He Did It!

On this day, Monday, August 31st, 2006... AJ rolled over.

Yep, all the way. He's been trying all week, but wasn't able to get that arm out from under him. But as soon as I finished the last post, I heard him fussing upstairs. I went up there and sure enough, he was on his belly. I didn't lay him down that way. I'm so proud.

Cabin Fever in the Summer?

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. We’ll see if I can get you caught up without boring the snot out of you.

We had a nice weekend. After a ‘fend’ dinner on Friday, we met up with the Steve & Kelly (who have a little guy around Andrew’s age) at Diary Queen for cool treat since it’s been SO hot outside. However, Andrew had little interest in his ice cream since there was SOMEONE ELSE TO PLAY WITH!! We came home and put the kiddos to bed and popped in Pirates of the Caribbean I. However, before Jack and Will even sailed away from the village, I was out cold. I could not stay awake for the life of me. And it wasn’t even 11 yet.

Saturday, Marc got up early and went fishing with Geoff. I cleanup and watched the boys until he got home… then I got to go out to lunch with Kelly. Woo Hoo. Just us girls and no kiddos. We even did a little shopping afterward. She has 3 little one so hopefully it was as nice (if not nicer) break for her as it was for me. We didn’t do too much the rest of the evening. I felt almost as if we were trapped inside. It’s been so hot lately that even though it is beautiful, we are stuck indoors. I hate to even complain about it since during the winter time I would give me left ear for sunshine, but man, it’s been a little much lately. (I just realized that I typed ‘me’ instead of ‘my’ in the previous sentence…but since I have written about pirates I’m going to leave it. Go ahead, re-read the sentence in your best pirate voice).

Sunday was Marc’s birthday. His GOLDEN birthday. He turned 30 on the 30th. Unfortunately, the poor guy had to work quite a bit. The lawn desperately needed mowed (he’s been gone so much and it’s been so hot that it hasn’t gotten done). Plus he had laundry and packing to do for his trip again this week. However, after naptime we did celebrate with a cake. I made his favorite Grandma B’s cake. He had candles and we sang Happy Birthday and I think Andrew enjoyed the event the most.

And, we had a sitter come over in the evening so Marc and I could go out to dinner. We hit our usual Rio Grande for the free birthday dinner, but that’s after we went to the restaurant closest to us only to find out that it closed. We had to hussle to the other one a little further away since we had a movie to catch. Dinner was really nice even though the food and service was just ok. (My ribs were cold and had to be sent back. I didn’t get them back until Marc was completely done eating). We then went and saw the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie…which was interesting for lack of better words. I’m glad we watched it, but I won’t say more in case you haven’t seen it. And when we got home, according to the sitter, the boys did great (even though Andrew snuck out of bed).

That brings us to today. Another super hot one. We’ve been under a heat advisory all day. And holy cow, work was SO busy!! Since it was so hot, I decide that I wanted to where my capris to work. However, my comfy shoes that I wear everyday just don’t work with those pants, so I wore my heeled sandals. M.I.S.T.A.K.E! It was crazy so now my feet are really achy. I also called daycare today to see if we could hang out a bit longer than my usual pickup time. See, I think I mentioned this before, but I pick up Andrew right when his class is either heading to the gym or outside. This breaks Andrew’s heart as he lives to go to either place. But since it’s been SO hot lately, I feel like he’s been stuck inside lately. So instead of going home when I got off work, I picked up AJ and went with Andrew’s class up to the gym so he could burn off some energy. Tonight was leftovers for dinner, tubs for both boys and now that they are in bed, I am getting ready to pay bills. Good times.

Ok, I’ve bored you enough and I’ve written enough.

Golden Birthday Pictures

Maybe if I’m polite, she won’t get mad at me.

Mom: Andrew, will you please put that back, it’s not for you to play with.
Andrew: No, thank you, mom.

Toddler Phrases

Mom: Andrew, will you pick your toys
Andrew: SURE!

Mom: What do you want for dinner?
Andrew: I can’t hear you. (This has been since Joe said this on Blues Clues last week)

Mom: I love you, Andrew
Andrew: Thanks!

Mom: Where is your (fill in blank)
Andrew: Here is my Andrew’s (fill in blank) (he is combining my-Andrew lately).

When he can’t jump high enough to see something.
Andrew: I’m too heavy

Been awhile since I posted some...

Some water fun in Ohio

My what big eyes you have

Andrew's goldfish bowl he made at school that he is VERY proud of.

My brown eyed boys

They don't call it Toot Toot Thyme for nothing...

We are into week 3 of Marc's training schedule where he is gone most of the week and I get to parent alone.  We miss him while he is gone, but overall so far this week is going just fine.  I don't know that I have too much to post about and probably nothing too exciting to read. 

 

We went to Ohio this weekend to meet my family.  It was good for both my folks and the boys.  Andrew had a blast with cousin Gideon - swimming in the lake, playing on the playground and at the house and in the sprinkler, etc...  He did lose his footing for a second in the lake which about gave me a heart attack, but grandma was right there to swoop him up and he recovered nicely.  Marc and I enjoyed ourselves as well.  It's always relaxing there and Marc got in plenty of fishing. 

 

We had our annual rib-off again, which is always incredibly good.  We had five entries this year, with our entry's name as "Toot-Toot Thyme" (due to the spicy nature of the sauce).  Of course, everyone had their own favorites but no "winner" was established.  We also celebrated Marc's upcoming birthday with candled sugar cookies.

 

Not too much is planned for this week.  We did get our computer back last night after I finally sucked it up and went to Best Buy with the boys.  However, they wouldn't take their loaner back since I didn't have the right paperwork with me (how dumb).  I later found out Marc had the paperwork in my car the whole time.  But oh well, they can now wait until this weekend to get their computer back.  So, I have a laptop for each hand.... if only I were ambidextrous.

 

The boys are just fine and behaving well.  I have a whole list of things I want to get done, but it nothing more exciting than cleaning, projects around the house, phone calls to make, etc...    Sorry this isn't more exciting.  You took the time to check in, and I bored you to sleep.  Sorry.

Why you may not want us watching your children...

Last Thursday, while we were playing hide and seek, Andrew (who has to hold my hand while seeking) was looking for Marc when Marc jumped out and scared Andrew so bad he screamed.  It was the funniest thing I might have ever seen.  Marc and I immediately dropped to the floor we were laughing so hard.  Of course, Andrew recovered quickly and was almost proud of himself for making us laugh so hard.  He wanted to keep playing.  

 

So Friday we wanted Andrew to play hide and seek again to see if we could duplicate his response.  It took a couple times (Andrew loving every minute) but eventually Marc was able to jump out and scare Andrew into screaming again.  Again, we rolled on the floor laughing so hard we were crying. 

 

Fifteen years from now, when I wonder why my son is in therapy, feel free to remind me of this post....

 

 

Bad for them, exciting for us

Yesterday as I was leaving work, there was a car right outside the entrance to Andrew's daycare that was starting to smoke heavily.  I flagged a shuttle bus that was coming around the corner and they called it in.  By the time I picked AJ up and got to the playground to get Andrew, we could hear the sirens of the fire trucks.  By the time, we got all our gear and headed out the daycare door there were two fire trucks, bike patrol police and regular police all right there.  I mean RIGHT THERE.   We had a front row view to watch.  The car now was in flames and firemen (or firewomen, we really couldn't tell) where shooting there big fire hoses at it.   Whatever they were shooting was flying everywhere (it looked like a mixture of water and something else)  We couldn't walk around it to get to our bus, so we had to just wait and watch up close and personal.   There was smoke everywhere.  They were breaking windows to spray the inside of the car, the hoods paint was peeling off, there were flames on the ground under the car.  It was very exciting.  Andrew and I were still talking about it this morning.

Growth Spurt again maybe?

Yesterday AJ fell asleep on the way home from daycare.   I brought him in in his car seat and he continued to sleep until about 5:15pm.   For the next hour and a half, he was awake but very VERY unhappy.  He ate, but other than that he just cried unless I held him and walked.  This is VERY unlike him.  Around 6:45, he acted sleepy so I put him back down.....

 

....AND HE SLEPT THE REST OF THE NIGHT! 

 

(he did wake to eat but just for minutes before falling back asleep).  What in the world?  Plus he is guzzling his bottles at daycare.  I am going to have to add a pumping session at home to keep up with him, 'cause once at work, just isn't getting it done. 

What imagery...

This week has been a HOT one.  Wowsers. By the time I get the boys dropped off at daycare by carrying AJ in the sling, You would swear my shirt should be soaked through. Not a pleasant image....sorry. 

This week is going fine other than the heat and poor Andrew not really being able to get out and run. By the time it cools to something manageable it is bedtime for the kid. Although last night, I did let him run in the sprinkler a bit later in the evening while AJ and I sat on the lawn.  Speaking of the Andrew. He has a touch of a summer cold. Nothing horrible. Trust me, it's not slowing him down. He is just stuffed up a bit, a little more sneezy and has a cough that sneaks up when he sleeps.

 

Yesterday morning was very exciting. We watched the usually very boring NASA channel bring in the Discovery Shuttle. Andrew was just as fixed to the tube as I was. He kept calling it an airplane and I kept telling him it was a space shuttle that flies up by the moon.  And Andrew's newest favorite phrase is "Watch!", "Watch this!" or "Watch me!". Don't worry, he hasn't dropped the "Why?", that's still going strong.

 

Last night was interesting... we had a really bad storm hit around 10pm.  People lost power, trees down, etc..  I actually packed up a few things before bed just in case I had to get the boys to the basement in the middle of the night (not sure how I would have known to go the basement if necessary since I would be sleeping).  But we all survived just fine and everything was still standing in the morning.  I normally really enjoy storms, especially the lightening shows like we had last night, but without Marc home (not that he could have changed anything) I found myself a little more nervous in it.    But Andrew slept right through it and once I fell asleep, so did I.  As of 11:30pm (and it was still doing strong), the news said we had 3 inches of rain in the last 1.5 hours.  I'm no meteorologist, but that sounded like enough that I am not going to be watering tonight. 

Tonight there isn't a whole lot planned.  I need to get a bunch of housework done and we are going to have chicken something for dinner.  I haven't decided yet.  I bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner last night and we have tons of shredded chicken left over, plus I made some nice chicken stock with the leftover carcass last night.  (I really tried to think of a more pleasant word to use instead of carcass and nothing was coming to me, sorry.  There's another image you can try to forget).  Right now I am leaning toward chicken tacos.  We have no shells, but we do have tortilla chips.  Not the most healthy dinner, but it'll do.

Hi, my name is Violet Beauregarde.

Well, that last few days have gone more smoothly than last time I posted.  Each day I learn a new trick that makes things easier.  Like on Wednesday, I found out I can park in a closer lot to pick the boys up.  Then yesterday, I went ahead and used my sling and took both boys on the shuttle bus.  Still not a fun process but getting better.  (Although I can't imagine what this will be like in the winter.)   One step at a time.

 

Marc got home last night.  Yea!  I had been bragging to him all week about how good the boys were for me and how great they were going to bed and sleeping.  Well, last night it all went out the window.  AJ had a rough night and was up much more than usual and Andrew was up too for bit.  It really wasn't a bad night, it was just a little funny since I talked them up and they did the opposite once he got home.   Needless to say after 4 days of training and not sleeping well in a hotel and then having to be an hour away this morning by 8, Marc is one tired man.  And the poor guy has to work around the house this weekend doing things that I can't do with the boys, like mow.

 

We really don't have much planned for this weekend.  Might hang out with some friends here and there and of course...there is much much housework to do (not much more than the minimum got done last week, sad to say).  And when I am not busy with the boys or housework this weekend, you will find me popping blueberries every chance I get.

Blueberry Binge

Oh last night was funny.   At least it is funny now.  Not necessarily funny at the time.  We have had a really long dry spell in our area and needed rain in a desperate way.  Well, prayers were answered last night when it rained hard straight from around 3pm until late in the evening. 

 

However, this meant picking up the boys from daycare in the pouring rain.  Let's see if I can recap:

1. Ride shuttle bus out to car... in the rain
2. Drive back to daycare... in the rain
3. Find no parking spot close, have to park a good distance away in a tight spot where my doors barely open... in the rain
4. Carry the car seat and umbrella into daycare... in the rain
5. Pick up AJ, along with bottles, extra clothes that he soiled, and paperwork.  I didn't plan for anything more than just AJ, so I was juggling the heavy car seat with AJ in it, 2 bottles, clothes, paperwork and a very wet umbrella. 
6. Juggle the heavy car seat with AJ in it, 2 bottles, clothes, paperwork and a very wet umbrella to Andrew's class to find that he is in the gym on the third floor.
7. Juggle everything up to the 3rd floor and find out that Andrew also had dirty clothes and more paperwork.  AJ starts crying.
8. Juggle Andrew, the heavy car seat with AJ, two bottles, two sets of clothes, paperwork and wet umbrella back downstairs to the door. AJ is still crying.
9. Make Andrew hold onto my pocket in the parking lot since I have no extra hands.  The umbrella is pretty much useless at this point, but I try to hold it up anyway and we all walk to our car juggling my items while AJ is screaming... in the rain. 
10. Try to get both boys in their seats holding all my stuff and barely opening the doors due to the tight squeeze so that I have to lean against the car to buckle them in, getting completely soaked (more so that I already was if that is possible)... in the rain.  AJ screamed the whole trip home.

Needless to say, we didn't make it to Best Buy and the question "why do I do this?" ran through my head all the way home.

 

A good note:  Andrew went pee on the potty at school and got two stickers.  His teachers where very excited and made it a big deal for him.  He was proud of himself.

 

And the rest of the night went much smoother.  We had our dinner which turned out just fine in the crockpot.  (Might consider doing it like that more often).  Even took the boys back out later in the evening (...in the rain) for a much needed but quick run to the grocery store.  Another good note, blueberries are in season and they are on sale, so I bought a couple pints.  I had to watch myself last night as I was cleaning them.  I caught myself on a blueberry binge.  I love blueberries. 

 

And... both boys were in bed last night by 9pm.  They are such good boys.  So that left me time to pull everything together for today (much more than usual since I am working all day), make some banana bread mini loaves, and get to bed by 11pm.   AJ did wake up around 3 this morning, just wide awake and happy and babbling and bright eyed...he was too cute.  Fortunately, he was back asleep within a 1/2 hour.  I had to wake both boys up this morning.  I don't like doing that, but they were both happy this morning, so it wasn't too bad.

 

So today, so far, it is running pretty smooth.  I must say I have a greater appreciation for single mothers out there and their challenges (like when do you even go to the grocery store or get a haircut?).  Fortunately, my situation is only temporary.  Marc comes home tomorrow evening and then only 5 more weeks of this.  Single moms - My hat's off to you.

Who needs PJ's

This will be quick.  I have to post from work since we currently have no 'puter at home and today has been a busy one. 

 

So far things have been running pretty smoothly with just myself and the boys.  Granted, nothing is getting done above and beyond what is necessary, but that's true quite often anyway.  However, like a good wife, I did water the lawn for Marc last night.

 

Tomorrow will be tricky though.  I am working all day (not sure if I would have agreed if I'd realized at the time that it would only be AJ's 3rd day and Marc would be gone).  So I have to have both boys up and out and to daycare by 7:30.  This will be tricky.  They both may be sleeping in their clothes tonight. 

 

Tonight we are running to Best Buy right after work on the assumption that AJ was fed recent enough that he can make it.  Then I have mac & cheese in the crockpot for dinner.  Never cooked it in the CP before, but I didn't want to wait another hour for dinner after getting home later than usual.  (Who knows how long Best Buy will take).  Then the usual evening events and I plan to get in bed early myself.  I've been blessed by my boys the last few days...they've let me sleep until about 8.  6 am will come awfully early tomorrow. 

 

Ok, hopefully I will have a computer tonight to post about.  Not that I will have time to post with my early bedtime goal.  Wish me luck.

Smooth like butter

Well, I was going to post again last night, but our loaner laptop died.  I am thinking maybe we were meant to not have a laptop.  So after talking to the "Geek Squad", I have to take it back in to Best Buy.  But Best Buy is never ever EVER a quick easy trip (which is why Marc always does it).  But he is gone, so I will have to go along with the boys.  It won't be tonight.  We HAVE to hit Sam's tonight for much needed diapers and wipes and that outing alone after work will be plenty.  So I am planning on going tomorrow after work to have them fix or exchange it for us.  What a hassle.

 

Anyway, today (thanks for the prayers) has gone extremely smooth.  I got a lot done last night due to AJ going to bed at a 9:15 pm (a record, I think).  So this morning wasn't stressful at all. In fact, I was able to get meatloaf burgers prepped for dinner this morning and the dishwasher unloaded.   It still took longer to drop off both boys than I thought (and I knew it would take a little while since it's AJ's first day).  But it went just fine.  The pass off from mom to teacher was smooth and he was practically asleep in her arms before I left the room.   Today hasn't been super busy, so I popped in just a few minutes ago to see how he was doing and he was down for his second nap.  

 

Funny thing: When I dropped him off, I mentioned that he sleeps better swaddled.  It was more of an "if it helps you" thought than a hard rule.  So, AJ fell asleep in his teachers arms and rather than just laying him in his crib, she felt she had to swaddle him first.   I guess her and another teacher were trying to very carefully lay him down and wrap him without waking him.  I commended their effort but told them that it really wasn't necessary.  If he's sleeping then the battle is already won and no swaddling necessary. 

 

Anyway, they said he was doing so good.  Especially for his first day which is hit or miss for most babies.  He was happy and smiling and ate well and obviously was sleeping well.  I think I got some kinks worked out as well... I have to change the way I bring in his bottles, I need a few more items brought in for his basket, etc...  So all in all, it's going well.  Of course, I had to peek in the window of Andrew's room, too while I was there...ducking whenever he turned in my direction.  He, naturally, was doing just fine.

 

I haven't heard from Marc today to see how his training is going.  Tonight, like I mentioned is Sam's and burgers and other than that...not a whole lot planned other than pulling things together to start again tomorrow.

Can we do it? Yes, we can!

Our laptop is in the 'shop' once again, so I am writing once again from a loaner laptop. This will be quick as there is a bunch I need to do and AJ will be awake and hungry any minute now.

Pray for us.

First of all, AJ starts daycare tomorrow. As far as him in daycare goes, I am not concerned. He is good and they are good and he's only there for a couple hours, so I am not worried. However, it will be challenging on my end getting everything ready for both boys and myself each day for daycare/work. AJ requires quite the list of things for those few hours. I am also not looking forward to the dropping off and picking up aspect. It's going to feel like all that will take just as long as it takes me to work.

Secondly, Marc leaves for Detroit tonight and won't get home until Thursday night. So I am single mom this week. This week, this crazy week and it's me and the boys. I already told daycare to not be surprised if their hair isn't combed, clothes aren't changed, etc...

Thirdly, pray for Marc as he is in training. That he will pick up the material, not get too bored or lonely. This schedule could be his schedule for the next 6 weeks, so if you see us in a frazzled state, that is why.

Ok, I will post more later, but now I need to start pulling all the paperwork, bottle parts, etc... together for AJ and help Marc do laundry and pack for his trip. Oh!, and keep two boys happy. Have a great week.

Kelli went to Jail

This was sent to me by my friend Lisa.

Kelli,

I had the craziest dream last night! You got arrested for some reason and they were reading you your rights and I was there (wherever we were) and as they were taking you away I said, "Are you going to put this in your blog?"

AND I WAS SERIOUS!!

The price of parenthood...

I got a new pair of Dockers yesterday during a sale at Kohl's.  These were a much needed nice basic pair of khakis that go with anything and everything.  I got to wear them approximately 4 minutes this morning before AJ pooped on them.

Our Holiday Weekend

Ok, I have a few minutes.  Let's see if I can give an update on our holiday weekend.  We left Friday night and drove to Iowa.  Our 7-8 hour trip turned into an 11 hour trip due to Chicago traffic and a short-cut gone bad.  We got in and to bed at 6am.  This is 7am our time and Andrew was waking up for the day.   Thankfully, he did go back to bed for a little while before getting up with Grandma Dykstra.  Needless to say, we were exhausted on Saturday. 

 

Saturday was a nice, lazy day.  We lounged around, played outside, grilled for lunch, napped, etc...    Then in the evening, Grandma & Papa watched the boys while Marc and I had a nice date.  We did dinner and visited some of his friends from high school.  It was a nice evening.  We checked in the Marc's folks before making one more quick stop before heading back and all was great. Both boys were sleeping and for the most part were little angels.   Fifteen minutes later however, we got a call saying Andrew was up and vomiting and had a fever.  We were on our way home.  So, not sure what bug Andrew had, but he felt pretty crummy the rest of the weekend.  He was on Tylenol round the clock and would act like himself for about 1.5 hours in the middle of doses before coming back down and heating back up.  It wasn't fun, but he was a trooper and we survived.

 

Sunday, we went to their church (AJ took Marc and myself out of most of the speaking & Andrew was in his 2-yr old class not feeling well).  We then hit Burger King for a quick lunch (which seemed to cheer Andrew up) and we headed up north to visit Marc's grandparents and introduce them to AJ.  It was nice visit.  We picked raspberries, saw kittens, ate dinner, & had a nice visit.  Andrew did pretty well all things considered.  Dad even dug up a couple raspberry bushes to take home with me to plant.  I am very excited about this as the raspberries straight off the bush were incredible.  Very addicting.  By the time we got home Sunday night, we were pretty much beat. Marc took the opportunity to visit some of his friends, Paul & Ryan (back to back mentions, guys....how do you rate?) It was a very long (but good) day.

 

Monday, was some more of the hanging out & playing.  Dad grilled again, Andrew varied hourly on our he felt, AJ slept all day.  We headed back to MI in the evening and this trip went MUCH better.  Not nearly the traffic and therefore no shortcut needed.  We got in around 2am Tuesday Morning.

 

Wednesday, we did a whole lot of nothing.  Well, I shouldn't say that.  We did sleep, we did hit Kohl's for some much needed work clothes for Marc and myself, and I did hit Meijer for a few necessities.  No fireworks, no grilling out, nothing too exciting, but it was still nice to be home.  However, before bedtime Andrew and I did snap some pops on the ground in our own little Independence Day celebration. 

It's started...

Andrew, back up from the TV…
…why?
I don’t want you to hurt your eyes…
…why?
Because I want you to be able to see…
…why?
You need your eyes to play and read…
…why?
So you can learn and go to school…
...why?
So you can get a great job to pay for Mama’s loony bin.

My Little Firecrackers

Baby Marc & Baby AJ

Paul and Ryan, you wanted more Marc...well, here is his baby picture. (He's on the left).

Hope you are doing well, guys.

Sprinkler Fun

Andrew & Papa Dykstra

Cheeseburger that was cooked by standing over hot charcoal on a 95 degree day that Andrew did not eat........ $0.75
Advil to ease tired muscles from pulling Andrew in the wagon to the playground that he did not to play on........ $0.33
Hot water for shower& washing machine after Andrew puked on him........ $1.19
5 gallons of mouthwash after the previous landed in papa’s mouth........ $15.99
Wear & tear on the rocking chair trying to comfort Andrew until Mama & Dada came home........ $0.74

Having your grandson light up and exclaim “PAPA!” when you walk into the room........ Priceless.