Play day at the zoo!

Day one

today went surprisingly well considering. Evelyn only asked for J 4 times but did well after I told her he went on an airplane and she seemed to take it pretty well. after school she asked if he was home and I reminded her that he was on an airplane and we had a decent night. she was still up later than I would like however it was still no later than 9 when she was asleep.

Day 2

This morning after a brief interruption at 5 and 530 both kids slept in until 730.  which made for a hectic morning though it was nice to get Evelyn ready first and not worry about William running around doing things that Evelyn does not like such as climbing into her Thomas the train bed, while I'm doing things that she does not like like trying to get her dressed.  

After work I got a grand dinner of grilled cheese ready and then Grandma came over.  I got William to bed then ran our for my errands.  I took a trip to Kohls and spent more money than i intended.  I should have gotten some of it when we got the vacuum but I wasn't thinking the stuff would be that expensive.  Oh well the kids have snow outfits and dress clothing for Santa. I can't wait to dress them up - I hope Evelyn lets me!

a fall

Today started out quite well we had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and had a fairly clean kitchen when I was done.  then got the laundry done while playing, the morning flew by and before I knew it Mom was calling to come get Evelyn for the dance party at the library.  I managed to get her dressed though she said she didn't want to go dance.  and she went off with grandma with out a problem (I was  a little worried that she would refuse to go or fuss given her behavior.)  William and I played for a little while and I tried to wear him out.  at 10 I put him down for his nap.  he didn't cry to much  before falling asleep and I managed to get some cleaning done.


Our bathrooms really needed a scrub!  William woke up a bit late but we were not doing too badly  then I ended up at the wrong park and had to ask my dad for directions.  after fielding the questions of where our GPS is (I told him it was home though It may be in Hawaii with Jason.) got me to the proper park and an awesome park ranger got me to the right shelter.  William was a tad hungry and ate pretty much the whole party with some playing thrown in for good measure.  One of his school friends that always comes up to me for a smile and a hug walked over with a piece of pizza his mom had given him and proceeded to put it on my knee.  his mom was horrified though I thought it was hilarious and sweet of him to share.  :)  after a while William discovered the open door and I spent the rest of the party chasing William outside.  Poor Petra was going down hill despite a long morning nap so William and I left hoping the birthday girl got her next nap soon!

I was going to run some errands but I had left my wallet at home (Grrr) and after getting home and talking to mom and dad I decided to just stay home and play with William, I don't often get one on one time with the little man.  It was so nice that we decided to go for a walk and a swim in the huge leaf pile.  as we got back to the circle grandpa pulled up with Evelyn.  perfect timing.

We all come inside and watch a few elmo songs, and play around for a little while until it is time to start dinner.  Things are going well and Evelyn and William are playing well together when they run around the downstairs as it is their favorite activity unfortunately William's second favorite activity is climbing the stairs.  when Evelyn came around and i didn't hear or see william I asked if william was on the stairs and headed over to see.  Unfotunitly I got there just a bit to slow and was just in time to watch william fall off of the second stair and hit the floor forehead first.  thankfully he cried right away and was fairly easily consoled.  So I decided to put William in the playroom while i quickly finished the broccoli when Evelyn who hates to have the gate up pulled at it and It came of hurting her foot.  I put william in his high chair where he should have been the whole time (and where he usually is while I cook).  he had a small bump and two red marks but was otherwise fine.

I was shaken and pretty mad at myself here is hoping that tomorrow goes better than today.

Day three

Well today just sucked.  William got me up at 5:30 - I thought i woul let him cry it out but then Evelyn got up.  the sweet heart went into William 's room which calmed him down for a few minutes.  After he started to cry again I went to his room which is when I discovered Evelyn in William's rocking chair.  So we got up and dressed which was easier for william than evelyn.  she will no longer wear jeans and has to pick out her own clothing.  so after a little bit of a fit she picked out a dress to wear!  She never does that.  of course I still put her in sneakers, she still looked cute.

at work I was just in a bad mood which I could not shake.  The evening went no better.  Evelyn was upset that I put her borther in the car seat first, which is routine, and started crying then again when I wouldn't let her buckle the bottom buckles of her care seat.  she cried most of the way home and because she was crying william cried too.  they were both very fussy - all night.  After dinner she wanted me to carry her upstairs which I did then when I locked the gate to get her brother she starte sobbing.  she was very upset that she could not go back down stairs.  and this got William going again as he was tired..  I finally got him in bed and her calmed down.  The one on one time helped her mood tremendously but then she got hyper I couldn't seem to win.  she did try on her Christmas dress which is adorable.  I am thinking of getting a bigger size but am not sure I should have gotten two and returned the off size.  She didn't wear it long before she said it didn't fit - sigh I hope she wears it long enough to get a picture with santa...  and that she lets us take her picture with him though I think I will bring a bribe.

I did a little cleaning in the kitchen but decided it was bed time tomorrow is an early morning.

More giveaways...

http://www.gograhamgo.com/2011/10/leapfrog-leappad-explorer-tablet-review.html

So Go graham go has tons of great giveaways I am entered to win the tag reading system, the leap pad tablet and Beethoven movies.

http://www.gograhamgo.com/2011/11/beethovens-christmas-adventure-3-off.html

fingers crossed!

Giveaway

ok I don't always do these but with Christmas around the corner this would be nice to win. Especially since Evelyn loves reading and planets. The giveaway is the leapfrog tag system with the solar system package.

Blog about this giveaway and link to www.leapfrog.com and www.gograhamgo.com and leave the link to your post in the comment.

the giveaway is here: http://www.gograhamgo.com/2011/11/tag-reader-and-solar-system-adventure.html Please don't enter because I want to win ;)

Test: trying to see how texting to the blog works out how ever I'm not sure how it will work out.

first word!

Tickle tickle tickle! When we tickle William we say tickle tickle tickle sounds like ticka ticka ticka very quickly as of Thursday William has started to say it too :). This weekend (Saturday) William also BaBa for a sheep that he likes to see. I'm so excited to have him talking even a little bit! I hope to keep track of what he says a little better.

9:26

and she is yelling I want my daddy. and the sucker comes.

What ever you do do not change the routine...

Especially the night time routine. after getting home a little late and everyone


laying in bed with her next to me and she starts to pat the pillow. I think ok and take her hand and show her where my face is thinking she just wants to see where I am. she then pats teh pillow again, then my hair, my shoulder, back to my hair, now my cheek and I figure she is looking for something. Then she finds it bulls eye - she honks my nose. I have to hold my breath to keep from laughing. then she lets go and starts over again landing on my nose. the secound time she is not diswaided as much

Evelyn Blogging

What did you do today?  I want to watch choo choo's...

Rookie Mistakes

I'm so glad that this is the last night that J will be out of town. Tonight was a rough one. It started out well enough and we had a great dinner then it was bath time...

Evelyn was into giving kisses to William tonight during his bath. I don't know why I thought this was a good idea however he was close to the side of the tub and she didn't have to lean much. then he moved away from the side of the tub and I told her to wait to give him any more kisses until he was out of the bath but of course she didn't listen so she fell face first into the tub. She didn't seem to be hurt and was just a little shaken as I fished her out of her brother's bath. Really that would have been enough however as I was comforting her and drying her off her brother fell down to (something he has never done before in the bath tub). So neither of them were very happy though even William calmed down fairly quickly when I took him out. I was so done with bath time!

He didn't do to badly going down for bed though about halfway through Evelyn's bath he screamed for a little bit. and try as I might I could not rush Evelyn out of the tub (I was not about to leave her there alone) So William stopped on his own and fell asleep which I suppose is a good thing. I guess I should be thankful that her fall did not frighten her away from taking baths and I still had to remind her not to jump in the bath tub.

I thought I was in good shape after the bath time debacle when after reading Evelyn went to bed after only getting up once and I would have been right had I not gone and opened her bedroom door. Really she had been quiet so I thought she was asleep - famous last words... She was clearly awake and after seeing the door opened (and hearing me leave a message for daddy) thought it was playtime again. Let me tell you it does not take much to get this kid wound up. Talking to Daddy does not help. She was up until 10 running in and out of her bedroom like a little Jack in the Box.

Catch and claping

William can now play catch, ok well he can throw the ball and pick it up after i through it. we had a lot of fun playing catch at daycare. he also clapped for the first time today! what a big boy :)

Concert in the park

With J out of town I decided that it would be a great excuse to keep the kids out of the house for the night. Evelyn's favorite park has concerts in the summer on Tuesday nights. today was "big band". we got to the park, and boy am I glad we got there early with the concert and several soccer games going on the parking lot was packed. We headed strait for the park and played for a little while (AKA Evelyn got in the swings) then headed over to the music area and set up the pick nick. Grandma and Grandpa met us there and we all had a great time. I know Me and the kids will be going again hopefully someday with Jason. William got fussy early and I decided that it was time to head out so others could listen to music instead of William crying.

William did not fall asleep in the car as I feared and cried a little longer than I had hoped considering how he was acting. perhapse he was over tired. Still we had a great time!

Baby Steps

William is walking now. Okay so it is only three steps at a time before he falls but still he is going places. and last night was his first time walking without me coercing him to move.

Food progress

William had chicken for the first time yesterday and slept until 3 am. I think we can say that chicken is safe for him to eat :) This morning I tried to eat yogurt for the first time in a long time we shall see how he tolerates it. I got the fat free greek yogert which is thick and good but really why does all fat free plain yogurt have to be sour. I put blueberries in it which only helped so much. I am going to have to get some of the flavored yogurt which typically has lots of sugar.

Happy Independence day

Ok so I'm a little late but hey I've been a little busy.

The ear infection and aborted vacation.

William was on omnicef for an ear infection. I was actually somewhat relieved when he got the ear infection because i neivly believed that since he was on omnicef it somehow protected us and was a good sign for us leaving on our trip on the 30th. I didn't know how wrong I could be.

Wednesday morning I dropped the kids off at school and even had them take william's temperature. he was a little off and felt warm but was normal. I figured my hands were cold and they probably were. I called at noon to see how he was (they said he was fine and playful) and I decided to come in to play with him for a little while). I had to stop by Wegman's to pick up the second half of his omnicef prescription and while I was there the nurse called and told me William had a fever of 101.4. Off I ran to get my boy. The appointment was at 3:20 so I took him to work hoping he would fall asleep and I could finish up the few things that I needed to do. No such luck on that one and to top it off we had a fire drill - I apparently have the worst luck.

I submitted what i needed to do then went to get Evelyn. Of course William fell asleep in the car though he didn't sleep long. We went and got evelyn and were early for the appointment. we got in and sure enough there was another ear infection. The doctor put him on a new antibiotic in addition to the omnicef and told me to bring him back Friday if the fever had not gone away. well it definitely didn't and i was able to see his doctor who gave him the ceftriaxone shots. Well the first one anyway and indicated that he should get a second at his appointment the next day. That at least went as planned.

Sunday morning Jason gave william strawberries which I thought nothing of. William had been tugging at his ears a lot so we went to bring him in to the doctors again and by the time we got there he had quite the rash going. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of it. I didn't ask J to take a picture until monday when the rash was much better. At the doctors his ear looked worse than it had after the first two doses of ceftriaxone (thankfully we were able to see the same doctor). So we got another shot as well as azythromiacine. As we left the doctor said that she almost hoped that his ear would rupture so that we could use drops. at this point I am very happy we didn't end up driving to Indi or that this didn't happen either on our way or while we were there. But I wish we could have gone :(

Travel

We are getting set to go to Indi to see Grandma and Grandpa Hirsch and as excited as i am to see the family I am Dreadding the drive.

Missing Evelyn's blog.

Every time i come on here to post i look at Evelyn's blog and miss it. it was so much fun to write and has a lot of information on it. allas i didn't have the time and now i suppose i would have to do one for her and one for William and that seems silly. So instead I will try to keep this one up it's not as fun but i still think looking back at it will be fun.

sugar and spice

Apparently I told William one too many times that girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice because today at daycare he took a look at one of his girlfriends and took a bite, The poor little girl.

Then on the way out the door Evelyn was goofing around and managed to walk into a wall. She was a bit stunned by the impact but William thought it was hilarious. He cracked up laughing - which i have never seen him do unless we are tickling him or playing peek a boo. I think grandpa would argue that this shows he has grandma's sense of humor.

Crawling

William is officially mobile. somehow he skipped the army crawl stage and went strait to crawling. he however does not go far, yet. I imagine that we will be chasing him around the house before long but for now he seems to only get a few feet. He is also standing amazingly well. He can stand for 4 seconds now (when he want's to) this seems to have occurred over night as he was not standing so well this weekend.

Evelyn is just a riot. on the drive home yesterday I hear
Evelyn: "that car is broken."
Me: "I don't see a broken car."
Evelyn: "that car is broken."
Me: (after noticing the convertible) "Is that car missing something?"
Evelyn: "yes:
Me: "What is that car missing?"
Evelyn: "A top"
Me: "That's right"
Evelyn: "mommy's car has a top, that car has a top, the broken car has no top."

Then after a brief walk

Me: "We need to go inside Evelyn"
Evelyn: "I'm an outside toy."

Sitting up

Evelyn spent the day at Grandma' and Grandpa's and Aunt Sarah and Grandma came to drop her off. As we were sitting chatting and playing in the "playroom" William went from lying on his belly to sitting up on his own! He did this three times in a short period however when I went to grab my camera to take a video he decided he didn't want to do it any more :(

Back seat driver

Evelyn is an excelent back seat driver these days whenever she sees a red light she says "stop there is a red light!" even if it is a mile up she expects you to stop on the spot. this morning was no exception...

Evelyn: "Stop there is a red light!"
Me: "I need to get to the red light before I stop." (the light turns green)
Evelyn: "(horrified gasp) "you didn't stop."

Play time!

Evelyn was cuddeling her poler bear rocking it like a baby. I sat down next to her with my legs out behind her. She looked at me and said "mommy go to sleep?" I said "that's a great idea!" and lied down with my head nest to her and legs behind her. she continued to rock her bear so I put my arm around her back. She said " I'm not a lovey mommy" :)

Happy mother's day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day! and that all the mommies got what they wanted! I had a great day today despite J being in Germany. William had a rough night last night and we didn't sleep in but he woke up cheerful and playful. We got some cuddle time before Evelyn got up. It is always nice when i can have time with one child when the other is sleeping so I can focus on them and not feel like i am neglecting the other. after Evelyn got up we went downstairs and called Grandma to wish her a happy mothers day (ok i should have waited but i didn't look at the clock).

I made french toast which I don't usually eat but for some odd reason I felt like it today. it took Evelyn some convincing that she wanted it instead of pancakes but she was happy with the breakfast once served :) after french toast i dug into the strawberries. after giving evelyn hers I took soem for me

Evelyn "no mommy don't eat the strawberries"
me "but today is mothers day and i want strawberries"
Evelyn "no mothers day"

after cleaning up for breakfast we played for a little while and skyped with Grandma and grandpa hirsch. Evelyn stayed put for a little while then we got out the paints which helped. Willam was ready for a nap once we said good bye so we put him down then skyped with grandma kidd and Zach. zach was showing off his cars so Evelyn had to get her's too. she can't wait for their next visit. after saying quick hi to grandpa we skyped with aunt sarah. unfortunately evelyn had had enough at this point and was being a little more difficult and running away more frequently.

Evelyn was anxious to go to the library and park but i appeased her by giving her lunch and William woke up with good timing at the end of it. of course then he had to eat which evelyn was less patient with but we managed.

I took the kids to walmart and didn't find what i was looking for however i did get some finger paint for our house (and more paint pens and colored pencils that are not sharp) and a bunch of toys for the kids (I don't know what I was thinking but clearly was in the mood to spoil them rotten!

our next stop was mom and dads so that i could borrow the first harry potter movie (i ended up grabbing tow and neither was the first) which I didn't end up watching anyway. i did move mom's rose inside and hopefully salvaged it.

the library was fun we had our snacks and did a lot of swinging :) I tried to get Evelyn to go to the concert but it was very loud and i could only get her to stay for a few minutes and for that i had to bribe her with a chocolate chip cookie. the poor kid has sensitive ears for everything other than her own screaming...

after a trip around the library i found some movies that I thought Evelyn might like (elmo and I spy) so i grabbed them and renewed my membership. by the time we spent some more time at the park William started to go down hill so we left to go home - sure enough he fell asleep in the car.

Evelyn found the movies and grabed the elmo one to play so we watched that untill william woke up (it was a short nap). then it was walk time! we walked down the street and up st paul. when we got to paul I don't like walking on the actual street because it is busy and the cars go prety fast. Evelyn was having a great if bumpy ride yelling "crazy mommy going on the grass" over and over again. One of the neighbors was on his driveway gave me a smile and said "happy mother's day" :) unfortunitly william got upset on the walk early so we had to abourt and go home. I'm still not entierly sure why but bu the time we got home the kid was snotty.

I grabbed out some of the new toys that I purchased and Evelyn and william seem to love them. I finaly talked evelyn into doing the finger painting while I cooked dinner. though it wasn't long that she tolerated doing things my way and started roling the papper, we will have to continue the process another time. when her dinner was ready she didn't want what i had cooked (i asked her if she wanted a hot dog and she said yes... so i decided to replace it with PB and J. I got out the bread and peanut butter and she asked for the pb on her plate. so i put some there and she ate it all - with the veggie dog. and then at the half a sandwich i prepared for her.

I only managed to get one of the finger painting's done with William as he didn't seem to enjoy it any more than evelyn did the first year. so i will have to work on getting his done as well. after dinner i had a headache so we went upstairs to take a tylenol (me) and a bath (them) and put william to bed. unfortunitly despite his sleepy eyes it took him a good 45 mintes to go to sleep. Evelyn was very good however got restless at the end (at the worst time!) and started to shut the bedroom door lowdly etc. WILLIAM fell aslepp and we cam downstairs to do elmo again and just cuddle.

the only thing i could have asked for to make the day better would have been an afternoon nap!

sometimes you just have to laugh...

Today we had a fun filled day we meet aunt Sarah at grandma and grandpa's house, played with their neighbor's son Zach. ate a huge lunch then actually napped. after Evelyn went potty and flushed the upstairs toilet at grandma and grandpa's house

she said "uh oh - how did the loud potty get here?"
Me: I don't know Evelyn (not to sure where she is going here.)
Evelyn perplexed: "how did the loud potty get to grandma and grandpa's house?"
Me: i don't know Evelyn.
Evelyn: this loud potty is from the JCC how did it get here?

After J had put her to bed she was quite for a little while and I thought I would head to bed. as i walked upstairs i heard the thudding that could only be little Evelyn feet running across her bedroom. as I opened her door she walked up to me with an arm full of toys and said "I had a nice nap mommy!" I dropped to my knees gave her a huge hug and laughed. Then put her back to bed of course :)

there was one more thing that evelun said that got me going today but of course at the moment it escapes my weary brain. I hope that I remember tomorrow so that I can post it!

A new trick

Saturday William tried to stand using the music table. it didn't quite work out for him even though he started from my legs but he had a great time playing. Sunday he almost made it from the floor but keeled over before he made it all the way up. today I offered my thumbs and though he didn't know what to do at first, i got him to grab them and he used me to stand. it only took the once he now grabs for my thumbs as soon as he sees them and is up in a flash. we still need to work on balance but we are very excited with his new trick :)

Today after daycare we drove up to the house and I hear
"Oh no what happened to my house?"
"I don't know what happened?"
"I don't know!"
(I look and see the birds that J's Grandfather and Father made hanging on the post.)
"Did daddy hang something up?"
"Yes"
"Do you want to go see it"
"Yes"

Evelyn noticed it before I did, clearly I am not the observational person in the family. I tried to pick her up to see it but she put her shoes on my shoulders which scares me so I asked J to hold her up forgetting about his limitations. Lets just say he didn't feel good :( though he should have said no. I can't wait until he feels better of course neither can he.

Attempting to stand

William had his first attempts at standing today. It didn't quite work out for him but I'm still excited. he was playing with the music table (there is something about this table) it was the toy Evelyn used to stand for the first time) and was sitting on my legs. he didn't end up making it but I was excited that he was trying. he then took a two hour nap, which i hope is a good sign for tonight.

The weather was gorgeous so we spent a lot of time out side and Evelyn got to play with the puppies three times! There is an older girl that is at one of the houses but I think she is a grand daughter (i don't remember her name) but she played with Evelyn who loved her and wanted to be her shadow. If she was just a bit older she could be a babysitter in a few years...

Shut up

I'm very disappointed to report that Evelyn is swearing. she uttered her first (for my ears) swear word. I am very upset I have no idea how to teach a 2 1/2 year old not to swear.

Closed

The nightmare is over we have sold the old house. It has been an interesting and stressful journey that i hope to never repeat in the same way again. after going under-contract to sell a water pipe burst while Jason was out of town and when he got home he was stuck helping me take care of two sick kids - so it went undiscovered for about a week and a half. The water destroyed the house. Everything had to be replaced. and so began the stress of essentially rebuilding. I have to say it went rather quickly though it didn't feel like it at the time.

Now the house is gone and we can focus on moving forward. with only one house to care for I hope things will get cleaner and projects will get accomplished quicker - now if only william would sleep through the night.

Peas

Me to Evelyn: do you think William would like to try peas tonight?
Evelyn : No baby too small.
Me: I think he would like to try them.
Evelyn: no baby too small
Me: It's ok Mommy is going to puree them
Evelyn: (horrified gasp) NO!

Sad

Ok I'm a little sad that I have let this blog go. I love to look back at Evelyn's blog and read about what was going on and what she could do. I am hoping that I will start keeping up with this one better as I can't do three and well there would be no point. Though I may add Evelyn blogging into her night time routine eventually I don't think we are quite there yet. In the mean time I will make more of an effort to keep this up for myself if nothing else.

Bath time

Evelyn wanted to take a bath with William tonight. She climbed in and had a great time washing William's arms and legs. They splashed around together for a while both as happy as can be.

Doctors appointment

Evelyn saw the ENT today. Her ears looked great and they are happy with her progress and lack of ear infections.

Catastophic

Today the adjuster cam by the old house. Jason spent 5 hours with her to find out what the coverage would be. we have not been told the total yet but the term catastrophic has been applied. I can't say that i am surprised as the whole first floor has to be replaced. the cabinets, all appliances including the washer and dryer in the basement and all the flooring. Jason is not taking this well with all the work he put into the house i can't blame him. I'm on the oposite side of the fence as I'm really ok with it, though I didn't see the damage. Part of me never really felt like that was my home where as Jason really was attached to the house.

For me as long as the insurance will pay (and they will) I'm not inclined to panic.

Happy Baby

William is now grabbing his feet with his hands and has rolled over a few more times. He started grabbing his feet while Jason was away and now just loves to hang on to his little piggy's.

Down with the Sickness...

It never fails. Jason goes out of town and someone gets sick. it's a bit harder when I'm the one sick but I can't say I prefer the kids get sick either. This time Jason left monday morning and monday after noon Evelyn had a fever of 102.5 - Fun. The doctor heard some crackling in her lung and said it was probably pneumonia. So we got antibiotics at the store and a few treats that i knew she would eat. and went home. the kids were so tired that Evelyn went to bed right after a late dinner and William fell asleep in his car seat as I was getting Evelyn's dinner ready.

William slept great woke up at 12:30 then not again until 6:30 just after the alarm went off. Evelyn got up shortly after. We had a great day Evelyn was a bit sleepy in the morning and took along nap but was jumping around and off the wall in the evening. Dad came over and said "this is not a sick child" It's amazing what an antibiotic can do.

Flowers

Susan and I put up the flower stickers in the playroom while Evelyn was asleep. In the morning Evelyn didn't seem to notice until we pointed them out to her. She seemed to like them but was not very interested. But after Grandma and Grandpa Hirsch left we were playing near them and Evelyn grabbed the purple crayon of her picnic table and said "my turn!" It took some convincing but I did manage to keep her from drawing on the wall.

Grandma and Grandpa Kidd came over in the afternoon and brought some cool stuff from Chicago! She enjoyed putting stickers on the steak and shake car and showing of William's floor.
Poor Mr William was still a bit fussy - he is definitely getting some teeth in!