Yesterday Afternoon

Yesterday was a slow day as I recovered from a stomach bug. 

 For lunch the boys had Butter & Garlic Noodles with Mixed Veggies.

Kaysen ate mostly the veggies.  He wasn't too fond of the noodles.

Afterwards the boys brought out their pillow pets and wrestled around.  I sat down and watched because I wasn't feeling too well.

They also found "ho ho hat" as they were searching in their closets for more stuffed animals.  Of course, Kaysen had to wear it around for the rest of the afternoon.

So cute, right?  Caleb just had to pose for the camera when I brought it out.  What is with the tongue?

Just a few Quick Pictures

Just a few pictures for tonight.

 Caleb and his trucks.  This kept him busy the entire day these pictures were taken.

Here's my baby...he loves the camera.

Look at the "house" Caleb built all by himself. 

Kaysen's little tower he built because he was upset that Caleb had a tower and he didn't.

Look...he's wearing pants!  Do you know what that means?  He's in underwear!  Yipee!!!

What did we do this evening?

We played in balls and laundry baskets!!

Caleb's hair cut.  He looks so much older.

My two boys are such trouble makers.

Where's Caleb?!?







"Me Baby"

Leave it up to Kaysen to come up with phrases like this.

Kaysen has just recently started saying "Me Baby" when he is tired, sad, or upset.  He will get that pouty look on his face, come up to us with arms raised and say in a tiny voice "Me baby". 

When Kaysen gets tired I grab his blanket, wrap him up, and say "my baby...I love you."  Then we rock and cuddle.  We have done this for as long as I can remember.  Now he has finally put two and two together and says it himself when he needs comfort.

I think it's cute.  

Winter Blues

I confess that things have been rough around here mentally for me.  Living in a cold area, with snow and no car makes it worse.  Not only that, but my bedroom is currently my living room.  (we moved the bed in there to save money by blocking off the bedroom)  Living in a tiny space for too long can make anyone go stir crazy.

The past two days helped because Steve was off of work.  But now I'm stuck in the house again with two toddlers, and the days go by really slowly.  I have tons of things that I can do to keep me busy.  I do them...but it's not the same as taking the kids outside on a long refreshing walk.

I am eager to move the bed back into the bedroom.  We just bought a train table (what was I thinking?!?) and it is set up in our living room too.  The bedroom is a cluttered mess, which makes me more angry because I spent so much time decluttering my life just a few months ago.  Right now it has empty totes and storage that needs to be moved into the garage.  Kind of ironic that the organization supplies are making my life cluttered.

I'll also confess that I haven't organized the garage since the temperature dropped below 40'.  It's just way too cold outside for me to want to do anything.  Which also means that all those Christmas toys we bought are hanging out without a home in my garage.  It is driving me crazy, especially since I put so much time and effort into organizing the garage in November. 

Here's the boys' new train table.  Note, there's no train on it right now.  We are using it as an activity table. 

It has a retail value of $80, and we paid $19.97.  Gotta love 75% off Target toy sales!

Snow Day!

Steve worked earlier in the day today.  When he got home at 3pm the snow was deep, and thankfully there was still light outside.  So we all got bundled up and went outside for some fun.

Caleb (of course) wanted to help us shovel.  So for most of the time, he was shoveling away.  It just so happened to be the grass instead of the drive way.  But that's ok too.

Poor little Kaysen could barely move in his snow suit.  At least he was warm.

...and our dog, Cassie.  She gets really hyper and crazy in the snow, so she had to stay in the back yard.  But she still had fun watching us play.

Missing Spring

I am right in the middle of my yearly winter depression.  I miss spring so much.  The past 2 days have been sunny outside, but extremely cold.  It is so hard for me to keep up with day to day life knowing that the next day is going to be more of the same thing.

Yesterday, I tried to occupy my mind by deep cleaning the house.  I dusted everything, wiped down the ceiling fans, decluttered the little clutter we have.  But that only made me feel worse because I wish I was outside doing something else other than cleaning.  The boys helped out.  They both had dust rags and were running around the house wiping the walls.  Then they helped me with the laundry.

Potty training is going great!  We've been at home for the past 4 days, and today was the first day we actually stepped outside.  (which is probably adding to my winter depression).  Kaysen has been going potty consistently and having very few (if any) accidents. 

Yesterday after I put the boys to bed, I heard "mom...mom".  I went in there and Kaysen was in his crib, pants off, holding his diaper, yelling "mom".  So I picked him up.  The diaper was dry.  He pointed down to his pants that were on the floor.  I took him to the potty and he went, and then went to sleep.

Today before nap he called for me again.  His diaper was dry, so I sat him on the potty and he pooped.  We ran out to drop Steve off at work (about a half an hour round trip).  He stayed dry and went when we got home.

Let me add, this kid turns 15 months today!  I'm so proud of my little man.

As for the winter blues, I'm sure I'll break out of it soon.  Yesterday was tough and today is too.  But I know it's only a matter of time before the warmer weather gets here.

Potty Training

We are on day 2 of potty training Kaysen.  Honestly, so far it has been a pretty good experience.  He will be 15 months old on Monday, and he's been taking an interest for a month or so.  Which means that for the past 2 days (and for the rest of the week) we won't be doing much other than running to the bathroom. 

We are doing the bare bottom method.  Basically, I let him run around naked from the waist down and if he starts to go, I wisk him up and take him to the potty.  We are working more on the "release" part of it all.  Showing him that you potty HERE and not THERE.  He gets so excited when he goes (all day long yesterday and all morning long today)  He only had 4 accidents yesterday, which in my opinion is a GREAT first day.  This morning before nap he stayed dry the entire time, and even woke up dry!

I'm so proud!  Hopefully we will be out of diapers soon.

I've been away...

It has been 6 days since I last posted.  I've been very, very busy!

The boys have been sick *again*.  Kaysen got hit the worst, although Caleb was out for a few days too.  Their fevers both got up to about 101'.  I've been trying to make life as easy as possible around here for them.  Cuddly toys, comfy clothes, blankets and pillows, and TV.  I'm not a big TV person, and I do limit the amount that the boys get to watch.  But when they are feeling miserable and just want to be cuddled all day, a little bit of TV allows me some sanity.

As for me, I feel OK.  I think I forced myself to not get sick.  Then who will take care of my boys?  So I have been filling my days with the Internet and coupons, cleaning the house, exercising, and taking care of me.  In a way I felt detached from the rest of the world because I needed some 'me' time.  Today was the first day that I actually felt like I was back home, but I never left the house.  Weird, even as I type it.

Today was bonding day for me and the boys.  They were feeling better and we took the opportunity to get connected again.  Like I said, we have all been distant the past 4 or 5 days.  We played some games and read some books.  We found matches of animal toys and puzzle pieces.  Then we ran around the house acting like the animal on the puzzle piece.  We built with blocks and played with trucks.  We cuddled and sang songs.  I missed them while they were sick.

Kaysen has discovered the alphabet.  His favorite song is the ABC song.  He has a book all about the ABC's and we read it over and over and over again.  "A-C's" he tells me when he wants to read it.  He is even starting to repeat some of the letters in the book.  Yesterday he repeated the letters in his name.  I was so proud of my little guy!

We started potty training Kaysen the week Steve was on vacation.  Then the little guy got sick.  That threw everything off.  So today since he was feeling better I decided to try him again.  He ended up going twice on the potty with a dry diaper in between!  Hopefully we will be out of diapers soon.

As for Caleb, well, I don't think he's completely himself yet.  Today was a very rough day for him.  I know it doesn't help being stuck in the house all day.  But you can tell he just wasn't my little Caleb.  I'll give it a few more days and hopefully he will be home again too.  It will be nice to have the entire family together again.