Vacation?

I realized half way through my "vacation" that I never even mentioned on the blog that we were going to visit my dad in Arizona. We planned the trip at the last minute, so I guess things just got to busy.

We are now home, and I am EXHAUSTED! The trip itself wasn't too tiring, but the journey home was no fun at all.

A 3+ hour delay at the airport, a closed road which turned into an hour extra of driving, and a storm that required the high speed of about 30 mph to even be able to see, turning a 4 and a half hour trip into a 11 hour trip with two little ones just isn't all that enjoyable.

I'll write more on the trip later.

What are the odds I'll get a nap in today?

I know, not good, not good at all.

I Love Baby Einstein

There is nothing better than both boys being completely amused at the same time!

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is my wedding anniversary.

One year ago today, I sat in the bathroom unable to believe what I was seeing, a positive pregnancy test.

I was pregnant with Fisher. Since it was a HUGE surprise for me, our anniversary last year was overshadowed by the fear of having two small children.

This morning, there was another surprise in the bathroom.

No, I am not pregnant.

On our wedding night, Doug had our hotel room covered in rose petals. Today, it was our bathroom.

Considering we were up most the night with Fisher, it was a really nice surprise to have all the sweet smelling rose petals and a really cheesy note from Doug written on the mirror.

When Barrett came into our bathroom as I was getting ready, he yelled, "Uh Oh, broke flowers, big mess!"

He was so upset about the mess, he grabbed a few rose petals and went running to tell Gigi about the mess.

This evening when Doug and I came home from dinner, I was changing into my jammies, and Barrett came into the bathroom.

He obviously got over the mess when he found a reason why the rose petals were fun to have all over the place.

He really was proud of himself when he realized he could attack Gigi with his roses...

I'm sure he was just telling Gigi how much he loves her.

Even though Doug can drive me crazy at times, I am really lucky to have a husband who loves me enough to not only talk Glenda, the balloon lady, into tearing apart roses to make the petals he needed, but he also had to ask a neighbor to store the rose petals in their refrigerator. Apparently, he made a mad dash over there last night to get them without me knowing.

This might not be a big deal to some of you who have overly romantic husbands, but for Doug this was WAY out of his comfort zone. :)

I guess I should do something for Father's Day now!

Monday Freeding Frenzy

I realize today isn't Monday, but it's been a busy week!

We woke up too early Monday morning, but somehow we still were running late to my bible study. Fisher was happily on the floor perfecting his rolling techniques as I chased a screaming almost-two-year-old around the house begging him to put pants on.

Fisher not only rolled completely across the room, he also managed to scoot to his brother's animal collection. The only good part of this was that Barrett got so mad at Fisher being near his zoo, that he forgot I was chasing him.

I don't know if it was all the rolling and scooting, or just that I didn't brush his hair after his bath the night before, but Fisher's hair was out of control. Since it was even more crazy than usual, I decided the shirt his Nana bought him was the best wardrobe choice.

We had a pretty good day after a crazy morning, and we ended the day with going out to eat with Gigi, Nana, and Paw.

We went to a Mexican place that we love mainly because they are fast and have free ice cream; two necessities with Barrett.

When I was reading my menu, I noticed that on Mondays, kids eat free. Since Barrett never eats, I've never ordered him anything. Sometimes he'll eat a little rice and cheese, but it's never enough to warrant paying for his own meal.

But, since it was free, I ordered him a queso puff and rice.

When his plate came, it had a giant queso puff and tons of rice. Seriously, there was about three cups of rice on the plate. I handed him a fork, and he started eating. I mean, really eating. Barrett ate the entire puff and about two cups of rice.

Then, I got him ice cream. He ate most of it before asking to eat MORE rice and cheese. He was eating it until the moment we got up from the table.

For the first time ever, I had to say that he needed to stop eating. (I wouldn't normally stop him, but I was concerned he might puke if he ate more.)

Since we had been so successful with Barrett, Doug and I decided that we'd see if the eating would continue at home with Fisher.

When we got home, we prepared everything, and Fisher had his first taste of rice cereal. At first, he had no clue what was going on, but when the spoon hit his mouth, he knew it was something good.

He ate quite a bit, and for the second time in one night, I had to stop one of my kids from eating too much.



If the first night is an indicator, Fisher should be a much better eater than his big brother!

He's Not Sick

This past week has been VERY busy and VERY long.

Normally, I have to look for things to write on the calender, but this week I had vacation bible school all week, a lake trip with a bunch of junior and senior high kids, a graduation party, and my mom was flying in.

As I looked at the calendar last weekend, I was so happy to feel like I had a life outside of my house for a change, but Sunday night made me realize that a full week was not going to be a good thing.

Fisher was up most the night Sunday, so as I drove to VBS Monday morning, I called the doctor to see about getting in. After trying to organize the 37 junior high, 4 high school, and 2 adult volunteers I had "helping" me with the outdoor games while I was on hold for 45 minutes, I knew the week wasn't going to be so fun.

I got an appointment with a doctor, but when you call on a Monday morning along with 3 billion other people, you have to take what you can get. The only good part was that they could see Fisher at 1 which meant that I could be at VBS to lead my area because leaving it with only my volunteers on the first day would have been disastrous considering NONE of them had ever helped with it before.

The first day of VBS wasn't without it glitches, but overall, it was great. I wish I could say the same about the doctor's visit.

When we went to sign in, I learned we'd be seeing a doctor that was in for a doctor that was out of town. He might have been good, but a doctor that is a fill in doctor makes me nervous. I just feel like if he was really good, he'd have his own practice.

I was right. I think we would have been better off driving by, throwing $25 out the window, and getting home in time for Barrett's nap.

The fill-in doctor told me that Fisher isn't sick. The fact that he coughed all night, wasn't sleeping, and wasn't eating meant nothing. His only suggestion was to give Fisher Triaminic or Pediacare. When I asked about dosage, he pointed at Barrett and said he could have what I give him. I know Barrett's not a big kid, but he is a lot bigger that a 3 and a half month old baby.

Monday night was sleepless again. So, Tuesday, I called and left a message for my doctor to call me. My call was returned really quickly, and I was told the correct dosage. (My doctor also wanted to know all the details of the fill-in doctor visit. I don't think he'll ever fill in for her!)

VBS went amazingly smooth all week, but the lack of sleep due to the "not sick" baby was making me insane.

So, Thursday morning, I called for an appointment with our normal doctor. I drove to VBS to get everything as organized as I could, drove to the doctor, and again I was told he's still not sick.

Ugh!

Doug's mom picked the kids up from the doctor's office so I could rush to be on time to go on the retreat with the older kids.

You know it's been a rough week when being on a party boat with 40 junior high and high school kids is relaxing.

Mom flew in Friday morning, and was quick to notice that Fisher was not in a good mood. His mood got worse ALL day.

Friday night was awful, last night was worse. He's not sleeping at all.

Last night, I was up with him from 1 until 4:30, and I gave up and got Doug. Doug was up with him until we went to church.

Fisher is coughing, moody, and not sleeping well at all, but at least I know he's "not sick".

Maybe he's teething. Maybe he's just figured out how to cough. Maybe he's really hungry at night. Whatever it is, I hope he gets over not being sick soon.

Locked Out

This morning, we took a trip to Walmart to get out of the house. We really didn't need anything, but we went anyway. That probably tells you how my morning was going while Doug was out playing golf.

When we returned from Walmart, I took Barrett out of the car and told him to carry his sippy cup in and put it on the kitchen counter while I unloaded the things we didn't need to buy.

He ran to the door, laughed, and shut it.

This is actually a normal thing for him to do. I reminded him I still needed to get Fisher out of the car, and I opened the door to go back into the garage.

As I was unloading Fisher, the door slammed shut again followed by the typical, "uh-oh."

As I was walking to the door, I was lecturing him about not shutting it while Mommy is in the garage. Then, I went to open the door, but it was locked.

Barrett locked me out.

Not on purpose, but somehow he hit the little lock button next to the knob.

I told him to turn the knob, and I could hear him trying. Unfortunately, he wasn't successful.

I went back to my car to get my keys because usually I leave them in it when it's in the garage, but usually wasn't today.

So, now Fisher and I are in the garage while my keys to the house, my cell phone, his bottles, and Barrett are all locked safely in the house.

I look next door, and one of the neighbor's cars is home.

I run next door and bang on the door, but they don't answer. Either they're not home or they are ignoring the door which is very common for them. (Mental note to self: make house key copies for more neighbors!)

I run back to the garage, and I can still hear Barrett messing with the door knob. I am amazed how well he listened to me. I guess I need to sound panicked more often.

I realize that him turning the knob enough to make the lock "pop" may not happen, so I try another approach.

I ask him to go get his stool from his potty and bring it to the front door. To my amazement, he says, "yep."

I run to the front door and look through the glass that I always complain people can see in. (Now I am glad it's there.)

Barrett was just rounding the corner to his bathroom.

He is very easily distracted when we send him on other missions, so I was concerned that the unsupervised bathroom might be way too tempting.

Just a few seconds later, he comes running back around the corner carrying the stool looking extremely proud of himself.

He gets it to the front door, and I tell him to stand on it.

I then begin trying to explain to him to turn the dead bolt lock. He looked confused, but he was trying to listen.

He finally grabbed on to it, and as I cheered for him, I told him to turn it.

He was trying to turn it, and I was encouraging him to keep trying.

He finally stopped and told me it was, "too heavy." I told him to keep trying, but it never worked.

Next, we tried the garage door again, but it wasn't looking good.

I decided that I would have to find another neighbor that was home to let me call Doug or help me break in if he didn't answer on the golf course. I was just worried about leaving Barrett for too long.

As I was walking out of the garage with Fisher, I heard the greatest sound ever, "pop," followed by, "Yea Barrett."

I ran back to the door, and it was unlocked. After 45 minutes of trying, Barrett unlocked a door!

I know the lesson here should be about not leaving a toddler in the house alone even for a second, keeping an extra key hidden somewhere, or having more than one neighbor with a key, but what I learned is that Doug shouldn't leave to play golf on Saturday mornings.

After all, they wouldn't have been driving me crazy, I wouldn't have made a pointless trip to Walmart, and I wouldn't have ever been locked out by my son. Therefore, this was entirely Doug's fault! :)