My new iPod

Joey bought me the new itouch ipod http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/ which is so cool. We love it. I had my babysitter Justyne set it up for me Wednesday while she babysat. Joe and I as well as Adam and his wife Anna were at the new house getting it ready for our new tenant to move in Saturday. The house is looking fabulous and we feel blessed to have it rented.

Mason told me a cute Knock Knock joke this morning. "Knock Knock" "Who is there?" "California" "California who?" "I miss my Aunt B". Maybe only Aunt B will appreciate it but I thought it was darling and worthy of making it into the blog.

We are running in the Leprechaun Scurry tomorrow, a 5K fundraiser for the local high school. I am enjoying getting into running. I have bought new shoes and a new outfit which is also fun! :)
Nothing like rewarding positive behavior even if its just yourself.

The boys are so into Joe right now that I am worried how they will do with his next absence. He leaves Sunday for 17 days. Hopefully it will go quickly and we do have Aunt B's visit next weekend to distract us. I am really looking forward to it. I can't wait for her to see how much the boys have grown and changed. Today I am noticing that both boys' pants are too short. I guess I need to go through all their clothes again and rotate out the ones they have outgrown. This is often fun for me as I like organizing but it is also a bit sad as it is such a tangible reminder that they are growing up.

I was just thinking this morning how different the boys are from each other. Mason had climbed out of the crib by 22 months. Talan is 25 months and has shown no interest in trying to climb out. Last night he crawled into Mason's bed and wanted to sleep there. It was very sweet that they wanted to sleep together but I knew that wouldn't truly work out. It is getting me thinking that maybe they would enjoy sharing a room. I wouldn't do this until Talan had busted out of his crib because obviously there is a whole bunch of issues that crop up once they are able to roam around instead of going to sleep.

I am going to explore a school this afternoon that both boys could attend. What an exciting idea! I spend so much on babysitting while I am at school that this really makes more sense. Joe and I both would like more breaks from the kids and a school setting sounds more ideal to me that just babysitters all the time.

Alone time with Talan

Mason is at school today so Talan and I are having some much needed alone time. He is a delight when he is not with his brother. The two of them just antagonize each other at every possible moment. Although, I have to say they have also been playing really well together at times too. This morning when I got up, I found Mason trying to hoist Talan up onto the TV with him. Our TV died and so it is sitting on our living room floor and anything on the floor is fair game in these kids' minds. So while I didn't want Talan on top of the TV or Mason for that matter, I appreciated that he was trying to help.

Every Wednesday Mason has show and tell at school. He is supposed to bring something that begins with the letter of the week. This week it is "R". I asked Mason what he wanted to bring and get this, he said Talan. Is that the cutest thing ever? I thought it was darling. I told Mason I wish that we possible but instead I suggested Rabbit, Robot or Rocket. Joe suggested Razor blades, he was kidding! Mason decided on two red balls. I congratulated him on good thinking. He is bring two because he wants his friend Jake at school to have one. Well you can only imagine how all this attention on these two totally ignored red balls impacted Baby Talan. He wanted those balls so badly. He whined and pleaded and stole them while Mason was brushing his "teef". The chaos around these two red balls just basically upset the last part of our morning. As Joe was driving Mason off to school Talan was still signing ball and Mason and was still very upset.

To distract Talan from his sadness, I decided to play gumballs with Talan. The boys love their gumball toy with all the corresponding components: gumballs and coins. Could life get any better? Plus, they actually sometimes eat the gumballs. These gumballs have had quite the life and have been in most places in our house. There are precious few that actually still have all their color. Most are quite worn out looking. Don't eat one if they offer it to you. :)

In the photos, Talan is signing Mason (an approximation on the letter "m" near shoulder) and he is also signing Mom. He signs a lot these days. Picking up about one new sign a day. His newest one is share. He wants Mason to share. He learned how to sign Mason last week. That has been a sign we have seen a lot of. :) Every time Talan learns a new sign Mason screams out "he can talk, he said his first word" with such excitement. I think he is really ready to have his brother talk about as much as we are. I explain to Mason that Talan is using signs with us and he will talk soon. Imagine how much their relationship will blossom once Talan does start talking. That is something to look forward to. Meanwhile we are on the waiting list for speech therapy. I fully believe Talan will speak on his own timeline.

Trains and Nuggets

My sister is wondering why I haven't posted in a few days and I really don't have an original excuse. Yes I've been busy. But these guys do the cutest things everyday and I would love to document all of it. Lazy, don't have the camera or a combination of the two limits my enthusiasm for the project.





Today, I purposely took out the camera and shot the current goings ons in our house. Joe "babysat" the boys the other evening and that is when the huge Thomas the Train project got underway. The only place for it is on our kitchen floor so we will see how long Joe and I can stand tripping over it. The boys, of course, LOVE IT. The trains blow smoke and light up red so we often enjoy it in the dark. :)





I made the boys nuggets for lunch. They always want it with Ranch dressing but today when Mason saw the Ranch dressing he whined that he wanted Ketchup. Oh my lord. These guys are very challenging to please. So they got both just to s*** them up. They also both got strawberry milk. Mason asked me if I put the secret ingredient into his milk and I admitted I had not. Consequently, me insisted he needed it or else "it will taste terrible". Well, the secret ingredient is liquid vitamins and it tastes terrible which is why I only add it to strawberry milk which is sweet enough to mask the terrible vitamin flavoring. So, really, Mason had it reversed. But, I added the secret ingredient and he drank it all. Really shows you how you can use psychology to work in your favor. ;)





We went to a really fun birthday party for our friend Lily yesterday. She turned 3 and the theme was Unicorns. So precious. The boys had a blast and so did I. It is nice seeing our regular Mom's group. Hopefully someone will share their photos with me as I didn't bring my camera.





Joe and I have been pretty focused on renting out our new property. Looks like we have quite a bit of interest so we may have our pick of tenants. Cool! The bad news is our tenant in Brunswick is leaving at the end of the month so now Joey is flying out to FL early so that he can drive up there, fix it up (paint) and rent it out. Not too fun but we are very fortunate that the timing occurred while he was heading that way for work. Ups and downs. That is what being a landlord is all about.

Talan continues to blossom with his sign language skills. He now signs "daddy" all the time to Joe's total amusement. He also signs "mason" and he does "drink" and "milk" frequently too. The boys are really sweet to each other (and antagonize each other too). We are enjoying each other a lot these days which is really fun.

Valentine's Party at Mason's School

I was one of two parent volunteers to assist with the party in Mason's classroom on Friday. Baby Talan loved being there too! I was the official "photographer" which was fun for me as I love to snap tons of photos. I also took two videos. Teacher Tammy does such a great job keeping all the kids in line. They sat in a circle after eating their cookies, grapes and strawberries and took turns passing out their valentine gifts to each other. Very sweet. Mason gave out Transformer cards with matching pencils. Most of the other kids had candy attached to their cards which both boys gobbled up later in the day. We love sugar!

Another major even Friday is that Talan passed his hearing test. This is just fabulous news and we are so grateful that his hearing is good. The ear tubes have successfully drained the excess middle ear fluids and he can now hear "normally". He is definitely trying to say more words, or parts of them. He is also signing a ton which is great. We have every confidence that his speech with be forthcoming very soon.

McHotties

The kids and I had a blast decorating some shirts for Joe and me to wear for the Valentine's Fun Run. The boys had to try the shirts on. They did not want to take them off and only when I quickly made some of their own did I get these shirts off the boys. You have to be a fan of Grey's Anatomy to really "get" the shirts.

Adam and his wife Anna were kind enough to watch the boys while we did the run downtown. Joe ended up not wearing his shirt but we are glad we did the run and took Adam and Anna to a nice Mexican dinner afterwards as our way of saying Thank You. Adam and the boys have a joke out calling each other "Pegboard". Its very cute and funny and we are so delighted that the boys adore Adam so much (and they are getting more friendly with Anna).

BTW, I got an 82 on my exam yesterday which is fairly good. The test was very challenging so I guess I should be pleased. I know I don't have the time to put into getting an "A" so a "B" will have to suffice.

Winter Festival

Joe and I took the kids to the Winter Festival on Saturday. We went on a hay ride, jumped in the bouncy castles, watched the professional trampoline jumpers and local youth snowboarding and last but not least Joe and Mason tried Paintball for the first time.

Yesterday, Joe and I did the Partners in Pain 5K run in Spokane. Our babysitter came over at 7:15am so that we could be there and pick up our tags etc before the race. As we got a little lost, it was a good thing we gave ourselves so much time. The race was very well attended. We ran it in 35.20 which is great (for me). I had hoped to do it under 45 minutes so I am very happy. Afterwards, Joe took me to a great lunch at the new PF Chang in Spokane. It was fabulous. We loved the vegetarian potstickers, wedge salad and the stir fry eggplant. Yum. So nice to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time with my hubby. We got home at 12:45 and the boys were napping so we crawled into bed and watched two episodes of LOST before they woke up (we are still on Season 1).

I had a great study date with a gal from class who also has boys 2 & 4. They all played together really well so hopefully we will do that again sometime.

This morning the boys were being really cute and cuddly with each other. I couldn't resist taking some photos. Mason and Talan were kissing and hugging each other. Just adorable.

Oh, our new thing is to pray before each meal. Mason is adament about this. We are ok with it. A family that prays together stays together, right? Tonight I made him lead the prayer and this is what he came up with "thank you God, amen". I told him he'd get better with practice. Mason's other new thing is that he says "for the love of Pete". I think he's heard me say "for the love of God" when I am irritable or missing something and just changed it to Pete. Its very funny. Its totally out of context and nonsensical but cute nonetheless. He knows I get a kick out of it so he says it frequently to me.

I've been a bit of a bore today. My exam is tomorrow so I have been studying a lot for it. Can't wait to get it over with. :) Then I will have a better idea how I am doing in this class. The great thing is that my results will be posted tomorrow night so now weeks of waiting to see how I did. Cool!

Balloon Boobs

The kids and I were playing hot potato with four balloons and then we had the brilliant idea to put them under our shirts. Well, I had to take photos because this brought back memories of Barclay and I doing the same thing in Hawaii when we were little. Except that we also put on lipstick which I did not offer up to the boys.

Please notice that Talan has red marker on his hand. We have these books were the boys can practice their printing doing letters and alphabet. Well, Talan used a red permanent marker instead of the wipe off marker. When I noticed, I screamed at him to use the black marker. Then when I wasn' looking again, he decorated our ottoman. So if you think our furniture looked bad before, oh my.

Another "successful" venure tonight: dinner. Tonight for dinner I made the boys shrimp and organic sugar snap peas. Oh my god, I so overboiled the peas that I had to wring the water out of them. Joe would be so alarmed. Needless to say that after dinner, we were all still hungry and our plates were still full minus the shrimp! So, cereal for "dessert" without which we would perish.

By the way, my new addiction is http://www.freerice.com/ (thank you B) and only those who love vocabulary would enjoy it. I am now trying to break my high vocab score of 40. Yesterday, the best I could do was 33 so I am obviously improving (or getting easier words). I think next time I go to Marin and play Huggermugger I will do better on the definition section with all this practice.

If you are reading this and thinking "she needs a life" I agree. Except, I am happy except for my utter lack of culinary talent (we need Joe to come home and feed us).

Life is good

My heart dissection went well. I got a 5 out of 5 on my lab notebook. The kids were absolutely adorable when I got home and I just realized, after a five hour break, how much I miss them and adore them. My meeting was good too, it is a blessing after a long day at school.

Mason didn't come into my bed once. Great job May May. They both went to bed relatively easy. Today Mason has school, show-in-tell the letter O. Talan and I are going to the gym and then grocery shopping as I had to borrow milk from Keira for my coffee this morning. Joe comes home tomorrow. All good stuff.

I am posting some photos as I know I haven't in a few posts. Talan wearing my hat is really a cute one. Mason is playing with his Krinkle blocks in one and then with the ones on the sofa together I asked Mason to give his brother a hug and while it looks like a strangle instead, it was done with love.

Insomniac reflections on my kids and life

I can't sleep. I woke up to Mason being in my bed, on Joe's side. I told him "no" firmly but without anger. He tried to protest but left and went back to his own bedroom. This is night number two sleeping in his own bed. Both nights have had issues but I feel good knowing we are getting back on track.

I shared at my meeting today how angry I had been at the kids this weekend, feeling like they were so unmanagable. Then it donned on me, my higher power?, that I had horrible boundaries with them. So I went to work limiting their sugar and having them sleep in their own beds/rooms. Wow. What a difference it has already made in terms of just me feeling like my life is manageable again.

I was letting them run amok trying to get some homework done. My class has a never ending supply of lab work and challenging material to learn. However, I reminded myself, I was the one who made the decision to go back to school, not the kids. I was the one who said I will deal with whaever challenges present themselves. The kids didn't say "hey mom its ok to go back to school". They are two and four. They want their stay-at-home mommy. So, I have to deal with things better. Find balance. Learn how to juggle it all. I have only been back to school for three weeks so I need to allow myself so room to flounder, to figure out what will work and what won't. I realize that I can get small bits of homework done here and there. Not a lot at any one time. Nap times are a great opportunity to get maybe an hour solid. Sometimes I want to nap too and that is ok but I am making a choice. So, I am holding myself accountable and not being a victim. I am staying in the solution or at least trying to, all stuff Al-Anon has taught me.

I am so glad I signed up for a 5K this Sunday. It has kept me motivated to go to the gym regularly, which was my hope. Today I got so caught up in a Janet Jackson special on the gyms TV that I ran 2.3 miles. I ran for 31 minutes which is my longest yet. I was so proud of myself. I also did 5 minutes of really tough stuff on the step machine and my full floor routine (abs and arms). I felt great.

After the gym I spontaneously I treated myself to a quick visit to Shabby to Chic to see Sandy and her new store. New to me, she moved it three years ago but I haven't been since I have moved back. I love Sandy. She is so awesome. She made me a wonderful coffee and BT got a vanilla milk which he asked for more. :) Her shop is so cute and I just loved the energy there. I'd love to go back without the kids in tow so that I can really enjoy it. I saw some of Val's artwork and I saw Lori's mom's vintage dresses for sale there. It made me think that it is so great knowing so many wonderful women in this town.

Misty loves it when I have insomnia as she gets my attention and there are no kids. She is on my lap purring away as I write this. It is a bit hard to write with her on my left arm but I know how rare it is for her to get alone time with me that I tolerate it just fine. Of course, I feel my nose getting drippy as I am so allergic to her and her hair is settling all over me and the key board. She is a miracle hair producer. She loses so much daily and yet you never see any new or short hairs. She has the thickest coat ever. Now why can't scientists figure out how Misty does this and apply the science to bald heads? And yet we can send a man to the moon. Amazing.

The boys keep signing Daddy. I told them tonight three more days. Mason broke down in tears. I forget that they can't conceptualize three days. That means nothing to him. All he knows is that Daddy is not here right now. He keeps saying he wants to stay up late (which he does with Joe) and I tell him its dark outside and it is time for bed (not very compassionate sounding is it?). Our habits, all of us, are very different when Joe is here. In a lot of ways, I run a much tighter ship particularly around bedtime and teeth brushing etc. On the other hand, we all eat so much healthier when Joe is here. Tonight I made hamburger patties with cheese and a salad. That is a good attempt for me. Last night they had french toast for dinner. I know how to make about four things. Two of them are breakfast items!

OK I am going to try to go back to sleep. I have my pig heart dissection later today. I am a bit grossed out by it but also really excited. I have to learn all the layers, strutures, functions and dissect it properly to earn 7 points. I don't know what 7 points means in the scheme of things for this class but it doesn't sound like much for all that work. But, the great thing is that as a student this time round I don't care about the points and the grades I just want to learn the material. Wow. What a difference from when I was at Berkeley. At Berkeley I just wanted to maintain my awesome GPA. The material wasn't as interesting as the grades I got. Funny what an extra dozen or so years does to your mindset as a college student. I think I have my priorites right this time round.

Oh, I just remembered what I was thinking of that rallied to me to get out of bed to blog. Tonight after Mason went poop he bent over for me to check if his butt needed wiping (it didn't) so when I declared he was good to go he ran out of the bathroom. Just then I looked over a BT who ALWAYS watches Mason on the loo and BT was bending over, touching his toes, so that I could wipe his butt too. In his diaper and pajama's he was bent over just like Mason (God he adores and idolizes his brother) and I just thought he was being so cute. He has done this before and it always makes me laugh. I checked his butt (to make him happy) and declared him good to go too and he raced out to find Mason. It is moments like this that I need to remember when I am feeling like pulling my hair out. :)

Very Tired of Cartoons

All this indoor time is driving me a bit bonkers. Mason keeps asking what his options are every half hour as each show ends. I don't always tell him when Power Rangers is on as that show is just so violent I can't stand it. We try to stick to Super Why, Dora, Curious George and the like. Since Talan is quasi-watching it is even more important to make the show appropriate. I keep turning the TV off and making the boys play with each other with their toys. What a concept. We move from room to room. Mason has lots of cool toys in his room. Talan's room is less exciting but the boys like to jump in the crib and read books in there (I read the books, they fight over the books and my lap). In our room, we play under the covers, jumping off the window ledge onto the bed and, of course, chase Misty out from under the bed. We also tell "ghost" stories under the covers with our battery operated candle with lots of tickling at the "scary" parts. :) The boys also like to be airlifted on my feet and then dropped down to the bed.
But truthfully its been a challenge to keep us entertained during so much bad weather.

Today, I actually took the kids shopping. I just had the urge and the weather didn't seem too awful. We went to PetCo and enjoyed about half an hour of looking at animals, fish and birds. Talan really liked the ferrets. Mason wanted a bird. It was almost unbearable leaving and it almost made it not worth it to go in. But as we don't have a zoo, I do like to take the boys in to see the animals from time to time. The tricky part is not buying anything.

Next we went to TJ Maxx and I did buy some clothes and toys. The turtle necks were $2 and I am already so bored by the kids winter wardrobe but can't justify spending a lot of money on clothes when they have so much already. We found more krinkle blocks so that was a no brainer. The boys love these and even though this is our third round of purchasing them as we slowly but surely lose them, it entertains them for hours. (As I type this Mason is playing with all the short straight ones, the shape he has always favored.) I also bought two sets of bingo which I plan to use for my upcoming Sign Language Classes. We played a few rounds when we got home and the boys really liked it and Mason was really good at it. A nice surprise.

We walked over to the book store last. I keep looking for a bookstore that has a train table in the kids department. None of them do here. They were all the rage in Georgia. Joe and I often took the kids there so that we could talk while they played. No such luck. By this time the kids were just totally falling apart. We walked back to the car and while they nibbled on cheese nips, I zipped into Pier 1 but found nothing and so we drove home.

Now we are all falling apart again after a tastey elk burger lunch compliments of my neighbors. The cooking here is very slim jim while Joe is away. I think people feel sorry for us. :) Anyway the tears now mean nap time and I think today I am going to join them. Nap time in Momma bed here we come. One of the definite bonuses of being a mom. ;)