Christmas so far

With the holiday season here, I thought I would give a quick update on how ours is going.

-Brady and I made a gingerbread house (well really it was a kit, but who cares). I did not realize how difficult and time consuming the houses are. I made the mistake and tried to move the house from the table to the counter before it was set, I thought the boys would knock it over on the table. Silly me, I was moving it and it all fell apart with a few pieces crashing to the ground. Before I could get them all picked up, Dexter found and ate 1/4 of the back panel. I had to do a quick repair job with graham crackers and lots of icing. B and I decorated the house and I had to let go of my particular ways and let Brady put the candy on because he wanted to so bad. It actually WAS a cute house, but it was very easy to tell I had lots of help from a 3 year old. I say "was" because Dexter decided to make it a treat for himself one afternoon when we were out of the house. I did not even get a picture.

-The Christmas tree. We went to a cute little tree farm not far from our house to pick out the tree. After much searching we found what we thought was the perfect tree. Jamie started to saw it down and I reached in to hold it so it did not fall on a child. Inside was a birds nest, yes a nest - luckily no birds or eggs. We took the next out and loaded it up to take home. After 2 tree stands - it is still crooked.

-Decorating the tree has been interesting with the boys. I started with putting the breakable decorations up high and ones that were ok to touch lower, they stayed on the tree all of one day. All decorations are now on the top 1/2 of the tree, I have to admit it looks pretty funny.

-Back to baking, I decided to make sugar cookies and have Brady help decorate. I used to love doing that as a child, however I am pretty sure my mom did not have us decorating at age 3. Brady was not into frosting the cookies, instead he just wanted to put on sprinkles. He loves his sprinkles, most cookies are more sprinkles than frosting. Colby watched and ate the whole time.

That is the Christmas update for now, more to come I am sure. Pictures to come too.

Missing Maddie

Today we had the horrible task of deciding to put our cat, Maddie to sleep. We will miss her.

Maddie was a cat that loved to be left alone yet you knew when she wanted something. She had the loudest howl I have ever heard from a cat. Mostly she would exercise her lungs when the rest of us were trying to get some shut eye. Many nights I woke up to her "singing". I remember one night shortly after we were married she was singing. I got up to quiet her down to find her in the kitchen with a dead mouse - yes a mouse in the house - I guess she wanted to give me a present.

Maddie put up with a lot in the last 3 years - since the boys came along. She never once scratched one of the boys even though they sometimes loved on her a bit too hard. Or thought she was something to drag around.

If you have a pet hug them, we never know how long they will be around to make us smile. We miss you girl.

Halloween

So I am late posting pics from Halloween but here we go. This was the first Halloween where Jamie actually took the boys trick or treating. Brady walked and Colby followed in the wagon. From what Jamie tells me, Brady did not quite understand the concept of trick or treating. His understanding was that it was a social call. After ringing the doorbell and getting an answer Brady would follow it up by saying "hi" and wanting to go in and chat (with complete strangers). I am not sure he ever really understood what he was suppose to do. However, he does know that he does not at all like scary masks and still talks to me about the "scary guy."

For those of you who remember Brady's first Halloween costume, yes it is the same turtle. I could not part with the costume yet. I LOVED that costume and it fit Colby so perfectly this year. As a middle child I swore I would never recycle costumes to my children, but I had to get one more use out of this one. Mom and Dad - I now understand.

Brady and I often butt heads over many things during the day. I blame it on my lack of sleep and him being a 2 year old. Or I could go that we are both Scorpio's (not sure if that matters, but is sounds good). Today was a particularly trying day with him. He did not nap (really what's new with that though), he was being mean to his little brother and he was pushing EVERY button possible with me. So I decided we had to get out of the house.

The trip was to get me a flu shot at the local Safeway. A little background, yesterday Colby had his flu shot (B already had the flu mist) and I was asking B to tell Colby that it would be alright and he could hold his hand while he had it done if he wanted to help him feel better. B sat on the chair right next to us and told C it would be okay and hurt only for a little while. So today it was my turn. I sat on the chair, both boys in the shopping cart and B kept asking what I was doing, so I told him getting my flu shot. No sooner did he reach out his hand and ask to hold mine while I had my shot and told me it would be okay. As I held his hand a little tear came to my eye.

All is forgiven.

One question answered

Often while I am out driving I will see one shoe laying on the road. This leads me to the question of how does someone lose just one shoe? I have wondered this for years as I am driving and see yet another shoe on the road.

Today my lovely husband answered the question for me without saying a word. We packed the boys (he loaded B, I loaded C) into the truck to head to Costco to pick up the things we need in large quantities (wipes, dog food, cat litter and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches). We drove the 15 minutes to get there, getting on the interstate, crossing the river and back off the interstate finally arriving at Costco. While unloading the boys, my lovely husband asks where are B's shoes? My lovely husband had them coming out of the house so I guessed he knew where the were. We both looked at the back of the truck (yes, outside the truck) and saw just one shoe. Apparently my lovely husband forgot that shoes are not meant to ride on the back of the truck where they can so easily fall off while diving at high rates of speed and making many turns.

If you are driving anywhere between my house and Costco and see a size 8 toddler boys green sandal on the road, do me a favor and pick it up. Yes, we did return the same route we went but were unable to find the poor lost shoe. Did I mention I loved those shoes because B had not yet figured how to get them off in the car? And did I mention my lovely husband.....?

So next time you see a single shoe on the road you will know a possible way how it got there.

Off and running

I knew this day would come, but I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. Colby is full on walking now. He is so proud of himself to get up and go. He only resorts back to crawling when he needs to get somewhere really quick, like away from his brother. He has also learned how to climb up onto the couch and chairs - great.

Now fear is setting in on both of these boys keeping me running and trying to catch them when they fall.

Happy 1st Birthday!

It is so hard to believe that Colby is already 1. He turned 1 on the 1st of September, boy has time gone so fast this last year. I remember last year so clearly when he was born, it seems like yesterday.

We celebrated by visiting the zoo early in the day and then a quiet family party after Dad got home from work. Of course B had to help open all of the presents and break them in for C. Isn't that what big brothers are for? Colby also enjoyed his first cake, I am not sure who got more - Colby or Dexter. It made some great pictures though.

Happy Birthday little man.

Toilets and dog dishes

Someone tell me what is so interesting and fun about toilets and dog water dishes?

Colby can now reach into the toilet and loves to every chance he can. If someone leaves the bathroom door open he has found his entertainment until busted by me.

And the dog water dish, why is it so fun to try and drink out of it? That is a favorite of both boys.

Just if I could get them to love a bath - it's just water right?

Funeral or wedding?

We should not have to choose between one or the other.

The Funeral - On Tuesday my step grandpa passed away. Not to sound mean, but it was a good thing. He had been in a lot of pain for quite some time and finally he lost his battle with the cancer that had consumed his body. He will be missed, but as we all know he is in a better place.

The Wedding - My cousin is renewing her vows (they were married earlier this summer in South Carolina) and having a reception over Labor Day weekend. The relationship I have with her means a lot to me and I would love to support her on her big day.

So the choice for me, do I attend the funeral or the upcoming wedding of my cousin? You may wonder why not both? Well they are both in North Dakota - not an easy trip from anywhere except maybe South Dakota. Flying from here to Fargo is an adventure.

My decision - I decided on the wedding. There were multiple reasons, cost being a huge factor, try getting a plane ticket to Fargo at the last minute - a small car is cheaper. Also, I figure I will have plenty of time to spend with my Grandma while I am at the wedding. I hope she will enjoy that.

Why should we have to choose between the two? I guess we do the best we can.

Family Hike

Two weekends ago the four of us went to a place called Skamania (resort type destination) for an overnight stay. It was really a work function (golf) for Jamie. I was invited to dinner though, yippie! The boys had a babysitter in the room (daughter and son of Jamie's coworker). I was a bit nervous about this since they do not have many babysitters, but we were 2 minutes away, so I felt a bit calmer - and the window did not open so I knew they could not fall out! Anyway that has nothing to do with the hike.

So the hike, Jamie thought it would be a GREAT idea to stop on the drive home at a place called Beacon Rock for a little hike to the top. I should have known better when we pulled in and it looked straight up and there were rock climbers (the kind with ropes and stuff) coming down the trail. But I felt a bit better when we passed some 50-60 year olds and they said it takes about an hour round trip, not too bad. We were off. I had Colby strapped on my back and Jamie was holding Brady's hand. Not fair right, well we both knew B would only make it a while and want to be carried, Jamie's job. So we followed the path, climbed, climbed and climbed some more. The path itself was okay until we got to the suspended bridges over nothing, straight down. I used to be great with heights, but I have turned into my mother and freeze when it comes to any sort of heights. I crossed the bridges, not looking down but feeling as though I was about to tip over. Under my breath, I was swearing Jamie's name most of the way for thinking this was such a great idea. And for those who don't know Jamie, everything is a competition. So no way was anyone going to pass us going up the trail, he was cruising up, no leisurely hikes for us. Finally we made it to the top, it took us about 35 minutes.

Now I know I am not in great shape, but this hike kicked my butt. I was not sure I was going to recover, let alone ever breath normally again. We are at the top for a total of 5 minutes and Jamie says "let's go". Are you serious??????? Back down we went. The hike was a total of 2.5 miles, an 800 foot elevation gain and we did it in just over an hour, the 50-60 year olds beat us. But we were hiking with a toddler too. Oh yes, and Colby he slept on my back the whole way. Some day I hope to get paid back for all of this!

It is HOT!

I am not sure who is still checking my blog, but we will give it another shot at posting. Sorry!

As the title says, it is HOT, HOT, HOT here. We live in the Pacific Northwest, we are suppose to have nice mild summers. Well someone forgot that this year. We have been at or above 100 degrees since Sunday. Today we are suppose to be at an all time high of 107 - yes I said 107 - we are not in Arizona! We do not even cool down that much at night, last night the cool temp was 76.

Right now I am thankful for air conditioning and our pool. We have been in the pool daily for the last 2 weeks and I am sure that will not change at least through the weekend. Finally we are getting some use out of it. Well I guess I mean I am getting some use out of it because it is warm. Jamie seems to think everyone likes 65 degree pool water. Me, I like more around 85.

Stay cool.

First family bike ride

A little over a week ago we decide to enjoy the great weather we were having for the day and go for a bike ride. We had to get everything out of storage, pump up tires and get another helmet in order to head out. Soon we were ready and everything was loaded in the truck to go on the trail we had chosen for the day. Since it was the first ride ever for Colby we had to make sure it was pretty smooth and lots of places to stop.

We ended up on a paved path that you could ride for miles and miles, we decided to go as far as we could and then turn around and head back when the natives started getting restless. I think the actual preparation ended up being longer than the ride. We went a total of 4.4 miles. I was exhausted and my legs were burning when we were done. Did I mention that the wind was blowing straight into our faces on the way back? I will try not to mention that Jamie was pulling the bike trailer and overall it was a pretty flat trek.

Both boys did well, at one point we had a little episode of "he's touching me." Is this starting already - they are 2 1/2 and 7 months old? Colby was a trooper and I think Brady enjoyed having someone in the trailer with him. The halfway point had a playground which was a great resting area. Hopefully this will be something all of us can enjoy together and I will get into better shape from it. I guess we will see where our next bike adventure takes us.

Update on Mother status

My last entry talked about waiting to be christened as a mother. Well I have had my fair share this week, Colby has had an intestinal virus and has shared almost every meal with me. I have done 8 loads of laundry and changed my clothes a total of 28 times in 4 days. I did not know a 7 month old could hold so much in their stomach when they eat so little. As if it is not bad enough coming out of one end, he has it coming out of both. Poor little guy.

Christened as a mother

I have been very lucky as a mother with my boys. Both of them really did not spit up much as little babies, the occasional little bit of crap out of the mouth, but nothing big like I had witnessed from other little babies. Colby did get me once with a bit of blessing from his mouth after his first experience with rice cereal, but again not too big.

This last week it finally hit me, literally. Brady had been out of sorts for several day, not wanting to eat, a low grade fever and only wanting to be held. So I did the best I could to hold him and tend to his every need. Then it happened. We were sitting rocking and watching something on the tv and he said "belly urts." I replied with "oh you are fine, here drink some more Pedialyte." Wrong answer, not 10 seconds later he turned to me and shared all of the contents of his stomach. He shared and he shared, boy did he share. I think I was in so much shock, I just sat there for a minute. Dexter on the other hand decided he found a free breakfast that Brady was sharing with him too. I did the best I could to set Brady down on the floor, stand up and get the dog outside before he too was sick from eating whatever this disgusting mess was all over me. Then I stripped Brady down before heading to the laundry room to do the same for myself. Everything was straight into the washer and at this point I did not care that I was mixing colors with whites. Brady starts crying and I am desperately wanting a shower, but a quick towel off with baby wipes will have to do. After we were dressed and the rocker cleaned up, I sat back down and reminded myself that I love being a mother and taking care of my two little ones, but the next time Brady says his belly "urts" I had better grab the closest thing possible.

Yes I am blessed as a mother and happy to say that today everyone seems well.

Month of firsts

Our little boy Colby turned 6 months this past weekend, it is so hard to believe that he is already 6 months. Every time I think of how quickly he is growing, it makes me sad yet happy. He is becoming such a big boy. Size wise he has way passed Brady at the same age, I think we may have our own little linebacker!

Over the last month there were many firsts for the boys. It is amazing how fast it happens and how many can happen at the same time. Here are a few:

*Brady is now sleeping in a big boy bed. We bought the boys bunk beds for future use and Brady is sleeping in his bed. The first few days he was not sure he wanted to stay in the bed and would end up falling asleep on the floor. I found him one afternoon on the floor with all of his animals, his diaper off, but pants on. He managed to pull his pants off, take the diaper off and put his pants back on, backwards (and they were jeans). But now he LOVES his bed. And I love the fact that when he wakes up he actually stays in bed. He has his bucket of books right next to the bed, so he will wake and either read or talk to his animals on the bed. It is so cute to listen to him on the monitor.

*Colby is eating food, well rice cereal, but we consider it food. It took a while for him to take to the taste, I for one would never take to that taste (if you have never tried it, give it a shot). He gagged a lot and spit it out for weeks, but finally persistence paid off.

*Colby also started to crawl, the army man crawl that is. I know I am in trouble with both of them being mobile now. Forget the gym, I am sure I will get plenty of exercise with chasing them.

*We took an overnight trip with the boys to "test" out the hotel room idea. We wanted to see how traveling will work, not too bad but it could have been better. It was lights out in the room at 8:30 and Brady was finally asleep by 9:45. I think I slept the least, worrying that someone was going to roll off the bed. Any tips on hotel sleeping would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure when will take our next trip, but at least we know it is possible to get to sleep.

I am sure there were many more firsts this last month, but my mind is failing me right now. Besides I figured those who read this and check for updates from me would just be glad to read something.

My new washing machine

Brady loves to help me with laundry, he will push the laundry basket to the washer, help me load the washer, transfer to the dryer and then push the laundry basket full of clean clothes back to the bedroom (hopefully this will stay through his teenage years). So it was no surprise to me when he picked up the dirty clothes from the front room and took them to his bedroom to put in the laundry basket - or so I thought. I guess he decided I needed a new washing machine - see picture.

Finally snow

I admit I am about a week late posting this, but we had a beautiful white Christmas here. It snowed, snowed and then when we thought it was done it snowed some more. The Northwest is not prepared for this kind of weather, so it was nice to just hang out at home for a while. We did venture out once the cabin fever really started to hit and were again reminded of why we should have stayed home. Jamie and I both grew up driving in snow, so a few inches is no big deal to us. On the other hand, drivers here are one of two extremes. They either go way to fast for the conditions or WAY to slow. Chains are very popular here (also because of ice) but after the snow is gone, some still drive with chains - I guess fearing it will snow again.

Brady loved the snow, we would bundle him up and take him out multiple times a day. He would fall over and just say "up dada" or "up mama" - it was so cute. He really did not do much in the snow other than walk and fall down, but he loved it. On Christmas day we ventured to Multnomah Falls for a short hike in the snow. It was beautiful - but again we risked our lives out driving in the snow. I think Colby enjoyed the snow too, he never cried when we were out in it.

Tonight it is actually snowing again, I guess this is the snowiest winter in some 40 years. Bring on the snow, we love it in our household.