Busy....

I have a lot of things I'd love to blog about, but very little time these days! This week we have contractors coming tomorrow through Friday. We're getting granite countertops tomorrow (yay!), and we have painters coming Thursday and Friday to get our master bathroom ready for us to paint. We finally got all the wallpaper off, so I can't wait for them to sand and put texture on it so we can get it painted! I love doing house projects.....the only problem is that I very rarely have time to work on any of the things I'd love to do. That's just one of those things that my current stage of life does not allow!

Anyway, it's been busy the past couple of nights, emptying out cabinets for tomorrow and trying to finish getting wallpaper off. Hopefully soon I will be able to write about some other things that have been going on. Wish me luck tomorrow.....I'm not sure how I'm going to find things to occupy the boys while the countertop guys are here (I'm sure it'll be hard to get Grant more than five feet away from them....anything involving tools and fixing things is right up his alley!).

Little daddy

Grant loves being a big boy, and he constantly copies things that Dean and I say and do (and even mannerisms.....it's so funny what he thinks is "cool" because he sees us do it). The other day he told Dean that he wanted to wear the Baby Bjorn, so Dean helped him put it on (carrying his lamb inside). He was so proud of himself!

Patting the lamb.....just like how I'll pat on Drew while he's in the Bjorn:

PS. Please bear with me as I'm trying to figure out a new look for our blog....it might change a little bit over the next few days.....but then again, it might not! I guess it depends on how much free time I have!

Random beach trip

Last Wednesday, after spending the morning at VBS, the boys took marathon naps in the afternoon. They both woke up around 4:30pm, so I knew they wouldn't be going to bed early that night. So we thought it would be a good night to do something fun....and we decided to drive to Galveston. It's only about 30 miles from our house, so we should go more.....I say that every year, but it just takes a lot of preparation to go to the beach with kids!

Anyway, we got down there around 6:45pm, and it was wonderful! We didn't have to lather on the sunscreen or worry about getting too hot. Grant played in the water (we forgot his swimsuit but he was wary of going in too deep anyway), and Drew got super dirty playing in the sand for a few mintues. Then Grant discovered shells.....he thought they were pretty neat and enjoyed collecting a handful of them.

Here's Drew being silly in the car......
When we first arrived.....

Drew was intrigued by the sand and water......
Sandy little chubby foot!
Searching for shells.....

I think they must be bringing in new sand to replenish the beach after Ike.....there were mounds of sand like this all the way down the beach. Grant had fun jumping off of it (jumping off high places is one of his favorite things right now).
Sleepy Drew.......
And being at the beach at sunset is just so peaceful......I think I especially enjoyed it just because my life is so crazy right now. I didn't want to leave! In this stage of life, where I just feel exhausted at the end of every day, I've been finding comfort in some very basic things. I thought I was going to heaven last week at Kroger when Starbucks was giving out free samples of white mocha. It was a rare occasion when I didn't have either child with me.....so I just stood there while I drank it. I don't think anything has ever tasted so good to me.....I would love to have a morning when I could just go to Starbucks by myself and read a magazine while I drink a white mocha! Of course I realize that before I know it, the boys will be grown and I'll have all the free time in the world.....and I'll wish they were young again!

Funnies

Grant's been saying a lot of funny things lately. One of the (few!) charming things about having a 2.5 year old is waiting for the random comments that come out of his mouth! A few things:

- About a week ago when I was in Grant's room at bedtime, I asked if he wanted to say a good-night prayer. We don't normally do this but I want to start making it a regular part of bedtime. So I prayed, then I asked Grant a couple of basic questions about God (how in the world do you talk to a 2-year-old about God?!). I asked him where God lives and he said, "God lives......God lives.....[thinking].....God lives.......Home Depot!"

- The next night, I was telling Grant at bedtime that we were going to the pool the next day. I asked if he knew who was coming to see us (my parents were coming but he didn't know yet). He thought for a second, then said, "Jesus!" Then he started singing Jesus Loves Me. He loves that song so I guess he has Jesus on his mind a lot!

- Today he was helping me make chocolate chip bread. He doesn't usually lick the batter when I offer it to him, but today he stuck his finger in and took a bite. He said, "oooh, that's yummy!" And then a second later, "delicious!"

- Yesterday he handed me a camcorder tape, and (getting it confused with a battery), said, "we need to charge it." When I said, "oh yeah, that's right," he said, "I'm SO smart, Mommy."


Speaking of chocolate chip bread......I was making it today because my good friend Kristen (The Supan Clan) came by with her mom and her precious baby girl Cassidy. It was so much fun seeing them....they were on their way to Galveston for the night. The live clear across Houston, so I had never even met Cassidy (and Kristen had never met Drew). I wish we lived closer! Will post some pictures soon.....

Nine months!

Drew is nine months old today! He has gotten really chatty and playful lately; it's obvious that he knows what's going on and he wants to be a part of things (like eating, playtime, etc.). Some things about Drew at nine months:

- He is starting to act a little upset if he's holding something and you take it away from him....but most of the time he just goes about his merry way and finds something else to play with.

- The past few days he has been standing on his own for 3-5 seconds at a time!

- His top two front teeth are just starting to poke through (teeth #3 and 4).

- He thinks it's so fun to be chased. I'll say, "I'm gonna get you," and he starts crawling quickly in the opposite direction! And if Grant starts coming down the hall in his tricycle, he laughs and laughs as he crawls away from him.

- He is a ravenous eater! He can eat two cereal bars or two waffles in one sitting, on top of cheerios or other finger foods I give him. In the past couple of weeks, it's been hard to spoon-feed him at all....he only seems to want finger foods. Tonight I could only give him a few bites of his cereal before he started pushing it away. I guess that's good, except for a couple of things: 1) Since he only has two teeth, it's hard thinking of a lot of things that he can eat (and that don't require cooking, because that's the last thing I have time to do right now!)..... and 2) things that he can eat (like cereal bars, bread, waffles) end up all over the place! I've just ordered a splat mat for our kitchen floor, because right now our floor gets so messy every time he sits in that chair!

- Today he and Grant had a couple of true wrestling matches. Drew loves instigating these.....he'll crawl over to Grant and pull at his pacifier or mess with his hair, and Grant then lays on top of him and rolls around with him! I really have to be careful, though, because Grant doesn't know how to be anything but rough.

- I think he might be learning how to wave "bye bye." The past few days, when I'll grab his hand to wave to somebody, many times he'll pick up his hand afterwards and slap it around a little bit. He doesn't do this every time, though.....so I'm not sure!

We have his 9 month checkup tomorrow so we'll see how he does!

First pool trip of the summer

My parents came down early this week to spend some time with us. On Tuesday morning, we went to our neighborhood pool for the first time this summer. It was Drew's first pool trip, although he was so tired and drowsy that I'm not even sure he noticed! His expression never changed as I took him into the water, or for most of the time we were there. He finally gave up and fell asleep in my arms when we were about to leave.

Grant had so much fun....he's still wary of jumping in the water (thankfully), and he quickly grew tired of being carried around in the big pool, but he loved playing in the kiddie pool. Our neighbor Brynna came with us....Grant loves playing with her, and he had a great time. He especially liked watching her jump off the diving board!

I had been nervous about going to the pool by myself with the boys, but as long as Grant stays in the kiddie pool, I guess I could handle it! Hopefully I'll make it back there with them at least once per week or so......

Drew did really well with Grandma! Aside from me and Dean, she's the only person he feels reasonably comfortable with!
We tried taking a picture of Grandma, Grandpa and the boys. It was impossible! Every time Grant looked at the camera, Drew would look away (and vice versa). It was quite funny!

Grant and Brynna:

Whew.....

It has been a long, hard week. I volunteered to work at VBS for our old church.....I figured it would give us something to do this week, to break up the monotony of the summer. What was I thinking??! I only committed to Monday, Weds and Friday, and I don't know how I would've survived all five days. I worked in the infants' room with Drew, and Grant was right across the hall (which was a problem at the beginning of every day and a sometimes when he'd randomly see me, but for the most part he did really well). We had six babies in our room each day, and it felt endlessly chaotic. At the end of the week, I'm glad I did it.....but I just feel so beat right now!

Plus, Grant has been such a struggle this week. I feel like I'm yelling at him or putting him in his room all the time. He is constantly ignoring me, pushing Drew, running into Drew with his tricycle, taking away toys that Drew is playing with (even if they're Drew's toys!), finding creative ways to reach things he's not supposed to have.....on and on! Yesterday I had had enough, and after Dean got home I left the house and let him put both boys to bed (for the first time ever). I took dinner to a friend, then I went to Marshalls and looked around for almost 2 hours! It was so nice.....I don't even remember the last time I was able to shop for so long without having to worry about a baby needing something from me at home. And Dean did a great job......I felt justified doing that to him because he's playing in a golf tournament this afternoon, and probably won't be home until late. I don't think I would have made it through today without having a break last night.

Drew is doing great, though....he is so happy and this afternoon didn't even fuss when I left his room to take a nap. Yay! Yesterday I think he might have waved "bye-bye" too....I will hopefully post some pictures of both of them soon....

Everybody move back!

Now that I haven't posted for a few days, it's hard getting back into the routine! I have lots of things I want to write about, but so little time!

Grant had fun a couple of weeks ago.....he was playing with Dean's safety glasses before bed. He kept saying, "everybody move back!" When I asked him why, he said, "because I have tools." He is quite the little Mr. Fix-it these days, always grabbing a screwdriver or wrench and saying he has to go fix something. Once he grabbed a piece of one of our window blinds (it had fallen off and was laying on our dining room table). He set it on the floor and said, "let's get to work" (just like Handy Manny!).

We've been working a lot on our bathroom, and today he said he needed to paint (even though we were in the study, not the bathroom). I asked him what he was going to paint, and he said, "I need to paint this wall." He's definitely Daddy's good helper.....

Last Day of School

Grant has already been out of Mother's Day Out for two weeks now! He learned so many things this year......he's such a different little boy now. I look back at pictures from September and can't believe how little he was! Here he is on the first day of school, in late August:
And here are some pictures from the last day:

Waiting for Mommy at the gate (he was always standing here waiting for me, and would start jumping when he saw me.....which always made me smile!):Grant and his friends Avery Rhea and Leah:
He loved his teacher, Ms. Lisa:

I'm really glad we did MDO this year; I think the routine and social interaction were wonderful for Grant. His teachers always wrote that he loved song time and playing outside, and he was always proud of the art projects that he brought home (even though I'm not sure how much of them were actually done by him!). Now he definitely understands the concept of cleaning up and sharing a lot more than he did before. Every day when he got to school, Ms. Lisa or Ms. Lynne would always tell him, "I'm so glad you're here!" Now he'll randomly give me hugs and say the same thing to me!

Some songs that he learned at school and can sing himself:
- The clean up song: "Clean up, clean up, everbody clean up"
- Circle time song: "Circle time, circle time, it's a very special time. So come along and have some fun, circle time for everyone!" (we're still not certain what the tune of this song is....he doesn't change pitch when he sings!)
- Jesus Loves Me- this one is his favorite and he always wants to sing it at night before bed.

That morning, I took Drew for pictures at JCPenney. He did okay, but he was tired (even though he took a nap in the car on the way over), hungry, and not very smiley. We still got a few cute ones, though. Here Drew is posing with his toothbrush after we all got home that afternoon.
It's hard going outside with Drew now, because immediately when I lay him down, he crawls over to our flower pot and starts picking flowers and eating them. He is fast.....as soon as he stands up, he's got a flower (or leaf) in his mouth. Here Grant is telling him not to eat the flowers! He likes to watch out for his little brother (that is, when he's not pushing him or telling him to get away from his toys!).

Herrman Park and the Zoo

Two Fridays ago, the boys and I went up to town for a quick trip. First we drove through West University while Drew finished his nap. If we had all the money in the world and for some reason decided to stay in Houston, that is where I'd want to live. The houses are perfect, there are trees covering the streets, and it's smack dab in the middle of Houston.....close to everything. I feel so jealous every time I ride through there!

We had to make a stop at Bering's (a very fun hardware/gift store) because I had to use up the remainder of a gift card from our wedding.....4 years ago!!! Grant acted very well.....I bribed him with a sucker, and told him that we weren't going to the park afterwards unless he behaved. I would've loved to look around for an hour, but that's not a luxury I can enjoy these days......in about five years the kids will be in school and I can do all the browsing around in stores that I want!

After we left, we drove over to Herrman Park (one of my all-time favorite places). We didn't ride the train this time, but instead just ate lunch by the reflecting pool. First, I laid out some cheerios for Drew, and Grant wanted some too.......

Then Drew started stealing Grant's food.....it was interesting because Drew has always been strapped into his chair while I've fed him, until this time. He was so persistent, and kept crawling over to Grant to steal his rice cakes. (By the way, I am not putting Grant on a diet.....those flavored rice cakes from Quaker are yummy, and Grant likes them too!). Anyway, Drew has become quite the little scavenger.....more about that later, but he LOVES to eat table foods now (but not much baby food anymore).A few more pictures....

Then we walked over to the zoo, mostly because I had to pick up Grant's shoe that we lost on our last trip. The boys were both very tired, but we were going to try to see a few things. We only made it to the muskrats......and then Drew started crying and Grant kept begging me to go back to see this fountain that we passed: Yes.....we went to the zoo, and this is what Grant most wanted to see! I took a picture of it.....and some people looked at me, then the fountain, as if to say, "are we missing something? why is she taking a picture of that fountain?"

I got the boys in the car at noon, and they were both asleep within three minutes. I drove and drove and drove that afternoon.....they both slept for two hours! It was actually a nice break for me....these days I would probably have driven around for another hour if it meant another hour of naptime!

Sad night....

Drew has had three 30-minute naps today, then he fell asleep nursing and hardly stirred when I laid him down at around 7:20pm. Dean put Grant to bed shortly afterwards.....and everything was just fine until Grant started his nightly call for mommy. This was around 7:45. I was trying to finish an email, but apparently I didn't finish it fast enough.....Grant started saying, "Mommy!" very loud, and Drew woke up and started to cry. For the past 45 minutes he's been crying....I went in to rub his back (which usually works when he's really tired), but he was just so squirmy and overtired that he couldn't settle himself and go to sleep. I ended up taking a break and went in to sing a few songs to Grant, then went back to Drew's room for a few more minutes of unsuccessful back-rubbing. Finally I gave up, coming back to the study. A few minutes later, Grant started yelling again from his room. Now I was really angry! I put him in his room and told him no more games. And just now.....at 8:35pm....they're both finally quiet. So much for going to sleep early (which they both desperately need)!

Some days are just like this with two kids....this is the reason I'm considering putting Grant in some kind of abbreviated Mother's Day Out this summer! He is wonderful so much of the time, but there comes a point where I've had enough.....and this usually happens more than once per day! :)

I was going to post some pictures of some recent fun adventures we've had, but those will have to wait until I feel more in the right mood!

A few things....

Just a few things that have happened in the past couple of days:

- Last night I put Grant to sleep, beginning to end. When I was about to read him stories, he grabbed two of his animals, Ruff and Eeyore, and carried each in one arm. He set them both on his bed and said to Eeyore, "he's your best friend." I always tell Grant to be nice to Drew because "he's going to be your best friend someday." When he laid down, he wanted Ruff to lay next to him (which isn't unusual), and he wanted to make sure that Ruff was covered up with the blanket too!

- Drew has been doing so much better going to sleep. Even if he falls asleep in my arms (which I'm trying not to do if possible), he almost always wakes up when I lay him in his crib. There are some exceptions (like last night and tonight), where he's so exhausted that he falls asleep in my arms and actually stays asleep when I transfer him. But most of the time, I try to set him down while he's awake. He actually likes getting in his crib, and he has fun standing up/sitting down while I stand there next to his crib. He's discovered his monitor and the window blinds, so I've had to move his crib away from the window! And of course he still cries when I leave, but usually only for a few minutes. This is a relief.....I feel like our sleep training struggle is almost over!

- Last.....Grant has been stuttering like crazy these past two days. Thursday, he was talking just fine. Then yesterday, he started stuttering at the beginning of some sentences. For example, he'll say, "We we we we ww ww ww we gonna go for a walk?" Or "You you you y y y you y y you want to come play?" It freaked me out yesterday when he started doing it, and I did some internet research after he went to bed. Apparently it's very common in 2 to 5 year olds.....their brains are working so fast as they're learning so many new words, but their mouths all of a sudden can't keep up. I just think it's odd that Grant could do just fine for so long, then all of a sudden have so much trouble. Anyway, I'll have to ask our doctor to be sure, but I read that it's a phase that many kids go through (and it's fine as long as it doesn't last for more than 3-6 months).

Bedtime

In the eight months since Drew was born, we've had a bedtime routine where Daddy puts Grant to bed, and I always put Drew to bed. Grant was really a mommy's boy before Drew came along, but he's done great with Dean doing the bedtime routine.

A couple of weeks ago, after Drew and Grant were both in bed one night, I was in the study and Grant came to his door and started calling out, "Mommy! Mommy!" I went to the door, and he wanted me to come in and sing songs to him. So I did it.....who could refuse a question like that?? (Well, I might have if it had been a lousy day!).

Anyway.....he did it the next night too, and the next.....and now it has become a part of our routine. Dean leaves the room, and usually less than a minute later, Grant's at the door asking for me. After a few nights of this, Dean suggested trying to break him of the habit. But I really don't mind it. In fact, it's usually the best one-on-one time I have with Grant all day! We always have fun conversations (he tells me about things that supposedly happened that day, whether they really did or not), and he has a few songs that he always asks me to sing (Jesus Loves Me, Rock a Bye Baby, and Seek Ye First....he calls this song "the King."). The past few nights he has been singing Jesus Loves Me along with me.

About a week ago, I suggested that he sleep with a pillow like a big boy (he'd been sleeping scrunched up at the top of his bed, just like he did in his crib!). So now when I go in, he usually tells me, "look, Mommy, I'm gonna sleep like a big boy! Just like Mommy and Dada sleep."

And tonight, he told me, "we go rock for just a few minutes. Then you go downstairs and make stuff. And make food." So I guess he thinks this is what I do when I go downstairs after putting him to bed! He also told me tonight (after we rocked and got back into bed), "don't leave me, Mommy." It's not that he's scared or anything.....I guess he just enjoys the company! This is very humbling, especially considering that I feel like I don't treat him very well on so many days....yelling at him more than I should and having so little patience with him.

I am a very blessed mommy, to have such a sweet (even though VERY headstrong!) little boy!

Well.....

May is over, and doing a blog post a day was actually not too hard! Most nights I came in here after putting Drew to bed, and it usually only took about 10-15 minutes (sometimes less). Erin P. asked me if I was going to continue. Well, last night was busy.....some ladies came by to look at our old entertainment center (we had it listed on Craigslist). They bought it....yay! It's actually pretty cool......one of them has recently bought a few duplexes over by UH, and she's renovating them and furnishing them to get them ready for students for the summer. An IKEA entertainment center will be perfect for that. The ladies were really nice, and we bonded over our addiction to Craigslist! The lady with the duplexes has bought everything from light fixtures to floor tiles....it's so fun just being able to shop online for things you need (and without paying full price!).

Anyway, I didn't feel obligated to post last night (as it was no longer May), but I'm going to try keeping it up at least every couple of days. My main problem is having pictures to post.....I just don't upload them very often.....

Today the boys and I made a very impromptu trip up to town. This morning we did a couple of errands and we were on our way home at 10:45am, when Grant and Drew both fell asleep in the car. I know from experience that this is a recipe for disaster (for me).....they both sleep for 7-10 minutes in the car, then feel like they don't need any more sleep when we get home.

So....to avoid a bad rest of the day.......I decided to drive to downtown. They both had decent naps in the car, then we went to Discovery Green in downtown Houston. It is wonderful!!! We had never been there before.....there are a couple of water areas, plus a nice playground and a big hill that Grant loved climbing. Aside from the mosquitos, we had such a good time. We'll definitely be going back soon.....I think for my sanity, I need to make a trip into town at least once per week (for variety!).

Okay, that was longer than I was intending. Hopefully I will post more pictures soon.....