Just Me and my Mom

Even though Macey is going through a huge daddy phase...I still love the little girl and will take all the cuddles I can get. (Ryan was practicing his photography skills!) We finally came out of a rough patch (3 wks to be exact) of sickness in our house. It ended with ear infections. My kids (and my life) were rotten and miserable! After a few days of antibiotics my playful, fun, silly kids were back! I sure missed them :)

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I am telling you this now because I might forget in 9 months. Next year I want the biggest, baddest, blowiest snowblower you can find. Because I am never shoveling that much snow again. I will never go out and shovel 3 times a day for a week again. I think my baby hates me and I know my back hates me. The only good thing was that I guiltlessly counted that as my workout for 5 days straight.

While I am making requests, I have a few people I would like you to add to your naughty list.

1. The 3 neighbors with snowblowers who rushed to the woman's aid because her snowblower ran out of gas mid-driveway. Nevermind pregnant lady blazing a trail with nothing but a shovel through the 18 inches of snow.

2. The 6 year old neighbor girl who thought it was funny to throw snowballs at me during one of my shoveling escapades. Then eagerly jumped in the 5 foot snowpile that I had already shoveled only to have it tumble back into the driveway. Lame, neighbor girl. Lame.

3. The snowplow who keeps minimalizing my obsessive efforts to keep my driveway clear of even one snowflake by creating a 2 foot barricade at the end of my driveway.

4. Whichever neighbor it is that I now know lets their dog pee in my yard on walks.

ps. I know that picture might look like a light dusting but that was the part of the driveway I had already shoveled! There was already another inch by the time Ifinished!! This was after the snowstorm was supposedly over.

Some mothers always say the right thing...and then some don't

Ryan has proven that he CAN go potty on the toilet, but that he most certainly chooses NOT to go on the potty. Potty training has not been very succsessful. In fact, I'm pretty sure Macey will be potty-trained first. Ryan went through a very promising phase in which he would tell me about 2 seconds before he was about to go to the bathroom (in his diaper) that he was going to go. I remember my sister telling me that her daughter did that right before potty-training. I was excited!! So every time he would tell me, I would rush him to the potty (like a good mother) in hopes we made it. He started telling me ALL the time that he had to go...and I brought him to the potty EVERY time thinking I would catch him.

One day, we started at Target and he said he had to go so we rushed to the bathroom to have him tell me "I just can't get it out". 5 minutes later we were wandering the store and the whole scene repeated itself. Later that day we were at the mall in Macy's and he said he had to go. I left Macey with my sister and RAN to the elevator, pressed the basement level and flew to the bathrooms. Out of breath we eagerly made it to the potty. "I just can't get it out again mom". I bit my lip. "Okay...let's go find Macey and Aunt Stephanie. We'll try it again later." Literally as we met up with them he told me he had to go again. The following is the frustrated and annoyed conversation I had with him:

Ryan: "Alright mom...My pee is coming....it's coming right now...a-ha there it is."

Ryan: (Pointing to his pee-pee) "Mom, do you know what's going on in here? I'm peeing everywhere. And I'm about to poop too."

Me: "Well Good. Thats what diapers are for."

Needless to say...he hasn't gone on the potty since. I think I could consider that a lost opportunity :) Now when he tells me he is about to go pee I eagerly (and hopelessly) suggest the potty...he says "No mom. You can just change my diaper when I'm done."

Is there a book on the wrong thing to say during potty-training?

More catch-up

No pictures on this post...we have all been sick so the camera hasn't made it out much. But I couldn't help posting because Ryan has been so sweet lately.

• Ryan is really into counting and categorizing. The other day we were all sitting in the family room and Ryan said "dad...we are the boys! There are 2 boys and 3 girls." Then after he thought for a second he said "no thats not right! There are 3 boys. Daddy...Ryan...and the super teeny tiny baby in mommy's belly!" What an observant little guy.

• During Christmas season we tried to focus more on Jesus than Santa because we wanted the kids to understand that aspect first. Well...we might've done too good of a job because now Ryan gets the two confused. We finally put the kitchen together that Macey got for Christmas and Ryan keeps reminding Macey that Jesus brought it to her. Then he will say that they have to wait until next year when Jesus/Santa (the two are used interchangeably) comes again to get more toys. I told him that Jesus is here with him all the time and then he thought that meant he was getting more toys. It is so sweet and cute.

• I think I might have a little OCD kiddo on my hands. Just this week he vacuumed the entire living room floor with our hand vac (our vacuum broke) and then went around and picked up any piece of dust/lint/etc. he could find with his hands and threw it in the garbage. Then he also spent 20 extra minutes in the bathtub the other night cleaning the walls and the tub with a washcloth. I told him that I had just cleaned it 2 days before and he said I missed some spots and he likes the tub shiny. Next time I'll give him the toilet brush too!

• It is so funny to watch kids...I can look at all of my friends' kids and give you 10 reasons why they are exactly like their parents, but I couldn't do that with my own kids. Until yesterday. Scott took a little video of me to test out my new ipod and when we watched it I laughed out loud and said "I sound just like Ryan!" It was so funny to hear that we talk exactly the same. For a brief, very brief, second it made me proud to think that maybe some of his good qualities do come from me after all :) But then Macey rolls her eyes at me and Ryan farts in the bathtub because he likes to watch the bubbles and I realize that they definitely get the bad too hahah. Although I should clarify I don't fart in the bathtub...I just laugh when Ryan does.

• Lastly, some things happen throughout the day that I don't necessarily want anyone, ok Scott, to find out about. For instance, if someone spills on the carpet I think "oh shoot, now scott is going to know I let the kids have food in the living room. Well the other day, Macey pooped (a downfall of the bathtub farting game) in the tub and I yanked them out so fast that they took off running naked thinking it was a funny game. Then as I was cleaning the tub I heard Ryan scream from Macey's room... "I'm peeing and I can't make it to the potty." When Ryan showed me where, I started laughing because it looked like he was peeing designs into the carpet. He was making circles and thought it was cool. SOOO then the next day Ryan told Scott all about it. Scott said "oh what did mommy do?" to which Ryan replied "she just laughed. She thought it was funny." whoops :) But really...what would motherhood be without laughter?

• lastly part II. Just a little catch-up on Macey. She is officially 18 months old and an incredible handful. She is learning to talk a little bit more. She now knows a few words, even though Ryan can interpret all kinds of things he thinks she is saying. All I understand is : mama, dad, ooh ooh aah aah (which is her name for monkey), bath, off, please, thank you, pretty (which she calls barettes and headbands) good, no (she really knows that one), yes, all done, and boom blox (our favorite game on the wii haha). We did have a sweet little conversation the other day. She has been really sick and she looked miserable one evening:

Me: Macey do you feel good?

Macey: no

me: Do you feel bad?

Macey: 'es.

Me: Do you want to go to bed early?

Macey: peese. ooh ooh aah aah (which meant let's get monkey and go to bed now!)

She's a handful but she melts my little heart too :)