Birthdays bring presents, cake and ... doctor visits

Last week was my busiest week as a stay-at-home mom.  We had two birthdays, two dentist appointments, two well checks (on different days), a field trip, a doctor visit for me, a dentist appointment for me, an overnight business trip for Brian, a trip to the airport to pick up my in-laws and birthday party for the boys.  I'm exhausted!

We've been celebrating Carter's birthday since before his birthday.  My friend Julie and her kids were unable to make it to the party on the 15th so we met her at Chuck E Cheese the week before to celebrate.  We got there at 9:30 and pretty much had the place to ourselves - very nice.  Here are the boys on the roller coaster video ride - their absolute favorite

On Carter's actual birthday, we went to iHop for breakfast and they sang him Happy Birthday and gave him some ice cream.  Ice cream for breakfast is probably a high ranking birthday wish for a 4 year old.

That evening we went to Pei Wei, Carter's favorite restaurant because he can watch them cook with fire, with Mom & Dad.  He got a kids camera from them as a gift.  Such a great idea since he is always stealing mine.  Cole likes it but thinks it's a view finder.

On Monday I went to the dentist and the doctor.  Most of you probably have heard by now, we are expecting our third child in August.  Everything went well and we have ONE strong heartbeat.  There was some speculation that I might have two since I seem to be having more side effects this go around.  I just say it's because Brian's tolerance for my complaining has waned. 

On Tuesday we had our usual swim lessons and the boys are doing wonderful.  Cole is officially floating all by himself and will hopefully move up to the Golfish class soon.  That will be a cause of celebration because I will no longer have to get in the pool with him.  Carter has completed all his tasks except learning a basic shallow dive.  He's a great swimmer.

After swimming I took the boys to their dentist appointments.  This was Cole's first time, since he just turned two.  He was a handful, but did good.  Dr. Zummo said that he has good strong enamel and thankfully, much more room in his mouth for all teeth.  Carter isn't so lucky.  His poor mouth is just to small for those pearly whites.  He warned me again about saving for braces.  Carter did have a small cavity in a deep pit on the side of his back molar.  The dentist said those are very difficult to prevent in children (mouthwash is your best defense and he's just too young).  So I didn't beat myself up too much about it.  Though I'll be honest I did feel guilty and still do.  Dr. Zummo is the same pediatric dentist I went to when I was a child.  And he still has the SAME arcade games in the waiting area for the kids to play.  Cole loved it!

On Wednesday Carter had a field trip to the local fire station.  They've been learning about fire safety at school.  You should see him stop, drop and roll.  It was a cold day in Houston.  Here are all the kids in his class.

After school I picked him up and took him to Dr. Hayes for his four year well check appointment.  He was 41" and 39 pounds.  That's the 80% in height (so he's tall) and the 60% for weight.  She said that was a good proportion.  He had to have 5 shots and I did tell him ahead of time he would be getting "some."  He didn't fight the nurse and did well.  I took him out for ice cream afterwards.  He was doing well for about 4 hours and then BOOM - he wasn't. He couldn't walk and he was so fussy.  I let him sleep in bed with me since Brian was out of town on business.  Poor kid wouldn't let me look at his shots, it's like he was embarrassed.  Fortunately after some ibuprofen and some sleep he was a new kid by Thursday.  Here he is talking on my phone in the exam room.  He loves to steal my phone and scroll through my recent call logs to find Grandma or Uncle Matt. 

Thursday was Cole's actual birthday and we went back to iHop with Mom & Dad for breakfast, but after really slow service we skipped out on the ice cream.  Sorry Cole!  That afternoon, we picked up Nan and Pee Paw at the airport.  They flew in from Indiana for the boys' birthday party.  We had a nice visit.  Carter showed them all his games and toys, particularly the Batman Cave they gave him for his birthday. Here's Cole opening a gift at iHop. 

Friday was Cole's turn at the doctor.  He was in the upper 95% of height, he was 37" tall.  And weighed 28 pounds, that's roughly the 55% for weight. It would appear that both my boys will be on the tall side as the get older.  I can tell it in their pants, they're actually needing new ones before the ruin them with mud, food, markers, and holes. 

Earlier that morning Nan and I took Cole to the mall while Carter was at school.  Cole enjoyed riding the carousel with Nan. 

Saturday was the big day for the birthday party.  It started out cool and rainy.  Not a good day for an outside birthday party - but thankfully the rain cleared enough for all 15 kids to play outside in the SpiderMan bounce house.  It was a dual party, half Toy Story decorations and half SpiderMan decorations.  Lots of balloons and cupcakes.  I made the cupcakes myself and was pretty proud of them.  We have such good friends with beautiful sweet kids.  That makes for a fun party.  Plus having Nan & PeePaw AND Grandpa & Grandma there made it extra special for them (and me since they helped clean up!)

 Carter blowing out his 4 candles.  Next year I'll probably have to do a cake, I'm running out of room on the tiny cupcake for how many candles we need!

 Cole ate icing all day long.  Every time I turned around he snagged another cupcake and had licked the icing off of it. 

Picture of Niki, me and Joanna

Family shot in front of the jumper.

Sunday was another rainy day so Nan and I took the boys to the movies.  You see that BIG bucket of popcorn between the boys? It was gone at the end of the movie.  The boys went to town on that thing, it's probably why they last the whole movie.  But man, that's alot of popcorn!

Monday morning we had to say goodbye to Nan and PeePaw, but not before I got a shot of them with the boys. 

So as you can tell we had a crazy busy week.  And I now have a healthy 4 year old, a healthy 2 year old, lots of clean teeth, a healthy mommy with a baby in-utero, a great visit with grandparents and many more toys to organize!  I don't mind being busy if it means I get to have all these things to be thankful for.

Divide and Conquer

I've been enjoying some one-on-one time with each of the kiddos lately.  Brian and I will split up the day and the kids so he has one and I have one.  Then we'll split it up so he has some alone time and I have some alone time.  It has been working out well.  Of course we still do lots of things as a family of four.  But every now and then, just a simple meal with one of my boys or a routine trip to the mall can make some very fond memories.

Here is Cole enjoying his favorite breakfast food - a taco.

On Sunday afternoon, Cole and Brian stayed in during the cold rain to watch a movie while Carter and I ventured out at the mall.  I had plans to get some clothes for myself and finally make a dent in some of the gift cards I received over Christmas.  But I opted for some fun memories with just Carter and I. 

Here he is at Olive Garden being cheesy for the camera. He was so well behaved.

And eating ice cream at the mall.

Now that he's four (birthday pics to come on seperate post) he said he could ride the carousel alone.  He was proud and I was thankful I no longer had to endure the spinning t-cups.  Can you say nauseating!

Boys are Messy!

Like you didn't already know that, right?  We make messes in this house all the time.  And, as a whole, I don't mind cleaning up after them.  Cole has recently learned it can be fun to pick up after yourself, but he still finds making the mess much more fun.  And well, Carter, he'll make a huge mess and tell me "I'm just too tired to clean it up." "Well then go take a nap and I'll clean it up" is my response, and that will genenrally get him to pick up some of it. 

Carter's new favorite mess is drawing on himself.  A few days ago Mom came over and saw he had drawn a perfectly straight line in ink from the top of his forehead to the top of his nose.  I told her that was just what she could see.  I pulled down his shorts and underwear and showed her the many lines on his butt cheeks.  Seriously, he stuck a pen down his pants and wrote on himself.  I just couldn't understand the reasoning behind it, it's not like he can even admire his artwork!

This is washable marker all over his face. 

  And mud all over Cole's.  He and Carter played in the rain and mud last week and made a huge mess. 

We do lots of art projects.  Here they are stamping.  Carter thought he should give me some stamps on my hands and arms like his teachers do at school after music and motor class.  I didn't take a picture of my tattooed arms. 

Here is Cole squishing jelly out the container with his mouth at iHop on New Years.  Brian and I were starving the next day after being out all night.  I barely had a half cup of coffee before we threw the kids in the car to run up and get something to eat.  I told Brian "for a woman who didn't have anything to drink last night (I was the designated driver) I sure do feel hungover!  Food made it better :)

Speaking of New Years.  We had a great time at my friend Niki's house.  Mom and Dad graciously watched the boys until the wee hours of the morning.  I couldn't imagine what a babysitter would have cost that evening!

While sitting on the couch with my girlfriends I noticed a great photo op.  So I hollered at Brian "hey honey, come over here so I can get a group shot of the girls." He came over and stuck his head in the picture, as if I wanted him IN the shot, not TAKING the shot."  In the end I'm glad he was in the picture, my friends like him and vice versa. He's a great guy :)

And here is the one he took with me in it.

Well this concludes my first post of the year.  I hope to update once a week.  My friend Phoebe made that her goal last year and she achieved it with three kids running around her feet all day.  I guess I can try and keep up with her.  We'll see ...