Boys will be boys

I'm afraid people are going to start thinking I abuse my son. Last night he hit a concrete floor, face first and rather hard. He had a busted up lip and a bloody nose. He seems to fine this morning. The swelling in his lip has gone down quite a bit and he seems a little clingy still but not too bad. The clingyness could be because he has what I think is his final tooth coming in. He's only 18 months old. This can't possibly be it, but it appears so.

I have no idea why, but he plays HARD. He runs at full speed and is afraid of nothing. He's always falling and scraping knees or palms. He sprints up and down stairs like he's six-foot tall or something. It's ridiculous. Every time he goes somewhere I worry what people are going to think. I mean, anyone that knows him, knows that he plays really hard so I shouldn't worry about them. But the ones who don't know him are the ones I worry about.

Not a lot to report. Just hanging out. Shy turned 8 weeks old today. She's great! She didn't sleep too well last night and since The Hubster had to work at 4:50 this morning, I was up to bat all night long. Oh well. It's alright. Smash actually let me sleep until almost 9:00. I was astounded!

Well, time to play!

Hush-a-bye Mountain

Well, it's been a few days since I have posted. Not really a whole lot to report.

Smasher closed out the week wonderfully after a rough start. He and I were both sick with sore throats and headaches on Wednesday. But we're both awesome now!

Shy is doing great. She's been wanting to be held all day long so I strapped on my trusty Moby wrap and carried her around in that most of the time.

Our weekend was nice. Smash was at my grandparent's house again. I swear, we only get visitation, but he loves it so much down there that I don't have the heart to say no. The Hubby, Shy and I made a trip to the city to see his mom and my aunt. It was a good trip. Short, but good.

I don't know what has gotten into Smash this week but he has behaved beyond reproach (almost). He has listened when I said no or told him that something would hurt him and just walked away from things without throwing a fit. I'm more lenient with him lately though and I think that is helping both of us. He did kick Shy yesterday though and so he got in trouble for that, but all-in-all - I give his behavior this week a 10!

Shy is starting to hold up her head now! She's growing so fast!

We've been watching "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" lately. And the lullaby that Dick Van Dyke sings to his kids has always been one of my favorites so I finally got all the words down. I sang it to Shy the other day and she conked out pretty fast. If you haven't heard it, go find it and listen to it.

A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain

Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay

It fills the sails of boats that are waiting,

waiting to sail all your worries away.

It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain

And your boat wait down by the key.

The winds of night so softly are sighing

Soon they will fly your troubles to sea.

So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain.

Wave goodbye to cares of the day.

And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain

Sail far away from Lullaby Bay.

Well, a hungry kid calls so I must attend to them!

Recital anyone?

I NEED to do a recital. I miss singing so much. I never get a chance to do it anymore and while I love my life of midnight feedings, diaper changing and running after Splash, I need something else. If only for a little bit. I always think that when things slow down, I'll look into it. I've come to realize that things aren't going to slow down for about 20 years or so and by that time I won't want to give recitals. I'll want to watch my children's recitals or games or whatever else they're doing. So maybe I should just dive in and do it. I may not have finished my degree, but for four and a half years of my life I spent probably 75% of my time singing. I completed my performance requirements and feel that I'm wasting all that time I spent in practice rooms and going to lessons and coachings. Now I spend most of my time going to parks and story times.

I would like to do the recital for something. Maybe a benefit recital or something. If it was here in Enid I'm fairly confident I could get a decent audience. Hmmm...I need to get on this while I have the energy to actually complete it maybe.

Big thunderstorm going on right now, so our trip to story time at the library will probably be cancelled for this week. We'll try again later!

Silence is Golden...

Wow. It's Monday afternoon and my house is silent save for the air conditioner and the sound of Shy's swing. This is a momentous occasion. My house is never quite!!! I might even tempt fate and try to fit in a shower! If I could pull that off without one of the kids waking up, I should go buy a lottery ticket.

This morning was pretty eventful. I decided to let Splasher eat in the living room with me this morning since our kitchen needs a makeover. And by makeover I mean cleaned. Breakfast went fantastically. Except for the scrambled egg in the chair. I decided to let him try to feed himself while I tried to feed Shy. Eh. Oh well. I just let him go when he dumped most of it over his head. It seemed that he was having fun doing it, so why not? I'm kind of in a messy mood today so I decided I'd clean it when he took a nap, and I did. We watched Peter and the Wolf and Splasher really seemed to enjoy it. That makes me so happy since the entire point of the show is to teach children to appreciate music while watching something fun. Prokofiev really did a good job! We had some mac and cheese for lunch and the rest of the morning was filled by exploring the case of water that got left by the kitchen door last night. While I have 20 bottles of water floating around my living room now, it was fun to watch Splash look at things through the sides. We had a lesson in refraction.

But now, Spalsher is awake after a two and a half hour nap so I guess I should go. Glad I didn't attempt that shower.

Easy like Sunday morning...

Well, actually all day today was pretty easy. We just hung out all day. No agenda or anything. We did go to church which was all that we had planned to do. We went to lunch and then we came home. Shy and I feel asleep on the bed and we both took about a three hour nap. The Hubby and Splash played until they finally took about a two hour nap. All and all, a very good day! Splash and I went to get some free videos for him to watch over the next couple of days. Another Magic School Bus that I couldn't resist because it's the human body one and that one is my favorite. The other is actually Peter and the Wolf which serves two purposes as I am trying to teach Splasher to appriciate classical music!

Well, time for bed!

Our venture to the Splashpad...take 2!

So, Splasher and I ventured back to the Splashpad today with The Hubby and Shy in tow. They sat in the shade while I accompanied Splash to, well, the Splashpad. Today went even worse than the other day. He stuck to the edges and only ventured in to stick his hands in. As soon as the water hit him anywhere else, he ran away. Not only that, but there was another with the same name as my son and it caused confusion for both of the kiddos. Strangely enough, they were both about the same age and it's not an incredibly common name. Oh well. He didn't seem too upset about anything until I told him he couldn't play at the park part because we forgot shoes. Eh, not a big deal. I just wish he would explore a little more. But we're going to start Mommy and Me swim classes in July so maybe he'll be a little bit more comfortable with the water then. I also sat up his inflatable pool in the front yard since it's in the shade the entire day. He seems to be excited about that but we didn't spend any time in there today.

Splasher has not been the ideal kiddo since we got home but then again, I don't expect him to be. He does his best for the most part. The Hubby's sociology teacher told him the other day that it is our job, as parents, to set boundaries for them and it's their job, as children, to overstep those boundaries. Then we of course, teach them to get back in them. It's a vicious cycle for a few years. Splasher is comprehending more and more every day and is doing more and more. Today for instance, we learned three new words - "tree," "rock," and "grass." We also learned where our knees are and I got him to say "knee" once. We're working on "yes" and nodding our head "yes" but we're still working on that. He's also becoming more of a lovebug which is great. He'll bring me a book and sit in my lap while I read it and when we're sitting on the couch he'll actually give me kisses. I love my little boy so much. I can't wait until Shy is more interactive although I know I'll miss her newborn days.

However, she has been the fussiest that she's ever been today! I'm tired of it! She has hit a growth spurt though and so she wants to eat every hour or so and gets mad if we put her in her swing or if she gets put down in her bassinet. Oh well, I still love her!

Life is good. I complain too much and I think that's because I let too much get to me. I know I let the little things that Splasher does get to me and I get too upset when Shy cries a lot. So even though I will still get upset with Splasher sometimes and have to tell him "no," I will try to do so less severely and less often. Shy will cry. That's what babies do. I just have to remind myself that she will not always be that way. I feel like I don't take the time to actually enjoy my kids most days. So my new goal will be to just chill out and relax, let Splash get away with more especially if it's not harmful or destructive and just enjoy my kiddos while they're this young. I'm their world right now. It will never be that way again.

My kids are amazing me...

So I had the fortunate opportunity to blog about Splasher's accomplishment yesterday and now it's Shy's turn...

She slept for more than 3 hours at a time last night!!! I woke up at 4:00 this morning a little concerned at the lack of commotion coming from the other room during the night. I came and checked on her and she was fine. The Hubby's alarm went off and then she finally woke up at about 4:15. She went down at about 11:30 last night. That equals 4 hours and 45 minutes of uninterrupted sleep!!! I was so happy. I put her back down at 4:45 and she was back up at 8:30, so that was not a horrible stretch of time either.

I'm so proud of my kiddos!!!

Ready for the next step?

Splasher has been acting rather strange lately. Don't know what to make of it all.

We bought him a training potty a few months ago with the idea that if we put it in the bathroom, he would get used to it being there and knowing that that is where it belongs. It has worked so far. Sometimes he'll follow us in there and sit down on his "potty" even when he has no one to model after, like when I'm doing my makeup or hair. The other day he put both of his feet in the bowl part though and I thought "Wow. We're really getting nowhere." But, today we went into the bathroom and he pulled at the tabs of his diaper and patted the top of his toilet. I said, "Okay, [Splash.] Let's go." So he did. I am so excited. I think this is going to be a logn process and who even knows if he'll do it again for some time but I think it's a step in the right direction. I would be thrilled if he was potty trained by 20 months or so!!! But no pressure!

Summer Summer Summer Summertime

Well folks, it's Summer. Now, Summer doesn't mean as much to me as it used to due to me not being a student nor having kids that are old enough to experience Summer vacation yet. We've been having fun so far though. The Hubby has been working a lot the past week and a half because he's covering for someone. That has caused him to have to work every morning at 4:45 during the week. He usually only does that on Mondays and Fridays. And to add to the mix, he also started school this week. It's only one class but it's for two and a half hours every day and it seems as though he'll have paper due every day. In fact he had a test this morning on the third day of class. This is in addition to the rock wall schedule that he works as well. I miss my husband.

Smasher and I have been keeping semi-busy though. I think for the summer I shall change his name to Splasher! We went to the new splash pad that opened recently in our neighborhood. It was packed and I ran into several friends! We first sat next to our friend that was parked under a tree and finished our second snocone of the season. Splasher loved it! Then we bravely entered the fenced in area filled with "big kids". I didn't want to push Splasher since he seemed a little apprehensive about the whole thing. Eventually he ventured into the throng of children with me trailing close behind. I tried to stay back a ways, only intervening when he seemed confused that I was not right there. Once he saw me he was fine though and continued playing. He seemed to stick to the edges for the most part, only venturing to the middle of the pad when I held his hand. After about 20 minutes, he decided he was done. That was fine with me. He gets so hot playing outside. Hopefully we can start going a couple of days a week and he'll get more interested in it.

I'm also having the Hubby look into Mommy and Me swimming lessons. I want Splasher to feel comfortable around water and I would also feel more comfortable knowing that he knows the basics. Especially after an incident we had a friends pool last week. Splasher was fine. Just fell in the pool. The Hubby was in before I was even out of my seat and Splasher came up wide eyed and coughing a little but not crying or anything so I'm pretty sure he was fine. I had a mini-heart attack, but he was fine.

I don't let Splasher watch a lot of tv. In fact, we don't even have cable and typically just rent DVDs or watch things online. However, I have decided that a few minutes of a show here and there, really help me out a lot. Luckily, the local video rental store offers free DVDs of kids shows to rent. So the other day I sent the Hubby to find a couple of videos. He returned with The Magic School Bus and Schoolhouse Rock. Now, these are great shows! They're just a little over a 17 month-old's head. Good try anyway, Honey!

Shy is doing well. Growing like crazy although I didn't really notice it until other people were holding her. We took her to the doctor last week and she has gained two pounds in a four weeks. She's up to 9lbs. 10oz. She's starting to become more expressive and developing a personality. She makes the funniest faces and has started kind of grinning at us a little bit. She's still not sleeping too well, which is really hard considering I'm the one that has to take care of her since The Hubby has to be at work so early. I don't mind though. He takes her when he's home so I can get a nap sometimes. Splasher is an amazing big brother! He just watches her and actually whispers "shhhh" when she starts crying, which is not very often.

Well, I am going to find some more fun summer activities to keep my Splasher busy!