Testing

I'm sure you all think this is crazy inventive, but I just wanted to check to see if it's still working.  I'm likely going to delete and start over....time will tell.

*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.