Labor Day Weekend Cabin, Swipe Master, "See you Soon", Worst Meltdown Yet, First Eggs, "Ty Poop on You", Westin Loves the Chase, Sleepwalking?, Witches Are Pretty?, Loving Loud Music & Wes Walking Behind Toys

Wes:  9 Months & 3 Weeks Old

Ty:  2 Years, 10 Months & 3 Weeks Old

Last Friday was another busy day, getting ready for yet another weekend away.  We had rented a cabin in Maine with Keith, Sonia, Adam & Norma for Labor Day weekend.  I had found it on vacationrentals.com and it was an incredible price, for a great 4 bedroom cabin, that was “on a river” (a short walk down the lane).  I chanced it with Westin and went grocery shopping first thing that morning.  He was exhausted and fell asleep on the way home, woke up, but then went down for another 2 hours, so that was good.  We were completely packed and ready to go when Heath got home and we left 30 minutes later, which is a major record for us!  We hit up McDonald’s (for Ty) and Chipotle again on the way to the cabin.  We pulled in at about 10 PM and, of course, my boys were wired.  They did not fall asleep until midnight!  We were sleeping in this huge room upstairs with 2 double beds and 2 twin beds.  We took one double bed, had Wes in his pack ‘n’ play, and put one of the twin mattresses on the floor for Ty.  The only weird thing about this room was that there was not a door and it went right down the steep, wooden stairs.  That was a little weird, but we figured we would deal with it.  As Tyson was trying to go to sleep, he asked for his water nubby.  I went to the car to get it and I crept down the stairs.  The hall/stairs light was connected to the light in our room, so I didn’t want to turn the light on and wake up Heath & Wes that were trying to sleep.  I used my headlamp and went to go get the nubby.  As I came back through the door, what did I hear?  “Hi Mama.”  Ty had walked down the VERY VERY steep stairs in the complete pitch dark!!!  Oh my goodness!  He could have really hurt himself!  That was a close one!

Our bedroom

Living room

Kitchen

Sunroom

Of course my kids were up at 7 AM, since the blinds were almost non-existent in that room.  7 hours of sleep is nothing, compared to their usual 11-12 hours!  It was a rainy, dreary day, so we just had a relaxing day at the cabin, not doing too much, and then we went out to look at a piece of property that we were all interested in.  We have been trying to find land to build a cabin on with the Edwards for at least 8 years.  We all agreed that this property looked like a great deal.  I loved it, but unfortunately, I was the only one that loved it.  We will never all agree on a place!  Won’t happen.  One cute thing that Ty has been saying is… “See you soon!” and “Later alligator!”  It is so cute!  He kept saying this over and over this weekend.  Another thing of repetition during this weekend was an app that Norma got us all addicted to.  It is a game called “Swipe” and it is a blast.  It is a candy/gem type of game, where you “swipe” your finger across similar gems to make them disappear.  It is really fun.  Tyson was not left out in this game!  It is actually really good for his recognition of shapes and colors.  He loved to play it too!  I guess it is better than watching cartoons on YouTube.  Saturday night Tyson had a horrible time going to sleep. I’m sure it was being in a different place (Westin went right down immediately) but he just wouldn’t go to sleep.  Heath had ended up lying down with him to help him go to sleep.  Fast forward to 20 minutes later, who comes tiptoeing down the stairs?  Tyson.  And he’s alone.  He was so cute – he was so excited and so pleased with himself.  We said, “Tyson.  Did Daddy fall asleep?”  Tyson said, “Maybe yes.”  No sooner did he say that, but who came down the stairs, but a very unhappy Daddy.  Unfortunately, Tyson’s freedom was over and back to bed he went.  Alone this time.  He finally went to sleep, but it took about 1 ½ hours.  We played some of our favorite games of Apples to Apples & Phase 10 that night and then Sonia, Norma & I stayed up late playing Swipe on our various electronic gadgets.  Good times.

Hanging out in bed Saturday morning

I can't remember if he was binky stealing or putting the binky back in - could be either way!

 

Sunday we decided to do things a little different.  Since some of us were discouraged about the property we had looked at the day before, we decided that a 6-8 hour day in a car looking at properties that were probably going to pan out to nothing…would not be enjoyable for the boys.  So the 3 older boys went without us to look at 6 more properties.  If they found one they really liked, then they would call us (but that was a questionable plan, since the cell service in the back woods of Maine leaves something to be desired).  We made the right decision and they didn’t find “The One” yet.  The only downfall of this plan was Tyson.  For some strange reason, he woke up at about 6:30 AM and looked over at our bed and noticed that Heath was not in it (the boys were leaving by 7 AM).  He came over to our bed, climbed in and said, “Where’s Daddy?”  I had to tell him that Daddy was going to look at some properties and then he would be coming home.  Well, I don’t know what happened to that child, but he flipped out.  He started wailing, “Ty go too!  Ty go Daddy!”  I could not calm him down and then it got worse.  Heath came up the stairs (to go into our bathroom to brush his teeth) and Tyson saw him.  He became 10 times worse and hysterical.  Heath tried to smooth things over, but nothing was working, so I told him just to leave.  Tyson was overtired, emotional, and there was no rationalizing with him.  I could not believe Westin was sleeping through this, but I took Tyson into our bathroom, just in case.  I have never seen him act like this before.  He was having a melt-down to the upmost.  He was thrashing all over the floor, kicking, screaming – he was bright red with rage.  I told him to stop, I warned him, and I spanked him at least 5 different times.  Nothing worked.  He was so crazed that I honestly thought he would have a seizure.  This went on for about 20 minutes (not exaggerating).  Then I tried a completely different tactic.  I got him off the floor, sat him in a corner, and I sat down opposite him, but I turned my back to him.  I told him that I was not going to talk to him, I wasn’t going to look at him, until he had calmed down.  That took another 5-10 minutes, but it finally worked.  He has never done this and I hope will never do it again.  Unfortunately, in all of this, Westin did wake up.  So it was a little after 7 AM and they were both up for the day.  It was another day of raining on and off, so we didn’t do too much.  When the boys got back, we drove to Waterville and the boys went to Mardens & the girls went to Goodwill.  On the drive there, Tyson was trying to take a nap in the car and again…we were on the backwoods of Maine.  Tyson said, “Daddy!  Stop bumping!  Bumpy road!”  After the shopping, we went out to eat and it was fantastic.  Thank goodness Tyson was drama-free at bedtime and went right to sleep.  Then us adults played more games – my favorite thing to do! 

Eating out - look at the hand in his pocket

Happy boy eating Puffs at the restaurant 

On Monday, Labor Day, we packed up, did some cleaning and headed out.  We all stopped for breakfast in Augusta and then headed our separate ways.  Westin had eggs and pancakes for the first time and did OK with them.  He didn't love the texture of the eggs!  I hope he doesn't hate them like I do!  It's a pain!  Well, Adam came with us to Cabela’s first in Portland.  Heath dropped Wes & I off at Mardens and then Ty & Heath came and joined us later (Adam had gone home).  We got Panera take-out for the drive home and got home at around 8 PM – just in time for tubbies with the boys.  I am so enjoying these Sundays together -  the 4 of us.  I was talking with someone just the other day about how fast time goes by and how the boys will be grown before we know it… and how they will be telling me that they hate me, instead of that they love me.  I definitely am not looking forward to those days, but Tyson has already said the two year-old equivalent of “I hate you.”  And that would be, “Mama, Ty poop on you.”  There’s that poop again!  How does he come up with this?

This pic cracked me up - same expression!  This was at the breakfast restaurant 

Happy boy at Mardens with Mama

Tubby time

Would love to get a picture of Ty having his tubby- but he just won't look at the camera!

Tuesday was a work day for me, but I got to have some fun with the boys before I had to leave.  Westin is doing a really cute thing right now.  He loves to have us chase him!  He will crawl off, in a dead run, stop and then look over his shoulder – to see if we are chasing him.  Then he starts giggling and turns back and returns to his very fast crawling!  It is so cute!  He totally wants us to chase him! 

Naked boys playing before I went to work

Wednesday morning, I was dragging and Ty tried to take full advantage of my condition.  I had finished giving Westin his bottle, which automatically means that Tyson has to shut off the iPad.  Well, what did I find?  Tyson sitting too perfectly on the couch, looking guilty.  He finally gave in and showed me that he had hidden the iPad underneath a blanket and was pulling it out to play with it.  Rascal.  After I had woken up a bit and the boys had napped…we made our way down to a playground in Concord and met Shannon, the kids & my parents.  It was a great spot and the kids had a blast.  Wednesday night, Tyson appeared to be sleepwalking in his crib.  At around midnight, he stood up, pointed and said, “Oh, look!  There water!”  Then he laid back down and was immediately asleep!  How cute!

Wes standing up on the screen door, while Ty & I let the puppies outside.  This makes it a little difficult to open the door without Wes falling!

Talking to Daddy with Finley's phone...when we arrived at the park

Hitching a ride in Finley's stroller

Same expression again!

Ty & Fin peeking through a little window 

Griffin Michael

Love this picture

So cute

Thursday we had a normal morning but then did a bunch of errands in the afternoon.  First of all, we had to stop at the post office to mail the salad tongs that Tyson had accidentally stolen from the cabin that we had rented.  I was worried that we weren’t going to make it before they closed, and it is literally right down the street, so I hadn’t put my seat belt on.  You can’t get anything past Ty!  He said, “Mama, put belt on!  Mama you fall out window!”  Then we hit up all the pharmacies and finished out with Kohl’s to return something.  I was worried when we were at the pharmacies because all the Halloween stuff is out and Ty got scared of it last year.  I don’t know what he was thinking, but when we were at Rite Aid, he walked right up to a witch, and said, “You pretty.”  So cute!  But it takes away from all the times Ty has told me that I am pretty!  As we were leaving Rite Aid, he looked over at the witch and said, “Bye-bye lady!  See you soon!”  While we were at Rite Aid, Ty had gotten quite a bit of water at the water machine in the pharmacy waiting area.  I knew this would come back to bite me!  When we first got to Kohl’s, I put him on the froggy potty.  Then we went into Kohl’s and Westin had pooped, so we changed him in Kohl’s and I asked Ty if he needed to pee, but he said “no.”  As I was buckling Ty into his car seat, he had to pee again!  C’mon!  This is why you dehydrate your kids when you are doing errands!  (=  Just kidding!  After Kohl’s, we met Heath & Adam at the Mexican restaurant.  While we were driving there, we were listening to the radio, when Ty said, “Mama, song loud.”  Since I listen to music a bit louder than most people, I apologized and turned the radio down.  Didn’t it warm my heart, when my son said, “No Mama!  Song loud!”  He wanted me to turn it up louder! (=  A boy after my own heart!  After we got back from the restaurant, I brought out Ty's old push/walking toy for Westin.  He had been trying to push the tractor earlier that day.  He went right to it!  He is a little wobbly, but he is taking steps on his own, pushing the toy!  I think walking might be right around the corner!  But you never know!    

Playing Peek a Boo 

There he is!

Taking his first steps on his own - with the walking toy!

Have a great week!
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