Eli is starting to do a little more than just mimic Aiden. He's starting to parallel play with Aiden which is really cute. Ms. Sue gave the boys this ambulance a while ago and I just got it out of the garage for them lately. Aiden had the Hess truck and Eli had the ambulance and they were going all around the kitchen and hallway.
Aiden was also pretty excited to eat one of the cookies he made the other day. He ate his fish cookie and thought it was delicious.
I've been meaning to take my camera with me when I drop Eli off. I've had it a few times when I've picked him up but he usually looks kinda gross from a dirty top or crazy because his top and bottom don't match because he has on some type of emergency clothes. This is Ms. Lydia, Eli's awesome daycare provider. This is her last week. We are very sad. I am in the process of finding a new daycare provider now. I interviewed one on Friday and one on Saturday. The one on Saturday was great but she doesn't have any openings at the moment but will likely have one in the next few weeks. She did give me the name and number of two other people in the area so I'll call them tomorrow.
The boys have been running me into the ground lately. On Friday night, they completely wore me out. On Saturday morning, we went to Gymboree and they were not on their best behavior there either. I definitely would have gone crazy with them at home all day so Crystal came over and we went to the zoo after Eli took his nap.
Eli has only been to the zoo one other time. If I can, I usually leave him at daycare. This trip reminded me why I do this!! Aiden is very content in the stroller normally but Eli wants to walk everywhere. That would be fine if he didn't insist on carrying his sippy cup and then putting in random places as we walk and then we would have to go back and find it.
Aiden had an agenda. He wanted to see the elephants and then the giraffes. He is very task oriented and it's kinda of funny to watch. He didn't really want to see any of the animals on the way to elephants even though we had to pass them. Once we saw the elephants, he wanted to go to the giraffes but not waste anytime in between.
Crystal offered to let Aiden feed the giraffes but he didn't want anything to do with that.
We saw this fake alligator out of the ground. Aiden was less than amused by it and was slightly scared of it. I think he was having an off-day. He fell asleep in the van on the way to the zoo since he wouldn't take a nap. He was sleepy and just a little distant.
Eli thought the gator was quite fun. We stopped to get a family photo but Aiden wasn't really excited I made him come closer to the gator.
This picture of Aiden and Eli cracks me up. Look at Eli's face. He looks like he is about to get strangled by Aiden. Aiden is getting really good about giving Aiden hugs but he does so a little too tightly for a little too long. He means well though.
Aiden really wanted to go to the playground but I wanted to see if Eli had any interest in the petting zoo first. Eli loved it. He was petting and brushing the little goats.
Aiden was quite bored with the whole experience and didn't want to pet or brush the animals. He was being so good just walking around by the door openings. He just wanted to go to the playground.
We got done in the petting zoo area and then went to the playground part. They had fun climbing everywhere. There is this cool treehouse thing that I love. I was surprised Eli was not more scared to climb it because it's kind of scary.
Aiden would only come across the net on the back of Crystal. He got in the treehouse and the boys got in a fight over who was sitting in what little chair. They were both crying but I was determined to get a family picture in the treehouse. Here's my family treehouse picture; both boys are crying. Haha. This is just typical for the past 1.5 days with them.
We got them out so they would hopefully calm down. Aiden actually walked over part of it by himself which was good.
Our zoo trip quickly came to an end with Eli throwing himself on the ground at Crystal's feet. He didn't want to be in the stroller but didn't want to walk where we were walking. He was being absolutely crazy. I carried him screaming to the van. Aiden wanted to stop for a picture on the way out.
Crystal stayed with me through getting dinner ready for them and baths which was great. She could tell the evening could be very bad if the kids proceeded to behave like they did at the zoo.
So Eli has turned in to a biter suddenly. He better get out this habit soon. He only does it while wrestling though.
At the end of church today, a woman who works there cam up and gave me these two sets of flowers and a bag and card taped on the outside of the bag with "MOMMY" written on it. My heart just melted. I was just telling my friend Stephanie today that I'm not normally a holiday person who needs things. Mother's day isn't even a big deal for me ... usually. I feel like I'm not being the mom my boys deserve because I've been getting really short with them and mad at them more lately. I think I'm just ready for Brad to come home and my fuse is getting really short. I've just been feeling like these sweet little boys deserve a better mommy at the moment. It melted my heart to get these flowers and chocolate covered strawberries. I asked the woman who they were from and she said she couldn't tell me. I wanted to find out just to show or tell that person how much I appreciated this wonderful gift. I'm thinking it was my husband based on something he wrote me in an e-mail earlier today. I don't know how he got something delivered to the church and "mommy" was written on the card, not Amy. Either way, it made my day. I'm not normally a flower person but ... these made my day.
This afternoon we went over to a Sue's relatives house. It was fun. The boys all played and Aiden had a blast playing with all these micromaching/matchbox cars playsets. Sue's three boys and Eli were all in the pool and Aiden was doing just fine playing with the toys. After they had some dinner, Aiden finally decided to come in the pool a little bit. We came home and I changed the boys and put them tonight. They were wrestling around the house for a bit and were pretty wild. Here is Aiden throwing himself off the couch.
Eli saw Aiden crawl up on the back of the couch so he tried it tonight too. Aiden has yet to fall off but I bet Eli will definitely make that fall. We'll see how long it takes.
The boys are in daycare for the next couple days while I get some work done. Brad's parents come to visit on Thursday evening so we are excited for that. Aiden had a very leaky, oozing ear this morning so I'll be calling the ear doctor tomorrow. He's been on antibiotic ear drops since Tuesday (when they cleared his clot in his tube) so I'm not sure what is going on.
Amy, I know exactly how you feel about not being the best mommy you can be. Daniel was deployed for a year when E and N were 3, and boy was my patience shot. I felt like I started each day short tempered and grumpy. Just know that you ARE doing a great job and anyone can see how much you love those boys :) It is unbelievably hard to be the one in charge day after day with little to no breaks. Not to mention all the ordeals you've endured over the last few months. You are amazing in my eyes!!! Aiden and Eli are blessed to have a mom like you!! Happy Mother's Day :D
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