Forget the terrible twos, it is the TERRIFYING threes!

In 26 days little man will turn three.
I would like to skip a whole year ahead now. 

People say - ohh it's the terrible twos.  Why yes it is.  It is even more terrible when your son is so tall he looks like a four year old and people expect him to be well behaved. 

When he is stomping his foot and telling me no (in a not so quiet voice).  I look at the woman shaking her head at me and say - "he is two."  Automatically this know-everythng-about-motherhood- woman changes her whole expression and smiles while saying, "this too shall pass."

She's right.  It does pass.  As slow as molasses pours from a jar. 

Only it doesn't pass on to better things, it actually gets worse.

It turns into the terrifying threes.  I figured out why they call them terrifying when the twins were three.  The think they are invincible and have found their voice.  It makes for some dangerous situations and loud tantrums.  There are many moments I have blocked from memory, just because the trauma was too much for my brain.

Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed. ~Robert Gallagher

The Happiness Project: taking a walk

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~James Openheim

Join Leigh in the Happiness Project!

Mother in Laws are good for making the kids barf

I have been holding out on everyone.  Mostly out of fear that if I let the cat out of the bag it won't be true.  It's been 2 years and three months since dear hubby had a real job.  He was in commerical construction before the bottom dropped, and his company was one of the first to fall.  I was predicting the collapse 8 months before it happened. 

Anyway - he became a stay at home dad, which was a difficult transition. 
Until 2 weeks ago.
Yes, he got a job, back in construction.  Not as great as it was, but a job! 

I feel weird about it.  But that is for another day.

In the meantime, his mother is watching the boys.  His mother who was conviently laid off about 6 weeks ago.  Typically she watches the kids at our house, but at times she takes them to hers.

Last week a terrible stomache virus went around her house.  Dear Hubby's grandmother got it and ended up dehydrated. 

Fast forward to 12:30 Friday night.  Peacefully sleep inturrupted by screams of a child laying in his own puke.  And hour later, the same screams. At that point I was up and cussing my mother in law.  Poor little man was sick every half hour there after until 4:30 am.  I felt so sorry for him.  Especially when he would look at me and say "mouth ehhhh mouth."

I decided my mother in law was to pay.  I haven't decided how much yet, but 4 1/2 hours loss of sleep must count for something.

What is your mother in law good for?

Line Art: now taking bids

Have you ever heard of line art?  Its when you draw lines on a plain background with very little shading or gradient.  There are some famous paintings done in line art - The Dove of Peace was done by Picasso

- an beautiful piece (photo courtesy of biographyonline.net ).  It is also worth a lot of money.

So I decided that I would start taking bids for the line art found around my house recently.  I've taken the liberty of naming each piece, but if you think of one better, please let me know.

First up: eau de toilette

Second: from the kitchen floor

Third: I don't want to eat my dinner

Last:  Let Me Outta My Room

all artwork by the artist known as Little Man. 

Bids start at $1000.00, who's first?

We got our SNOW!!!

We had the most wonderful weekend - such beautiful pretty snow. 

Disclaimer: if you don't live in the south, you don't understand our fasination with snow.  It rarely snows here, maybe an inch a year.  Because it is such an oddity to us, we are thrilled when it arrives, love to watch even the smallest of snowflakes and rush to play in it. We stock up on bread and milk in advance because we know we won't go out. Our roads close, because we don't have the equipment to clear them.  Schools close because of the roads.  Adults go out sledding with the kids to capture the moment.

And on top of the fact that it snowed 6 inches, it sleeted some, which made for the best sledding.  Of course little man didn't always think it was great when he kept slipping and falling, because he didn't weigh enough to crunch through.  We had a blast on our new sled, and spent hours outside.  It is so nice to get out and enjoy the day with your children- reliving the thrill from your own childhood.  Nothing beats being snowed in, with nothing to do but enjoy each other.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Crapped Out in NC

How's the potty training going you ask.

So glad you asked. 

So far we've got the pee in the potty down pretty good.  We can even make it through the night.  But we have another little issue.  We've crapped in the potty once, in our pants once, and on the floor once.  Any tricks on making that part of the ordeal transition easier????

On the flip side - don't you love these undies the in-laws bought?

Can you read the writing on the walls?

When we found out we were preggo with our singleton we were so excited that we were going to be able to decorate a whole room for him.  With the twins we were living in a rental with wood panelled walls in each room, so we weren't quite as lucky.

We put a lot of work into Little Man's room.  And it is was perfect.  Now there is new writing on the walls.


Can you read it?  I think it says - "I'll pee in my clothes if I want to!"

Starting 2010 off right!

Back in July I posted about starting the potty training on Little Man,  I never did an update.  Why? Because he is a stubborn little tyke and wasn't really ready.  My next goal was at Thanksgiving, but after the toilet debacle - there was no physical way of making it happen.  So yesterday morning I woke up ready to tackle the task again.

First, this kid is as stubborn as it comes, and well, diapers are much easier for him.  We've had him in pull ups for awhile and he has learned to take them off and understands the concept of going potty.  In theory.

The twins are a great help - they tell him everytime they have to go, so that he has a shinning example of what to do.

*** Post interrupted to run peeing child to the potty ****

Yesterday he managed to pee in the bathroom.  I actually gave him a reward, because well, he tried.  He just happened to be sitting on the edge of the toilet and all the pee went on the step stool. 

Today he has learned to sit backwards on the toilet.  (he doesn't like his potty at all)  That's pretty much all he's learned today.

But this is my goal - no diapers in 2010!!!  I think we can do it.  With patience, persistance, and a lot of prayers.

2 year old for sale

I'm now opening bids for one 2 1/2 year old.
He can climb bookcases
to throw the stuff off the top
He has silly faces
covered in green snot
He screams louder than a banshee
while hiding better than a turtle
He makes strong coffee
and eats crumbs off the floor.
He's not potty trained,
but will escape out the door.
Bids start at a dollar but I'll take much more.

DISCLAIMER:  This post is a meant to be funny -my son is not actually for sale - I just remember when my brother used to sing Shel Silverstein's poem about me and thought I could do the same about my son.  So knock it off all of you without a sense of humor!

For Sale

One sister for sale!

One sister for sale!

One crying and spying young sister for sale!

I’m really not kidding,

So who’ll start the bidding?

Do I hear the dollar?

A nickel?

A penny?

Oh, isn’t there, isn’t there, isn’t there any

One kid that will buy this old sister for sale,

This crying and spying young sister for sale?

~Shel Silverstein

Wordless Wednesday - Who turned out the Lights?

For more Wordless Wednesday go see Extraordinary Mothers!

When all is quiet

When all is quiet, as Mom's, we know something is wrong.

We wish for peace and tranquility in our homes, but we never ever wish for quiet.  For when it is quiet, strange things begin to occur.

Once when the twins were 2, I went to the bathroom.  Mistake 1:  Bathroom breaks are not allowed.  When I came out of the bathroom, I immediately knew something was wrong, because the house was quiet.  I started looking for something to calm my fears.  I found my troublemakers in the kitchen.  T1: was holding the high chair steady in front of the stove while T2 was standing in the high chair - stirring the pot on the stove.  (no the stove was not on)

See, I had the immediate instinct and knowledge of what happens when all is quiet.  My dear hubby didn't.  He asked for a few minutes of quiet out of everyone, and sadly he got it.

While enjoying his quiet he walked into the kitchen where he found little man - he also found a great big mess.  Little man had decided Daddy needed some coffee, and so doing like Daddy does, went to get some coffee grinds.  He then proceeded to dump about 10 scoops of grinds into the coffee machine.  Of course they didn't all make it in - what machine holds that much?  So there were grinds on the counter, stove and floor.  I only wish dear hubby had taken a picture.  He did learn that quiet is something he won't ask for again.

What have your kids done when all is quiet?

Thankful for Thanksgiving - Part 2/3 of 5

In case you missed Sunday's post or didn't know, Thursday is Thanksgiving (and 29 days before Christmas). We usually take the day to spend time with our families, watch a parade (football), and eat - a lot. Many times we forget why Thanksgiving was started and we forget to be thankful.  My goal was to have 5 posts this week of things I am thankful for - ending with 50 things on Thursday.  We'll I got sick and Monday's post (post 2) didn't happen.  So here is post 2 and 3 all rolled into one.

Today and everyday I am thankful for my children - all three of them.

It amazes me how many people think having children is easy.  Well, the getting pregnant was easy for me too - but the staying that way was always a problem.

The first time I got pregnant was actually on accident.  See birth control pills and antibiotics don't mix.  The antibiotics make the pill null and void.  My dear hubby and I were both suprised, but excited.  Unfortuantely the pregnancy was lost at just 5 weeks - only days after I'd found out.  At that point we knew we wanted to have children, and I had been told a few years earlier - that I couldn't wait forever to have kids.  The doctor told me I'd probably have a hysterectomy by the time I was 30.  Dear hubby and I decided to let my body heal and then try again. 
September 11 happened and it was a blow to everyone everywhere.  Admist all the emotion was this sense of here and now and not waiting for the future.  A few days later I was pregnant again.  We were excited and I was at the doctor lickity split.  My ob is probably the best ob in the world.  The day after my appointment the nurse called and put the doctor on the phone.  Something was wrong with my hormone levels and I had to come in for an ultrasound.  Turned out my pregnancy was eptopic and had to be terminated.  I chose to go with methotrexate which was the least invasive.  Two weeks later, after still being in pain, we chose to have surgery - something was still wrong.
Turns out I had endometriosis which is why I wasn't able to carry.  They were able to burn off a lot of it.  And apparently the doctor told my family that I would be super fertile after the surgery - no one told me.

In December I went back to the doctor.  I was pregnant again, days later - we found out it was identical twins (for their whole story go here).  I carried them 35 weeks and 5 days with no more problems.  Today they are happy healthy boys.  I am so thankful that I can see them grow and learn each and every day.

Years after having the twins (we were scared we'd have twins again).  We were able to get pregnant with little man.  His pregnancy was fairly uneventful, but afterwards we were in shock (for the whole story go here or my life changing moment go here).  The great part is - today he is healthy (and yes one day I will blog about the journey). 

Today all my children are healthy (even if Mommy is still a little sick) and I am grateful to have three happy healthy beautiful boys.

What are you thankful for?

how an introduction changed my life

There are moments in our lives that change us forever. Sometimes they are small, sometimes they are large. You may or may not know your world is changing, but however it happens we are changed.

Mama Kat (by way of Leslee) asked us to "Describe in 1000 words or less a time when something happened and you knew that life would never be the same."

My moment occurred by way of an introduction. I was laying in my hospital bed when a man walked in and introduced himself.

"Hello. My name is Dr. Ohlmstede, I am a pediatric cardiologist."

My first thoughts were along the lines of "oh, shit!"

I knew in that moment my world was changed forever.

I was alone at the hospital, the day after giving birth to our youngest son. My husband had gone out to get lunch, and I was enjoying a nap. The pediatrician on call had told me earlier in the day, that she heard a heart murmur on our son, but that it was probably the normal DA closing off and not to worry. Amazingly enough I didn't worry. Until I saw the "pediatric cardiologist."

"A pediatric cardiologist" are words no mother should ever have to hear.

I immediately knew something was really wrong with our son. I knew that this wasn't going to be good and I fought back tears and emotion so I could hear what he was saying. Amazingly, he was the gentlest doctor I'd ever met. He knew that he was delivering a crushing blow to me and he wanted to do it as gently as possible.

He sat down next to the bed and explained that after hearing the murmur, the pediatrician had ordered a echo-cardiogram to make sure it was nothing out of normal. The echo showed that my son indeed had a heart murmur, due to a heart defect called Ebstein's Anomaly.

At that point I started to crumble. I wanted my husband there to go through this moment with me, but I was all alone. I wanted to order the doctor out of our room, so that maybe I could wake up from this bad dream. Unfortunately, I can't make up words like Ebstein's Anomaly in my dreams, and I knew I had to concentrate on what the doctor was saying.

He went on to tell me that birth defects are really common, that they occur in 1 out of every 100 births, and that I didn't do anything wrong.

The waves of shock just kept coming. How could I not know about the possibility of a heart defect. I knew of down's syndrome, and spina bifida, but none of those occur even remotely as often as 1 out of 100. How come my ob never told me?

He kept talking, and I was trying to keep up. Thankfully he was patient with me.

He went on and explained that of all the heart defects, our son had one of the most rare. Ebstein's occurs 1 out of 30,000 and no one knows why.

I should really start playing the lottery.

He wanted to draw a picture of the heart and explain to me what was going on, but didn't have any paper. I gave him the back of my breastfeeding instructions. He explained that Ebstein's Anomaly occurs when the tricuspid valve doesn't close properly. This allows blood to leak back through the valve, and may cause the right atrium to be enlarged. In effect, not enough blood was getting oxygenized before going back into the body.

I wanted more details, I wanted a bigger picture. What did this mean? Would my son have to have heart surgery? Will he .......

Dr. Ohlmstede immediately started to calm the fears that came across my face. My son was not in immediate danger. We would have follow up appointments, and more tests run before anything was done. We would learn what to look for and how to take care of him. He also told me to be careful of what I read on the internet. That their pictures are usually worst case scenario and we didn't have the worst case.

Thank God.

He told me we would have an appointment to come into his office after we were discharged and he would do more tests and show us pictures of our son's heart.

I was grateful for this doctor and how calm he was.

He thanked me for letting him talk to me. He said he knew I would have more questions after I processed everything and that he would come back the next day and talk to my husband and I together. He would go through every question we had. And then he left.

And I crumbled. Life would never be the same.

Stop! Don't! Don't Stop!

We'll little man has hit the 2 year old stage full force.  I keep telling hubby that 1 at age 2  is better than 2 at age 2, but I'm beginning to wonder myself.

All children hit age 2 and want to be independent and do everything themselves, but they are fighting all the boundaries that we put in place to keep them safe - hence the temper tantrums.  Twins are no different, except...

Well,  twins learn early on they have to share (or fight it out), they learn they are not individually the center of attention from birth and so acknowledge that the world around them only sometimes revolves around them.  I was lucky enough to stay at home with the twins for 3 1/2 years (before I craved adult conversation so bad I went back to work).  They were my world, but they knew they weren't the world.

Five years after they were born, Bradley entered our world.  He was (is) the center of the universe.  Just ask him.

The twins have doted on him, due to the economy he stays at home with Daddy all day, and is the center of Daddy's world.  I come in juggling and try to spend individual time with all of them, but little man expects time of his own.  All of these things together have made him very outspoken about "his world."  If he is busy and anyone tries to talk around him, he gets angry at the distraction from his world and says yells "STOP!"  (on a good day he says hush).  Try to talk around him, and he yells louder. 

This happens in the car, while he's watching his movie, and even at the dinner table when we are trying to learn about the twins day at school.

We are working to teach him that the world doesn't actually revolve around him, but have you tried to explain that to a 2 yr old?  So here is my theory - just teach him a new word.  I am working on "don't"  then he can yell DON'T! STOP!  DON'T STOP! and we'll all be able to carry on with our conversation.

If you want to learn to argue with a brick wall, practice on a 2 year first. ~ me

if you see my son

If you glimpse my youngest child this week - don't kill the barber.

While every other two year old may sit quiet and still for their hair cut, our son decided to lean into Mommy's shirt with his mouth open and taste the fine blonde strands that were decorating it. This is the same shirt that Mommy cut the twins hair in so the decorations were a plenty.

Apparently the decorations don't taste good.

Apparently that meant the hair cut was over. Even if the barber wasn't finished. Or maybe the barber was trying to bring back the rat tail.

The twins look great though - all spiffed up for picture day.

How can I control my life when I can't control my hair? ~Author Unknown

hemorrhoids and other crap that happens after/during pregnancy

If you are preggo or trying to get preggo - DO NOT read this blog. Really.

Today I want to complain about all the crap they do not tell us when we are trying to get pregnant or are pregnant, because yes 2 1/2 years later I am STILL feeling the effects.

No one said

• that my bladder would become a stomping ground and therefore any time a baby jumped I'd pee myself. Fabulous when this happens for the first time while your in public and haven't learned to pack a change of clothes yet. Fabulous that childbirth doesn't automatically fix the problem.
• that with multiple babies in my belly I would have so little room to breathe or eat. I understood it would be cramped, but never have I had to sit so straight and breathe so shallow while trying to feed my face.
• that my ankles would swell so large I'd have to buy larger shoes and eventually larger sandals would be the only thing that would fit. They also didn't say how this swelling would follow on up my legs into my calves.
• that after giving birth you look like you have a beer gut.
• that you will no longer know how not to sleep on your side with a pillow holding your stomach.
• that if you push out a 9lb 4oz baby you are going to have hemorrhoids, and that even if they don't show up immediately they will - and they will hurt so bad you cry, and you won't be able to sit and you will dread going to the doctor.

Am I forgetting anything?

Think of stretch marks as pregnancy service stripes. ~Joyce Armor

have 2 year old, have tantrums

Can we skip to 4 now? Please? Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top?
I hate this stage, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

Two year olds are for people with more patience than I. Two year olds turn into three year olds and it gets worse.

Bradley has got the 2 year old bit down.

• flailing on the floor CHECK
• screaming at top of lungs CHECK
• throwing things CHECK
• ignoring parents CHECK
• telling everyone "no" CHECK
• telling everyone what to do (in very short words) CHECK
• answering to his name with "what?" CHECK
• chasing Daddy through the house because we are mad at him and want him to see the stomping of the feet while saying "no" DOUBLE CHECK

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

funky foods

So my Little Man seems to be the point of conversation this week. That child and his eating habits will be the death of me yet.

Luckily I was induced a week before my due date with him. He weighed 9lbs 4 oz at birth (and no I did NOT have a c-section). After having 2 5lb babies I believed I had a 2 month old on my hands. From day one he could drink 8 oz in 2 minutes flat.

These days - his eating has become a little more hazardous. Being 2 has given him a mind of his own and apparently he is not afraid to use it. If allowed, he would eat bananas and cheese all day long.

Being the "you'll eat more than that" parents that we are, I fixed him some cereal the other day. Before I could add the milk to his life, one of the twins yelled and I had to go see what the problem was.

When I came back, I found Little Man eating this.

Apparently - if milk tastes good on cereal - chocolate syrup (half a bottle) tastes better.

Cheers!

As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. ~Buddy Hackett

a 2 yr old ADDICT

Am I a bad Mommy if my 2 yr old is addicted to coffee?

Not the "pulease caffee" kind.

The kind of addict that will stand screaming in front of the coffee pot if there is none made before he wakes up. "CAFFEE! CAFFEE! CAFFEE!"

Really my husband triggered this addiction. He allowed our son to drink from his coffee cup on occasion. And now - my 2 year old must have no less than 2 cups of coffee before he starts his day.
Before watching his favorite movie, before changing of the diaper, before morning kisses, before anything - he must have his coffee. Otherwise this screaming - or high pitched hurt dolphin squeal - erupts from his throat. The squeal alone is enough to send you running for the hills - but then the stomping of the left foot will cause you to double over in laughter. Laughter is not allowed before coffee. Eventually the squeal will turn into something audible although still at very high decibels. Quickly you find a cup and poor the coffee - careful to let him SEE the coffee going into the cup - otherwise he won't believe you put it in there. Quickly add milk, quickly give it to the screaming, crying, dying child who apparently needs his coffee to act normal.

And I thought my addictions were bad.

(disclaimer: caffee consists of 1 oz of coffee, 1/2 tsp sugar, 10 oz milk)

sayings

I've been collecting some of my favorite sayings from around our house. Some were one time lines that had me double over in laughter. Others were things so true that they have turned into normal language.

• "poop slide": as in I asked T2 how he was doing in the bathroom and he replied, "Mommy, I've got the poop slides!" We still use this one.
• "beans": the twins called change (quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies) beans for years. I always thought it made sense.
• "The best kind of fun, is nonstop fun" Said while hoping mommy wouldn't make them go home and go to bed.
• "let's go to the rocks, cars, or bars" T1 said this to T2 one day while we were outside and Dear Hubby  and I both said "What?" Apparently the rocks, cars, or bars on the front steps are very warm and good places to dry off after the pool.
• "Can I stand in the corner again?" said by T1 who had just been released from his first and last time out in a corner.
• "Do you have issues? I've got tissues!" from our stand up comic.
• "selfish hairball" this is what T1 calls T2to make him really mad.
• "huh" ok- so not so funny, but you must hear it come out of Little Man - the two year olds mouth - when we ask him to do something.

If we would listen to our kids, we'd discover that they are largely self-explanatory. ~Robert Brault