5/8 - The zoo

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.

5/5 - B/W pics, pool, & cookies

I had to play around with some more black and white pictures. This first picture cracks me up because of Aiden's hand on his face while reading a book.

I found a monster truck/garbage truck and trains. Aiden has not seen it in a long time and was begging for it. I put it in so I could grade some papers. The boys were mesmerized. I was a little surprised Eli watched it for as long as he did. Aiden has been wearing dog tags lately for daddy.

I've been encouraging Aiden to sit on the potty more and when he got off the other day, Eli wanted on. It was almost his bath time so that is why he is naked. It's kinda cute though. He has been stacking blocks in the past week and is pretty good at it.

He pulled out the little potty and got on it. He got his foot stuck in it at first.

Eli hasn't gone potty yet but I think it's pretty cool he wants to sit on it; even if it's just to be like big brother. Little Eli is such a happy a lot of the time. I love this close-up picture of him.

On Tuesday, Aiden went to the ENT for a follow-up from his surgery. He had a tube blocked on the left with blood. This wasn't really a surprise. The doctor put lidocaine in his ear to numb it so he could get it out. The doctor showed me the clot and then saw a lot of mucous in his ear and sucked that out too. Needless to say, Aiden was crying by then and just wanted to leave. We came home to get some lunch. When we got out of the van, Aiden could not stand up. I took him inside and sat him down. He said the "house is so dizzy" and fell over. I got really nervous really fast and put Aiden back in the van and started off to urgent care. I called the ENT dr and no one could help me at the moment. I went in to urgent care and was filling out paperwork. Poor Aiden was too dizzy and didn't have enough muscle control to sit in the chair. While I was finishing filling out my paperwork, the nurse calls me back and lets me know his reaction is normal. The lidocaine apparently goes into the tube and into his body. We hadn't even gotten into the van and Aiden was vomiting everywhere. I finally got him undressed and he layed on the floor of the van in the back to get home (it's just a few miles) since he threw up all over his car seat and could not sit. We made it home and I promptly put him in bed on a towel in case he got sick again. He slept for about 20-30 min and then woke up coughing and vomiting again.

He eventually wanted to come out and sit on the couch which wasn't about to happen. Since he still couldn't sit up and his bed was full of vomit, I carried him out by the couches and propped him up while I made him a space in the living room. He couldn't even move his head so I had to prop it up too.

He just layed there and watched tv for a bit while I did some work. I did lots of yucky laundry too. Every half hour or so I would try and sit him up to see if he could do it yet. Most of time, he would start seriously shaking when I tried to sit him up. Around 3:45/4:00 he could finally sit up again. That was much longer than the 1-2 hrs the nurse and dr told me it would take to clear his system.

On Wednesday, Aiden was feeling great again. In the afternoon, Crystal came over to help me take the boys to the pool for the first time this season. Eli was looking so cute and I promised my mom to take a picture of him with his crocs and new yellow sunglasses he got for Easter. Sorry mom, I'll try again.

The water was colder than expected. Aiden wasn't really sure about getting in or too wet.

Eli on the otherhand, wanted to go right on it. He loved playing with the shovel in the water and trying to drink it. He didn't want to swim around with Crystal or I but he was fine just playing on the side or on the steps. Aiden actually wanted to go out in the water swimming with one of us. He was kicking his legs and even told Crystal he wanted to go under the water.

We barely got we before it was adult swim which means snack time for the boys.

 After about an hour of swimming, Aiden was shaking he was so cold. He wanted out and then Eli was soon to follow.

Today, I booked my trip to Greece to go see Bradley. I am so so so so so so so so excited! My parents are gonna watch the boys and I get to go see my sweetie. It's going to be amazing. Tonight, Stephanie and her kids came over. We had some dinner and then the kids made cookies. I bought this cookie mix 1-2 weeks ago and have been wanting to us it. The kids had fun.

Aiden was on great behavior for Stephanie and ate a half of PB&J sandwich (he normally won't eat more than 1/4 and that's if I'm luck and force it). Also, he made cookies. The dough was similar to play doh which he doesn't always like to do.

Eli didn't participate in the cookie making but I'm sure he'll help out tasting tomorrow. He went to bed because he was kinda grumpy and didn't get a good nap at daycare.

My main focus right now is finding a new daycare for Eli. It's such a huge decision. I have an interview tomorrow at 8:30am but the woman sounds like of old and mean. We'll see. Please pray for us. We love Ms. Lydia (Eli's current provider) but she is military and they are moving so next week is her last week. Grades are due soon so I'm also finishing those up. We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Tomorrow is Military Spouse Appreciation Day and Sunday is Mother's Day!

5/1 - Around the house

It's been nice to be home for the past few days. The boys have enjoyed just playing around the house and they both currently have big boxes they can play in. Look at little Eli giving me a devilish little grin. I just want to squeeze those little dimple cheeks.

Eli was trying to use my keys to open the bedroom doors so I finally decided I would show the boys how the locks work. You just put a coin in and twist. I would have shown them this months ago if I would have realized they would play with locks for the next hour. It was awesome. Eli needed help some but that didn't keep him from trying.

Aiden could reach it and do it with no problem. I had taped the back of his door knob before because he has locked himself in there on accident before so I keep his taped and a coin taped to the wall in case it happens again.

On Friday night, I gave the boys corn dogs for dinner. Eli hasn't had a full-size one before. I had to cut a little bit of the end off of it so show Eli what was in there. He took a tiny bite and then proceeded to just dip it into the mustard and ketchup and lick it off, not eating any more of the corn dog. 

Aiden did a pretty good job but after I took this picture, he stopped eating the hot dog part and just ate the bread.  

Saturday was Gymboree day. The boys had fun as usual. Aiden got to wear some new (stuff I bought at a consignment sale) clothes and picked out his shirt and "Ms. Stephanie will like my new shirt." It was too funny. Ms. Stephanie is our friend and she also teaches at Gymboree. I let Aiden pick out his own clothes that day. The theme for the last 2 weeks has been firemen stuff. Here they are pretending to climb up a latter. Aiden does it great and Eli usually puts is hands on the ladder part and steps in between the bars. 

After Eli took a nap, we got up and went to the big library. Aiden loves it here. I forgot that it's a great place to take them because I actually got to sit down and look at books while they played in the children's area. Aiden filled up a big box of books while Eli actually looked at some books on the table. Eli usually doesn't care at all about books.

The boys got a tootsie roll piggy bank for Easter and I shown have known to ask the eater bunny for two. I gave the tootsie roll one to Aiden and let Eli have the old, home-made one. I had no idea Eli would like it so much. The boys spent quite a bit of time filling their banks up with change. Aiden can get his out and do it again but Eli would bring his to me and say "apen." That is how he says open although it sounds more like apple than open. He played with that bank for about an hour. 

Today was a pretty good day. The boys were actually playing together on the train table with crying every 5 seconds or screaming. It was beautiful. I gave them lots and lots of praise over that. I had to post this picture of Eli because he's being such a ham for the camera.

This afternoon the boys were having some fun. I was testing out the black and white function on my camera. I like it. There's just something about the classic, simple black and white that I like.

The boys were wrestling today in the kitchen. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I don't want them to always be beating each other up but I want them to learn to play together so I watched and directed the play when it was appropriate. Usually whenever Eli touches Aiden, Aiden cries because he doesn't like to be wrestled with. However, sometimes Aiden starts it and he's a little mean about it and just pushes Eli and doesn't realize that's too much for Eli. Today, Aiden was initiating a take down (is that the right term Brad? :))

I got the entire sequence of the take down for Brad but will spare a few pictures for most of you and just narrate. I think Aiden was playing dirty because he was pulling Eli's shirt to move him. I told him not to pull on Eli's shirt so he listened to me and then started to pull on his pants! I learned I need to be very exact with what I say. Aiden eventually pulled Eli's pants off (that's gotta be cheating) but they were both laughing so I let it go.

The final outcome was pretty cute. I did delete the picture where is looked like Eli was gonna bite Aiden's ear off to give it a feel-good ending! :) These boys are FINALLY starting to play together and it makes my heart so happy!

Tonight Aiden wanted in Eli's crib. I put him in he started jumping like crazy. I put Eli in and they were both going crazy. It was too cute. For the past few nights Aiden has helped me put Eli to bed by giving him a very gentle hug and kiss. It's so precious to watch Aiden's gentleness with him at bedtime.

We are going to have a very busy 2 weeks. It's too busy for me because it doesn't leave anytime to see friends or have fun so it gets lonely and tiring but thankfully 2 weeks isn't that long. My mom pointed out to me that I haven't talked about Aiden's "why" stage. That is this child's favorite question. "Why?" He can ask it three or four times on the same subject. I don't want to be one of those mom's that answers "because" or "because I said so." He's very smart and very curious and he really does just want an answer and wants to understand. I'll start writing down some of the "why" conversations we have so I can include a few in the blog eventually. Good night for now.