Now I'm confused, is it "Butt-Naked" or "Buck-Naked"...Can a buck be naked? Oh well, you got what I meant.

Not Again...

Last night I was home with the boys waiting for Scott to get home from work.
I was getting the boys ready for our bed-time routine with bath-time and everything else, nothing out of the ordinary.

In throwing away a pretty stinky diaper,
I realized our trash cans were still at the street and decided to bring them in.
Brendan (being the ever curious toddler who wants to be in the middle of everything mommy does) began to follow me outside and I instructed him to stay in the house.

But as I go to bring the cans in,
Brendan is standing in the doorway with the door open and with Caleb,
also trying to follow me, and now screaming/crying.
I can just see it now,
Brendan runs off,
the heavy garage door slams on Caleb.

Deciding to be the muti-tasking mommy,
I pick Caleb up and carry him
since I really only need one hand to bring in empty trash cans.
Brendan (of course) follows.

As I tell him (yell at him?) once more to get back in the house,
I go to open the door…
Brendan has locked us out.

I ever-so-calmly walk to the front door.
Locked.
I had of course locked the deadbolt
since I was home alone with the boys.

Locked out.
Again.
This is the 3rd time in a month…
you would think I would learn!

No keys.
No phone.
Nothing.
Just me and the boys.

Oh, and did I mention Brendan is naked?
Butt Naked.
Nothing on but little white socks.
(It was bath time remember?)

I remind myself that at least Caleb is in my arms
and not locked inside the house.
I look around, Scott should be home fairly soon.

Nicely placed in our garage is the rocking chair,
removed from Caleb’s room when the in-laws came to visit.
So I have a seat.
Now what to do with Brendan’s bare-bum so our neighbors don’t think I’m a terrible mother.
For some reason (not quite sure why)
there are a pair of 2T shorts lying on the ground.
At least his private areas are covered and our garage is now a G rating again.

So we sit.
And wait.
Brendan finds a baseball and practices his overhand pitching,
just in time for baseball season.
Daddy would be so proud.

Scott pulls up about 15 minutes later with the most confused look on his face.
“Why are you just sitting outside on a rocking chair while our son runs around without a shirt on?”
Because I thought,
"Hey!
It’s a Tuesday night,
I have nothing better to do.
Let’s just sit outside until Daddy gets home.
It should be fun!"

At least I haddn’t started the bath water yet…

At the Park

My boys love the park

Especially Brendan.

He must ask to go to the park at least once a week,

Luckily we have a park in our housing community,

perfectly within walking distance.

I can make my kids day just by saying 5 simple words:

"Let's go to the park!"

While Brendan HATES the swing,

Caleb is still at the age where anything outside is fun.

"And if it means playing with Mommy and big brother, I'm in!"

The slide is of course a big hit with Brendan,

This was first time they have gone down together,

Surprisingly,

Brendan did not protest helping his brother go down the slide,

As long as we are at the park,

he is a perfect angel

"Please don't make me go home!"

The wagon is the easiest way to get to the park.

Brendan likes to be Mommy's-little-helper and pull Caleb in the wagon.

If only he knew it would be easier on Mommy to just ride with brother. There is nothing better than an afternoon at the park with my boys!

I guess we aren't perfect parents...

Sunday night was one of the worse parenting moments for me. We put Brendan to bed a little early since he was so fussy for the day, as I was in the kitchen I heard him cry a little and cough. So I went and stood outside Brendan’s door trying to listen, I didn’t want to go in his room and wake him up if he was sleeping. I didn’t hear anything so I went back to what I was doing. As Scott and I were crawling into bed a little later, I decided I would sleep better if I just went and checked on this boys. As I open Brendan’s door I am almost knocked out by the smell. He wakes up and looks at me, the poor kid had thrown up in his bed and then gone back to sleep in the filth because he was so tired. So here he was sleeping for an hour and a half in this gross bed!

I felt like the worse mother ever!

I hollored for Scott who jumped in right away and we were able to clean him up, change his sheets, start a load of laundry, change pajamas and get Brendan back to bed as quickly as possible. He was so miserable, all he wanted to do was to sleep.

I just knew Brendan had thrown-up, why didn’t I just check on him when I heard him fuss? This was one major parenting fail for me!


*******
I also want to add to this post Scott was a very supportive husband through the entire thing. He took time off work, stayed with Caleb in the hospital, held a sick baby for hours, was thrown up on, and did everything he could to help our sick kids, even while I was out of town. Of course having his mother there during it all was a huge blessing that I know Scott (and I) appreciated. I am lucky to have an amazing husband and father. He is now suffering his own stomach issues from being such a great dad and sharing germs with his kiddos!

Sickness Part 2

Did that last post feel like it just ended? It did to me, probably because I just got tired of typing and I figured you were tired of reading, but really my story didn’t end there.

After spending the night (awake most of the night) in the hospital with Caleb I could tell he was starting to feel better. He only threw up on my once but was eating more consistently. The doctor came by the next morning to check on Caleb’s progress and let us know that as long as he continued to eat/drink for the morning, and his diapers were normal, he would release him at lunch time (lunch time translates to 3:00 in my mind). Sure enough we were released from the hospital about 3:00-3:30 on Thursday afternoon.

As we were leaving the hospital, one pediatric nurse looked at me and said “You look familiar. Have you been here before with another boy?” I replied that we had been here in May of last year with Brendan’s hernia surgery. This is one place I do not really want to be recognized at!

When we got home all was quiet. Caleb went right down for a nap in his room, and being that I had been away from home for almost a full week from my conference and then the hospital stay, all I wanted was to shower in my own shower. So I took a nice long, hot shower hoping to relax the tensed muscles from stress and sleep in a hospital. As I got out nice and relaxed, I realized I had a voicemail on my cell phone. It was Marion (Day Care Provider), Brendan was sick, he had thrown up all over her house. Great, just great.

Luckily, my MIL had gotten the message from Scott and by the time I got out of the shower, they were already on their way to go pick Brendan up.

I didn’t go to work again on Friday, I stayed home with two sick kiddos.

Caleb was starting to feel better, but Brendan pretty much stayed on the couch all day.

All he ingested was Gatorade for 3 days. He would ask for food like crackers, cheerios, or a banana, but the poor thing would just sit there holding it, not taking a bite.

By Sunday we figured that both boys were on the mend but it was probably safer to just stay home from church. I had a really bad sore throat and Scott stomach was off. So we let Brendan crawl in bed Sunday morning and decided to just take it easy. Brendan actually laid there which was highly unusual. Suddenly, we figured out why he was so quiet as he threw up in our bed and all over us. Guess we are up for the day! So Sunday was a day of laundry, sick kids, and as much rest as possible.

By Monday, we were all on our way to recovery. I am happy to say that we are all just about back to normal! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers during this sickness, we are all much better!

While the cats away the mice will....play?

Last week I was gone for a conference at work. We left early Saturday morning, and I left my two little boys home with Daddy (and Grandma & Grandpa) for the week. In preparation for my absence, I left them with easy meals to cook for the week, a daily schedule (3 ½ pages long) of instructions and the boys routine, enough frozen breastmilk and ice cubes of baby food to last the week and a few emergency numbers, just in case. Nothing I could have done would have prepared them for the week they had.

Scott told me on Sunday afternoon that the boys, especially Caleb had just been off since I left. I figured the boys were off their routine, nap-time was messed up and they were just missing their mom. But on Monday, it was obviously more than just missing mom. Caleb threw up a few times, Scott immediately called the doctor on call, which luckily was our own doctor. They were told that if he throws up again, they needed to go to ER/Urgent Care. Sure enough, not long after, Caleb throws up again. (You can imagine how this mama felt over 1,000 miles away in another state, this was the first time I had left Caleb and here they are in the Urgent Care.) The Urgent Care doctor diagnosis him with an ear infection and prescribes two medications.

The next day Scott knows something is not right another call to the doctor and they decide to bring him in for a visit on Tuesday morning. Our doctor takes one look at him and quickly checks his ears and tells us he does NOT have an ear infection (there was $30 wasted), Caleb has “gastroenteritis” (stomach virus, our doctor always uses technical terms that sound much worse than they are). It is very common, very contagious, and usually passes after a few days. However, a small percentage a babies get this and refuse to eat or drink. Hello, Caleb. He gave Grandma until 3:30 to try and get liquids down him. After struggling with a ten month old all day to try and eat in any way possible, including an eyedropper, a defeated Grandma calls the doctor back and they figure most likely Caleb will be admitted to the hospital.

I was holding it together pretty well all day Tuesday until I get the call that he is going to be admitted, I almost lose it. I know he was in good hands, we love our doctor and trust him, Scott was there and is a great dad, especially with the help and support of his parents…but as a mom far away, it was hard.

Caleb was finally admitted to the hospital late Tuesday night and after searching, pricking and holding down a screaming baby for almost 2 hours, he was hooked up to an IV and receiving fluids. Scott stayed the night at the hospital with Caleb on Tuesday night and most of Wednesday. Although exhausted, he makes it to his meeting at work Wednesday afternoon and my mother-in-law stays with Caleb at the hospital.

Although I know that Caleb is in good hands, I am very anxious to get home. Luckily we had an easy flight back to California. My boss’ parents kindly pick me up from the airport at 9:00 at night and take me straight to the hospital where I am finally able to hold my sick baby (and send my MIL home to get some sleep).

As I am in the hospital, I can tell Caleb is already feeling a bit better. I am told that after being tested, it was confirmed that he has Rotavirus, extremely contagious among children. After spending 5 days in Seattle away from my kids, this was the homecoming I received.

Estree Lauder taste on a Covergirl Budget

This is nothing more than my thoughts written down “on paper”

Today as I was doing my make-up my mind began to wonder. As we get older, live through different struggles and times in our lives, we are shaped, molded and blessed, with each experience.

I am a snob. A make-up snob that is. I was introduced to make-up at about 13, and I was started off with “the good stuff” – Estee Lauder. I have never known another kind of blush, eye shadow and rarely use another mascara. I have my “signature” scent of Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise. My make-up habit has come from a long line of expensive make-up wearers, from my great-grandmother, my Mimi, my mother, sister, aunt and cousin.

But with two babies in childcare there comes a time to make economic decisions. Huggies or Luvs? Store-bought or homemade baby food? Eating out or eating in? Fast food or sack lunch? Starbucks or Keurig or Folgers? Estee Lauder or Covergirl?

These seem trivial, even as I write this post I think “is it really worth writing about?” But sacrifices come in all shapes and sizes. One of my most recent changes was my purchasing of make-up. I thought about it this morning as I opened my brand new daily moisturizing crème that my grandmother got me for Christmas. It felt so smooth compared to the “Clean & Clear” I had been using, so refreshing. I felt spoiled that I was able to use the expensive moisturizer, I reminded myself to use sparingly to make it last, “Once this is gone, It’s back to the lotion from your teenage years.”

This is not really about make-up though. It is about making cuts in every area. My family was money-conscious as I grew up. I never had the “cool” shoes, we wore Payless. Soda was a treat. My mom made her own bread, jelly, pickles, even yogurt at one time. She would even make “lunchables” for us kids and pack them in Tupperware. I was taught how to live tight. However, years of two incomes and no kids quickly makes you forget how one can live in such a way.

I am thankful for the opportunities Scott and I have for our family. We are blessed with a house for our family of four, a great day care, two good jobs and a little extra at the end of the month. We are happy and together, isn’t that what really matters? Making little sacrifices here and there are worth it in the end. While I will mourn the loss of my expensive habits, I will delight in the knowing that God is still providing for all our needs (and still a little extra!)

So I will enjoy my Estee Lauder crème while it lasts and remember that every cut made to our once “extravagant” lifestyle is all worth it for our two boys and our strong family.

Caleb 9 months pictures

Last week we took Caleb to get his picture taken at JCPenneys. I think they did a great job this time with their pictures. Unfortunately, Caleb was teething with a runny nose and hurting gums so his smile isn't as big as usual, but I got a few cute shots! Although is wasn't my absolute favorite picture, a got the second pose as a 10x13 to hang on our wall. He is smiling and it is a snapshot of his development at this time in his life, about to take off crawling. Plus, he looks so grown-up in his polo shirt and blue jeans!

We brought along Caleb's fire truck and his book for the picture. One of Caleb's favorite toys and it matched the fire truck shirt so well! I love the 2nd pose, his little bare feet and him holding on to his truck! I am just so in love with these big blue eyes!