Tuesday, February 26, 2013

We're going on a bear hunt...

You know that cute book? "We're Going On a Bear Hunt"?  We love that book at our house.  We read it all the time and the kids especially love how the end gets faster and faster and my voice goes up and we act out the scenes.  My favorite page is "WE ARE NEVER GOING ON A BEAR HUNT AGAIN!" Then I fall back out of breath.

That is how I feel about the ENT.  WE ARE NEVER GOING TO THE ENT AGAIN! Whooosh.
(without Daddy)

First let me just tell you guys that I had no freakin clue that both of my kids had ENT appts. today until they called and left a message that they would see us at 1:00. (Thank God they called.) SUPER MOM!!!!!

We went to the grocery store and got gas before the ENT and both kids fell asleep in the van so we just parked at the ENT and I waited for B to wake up because I knew he was going to have to pee.  I was just sitting there praying that he wouldn't pee through his pants before his appt. (*note to self put change of clothes in van.)

So, at 12:40 he woke up saying "I godda go pee!"  I was ready.  I woke Emerson up and we literally ran into the ENT so Beckett could pee. The receptionist greeted us with "Oh look at him running!"  My response "POTTY TRAINING" with the cheesiest smile I could fake.

We waited in the waiting room for 28 minutes while the kids played with every germ infested toy there until we got called back.

Again, Beckett took off running to the back past the nurse and the height/weight station while I am holding Emerson horizontally under one arm, their 2 coats and the diaper bag under the other arm.

We corralled him back and he immediately starts asking for a lollipop - so then the bribery began.  Beckett weighed 38 pounds and Emerson weighed 28 pounds.  Beckett is 3 foot 5 in. and Emmason is 2 foot 7 in. Big kids!!

We went to our room number 6 to wait for the Dr.  I could hear the Dr. on the phone outside of our room at the nurses station and surely he could hear me singing THE BABY ON THE BUS GOES WAA WAA WAA....and me telling Beckett "sit still, don't touch it, no, put it back, not yours, ew yucky, gross, get away from the trashcan" over Emerson's cries because she starts crying when her temperature gets taken.  11 minutes into our wait Beckett yells "I godda go POOOOOP!" which is awesome because the bathroom is in the waiting room.  So he takes off running and I grab the diaper bag and assume Emerson into horizontal running position back to the waiting room.

Now, I love the fact that Beckett is potty trained, but today I wish he was still in pull ups and had taken a big crap in that instead of the 3 of us sitting in the bathroom for TEN minutes while he took his sweet precious time going poop.  He was loudly telling E and I that he wanted his privacy and he wanted to take his shoes off.  I was trying to keep Emerson off the floor and away from the plunger.  The longest ten minutes of.my.life.

I feel like we have been at the dr. forever now at this point but when we finally returned to room 6 approximately 15 minutes and 3 hand washes later whaddya know the doc was waiting for us!

He checked both kid's ears and surprise Emerson cried and surprise Beckett's left tube has fallen out and he's got an infection - yay more antibiotics.

We talked about adenoid removal etc. and I mentioned to him that we are pursuing a speech evaluation for Beckett (no easy task) so he tells me that we can go ahead and take care of his hearing test here, now.

Great!  So we go to another waiting room and are met by another dr. who will do B's hearing test.
This is where it gets really good.  So, the dr. tells me that in order to do B's hearing test I have to hold him on my lap, in a dark quiet room, with the door shut.  She asks me if it would be ok to leave Emerson out there with her while I go into the other room with the door shut and the lights off.  I know I stared blankly at her for atleast 45 seconds before she said "maam?"

Alright, whatever, we are already here let's do this.  I put Emerson in a chair next to the dr.'s desk with goldfish pretzels and juice.  Beckett and I go into the dark room, she shuts the door, and tells me over a microphone to hold him still and be very quiet as not to distract him. Right.

Soon little noises start coming out of speakers and stuffed animals start lighting up around the room while I am trying to hold Mr. Wiggles still.  The lights come on and she opens the door becauseeeeee
Emerson has dumped out all of her snacks onto the floor and we need to clean up the mess........seriously.

After we cleaned up her snack we went BACK into the room for a few more minutes to try and finish.  She ended up turning the lights on and telling me basically we weren't finished but that was as good as it was going to get and she had a pretty good feeling that my "chatty three year old that loves to talk" can hear on both sides.  The ear with the tube still in tact might be a little better.  (I think she just didn't want to babysit Emerson anymore.)

She goes to get me some more speech information and Emerson tries to follow her new friend out of the room and when I pick her up to keep her in the room it's all over.  The face turns red, she stops breathing and huge tears start rolling.  Once she stops to take a breath and let out a wail I have to pick Beckett up with my other arm to keep him in the room.  The dr. comes back and between holding a combined 66 lbs. of screaming teary mess in my arms I have no freaking clue what she said but I nodded took the papers and left.  I don't think she will have children after today.  (She is engaged.)

We stopped by the receptionist - I'm sure I look like a body builder trying to carry my kids and I can't wipe the hair out of my eyes and my cheeks are more than a lot of blush red because I am sweating profusely under my coat after walking through 2 offices - to make 2 more appointments and get our LOLLIPOPS (sugar free) which at this point I am shoving them in their mouths to keep them quiet enough to get their coats and hoods on to head out in the rain.

We are home now.  They are both sleeping. I am eating an entire box of Special K crackers and WE ARE NEVER GOING TO THE ENT AGAIN!!!!!!!! (without Daddy)



Snoozing in the parking lot - this is the bag of goldfish she dumped out because mommy forgot the snack cup :) 

Yay he didn't pee while sleeping!



 She really loved this Elmo toy with influenza on it. 

Beckett telling the other kid in the waiting area that he doesn't like the vegetables on this table.









Wednesday, February 20, 2013

This is how all Wednesdays should be!

I love today. Today was perfect. Both of my kids slept in. I finished a book this morning. I took a SHOWER this morning.  

We went to Short Pump to meet Kim and Jack.  We got Starbucks, walked around, played in the play area, walked some more around the fountains, rode the train (Jack had to sit this one out til summer time!) got lunch at Chick Fil A and walked a little more!!!

There is nothing better in the world than best friends and babies and talking and coffee.  Sigh .... Perfect day. Wish I could live it over every day!  

Cleaning while my babies are napping and making dinner for my husband...couldn't be happier <3 Happy Wednesday :) 




Beckett enjoying his lemon pound cake!

Emerson so content playing!

She carried that scone for 2 hours!

Anyone else's kids stick their tongues under the dryer?

Play time!

Riding the train!



All Aboard - look at her smirk!

Hold my hand sister. 

"I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart" was playing :) 

Waving at everybody!

Sweetest baby Jack!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Road Trip / 3 Day weekend!

Saturday morning Beckett and I had plans to travel to Fairfax to see one of my best and oldest friends!!!  I woke up to this and giant snowflakes!!! 



This was not going to stop us :) I was so looking forward to and needing to get out of Richmond and spend some time with just B. Luckily the snow turned into light rain and we were on the road at 9 am.  We stopped for gas and snacks before getting on 95 - Beckett was in heaven.  He literally said "This is SO fun!"  in the gas station after picking out teddy grahams and apple juice....too sweet.  2 hours later we made it to Brandy's!  


When we got to her house we hung out and caught up for a bit!  She looks amazing as always and Beckett and Olivia hit it off right away bonding over Justin Bieber Barbies.   We needed to get the kids out and play so we went to hades Chuck E. Cheese.  It was packed and humongous compared to the one here! Beckett of course got stuck in the tunnel slide, Olivia tried to carry him down :)  Then I had to regulate on some crazy kids whose parents were no where to be found.  After using all of our tokens on candy and 2 little toys we headed to Sweet Frog for some yummy froyo.  Brandy is doing the points also so we loaded up the fruit on ours and only used 2 points!!! 


Motion Game!
Racing Car!

Yummy!!!

Sleepover!


After a fun Target run (got some Eater basket stuff!) and Beckett calling the check out man his Grandpa we headed back to Brandy's to feed and bathe the kids!  We got them all situated with a movie and had lots of time to talk and talk and talk.  We probably could have talked for 3 days straight.  Love that we can pick up where we left off and it seems just as easy as it did 14 years ago!  After a bottle of wine and some Channing Tatum replay I headed to check on the kids and fell asleep ;) Sunday morning we just hung out until it was time to go! We will definitely be back very soon! Thank you cute Fernandes family for the hospitality!!!

We stopped by Unc Unc Jason and Aunt Nancy's in Arlington on our way out of Fairfax.  Great to see them as always!!! Their wedding is in June and I can't wait!!!!!  It's going to be spectacular! :) 


Beckett was so tired from his weekend of playing that he was out....the traffic was ridiculously slow on 95 so we had to stop in Fredericksburg to potty!! He is doing SUCH an amazing job with potty training! He didn't have any accidents all weekend and kept his undies dry for the long car ride.  We had some Joe's Crab shack dessert before heading home.  I really enjoyed my alone time with my big boy.  He is such an awesome kid and I was glad to be able to give him all of my attention for a weekend!  Emerson and Neal had a fun daddy/daughter weekend.

Monday, President's Day, we hung out with my mom and did some shopping!  We rearranged my bedroom, got new bedding and it looks really good! Thanks mom!  
I lost 3.5 lbs. this week at my Monday weigh in bringing my weight loss total to 12.4 lbs.!!!! SO excited my goal is so close!!! 

Monday night one of my friends and I finally got to see Safe Haven!!!  Josh and Julianne were such perfect actors for the movie!! There are a lot of details in the book that weren't in the movie but it was still very good.  She also gave me the sweetest card ever and it totally made me cry and I cried again sharing it with Neal...thanks friend!!!!! :)  



There are a lot of uncertainties and challenges with the year ahead but I am so lucky to have a wonderful family and supportive friends to help me along the way! 

This morning B came in our room at 6:15 and when I asked him to be quiet and lay down because it was still dark he turned to Neal and said "Mommy grumpy. Mommy not happy at all."  We all know I'm not a morning person....so we trudged downstairs and after I got my hot tea in Beckett ran up to me with a big ol hug and said "Mommy happy now!!!!!"  You bet buddy :) I really need to work on the morning person thing....

Valentine's!!!

Valentine's Day in our house was full of love!  We all spoiled each other with sweet cards and gifts! My mom made dinner and I surprised Neal and made him blush with his gift ;) The kids had tons of fun with their presents!
Sensory Table Fun (Valentine's Eve)

Neal's "Book of Love" boxers, gum and a new wedding band!!!


Books for me!!!

Yaya <3

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

On their table after bedtime...

14th Valentine's together <3

Pom poms Valentine's morning!!!

Cars!!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Plateau....

Well, I've hit the plateau!  Didn't lose any weight this week at the weigh in.  I have been busting my behind at the gym and staying in my point range every day.  I definitely think I have gained some muscle from weight lifting.  I can tell mostly in my arms and legs however my post-babyX2 stomach still has purple train tracks across the pizza dough like creation. Everytime I look in the mirror I think that surely cannot be a part of my body!  I am starting to think plastic surgery is the only route to fix that. It is discouraging to not see the number drop on the scale and have last year's pants not fit yet!  I will keep keepin' on though.  Lent starts tomorrow and while I will be making some *positive* changes I am also going to give something up - alcohol!  Empty calories and word vomit - don't need it right now in my life!

Anyways, today is Tuesday - my cleaning day, take out the trash day and savor moments with my kids day.   

Every morning from 7:30-9ish I try to stay at my laptop and do school work, answer emails if need be etc.  Well my kids were NOT having it this morning.....exhibit A.  I now have two climbers!!!  




Our time inside was not going to last long!  I needed to fill up my tank before the Goochland drive x3 this week so we did that.  While I was getting gas I got a message saying Neal's ring was in at Jared's! He lost his wedding band about six months ago during a Saturday shopping day and we never found it.  So, I thought Valentine's would be a perfect occasion to get him a new one (same ring).  My kids went nuts-o in there.  Thank goodness they have a play area but we got a lot of looks - I was the only female shopper in there this close to Valentine's day - surprise!!! 
We then headed to Petco for a trip to see the animals.  We do this regularly and I must say it is one of our favorite things to do! It's FREE and it's fun :)  So we played with a kitty named Sadie (tear) and looked at the fishies, stuck our entire arm in the fish tank (B) and got separated a few times but it was still fun!




After making a potty stop for my big boy in our front yard we headed on to the park.  It was the perfect play day!!! We were 2 of 3 kids at the park - perfect.  They had a great time and I didn't have to worry about older kids knocking them down :) 















I couldn't choose just one swing shot because I love all of their expressions!!! They are just the sweetest kids ever.  How did I get so blessed???

After the park we came home, made dinner, had bath time and a nice visit from YaYa. Beckett even put himself to bed tonight!  I sent Neal out to get the kids a couple more things for Valentine's day and to get something for our babysitter.  He came home with a stuffed owl and candy (Valentinesish) - you can never go wrong with owls!!! It's actually really cute - she will love it.  I need to finish Neal's last present tomorrow :)  

Lucky to have so much love in my life!!!  Valentine's Day is getting me all giddy like Christmas!!!!  Now if only I could get off this plateau!