Owen Time

I don't get much one-on-one time with Owen for some reason. It seems like he needs less Mom-time than Drew does and he seems really content to just play by himself most of the time. For example, when we sit down to read, Drew will sit on my lap and look at book after book with me, while Owen will take the book and sit on a chair across the room and read by himself.

Today Owen wanted to go outside and play with Vito, but Vito was more interested in playing with the dog next door. Owen looked so lonely just wandering around the back yard by himself, so I got my jacket and went out to join him. We raked up some leaves and I surprised Owen by jumping into the pile and throwing the leaves around. He thought it was pretty funny to see Mom acting like that. We had a really good time. Here are some pictures, and a little video:

And here is a video of Drew and Owen watching the video of Owen playing in the leaves (they watched the video about nine times, and it was more and more hilarious to them each time. Sorry it's so dark; it was lighter on my camera, but the sound is mostly what it's about, not so much the visual):

So Much for Feeling Better

I started feeling better on Saturday and Sunday. We skipped church because I thought the boys were probably a little too sick to go to nursery, but other than that I felt pretty decent. Then this morning I woke up with a swollen tongue and my throat more sore than ever. So I went to the doc, who was pleased to announce I have Strep. He was pleased because that meant it's something treatable and not something I'd just have to suffer through. He gave me some Amoxicillin and some Magic Mouthwash which was made up of Lidocaine, Benadryl and Mylanta. It's so nasty, but it numbs my throat to give me a few minutes relief. On the down side, it makes me feel like I just got back from the dentist.
I feel a little guilty. Because I'd been feeling better yesterday, and I figured the boys and I probably had the same bug, I shared some ice cream with them last night. Oops. Now I'm worried that they'll come down with it, if they haven't already. They were immunized a month ago, so hopefully those shots will do what they're supposed to do.
Drew has been worse than usual today with his tantrums (he screamed and cried for almost three hours straight). So I think he probably has something that's making him feel miserable. After the kids went to bed, I sat down to watch Monday Night Football with David. He looked so frazzled. Even though he doesn't like his job, it's days like today that make it almost exciting to go to work.
I'm going to keep this post short and go back to bed. 'Night!

Theek-oo Mo Munch*

*That's Drewese for "Thank you so much."

I realised, as I lay in bed last night (bedtime is my thinking time--not so much by choice, but because I can't ever get my brain to shut off), that my previous post sounded a little whiny and not very thankful. This morning I had to get up early to let the neighbor's dog out, so I figured I'd use this time before the kids get up to do all my Internet stuff. And I decided I'd better do a real Thanksgiving post today because I really do have so much to be grateful for. Here are the highlights:

I'm thankful for

I'm also thankful for

And I'm especially thankful for

I'm even thankful for

Disclaimer: My pictures are kind of incomplete and out of date; there are three (soon to be four) grandkids (as in, my mom's grandkids) who aren't featured in some of the photos. Also, I don't have a picture of one of my brothers or his wife. So I just put their kids up there. I don't have any pictures of my dad and stepmom. I don't have any pictures of my inlaws, and I really am thankful for them, despite all the inlaw jokes that I find hilarious and sometimes true. I don't have pictures of the people I consider my good friends, and probably don't have room to post them all. So don't feel bad if your picture isn't up here (or if it is up there and you didn't want it to be)!

Uncle Mommy and the Horse Lady

What a week. Holidays always seem a little anticlimactic to me. All this looking forward to Thanksgiving Day, and now that it's over I feel a little bit "meh" about it all. It's not that I didn't have fun at the relatives' house, but I think I would have liked it better if I had been feeling better healthwise. Here's a run-down of the week.

Monday was nuts, what with the Terrible Drews and all.

Tuesday was almost equally crazy. I don't know how many times I had to pull the boys off the kitchen counter. I'd turn around to get a dish off the table, and when I turned back toward the counter, there they were, monkeying with stuff and making more messes. And to top it off, I started getting a sore throat. I also started getting weepy for no reason--I've come to view this as a sure sign that I'm coming down with something.* I think I got the bug from Owen, who has been running around coughing on everything for the last week or so. Drew caught something, too; he's got a goopy nose and what I think might be cold sores on his face (I thought they were zits, but I read something about cold sores in toddlers and he's got some other symptoms).

Wednesday morning I woke up with a horrible sore throat and a massive headache that extended down into my neck and shoulders. I could barely move, but I managed to put all the chairs in the hallway and gate it off so the boys couldn't get onto the counters again, then I laid down on the couch and watched as the boys trashed the living room. I mean, played. Sometime around 1 pm, I managed to make some Lipton noodle soup, which helped the sore throat for a while. I put some in the boys' sippy cups. They liked it. Drew called it chicken milk.** I laid down on the couch some more, then around 8 pm I decided we should have dinner. So I ordered pizza and soda ("izza and sodad" as the boys call it). Then I bathed the boys and we watched a little bit of "Sword in the Stone," then I put them to bed and I went and crashed.

Thursday, I woke up feeling much better. I didn't feel like I should go to the relatives' house, but David didn't want to go without us, and he didn't want to skip it. So we all went. I tried really hard not to breathe on anybody, which is much more than I can say for Owen. He walked around coughing and not covering his mouth (he actually used to be really good about covering his mouth, but I guess he's feeling a little rebellious. And probably doesn't understand the importance). Luckily, he's short so he mostly coughed on peoples' knees.

The boys had a lot of fun. The relatives have horses, and cousin Mike was kind enough to take the boys out to pet the horses a couple times. David's aunt and uncle (I don't know if they'd like me to use their real names, so we'll just call them The Aunt and The Uncle) also took the boys out a few times. The boys couldn't figure out how to pronounce The Uncle's name, so they call him Uncle Mommy (it's close). When we were getting ready to leave, The Aunt offered to help Drew put his shoes back on (he'd taken them off for a diaper change). David said, "Take your shoes to The Aunt." Drew looked around all confused so David said, "Take your shoes to the horse lady." Drew picked up the shoes and took them right over to The Aunt.

I had a lot of fun mingling with the relatives, too. They're a pretty easy-going bunch for the most part, and always make me feel welcome. So I like visiting with them. And the food is always delicious. On the way home, my big ol' headache came back, and I was suddenly hungry, so I made David stop at A&W. I just wanted a burger and fries, and a Sprite (I like the way it tingles my throat). Turns out this A&W didn't have Sprite. Nor did they have A&W root beer. What a crime! So I just had regular root beer. It was a little disappointing. But it held me over 'til I got home and was able to drink some of the sodad from the night before. David was nice enough to put the boys to bed for me; I suddenly got the chills again and had to lay under my covers for a half hour before I could get warm, at which point I started burning up. My temperature never got over 100.9, so I don't think it killed many germs, but it made me feel a little better.

I don't have much headache at all today, just a bit of a sore throat. So my plans for today include washing all the sheets, getting all the dishes done (they've been sitting in the sink since Tuesday), and wiping everything down with Chlorox wipes. Unfortunately, today is almost over by this time and few things have been accomplished. I did get the sheets washed and dried, and I'm sure I'll get them back on the beds before bedtime (or maybe at bedtime). It just feels better to sit here than it does to do all that work.

Hopefully the next holiday will turn out better.

*I was at a Sizzler once on my mission (which was a huge treat because there's not a ton of American food in Thailand and it's really expensive compared to Thai food), when suddenly I broke into tears that I couldn't explain. I was so embarrassed, so my companion and I ran to the restroom so I wouldn't have to cry in front of the Elders. But the restroom was on the other side of the mall, so all the Thai people got to see this big foreigner running through the mall crying. Anyway. That night my temperature soared and I had to go to the hospital where I was diagnosed with a "wiral infection" and sent home with some drugs. I guess the doctor had learned English from a German guy so he said "w" instead of "v." Since that day, whenever I'm coming down with a wiral infection or something, I get really weepy for no apparent reason. Weird, huh.

** My little brother used to pronounce the word "choclolate" kinda funny so when he said "chocolate milk," it sounded like he said "chicken milk." We had a funny neighbor who used to tease Kevin about it, and it became a huge family joke, so I was very glad to hear Drew carry on the tradition (even though he had no idea there was such a tradition).

The Terrible Drews

I've heard that the Terrible Twos come on suddenly, last for one to two years and leave suddenly. In our case, they certainly did arrive suddenly. I hope they don't last long; in fact, it would be nice if they suddenly left, say, by the time Drew wakes up from his nap.

Drew has always been a pretty demanding kid, and he's always been a little bi-polar. Happy one second, throwing a fit the next, then suddenly happy again. The last few days, though, have been out of control. I should start with the positive things: Drew has been very polite lately, saying "please" and "thank you," many times without being prompted. But be warned; if he says "please" more than once and you don't give him what he wants, he'll drop to the floor and kick and scream, loudly. This part is easy for me to ignore. But sometimes he takes his wrath out on others. That is unacceptable.

When we got back from the store today, he threw a fit once we got into the house. It didn't last long, and soon he was running around playing again. When he tried to run out the front door, I told him No. He turned around and started bawling. Then he walked over to the dog and smacked him in the nose. He got sent to his room for that. David waited til he was done screaming, then asked him to apologise to Vito. Drew refused, so he had to stay in there. Finally, he stopped screaming and apologised to Vito. I let him out, and as we were walking toward the hallway, Drew shoved his bedroom door into Owen (with no apparent reason), thus knocking Owen into the door jam and onto the floor. So he had to stay in his room. He finally went down for a nap, but still refuses to apologise to Owen.

I feel quite blessed that Owen's Twos aren't quite as Terrible as Drew's. He has his moments of tantrums and crying, but he's never hit or bit anyone. I hope it stays that way. I don't think I can handle two kids acting up to that extent.

For me, the hardest part about being a parent is being consistent. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to give the appropriate discipline for misbehavior. And sometimes it's tricky to coordinate with David on which things should be punished and which things shouldn't. Turns out he's a little stricter than I am. Also difficult for me is coming up with the appropriate discipline to begin with. I've read all kinds of books, most of which claim their methods work for kids age 2 to 12, but upon reading I discover they're really for school age kids. Two books that I have liked are 1-2-3 Magic, and The New Dare to Discipline.

The first book involves counting to 3 when your kid is doing something you want them to stop. I like it because it usually works; I usually only get to 2 and the kids shape up so I don't actually have to deliver a punishment.

The second book I like because the author talks a lot about setting boundaries and enforcing them; kids feel safe with boundaries. He also talks about loving discipline. After you reprimand or even punish your kid, you show an increase of love. I'm not actually finished reading this book, but I really like it so far.

So this is where we're at right now. Some days it's more rough than others, and I'm learning that if I handle things correctly, I can keep the tantrums under a decent amount of control until the kids grow out of it (by which point Samantha will probably be getting into the phase).

Oohh, Weerm!

David and I took the boys swimming at the gym today. We left Samantha with Grandpa, and that made the boys mad (they wanted to go to Grandpa's, too), but once we got to the gym they were pretty excited. The boys have mixed feelings about the gym. They like it, but don't like it. Usually, we take them to the day care while we work out. They always cry when we leave, but not for long and always end up having fun. Though, last Monday when we took them, Drew cried every time someone opened the door so by the time we went to pick him up, his eyes were puffy and bright pink splotchy. It looked like an allergic reaction.

While we were standing in the lobby checking in today, Drew chanted, "Gym. Toys. Gym. Toys." Owen was silent, and I noticed his little chin quivering like he was going to cry. He cried in the locker room, but once he got to the pool, he was his usual happy self.

We jumped in the hot tub first off. It felt so good after ten months of not being able to go hot-tubbing! They boys liked it, too. Once they got used to the heat, they splashed around and laid on their bellies. Drew would lay on his belly with his head and his feet out of the water (he's flexible) and exclaim, "Oooh! Weerm (warm)!" Then he'd sit up, then he'd get back on his belly and do it all over again. There was a cute little Asian couple in the hot tub. The lady was watching Drew and Owen splash around and every so often she'd catch her husband's eye and motion over to the boys and they'd both laugh. I think Drew must have noticed, cause he seemed to ham it up a little more after that.

Drew was kind of scared of the regular pool once we got in. It surprised me, because the last time we went, he loved it and Owen was the clingy one. But they switched it up this time. Owen loved the pool. Drew and I got in first, and Owen walked over to me and stepped off the edge, right into the pool. I caught him by the arm and pulled him above water. He sputtered a little, then was ready to splash and play. David held Owen up so he could kick his legs. Then I demonstrated how to do the front crawl (the boys found this funny for some reason) and Owen tried moving his arms while kicking his legs. He got a face full of water, but thought it was hilarious. The boys had such a great time that when we asked them if they wanted to go to Grandpa's they both said No!

Doctor Visits and Adventures in Shopping (Part IV)

I think I've made a trek to the doctor either for myself or a kid just about every day this past week. Mostly just check-ups and immunizations, but it makes for a lot of trips to and fro (especially when the radiologist calls you and asks to reschedule and tells you to come in at 3:15, but when you get there she gives you a dirty look and says, "I told you to come at 3:00" and makes you reschedule yet again). And I have to go back to the office on Monday because Samantha kicked off a sock in the ultrasound room and I didn't notice 'til I got home. Oh well. At least we don't live out in the middle of nowhere where we'd have to drive forever to get to the doctor.

Yesterday was Samantha's two month check-up. She's doing quite well; chunking right up. She weighs 10 pounds 14.5 ounces and is 22.5 inches long. She's right on the 50th percentile for height and weight. Her head circumference seems a little small to me; it's only on the 25 percentile. But it's growing on a steady curve, so it's nothing to worry too much about. While he was checking Samantha out, the doctor made a comment that she doesn't have much of a neck. She's mostly cheeks and chins (yes, it's plural). We had a good laugh about that. I was really impressed with how Samantha did with all the poking and prodding of checking her ears and eyes and listening to her heart and lungs. She just wiggled around and seemed to enjoy it. Drew and Owen screamed bloody murder at every doctor visit until about 18 months (24 months for Owen).

We went grocery shopping last night. Just as a side note: I really wish Walmart had frequent shopper discounts. I'm thinking of getting a job there just for the 10% employee discount. It would really help out with diapers and such. There's another store in town whose prices are actually a little cheaper than Walmart's, but they don't take credit cards. This is a problem for us, because we're trying to rack up points and take a vacation in February.

Any outing with Drew and Owen in tow is an adventure. Now, with Samantha joining us, it's even more exciting. For some reason, we seem to make a bit of a spectacle and draw a lot of comments. For example: I was carrying Samantha in the Snugli, and a guy passing by said, "What a cute bundle you have there! That's really cool." It was a rather cute bundle, I must say. Samantha was snuggled into my chest with her arms and legs dangling out the sides of the Snugli, and her little pink pom-pom hat sticking out the top.

Adding to the spectacle are Drew and Owen who have to say "Hi" to everyone we pass, and comment on every screaming kid: "Baby crying," Drew always says loudly. The parents always look at us like they're embarrassed, so I feel compelled to remind Drew that he, too, behaves like that quite often. Yesterday, one of the ladies Drew said hi to stopped and chatted for a minute. She said, "You boys have such great hair!" She asked me if they always had good, thick hair like that. I told her that Drew was born with quite a bit but that Owen was bald for the first year or so. She said, "Well, it looks great! You have newscaster hair!"

By the end of our shopping trip, Samantha was getting fussy. It was probably around 9:30, which is past her bedtime. Plus, she'd been sitting on a dirty diaper for half the trip. She cried and cried while I was putting groceries into the car. Owen was in the car seat next to her and as I loaded the last bag into the car, I saw him petting her arm as he said over and over, "See nuff 'Mantha (that's enough, Samantha)." I hurried and closed the car door so he wouldn't hear me giggling all the way to the cart return.

...

I can't think of any witty title to my post today. My brain is fried from lack of sleep. I've been getting up at 7:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays (okay, so I've only done it twice so far);about 2.5 hours earlier than usual (I try really hard not to compare myself too much to other moms out there, because then I feel really lazy). I started going to the gym with a friend from the neighborhood. When I first got my gym membership last year, I got a free meeting with a personal trainer. She gave me a list of exercises to do which are supposed to get my muscles all nice and toned without being too bulky. I still have the list, but I can't remember what some of the exercises are. For example, what did she mean by "leg drops" and what is a "Superman?" So I just did the ones I knew for now.

I also went for a ride on my new bike. David got me this bike for my birthday. The red design on it is a mass of butterflies. It looks cooler close up. The first time I rode the bike, I made it around the block. The second time, I was able to go around the neighborhood. For some reason, I was feeling extra good yesterday, so we went on some trails. I wasn't feeling so good afterward. My legs felt like wet noodles! But it was such a rush to be flying down a mountain again, dodging trees and bushes and jumping over rocks and sticks. It reminded me of going biking with my friends in Logan. There are a lot of good trails there. And according to David, there are lots of good ones here. So I'm looking forward to making the most of the beautiful Fall days we've been having before they're gone (and David makes me pick up snowboarding again--for some reason that particular sport doesn't thrill me as much as the rest)!

Mom Bob

Here are our Halloween costumes:

Owen was a little devil. Drew was a little bat.
Samantha was a little witch.

Here we are on the way to trunk-or-treat at the church.

Everyone has jobs to do here. I have most of them, but the boys have been getting more and more little chores every day. Things like taking their dishes to the sink, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, putting toys away. Sometimes they "help" sweep the floor or wipe the table, but they usually end up making the messes worse, so those ones we call "Mom bob" or Mom's job. It comes in handy when they're trying to do things I don't want them to do, like "comfort" Samantha or plug things into electrical outlets. I just say, "That's Mom's job." And they generally back off.

Today was a day I feared would come... One of the few chores my kids are big enough to do themselves, they no longer want to do. Here's how it all went down:

We went outside this morning after breakfast, so the boys could get some fresh air. I didn't realize it was quite so cold until we came inside and Owen told me his hands hurt. They were bright, bright pink and cold, cold, cold. I looked at our thermometer. Sure enough, only 40 degrees outside. Brr! So I made the boys some warm chocolate milk. They chugged it right down and their hands got warm in the process. Then, Owen heard the sounds of fun toys coming from Westley's room. So he yelled, "'Bye, Mom!" and started scooting downstairs. I asked him if he was done with his milk. He said yes, so I told him to put his cup in the sink. He said (almost gleefully), "Mom bob!" and proceeded to scoot down the stairs.