Standing Already?

Here is Nick wearing an incredibly cute puppy hat that my Aunt Sue gave to him.

AJ likes this picture better because Nick looks so. . . well you know.

Nick was standing up by himself - sort of. His Daddy was providing a leg to prop up against and a hand to fall into should the need arise. Nick looked so proud of himself.



Here is Lucas running by me because he didn't want to be photographed. He is very camera shy lately.


Lucas likes to sit on AJ's back and stick his legs into AJ's shirt. But here he is avoiding the camera again, so I got a profile shot again. Little stinker.

Caterpillar Flowers

For those of you who don't know, I have a phobia of caterpillars. Today I got a nice flower arrangement from our realtor and it had these decorative flowers that resemble caterpillars. The delivery gal handed me the flowers and I rushed to set them down so that I didn't have to touch the fuzzy caterpillar-like things. As soon as AJ got home his first job was to take the arrangement next door to the neighbors we like.


Lucas wanted one of his bunnies to hold his stick for him so he very carefully placed the stick in the bunny's "hand" so that it wouldn't roll away.


Nikolai is a flirtin' with his Momma.



AJ got some nice gifts for his going away party. He received a bat pot which are hard to come by because the man who makes the pots doesn't make too many of them. He also got two stuffed animals for the kiddos, a cave diorama, a leatherman tool and a buzzard. The buzzard is made of metal and is pretty cool. AJ's boss had it made for AJ because they used to see turkey vultures every day as they rode into work together. It is a nice remembrance. He is going to post the buzzard at his desk.


My favorite little blondie.

Looters Thieves and Villians

We had a power outage the other night. It only lasted for about 1/2 an hour but my neighbors (the one with the underwear and cowboy boots) were all worked up over it. They were frantically calling the power company to report the outage - as if the power company didn't already know that 1/2 the town didn't have power. And the son, who as you remember works for the city as a community service officer and gets to take his "patrol vehicle" home with him, was out driving up and down the back alley in his cop-mobile looking for . . . . . looters? I don't know. But I do know that he needs more practice with his spotlight. I was out front talking to my other neighbors when all this was happening. When the power came back on the community service officer returned home from "work" because the danger had passed. DORK.

Lucas the Talker

Lucas has finally started to talk. It has been gradual but he is now trying to repeat what we say and trying to pronounce words. Yesterday he said SINK! I know - most kids his age are stringing together a sentence but we are still trying to get him to pronounce words so I am thrilled that he is now interested in trying. He is also starting to combine two words such as "Dada work" and "cold wa" (for cold water). And he is also pointing to objects in books and tying to say what they are which is HUGE. We have spent the last year and a half reading and pointing every single day and trying to get him to want to try to say things. It was so funny because he can't say "ball" or even "ba" but he can say the word "accept".

Story time before bed.

SOLD!

Whoooo Hoooooo! We sold the house today. Here are some pics of the kiddos.

Two Weeks

In two weeks from now I am going to be in Albuquerque - permanently. I think. We haven't received an offer on the house (I know it has only been two weeks - but still) and I am getting nervous. I am tempted to call off the movers and stay here until we get an offer. I guess it may be possible for AJ to telecommute until the house sells - assuming it sells in a reasonable amount of time. But I would hate for the movers to come and still have a month before the house sells. . . so I am just not sure what to do.

Any suggestions?

Other than that. . . I am still getting people coming through to see the house just about every other day. Which is great - except they always want to come at nap time which is difficult on me and the kids. But hey - I'll do whatever it takes. This one woman in BIG dark sunglasses came yesterday and opened every drawer (including my dresser!), turned off my preheating oven, opened my BBQ, looked in my washer and dryer and then pranced off with her realtor. Can you say B-I-T-C-H? Then the next group came a half an hour late while we were making dinner. You see I wasn't home at 5:00 when they were supposed to have come, so when I got home I assumed they had already been by to see the house so I preceded to go about my business of trashing the kitchen in my nightly ritual of making dinner. Well then the doorbell rang. CRAP.

And then today I ran into this gal I know at the playground. Do you ever get the feeling that everything you say, including the way you say it is being judged and looked down upon? That is how I felt. And so it made me nervous so I kept talking and getting more and more chatty which made me feel like she had more to judge so I got even WORSE. It was a horrible vicious cycle. I am sure she wasn't judging me at all and it is all in my psychotic stressed out little brain, but the fear is real . . . She was probably wondering what in the hell is wrong with me, which would explain the perplexed look on her face that I undoubtedly misinterpreted as judgment. God I am nuts. I need sleep.

Lucas didn't know what to do with other kids at the park. He is used to playing at the park by himself because usually we are alone, but today there were a bunch of kids his age there and he had no idea how to socialize. I realized as I watched him playing in the corner by himself, obviously uncomfortable with the social scene at the playground, that I really have to find a playgroup in Albuquerque for him. If not for me, then for him. On the up side though - he was by far the cutest kid at the park. And I am totally unbiased. Really. And his physical attractiveness is far more important than social skills or emotional health. (If you think I am serious - YOU NEED SLEEP.)

And one last thing, why can't I spell the word business correctly with out electronic assistance? I want to spell it buisness, but nooooooo that damned "i" has to be after the bus. It is confusing and I think it should be officially changed to buisness so that I can have an easier life.

Root-A-Toot-Toot

Someone could make big bucks off of a miracle gas solution for babies. I'm not talking placebo-like solutions of Mylecon, oh no, I'm talkin' real gas relievers. Something to make the gas come flying out of their little bottoms - thus rendering babies pain (and crying) free.

I would attempt to discover the miracle solution myself but I
a) don't have time
b) don't want to experiment on my children
c) am really not very creative

- so I will continue to hold, giggle, rock, bounce, swing, walk and sing to my little Nick for hours on end. And just when I think I may have him happy enough to lay down, his little face will scrunch up and distort with another wail. Then the legs stiffen, and kick and we start all over again. Poor dude.

It is a very beautiful day here with the high around 80. I have to bust my butt and go straighten up the living room before the house is shown at 3:30 and again at 5:00. One of the groups coming through is supposedly "desperate" which might be good news for me, I am starting to get a little worried about selling this place. Damned economy.

Wow, I am full of good news today.

Trip to Albuquerque

I don't have too many picture to post but I hope to take more tonight of our hotel and of the place where we'll go to dinner. Dinner is supposed to be at this kid-friendly restaurant, which is all new to us country folk - so we are excited!!!

Today was a very long day - over 6 hours in the car driving around looking at neighborhoods and areas outside of Alb. to live in. We also visited the Petroglyphs and met some of AJ's new co-workers and saw an old friend. The people there seem very nice and we are SO FREAKIN' EXCITED to move up here I can't even tell you. The kids did so well, I think in large part to us being super flexible and willing to stop for an hour or two to let them out of the car. We spent 1.5 hours in the parking lot of a casino where Lucas went rock hunting in a near-by wash. He found many rocks that he couldn't live without so we ended up using a snack box as a "special rock box" for all the treasures he couldn't leave behind.

I know this is sad but Lucas has never been in a swimming pool before so AJ took him to the hotel pool this afternoon while I stayed in the room and let Nick sleep. I guess Lucas had a blast. He was screaming and laughing and splashing and loved it when AJ threw him in the air and dipped him in the water. So now that we are going to be in the "big city" we are going to have to visit the community pool on a regular basis and also get him swim lessons. So much to do up here . . . my head is just spinning. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Nick needed to stretch out so we laid him in the back of the car. He was having such a good time and was so glad to get out of the car seat that he started flirting with me.

Kid Pictures

The boys being cute.

Lucas not wanting to be photographed

Finally, a photo where they are holding still. . .

And then we returned to chaos

Mommy and Nick - Mommy looking crazy, Nick looking indifferent

Lucas feeding his baby doll

Lucas reading to his baby doll - later at bedtime he insisted his baby have it's own pacifier too.

Phone Privileges

My toddler lost his phone privileges yesterday. I will often give him my cell phone (keys locked) while we are in the car to keep him occupied. Yesterday I needed my phone back so I could make a call. He refused to give me the phone!!! He instead said "NO!" and put the phone under his butt so that I couldn't get it. I had to pull the car over, get out, open his door and physically wrestle with him to get the phone. Little shit.

I placed a call to my Mom and at the end of the call she wanted to talk to Lucas. I told her no, he had lost his phone privileges for the remainder of the day and wasn't available to talk on the phone. I think she thought that was weird - and come to think of it - I think it is weird too. A two year old. . . loosing his phone privileges? What's next? Will I take his credit card from him next?

And another humorous story:

I bought Lucas a helium balloon at the dollar store the other day. I was sitting on the couch when the balloon went running by me . . . attached to the cat. It seems that little miss Haylee became tangled in the string and was trying to run away from this crazy balloon that was persistently following her. The kids got a huge kick out of this and both of them were laughing. I finally caught Haylee and untangled her. Poor baby was so distraught that the balloon wasn't leaving her alone.

Daddy Does Bedtime (sort of)

Well this evening I am suddenly not feeling well and am fairly incapacitated in bed. Don't ask why because you don't want to know the answer. Really. So AJ had to do dinner clean-up and bedtime for both kids alone.

Here is how the night went:

6:15 Dinner was done and I went to bed
6:20 Nick's crying and Lucas is refusing to eat dinner
6:30 Nick is still fussing and Lucas is running around the house yelling at the top of his lungs
6:32 I tell AJ to put Nick to sleep
6:37 Nick is asleep and laying on our bed in our room, Lucas is asking his dad to play blocks with him - AJ is laughing at the TV and sitting comfortably on the couch
6:42 I tell AJ that he may want to clean up the kitchen before all hell breaks loose. He gives me a put-upon look and gets off the couch
6:48 Nick wakes up screaming and kicking his legs (he had gas for those who don't know) . AJ is trying to keep Lucas occupied while doing dishes
6:51 AJ can't juggle both kids so I leave the bathroom (yes I was in the bathroom most of the evening) to help.
6:55 I'm back in the bathroom, AJ is dressing a still crying Nick for bed and Lucas has diarrhea in his diaper. Lucas runs to get his clean diaper and wipes so his Daddy can change his diaper.
6:57 Lucas is crying because Nick got diaper goop (Desitin) and he didn't. Nick is so tired, has gas and is still crying. AJ gets Lucas ready for a shower
7:00 I leave the bathroom again to tell AJ to put Nick in his "gas position"and walk him around (which I could not physically do at the time). I cancel the planned Lucas shower and instead I get Lucas dressed for bed
7:13 Nick is happily draped across AJ's forearm in his "gas position" while Lucas insists that I read him his bedtime books - I again leave the bathroom to read bedtime books
7:25 Lucas is in bed and Nick is asleep in AJ's arms, the kitchen is trashed. I am mercifully back in bed.

So much for being sick. How in the heck am I going to do this when AJ is traveling so much?

Helping Nick

I don't have anything exciting to report (as if anything I write about is exciting) so here are some kid pics.

Nick was crying in his crib, so Lucas decided to help him by turning on the mobile. I am going to have to keep the crib rail up in the future so that Lucas doesn't get in there and accidentally hurt Nick.

Lookin' Good

In the line at Wal-mart today I turned around to glance at the dude who decided to stand WAYYY too close to me so that I could cast one of my dangerous glares in his direction. Unfortunately he was turned in the other direction so I instead got a close look at his neck. Unfortunately. yeah. Because on his neck was an enormous zit. Well it was actually bigger than a zit. Some sort of big red pussy, ready-to-erupt-at-any-second type zit. I seriously felt threatened. Like I should duck or something.

I had to share.

Then on my way out of the store there was a guy with two young kids. The exciting part of this is that this guy has the single most obnoxious mullet known to mankind. He had to take time every morning to feather and style the top part. I remember feathering. TWENTY YEARS AGO!!! When I saw hm I literally gasped out loud. It was so long and horrible. . .

Right behind this time warp was a lady wearing wranglers and bright red cowboy boots with SPURS. Her butt wasn't dirty and her jeans were wayyyy too tight to ride comfortably in, so I am guessing this was some terrible fashion statement gone wrong.

Not like I am some fashionable trend setter. But I did get deodorant on today!

OH GOSH WE ARE MOVING!!!

It is starting to sink in that we are actually moving. And the loads and loads of tasks associated with that are looming. I just made appointments for the kids with a new pediatrician, and a reservation for a furnished apartment which we will need while we are house hunting. Last night I was awake at 2:30 thinking of all the kid things I have to set aside so the packers don't pack them. . . and then I am worried because I still haven't been able to schedule a date for the packers/movers. And what if we don't sell the house? I'm going nuts here. NUTS.

While I type this I have a gorgeous 3 month old (as of today!) smiling at me with these dark little eyes that seem wiser than they should be. I think he is an old soul - as my Mom would say. He is starting to get ready to roll over. He gets his hips and body rolled over onto his belly but that darned shoulder and arm get in the way of complete success. Bubba/Sumo is 16 pounds as of this morning at the doctors office. Lucas is 29 pounds. Oh and about Lucas's UTI, we are going to wait until we get to Alb. to do the sonogram. Because if they find an anatomical reason for his UTI then we will want to deal with it up there anyway, so it makes sense to do all the imaging and diagnostics up there too.

Alright my littlest man needs me - gotta run.

Tired

Why don't children care when you are dead on your feet? All I am asking for is 15 minutes. A quickie. Just enough time to close my eyes and have a quick dream about a vacation spot. Maybe a remote beach somewhere. Someplace where children are forbidden and all I hear is the sound of the scantily clad waiter opening my freezing cold beer and the faint sound of snoring coming from my dozing hubby in the lounge chair to my right. I would gently laugh at the thought of my sister, who would be babysitting for us, trying to keep one kid from waking up the other . . .then I'd take a healthy drink of my beer and return to my magazine.

I haven't had a "real" vacation in close to 3 years. Visiting family once a year doesn't count - at all. But doesn't a beach somewhere sound nice? With chairs tucked up under some shade trees and servers available to get you whatever you want. . .like a pedicure. And Cheetos.

Luke's Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Lucas's second birthday. He got an alligator cake that didn't look too much like an alligator. But it sure was yummy.

Poor guy isn't feeling too well, the doctor called today and told us that he has a staph infection of his bladder. How he got this. . . we have no idea but it is a worry. So we are going to get a sonogram of his abdomen soon, and are going to see a specialist to try to figure this out.

The boys sitting on the recliner together



The Alligator cake that turned out looking like a lizard that lost its tail.



Getting ready to eat our cake.

Mom's Favorite

A friend sent this to me.

HOW TO TELL IF YOU ARE MOM'S FAVORITE

Crazy Neighbors

You wanna hear more about my neighbors don't you? I can tell. Alright . . . here goes.

The ones that were screaming in the driveway, they have a 20ish son. He works for the city and drives a city car (a P.O.S.) with a light bar on top - orange and blue. Every single day he drives home for lunch and gets out of the car - very impressed with himself- strutting into the house to eat the food his Mommy makes for him. But before he gets out of the car he "tests" his horns, sirens and loudspeaker. This lunchtime episode occurs at the same time I am trying desperately to get my kids to take naps. So as you can imagine I get PISSSSSED OFFFFFFFF every time he pulls this crap. Am I supposed to be super impressed that he is a community service officer? I really don't think so.

So today I marched outside after he let loose with the testosterone filled noise and informed him that I was trying to get the kids to sleep. He apologized, but not before he adjusted his ill-fitting, cheap duty belt. Good Lord!! Give me a break buddy.

This is the same guy who told me that if he finds someone in his backyard at night he is gonna shoot them, no questions asked. If my kids end up with attitudes and egos like his I'm going to personally bring them back to earth - the hard way. This guy could use a dose of reality - like say oh, I don't know PAYING RENT. That would be a good start. Maybe even having to move out of his Mommy's pad.

My neighbors on the other side of me make fun of this guy in the evenings when they sit out on their front porch with friends drinking beer and pushing the buttons for their car alarms- making them chirp. It is really funny. They are my kind of people.

Also . . . .

Here is a funny article on the olympic medal count:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/The-REAL-Olympic-medal-count?urn=oly,101537

Yummy Jam

Finally, I got the jam made. Apricot pineapple jam - mmmmmm. My mom really did most of the work. It is funny because we both have very different styles of jam making and they don't blend well together. I like to do things exactly as the instructions indicate and my Mom does not. But it worked out because I learned a thing or two and she . . . well she just tolerated me. I am so anal sometimes.

Jam in the pot

Finished product. Mmmmmm.

Diaper Duty

Me to Nick: Ok stinky butt let's change your diaper. . . . Eeeeewwwww. Oh my goodness!! Holy Cow . . . but you're so little?

Mom to me as she walks from the kitchen towards me: Oh stop being so dramatic, it can't be that baa. . . . . . Oh my GOD! (backing out of the room)

Yes this really happened.

Here is Nick after the diaper change, looking very satisfied.

Shots

Nick got his 2 month shots the other day and it was such an ordeal . . . whew. The nurse didn't call us in until we had been waiting for an hour. An hour is a really super long time to wait with an infant and toddler in a waiting room. When she got us into a room she commented on how cute Nick was and said that she HATED giving little ones shots. She went on to say that she nearly has a panic attack everytime she has to give babies shots because she hates making them cry. Great.

So I offered to give the shot and she could hold him. She said that she had to be the one to give it, which didn't surprise me. But I was very concerned about her technique if her only goal was to "get it over with".

Sure enough, she stabbed him with the needle in the most painful way possible. She had three shots to give and it was terrible. I really could have done a better job. As someone who has given plenty of IM shots before, I can confidently say that she sucked. So poor Nick, my "Mr. Mellow", was hysterical for about 15 minutes and despite all my attempts to calm him he just couldn't be calmed. *Sigh*.

Thankfully he has recovered and seems to be his mellow self again but I am more than a little pissed that they would have a woman giving shots to babies who has major anxiety over it.

On a positive note, tomorrow is the garage sale! So I've gotta get moving on it. We had a woman stop by the house this morning thinking it was today. Those people are voracious. She was so intense. I've never encountered hard-core garage salers before. Yeah I know Salers isn't a word but you know what I mean.

WHOO HOOO!!

It looks like we are going to move to Albuquerque! I am so excited. It was my first choice out of the 4 places AJ applied for. I guess the person who interviewed AJ called his boss and arranged for a EOD of September 28!!

Now I am in a bit of a panic about everything we have to do to the house before we sell it. I am sure it will work out. Right? These things work out. But seriously, how do you sell a 928 square foot house that is jam packed full of furniture and kid/baby toys? It is so cluttered that no one will want to buy it this way. I am going to have to do some major de-cluttering ASAP. So what does that mean?

GARAGE SALE BABY!!

This weekend. It all goes. Baby clothes, strollers, furniture - you name it - I got it and it has to go. I'm not moving a bunch of crap that I don't use.

WHOO HOO. So excited.

Rough Night

Picking up Ice

Lucas has started calling my Mom "Ice" because she always has ice tea that she shares with him. We went to El Paso yesterday to get "Ice" at the airport and it was a pretty cool day. We went up the tramway at the Franklin Mtns State Park (Yes I must abbreviate because I am lazy) http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/wyler_aerial_tram/ and it was a great view from the top. We saw all of El Paso, Juarez and . . . ok. Now I am just trying to put a good spin on this. You want the truth? It was kind of sad up there. All you could see - for as far as the eye could see was smog, factory stacks, development gone mad and yes, more smog. I would include pictures but I forgot the camera and honestly it wasn't pretty at all. At this point I am tempted to launch into a rant about big business, environmental laws and politics . . . but I am tired and will breeze past these topics. On the good side though the people running the tram were incredibly nice and it was interesting to see the area from that high up.

Here is Lucas after his first push pop. I figure this is better than pictures of the ASARCO (copper smelter) smoke stacks.

Things I Forgot

Since I have had Nick I realized that I had already forgotten so many things about babies. Here are some of the things I had forgotten.

• Babies pant. They breathe fast and shallow, and it is so cute.


• They kick their legs when they have gas.


• They hit themselves in the face. (I don't know how I forgot something this funny.)


• Body functions are incredibly loud.


• I forgot how fascinated with faces they are.


• That a toothless grin will snap you out of the worst mood in a second.


• Their ear canals are tiny. It is a wonder they can hear.


• When they sleep on their side they sometimes stick their chest out and their butt out and throw their head back. Lucas did this and I thought it was so cool. Now Nick is doing it and I can't believe I had forgotten about it. They only do it the first few months, and then it is gone.

• Milk breath. Not the nasty, spit-up kind but the sweet kind.


• I forgot that babies don't love their Mom or Dad first. They love the boob first. I mean they really LOVE THE BOOB. It is truly their very first love. Later on they love Mom, Dad and the boob at once.

I wanted to write (type) it all out so that I wouldn't forget again. I am going to miss all this. But at the same time I am going to really love sleeping through the night again.

Dinner and a Grunt

The guy AJ had over to dinner from work was nice. Thankfully he has a 2.5 year old and was very understanding when Lucas started grunting and turning red at the dinner table. Yeah. We all knew what was going on there. . . . awkward. But my Lasagna turned out well and so did the bread and veggies. Lucas decided he didn't want to swallow his carrots so he spit them out into his napkin and handed them to me. But he wasn't standing on his chair and screaming like some kids do. He did very well for someone his age. He sat and ate and didn't spill his water and was a good little guy.

sleep

Can't

get

the

little

one

to

stay

asleep

without

being

held.

Very

frustrated.

Day in the Car

We decided to run to the mountains today. It is so hot here that we wanted to go to cowboy day in the hills. It was so pretty there but the cowboy day was a big disappointment. There weren't many people or things to do, so we loaded the kids back into the car and came back to the heat. But it was still nice to get away if only for 6 hours. And I got to see some real trees, which was so refreshing.

We discovered that when one child wanted to nap the other wanted to scream. What a pain. It was so much easier when we only had one kid because when he wanted to get out of the car you would just stop. But with two kids (one needing a nap and one needing out of the car) we were pulling our hair out. We definitely won't be taking any road trips any time soon.

So I have some pictures of the blissful moment when they both slept together! WHOO HOO.

Here is a water bottle that has an abnormally high amount of particulate matter. We call this type of bottle the TODDLER BOTTLE. Adults are advised to avoid this type of bottle at all costs. Also be advised that unattended bottles may mysteriously acquire this particulate matter if left within a toddlers' reach.

Bubba

Hello,

Just wanted to stick some more pictures on here. The kids are getting so big so fast. We are affectionately referring to Nick as Bubba because he is so "hefty".

Here's Luke trying to get his pants off

Sidewalk chalk is super fun.The Hippie Dippy Dump truck. Lucas and AJ are so proud of themselves.

Cookies that AJ made. They are pumpkin cookies that are fluffy like marshmallows. Yummy.

Bubba and his Dada.