah"
"Can I get some more juice?"

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, this was my 4th Mothers Day as a mother and it was very nice. My first 2 Mothers Days I had to fly out of town for work, so not too much fun. Fortunately this year I was around for the whole day.

Braden offered to let me sleep in, but I found it difficult to go back to sleep after Blythe came in and wanted to show me the "Hannah Omtana lipstick" she said she found in her room. Not really sure where that came from. So instead I laid in bed for a while and then took a shower. And dried my hair. And put on some makeup. All while the kids were awake somewhere else in the house. Nice.

Braden made reservations for a Mothers Day brunch at the country club, so we headed out there and had a delicious meal. Even Blythe ate quite a bit. Even better, it took care of breakfast and lunch! Ethan was falling asleep on the way home and it was too early for naptime, so we stopped at the big playground to play for a while. Actually he was asleep by the time we got there and wouldn't wake up even after getting him out of the car and walking up to the playground. Eventually he did and played a while.

While Ethan napped, I got to lay out in the sun for a little while. In my swimsuit. Nice again! Then best of all, I got to go to Walmart. By myself. And take my sweet ass time perusing the aisles (even though I had a list). All in all, a very nice Mothers Day.

What was also very nice was that Blythe was able to tell me "Happy Mothers Day" many times and she wrote "Mom" on my card. And when I came downstairs this morning after my shower, Ethan ran up to me and gave me a HUGE hug. I do love being a mom.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, my grandmas, and all my other mom friends and family. I hope you all had a day to remember.

Ethan 14 month update

Ethan is 14 months old today!






Looks nothing like Blythe when she was 14 months old:



Okay, so maybe there are some similarities.

Anyway, I didn't get to do a 13 month update on Ethan since he was home sick and we were headed out the door to Dallas.

These are the things he's doing these days:

• He's such a boy - LOVES to be dirty!
• He wants so badly to be able to jump and tries to all the time. Is always begging to get up on the couch, the chair, or the bed to try jumping. He thinks it's okay to just walk right off the couch, chair, or bed though so you can't leave him alone!
• Loves balls and loves throwing them. Golf balls, baseballs, kickballs, or even just balloons. Speaking of which, he loves those too but pops them all the time. Doesn't seem to bother him.
• He enjoys looking for birds and gets very excited and points at them and yells whenever he sees one.
• Still isn't talking very much. He knows how to tell me what he wants though. That usually entails pointing at something and yelling "Mama!". Or he'll bring me something he wants. If his shoe falls off, he'll bring it to me to put on him. If he wants graham crackers, he'll get the box out of the pantry and bring it to me.
• He must listen a lot though because he does understand a lot of commands. I'm pretty sure once he starts really talking, he'll progress pretty quickly.
• He still loves water - at any temperature apparently. His favorite thing to do in the bathtub these days is to fill a large cup with water and throw it. Usually it ends up in the tub, but sometimes ends up all over me (like last night).
• He takes great naps on the weekends but at day care only sleeps about an hour or hour and a half. I'm amazed sometimes that he's still functioning at 8pm.
• I think he has 10 teeth. Top middle four, bottom middle four, and 2 molars on top.
• Still eats pretty much anything. Including crayons, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles.

I want to poop pooples and poopoopoos?

Our next door neighbors came over for dinner last night, which was a lot of fun. Before we knew it, it was 8 o'clock! Nice thing about having other kids here is that Ethan is entertained and therefore not whining, grabbing onto my legs, and wanting me to carry him around. So they were both pretty wound up by the time we went upstairs for bedtime. I had had 2 glasses of wine with dinner.

Mary have 2 glasses of wine = a much more animated storyteller for Blythe = Blythe even more wound up and not wanting to go to bed

So then she is singing, "I want to oat oat oat opples and bononos". Which somehow eventually turned into "I want to poop poop poop pooples and poopoopoos". She thinks it's hilarious to talk about poop and pee, so you can imagine how in depth our conversations are.

By this time my 2 glasses of wine were making me quite tired, so I had to get out of there before I crashed on her bed. Lord knows how long it actually took her to fall asleep.

Anyway, I took her to school this morning and she had ANOTHER birthday invite in her cubby. She had a birthday party last Saturday, she has one this Saturday, and this one was for next Saturday (we'll be on vacation though). I really need to start stocking up on birthday gifts if I see things that are cheap. Eventually Ethan will start getting invites too and then it will be complete birthday party madness!

Tommy and Angie's wedding

We had quite a busy day yesterday! No gymnastics, since that 5-session group is over with, so we had a low key morning to rest up for the rest of the day. Around lunchtime, my best friend from high school's parents came over to visit for a few minutes. They were in town for a Virginia Tech reunion and I hadn't seen them since I had kids, so they came over to meet them. It was great to see them and catch up. I had Braden take a pic (yes, my friend's dad did play basketball here at VT).

Ethan went down for a LONG nap while I took Blythe to her friend Ginsey's 4th birthday party. It was at the same location Blythe had hers, and she had just as much fun (maybe more because this time they had a really BIG slide moonbouncer). Here's a few pics:

She was melting fast towards the end of the party though and we had a wedding to go to in just 2 hours, so I made her take a nap as soon as we got home, which turned out to be a life saver!

Ethan's godparents Tommy and Angie were getting married here in Blacksburg at 5pm yesterday. Braden was a groomsman which meant he had to leave early for the wedding and also meant the previous night we went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. We opted out of taking the kids to the rehearsal (best decision EVER), but they were going to the wedding. On Friday was when I realized Braden wouldn't be sitting with me in the church, so fortunately I rounded up some other kidless friends to help me watch the kiddos during service. Anyway, I had about 1 hour at home to do hair, makeup, get dressed, stock my diaper bag with endless snacks and other activities to keep the kids quiet, get Ethan dressed and ready, and get Blythe dressed and ready. I was running around like a mad person! Normally those are the types of days when the kids take short naps, but I was very lucky and they kept on sleeping. Yay!

So amazingly we made it to the wedding on time and the kids did very well (thank goodness for a short ceremony!). Then we walked over to the reception area, which was great because it was a large, contained room with lots of room for the kids to run around and a big dance floor for them to dance on. Angie's niece, who's 4, was the flower girl so she and Blythe were instantly best friends. Amazing how kids can do that. They couldn't wait to get on the dance floor, so they danced while everyone else ate.

We had arranged for a babysitter to meet us at the reception and pick up the kids at 7:45. Blythe was having such a good time with Angie's niece that we decided to let her stay and just send Ethan home. Before he left we got a pic of us all gussied up.

Blythe ended up doing really well. She started to crash with about 20 minutes left, but overall we were quite happy. She even participated in the bouquet toss (technically she is a single lady). She can't catch a basketball thrown at her from 18 inches away, so it was unlikely she'd catch it anyway.

But somehow she actually did.

We all had a GREAT time and needlesstosay, Blythe was QUITE exhausted. I had to wake her up at 9:00 this morning (for church)!