Ty & Wes Time: "Going on an Adventure," Caught His 1st Fish, "Princess Mommy," Peed in a Diaper, Timer Picking Up, Sitting Still to Watch TV & 18 Month Stats, "Boo-Boo's"

My Monkeys

Wes: 1 Year, 6 Months & 1 Week Old

Ty: 3 Years, 7 Months & 1 Week Old

Friday
Last Friday was Grocery Day and I couldn't believe the ultimate error that I made. I had forgotten Westin’s infant car seat carrier. I realized this when I pulled into the parking space at Market Basket and I almost cried. I knew that I was in for real trouble with Tyson over the next 45 minutes – 1 hour (yes, it takes me that long to get my groceries for a week with the 2 muchkins in tow). He did OK, but there were definite moments. Ty is just not old enough to walk in a store for that long (he does OK at a quick pharmacy stop). After we got home, I was unloading groceries and Tyson was “going on an adventure!” He is so funny. He grabs his froggy back pack and fills it with this and that (books, kitchen utensils, balls, fake food etc…) and he gets on his bike and takes the long journey down the hallway! Then he tried to get Westin to come with him. “Come on, Westy! Let’s go on an adventure!” Westin did follow Ty on his little “bike” and he really flies on that thing! In fact he went so fast that Ty yelled, “Don’t crash on the adventure, Westy!” But then Wes tried to duck out after only a few seconds and Ty was not pleased. He said, “Westy! The adventure is not over! Come back!” It was so cute - the whole scene really cracked me up.

Westin going on the adventure

Ty too

Westin has had enough

Sabbath
We went to Laconia church for Sabbath School, church, and then went home and had lunch. Wes went down for his 3-4 hour nap and Heath & Ty went fishing together. Ty actually caught his first fish (actually 3)!!!! I wish I could have been there to see it and also wish I had pictures to post, but no such luck. Saturday night at bedtime we continued a crazy thing we have been doing lately. Ty likes to pretend that Heath is a dragon and calls him “Dragon Daddy” and I am a princess (obviously) and I am called “Princess Mommy!” The dragon tries to “get” the princess and my hero, “Knight Tyson” rescues me! We have had a bit of trouble deciding what role Westin has in this game…Tyson keeps insisting that “Westy can be a fireman!” I keep laughing telling Ty that a fireman does not go with the era…but you really can’t explain that to a 3-year-old! I finally got Ty to call Westy… “Prince Westy” (he is my son in the game, not my husband as my real husband initially thought)! We have a great time with this game, but what is even cuter is that the name “Princess Mommy” has kind of stuck. Ty loves to call me that! So randomly, he will say, “Can I have more milk, Princess Mommy?” It warms my heart, it is so cute. What girl doesn’t like to be called a “princess?”

Sabbath afternoon checking out my new textbook (Amazon's rental)

No, Westin did not wear the hat to church!

...or this hat!

Sunday
We had our normal big breakfast and then started puttering around the house (Heath outside and me inside). Then at about noon, we headed 45 minutes away to look at another pop-up camper. It was in pretty good shape, but the problem was that it was being shown at a dealership. That prompted us to go into 8-10 campers and we kind of got thinking about getting a regular 25-28 foot trailer instead of a pop-up. Just about every single person that is selling a pop-up says that they are upsizing to a larger camper. So Heath was saying, “So should we just buy the bigger camper?” We are debating. We are only going to buy used. The difference in price on average is about $2,500 more. But they last so much longer and you don’t have the canvas like you do on the pop-ups that can be really problematic every few years (and it costs $1000 to replace). I’m not sure what we are going to do. After we looked at 1 pop-up, we were waiting to get a call from someone selling a 27 foot camper for ridiculously cheap (needing some repairs). Someone was viewing the camper first and then we were going to be second. Well, the first people bought it, so we were out of luck. We were kind of bummed out, but what heals a broken heart like Taco Bell?! We had a lovely lunch, including Westin taking some bites of my Mexican pizza – which I was so excited about! He tried something new and liked it! After that, we headed home for Westin’s nap and the boys went fishing again and Heath got a haircut.

Trying on hats at Tractor Supply after looking at campers

Eating a taco sauce packet - he is insane!

Monday
Westin started the day with giving me trouble eating again. I was so frustrated. I have started giving his bottles after he eats his meals, to try to have him be as hungry as possible…but it still doesn’t seem to matter. He usually loves waffles, but he only ate about half the waffle and then refused to eat anymore. But he did want yogurt, so it’s not like he was full…he is just being bratty! I started talking out loud to myself saying, “Maybe Wes will go back to the waffle and finish it if I give him the yogurt now.” Little did I know that Tyson was hanging on my every word! Because he responded right to me and said, “Good thinking, Mama. That’s a good idea!” It was so cute. I can’t remember if it worked or not! (= I did a full cleaning (minus the floors) of the house on Monday while the kids played around me. I worked 7p-3a that night. My mom was still gone, but Heath was able to get home by 5:45 pm, so I could go to work. I was still short 4 hours of the 12 hours that I work every week, but I picked up hours on Wednesday night too. Ty did something very strange on Monday. When I was cleaning the bathroom upstairs, the boys were playing in Westin’s room. Tyson came to me in the bathroom and threw a diaper in the trashcan. I looked at him and said, “What is that?” And Ty told me, “I took one of Westy’s diapers and I peed in it.” Sure enough he had! What in the world?

Having a snack together

Trying on one of my scrub tops

Tuesday
I was dragging but not as bad as when I work a 12 hour shift (since it was only an 8 hour shift the night before). I finished the vacuuming and washing the floors. This week I started a new thing that has been helping Ty pick up his toys. I had thought about setting a timer a bunch of times, but kept dismissing it thinking that he would need a reward at the end of the timer…like a treat or iPad time and I really didn’t want to give any more of those things. And I kind of thought that Ty was too smart for something like that and would just think it was lame. Well, my friend, Amy encouraged me to try it and it completely works (for now)!!!! He hasn’t asked for a reward…he just loves when the room is totally picked up when my phone alarm goes off! We’ll see how long this lasts for! Because he had done so good on this day…Ty asked me sweetly, “Can I have my blocks back?” I caved. I had hidden his blocks in the basement for weeks after he had refused to pick them up. You should have seen the joy on Ty’s face when he was reunited with the blocks! Priceless. On a down note, I got my syllabus for my next class that I am taking (starting next Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day). My last class was all writing assignments with a PowerPoint presentation, but this class is Pathophysiology and there is a 100 point quiz every single week…which means I have to figure out what they are going to test from the 60+ pages of reading I am supposed to do every week. And there is a final exam. So this is not good for my summer at all. I was hoping that the nursing classes would all use the same format, but, unfortunately this is not the case. Oh, I’m nervous. I have always had such test anxiety. Please pray for me!

"Reunited and it feels so good!"

Driving the lawnmower

Ty's pants kept falling down - drawstring jeans can't get tight enough for that skinny waist!

Trying to go down the stairs by himself

Wednesday
I noticed this week that Westin will actually sit down a watch a show or sit in front of the iPad with Ty…which he has never done before. This is not good, since technically he is not supposed to watch TV until age 2…but that is out the window. Not that my kids just sit around and watch TV, but I do treat them…after picking up…and we usually watch Curious George first thing in the AM, lying in bed together (the 3 of us). Westin had his 18 month appointment in the afternoon. I put him down to nap early at 11:30 pm, but he wouldn’t fall asleep until noon. He only ended up sleeping 1 ½ hours (which is less than half of his normal time). So onto his stats…
Weight: 21 lbs (15th percentile)
Height: 32 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 18.5 inches (40th percentile)
This is exactly where he has been all along! She thinks he is doing great, despite the not-eating-phase. She thinks it is probably a phase, and tells me not to stress. He gained ½ lb in 3 months, which is good. She said sometimes kids don’t gain at all at this point. She was impressed with his talking (because she saw it firsthand) and thinks it is because of Tyson, obviously. He had to have 2 shots and he did cry a little, but I was able to calm him right down. But it was so cute, because he looked at both of his thighs, right after the shots and said, “boo-boos.” It was so adorable, but so sad too. I didn't even know he knew the word! I worked again on Wednesday night 11p-3a to get my full 12 hours in. It was great, though, because I was able to put the boys to bed and they didn’t even know that I was gone! That made me feel great!

Hugging each other, watching Curious George

Westin had my phone, was playing the piano while standing on the piano bench & then you will see his little feet dancing...and then he almost falls and he says, "whoa!" (all while I was in the bathroom, of course)

Thursday
We puttered around the house in the AM and after lunch Uncle Charlie & Aunt Lori came for a visit. They were on their way up to Quebec City, with most of our New England family (minus Devin & Leigh and us). We didn't go because we spent a bunch of money on our cruise, and went to Florida for Papa's memorial service...and we are trying to buy a house & a camper...so we just couldn't spend extra money, but I was disappointed. It was great to see Uncle Charlie & Aunt Lori. The kids went right to them like they had just seen them last week! Ty kept joking around with Uncle Charlie and Westin clung to Aunt Lori like glue! Wes wanted to play with Uncle Charlie and did his version of "peek-a-boo," but Uncle Charlie peek-a-booed back very enthusiastically and scared Wes! We had a good visit, but they had to press on and Westin needed to take a nap before we left for swimming lessons. We left early this week and we got there about 15 minutes early so that Tyson could watch the other kids swim to get Ty "jazzed up" (as Heath would say) for swimming. In the car ride to the lesson, Ty was whining that he did not want to go and that he was scared. Poor guy. But he did amazing! He put his face in the water, he floated a little bit on his back (probably his worst skill), and swam by himself quite a ways (with one of the instructors right there)!!! But he does need to work on his doggie paddle - he tries to "swim" just by kicking his feet (the back floatie-life jacket-thing keeps him straight up and down). Overall, a very good lesson. After the lesson, we booked it down to Merrimack and looked at a 26 foot camper. I was in absolute love - it was beyond gorgeous inside. Heath agreed that they kept it immaculate inside, but there are quite a few problems with the exterior. I still think it is a steal for the price & I think we should buy it, but shocker...Heath is not convinced. We will keep looking, but I will really feel bad when that one sells. We ate at Carrabbas, just the 4 of us, and went home.