Sunday, December 15, 2013

We have a tooth!

There is one thing my 2 kids are exactly alike in: when they teethe, they are exactly alike.

After one night of Lukey waking up 4 times, and the next night Lukey waking up every 20 minutes-1 hour and only sleeping if being held, we woke up Saturday morning (December 7) to a tooth. It was a beautiful tooth.

Teething is the worst. Seriously.


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Aryn's 3rd Birthday - The Ice Cream Party!

*DISCLAIMER: Aryn's birthday was in September. It is now December. I am fully aware that I am 3 months late writing this blog. But better late than never, right? RIGHT??

Aryn loves ice cream. Ok... who am I kidding... she loves all sweets. There's not much in the junk food 'food group' that she doesn't love. But ice cream... ohhh this kid loves ice cream.

Her party was a toss up between a strawberry theme and an ice cream theme... and ice cream seemed much more fun. The kid loves her some strawberries... but if she had to choose between an ice cream cone and a bowl of strawberries... ok, I don't exactly know what she'd choose but I would suspect she'd go with ice cream.

So I set off looking for ice cream theme ideas. Pinterest is my new best friend, and many of my ideas were taken from there. I am partially hoping to find some of these photos on Pinterest!

First, the invitation. I made it in photoshop, from scratch, taking ideas from a few other invitations I found on Google. It took a few weeks to make, and I was extremely happy with it!


We had water bottles with flavour water squirts available for everyone. We decided not to buy pop or make punch for many reasons (extra expense, would need too much variety, takes too much time to make punch, punch is really messy, etc.) and this way I got to use up some of the flavour squirts in our pantry!


Instead of giving kids a bag with breakable toys and loud whistles (which all kids love, but let's face it - parents do not haha!), we decided to give ice cream cookies that I had made by a lady here in town (Out of Chaos Comes Cookies). They were $1.25 each, which I thought was good considering anything from the dollar store would end up being more. They were 2 cookies baked together, with icing made to look like an ice cream cone, the 'waffle cone' was icing as well, and a number 3 in icing. There were 4 different colours of ice cream cone, and they were seriously delicious.

Frames from Target. 4 for $1!!



We had an ice cream toppings centre. Unfortunately, it was really warm that day and the chocolate chips melted, but everything else worked great! They were a huge hit.

Again, this frame is one of the 4 for $1 at Target!



We had bowls, ice cream cones, and waffle bowls for the ice cream. The waffle bowls were apparently disgusting... I didn't taste test them first. Whoops!



One very happy 3 year old!!
Hair clip & tutu made by my amazing friend at AnnaLuv Designs.
I made the shirt... just a regular white shirt, green tule made into ice cream, and fabric paint making the cone.


Borrowed a bouncy house from a friend. Yay!


Lots of toys for the kids outside to play with.


The very interesting ladybugs came free... there were a billion of them, and really stole the show.




Ok... please keep in mind that I had just had a baby... this is not my best look. Seriously... 

And for the birthday girls' birthday cake, we took ice cream cones, baked cake mix in them, topped them with icing, and a Smartie on top. We had vanilla and chocolate cake, and they really were delicious.




I forgot to grab a "before" photo! 


Then it was present time. All the kids helped Aryn open her many gifts. She was so spoiled by so many people who love her. It made my heart happy. 



We had messages left after the party saying it was one of the most fun birthday parties they'd ever been to. That made my day! That's all we ever want - for people to come, celebrate our little girl, and have a great time. It really was an extremely fun day. Aryn zonked out quickly afterwards! We were so grateful that her great grandma, grandma, aunt and 3 cousins were able to make the trek out as well for the party! More people to celebrate our special girl!!

Lukey's birthday is in 5.5 months... I'd better start planning... ;)

Lukey update & kid comparison

As Lucas gets older, I find myself going through every old post on this blog from when Aryn was the same age and reading up on what we were going through at that time. And with every post I read, I am left with 2 prominent thoughts:

1. How different both of my kids are.

2. How I have written down NOTHING about Lucas.

With Aryn, we knew we'd have another kid, and I wanted to document everything about her growth for reference purposes, and to one day make a little book for her that wrote out everything she did as she grew up.

I haven't done the book yet. And I haven't written down (hardly) anything about Lucas. So... here we go.

As of today, Lucas is 6 months and (almost) 3 weeks old. Last week he got his 6 month shots, and he weighs 16 lbs 13 oz and is 27" long.

Both kids at roughly 6 months... wearing the same shirt... in the same chair!

For those of you keeping track, Aryn was 17 lbs 11 3/4oz and 26" at 6 months. So Aryn was about 1 full pound and 1 inch shorter than Lucas at the same age.

Lukey is pretty much the exact opposite of a baby as Aryn was.

Aryn loved to eat - both milk and solids.
Lucas needs to be forced to eat sometimes. He does not particularly like solids, and he'll shut his mouth tight after a couple spoonfuls. You cannot shove more food into his little mouth. When those lips close, you're done. Even if it's only after 1 small bite. This is strange because he's constantly reaching for food. He just doesn't seem to want 'baby' food. He wants grown-up food. But I'm just too nervous that he'll choke or react to it so I keep trying to give him puréed food!


Aryn loved bananas.
Lukey HATES bananas. He even gives me the ol' fake gagging face.

Aryn had a little eczema at this age, and I rushed her to the pediatrician to get it looked at and taken care of. She was given minor steroids and I remember being so frustrated that the doctor said that "it was nothing to be worried about."
Lukey has the worst case of eczema the one doctor I took him to has ever seen. Ever. I don't know what sets it off, but as of today, he has been off grains for a couple of weeks (no oatmeal or rice cereal) and I still don't know if that's the culprit. I am waiting to see a pediatrician.

 

Aryn didn't really "roll". She rolled from her stomach to back, and she spun around to get closer to things. Like... she'd be on her stomach and she'd spin... on her stomach... to slowly reach things. She did this for months.
Lukey rolls. He rolls like a crazy rolling machine. He goes from one end of the room to the other. It's insane watching him. Nothing is safe. He never stops moving.


Aryn was a hilarious character. She was giving us the cheesy grin at 6 months.
Lukey is very serious, despite his constant smiles. He has an "old soul." He smiles for everyone, seemingly all day, but it's a sweet loving smile. Not a joker trying-to-make-you-laugh smile.


Aryn was solid. Rolls, chunk, solid.
Lukey is slim. And extremely long, with short little legs.


Aryn had a bright red mohawk.
Lukey has a full head of very light blonde hair.


Aryn needed a bib all day to keep her clothes dry.
Lukey gnaws on things, but no drool yet!

Aryn got her first tooth at 6.5 months.
Lukey HAS to be getting one soon, because he's been sleeping nonstop, his cheeks are bright red, and he is miserable.


Aryn was happy. She was just generally happy. She was a very happy little girl. Especially in public - strangers would come to us and tell me how sweet and smiley she was everywhere we went.
Lukey is very smiley. He will smile for anyone. But after his afternoon nap, he whines. And he doesn't stop whining until he goes to sleep. I even knocked his bedtime up an hour because the whining got too much haha!! He doesn't cry - he just frets and whines, like he's annoyed that he's awake or not being taken care of the way he really thinks he should be!



Aryn slept. She went down at 7pm, I dream fed her at 11pm, and she slept until 7am the next morning.
Lukey doesn't sleep as fantastic. He wakes up anywhere from 1-3 times a night. Which really isn't bad. Sometimes he wakes up once at 1:30am. Sometimes he wakes up at 11pm, then 4am. He really hated being dream fed, so that didn't last longer than the week I allotted.


When Aryn was this age, she had gotten hives from a few things already. We had even been to the hospital like a dozen times by now!
Lukey doesn't *seem* to be allergic to as much, except for whatever is causing the eczema (if that's an allergy...). And we've only had 1 trip to the hospital for croup. Turns out both of my kids are susceptible to croup! (Aryn got it a total of 4 times in her little life!)

Lukey has already had a surgical procedure done!! After 5 months of painful and frustrating nursing, it was discovered (by a friend of mine) that Lukey had a lip tie. Upon further investigation, it turns out he had a tongue tie too! We saw a specialist in Calgary who has been doing this procedure for 35+ years, and she was amazed that we were nursing as well and for as long as we were. The procedure took 5 minutes, and she cut both his tongue and lip (the lip was classified as "prominent"). He cried a lot, but fell asleep about 10 minutes after the procedure and it didn't seem to bother him again after. A month later, he's a nursing champ, and really put on more weight since getting it done.

Before

Aryn was sitting up on her own at 6 months on the dot.
At 6 months and almost 3 weeks, Lukey has just started sitting up... and is very wobbly! Obviously every child does things at their own time, and Lukey


What else... Lukey seems to want to crawl right away. Aryn didn't start crawling until 10 months, and Lukey is already getting up on all 4's! Aryn was very cautious about things - Lukey is constantly kicking his toys over, opening doors, rolling under the Christmas tree... he's going to keep us on our toes!!

We have thoroughly enjoyed the last 6.5 months of little Lucas' life. He's ridiculously sweet, always holding my face in his hands and snuggling his face in my neck. He is definitely a mamas boy, whereas Aryn has always been a daddy's girl. You know those pictures of kids with food everywhere, on their face, their hair, all over the high chair? That's going to be Lucas. He's an animal and definitely much more adventurous than his older sister.

One thing they have in common? They both love each other. Ohh how they love each other. The first thing Aryn wants to do every morning is to "say hi to Lukey Pookie Man!" and whenever he sees his big sister - he gets so excited and squeals with delight. It's my favourite thing in the world.


Quick story: on Saturday, Ryan and I went shopping (with Lukey). Aryn stayed with my parents, and stayed over night at their place. We went to their place on Sunday at lunch to get Aryn and have brunch there. Well, when Lukey saw his sister for the first time in over a day, he reached out for her, gave her a big hug, and squealed with delight. He was so excited! This went on for about 5 minutes, of him just giving her hugs and snuggles and her giving him little hugs and kisses. I regret not videotaping it! But I hope that image is engrained in my brain forever.

And that's about the life of Lukey as of today...

Monday, October 21, 2013

Sleep, School, and Blow Up Cats

It gets darker earlier now.

All summer, we never once went for after-supper walks. Neither myself nor Ryan even knows why - we ask ourselves every night WHY we waited until we had to bundle up to start going for evening walks. But it's become our ritual - Aryn with her popsicle (yes... a popsicle with gloves and winter coat...) and Lukey in 3 layers - we head out for a twilight walk. Every day it gets darker earlier and earlier.

One of the main reasons we've been going for walks is because of the Halloween decorations out there. Aryn loooooves those big blow up cats. She pets them, hugs them, talks to them. It's too bad she doesn't have a pet of her own to show that love to.

Oh wait. She does. He's just a big jerk and doesn't want anything to do with her.

But I digress.

At Walmart yesterday I saw a blowup cat for $20. I was thisclose to buying it so we could blow it up in front of our house and Aryn could love it to pieces. But then I wondered if our evening walks would get less frequent because she wouldn't want to go see the "big kitty cats" so I put it back on the shelf. Yet every evening, when these darn cats aren't blown up because the owners have actual lives that don't revolve around my 3-year old's obsessive compulsive disorder, I contemplate again running to Walmart to grab that big 4-foot tall blow up cat for $20.

Anything to make that little ginger snap happy.

When Lukey was 3 months old, I had spent about 3 months bragging about what an amazing sleeper he was. I never knocked on wood because he'd always been really good! He went to bed at 8pm, woke up once at around 4am, ate, and then slept until 9am. Every single night, without fail. It was glorious. He was a light eater, and just all around a really great, easy baby.

Then...  he turned 4 months.

I talked about the 4 Month Sleep Regression in my last blog post, and now that we're in Lucas' 5th month, things seem to be "improving". I use that term extremely lightly.

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Mind you, he is upstairs extremely pissed off at me right now because I won't come get him after his joke of a 40 minute nap. I'm leaving you until you sleep longer, mister! (FYI, I most definitely lost that battle. I don't win a lot of battles with this kid.)

... seriously, should I go buy Aryn that blow up cat??

It's been a fairly uneventful month, because I am up at the crack of dawn, then go to bed at about 9pm after both kids are asleep and am up anywhere from 2-15 times a night, with one or both of the kids. It's been fun. The zombie apocalypse is upon us in our household.

Every once in awhile, I get a clear realisation that things will be ok and we can handle this. In those moments, I stand here in the ray of the beauty that is my life and just soak it in.

Then one of them wakes up.

Despite our regular battles with sleep, Lukey really is a fantastic little bear. He smiles at anyone and everyone, he rolls around like a champ (except whenever he rolls onto his stomach, he gets seriously pissed off and just flops around like a fish out of water until I flip him over. Never mind that he can roll over from front to back all the time on his own; , holding himself up, getting his bum in the air (I am certain that within the month he will be crawling of some form), and has even begun eating a few kinds of food like rice cereal and random things that we're eating. I know, I know - he's not 6 months yet. But he takes my arm and shoves whatever I have in my hand into his mouth, and eyes up whatever I'm eating. So I'm taking his cues and letting him try it out. Nothing enough to fill up his tummy but enough for him to test it.

We did go through Lucas' first ever cold. It wasn't fun. He had a tough time breathing through his nose and he was coughing a lot. I am chalking it up to the fact that he has no hair so his head gets cold. Oh and Aryn started school so there's germs galore in our house.

Yes. Aryn started school.

It's preschool. She goes Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9-11:30.

In my sleep deprived state, I have both forgotten to take her to school and forgotten to pick her up. On more than one occasion. But somehow, we are there around 9am and I somehow make it to pick her up around 11:30am. All in all, it's been a success. She is thriving - and doing remarkably well. She loves everything. She has friends, she is a little teacher pleaser, and she is known in class as the "class mommy" - meaning she is always looking out for everyone.

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Yes... Woody... from Toy Story...

"Mrs. Ericson, Jacob needs help opening his lunch."
"Mrs. Ericson, Carys needs help putting her shoes on."
"Mrs. Ericson, someone pooped and is stinky."

Never mind that no one asks her for help. But she's there to offer it.

And this kid is funny.

Like, hilarious. She makes us laugh every day.

Her latest hilarious comment?

"I no want bacon, mommy. Bacon isn't good for me."

Whoever taught her that - you will suffer my wrath!

And obsessed with ladybugs. If there is a ladybug in the vicinity of her field of vision, two of two things will happen:

1. That ladybug WILL get caught.
2. That ladybug WILL die.

She doesn't murder them on purpose. It's purely by accident. She just loves them to death. Either way, those little ladybugs experienced a love like no other before they were squished.

RIP, ladybugs. And run. And hide.

Life is good. 

Monday, October 7, 2013

Aaaaaand we're back!

I know, I know. I've seriously been slacking in the blogging department.

It's been like 2 months since I updated my blog. I hope you can forgive me. Life with 2 kids, a needy dog, a job, and a book for sale have really all taken over my life.

When Aryn was a baby, I blogged about everything - when she first smiled, rolled over, bad nights, good nights - everything. Poor Lucas... I haven't written anything down, no blogging, barely any photos (my camera broke a couple of weeks ago at a photoshoot and I need to bring it in to get fixed... however it's going to cost more to fix than the lens is worth so...). I haven't taken many photos lately except with my cell phone! Whoops!

I have written and deleted the next part of this blog post about 7 times now. Nothing seems right. We are in the midst of the 4-month regression phase... where babies scream all night, refuse to sleep, roll over and wake themselves up, don't nap, cry for no reason, and all around make you question why you decided to do this again.

Right when I thought something has to be wrong for Lucas to be the way he's been the last few weeks, I decided to read my blog posts from when Aryn was the same age. Yeah... babies are just terrors at 4 months. They're all the same.

I believe that the 4-month stage is God's way of getting you ready for the rest of parenthood. If you can make it through this phase - without ending up in a mental institute - you are set for life. Parenthood can only get better after that 4-months. I'll take fits and temper tantrums in a crowded mall over the 4-month age any day.

Reading my blog from when Aryn was this age, things started getting better at about 5/5.5 months. So I have a couple of weeks to go. We can do this.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. 

Strangely enough, I feel better knowing Aryn was this way... even though I seriously don't remember. She's a great sleeper. She's a sweet, sweet little girl. She's hilarious, and kind, and compassionate, and has never thrown a bona fide 'temper tantrum'. There's hope left for Lucas.

I have been referring him to being "5 months old" lately... because he's 4 months, 4 weeks. But he's not 5 months for another week and a half. But I have found myself comparing these 2 quite regularly.

For instance...

Aryn on February 14 (5 months): 16 lbs 1.75 oz, 26"
Lucas on September 30 (4 months, 2 weeks): 14 lbs 15 oz, 25.5"

See how they're wearing the same shirt?

I'll do a better comparison on the 16th, but for the most part, these 2 are pretty much identical in weight and length. However, Aryn always seemed "solid", and Lucas just seems so "small". Maybe his 2 chins weigh more than his skinny little legs.

Tonight, we start a wee bit of sleep training. Mama is exhausted; last night I got up with Lukey every 2 hours. I didn't check the clock but I realized this morning every time he made a fuss, I fed him to knock him back out. Bad mommy! So tonight, the monitor is getting shut off. He's going to be put to bed on his back (he needs to learn that if he rolls onto his back while sleeping, he doesn't need me to roll him back over).

Oh yeah... he sleeps on his stomach... Bad Mommy #2...

I am pretty sure tonight is going to suck. I am expecting we wake Aryn up. I am preparing for a tired husband (although, I don't really have much sympathy for him!). I am planning on being a zombie for another week until we get this figured out. I'm all for feeding him 1-3 times a night. It's the 6 times that needs to be canned. Tonight begins that process.

Wish us luck. Wish me luck.

Once we get this sleep thing figured out, I'll come back with a funny post about all the craziness we encounter in our day. I'll talk about how Aryn has just become the sweetest, most tender little girl - no more toddler tornado for her. I'll talk about how Aryn started pre-school, how Lukey tasted rice cereal last night (and did not like it), about how Aryn's 100% potty trained, how Lukey rolls like a maniac, how Aryn loves playing, how Lukey laughs - like real, true belly laughs - at his sister, about how Aryn loves Doc McStuffins and has become our family doctor, etc. etc. etc.

Just you wait. Once we get this settled and I'm getting more than 2 hours of sleep in a matter of a week, I'll blow your socks off with the most awesomest blog post ever. Just you wait. And keep waiting. Because it may be awhile.

In the meantime, please buy my book.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Boo-Boos and Watching What We Say

When Aryn started talking, people kept saying to us, "Watch what you say now!" Aryn spoke her own language, that a friend of mine called "Arynese." It was very fitting, so we stuck with that. Entire sentences would be zipped through with random English words thrown in. For example,

"Onwer lorewrw laswor lawrouarpw ICE CREAM werouawerar." 

It took awhile and a lot of, "WHAT?!" questions before we started to figure out what she was saying. Once I started to understand Arynese, she started speaking better English and it has gotten progressively easier. Everyday she seems to learn new words and sentences that make us wonder just how she learned how to say that. She amazes us. 

Then it happens. 

Bauer barked.

I yelled, "Bauer! Shut up!" from upstairs.
Aryn yelled, "BAUER! SHUT UP!"
Crap.
"Aryn! Don't say shut up!"
"Mommy! Shut up!"
"Shit."
"Mommy! Shit!"
"Dammit. Aryn stop it!"
"Dammit!"
"Oh for goodness sakes."
"Shut up, Mommy, you goodness shit stop it!"

 This literally happened.

She repeats everything. Every sentence I say, 5 seconds after it comes out of my mouth I think, "WHY DID I JUST SAY THAT?!" 

This rotten kid literally repeats everything. From random things I say during the day (like "Oh my goodness") to swearing, she has me down pat. 

Then, she stops and says random, downright adorable, sweet stuff. Like today, I was coughing (I have a horrible cough right now, brought on by said toddler) and she came up to me, hugged my arm and said:

"I lub you, sweetheart."

Oh - "lub" is "love." Her V's are B's. Her R's are P's (downsteps, not downstairs). Her R's are also N's (Anyn, not Aryn). Her R's are also W's (Wyan, not Ryan... oh yeah, she also calls us by our first names sometimes). 

Toddler talk is hilarious. And confusing. I also think it should be a college course, and one that I am excelling in. Toddler Talk 101, Valedictorian, moi. 

Thank you, thank you.

Along with my little mimic, comes a whole swack of new conversations everyday. Amongst those is a great time of listening to every single boo boo this kid gets.

Now, I don't mean boo boo as in she slams her finger in the door. 

No.

Bauer's whisker ever so slightly touches her leg. "MOMMY! BAUER BITED ME!"

Umm...

Or, a bug just happens to land on her leg. Bugs = death. Hell breaks loose. She is DYING. At least that's what you'd think when you hear the screams and see the tears. "MOMMY! A BEE! A BEE BITED ME!"

Ryan is deathly allergic to bees. So, as a mom, when you hear this, you race as fast as you can to your kid. Who is standing there. Squishing a ladybug. 

That'll teach you, ladybug, for going near a toddler. 

Poor ladybug.....

So with tattletaleing on poor innocent bugs, she also tattle tales on her friends. She still shows me a tiny, barely-visible dot on her finger. "Keegan hurt me." 

Yeah... you haven't seen Keegan in a week. 

Life is pretty exciting around here. 

Lucas is doing great. He's smiling pretty much all day. When he's not smiling, he's sleeping. When he's not smiling or sleeping, he's playing with his toys. He loves toys. The one thing he spends the least amount of time doing a day is eating. It drives me insane. He's clearly starving (he shows no signs of hunger, but when he hasn't eaten for 5 hours during the day, that's the only logical explanation.... right?). Yet he's gaining weight, he has huge rolls, he poops like a champion, and I'm, once again, loving cloth diapers (no blowouts!!).

Tonight we sleep in heat. Alberta heat waves suck. But tomorrow we get air conditioning. Twill be a fantastic life. 

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Fun times at Walmart

Ryan often - and by 'often', I mean, literally, at least two or three times a week - asks me, "how come things always happen to you?"

I always have a story. Something always happens to me. But I'm a firm believer that things always happen to everyone, but not everyone finds these little stories interesting enough to tell, and therefore, it makes my stories seem all the more prominent.

Plus, I embellish stories.

A lot.

Case-in point: I got hit by a car.

Not even literally. I got pushed by a car, but "I got hit by a car" makes the story seem all the more exciting. Plus, my passive "excuse me sir, but you hit me with your car" response really doesn't make for a good story.

So listen to the embellished version!

Lucas has been crying. A lot. At his 2-month check-up, the nurse said, "At 2 months your baby will begin to cry more - their crying peeks at the 2-month mark."

Me: "Oh, he's SUCH a good baby and rarely cries. I think we dodged that bullet!"

3 weeks later, I am eating my words. This kid cries if you hold him, set him down, and, my favourite, when he's fast asleep and you sllooooowwwwwlllllyyyyy lay him down in his crib, he wakes up and screams bloody murder and you have to start the process all over.

I won't lie: I've uttered Samuel L. Jackson's amazing children's book title a few times to this kid. More than I like to admit.

So Ryan got home from work yesterday, and before he had time to change out of his work clothes, I was standing there telling him I was going to Walmart. I needed to get out of the house and away from the whining and crying for a good 20 minutes. Mother of the year award?? Hell, no.

So I went to Walmart. I parked on the opposite end of the parking lot, because, you know, those extra 30 feet are real exercise. The parking lot was fairly empty for the first time ever, and I slowly walked to the store (you  know, gotta take my time and make this break worth it!).

Because the parking lot was empty, I just quickly scanned the area in front of my walking path and just kept walking. Suddenly, I felt something on my left hip. Then I got pushed. Then I was about 2 feet further into the roadway.

I realized that someone was backing into me.

2 things came to mind:

1) If I let him run me over, Ryan will be stuck with the kids for at least a couple of hours while I am sent to emerg. That's 2 hours of quiet. Please run me over.

2) If I get ran over, my 20 minutes of stress-free Walmart snooping will be cut short and I'll have to, instead, listen to sickies at the hospital whine. I've had enough whining for today. Do NOT run me over.

So I hit his car with my hand. Hard. He didn't hear me and kept backing up. So I jumped forward, out of the way (which I should have done in the first place...). Again, he didn't see me until I walked up to his window, with my arms stretched out with a "WHAT THE HELL?!" look on my face. He stopped, lipped "SORRY!" and we both smiled at each other.

I just smiled at a guy who hit me with his car.

No... pushed me with his car.

Then, we waved at each other.

I literally just THANKED him for pushing me with his car.

You know what irks me the most about this whole scenario? He was parked in the "Parents With Child" parking stall. When I noticed this, I wanted to scream at him.

Not for pushing me with his car - but for parking in MY parking stall.

What an a-hole.

So I walked into Walmart, with the intention of just buying nose spray, and left with things for the 2 kids I left at home to get away from. I realized, as I was leaving, I forgot the nose spray. So I had to go back in.

"Forgot" the nose spray.

Sucker.

Lucas had been crying the entire time I was gone. Aryn didn't move her dress from behind her on the potty and had gotten poop on her dress. Ryan was still in work clothes. Supper was burning in the slow cooker.

And I got 20 minutes to myself.

'Twas a good day.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Fun times.

Last night, I went and checked on my daughter and there in the corner of her room was a diaper. I didn't think much of it, assuming it was the previous night's diaper so I threw it in the garbage, removed the soccer ball and 3 books from her bed, and kissed her forehead before I left and went to bed.

Ryan and I were talking while we were falling asleep, and I happened to mention that I had found the previous night's diaper in her room. Ryan informed me that he had thrown that diaper in the garbage. Silence.

I jumped up, ran to her room, and lo and behold, she was not wearing her nighttime diaper. Nope. She had underwear on. Put on completely wrong - her body was in the leg hold and they were TIGHT.

So, there we were, working really hard - as a team - to take off these super tight underwear at 11pm... in the dark... and put on a new diaper. All the while, my 45-pound toddler slept with dead weight. FYI, changing the pants of a 45-pound sleeping toddler is not fun. And you will break a nail. But it sure was cause for some laughter.

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Doesn't she look gigantic?!

So this brings us to a new venture in the next little while: nighttime potty training. I'm terrified. This mama likes her sleep. Like... I cry that ugly cry when something keeps me awake. Which is probably why we should stop at 2 children, because God knows I'm the worst with nighttime nursing. Everyone's all, "Oh, they're only this young for so long! Embrace and cherish the nighttime nursing cuddles!"

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Me? I want to punch you in the face when you say that to me. Mama likes to sleep. Nursing every 2 hours is annoying and exhaustion causes me to be very grumpy.

Thankfully, Lukey Pookey (or, as he has now been called, "Pookie Man") is a champion sleeper. I mean... literally. He goes down at 8:30pm (after a 4-hour awake session where he cries and fusses for most of it...), wakes up anywhere from 2-4am, eats, then sleeps until 8am... yes, you are free to be jealous. I would be jealous if it wasn't us. And I'm scared to post this because that means that tonight he'll be up every 2 hours and I'm going to curse my blog for it.

So, going back to nighttime potty training... our decision now is:

Option 1: put her on the potty at 11pm when we go to bed.
Option 2: wake her up to potty when I get up to nurse Lucas.
Option 3: forget it and just get a second job to pay for the ridiculously expensive diapers we have to buy.

Diaper prices are insane. Add to that the fact that our 2.5 year old is already 45 pounds with large legs and butt, she doesn't fit in regular pull-ups. Nope, she's in the "Big Kids" pull-ups... the ones for ages 6-8. Yes, you read that right. They are the only ones that fit. And for 23 diapers, it's $20. That's effing expensive.

Wish us luck.

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Poor Lukey...

In other news, last weekend we had some friends stay with us. We had a fantastic time, and it was nice staying up socializing past 9pm for once. It's been a long time that I've stayed up as late as we did... and by late I mean midnight.

I am pretty sure there was a point in time when we didn't even leave for the bar until 11pm.

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Looking good, Ryan... looking good...

We spent the one day at Calaway Park in Calgary, which was probably one of the most fun days we've had in awhile. FYI: amusement parks are extremely not-nursing friendly. Both Jill and I were constantly looking for a place to nurse our babies. We ended up having to do it right in public... along with a few other nursing moms. Unfortunately, each area we found was near bushes and we all got attacked by mosquitoes.

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But there we were.... 6 or 7 nursing moms, all trying to hide our lady bits from prying eyes and curious toddlers. Fun times.

And another fun thing that happened at Calaway Park was Ryan's tooth fell out. Yep, he has a fake tooth, that's supposed to late him about 5 years and bam - it fell out. On our way to Calaway. Guess how much it's going to cost us to fix? $3200. We're super pumped about that.

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But he looks hilarious. That's worth the $3200.

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Irony at its finest. 

Who wants to buy my book so we can pay for said tooth??

Things have been fun around here. Aryn's hilarious (her new thing is, "Of COURSE, mommy!" - to any question. "Aryn, did you take my phone?" "Of COURSE I did!"), Pookie Man is smiling and cooing... and just does not eat near as much as Aryn did. It's weird how little he eats yet continues to gain weight. We're doing great and loving every day... at least most of the day. Not all of the day... but most.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Crazy days

We are losing our minds. Literally. The lack of sleep, lack of relaxation, lack of spending any time with each other before having to rush off to bed before we 'miss our window' has taken its toll. We are walking zombies and someone has already eaten our brains.

Case in point...

Saturday: We went to Lethbridge for a wedding. Now, we didn't need to leave until noon. We started getting ready at about 9am, thinking we'd be ready in plenty of time. Well. Aryn woke Lucas up at about 10am, and he proceeded to scream until 11. Which meant I didn't get to do anything other than hold him for an hour. 11:30 rolls around, I'm not dressed, no makeup, Aryn's running around naked, Lucas is asleep and still in his pj's. Ryan showered at 11:45 and we rushed out the door at 12:20. We forgot lots of stuff.

Saturday Part 2: I left the ceremony and took the kids back to the farm. Kids were not invited to the wedding and we wanted some quality time with Yampa Butch. We got home at 6. By the time bedtime (8pm) rolled around, we'd had had one toddler pee accident, one infant projectile vomit, 2 infant poopy diapers, one toddler freak out, and a huge fight to make said toddler eat supper.

Sunday: The morning after the wedding, Ryan's mom gets a text from his sister saying she has Ryan's phone. He left it in Lethbridge. We're at the farm. One year ago, we'd have just left it there and had them mail it up. But not now. Smart phones = life lines. Ryan drove to Lethbridge (an hour away) to get his phone.

Sunday Part 2: While getting ready to leave, I strapped both kids in the car. Ryan started the remote car starter (because it was hot out. Car on = air conditioning). In order to remotely start the car, you need to lock the doors, and then hold the remote starter for 3 seconds. I do this literally every day, and I have a process where I immediately unlock the doors after starting the car. Well, Ryan doesn't take my car very often. He put the keys in the ignition, and closed the door.

Kids. Locked. In Car.

So, after fighting with OnStar to BEG them to find a way to open our car, and calling 911, and Chevrolet Road Side Assistance, and no one was able to help us (because we're in the middle of nowhere, and we don't have OnStar), Ryan had to break the driver side window with a hammer.

Infant screaming bloody murder.

Toddler hyperventilating crying.

Oh, and the air conditioning? It was off. So hot air was blowing on both kids.

Awesome.

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The whole situation took about 10 minutes to resolve, but it felt like hours. It took a bit to calm them down, and a fun switcheroo with the inlaws super nice Enclave to take home, and we were back on the road about an hour later. Exhausted, annoyed, and feeling silly. But everyone was ok.

Monday: My parents take Aryn on Mondays. They usually go to the zoo, but due to the floods in Calgary, the zoo is closed until at least the end of July. So they went to the Science museum. So it was just me and Pookie, so we went to the mall to get Aryn some new clothes, and then to Costco. Lucas was a trooper. I wanted a quick in-and-out of Calgary so I could get home around lunch time to take Bauer for a walk before the weather turned. Well, I get home, and there's a missed call on my cell (which I saw was ringing about 3 minutes after I left Costco and I ignored it because I was driving). It was Costco. I forgot my wallet.

*sigh*

Back in the car, 3 pull overs to tend to a screaming infant who did NOT want to go back to sleep, and almost 2 hours later, my wallet is back in the car and we're at home.

Tuesday: This morning, Aryn woke up quietly, snuck out of her room, took off her diaper, and proceeded to poop in the toilet. On her own. YAY!! No. Not yay. She also got off the potty post-poop, tried to clean her self up, some poop fell off of her, she tried to wipe it up with face cloths, and then walked over to us with poop spontaneously dropping from her. In a word, poop was: EVERYWHERE. So much poop. At 6:30am. Fun times.

Positives: we haven't left the kids somewhere yet. Pat on back. And we've only forgotten our cell phones and wallets. I mean, it could be worse. And Aryn has learned she can go to the bathroom on her own. Although, this may not be a positive.

Negatives: Aryn has learned she can go to the bathroom on her own.

Another positive: Lucas is pretty much sleeping through the night. The night before last I woke up at 3am, realized he hadn't woken up yet (he last ate at 9:30). I jumped out of bed to make sure he was still breathing, and decided to wake him up and feed him because I didn't want to get up in an hour, should that be when he actually woke up. He ate for like 6 minutes and went back to sleep until 7am. Not too shabby. Last night wasn't as great, and I tend to mix up his loud grunting for being awake and wanting me, when really he's just a grunter in his sleep.

Oh and he's over 11 pounds. So his eating strike seems to not be as bad as I thought.

Here's to another day. I wonder what will get forgotten?? Yikes.