No More Baby Food, Snorting, Apple Picking, Choking, "Ooooo", Reading at the "Library" & Waking Up From Poops

Wes:  10 Months Old

Ty:  2 Years & 11 Months Old

Last Friday was a major milestone for Westin.  I decided that we were done with “baby food” and that I was going to try to feed him variations of what we eat.  Because I am so fearful of choking, I stayed with Ty on the pureed baby-baby food for way too long and then he had problems with anything with texture.  I was afraid Westin was headed down that road if I didn’t branch out his diet.  I just am not good in this phase.  I am good in the straight baby food phase and the eating everything phase that Ty is in.  How to get from one phase to another is what stresses me out.  So I started with breakfast on Friday and gave Westin what Tyson had for breakfast – which was yogurt and French toast.  Obviously the yogurt was not a problem, and I just cut the French toast into very small pieces and he was able to feed himself!  He did great!  Ty didn’t do so great during breakfast.  In true OCD fashion, he burst into tears, having a fit, because some yogurt spilled onto his French toast!  Are you kidding me?  Something else that happened that was difficult to believe involved Heath.  He drove himself to work to have to turn around and come home.  Since I had taken Heath’s car the day before to be serviced, he had taken the Outback to work on Thursday.  He completely forgot his laptop in the Outback and went to Lebanon without it.  He is dead in the water at work without his laptop – they don’t use desktops.  So he came home and worked from home on Friday.  And he actually did work!  I tried my best to keep the kids away from him, but it is difficult because both boys are pretty obsessed with him.  I don’t know if I have mentioned Westin’s affinity for Heath, but it is non-stop “Da-da…Da-da” whenever Heath is around!  Not another one! (=  Something else I’m not sure if I have mentioned is Westin gets into everything!!!!  Now that he is non-stop moving…he is non-stop action… and non-stop trouble!  He really is!  It is hard to remember Tyson at his age, but I keep saying, “I don’t think Ty was this active!”  Heath agrees with me, but maybe we forget!  After Heath’s “work day” was over at 5 PM, we all went to the grocery store together and then DQ.  Nice family times!

Helping Daddy work

Tyson "working" too

He actually looked at the camera - it is a miracle

This is right before he climbed up three stairs - we have to shut the gate all the time now!

Grocery store stickers!

On Sabbath we went to Laconia for church.  The funniest thing happened at Sabbath School.  There was just one other boy in class that day and when it came time to take up their offering, Tyson and the other boy gave them their pocketful of change.  The crazy thing was they both brought exactly $1.02!!!!  Heath had grabbed just a handful of change and so did the other mother, so it was very bizarre that they both had the exact same amount!  On the way back home, Tyson said the sweetest thing to Westin.  Out of the blue, Ty just looked over to Westin and said, “Westy, Ty loves you.”  That just warms a mother’s heart so much!  What didn’t get warm that day was my oven!  We have had trouble with our oven timer before and now it is official…I will never use it again!  I had made Special K loaf and I had the timer all set, so that it would be done when we arrived home from church.  No such luck.  It must have just started cooking, because the inside was still raw!  So we had to move to Plan B.  What a pain!  After lunch, Ty decided he wanted a “sippy” (vegetable/fruit pouches) for dessert.  Ty likes 1 specific kind the best – it has yogurt and strawberries in it.  Well, a couple of times I have surprised him with that special kind (he didn’t know I bought it).  I had him cover his eyes and then said, “Surprise!” and then handed his favorite sippy to him.  Well, now he insists on doing “Surprise!” every time he gets a sippy.  He insists on picking it out himself (I have a bunch of them in a bag), hands it to me to take the cover off, and then covers his eyes and says, “Surprise!”  It is so cute, but I’ve got to work on explaining what exactly a “surprise” is!  After the boys took their naps, we went over to Shannon & Sean’s neck of the woods and looked at some property with them.  It is a really beautiful piece – with potential mountain views and this beautiful small river.  The only downfall with the land is that you actually have to build a bridge to get over the river to get to the land.  It will probably cost about $30,000-40,000 for this type of bridge (it has to be weighted for 100,000 pounds, so a cement truck can come across to bring the cement for a foundation).  It sounds steep, but the land is very reasonably priced (probably because of this fact) and since we would be splitting the bridge (and then would do a right of way)…it is doable.  But I don’t think Sean & Heath are completely sold.  There always seems to be something holding us back!  We can’t seem to find the right land yet!  The boys walked the property for 2 hours while Shannon & I tried to keep the kids amused.  It was a bit hard, I tell you.  A few times we looked at each other and said, “Why did we come again?” (=

Enjoying Sabbath School

Ty loves Westy so much that he tortures him!

Not impressed

On Sunday, Shannon, Griffin & I got up mighty early and headed up to Conway together.  We had planned a surprise 60th birthday brunch for my mother (only a month late)!  She had been gone almost non-stop, so this was the only weekend that we could do it!  We had Leigh ask her to baby-sit (Leigh hated to lie to her) and we thought we had the perfect plan.  Shannon & I got to the house a bit early and were trying to put a few decorations up and set out some cupcakes (with coffee frosting, in honor of my mom).  Shan & I were wondering if Mom might come to the house before she went to Devin & Leigh’s, but we decided to wing it because we didn’t have any other choice.  But, of course, she did show up and we were busted.  We didn’t tell her anything but told her that she was NOT going to be taking Mia & Bode to Storyland, like she had planned.  (That was a real bummer).  We ended up blind-folding her and taking her to the brunch spot.  There were 15 of us and we had a blast.  Mom seemed very pleased and cried a couple of times.  She had her closest friends from Vermont & Maine come and some church friends.  Her sisters all had other prior engagements, so that was the only downside.  We had a delicious brunch and then went back to the house for some more visiting and the cupcakes.  Devin & Bode stopped by so Mom got to show off her 3rd grandchild.  I felt bad that I had left the boys with Heath (and Shan left Fin) but they would have been off the walls. We had a lovely time!  So glad we got to honor my mom!  She is the best!  When I got home, the boys had just gotten home from apple picking!  I was sorry that I missed it, but I’m glad they had a good time and got to do something fun!  I had missed them so much, though!  We got Mexican take-out that night and had a nice time together.  There might have been some snorts heard that night!  Something I haven’t mentioned, but I have heard both of them snorting when laughing on a few different occasions!  Poor buggers, but it is so funny!  It makes me laugh harder!

She hated the blindfold!!!!

Some of the ladies

Group picture - the restaurant is right across the street from the covered bridge

Bode after eating a cupcake

Griffin is growing up!

Bode is saying "all aboard!"

It looks like Westin is planning an escape in the background!

Monday morning, I tried to give Westin Cheerios for breakfast.  I made them a little soggy, so he wouldn’t choke, but he wouldn’t touch them!  Aren’t all babies supposed to love Cheerios?  Aren’t they born with that ingrained into them?  Not my buddy, I guess.  I worked on Monday night and Ty said that Westin was an absolute animal and just attacked the Tupperware like crazy!  He is unreal!  What is also unreal is the news that I received at work.  I am going to be forced to get my Bachelor’s in Nursing.  I knew that this was the trend that was happening, but I never in a million years thought that I would be forced to do it – I thought that I would be grandfathered into it.  I have officially gotten my letter that by 2020 all nurses at my hospital must have a BSN to work there.  I first thought that there was no way that this could be legal.  How can they change the requirements for my job after I have been employed there for 10 years?  But I did some research and countless other hospitals in the country have already done it, so you know that they have gone through legal channels to make sure this is legit.  The only place you will be able to be employed with an ADN will be the nursing home or doctor’s offices – two places that is not for me.  I’m not really sure how I feel about this.  I do have 7 years to get it done, but I feel like I have school hanging over my head, if I don’t get going with it.  I just wish my kids weren’t so young right now!  I don’t want to be busy with school and miss out on anything with them!  I don’t know what to do…I could wait a few years…I’m just not sure.  I have always liked school, so if it goes well…maybe I would continue on and get my Nurse Practitioner, but I kind of doubt it.  I love what I do now.  I’m not sure I want that to change.  Well, we’ll see.

"Get these Cheerios away from me!"

Tupperware animal

On Tuesday I recovered from my horrendously busy 3a-3p (I didn’t get to sleep until 5:30 AM) and ended up researching a lot of online schools.  I found something interesting.  I had found a list of top online schools in the country that are most inexpensive for the RN to BSN degree.  #6 on the list was my Alma Mater – Florida Hospital!  I might end up getting the degree from there, because I know they should accept all my credits!  I’m waiting to get my transcript and then I’m planning on contacting 6 different schools and seeing how much it will cost, how fast I can do it, what credits will transfer etc…and see what school ends up on top!  Tuesday morning, Westin had a pretty big choking episode.  They scare me so much!  He was eating little pieces of a waffle, but the problem with Westin is that he loves food too much!  He stuffs so many pieces in until he chokes!  How do you change that?  Well, he was choking pretty badly, so I leaned him forward in the high chair and starting hitting his back pretty hard.  He was able to clear his airway, and then he started crying!  I’m sure I scared him with the hitting, but then he flipped a switch.  He immediately stopped crying and then started laughing hysterically! (=  Nervous energy?  Then after breakfast, Ty had to go to the bathroom.  After he had gone, he cried, “Mama, my bum hurts me!”  When I asked him why it bothered him, he said, “Too much pooping!”  So funny.   What also is funny is the new thing that Westin is doing.  To everything, his response is now “Ooooooo.”  He exaggerates the “o” face so much!  I think Bode used to do this all the time – it is funny how certain family traits get passed on!

The "ooo" face

Another one

Is Ty making fun of Wes?

On Wednesday I started a full cleaning on the house.  Ty must have not appreciated this because he told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted “another Mama.”  I asked him “why” and he said, “Cuz you yucky, Mama.”  Nice.  I tried not to let it get to me (but it did hurt a little bit) and I was glad I waited.  Ty said, “No!  That’s funny!  You pretty Mama!”  So did he mean it or not?  On Wednesday night, Ty was washing his hands in the upstairs bathroom and I had just changed the soap out.  Ty was not a fan.  He said, “It has crumbs in it.  Ty doesn’t like it.”  The “crumbs” were actually sea salt beads!  So funny!

On Thursday Westin turned 10 Months old!  I can't believe it!  This year has flown by so fast!  Thursday I finished the full cleaning on the house.  Nice to get that done!  Westin only took a 1 hour nap on Thursday AM because he pooped and woke himself up!  He has actually been doing this for a couple of weeks and I just haven’t written about it yet.  More often than not, he poops while he naps and wakes himself up!  He also will poop first thing in the AM and wakes himself up then too!  Westin did not poop for his AM naps on Tuesday & Wednesday and slept for 3 hours both days…and then he only had the 1 hour nap on Thursday!  Not good.  I remember Camille telling me Acadia did this too.  It is so frustrating because there is nothing you can do about it!  Speaking of pooping, Ty had a first on Thursday.  He had gone poop on the potty and was reading a magazine at the same time.  Well, this is the first time that after he went, he didn’t  just get right up…he actually wanted to stay there and keep reading!  It was pretty cute!  Thursday night we went out to the Mexican restaurant with Adam & Sonia and had great eating as usual.

I wish I hadn't stopped recording - he didn't even cry at all!

Have a great week!

RANDOM PICS/VIDEOS

Too bad it's fuzzy

Could he be left-handed?

"I Love You" Manipulations, Time-Outs With Daddy, "Jesus Saved Westy", York's Animal Kingdom, "Idiot", Refill Please & "Too Much Singing"

Wes:  9 Months & 3 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 10 Months & 3 Weeks Old

Last Friday was grocery day, as usual.  Other than that, we didn’t do too much.  But Ty did a couple of funny things, of course.  First thing in the morning, Ty realized that he hadn’t seen his stuffed Donald Duck in awhile.  That prompted a full house search for him!  Ty had just about given up and was getting upset, when Mama came to the rescue and found him!  He was in Ty’s tent in his room.  You should have seen the reunion!  “Ty missed you, Donald Duck!  Ty loves you, Donald Duck!”  Then Ty treated him to a ride down the banister, and he, of course, fell face-first on the floor and Ty said, “Donald Duck, you have a boo-boo!  Ty kiss it better!”  Then he felt that he had been through such an ordeal that he needed a nap.  So he pulled out a pillow and blanket, tucked him in and kissed him goodnight!  It was so stinking cute!  Then something else happened that was cute, but frustrating at the same time.  I can’t remember what he had done wrong, but he was being bad, and I had threatened him with a spanking if he didn’t stop.  He did stop but then he threw the biggest hissy fit on the floor.  So I had had it.  I picked him up and told him he was getting a spanking.  His response?  He stopped the fit, looked deep in my eyes, and whispered, “I love you.”  What a little manipulating son of a gun!!!!!  I literally could not spank him at that moment.  How do you paddle your child after they just declared their love for you?  I have to give to him.  It worked and I usually do not let the discipline slide.  He got me that day!

Kissing Donald Duck goodnight

He looks pretty comfy!

On Sabbath I worked 7a-7p and the boys stayed home.  Since I only work once every 6 weekends, Heath forgets what it is like to be with them for a good 12+ hours!  I got home to a frustrated Heath.  And just to set the record straight, the frustration is all about Tyson.  Westin is the happiest, sweetest little guy  - literally you could never be frustrated with Wes!  Anyways, Heath said, “Tyson doesn’t listen at all!  Not at all!”  I don’t know why I had to remind my husband that Ty is 2 and it is a work in progress, but remind him I did.  But what was so funny was when I asked Tyson, “Ty, what did you do with Daddy today?”  And Ty said, “Time-outs with Daddy.”  Out of everything they had done for 12+ hours and that is what he remembered?  There must have been a lot of them! 

On Sunday I had to work, but worked 3p-3a.  The 4 of us were able to have a nice breakfast together and I got the boys down for their naps.  Then I left for work about 1 hour early so I could go to the pharmacies sans kids.  The really unfortunate part of this day was that it was the opening game for the Patriots and I had signed myself up to work!  What was I thinking?  I listened to the game on my radio between pharmacies and then watched on my iPhone while in the stores.  I ended up being able to watch until Half-time and then was able to watch bits and pieces until the end of the game.  They won, but - what a poor showing!  I’m a bit worried about the team this year.  We’ll see how it goes – I know it is a little early!  In the afternoon, Heath and the boys did some errands and went to DQ.  Lucky ducks.

Monday was the only staying-at-home-all-day day for this week!  Very unlike us.  It was a good day for it, since I had worked the night before and got my usual 3 hours of sleep.  Tyson had a day of thanks of Monday!  Westin is such a mobile little bugger – I think I wrote about having trouble when I bring the dogs outside.  He stands right up, holding onto the screen door, so it makes it difficult to open the door without him doing a face plant.  You have to time it just right and catch him!  I have since gotten smarter and closed the front door, instead of just the screen door, and for some reason, he doesn’t get in front of the front door!  Well, he had done it again on Monday morning and was standing up on the screen door and Ty was with me on the front porch.  Ty seemed to get stressed out about Westin’s predicament.  But I was able to open the door and catch him without any problems.  Tyson got all excited!  He said, “Thank you Jesus!  Thank you saving Westy!”  That just warms my heart that Ty’s initial reaction was to thank Jesus!  There is not a better feeling as a parent when your child shows a love for God.  So Ty’s thankfulness continued when out of nowhere while eating his lunch, he said…..

Ty:  “Thank you Mama.”

Me:  “For what, Ty?”

Ty:  “For soup!”

How cute!  He has been saying “thank you” a lot more lately, just when you hand him things or do things for him.  I love to hear it!  On Monday night I wondered what Tyson was dreaming about.  His activeness while sleeping continues.  He must have been having a nightmare because he sat up, yelling, “No!  No!  No!” and then started hitting his pillow!  But he didn’t wake up, he just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Poor guy.

You can't tell...but he climbed right onto the dishwasher!

This is Tyson's method of picking up - he literally threw his toys in a corner!  Look at the car up on two wheels!

More picking up to be done - Westin emptied the entire bookshelf onto the floor!  This kid is trouble!

 

Having fun with Daddy after work

Tuesday was a busy day.  I got the boys up and moving way earlier than they would have liked to get up, but we had plans!  We were going to York’s Animal Kingdom in York, Maine with Noni, Shannon & the kids, and Grammy Lin (Sean’s mother).  Noni rode with us, much to the delight of the boys.  The funniest thing happened while we were driving over there.  I had a touch of road rage at a car, and I said, “You stupid idiot!”  Well, that set my mother off into a holier-than-thou-soapbox discussion of how Tyson was going to start repeating everything we say, and how would I like it if he went around telling everyone they were an idiot…etc..etc.  After she was finished with her sermon, what did we hear coming from the back seat?  Tyson laughing while repeating over and over, “idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!”  Thank you Mom!!!!  If she hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t have said a thing!!!!  Well, that is probably not true because he has already said a couple of unpleasant words that I will not get into, and obviously we know where he has gotten that from.  Yes, we need to work on EVERYTHING that we say at all times.  So we had a nice time seeing all the animals at the park.  The kids loved it – we all did, until it started raining pretty hard (I had checked the weather before we left and it said between 10-20% of rain.  Yeah right).  It had been kind of sprinkling on and off but then the flood gates opened.  The really unfortunate part was that I hadn’t checked our double stroller before I loaded it in the car.  I don’t know why I would have needed to check it, but Heath (for some reason) had taken off the canopy top off the stroller (maybe it was easier to store).  So this meant I had no head cover for Westin at all!  The poor baby!  So he got the only umbrella I had.  I tried to wedge it in but it kept falling over, but then Westin started holding it himself!  He loved it – he thought he was such a big shot!  Before the rain drove us out (we had seen everything anyways), we had tried to go to this animal presentation, but it was a no-go.  There was only like 6 other people there, and it was a very small area…so you couldn’t hide anything.  Tyson & Finley were crazy.  They were so loud and so disruptive…we had to leave.  How embarrassing.  While we were at the park, we found out some new, exciting news in our family.  Shawn & Camille are pregnant with their 3rd child!  This came as a pretty big shock since they had been talking forever that they were done at 2 kids.  But they changed their minds!  So that was a big deal!  We are very happy for them!  After we left the park, we went to this restaurant that is one of Grammy Lin’s favorites.  It was right on the ocean and it was beautiful.  Even though it was lousy outside, we opted to eat on the covered patio.  It was right on the ocean and it was spectacular.  We were smart and sat Finley & Ty way apart from each other and both of them were great during the meal.  So I have a confession to make.  I have never done this before anywhere, but I brought a lunch in for Ty to eat.  I had brought a sack lunch, in case we ate at the park, but since everyone else wanted to go out – I wasn’t going to complain.  I got a vegeburger and it was $8.50.  I felt that the price was pretty reasonable.  Then I took a look at the kid menu and the kids meals were $8.25!!!!!!  What?  How does that make sense?  Well, there was no way I was paying $8.25 for a kid’s grilled cheese, so I went right to the car and got his sack lunch.  I have always thought that it was rude to do that, but I didn’t care.  I draw the line at $6.00 for a kid’s meal.  Ridiculous.  Ty did the funniest thing at the restaurant.  Mom & Shannon had passed their glasses over to the waiter for a refill, so Tyson obviously noticed this.  Ty raised his empty juice box and tried to give the waiter the juice box for a refill! (=  I laughed so hard at that one!  After lunch, we headed home.  Noni was having a busy day with us, too.  She had offered to baby-sit for Heath & I so we could go out for my birthday (that was some weeks back).  So we went to Smitty’s that night for dinner & a movie.  We saw “We’re the Millers.”  Very inappropriate comedy but it was the funniest comedy we have seen in years.  We laughed the whole movie long and the entire ride home.  It was just very, very funny.  We had a nice night out, just the two of us.  I wish we would do it more!

Mom feeding the goats

But she didn't like it!

Holding the umbrella

They have deer just walking free - Ty was afraid of them!

They know where the food is!

Watching the tigers

Griffin smiling at his auntie

Yes, Ty was knocking on the glass - telling them to wake up too!

The goats weren't stupid - they were all huddled together to get out of the rain

I worked on Wednesday and I can’t remember anything earth-shattering that happened in the AM, before I left.  Heath told me a cute thing Ty had said that night.  Ty had been running around , giggling, and singing over and over, “Oh my darling, Oh my darling! (that’s the only part to “Oh my darling, Clementine” that he knows).  Ty ended up being out of breath and Heath asked him why.  Tyson replied, “Too much singing Daddy!”

Thursday was another busy day.  We had a normal morning and the boys had their naps.  Then in the afternoon, it was off to the VW dealer for Heath’s car to be serviced for 30,000 miles.  Oil change, tire rotation, and fluids filled took 1 hour and 45 minutes.  C’mon!  The boys did well, playing in a waiting room without any toys.  Westin had a blast emptying out the diaper bag twice.  I know the floor is not the best place for them, but what are you going to do?  You roll with it!  That night we went to Fratello’s and had great Italian.  My parents, Sonia & Adam came with us.  We had a full crew and had a wonderful time!  When we got home from the restaurant, Ty said the cutest thing to Heath.

Ty:       “Daddy, come to living room!”

Heath:  “Why?”

Ty:        “Ty want to do horsey neigh on you!” (horsey neigh equals Ty sitting on Heath & pretends he is horseback riding)

Diaper bag hunting

Donald Duck makes it easy to entertain Ty

Have a great week!  

RANDOM PICS/VIDEOS