Limiting Technology, "Come See Me", Not Being Sorry & Westin's 2 Month Stats

Wes:  9 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 3 Months & 1 Week Old

2 Fridays ago, Wes started out the day by busting out of his swaddle at 5 AM and then at 6:30 AM.  He hadn’t done that in days, so I hadn’t bought a new one yet.  At least he went right back to sleep, but I think the poor bugger was cold.  I am so lucky to have children that wake up later.  Wes usually wakes up at around 7:30 AM and Tyson is anywhere from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM.  Wes is going to sleep at about 9:30 PM and then I wake him up to nurse him one last time at around midnight or 1 AM.  He is just doing so well.  On that Friday I officially told Tyson that he was cut off from my iPhone and the iPad unless I was nursing Westin.  He had been glued to one or the other nonstop and I had had enough.  I knew it was bad when I realized that I didn’t need to spend 30-45 minutes picking up his toys before I went to bed.  He has been doing pretty well with this and hasn’t been whining about it, but I admit that I haven’t fought him very hard if he sneaks one of them while I am trying to cook supper.  Our big thing on Friday was going to the grocery store and I was so impressed with something Tyson said when we got to the car.  I had been telling him before we left, “If you are a good boy in the store, then you can have a treat when we get back in the car.”  As I was strapping him into his car seat he said, “Treat, car, boy, store!”  A little out of order, but I was so excited!  That is the first 4 word sentence he has put together before!  So proud of him!  What was very unfortunate was that Ty was so horrific in the grocery store that he didn’t get the treat after all.  He is getting really, really bad in stores.  He screams, pulls everything into the cart or on the floor, tries to stand up in the cart, and tries to reach over and grab Westin in his car seat.  He just has melt-down after melt-down.  You name it, he does it.  I don’t really know what to do at this point.  I have threatened time-outs when we get home, I have offered the treat as a reward, I have yelled, I have whispered in his ear, I have told him that everyone is looking at him…etc.etc.  Any ideas out there? 

This is becoming a weekly picture - the two of them lying down together on the Boppy

The lighting is bad - but this is Ty tucking the Glow-Worm in with Westin

Sabbath we had a busy day.  We decided last minute to go to Conway church.  We killed ourselves to get there for Sabbath School for Ty and we made it!  I fed Westin right after Sabbath School and then we made our appearance in church.  Westin really made himself known by burping twice very loudly and everyone laughed.  We went to the Edwards for lunch and my parents and Norma came too.  We had a nice lunch despite Tyson needing multiple time-outs during lunch.  I did say the time-outs were working, right?  He is really getting defiant and does not want to say that he is sorry after his time-out.  Heath said, “Are you sorry?”  And Tyson said, “No.”  Oh my.  On a positive note, the “Mama…Come…NOW” business has been nixed.  He is at least saying, “Mama…Come…Please.”  At least that is something.  And then he does the cutest things ever and you forget how frustrated you are with his bad behavior.  While we were at the Edwards, he was looking at the gerbils that Sonia has (for the school).  The gerbils had been running around but then they disappeared into one of their tubes.  Tyson got all worked up and cried, “Gerbils, come see me!”  Another 4 word phrase!  It was so cute!  Heath, Keith & Adam went ice-fishing for a few hours in the afternoon while we just relaxed and visited.  Greg, Nicole, and Joel came by in the afternoon too.  Saturday night we went out for pizza and Joel came with us.  I nursed Westin while we were waiting for the food to come and he was an angel.  Tyson was very excited about the jukebox and Heath played a few tunes for him.  Ty was dancing like mad!  We got home pretty late and I was beat from the day.  I fell asleep nursing Wes again and woke up at 3:30 AM.  I thought that I needed to nurse Wes on the side that he was on (like we started but didn’t finish)…but I was wrong.  I woke up on Sunday morning and I thought that my right boob was going to explode.  Wow.  I have never had any problems with engorgement, but that was down-right uncomfortable.

Sonia had bought them these adorable matching outfits for Xmas - I couldn't get a picture of them together...Ty would not cooperate

This is the best picture I could get of Ty. He has just discovered the joys of picking his nose!  Great.

Another cute one of Wes

On Sunday it was game day!  I was so excited about the AFC championship game and was absolutely certain that the Pats were headed back to the Superbowl.  I was sure.  I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I have been so sure of their victories in the past 2 Superbowls, as well.  I guess I can’t trust my feelings when it comes to the Patriots.  We started off our morning by making our usual breakfast.  Pineapple muffins, Prosage, “Crispy Crown” potatoes, and eggs (not for me).  I was actually cooking the breakfast (Heath was downstairs working in the basement…he usually cooks breakfast) when Westin started fussing.  He was upstairs taking a nap.  I decided to dash upstairs to put his binky back in, since Tyson was engrossed in the iPad (I know, I know…I obviously wasn’t nursing).  When I ran back down the stairs, I just about died.  Ty had immediately put the iPad down when I left the room and went over to a bowl of pineapple juice and poured almost a whole pint of half & half (that Heath had left on the counter after making a cup of coffee) in the pineapple juice bowl.  The bowl then overflowed and ran down the dishwasher and onto the bar stool and all over the hardwood floor that I had just washed.  It was such a sticky mess!  That will teach me to leave him for a second.  I should have known then what I was in for at that start of the day.  Another downer was that we had planned to get Thai food take-out for the game, but the restaurant was closed because the family that runs it went on vacation (how dare they)!  My parents and Shannon came over for the game.  My parents had been staying in Conway over the weekend and were headed back there after the game, since my Dad had Monday off too.  I gave them a pretty big guilt trip about coming over to watch the game, since I would be alone for the Superbowl (they will all be on their cruise).  See, again I was convinced the Patriots would be in the Superbowl.  So they caved and came.  Sorry for them.  What a depressing fiasco that was.  And just when I think I am over it… the Superbowl is this weekend and I keep thinking about it!  Well, the only bright spot on the night was Tyson being very cute with the lights.  For some reason, he decided that all the lights were too bright and he would cover his eyes and say, “Oh….sun!”  And he went around the room and turned off all the lamps.  Then he dragged his little chair around and stood on the chair and turned off the ceiling lights too!  I know where he gets that from!  I hate lights in my eyes!

Westin was optimistic about the Pats winning too

On Monday, I picked up the pieces of my Patriots-obsessed life and had to move on.  Ty started off the morning with a time-out when he hit me in the face, when he was upset that I had to change his diaper.  What a way to start the day.  I got hit in the gut by the Pats the night before and then Ty had to finish the job!  But then he turns around and does something really cute and sweet.  We came downstairs for breakfast and Ty points to the iPod player and says, “song.”  So I obliged him and got some tunes going.  Then he started dancing and said, “Mama…dance!”  Who could refuse him?  So after I started dancing, he decided that wasn’t good enough, and he said, “Baby…dance!” to Wes.  Very cute.  Another cute thing was Ty was playing with his train set and deliberately, aggressively knocked the train off the track (which dislodged the tracks) and then turned around and said, “Mama…Help…Please!”  Does he just want attention?  Two things that he did that I thought was smart was… first of all, he came downstairs and went right to the dishwasher and said, “Uh-oh….apple.”  He remembered the mess he made a whole 24 hours before with the pineapple juice all over the dishwasher!  He calls pineapples ‘apples’!  Then he was playing with his oversized legos downstairs when he decided that he needed go upstairs.  We got into his room and he had brought a small lego that had been mixed in with his big set downstairs.  He knew it didn’t belong and he found the small lego set and reunited the long-lost piece!  We went to the pharmacies in the afternoon and got a few things we needed (nothing free unfortunately).  Again, Ty just keeps raising the bar with the antics in the stores.  He had taken off his shoes and thrown them out of the cart in CVS, and since he was being such a pill…I completely forgot about them and left them in the cart at CVS.  I figured it out when I got to my next stop.  How frustrating!  Thank goodness no one had taken the cart back into the store and I was able to grab the shoes without getting both kids out of the car – since I left the cart right outside in the parking lot.  Needless to say, Tyson didn’t get his treat 2 of the 3 pharmacies we went to.  Hopefully this will get better.

Bath night on Monday night

He loves his baths SO much

Tuesday morning Tyson gave me a chuckle to start the day.  I was making Ty breakfast and he was going to have French toast.  He saw the French toast and said, “wapple!”  He always calls French toast and waffles “wapples.”  I tried to help him differentiate for the millioneth time the difference between the two and then I emphasized French toast very exaggeratedly.  Tyson looked at me and appeared to be concentrating SO hard to start to say, “French toast” and then, after a long pause said, “wapple!”  Some day he will get it.  I can’t remember what else we did on Tuesday, but I have to take a minute to brag about Westin.  I can’t believe what a happy, smiley boy I have.  He is just so happy.  He is such a good baby.  He has been cooing and smiling for weeks but he actually laughed!  4 times in a row…right during his diaper change before his bath.  It was so cute – I kept telling Heath to come in to hear him, but then he would stop.  I’m just so thankful to have these two special boys in my life.  (Well, technically 3 boys)  

My happy boy (what a little smirk)

On Wednesday I dodged two choking bullets with Ty.  I found Ty with a penny and a dime in his hand, carrying them around…he could have easily just popped them in his mouth.  And then… I heard him say, “Mmmm…candy.”  I tried to figure out what he had gotten into and then I saw it…a cough drop wrapper on the floor.  Sure enough, I smelled his breath and he had eaten the whole thing.  Talk about a chokable.  I don’t know where he found that, but I am just so thankful that he was OK.  Wednesday at 11:30 AM, Westin had his 2 month appointment.  He weighed in at 10 pounds & 5 ounces (15^th percentile), 22 ¾ inches long (40^th percentile), and his head was 15 ½ inches long (50^th percentile).  Ty was 9 pounds even and 21.5 inches long at his 2 month appointment.  I didn’t write down what percentile he was…but I’m pretty sure that Ty wasn't even on the growth chart yet with his weight.  Even though Westin is still tiny – he is huge compared to where Ty was at.  Wes had to have 3 shots and an oral immunization and he did great overall.  It was terrible – he was so happy and then started screaming bloody murder when he got the shots.  It is just awful, there is no way to prepare them or explain it to them.  It’s a helpless feeling.  But as soon as I picked him up, he stopped crying immediately.  Our doctor even said, “That was a nice recovery.”  He was back to his old self and smiling by the time we left the office.  He did have one crying episode where he seemed uncomfortable that afternoon, but I gave him Tylenol and he was cured.  My mom had come with us to the appointment and we went to Friendly’s on the way home.  Kids eat for $1.99 on Wednesdays and for a drink, meal, and ice-cream…it’s a pretty good deal. Too bad I will never be able to take my kids there normally, since Wednesday is the only day that I work during the week.  Mom had to run to Conway to a church meeting and my dad came over to visit with the boys and me.  He has been hooked on Downton Abbey, so I caved and we watched the first episode together.  I have to admit that I was hooked after one episode as well.  It has an Anne of Green Gables meet Jane Austen feel. It really is good – I highly 

recommend it. 

At the doctor's office before his shots

At Friendly's they gave Ty this craft - making a snowman with marshmellows, pretzels & candy

He couldn't resist for long

Playing catch with Poppy in the afternoon

On Thursday Tyson woke up and these were the first words out of his mouth - “Westy shots.”  Yes, Westy had his shots the day before…was Ty worried about him?  I thought that was cute.  What also was cute was Tyson saying next, “Noni, come see me.”  Well, Ty’s wish came true when Noni came over and we drove together to meet Shannon & Fin at the local thrift stores.  It was a freezing day – hanging around -1 degrees all day.  We scored at one of the places where they had about 8 racks of clothes for $1.  You feel like you hit the megabucks when you find that!  We did pretty well.  After thrift storing it up all morning and early afternoon, I put Ty down for a late nap.  He was exhausted but he wasn’t going down without a fight.  He was standing up, whining and crying, so I talked to Ty through the monitor.  I said, “Ty, the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner Daddy will be home.”  Well, that worked.  You should have seen Tyson fall onto his pillow like a sack of potatoes!  He dropped immediately!  But the funniest part was, through the monitor, I heard him say, “Nap please.”  Like he was saying, “I need to take a nap now please.  Fall asleep please.”  For our weekly night out, we headed to the Mexican restaurant with Mom & Dad & Adam.  We had a nice visit despite Tyson needing multiple walks and Westin being awake the whole time.  I don’t care as long as I don’t have to cook!  Have a great week!

Bubble fun with Shannon & Finley

Ty kissing Westin at the restaurant

Here's some random shots...

Ta-da...he worked hard to get both balls to balance perfectly on the counter

He was proud!