*sniff* They grow up so fast!

Zach now has a buzz cut so he looks like Dan.  He's potty-trained almost 100% during waking hours.  And he'll be 3 this Saturday.

Tom is walking.  And talking.

They are still a handful.

I joined the club

This past Saturday, I finally got my eyes checked for the first time in years.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I had my eyes checked.  All I am certain of is that I was in elementary school.  Yikes!

And now, I have glasses.

Growth spurts

Wow!  This morning, at snack time, Zach came up to me and asked for a sandwich.  He never needs that much food at snack time, but I'm guessing that he didn't get enough breakfast.  So, I need to plan on being eaten out of house and home before my son reaches age 3!  Yikes!

Tom already eats as much as Zach at most meals.  He just doesn't get as many snacks since he's still taking 2 naps a day most days.

Heck, I just went through Zach's clothes and culled out all the 2T/24 month stuff to put in storage for Tom.  And, I went through Tom's clothes and pulled out all the 12 month onesies.  Every outfit I put on him seems to just be too short or too tight around the middle.  Even the pajamas!  So, yesterday, during my shopping trip to SuperTarget, we bought 2 new pajamas for Zach and 4 for Tom.  I would have used the ones from Zach for Tom, but Zach wore 18 month clothes when it was cold out.  Thick long sleeves and long pants and blanket sleepers aren't so great for summer.

More Potty Training

Yay. Zach pooped on the potty. Actually, he pooped in the toilet...so, no extra cleaning for me! He went to the bathroom with his usual, "I have to go potty," and door open, close, open, tease Tom and get yelled at by me, close, open, tease Tom again and get yelled at again, close. Silence. Not bad, just quiet. Then he bursts out of the bathroom. "I POOP! I POOP! I POOP!" "You pooped in the potty?" "Yeah, I POOP IN POTTY!!!!!"

I then jump out of my chair and run to the bathroom to check it out. I look in the little potty....nothing. I look in the toilet and it really is there! So, I get him back on the toilet and show him how to wipe with toilet paper. Then we wash up and he gets big hugs and lots of praise. We tried to call Da, but the phone wasn't being answered. So, we called Aya. She was all kinds of excited too!

Dan did finally answer the phone. I had to prompt Zach to tell him what happened, but we are all so proud of him!!!

O M G

That title just about sums it up.  Tom didn't sleep as long as he should have for his nap, so I was ignoring him hoping he'd go back to sleep.  It didn't work.  And, as such, I'm actually quite glad that it didn't.  When I finally caved, I discovered that he was NEKID from the waist down.  Yes, NEKID!!!  Thank goodness that he didn't pee with it off and an even BIGGER  THANK GOODNESS that there was nothing for him to "eat" or "paint" the walls with.  (Kindly ignore the terrible grammar...I don't feel like fixing it today.)  Now I know that he must be put down with either pants or shorts on to prevent the "eating" or "painting" episodes...that is, until he figures out how to get those off too.

Lysol headache

If the title didn't catch your attention, then you must not be paying much attention here.  So, we all know that Zach is learning to use the potty.  Well, yesterday, we moved his little potty into the bathroom and took the knob thing off the door so he could go in by himself.  The reason is twofold: 1) he was just sitting on the potty in front of the TV most of the day and 2) Tom kept putting toys in it and trying to take it apart.

Zach got used to emptying and washing it every time, and is coordinated enough for all of it alone.  And, he still announces that he is going potty, so I know he's in there.  I was distracted this morning and didn't realize how long he'd been in there by himself.  I had kept a can of the Lysol air freshener in that bathroom because it's the place where all the dirty dipes go...cloth and disposable.  Well, he found it.  And, he sprayed the entire contents on his head.  I nearly threw up on him 3 times while I gave him a bath.  I hope it doesn't make him sick.  I hope he didn't swallow any of it.  But, that bathroom certainly doesn't smell like dirty diapers.  Silver lining, right?

So Proud!!

Zach LOVES his potty. I'm so proud of him! Now, we decided to use "beans" (a.k.a. M&M's....dark chocolate at that!) to reward him for peeing in his potty. He only had 1 accident today. We decided to go to Barnes & Noble in the morning just before lunch time and right after he was successful. We lucked into a story time.....Mercer Mayer's Little Critter was there. I wish I had taken pictures. And, we brought a change of clothes and Zach didn't mind carrying them in his backpack just in case. But, we didn't need them. I can't believe my little man is growing up so fast these days. *sniffle*

Potty Training has officially started

Yikes!  So far, no success and one wet pair of shorts and one wet cloth training pant.  We are now in big boy underpants and no shorts just waiting.  At least he doesn't like being wet.

Any helpful hints about cleaning furniture or the carpet is completely welcome!

A good reminder

My friend, Steph, whom I met through the Babycenter forums around the time I was pregnant with Zach has a really awesome blog post this morning.  And for that reminder, I am posting this:

I am putting my trust in God that everything that happens in and to my family is His will.  There will be days that are beyond frustrating, and there may be nights where I don't get one lick of sleep even though I no longer have a newborn.  Dan may have to take an extended business trip at some point in the future.  But, if I remember that He is in charge every day, then I have a good shot of having a happy, healthy life for my family.

Thank you so much for the reminder, Steph.

Mopping....ugh!

So, I'd been putting off mopping the kitchen floor because it's been so wet outside and our lovely greyhounds bring in grass and mud regularly when it's been raining. Seems kind of silly to mop, only to let the dogs out and back in and need to mop again in just 5 minutes. Well, Zach is still working on his skills with a regular cup. He knocked over a nearly fully cup (probaly about 4 oz left, really) of milk. Eh. I checked his clothes to see if he needed new ones (he didn't)...picked him up and stuck him in the living room.

Copious amounts of paper towels later, I start thinking that milk has lactose in it....sticky central! Ugh. I pull out a mop and get to work. Who knew our kitchen floor could look so nice with two dogs and two messy boys?

Remodeling/Updating continues....eventually.

So, our next step is to replace all the original single pane windows in the house.  Yikes!  That will include the 8 foot sliding glass door to the backyard and the front door that has cracks wide enough to see light through.  But, before that can happen, I must declutter....organizing would be a plus, but the workers have to be able to reach the windows in order to actually replace them.  I guess we all know what I'll be doing over the next several weeks.

And we have toddling....sort of.

Tom finally took a step yesterday without holding on to me or a piece of furniture.  I'm not sure he realized he did it, but I praised him OBNOXIOUSLY for it.

Let the crying commence as I remember that toddling leads to running, which in turn leads to growing up.  *sniff*

Fences make for good neighbors

Well, we almost have a new fence.  The old one was ripped down on Wednesday, and all the pieces picked up on Friday.  The new metal (yay!!!) posts were set yesterday.  I was napping when they left, so I don't know, but I hope, they can put up the runners and pickets today.  I had no idea just how much sun was reflected from our neighbor's house in to our kitchen until the fence was gone.  Wow!

Well, no garage conversion after all.

Turns out that with the city ordinances and where our house is actually located on the lot, converting the garage is not an option (unless you think losing most of the backyard is OK....we don't).  So,we're back to making the house sellable.  But, we've already knocked a couple of big things out.  The A/C has been replaced and the fence will be done within the next two weeks.

I'm not the only one who keeps chaning my mind

So, a few posts ago, I mentioned that we are getting the house in sellable condition. That is still true! But, Dan still thinks it makes more sense (or thinks again that it makes more sense) to make the addition to the house. We are getting an estimate not just on the garage, but doing a little work on the kitchen as well. It certainly won't happen at the same time (unless we win the lottery, but then, we'd probably just move anyway).

Adding an extra living area would make this house more livable for us. But, I still don't like this house enough to call it my forever home. It just may be a few more years (lottery winning being the only exception I can see in the near future) before we actually find a new place. I will be much more picky about certain things that I didn't know I needed to be picky about. Not just the size of the kitchen, but the layout! Not just the size of the bedrooms, but where they are actually located!!! You get the picture.

Gah! The dogs are safe at home.

The lawn service guy left the gate open when he treated it for weeds and fed it.  They (the dogs) didn't notice at lunchtime, but they did while I was feeding Zach and Tom dinner this evening.  Thus, the "GAH!"  So, Dan came home a bit early and drove the neighborhood...found both dogs together, on some front porch about a block and a half away, whining at a door.  He put them both in the Jetta (that was probably really funny looking) and brought them home.

He also called the lawn service company, told them what happened and we are waiting for the branch manager to call back now.

I think he's gonna be the death of me. Part 2

Who knew that I'd already have a part 2 for this?  Come on, I know some of you were expecting it, even if you don't know about what happened already.

OK.  Tom took a tumble and ended up being taken to Children's in downtown Dallas.  He is fine!  Now, stop holding your breath and I'll tell you the whole thing.

Some backstory:  My loving husband purchased a series of massages for me for my birthday this year.  I was in the middle of one when it was interrupted by the receptionist.  There had been an emergency and Tom was taken to Children's.

Dan was changing a poopy dipe and Tom (like normal for him, mind you) decided to roll over and sit up.  He does this all the time; but this time, he was too far to one side (I imagine, since I was not there) and fell off instead.  He landed flat on his back.  Pause a moment, then cry.  Pretty expected.  Dan was soothing him when he had a seizure.  Call 911.  (Stupid phones aren't working properly, so they couldn't hear him...they sent fire, police, and ambulance, THANK GOD!)  EMTs look Tom over and decide to take him to Children's.  For those of you who know Dallas a bit, it's the one connected to Parkland.

Dan and I finally arrive at the ER and Tom seems relatively OK.  Very tired (past naptime, duh!) and a little listless.  Won't fall asleep...hmmmmmm.  Docs come in to talk to us to let us know what they have decided.  Very conservative approach...no CT scans or Xrays.  I'm very thankful for that.  They just want to observe him for a few hours.  He lost his lunch in two bouts and finally napped for about an hour.  When he woke up, he was thirsty enough to finally take a bottle of juice.  (Silly kid never did like bottles, but the hospital only had bottles or straws.  Weird, I know.)  And was acting hungry, so we got them to bring us some graham crackers.  Doc comes back in, we're hoping to leave (it's about 4:30 now) and are told that because he threw up that we have to stay a little longer to make sure he's keeping food and juice down.

Tom is flirting with EVERYONE who walks by.  So, instead of making us wait that long, they started the paperwork and once it was completed, let us take him home.  Told us to wake him every 4 hours to make sure he was still doing everything right (using both sides, acting like a baby).  I got home with him around 7.  Mom and Zach were sitting on the couch as I walk in with a wide-awake Tom.  Zach says, "Tom has a big owie."  (My heart just melted again.)  We get them both in bed and quiet and she goes home.

Fast-forward to today.  Tom is climbing and being his usual daredevil self again.  I'm gonna end up knowing the local ER docs and nurses by name as he gets older because I'm quite certain that we're going to find him with a broken bone or a cut that needs stitches relatively often.  But, the ped says he's fine and just to give him a few days before we try to get him back to his normal schedule and let him sleep when he wants and as long as he wants.  (Yikes!  That could make for some interesting evenings.)

Making this house sellable

It's official. I finally got Dan to agree that our house is too small and that it is more economical for us to get this house ready to sell rather than converting the garage. I did a bit of research on http://www.realtor.com/ and discovered that we don't need to spend much more or move out to the boonies to get a house the right size. Yay!!!! So, for future reference, we will be completing projects around the house to make it ready to sell. That means that my office may be turned into a dining room again. Yikes! Of course, that would be one of the very last things to happen.

We're starting with the really big things:

• replacing the windows that are original to the house
• redoing the siding with hardyplank
• having a new fence put in with metal posts instead of the wood ones that are leaning so far that I'm very glad our dogs aren't interested in leaving the back yard
• a new A/C unit.

And we'll be doing some smaller things as time and money allows while those big things are getting done:

• pulling down wallpaper and painting
• refacing the fireplace (why did the brick get painted, why???)
• replacing all the doorknobs in the house (they are mismatched, big time!)
• replacing hardware on the kitchen cabinets (who painted over the hinges! Seriously, why do people do things like that????)

I'm sure there is more, but those are the things I know about. I'll probably post before and after pics of the inside stuff. And keep in mind that Zach decided that he'd pull at some of the wallpaper because it was already coming down. Turns out, they (the original owners) papered over older wallpaper. So, some of the "before" shots may look like work has actually started; but it was just a toddler being curious.

It's a 1st Birthday Party!!!!

Yesterday, Tom's 1st birthday was celebrated at our house.  Poor little guy had a fever, but he sure was a trooper!  Here are some pics.

Preschool

Oh, my.  Yes, Zach is officially signed up for pre-school.  Starting after Labor Day, he will be going 3 half days a week...following the Richardson ISD school calendar.  Wow!  My little boy isn't really so little anymore.  One little snag that I'm sure we'll get past....he has to be potty-trained before then.  Wish us luck!

I'm still giggling about it

Yesterday, Tom took a morning nap.  His first in roughly a week, but he's been sick, so not really unexpected.  He started waking up around 10....this is good.  He should take a decent afternoon nap.  Yay!!!  I'm walking down the hall to get him and this is the following conversation:

Zach: Where's my baby Tom?
Me: Tom is in his room.  I'm going to get him because he's awake now.
Zach: Where's my baby Tom?
Me: In his room.
Zach: Go get my baby Tom?
Me: Yes, we can get Tom up now.
Zach: I want to hold my baby Tom.
Me: OK, go sit on the floor in the living room, and I'll bring Tom to you.
(Zach sits on the floor in the hallway.)
Zach: I want to hold my baby Tom.
Me: Zach, go sit on the floor in the living room and I'll bring Tom out to you.
(Zach goes to the living room and watches me walk toward him with Tom.)
Zach: I want to hold my baby Tom.
Me: OK, here you go.  Be gentle.

Amazingly enough, I put Tom on the floor between Zach's legs and he put up with Zach hugging him from behind.  It was so adorable...but I couldn't find the dang camera.  I do know where it is now.  (Thank you, Dan!!!)  They stayed that way until almost lunchtime.

What a Valentine's Day!!!

Only sort of.  Dan cooked, so that was a plus.  I learned to not tell him I want chocolate around this holiday.  He came home with 4 boxes, 1 bag, ice cream, AND chocolate sauce.  But, poor Tom managed to catch whatever stomach bug is going around.  He got sick on Dan and the carpet and the couch.  EW!!!!  We learned how to get it all cleaned up in record time though.  Poor little guy didn't sleep so well....so, neither have we.  I guess it's time to disinfect the toys again.  Fun stuff!

OK, well, happy V-day and President's Day to all!

I think he's gonna be the death of me.

A couple days ago, the boys are playing in Zach's room. I know everything is fine by the high pitched screams and giggles. I'm sure most of you can relate. Anyway, it got quiet. Yeah, that scary quiet that makes you run for where you think your kids are. I opened the door and saw Zach sitting with a book. Whew! I feel better. Then I turn my head just slightly, and there is Tom...STANDING on a chair, holding on to Zach's bed and the bookshelf. That shelf isn't attached to the wall. Yikes!!! He just smiled at me as if to say, "Look, Mama! I can climb on things now. Aren't you proud of me?"

Yes, Tom, I am proud of you that you can scare the living daylights out of me. How soon should those grey hairs start to show up?

The Perfect Birthday Present

I think my perfect birthday present would be Zach deciding that using the potty instead of his diaper was a good thing.  Any volunteers for that?

Here's hoping that this year has more of everything good and less of everything bad!

The Toddler Bed

What did we get ourselves into?  Seriously!  No, it's all good...just have a learning curve is all.  Saturday, Zach and I went on a special trip to buy "big boy" bed sheets.  We went to Anna's Linens.  They had a HUGE selection!!!  No, not really.  They had two choices.  Disney Princesses or Cars.  I picked up the 5 piece set of Cars and asked him if he wanted that one.  It was easier that way.  We also got an extra set of sheets and two boxes to help him keep his room a bit more organized.  Oh, and a Wall-E chair to sit in in the living room.

Fast-forward to Saturday's nap.  He kept getting up.  So, I put the side of his crib back on, but didn't lift it up.  He was fine.  When I went to get him from his nap, I asked him if at bedtime we could put the other rail on so he would feel better in bed.  He said yes.  It worked!!!!  And then Sunday morning came, and he was up at 5:30.  All in all, not too terrible.  Sunday's nap was fine.  Bedtime was a bit harder because Dan had to put him back in bed and tell him that he had to stay there until morning.  Monday morning rolls around and Zach is up at 5:30 AGAIN!!!!  This has got to get figured out.  I'm tired enough without having to get up that early.  But, he's not scared, and he likes his new "big boy" bed.

We survived the sickies

Tom is totally over his cold...thank goodness.  Zach is more than halfway through his antibiotic for the ear infection that the cold gave him.  I'm more than halfway through the antibiotic for the almost double ear infection that the cold gave me.  Dan is doing better as well.  This one was a doozy.  It was the first time I had to fill a prescription for Zach.

So, for those of you who sent gifts for Christmas, THANK YOU.  I'm not sure if I'll get real thank you cards out in a timely fashion.  I need to upload the pictures of the boys playing with the new toys, having new books read to them, and in their new clothes.