Life Lately- Cue the Circus Music

Warning...I have a lot of photos this week.. 

Our lives were all over the place... up, down, in between, sideways, backwards, who-even-knows-anymore... you get my drift. 

Sorry for the picture overload... I'm sure you all just hate looking at pictures of my adorable children, huh? The things you suffer through to read my blog.... (insert smiley face emoji with a LOL for good measure)

Here we go!

The weather was just as crazy as our lives this week... the beginning of last weekend was glorious. We got the pool out, the kids learned how to lounge in the chairs.... Neal and I were selfish though and drank all the beer, so they had to settle for Popsicles.

#PoorKids

Weekends always call for a movie night! We are on a steady rotation of The Lion King, Big Hero 6 and Frozen and someone needs to intervene and teach them that variety is the spice of life. Not endless repetition. They won't listen to me....

I love this pic because Little Kid is observing Big Kid to make sure he does EXACTLY the same thing. 

#MonkeySee

.....because.... #Oregon, it started raining and went back to being 50 degrees. Right after being 90 degrees. Sigh. So out came the hoodies on Sunday and we all trooped to the grocery store. No "vacation" for me this week.... the boys insisted on crashing my wander-the-aisles-alone reprieve... but I'll admit, it's kinda fun when we all go together. 

So then Monday things got a little hairy.. or should I say, bumpy? Austin's teacher called me to tell me his face was inflamed with a rash. I told her I had noticed it that morning and thought it was from his endless lip-licking (seriously, HOW DO YOU GET A KID TO STOP LICKING THEIR LIPS??) and thought maybe it had just irritated his surrounding skin. I walked over to daycare to look at it and take pictures so I could call the Doctor if I felt like I needed to. 

He was fine the rest of the day and Monday evening Neal noticed the rash was all over his body. Shoot. It was definitely not just irritated skin from his lip licking then. I took his temperature and he had a small fever. So what do I do???

Google to the rescue!!!

I read that his type of rash was associated with strep throat. So I had him go "ahhhh" for me and his tonsils were red and swollen and covered in the white bumps. 

UGHH.................. we JUST got over the poos, now STREP THROAT???

And total random change of subject, but here is Mr. Owen bidding us all adieu as he goes up to bed. He likes to stop on the stairs, wave grandly and say "by-eeeeeeeee, by-eeeeeeeee" before he goes night nights. 

#SoDamnCute

So Tuesday Neal stayed home with Austin and took him to the Doctor (yep, confirmed case of strep throat #huzzah) and Owen enjoyed being the only kid awake to go to school that morning. 

#AllDaMuffins

Thankfully my kids seem to take being sick in stride, because Austin's energy level NEVER wavered, even with the strep. So we played outside Tuesday night and I got teased over my tissue placement. 

What??? I have allergies. And I didn't have pockets. And who HASN'T done this???? 

Wednesday was my turn to stay home with Austin... and you know that myth about "having it all?" A career and a family?? Yeah, well... it stinks sometimes. I haven't worked a full week in over a month, this is my busiest time at work, and balancing it all is HARD. I had to plunk Austin in front of a movie and try and bust out some work. 

After I got some work done, we did get to escape outside for some fresh air. Some fresh, muggy air, that is. I worked up a sweat pulling this Ninja Turtle around the neighborhood... 47lbs of kid, 35lbs of wagon/snacks/swords/Spiderman mask/water cup/grabber.... 

#TotallyCountsAsAWorkout

With sickness, comes medication.... and someone was NOT pleased that brother got the fascinating pink goo and he didn't. This kid, I tell ya... if he is wronged... he LETS YOU KNOW IT. This went on for almost 10 minutes, which is why I don't feel guilty about taking a picture of it before I picked him up to offer comfort for the terrible wrong that befell his poor little soul. 

#LifeIsTough

So there was our week....I'm glad to be done with it. This weekend is a no-plans, just-recover type of weekend, and boy do we need it!

Life Lately- It's Been a Roller Coaster!!

Happy Friday everyone!!

So much this week to share... we started the week out on Monday with the boys staying home with Daddy.. we needed that one last day to make sure they made it 24 hours with no poos... thankfully Monday was a good day and we got back to our regularly scheduled program!

Until last night.. when the poo returned in Austin with a vengeance. 

Excuse me while I go pull my hair out and curse up a storm... 

ok, I'm back.. so on we trudge.. at least the days leading up to the Return of The Poo were good..

Here's what went on throughout this week.. be prepared to be amazed. Ha. 

Last weekend we had our new yard toys delivered!!! We didn't have anything for the kids to play with outside and since I want to shove them out in the yard as much as possible this summer, we used some of our tax refund to get them a roller coast and a climbing structure. 

Thank you dependents, for helping us get a good tax refund! I knew having kids would be worth it.

 Since the doctor said to let them be active even though they had the poos, we got a lot of use out of the new toys!!! There has only been one collision so far between the roller coaster and a pedestrian so I call that a win.

 #SafestToyEver

Saturday while the boys were busy with their new toys, I got a spa day! It was my Mothers Day treat. A few hours of sipping tea and some pampering? Seriously. This having kids thing can be pretty cool.

Please don't mind the huge zit on my chin.... I didn't chose the Zit Life.. the Zit Life chose me, yo.

Lots of baths happened this week.. it's been HOT so the boys get dirty, sweaty and covered in sunscreen. I may or may not have put too much bubble bath in and they turned into big lumps of fluff.

Our NBA team, the Portland Trail Blazers were in the playoffs and Neal got a chance to go the big game last Saturday night... so the kids and I watched movies and played around. I was trying to hide in the other room (seriously, one cannot watch Big Hero 6 THAT many times without going berserk) when the little one sought me out and found me.

 #NextTimeI'llBeInTheCloset

Mother's Day was low key.. we ended up at the pediatrician after I frantically called and begged them to help my kids stop having the poos (seriously, it had been a week and I was DONE).... despite that emergency trip to be told we just had to wait it out, we had a nice brunch with my in-laws at our house and I managed to remember to take a pic with my two loves.

These two. Words can't describe how much I love them, and how much they drive me crazy.... all at the same time. They are so damn cute though, it's all worth it!

Anyone else with a bossy kid??? Austin is trying to force Owen to look at the camera. He is the bossy one in the family... his way or the highway, usually. My Mom enjoys watching his behavior and telling me it "reminds her of someone"....

#Karma

Thursday I spent the better part of the day at work like this because I can NOT not drop food on myself. Sigh. I just love walking around with big wet spots all over myself. So profesh.

And then there is Owen... Oh Owen...

He's accident prone, gets sick easily... and something, SOMETHING is always up with him. Wednesday he fell backwards in our yard and hit his head on a cross beam of our fence. 

We thought nothing of it at first (he didn't fall every hard) so Neal went to get him and was sitting with him at the patio table while I was finished eating (we had dinner outside) and I looked up and Neal's white shirt was smeared with red!

OMG! He was bleeding! We took him inside but he was crying and moving around so much I couldn't get a rag to stay on the back of his head and I couldn't see how big the wound was. 

Those head wounds, man.. they bleed SO MUCH. It ended up being a small cut the size of a pea, and he recovered quickly once he calmed down. I declared movie time to get the boys to settle and to entice them to stay inside the rest of the night and Owen was the sweetest thing ever watching the movie...

My baby boy... #AllTheHeartEyes

Little Owen Updates

I realized I did an update post when Austin was 18 months old and never did one for Owen.. sorry second kid!!! 

I remembered... just a little late. 

Owen is now almost 21 months old, but here is what is going on with him!

-walks fairly well, other than he's pigeon-toed, which trips him up sometimes. He can run and jump and climb up and down the stairs upright, not holding on to anything. We took the baby gate away on the stairs and haven't had any issues so far. 

-talking is still a bit behind where Austin was. He has several words: Mama, Dada, Bro-er (brother), druck (truck), baw (ball), nayna (banana), wah-ull (waffle), among others. He'll repeat any word you ask him to say... he just babbles a lot still.

-loves to joke around.. tickle you, play Little Piggy on your toes, play Peek-a-Boo, pat your butt and say "butt-butt"... anything to start giggling.

-he's sensitive and quick to cry if he's been hurt or wronged. It can take him awhile to calm down and re-group, and he usually wants to cuddle while he's upset.

-still has a pacifier ("ney-ney") in the car, to sleep and to comfort when he's sick or upset. Austin had his till he was 3 then gave it up pretty easily, so I'm not worried about when Owen will quit his. Whatever soothes him, right??

-has a lisp... just a small one. He says "yesh" for "yes" and it's pretty much freaking adorable. We try and get him to say "yesh" as much as possible and his teachers told me they do the same thing because they like it so much!

-loves all the food. He gets HANGRY if he doesn't get fed fast enough. He'll try anything, but isn't a huge fan of carbs or dairy. He'll eat them, but he much prefers fruit, veggies and meat. Weird huh? Austin was the opposite and we couldn't get him to eat much other than dairy and carbs. Some of Owen's favorites are salmon (seriously), popcorn, berries of any kind, and broccoli. 

-is naughty as all get-out. Seriously. This kid. Grabs everything, climbs everything, opens ever drawer, every door.... just grabby grabby grabby. And then loves to say "uh oh!" over and over as he's causing a mess or disaster.

-naps everyday still for about 2 hours. Some weekends he'll fight it, but we can still get some kind of nap out of him. 

-loves to do anything and everything brother does

-is a cuddler. He'll come up and put his head on you, or when I drop him off at daycare we sit and he wraps his arms around me for several minutes... he's an affectionate little guy.

Please ignore my crazy eyes!!!!

-loves art and music... he gets serious about his artwork at school and has a little fist pump dance he does to music. He also gallops around in a circle to "dance"

-his tongue is out a lot.. when he smiles, when he laughs, when he's babbling.. his little tongue is one of my favorite things!

-he likes to be alone sometimes and doesn't have a constant need to be entertained. Sometimes it will be quiet and when I go looking for him, he's in the playroom by himself, quietly playing with a toy. He might be a little more introverted like his Mommy

-he's just a sweet little firecracker and I can't imagine life without him! Well call him O-ween, O-bo, BoBo, BooBoo and Stinker. 

To The Ones Who Nurture.....

My Mom and I dancing on my wedding day

To....

-the Moms

-the Grandmas

-the Step-Moms

-the Foster Moms

-the Adoptive Moms

-the Aunts

-the Sisters

-the Tribes

-the Fur Baby Moms

-the Angel Babies in Heaven Moms

-the Yet-To-Be-Moms

To the one who made me a Mom....

To the one who completed me as a Mom....

If you nurture someone, or something... even if that nurturing is just a thought or a wish or a hope... you deserve to be recognized and celebrated today!!

What would the world be without women???

Less beautiful, less kind, less magical. 

Women love, sacrifice, cry, cuddle, dream, fret, provide, listen, touch, comfort, and feed others..... and this is just a snippet of what women do.

 The list could go on and on. 

To all the Moms, to all the WOMEN out there.... you are loved, you are valuable, you are appreciated!

Thank you for what you bring to the lives of those around you. 

Happy Mothers Day!

Well That Was Poo...

Well... here was our week. 

It was poo. 

Literally. 

Ah, the tummy bug... foe to every parent out there. Nothing elicits such fear as the tummy bug... 

Am I going to catch it?

Is the other kid going to catch it?

How long is this going to last??

Tuesday as I was on my way up to a meeting (with both my bosses) I literally got the call from daycare while in my building's elevator. 

Owen had diarrhea all day. 

SHIT. 

Sorry Mom, that called for swearing. 

My day was the type of busy that I didn't eat until 10am, I didn't take a bathroom break until noon... I had that meeting and urgent issues to finish up. 

So I did what any overwhelmed working mom would do. 

I got back to my desk, started shutting down to leave.. and I cried. 

And thankfully got in touch with Neal who said he'd pick up the boys that afternoon and take Wednesday off to fight the tummy bug.

Daddy took good care of them!

Tuesday night Austin started having tummy troubles too (awesome, yeah, huzzah), so they both stayed home on Wednesday with Daddy, got some rest, and even made it to the grocery store for some supplies and had some fun before an emergency rush to the bathroom.

The tummies didn't improve... which was frustrating because the boys were energetic, hungry, and happy... they just couldn't digest anything and we had many trips to the bathroom.... my hands are raw from washing every 2 minutes. 

So Thursday was my turn to be at home.. I brought my work laptop home with me, and Owen had fun picking it up and saying "by-eee!!!" as he pretended to be off to work for the day. 

We relaxed and watched movies... struck to the BRAT diet (please send bananas, Owen polished off several bushels) and tried to get those tummies back to good.

The only bright side of sickness is how much kiddos want to snuggle and be near you. 

#JustDon'tSneezeOnMe

Today, we are home still.. since daycare has a "no poo for 24 hour" policy and well, we haven't hit that goal yet. 

#InsertPoopEmoji

Hopefully we are at the end of the road... because... well, it's the poops. And who wants the poops to stay around??? 

Gross.

On a non-poop note.... I got some cute summer dinnerware for patio use this week!!! 

My wine is going to look SO CUTE in those little striped glasses! 

I feel like such an adult... I've never own patio dinnerware before... probably because I've never had a patio.

#Adulting