Taking a Lil' Break...

With Jason being on leave and us scheduling lots of family activities, making a concerted effort to spend much of our time together it leaves considerably less time for blogging.

Instead of me computing for an hour or two during the boys' quiet/nap time, Jason and I might sit to try to watch a movie, or have lunch together. So you can see how my real life is taking precedence over my "virtual" life...as it should be, really.

I am still keeping up with emails, other blogs, and such. So, I'm not completely offline.

Besides, it's not like I've been getting many comments anyway. :)

I need to get back to my roots, back to remembering that I blog for me. Not because I'm looking for comments. I don't want to want comments, unless you're really wanting to say something. You know?

So, I'll get there again...this is just really the perfect time to take a brief blogging break. If you need me you can reach me on Easton's "new special computer"


I know I'll be back soon.

Thank you.

When I was pregnant with Easton I tried to be the responsible pregnant lady, and making sure I was getting enough protein was especially important to me. So was getting some exercise. Jason and I would go for nice long walks together, spitting sunflower seeds along the way for some extra protein. Well, wouldn't you know it...those seeds I was eating for my unborn baby caused me to chip a front tooth!

I had it fixed when he was a few months old.

Well, thanks to this latest phase E's in, I've been gritting my teeth so hard that the filling I had in that tooth has crumbled away leaving me all snaggletoothed again! Can you believe it? Sad to say he's making me so crazy that I have ruined some perfectly good dental work.

But this kid!!! Dare I say he's getting better? We've had several "mostly" good days. Although one of the lows happened when we were in a parking garage Wednesday and he was carrying a not-yet-empty bag of chips. Well, he accidentally dropped the bag. But when he picked it back up he decided to pour much of it out right then and there. Just because. Just to be a punk because I had asked him to stop. So I snatched it away from him and he threw a fit about wanting to go back and get his chips. As we were getting in the car it was a little impossible to give him any kind of a time-out, so instead--I ate the rest of his chips!! (the few in the bag...not the ones on the floor of the parking garage). How's that for a punishment?

I'm so immature sometimes.

Thursday was a pretty good day as well, minus the whiney quiet time (which he never did nap, by the way). And minus the end of our JC Penney trip. He's usually been pretty good in stores, sticking close by and listening and such. But at JCP he decided to duck into racks of clothes instead of following me. He'll usually come out and say, "Mom, where are you?" and find me. But to try to teach him a lesson, one time I hid too. Where I could see him, of course. You can bet he got sad that he'd "lost" me. And at that point I made him hold my hand, with him pitching a fit the whole way out the door. What a stinker!!! That's not my usual kid.

I'm really hoping some extra E time will help bring him back around. The other day, would you believe I disciplined him for being too clingy? Well, really it was for not listening to me, but it was over him being clingy. The back story is that we had spent Dalton's entire nap cuddling just me and Easton on the couch. So he got in lots of extra snuggles. Then Dalton woke up and I went to make lunch. And Easton wouldn't leave my legs alone, complete with, "Mama, just hold meeeeee". So I told him I'd hold him for 2 minutes and then I'd have to make lunch and he'd have to go in the living room (it's not always safe to have a 3 year old attached to me in the kitchen). So, anyway, our two minutes was up and I tried to send him on his way but he attached himself to my leg and after some warnings I just had to give him a time out. I felt bad. Clearly he wanted some more mommy time, but you know what...I'd honestly love to give it to him, but he's not my only kid anymore. *I* could've waited to eat lunch, but there are others to consider too.

If I'm completely honest, Easton gets his "needs" met first a lot more often than his brother. It's true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, eh? Dalton is just so easy going...I take advantage of his good behavior rather than rewarding it much of the time. Dalton has had to stop nursing so that I could discipline Easton. Dalton has had to wait for his lunch so that Easton could get his first. Dalton has had to skip naps so that we could do something fun. It really is best in the long run though, keep Easton happy so that I can keep Dalton happy too.

One day it'll be Dalton's turn. One day he'll be the cranky toddler (hard to imagine right now!). But one day, we'll have to feed Dalton first because Easton will be easier to reason with (we hope!). And Easton will be the one waiting to do something fun because Dalton is in need of discipline or something. I guess it all evens out in the end. I never felt like my sisters got more positive attention than me. I never remember feeling slighted by my parents having to divide their time. Is it something siblings just get used to? Or do I just get better? :)

Twenty-Nine Point Five

What's 29.5, you ask?

Me.

Today is my half birthday. Which means I'm now closer to 30 than I am to 29!!!

Why do I still feel 25?

Tonight When the Whistle Blows...

...Jason's 4 week paternity leave begins! We're looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to getting some extra special 1 on 1 time in with Easton. I'm hoping it'll help his mood. Rememeber when he went through his punk challenging phase about 6 months ago? And I took him to McDonalds for breakfast and Six Flags another day? Well, this latest phase isn't nearly as hard as it was back then but still, time for some Eastie time. We're planning a movie date first. The new Veggie Tales. Seems safe enough that I shouldn't have to preview it first, right? I mean, they sell Veggie Tales at our Christian bookstore. Must be okay.

I'm also needing to find ways to get him some more physical activity. We haven't been to Gym since the summer. He stopped liking it and it just became not worth it anymore. So, since it's also quite cold lately, there will be no playing outside. AJ suggested the mall. It's not terribly close and it's always crowded and I always end up spending money on something which is all probably why we don't go too often. Also, it's hard to squeeze in between Dalton's naps. But, with some advance planning it was not too bad. We got to the mall, had some lunch, browsed a store or two, hit the potties and then spent a good 45 minutes being rambunctious in their play area. Even Dalton got down to crawl around. He befriended a little 15month old girl who was still crawling--pretty cute.

I could already sense an improvement on our ride home. Easton wasn't whining, or bothering Dalton. Nice. Thanks for the idea, AJ! Or the reminder, anyway!

It'll be nice to get to spend some more quality time with each kid and as a family while J is off.

Is it 5:00 yet?

Breakfast with Thomas

Not much going on today...

Easton and Jason set up his Thomas train track in his room last night (read: away from Dalton). So Easton was up as for the day as soon as he's allowed (7:00) and was ready to play Thomas. I talked him into waiting just a little bit. He was being a dream this morning. It was lovely.

Breakfast time rolled around and Easton didn't want to leave his precious Thomas so I brought breakfast upstairs to the little table in his room. We've never done that before. It went over well.


Keeping an eye on things...




Of course Dalton came too, as long as he's confined somehow he's allowed to be by Thomas:


Even Blitz joined us for some water (Thomas shoots out real steam so there's sometimes extra water):


And Easton had to tend to train business from time to time:


He was so agreeable this morning it was great. We left Thomas for a little bit and went out to get some gifts for the birthday parties of 3 kids we're going to this weekend! (2 parties, but 3 kids). Came back and Easton did some more Thomasing as part of his quiet time. Dalton's napping and I'm actually hoping Easton will fall asleep too now. He's getting a bit whiney for my taste...I know I'll regret it at bedtime tonight but at that point I'll have backup. Right now it's just me and I can hope for the napping to save my sanity. Quiet time is supposed to be a break for all of us, but if he's up there whining about everything and calling for me every 2 minutes then it's neither quiet nor a break from each other. And I worry he'll wake Dalton sleeping next door. Okay, he's being quiet again. Fingers crossed.

Oh hey, while I'm at it, here's some pics from the other day...while I was cleaning up the kitchen the other morning the boys were playing and I came back to find Dalton wearing his jammies toga-style:

I think a certain big brother may have had something to do with that one.

And in their "rocket":


Easton likes to take this rocket to go get doughnuts or pizza or other imaginary outings. He's pretty cute, even if he is a bit of a stinker lately:


They like hiding in the rocket too:


So there are still plenty of bright spots in my days with Easton, he's still fun and a good big brother. He's just a little more challenging for the time being. I'm certain it's just a phase. Let's just hope it's a very short one.

Ummmm, does anyone watch SVU?

What's with all the Sesame Street characters guesting on Law & Order: SVU? Gordon was on at the beginning of last week's as a trash guy. And this week Luis was playing a cleaning guy.

They're not big roles or big guest spots.

Is Sesame Street cutting back their hours? Is it payback for agreeing to Sesame Street's spoof: Law & Order: Special Letters Unit--which is totally hilarous, by the way. Is this their way of getting viewers from other generations, because I'm pretty sure the commercials during Sesame Street are still for McDonald's and Beaches resorts. I could be wrong. TiVo has us avoiding most commercials.

Seriously, I think Bob or Maria may have a small part on the next episode.

In One Month from Today...

...my sweet Diddlebug will turn 1. One whole year!!!

Not even a year ago he was this:




We didn't even know him a year ago! I don't really remember what life was like without him.

Whoa.

It's going even faster this time around...yet Dalton has felt like he's a "baby" longer than Easton was.

Hmmmm.

Mother's Helper

Auntie Lauren had the day off from school today (it was make-up day for finals) so she drove her little self up here (for the first time!) and gave me a hand with the boys today.

Easton was so excited that Lauren was coming. Last night at bedtime he asked for both his story and song to be about Lauren. And he kept talking about the games they would play when she got here. Here he was just waiting for her to finish her breakfast:


Dalton was asleep so I left Easton and Lauren to play and headed out on some solo errands. It was nice, I can get a lot more done when it's just me. And go to stores I usually don't think about going--the bead store--with the two little dudes underfoot.

Lauren simply gave me a ring when Dalton woke up and I headed home while she wrangled both boys:




We all went out to lunch at that point--well, after I was done messing around on the computer while she played with my kids.

Once we came back home I asked Lauren to give me a hand with a photo shoot and my boys, but it didn't go too great. Mostly the camera wasn't cooperating, that thing has been driving me soooooo crazy lately. Then, the boys weren't too keen for posing either. Lauren was like, "Is this how you always do it? You bribe them?" as I was offering Easton chocolate in return for some cooperation. Um, guilty! For the rare posed photo sessions I have been known to promise rewards.So sue me.

Dalton took another nap, and E and Lauren hung out a little bit more:


She headed home not too long after that. I offered her some cash but she said no. I said that was fine but that we want to start paying her to babysit in the future. We're hopeful.

After she left I heard about Heath Ledger. :( He was one of my personal faves. I think I might have to watch "A Knight's Tale" tonight. That was when he got put on my "The List".

SpiderMan, SpiderMan, Does Whatever a Spider Can...

Spidey and his trusty side-kick rescue Daddy from a web:


Climbing Mommy to rescue something else? He's always climbing us. The kid is climbing all the friggin' time.

All Hits...No Misses

Easton has really been enjoying his birthday loot. We got out almost everything as soon as we got home from Chuck E. Cheese. Plus the other stuff he had from his actual birthday.

Diego Walkie Talkies. Won't it be cute when both boys can play walkie talkies together?


He loves the Toy Story figures we put on top of his cake:


He got a big Toy Story figure too...a Zurg:


His remote control car has been fun too:




More Diego stuff!


Dalton LOVES Easton's new computer.

Don't worry, Maws...Easton loves it too!


In that above picture, look what I accidentally caught. Eew!


Totally enjoying a monkey segment on the DVDs from Grammy:

We always say Easton's a monkey. In fact, sometimes he tells strangers he's a monkey and then makes monkey sounds at them.

Trying to catch butterflies from Elefun:


And you want to hear something funny? Auntie Jessica's Christmas present and birthday present arrived at the same time: Moonsand!

Oh how I laughed about that "What the heck is the point?" post I recently did. Oops. But, you guys said the molds were fun. And that's what he got. The ice cream one:


And the castle one:




He likes putting his "Toy Story people" into the "castle Moonsand" too:


He told me, "I'm making a castle for the marmosets". What? The things my Diego watcher comes up with...

The best part about the castle Moonsand is the "sand box" it comes with. We're loving Moonsand a lot more now. :)

And having fun giving the Toy Story people a bath afterwards to wash off the sand.


All this stuff keeps Easton playing independently for quite some time now. That was something we were looking for him to do more of.

But we still like to play with him too. It's fun to have some new stuff!

The only "miss" I can come up with is when the boys were playing by themselves (but separately) when I was doing dishes. Dalton cried suddenly and I had to wash gunky dish germs from my hands before going to him. By the time I washed up he stopped crying so I left him alone. Till I finally joined up with him and then discovered he was bleeding from the mouth. Ack!


I think he was fine though...so I don't know which toy was the cause. Technically not a "miss" because they're not for D anyway.