Our church had an early Thanksgiving Dinner together last night. It was a lot of fun - probably around 150 people showed up. We figured this would be a good dry-run to see how the boys tolerated the feast. Graham has been grumpy all day long, so it would appear that even the tiny bit of dairy that I had (a spoonful of mashed potatoes, stuffing and roll) was too much. Good information to have before we head off for the mountains - far away from any of Graham's varied specialists. Gabriel only ate a roll. He took bites and sniffs of everything else, but bread is his big deal right now. Oh, and a brownie. Figures. He is the anti-Atkin's kid. But, hey, its Thanksgiving, I don't care what he eats, so long as he is having fun.
I probably won't be able to post too much in the next few days. We're leaving Wednesday morning for the White Mountains in a Coleman Caravan (an Expedition and 2 minivans) and won't be coming back to Tucson until Sunday morning. Hopefully everything goes smoothly- we've never taken both boys on a road trip before - this is going to be interesting. We're staying on a ranch with Troy's family, and *gasp* they don't have Wi-Fi! How will we function without the magic of the internet? Luckily, we're bringing our portable DVD player, so Gabriel will still be able to watch Thomas the Tank Engine. We're not totally techno-addicted, although my mom thinks that I have been in the city for far too long. I told her about the wagon we're getting the boys for Christmas. It has an awning (essential in Arizona, if I may say), seatbelts and cupholders. She thinks I have gone completely yuppy.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Why Boys Are Cool (cont.)
11. Spitting is a sport, and can be done secretively after mom has specifically said "no spitting"
12. They tell it like it is - "Abby-dog, P U! You stink!"
13. They like to make faces for everything.
14. Anything can 'roll' when the proper amount of force is applied.
15. They don't let girls push them around (at least, mine don't!)
16. Gallantry starts early - Gabriel opens the door and tells me how pretty I look already!
17. Again, they tell it like it is - this bears repeating, simply because in the car the other day, Gabriel said "Mommy, stop talking!"
12. They tell it like it is - "Abby-dog, P U! You stink!"
13. They like to make faces for everything.
14. Anything can 'roll' when the proper amount of force is applied.
15. They don't let girls push them around (at least, mine don't!)
16. Gallantry starts early - Gabriel opens the door and tells me how pretty I look already!
17. Again, they tell it like it is - this bears repeating, simply because in the car the other day, Gabriel said "Mommy, stop talking!"
Friday, November 21, 2008
Firsts
Okay, I have been remiss in informing everyone on all kinds of things that are going on. So here we go:
Graham rolled over - October 1st, 2008
Graham said "dada" - October 7, 2008
Graham's first tooth - October 9, 2008
Gabriel said "mommy" - October 8, 2008
Gabriel's first dentist appointment - October 27, 2008
Graham first fed himself - October 15, 2008
These are some 'second firsts' for me - this hasn't happened since I was in middle school!
Jessi bought a pair of size 8 jeans - October 15, 2008
Jessi has to return them to get a size 6 - October 22, 2008!!!
More wonderful news - Gabriel had an allergy test done on Monday (that was a horrible experience, I don't want to talk about) where they tested him for indoor and food allergies. Since everything came back negative, they think that he has something called 'cough variant asthma' (this isn't the wonderful news part) which would explain why he seems to constantly have a cold or cough. Apparently in this kind of asthma, he wouldn't have an asthma attack, he gets a cough or cold-like symptoms. So, he is now on Singulair, and we are hoping that he starts to get better soon. The wonderful part was that he seems to have inherited NONE of the family food allergies! The concern there was a nut allergy (from me) so he was not going to be allowed to have peanut butter or other nut products until he was 4. To celebrate, Troy bought some Nutter Butter cookies to share with him, and a few days later, Gabriel and I shared an apple with peanut butter. He loves it!
We are ecstatic around here!
Graham rolled over - October 1st, 2008
Graham said "dada" - October 7, 2008
Graham's first tooth - October 9, 2008
Gabriel said "mommy" - October 8, 2008
Gabriel's first dentist appointment - October 27, 2008
Graham first fed himself - October 15, 2008
These are some 'second firsts' for me - this hasn't happened since I was in middle school!
Jessi bought a pair of size 8 jeans - October 15, 2008
Jessi has to return them to get a size 6 - October 22, 2008!!!
More wonderful news - Gabriel had an allergy test done on Monday (that was a horrible experience, I don't want to talk about) where they tested him for indoor and food allergies. Since everything came back negative, they think that he has something called 'cough variant asthma' (this isn't the wonderful news part) which would explain why he seems to constantly have a cold or cough. Apparently in this kind of asthma, he wouldn't have an asthma attack, he gets a cough or cold-like symptoms. So, he is now on Singulair, and we are hoping that he starts to get better soon. The wonderful part was that he seems to have inherited NONE of the family food allergies! The concern there was a nut allergy (from me) so he was not going to be allowed to have peanut butter or other nut products until he was 4. To celebrate, Troy bought some Nutter Butter cookies to share with him, and a few days later, Gabriel and I shared an apple with peanut butter. He loves it!
We are ecstatic around here!
Spontaneity Lives!
Drudge drudge drudge... dishes... laundry... housework... wiping noses... find the missing puzzle piece... not the blue cup - the orange one!... REPEAT
Is that what life has come down to? Sometimes it definitely feels like it. Of course, since its my life, you have to throw in the emergency room visits with sick babies; special-order meals with no dairy/soy (for me), no veggies for the most part (for Troy), no meat (for Gabriel - he's on a very random red meat strike...) and no dairy, soy or rice flour (for Graham); TV problems and car problems and that's it.
Well not the other day! I was wonderfully surprised when Troy came in the room and said "babe, do you want to go take a shower?" Wait. 'Wonderfully surprised'? How bad did I look? I know there were probably banana handprints on my shirt, and who-knows-what in my hair, but geez! I just kind of blinked and looked at him. After a pause he says "I thought we would go out tonight. To the Melting Pot." YES! The BEST night-out you could ask for! No kids; the restaurant is on the other side of town, at LEAST 45 minutes away from our side of town; low-lighting; fondue! What could be better? Excitedly I ran into the bathroom, showered, did my hair and makeup - that would be twice in one month for me on that - has to be a record! Packed up the kids and took them to grandma's and grandpa's house. As we are headed to restaurant, I realized, 'wait! I can't have cheese, or chocolate, or bread... and no soybean oil... what am I going to eat??!' After silently stressing about it, I finally asked Troy, who admitted that it had completely slipped his mind, too. We discussed changing plans, and I just wanted to die. This is a huge deal for us - the restaurant is so expensive, but we were on our way! How awful would I feel if we couldn't go, just because of me?? The solution: a little bit won't hurt him! And off we go! Happily, it didn't affect Graham at all. He was a little bit grumpy, but we are chalking that up to the fact that his first tooth came in the next day.
We had a great time - and I enjoyed everything. But I did learn one important lesson. When you have gone six months with a strict, no-dairy diet, and then you suddenly throw a cheese fondue course in... it will turn your stomach! We have discovered that I can handle cheese cooked into something (or sprinkled on something, like chili or tacos) but not by itself. Interesting turn of events from my usual, 'I think I'll have a cracker with my cheese' way of life.
Is that what life has come down to? Sometimes it definitely feels like it. Of course, since its my life, you have to throw in the emergency room visits with sick babies; special-order meals with no dairy/soy (for me), no veggies for the most part (for Troy), no meat (for Gabriel - he's on a very random red meat strike...) and no dairy, soy or rice flour (for Graham); TV problems and car problems and that's it.
Well not the other day! I was wonderfully surprised when Troy came in the room and said "babe, do you want to go take a shower?" Wait. 'Wonderfully surprised'? How bad did I look? I know there were probably banana handprints on my shirt, and who-knows-what in my hair, but geez! I just kind of blinked and looked at him. After a pause he says "I thought we would go out tonight. To the Melting Pot." YES! The BEST night-out you could ask for! No kids; the restaurant is on the other side of town, at LEAST 45 minutes away from our side of town; low-lighting; fondue! What could be better? Excitedly I ran into the bathroom, showered, did my hair and makeup - that would be twice in one month for me on that - has to be a record! Packed up the kids and took them to grandma's and grandpa's house. As we are headed to restaurant, I realized, 'wait! I can't have cheese, or chocolate, or bread... and no soybean oil... what am I going to eat??!' After silently stressing about it, I finally asked Troy, who admitted that it had completely slipped his mind, too. We discussed changing plans, and I just wanted to die. This is a huge deal for us - the restaurant is so expensive, but we were on our way! How awful would I feel if we couldn't go, just because of me?? The solution: a little bit won't hurt him! And off we go! Happily, it didn't affect Graham at all. He was a little bit grumpy, but we are chalking that up to the fact that his first tooth came in the next day.
We had a great time - and I enjoyed everything. But I did learn one important lesson. When you have gone six months with a strict, no-dairy diet, and then you suddenly throw a cheese fondue course in... it will turn your stomach! We have discovered that I can handle cheese cooked into something (or sprinkled on something, like chili or tacos) but not by itself. Interesting turn of events from my usual, 'I think I'll have a cracker with my cheese' way of life.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Helpful Brother
Have I said how much I love my boys lately? If not, let me say it now: I LOVE MY BOYS! They are amazing, and I am so blessed to be their mommy!
Gabriel has moved from being the jealous/possessive toddler to being 'the helpful brother'. Thus the name of this post.
There are several stories I could tell you about Gabriel and Graham, this is one of my favorites:
Graham and I were doing 'tummy time' on the floor in his room when Gabriel came in from playing with his cars. "Come on, Greb (the closest spelling to how he says 'Graham') "let's play 'gets you' (tag)" and off he goes. A minute of silence, punctuated by Graham's grunts as he kicks on the floor, and then Gabriel returns, exasperated. "Greb... come on. Play gets you with Gabriel." Off again, only to return. "GREB!" (this is the point where I intervened.) "Gabriel, Graham is too small to play gets you - he can't walk, he's trying to crawl." "Oh, Ok. Here Greb - Gabriel shows you how." Gabriel gets down on all fours and crawls a step or two. "OK, now let's go, Greb!" and he goes crawling out the room.
Another time: Graham is playing with one of those baby pianos on the floor. Gabriel wanted to play with it, and I told him that was fine, but they had to play together and share the piano. After a few minutes, I heard the random plunkings that can only be Graham's compositions turn into something more planned and intentional - signalling that Graham was no longer in control of the piano. When I came into the room Gabriel had turned the piano around so that the keys were facing him, and Graham had to be satisfied with the boring back of the piano. "Gabriel..." I started, when he interrupted with "I'm just showing him how it works. See, Greb?" Plunk, plunk plunk.
The cutest has to be when Gabriel reads to Graham, though. Graham has a book called "Baby Plays Pat-Pat" where it has pictures of different things, and encourages the baby to 'pat-pat the penguin' etc. After the first time reading it to both of the boys, Gabriel grabs the book and reads it again like this: "oooh! What do we see? We see a swan! Pat-pat the swan! Good job, Greb! Oooh! what do we see? We see a snowman! Pat-pat the snowman!" Now Gabriel has taken to reading all of his books to his brother. I've included pictures of them doing this to the slideshow.
Enjoy!
Gabriel has moved from being the jealous/possessive toddler to being 'the helpful brother'. Thus the name of this post.
There are several stories I could tell you about Gabriel and Graham, this is one of my favorites:
Graham and I were doing 'tummy time' on the floor in his room when Gabriel came in from playing with his cars. "Come on, Greb (the closest spelling to how he says 'Graham') "let's play 'gets you' (tag)" and off he goes. A minute of silence, punctuated by Graham's grunts as he kicks on the floor, and then Gabriel returns, exasperated. "Greb... come on. Play gets you with Gabriel." Off again, only to return. "GREB!" (this is the point where I intervened.) "Gabriel, Graham is too small to play gets you - he can't walk, he's trying to crawl." "Oh, Ok. Here Greb - Gabriel shows you how." Gabriel gets down on all fours and crawls a step or two. "OK, now let's go, Greb!" and he goes crawling out the room.
Another time: Graham is playing with one of those baby pianos on the floor. Gabriel wanted to play with it, and I told him that was fine, but they had to play together and share the piano. After a few minutes, I heard the random plunkings that can only be Graham's compositions turn into something more planned and intentional - signalling that Graham was no longer in control of the piano. When I came into the room Gabriel had turned the piano around so that the keys were facing him, and Graham had to be satisfied with the boring back of the piano. "Gabriel..." I started, when he interrupted with "I'm just showing him how it works. See, Greb?" Plunk, plunk plunk.
The cutest has to be when Gabriel reads to Graham, though. Graham has a book called "Baby Plays Pat-Pat" where it has pictures of different things, and encourages the baby to 'pat-pat the penguin' etc. After the first time reading it to both of the boys, Gabriel grabs the book and reads it again like this: "oooh! What do we see? We see a swan! Pat-pat the swan! Good job, Greb! Oooh! what do we see? We see a snowman! Pat-pat the snowman!" Now Gabriel has taken to reading all of his books to his brother. I've included pictures of them doing this to the slideshow.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sounds of the Sea Shore
You always hear that babies who listen to Mozart or Beethoven are going to be geniuses. I agree that there is a lot gained by listening to the classical composers, and have to say that when I was little, my mom would tune my radio to the classical station, and I would just soak up that music. I still love it! But, Gabriel has a very complex personality, and he would get bored listneing to that all the time. After trying several lullaby/night time CDs for him to listen to, he finally settled on a CD that is music mixed with sounds of whales, waves, ducks, etc. He loves this CD - in fact, it takes him forever to fall asleep if it is not turned on. Graham - in true form - is very mellow. He doesn't care if there is music on or not, or what is playing. You can plunk him down in his crib and he might fuss for about 20 seconds, and then he is out. So this is what I am listening to right now - Gabriel's whale CD coming through the monitor, mixed with some snores from Gabriel and some stuffy nose sounds from Graham. Right now, I think this is what heaven must be like! A completely messy house, weird whale music blaring through a tinny-sounding baby monitor, mixing with the satisfied snores and snuffles of two precious little boys who have completely exhausted themselves playing all morning.
There is an hilarious story that goes along with Gabriel's CD, though - that I hope you enjoy. One night, my friend Ellen babysat Gabriel for Troy and I, after Gabriel had gone to bed. When we got home, Gabriel was up, watching TV with Ellen. After I put him back in his bed, I asked what happened, and Ellen told me this: she was watching a movie, when she kept hearing these weird sounds - that sounded kind of like someone being sick and groaning. Concerned (thankfully!) she got up and ran into Gabriel's room. But as soon as she got there, the sound stopped, so she went back to her movie. After a few more times of this, Gabriel finally just woke up and Ellen couldn't get him back to sleep. She explained to me that he hadn't been making any weird noises since then, so she wasn't worried. Then she heard it again coming in on the monitor. Troy and I started laughing. I apologized to Ellen and said "That isn't Gabriel, that is a humpback whale sounding". Poor Ellen, I should have warned her about the whales!
There is an hilarious story that goes along with Gabriel's CD, though - that I hope you enjoy. One night, my friend Ellen babysat Gabriel for Troy and I, after Gabriel had gone to bed. When we got home, Gabriel was up, watching TV with Ellen. After I put him back in his bed, I asked what happened, and Ellen told me this: she was watching a movie, when she kept hearing these weird sounds - that sounded kind of like someone being sick and groaning. Concerned (thankfully!) she got up and ran into Gabriel's room. But as soon as she got there, the sound stopped, so she went back to her movie. After a few more times of this, Gabriel finally just woke up and Ellen couldn't get him back to sleep. She explained to me that he hadn't been making any weird noises since then, so she wasn't worried. Then she heard it again coming in on the monitor. Troy and I started laughing. I apologized to Ellen and said "That isn't Gabriel, that is a humpback whale sounding". Poor Ellen, I should have warned her about the whales!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Why I LOVE Having 2 Boys (pt. 1)
I frequently get comments about the fact that I am the mother of boys. Sometimes they are positive (or at least neutral) comments, but frequently they are negative. I have never understood this! You'll hear things like "oh, you've got two BOYS" and then people look at me with something akin to both disgust and pity at the same time. I feel like shouting at the top of my lungs "YES! I have two boys!"
Before my kids were born, I thought I wanted a boy and a girl. One of each, and that way all of my child-rearing desires would be fulfilled. I would have a little girl that I could dress up, and she would have an older brother who was into sports and would look after her. While I think that parents are happy with whatever gender they have in their children, let me just take a minute to list some of the great things about boys.
1. Mom is the only girl that is not 'gross'.
2. Even a balloon is a weapon, when used properly.
3. Think the dog is safe when she's asleep? Think again!
4. Camo pants look too cool on 2 boys!
5. I get to rough-house with them
6. ... and then tell them they have to be gentle with me - I'm a girl!
7. Nobody is cooler than their (big or little) brother
8. They're very honest and tell you things like "I've got boogers"
9. ... then hand them to you
10. They make the best sound effects*
* It is a well-known fact that girls cannot make good sound effects. I thought this was a learned trait, but I want to put that theory to rest. Gabriel started making sound effects at about 7 months old. His cars said 'vroom' when he would roll them. And as he matures, so do the sound effects!
As time passes, I will add more and more reasons why boys rule, but that is my list for now.
Before my kids were born, I thought I wanted a boy and a girl. One of each, and that way all of my child-rearing desires would be fulfilled. I would have a little girl that I could dress up, and she would have an older brother who was into sports and would look after her. While I think that parents are happy with whatever gender they have in their children, let me just take a minute to list some of the great things about boys.
1. Mom is the only girl that is not 'gross'.
2. Even a balloon is a weapon, when used properly.
3. Think the dog is safe when she's asleep? Think again!
4. Camo pants look too cool on 2 boys!
5. I get to rough-house with them
6. ... and then tell them they have to be gentle with me - I'm a girl!
7. Nobody is cooler than their (big or little) brother
8. They're very honest and tell you things like "I've got boogers"
9. ... then hand them to you
10. They make the best sound effects*
* It is a well-known fact that girls cannot make good sound effects. I thought this was a learned trait, but I want to put that theory to rest. Gabriel started making sound effects at about 7 months old. His cars said 'vroom' when he would roll them. And as he matures, so do the sound effects!
As time passes, I will add more and more reasons why boys rule, but that is my list for now.
1st and 3rd Halloween
This Friday was Graham's First Halloween, and Gabriel's Third. That still blows my mind. Both of them are growing too fast for me... Gabriel is 2 - where did the time go?? i think that with expecting Graham and being so caught up in all of his medical difficulties, I have really pushed all of Gabriel's accomplisments to the back burner. I have to be honest that I suffer with terrible guilt over this. He is amazing, and I never want him to think that he isn't. The things that he can do, and the concepts that he is able to grasp and then communicate to us are overwhelming. Our bedtime routine for him has been - brush teeth, go potty, put on lotion, put on jammies, a story, a song, and go to sleep. A few weeks ago this stopped working. He just kept getting out of bed, and would get so upset when we put him back in. Finally one night, I just sat back and looked at him and said "son, what do you want?". He gave me a look that I will never forget. He blinked and said "more love". All he wanted was for us to cuddle him a little bit more before bedtime (which have done since that night) and he lays down and goes right to sleep. I would just get caught up in hearing his brother crying, and knowing that he was ready to go to sleep to, and I was anxious to reach my goal of both kids being in bed for the night - that I forgot that Gabriel is two, and he just wants more love. My husband and I talked about this yesterday and have decided to make a concentrated effort to spend more time with Gabriel - not just sitting around time, or 'paralell' time - but actual, energetic, 'excited-to-be-with-you' time. That said, I'm going to go play cars - eventhough I know that means I'm going to get the car with three wheels, and the dent in the door - I am excited to go!
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