love little moo

This little guy drives me insane is so many ways. Insane in the ammount I love him, insane in the ammount of questions he asks, and insane with his obstinence and definitely insane with his ability to pee on the seat EVERY SINGLE TIME.

And now to embarrass the Hubs. We went out for dinner a couple weeks a go at a place that rhymes with stickeys. Yeah you know the place. ANywyas, we got the all clear of no peanut products, ordered, and sat down to eat. Not 3 minutes later Moo declares as he dances in his chair that he has to goooooooooooo. I smile at Hubs and profusely aplogize for being a girl and he takes Moo off to the restroom.

The return a few minutes later, Hubs shaking his head in defeat. Moo refuse to go in any place that is not perfectly clean and has just the right size and shape of potty.

A few minutes later Moo is back to dancing and rather loudly proclaims he has to goooooooooo. So off they go again. A few minutes later they return. And moo very loudly proclaims that he did IT! Several people snicker. Hubs is turning red.

So I do what any good mommy would do. And any not so good wife would do. Again, quite loudly and very enthusiastically. "oh honey! Yay! that's so wonderful. I am so glad you did IT. Wonderful!" Hubs got a little redder and snak in his seat.

So if I ruined your dinner at the place that rhymes with stickeys, then man I am sorry. However, I bet odds are your dinner was ruined by the food poisioning we all endured after dinner. And that some poor sole suffered in the parking lot...

baby no more.

My little buddy isn't the little baby buddy he used to be. The past few weeks have seen my firstborn hurtling away from babyhood to childhood with no regard for his parents resistance to let him grow. In the last few weeks small changes have been occurring that just leave hubs and I dumbfounded. Who said he could learn that? Where did THAT come from?

He is like a whole new creation. It's mostly marvelous.

He is apparently thinking more. He talks in full, complicated, stories and his dinner prayers actually resemble a recognizable prayer. He tells me thinks that make my heart melt. "Mommy, your the best. I am the best too." "Mommy, I don't want to move to a new house and not have Ella Bella." "I am a happy helper, happy, happy helper."

He can do chores now! Hazaa! He is going to regret showing growth in that area. He helps load the dishwasher, puts up dirty clothes, removes his potty seat, cleans up his toys, and makes his bed. He can also get himself a drink and a snack without asking, umm, not such a cool thing. He gets his own clothes and can sometimes even put them on. We realized he was fully capable of taking his clothes off when our realtor was here the other day and he was suddenly in just his big boys. Niiiiiiiiiice.

And, mercifully, he can now put together an entire elaborate train track without help. A milestone moment indeed.

summer

it's really a shame, I don't think moo enjoys summer at ALL.

sippy cup wars

This from way back in March 2007, when a much smaller Moo went on a rampage against sippy cups. Those were some fun days. I posted this as an encouragement to my sister, that, this too shall pass! Ella Bella protested the sippy cups too, in a much angrier violent protest of screams and slamming things to the floor. So, we went cold turkey after trying to ease her into the sippy cup. That battle is now over, thank goodness!

compare and contrast

moo @ 9 months, ella bella @ 12 months

the great pee bath of 2009

My kids have taken disgusting to a new level lately. They make a public bathroom look tame. My apologies to my facebook friends who read my utterly disgusting updates, but it's just so bad I have to share. However, I think maybe some explanation is in order. Text in pink italics is from facebook.

I have seen a new low in gross. I just found ella bella playing in her diaper pail sucking on a soiled cloth diaper. Yes. Gross. Happy Mothers Day.

I really do watch my children closely. I Promise. Close enough to know the nano second any piece of unapproved matter goes in the babies mouth. Never mind scratch that. She did suck a diaper after all. Oye. Vey. On the plus side it was just wet and I have heard pee is sterile. And also on the plus side we still cloth diaper....

note to self: lock up ALL sharpie markers. simply putting them 4 ft off the ground is not a deterrent to my little tattoo artist. and the baby really likes dum-dums suckers. Oops.

Thankfully not gross. Just amusing. A little sharpie on the arm every now and then is not going to hurt them. And the dum dum thing, that was just amusing. I might need to get it on video.

discovery of the day: my barely one year old can fully undress herself during nap time and fling all her clothes over the side of the crib. Quite the shock since my 3 year old still can't undress himself!

Judging from the facebook comments, people thought this was charming. And I will say she is pretty darn cute in her birthday suit. However, not so cute when literally every square inch of her sheet was soaked in pee and therefore she was soaked in pee. Moo thought it was hilaroius.

agh. that makes twice today my son has peed on his little sister. But on the bright side, at least this time it wasn't on her head.

That brings us to today. I hope it was International Pee on Your Sister Day because we clebrated really well. First time: Moo sprints for the potty. We have been encouraging him to do all the work by himself (pants down, on the throne, ect) this week. He has done really well. Err, had done really well. He didn't guite make it and sister had started crawling after him to see what was up. Small bathroom, bad aim preschooler, curious baby sister. Ella Bella ended up with a wet head, face, and clothes. Into the tub for her. The rest of the bathroom wasn't much better, or Moo for that matter. Into the tub for him too.

All clean, new clothes, new underwear. Dinner. Playtime.

Moo has some bladder control issues when his sister gets him hysterically laughing. It only happens every now and then, but, it unfortunately happened today as little sister was unfortunately crawling under his legs. Luckily she mostly dodged the flow on that one, only getting some on her feet.

Foot bath for her.

Mom has had enough. Diapers all around and time for BED!

before I forget....

ella bella and moo had their check-ups today:

moo:
35 lbs, 39.5 inches
running a fever, we had no idea. Otherwise healthy.
no new info on peanuts. darn.

ella bella:
25lbs. 10 oz. ella bella chunka monka indeed
32" tall
Dr. is a little concerned she is not cruising, we are not. She is a laid back baby. It will come and as her daddy says: "She has her whole life to walk."
5 shots, MMR, chicken pox, hep a. and umm... 2 others.
Cried 30 seconds and then was happy. Woohoo!

the many moods of moo

friend or foe

Moo and Ella Bella are starting to interact with each other more and more. Mostly it consists of Moo telling Ella Bella what she can and can not do and trying to take away things he deems are his or not for babies. Like baby toys and cheerios, those are clearly not safe for babies. Duh mom.

But there are those sweet and glorious moments few and far between when they actually enjoy each other. Like sharing a papa's old rocker while putting retro rubbermaid play kitchen toys on various parts of your head. Let the good times roll.

fluid

Overall, I like being a mom. However, there is one little thing that I could totally forgo in this whole parenting business. Fluid. All the various moistness that comes from having children. Yuck. Today was a particularly fluid filled day, so here is my day by the fluids.

wake-up
1 wet little boy in one very wet little bed
1 wet and poopy little girl in one wet and poopy sleepsack on a wet bed.
son spills milk out of spill proof cup
daughter laughs and spills milk out nose.
cat vomits
Moo talks about the cat vomiting for a good 2 hours
another yucky diaper
4 trips to the potty for the 3 year old
1st pair of poopy underwear AGHHHHH*
1st bath to clean up said poop incident
3 times blowing nose of son
countless times washing my hands and moo's hands
yet another gross diaper
1 40 oz smoothie spilled all over the backseat of the car (so sad........)***
another diaper to be changed
2nd pair of poopy underwear GRRRRR
2nd bath to clean up encore poop incident

enough with the fluids, time for kids to be in bed.

Yeah, I could so do with out the fluids.

* pooping in your pants is a skill we picked up in the land o' corn. ;)
** that smoothie was going to be my sweet release from a long couple days flying virtually solo with the kiddos. Oops. I nooooooooooooo I don't drink 40 oz of smoothie myself, I drink a third of it and use the rest to make popsicles. At least that was the plan.

the peanut saga continues

We are back from a week long romp to the land o' corn. 1792 miles of driving over 7 days with 2 tots in tow. They did great, definitely better than we would have ever dared wish for. We all really enjoyed the trip and seeing all of Hubs family. I have oodles of photos to share and random land o' corn observations. But alas, you have to read about peanuts first.

Disclaimer: I really, really like peanuts. So does Hubs. All of our dates revolve around the pesky little legume now. We eat Chinese and Thai food with peanut sauce chased down with reese's cups and butterfinger shakes. Although after the last 7 days, I may swear them off all together.

I HATE what PEANUTS do to my baby boy. And peanut dust. And peanut oil. And any product containing any atom of peanut particles.

My in-laws, God bless each one of them, went way beyond what we could have ever asked them to do in regards to keeping Moo safe. Grandpa and Grandma did everything short of ripping out the carpet and dismantling their HVAC system to get peanuts out of where Moo would be. My sister in laws scoured labels and threatened to beat up a man eating peanuts at the zoo. My nieces and nephews suffered through an egg hunt without their favorite candies. One niece even fasted in protest of her suffering. If she couldn't have pb&J she just wasn't eating.

But, it didn't stop Moo from reacting. Every night from about 7pm on we were battling to keep him from wheezing and from such intense coughing he was throwing up mucous. His entire chest was just rock hard as every muscle he had was being used to get him to breathe.

I hate it.

He is sensitive enough that if we even walk in a store or restaurant that serves peanuts he starts coughing instantly signaling it's time for us to leave. He will be so excited to go somewhere and he breathes in the air with peanut dust in it and you can tell he starts to feel bad instantly. At this point, I don't think it's reasonable to think we will be able to send him to school in 2 years.

I hate it.

I hate that Hubs and I have to be so hyper aware as parents when we really want to give our kids space to be kids. Ack. I AM the helicopter mom. I am so frustrated. I want to be able to send my kid to preschool without feeling like I am sending him into war unarmed.

We go tomorrow to get him reevaluated and hopefully some better options for treatment. Poor kid is so tired he won't even wake up for treatments or when he throws up. He put himself down for a nap today, now that's exhausted.

That was cathartic. Thanks.

moo is three

The moo man in now officially three. He had never really been to a birthday party, so the birthday thing has been a complete mystery to him. I have been asking him for several weeks what he wanted for his birthday. His requests, a blue party, a boat ride, no presents, and a long list of people who could and could not come. Well, his mama is a slacker so he got a supermarket cake from gram, 3 previously used candles, and one gift. He was thrilled. If we could only get away with such simple thrills for every birthday :) We had another party last night with leftover cake and 2 free Thomas trains courtesy of Toys r us. Again, he was over the moon. Funny kid.

clap your hands

Ella Bella learned to clap last night and it reminded me of my baldy firstborn learning to clap 2 years ago!

Aren't these papers and patterns fun? They are from the fabulous Shabby Princess and can be found here. These papers are from the Moody Blues collection. Her stuff is detailed and well done and she has some wonderful downloads and tutorials on her site too! Please note her downloads are for personal use ONLY, ie: your own personal digital scrapbook.

I have now really lived....

A couple months ago, my sister in law was visiting from the land o' corn. A common parenting adventure came up, one that in our 2.5 years of parenting had not experienced. A veteran parent, She was shocked by this and said:

"Well, you haven't really lived then!"

Well, dear sister in law, I have now really lived. This delightful dual bathing experience was brought to an abrupt end when for the first time ever the Moo man pooped in the tub. Even better, or worse, I inadvertently caught it on camera. I'll spare you THAT photo.

Ummm, hello, he is potty trained now! We almost made it 3 years without really living as parents.

big boy bed

You might be thinking, what in the world does infant tylenol have to do with big boy beds....

Yesterday, at just a few weeks shy of 3, we converted Moo's crib to a big boy bed. He was so excited that he could now climb in and out of his bed with ease. Wonderful. He thought it was even cooler than his crib and was excited to try it out.

Fast forward to nap time a couple hours later. We don't make him nap, but he has to play quietly in his room or our room depending on where Ella Bella is napping. He played in his room quietly for an hour. I could here him climbing in and out of bed, but that was ok. I got him up and we went about playing. A few minutes later I went to go put a blanket back in Ella Bella's crib and noticed a tylenol bottle laying on the floor.

Crap.

I pick it up. Empty. Cap is loose.

Crap.

I take it to Moo and ask, "Did you eat this? Mommy will not be mad but I need to know."

No answer.

I screw the cap back on tightly and hand it to him. "Open this for Mommy."

Twist. Pop. Tada!

"Mom, it's empty! But I drank it!"

Fantastic. Moo seems perfectly fine. Quick call to the pediatrician, who refers me to poison control. A little quick calculating just o find out that an almost 3-year old weighing 30lbs can drink 1 fl oz. of infant tylenol and be.... fine. All I had to do was keep him upright and awake and call ems (daddy!) if he got a high fever or started vomiting uncontrollably. He acted completely normal, never had a single side effect.

And yes, all "fun" things have been removed from his room. At least his little escapade wasn't as messy as, say, the child who smeared her entire room and self in vaseline.

baby boy bites a better biter biscuit

life is like a day in the park

Life is like a day in the park, full up ups and downs. Happiness and sorrow. Potty accidents and terrifying swings that turn on you. Oh? That's not what happens when you go to park?

Well it's normal for us. We walked to the park, about a mile each way. We were literally 20 yards from the park when moo peed on himself. Nice. Even nicer, "bad mommy" only had spare clothes for sis. So yep, he ran around the playground wearing wet underwear and 18 month size pants (err, bicycle shorts) in BRIGHT pink. Good job Mom!

We then went to go get ice cream across the street. Closed. The little cafe next door? Closed. The fair trade coffee shop, not a great idea with kids. The nasty grocery store across the street? Check! Bad Mommy also didn't pack snacks. So after grabbing a box of graham crackers we headed home. The store had peanuts out in ventilated bags and that was enough to trigger a rash on Moo and send him over the edge. He didn't touch them, didn't come within 10 feet of them. Agh. Even the simple is complicated with his allergy. He requested a nap as soon as we got home. Poor kid.

mr. roboto

This child has been giving me fits, err, messes. He is finding his little voice and stomping his foot in resistance and oh vey is it wearing me down. The resistnace and the peeing. On everything. He gets to the potty just fine btu has a little problem with aim. Ya know those horror movies where they show a gory scene by showing just a little blood first and then zooming out and looking at the floor, walls and ceiling to show the full extent of the carnage. Thats what is like in my house right now. How is it even possible to pee around a closed shower curtain from the potty? Oye.

Good thing he is cute.

Even sweeter that he insists on calling me "sweetheart" and his dad "honey".

And even more cute that he has learned to "be strong and courageous in the Lord." Cause Miss Nancy says so!

*The tie is super easy to make. It's just tie shape (google images) cut out in two patterns sewn together on an elastic string. Easy-peasy. I guess I could give more detailed directions if anyone wants...

faceplant

Faceplant off the back porch + no rain in months + tears = one very muddy little boy

1,057

2 years + 10 months + 2 weeks + 6 days = FREEDOM.

Of diapers, during the day, for one kid.

This past Monday we set out to get Moo on the pot. Hubs and I made a pact, no more diapers regardless of how bad it got. We broke out the gatorade and loaded him up. Monday was bad. We were out of underwear (12 pairs) by noon. He didn't seem to mind sitting in puddles of his own effluent. He raged at the potty. Tuesday was only marginally better. I was ready to throw in the towel.

And then Wednesday, something happened. It just clicked. He made it the until 5pm without any accidents or needing me to tell he needed to go. Poopoo, no problem. Pee, a breeze. Had to be a fluke.

Thursday, woke up DRY, For the first time EVER. No accidents until right before bed. AMAZING. He still has trouble when we leave the house and with "real" potties. We'll get there.

WOOHOO! No more diapers to buy! (remember we use cloth for Ella Bella) Only half the diapers to change WOOHOO! I am seeing why people say once you get them out of diapers you will never want another baby.