My Boys and Me

Thank goodness I have had 3 days off in a row.  I am so behind on everything.  I think I just need to accept that I will never be on top of things the way I used to be, that my memory will never be as precise, that my house will never be “Sandy” clean for more than a day, that I will ALWAYS have laundry in the basket, toys will always be slewed around the house, something will always be broken and needing to be fixed, and I will always begin a blog entry by looking at the date I last wrote and sighing, wishing I had time to blog more and a better memory to remember everything I’ve wanted to share since the last time I wrote.

Oh well, I have the most wonderful reasons for all of the above and SO much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Here are the top 2-

Things have been going really well and we’ve actually been able to spend a lot of time together as a family.  Braeden has been off school since Wed and Mike was off work Wed, Thurs and Friday too.  He and the boys came to work with me on Wed and I’ve been off since.  We were supposed to go to FL for the week, but decided to stay home and spend some time together alone.  We realized that we have not spent one holiday at home by ourselves since we were married.  We love our families SO much, but sometimes traveling is more stressful than enjoyable (with kids).  We had a perfect quiet day at home on Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed a Honeybaked ham, and the mashed potatoes that Mike’s Mom made us, played football outside with the boys, decorated the house for Christmas and watched Home Alone.  PERFECT!  To all the people we didn’t see for Thanksgiving that we love so much, we are so thankful that you are in our lives and hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving.

So, what else has been going on?  Mikey’s toe is healing well.  We took him to a foot specialist to be sure the nail was growing back the way it should and that the fracture has not gotten worse. So far, so good.  In other Dr. news- at Mikey’s 18 month checkup, he officially calmed our fears regarding his eating habits/tininess.  He had gained 2 pounds since his 15 month checkup which is GREAT for this age.  He is almost 23 pounds. He has not gotten better about eating, but his Dr. assure us that we have nothing to worry about and in fact we should relax a lot more with him and just have a take-it-or-leave-it approach at mealtime.  It will ALWAYS be a battle of the wills with a personality like Mikey’s and unfortunately until he gets a little older, he will always win. He drinks a lot of milk and water so even if he doesn’t eat at all during the day (which is sometimes a reality) we can be assured he is fine.  He truly does NOT like the Dr. and is very in tune with when he enters an office that even remotely resembles a Dr.s office. When we went for his 18 month check up, he was playing in the waiting room happily and even ran through the door when the nurse called his name.  As soon as he saw the nurse’s scrubs, he realized where he was at, said, “No!” and went running back out the door.  This week, when I took him to the foot specialist, he had to have a lollipop in BOTH hands before he would let the Dr. anywhere near him.  He is a SMART little guy- so smart he shocks us all the time.  Here are some of the things he is up to at 18 months-

Words he can say-Mama, Dada, Mom Mom (what he calls Mike’s Mom), Buba (brother), Milk, nigh, nigh, tan to (thank you), ba ball (baseball), No No (which he frequently tells Sayelor when he is with her at Mike’s Mom’s during the day), yummy (yogurt), ball (he LOVES anything round that looks like a ball), unny (bunny), Harley (he says his name in the loudest voice and rolls his tongue when he says the L, it is SO cute. When he is not here, he will walk around the house looking for him and yelling his name), hello, bye bye, go, out, baby, on, at (hat), bath.  He also uses all these words in the right context.  He understands a lot of words even if he can’t quite say them.  He can repeat a lot of the words as we say them.

He loves- the movie “Miss Pattycake,” being lifted to the basketball net so he can “dunk” the ball, pushing ANYTHING that will move (outside he pushes his lawnmower, inside he pushes the shopping cart we gave him as an early Christmas present- so he would stop trying to push his high chair around the house), sitting in the driver seat and pretending to drive (my sister is planning to get him the Little Tykes police car that he can sit in for Christmas), his bunny (that I have yet to find a replacement for online. Lets hope we don’t loose this one.  I’ve tried a couple substitutes, but he only wants the one he carries everywhere that sings “Jesus Loves Me,” climbing (he can get up and down from a chair), sitting at the table in a big boy chair (he does not like his high chair), our cell phones (he has figured out how to hit the last call button and frequently calls Daddy and Grandma.  He continues to be stubborn, curious, busy, demanding, but SO darn cute!  He is lucky he is adorable.  It helps Mike and I to laugh when he throws the horrible fits that he can throw when he doesn’t get his way.  He is also madly in love with Daddy and says “Daddy” when he sees any police car.  He recently got his first real haircut and actually did great.  I took him by myself and was quite nervous since the last 2 times we took him (just for a trim around the ears or a bangs trim) he did not enjoy himself.  We love his hair cut.  He was in dire need of one.  Check it out- This was the day after- we were at Rollie Pollie (a new favorite place for both boys to play.)

He had to keep one sock on to protect his sore toe.

Braeden had fun too-

Braeden is doing great!  He continues to love playing outside.  He is out shooting hoops right now.  He is such a breath of fresh air among the craziness that Mikey provides.  He is constantly telling me he loves me, always does what he is supposed to do, has become adamant about following the rules (even the dentist’s rule of flossing daily), he never gives us any trouble, and is so easy to love and adore!  He sets a wonderful example for his little brother and I hear and see him correcting Mikey all the time.  They are SO different, and I love them equally for so many different reasons (even though Mikey makes it tough to LIKE him at times) I actually love the fact that Mikey is difficuly, and has been in time out more in his 18 months than Braeden in his almost 7 years, and every other fact that makes them complete opposites.  Now I truly know what my parents meant when I’d ask them who they loved the most out of my sister, brother and myself and they would say “I love you all equally.” I never understood how this could be possible since we were so different (well, my brother and sister were a lot alike, but I was/am very different).  I was also more of the “Mikey” in our family so I am glad that parents DO in fact love the difficult one too. I’m sure Braeden must wonder how we can love Mikey as much as him when he acts the way he does, but I can’t imagine loving him any more if he were any different than exactly who HE is!

Here are a few more pictures to make up for the 2-week gap in writing

This one is for Aunt Lisa

“Brrr, I can’t imagine what its like to live in Canada, It’s freezing here and I do NOT like this big ole coat or hat Mama made me wear!”

And this one is for Uncle Jack

“I am STILL not a fan of this Santa guy!” PS. this was taken before we got his haircut- notice how long it is

THIS is a rareity- Mikey is sitting still AND sitting WITH his brother!

Since Braeden is still with the grandparents, things have been quiet around here.  I don’t have much to write right now so I thought I’d just share a few pictures.  Braeden comes home on Sunday so I am sure I will have a LOT to report.  Have a great weekend!

Check out Mikey’s shirt…..I promise it was a given to me as a gift!

I am TOO tired to write tonight, so I will make up for it with pictures.  I wrote last week that Uncle Jack was Braeden’s new favorite person…..that was until Aunt Lisa got to town a few days later (sorry Jack).  He LOVES his aunt (even more so after the 2 game boy games she bought him)! I will try and write a good entry tomorrow.  I have some funny things to share.  Hope everyone is good.

Ps. The face Mikey is making is one of Mike and I’s favorites.