Monday, January 28, 2013

A Confession. Bribery. And a Reward


I have been so behind on this blog, and I have about 12 posts waiting to be written and published, and yet I don't seem to get them done.  Hek, I haven't even posted about Christmas yet!  Yikes.  We have been adjusting to a new "normal" in our house, and it's taking longer than expected to get used to.  Carl got switched to first shift, and while we are so excited about that---it is taking some true adjusting.  With first shift is coming longer hours, Saturdays, and less time with Daddy around.  Although it is nice to have Carl around during the over night hours to help with our boys who seem to think sleep during the night is highly overrated.  Ha.

Confession.  I started working out again.  Not only working out, I started kickboxing.  It's kicking my butt, and it feels so good!  With this workout class comes an early alarm clock.  My alarm goes off at 4:15 four days a week, which is just way too early for me.  I am not a morning person.  Ask my husband for a confirmation of that statement.  Not only does my alarm go off way too early, my two little hoodlums are still up multiple times during the night---causing even less sleep than desired.  Add all that together---and it causes this Mama to be rather sleep deprived.  I really enjoy my 7-8 hours of sleep a night.  I would love 10, but let's be honest---that won't be happening for a very long time.  So I scaled back to wanting 7-8 hours a night.....and that isn't even happening these days.  While it feels good to be working out again, I feel like I am so exhausted by the time we get done with our nightly routine, that I hit the bed as soon as the boys are to sleep.  That leaves me zero time for anything extra.  So, I need to make more of an effort to figure out time to keep up with this blog---along with a few other things that are getting the short end of the stick these days.  I am learning, and will hopefully figure things out soon.

Bribery.  Carson is potty trained, when it comes to going pee on the potty.  But he struggles with pooping on the toilet.  He will do really well for 2-3 days, and then have 2-3 days that he poops in his underwear.  We were getting really frustrated with this, so we went to drastic measures.  Insert a little bribery.  Bribery never hurt nobody---right?  Ok, so the deal was, if Carson didn't poop in his underwear for a whole week he would get to go bowling.  Carl has a bowling game on his phone that Carson enjoys playing, and he has asked numerous times to go bowling.  So we decided that this would hopefully be a good incentive for him to not have any accidents all week.


Carson made it all week without any accidents, so we all got to enjoy a fun evening of bowling together!  We had my family join the fun---and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.


We entered the bowling alley, and Carson displayed the biggest shy smile.  He finally muttered words through his excitement "we get to go real bowling?!" It was so cute.  He was so used to bowling on Daddy's phone, that he thought the real deal was pretty cool.  There were neon lights, and music, and all sorts of things to be excited about.


The littlest ones were pretty entertained by the lights and action going on around them, and they didn't seem to miss a single beat.  Frannie was on baby duty, and they were content to just hang out while the others bowled.


Carson had so much fun all night bowling!  We were there for 2 hours, and he behaved so well during the entire time duration.  He sat so nicely while he waited his turn to bowl, and he wiggled in his seat in excitement when he knew it was his turn to go next.




We are so proud of how well behaved Carson was that night.  I loved to see him have so much fun, and hearing him whisper the words "I have fun bowling, Mom!" in my ear is nothing shy of amazing.



The reward.  Bowling was Carson's reward for going accident free all week long!  I think he has this pooping in the potty thing down.  Or at least I hope so.


What a fun way to spend a cold winter night indoors!  I think we will be adding bowling to our list of Carson's favorite things to do.  I didn't say we were done bribing ;)  

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Mr. Mischief Himself

I enjoy documenting every little stage that our kiddos go through, because I don't want to forget anything.  I don't want to forget how busy they were, or how smart they were, or how sweet, innocent and happy they were. I am sure when I look back at these posts, I can relate to them in the aspect that they are still busy, and still smart, and still sweet, innocent, and happy---but just on a different level.

Ok.  So, I have said it a million times before, and I will continue to repeat myself.  Our little Wes is such a sweetheart.  The biggest, actually.  And he is busy.  And very quick on all fours.  Like, really fast.  And he is into everything.  I mean ev-er-y-th-ing.  And he keeps us on our toes.  At all times.  We can't take our eyes off the little guy, or he will be into something, or doing something he shouldn't be doing.

Insert a few examples of explanation above.

Tupperware cupboard:



He loves that cupboard so much.  At first I thought to myself.....oh, great!  But now?  I open it for him, willingly, and let him go at it.  I mean.....it buys me about 10 minutes, and that is enough time to get a lot done in the kitchen!  Not to mention....how do you get mad, or so no to a smile like that?  It's impossible.  He's a true charmer, that little Wes of ours.

Toilet:


There is really nothing good to say about him getting into the toilet.  I mean--gross.  And that empty toilet paper roll?  Yeah, he got his paws on that too.  It's all on the floor----and he proceeded to chew/suck it.  He did exactly what he sought out to accomplish though.....I can only imagine.  He is a little smarty pants.

The dryer:


He took the clothing articles out of the dryer one-by-one until he could no longer reach any of the clothes.  He about fell into the dryer trying to reach for more.  After he was done, he crawled away....as if he had conquered the challenge at hand.  He is funny.

Our little W is so funny.  He is rather exhausting, but I absolutely love that characteristic about him.  He is eager, and adventurous, and fast, and loving, and so happy.


He is now walking along furniture, and behind the walker---and he is so proud of himself.  I love to see him get brave and try something new.  The look of determination on his face says it all.  (Naked baby rolls are the absolute cutest, are they not?!)

Carl and I laugh so much when we talk about our little mischievous boy, and how he is into everything.  We reminisce a lot about the previous day/week/month, and just laugh.  Because seriously, how can you not?!  He is crazy.  We always know when little W is up to no-good, because he lets out a high pitch squeal, out of true excitement about his accomplishment.  Every once in a while he will scoot so fast to a room, and we don't know where he went.  We listen for the squeal, and then laugh---because we know that is a true and sure sign that we need to check on him ASAP, because he is probably into something he shouldn't be.   

I continuously remind myself to enjoy this stage.  Enjoy every stage.  And I can honestly and truly say I do.  Because before I know it, he will be grown up.  He is already inching his way to walking, and turning one, and talking, and running.  I am not ready for any of these things......because that means he is not little anymore.  So I will savor every little mischievous act that this little stinker of ours does.  Every. single. one. of them :)

Thursday, January 3, 2013

8 Months Young

I don't even know where to begin with Weston's eight months.  There is so much to say, so many feelings that are tied up, and so much happiness mixed with sadness as my little boy grows up.


I feel like this was a big month, but then again, the previous months have been big as well.


We have a very, extremely quick crawler on our hands.  I mean, the kid can get himself lost in .2 seconds.  I will turn my back to help Carson with something, as Weston is at my feet, and 2 seconds later, I will turn around to him being gone.  No where in sight.  He has bolted away, and more than likely gotten himself into mischief.  Seriously.  The kid loves all things that are a no-no to the littles.



Allow me to elaborate a bit on this topic.  W has a love for outlets, and cords, and anything that plugs in.  He will find a cord, and suck on that thing until we catch him.  There is no 'baby-proofing' a cord. The outlets all have covers, but he will pull a cord from behind the couch, and start sucking on it before we can even find where the little weasel has vanished off to.  And how he spotted that cord behind the couch, or even monkied his way behind there to get it?  That's beyond us.

Does this look scare anyone else?  Because it does me. 
We have brought the swing, and the bouncer back down to the basement to be put in storage.  He has out-grown the swing, and he doesn't care for the bouncer anymore.  He likes to walk around the outside of it, and play with the toys, but does not like to be confined to sitting in it.  Therefore, the big and bulky item has been brought to storage.  He throws a fit when we try to put him in it, because he would much rather be crawling around, and going places.  I mean, the kid doesn't stop.  And let me just add that the day Carl brought the swing downstairs was a day I had to fight back tears.  That swing was so amazing, and that just means my baby really isn't all that little anymore.  That swing rocked the little infant W to sleep so many times, and I was so sad to see that piece of baby furniture go.  It holds a lot of memories, that swing does.  I will miss it, dearly.  Although--it did free up a huge corner of our living room.


Weston has been pulling himself up to anything and everything he can find, and he no longer has to even think about the task at hand.  He started out just like every other little one, and was pretty shaky for a while, and really had to think about what he was wanting to do.  Now?  It's second nature.


In the last week or so, he has also upped the challenge, and has started to take a few steps along the couch.  I am so. not. ready. to have another walker in the house.  I mean, the kid has been crawling since 5-1/2 months, which was about 3 months earlier than Carson did----give this Mama a little more time to grasp things, please my dearest Wes.  Haha.  I only kid.  I love how active and eager, and determined he is.  Determined may actually be putting it mildly.


Little W has his two bottom teeth which are growing ever so rapidly.  His top left (his left) tooth just broke through last week.  The boy now has one heck of a mean bite!  Carl and I laugh, because we discovered his top tooth coming through after he bit my toe, and it hurt so much worse than it once did.  Ahhh yes, that top tooth makes a world of a difference when you are talking about a bite!



Wes is constantly trying to keep up with Carson, and play with him.  This is going to be a never ending battle---the sharing, and being nice aspect of these two brothers.  I have the strongest feeling that they will be the best of friends soon, but until then---we will continue to break up the fights that are had.  Weston actually laughs as he ags his brother on, because I am positive he knows what he is doing.  Brothers toy that he turned his back on for 2 seconds?  Yes, it is free for all, and I will get it before he has a chance to lay his hands on it.  He stirs things up, at a young age of 8 months :)




I have always secretly bragged about how healthy our family is.  I can possibly count on one hand how many times we have been sick.  And with that being said, Weston's tail end of his 8 months was rough.  The sickness hit our house, and it hit hard.  I was so ready to start over after day numero uno, and it overstayed it's welcome, by about 6 days.  Yuck!


The week before Christmas, Carson woke up and was not himself.  He laid around all day, didn't want to do much of anything, and didn't eat anything.  The last one was not a shocker, but the inactive ones were.  We waited it out, to see what day number 2 would bring, and it didn't bring any relief.  He had a super high fever, well over 102-103, and I panicked.  We pumped him full of tylenol to keep his fever under control, and I was on a personal phone call basis with a few nurses.  After day 2, it hit Wes.  He woke up from his nap and was running a 102.7 temp, and his eye was mattered shut.  I knew he had pink eye, so I rushed him to urgent care.  The doctor confirmed the pink eye, and tested him for influenza.  The tests came back positive, so we were off to the pharmacy to pick up medication for the flu, and pink eye.  Along with another bottle of tylenol to help with his fever.  We got home from urgent care, and he was motionless.  I took his temp, and it was 105!  Holy smokes, that was far too high for me to control myself, and I freaked out.  I called the nurse, and she walked us through some things we needed to do to help his temp go down, and if we couldn't get it down, we were off to the ER.  Thankfully, the warm bath helped, and it was at least down to 102-103, and the tylenol eventually got it down to about 100.


Christmas Eve hit, and Carson was still not any better after about 5 days of not acting himself.  We made a trip to the Urgent Care again, and this time Daddy went through the motions with Carson, and we ended up getting medication for him to treat bronchitis.  After the first dose, we noticed some relief.
It was a rough couple of days in our household.  Carl and I both talked about how we were longing for some fresh air, even if it was only 3 degrees outside.  And how we felt like our house was one big infested disease that we just couldn't Lysol enough.  A kid sneezed, or coughed, and Carl was all over spraying the "infected" area.  It got to be rather comical.  Somehow, someway--Carl and I didn't get sick!  Praise God for that statement in itself.


On to the monthly questions.......

-Weight: As of the urgent care visit, W weighed in at 19 pounds. 



-How much is he eating now: He is drinking 6 ounce bottles about every 3 hours.  He is still up in the middle of the night for a bottle (or 2! little stinker) and eats a lot of table food.  He really likes puffs, baby mum mums, crackers, toast, bananas, and noodles.



-Wears size 3 diapers.

-How long does he sleep at night:  Wes goes to bed about 8:30 at night.  He is usually up for a bottle and diaper change about 2:30, and then goes back to bed until about 6:00.  



-What size of clothes is he in:  He is wearing some 9 month clothes, and some 12 month items.  I have been buying him all 12 month things, as he is moving right along in the growing department.  I would say he fits better into 12 month stuff---depending on the brand, style, etc.  



-Facial Expressions: He is full of them, as always!  The best way to describe him?  Always happy!  Grandma Brouwer refers to him as "Miles of Smiles" and she couldn't be more right!  He is such a joy to have around, and can light a room up in an instant.  He has magic powers, I swear.  



-Learned anything new this month: I would say his biggest accomplishment is mastering pulling himself up, and taking a few steps along the couch. 

-Is Weston a good traveler: Weston has been an excellent traveler lately.  We don't really hear much out of him if we are on the road.  He is either content to just ride, or is snoozing.  Either/or, there will be no complaints out of this Mama.  I have my hands full with his demanding brother who usually wants something exotic that is either not in arms reach, or we don't even have accessible.  Silly brother, I am sorry I don't have an ice cream cone with chocolate ice cream waiting for you the second you are strapped into your car seat.  I know, silly me :)  


-Did Weston celebrate any holidays this past month:  Christmas was the big holiday this month, and there is more to come on that.  I always get so behind on the big posts, but they are coming soon.  I promise.  Trust me when I say there is a lot to be said, and many pictures to be shared.  Stay tuned.  


-Recognize anyone new:  Wes is getting more and more into the "stranger danger" phase, and doesn't really care to be held by complete strangers.  I am just fine with this, since he isn't opposed to going to family members he recognizes.  He has just recently started to put his arms out to reach for you, and that instantly melts my heart.  W and I have a special bond, and he is a definite Mama's boy.  So when he reaches his arms out for me, I melt just a little more, and can't help but scoop him up, and kiss on his chubby cheeks.  His cheeks are really chapped right now due to the cold weather.  Carl claims it's from me kissing him all the time, but it's not.  It may add to the problem, but I don't care.  I will just continue to treat, and kiss.  Repeat.  


-Anything else:  Weston has his own unique little habit that he does, just like I remember with Carson.  Carson used to twist his little foot around in a circular motion, and it was so funny.  He did it out of habit, and he started doing it at just one week old.  Wes does something similar, except his is with his wrist.  He received some little bells in his stocking for Christmas, and he can shake those things like you would't believe.  It is so cute.  He moves his hand/wrist in a circular motion, and goes crazy because he gets so excited.


Little W is a complete thrill seeker.  It kinda makes me nervous for the future, actually.  I know the good Lord blessed me with boys, because I am a true boys' Mama.  And I love every second of raising these two precious boys.  But that doesn't mean that I don't worry about these crazy kids.  For example; I put Weston on Carl's back to attempt a fun little "horsey ride."  Ya know, the famous horsey rides that Dad's give, and they are the best.  Well, Weston didn't even crack a smile until Carl got wild and crazy, and started "bucking" and went really fast.  I was holding on to him for his dear life, and he could have cared less.  He was giggling his famous and contagious little giggle, and I couldn't help but smile too.  But seriously?  You are 8 months old.  Please stop being so adventurous, and wanting to be so rough :)  



Wes is constantly on the move.  It's getting to be rather difficult to get a still picture of him these days, because he is so quick.  And sitting in the chair for his monthly pictures is proving to be a challenging task.  Insert picture of him trying to grab the lens, and more than likely---trying to put it in his mouth!



Weston also experienced sitting in the cart for the first time by himself.  He thought he was pretty big stuff!  He of course flirted with all of the ladies as they trolled on by and commented about how cute and happy he was.  He would then proceed to flash them a smile, and a little giggle.  He's got it down.


We had our first scare this month with the little thrill seeker that is housed in our home.  We have a fireplace at home, and Carson's big heavy tractor with a loader on the front was sitting on the fireplace.  Mr. W of course thought it would be best if the tractor was on the ground with him.  So he pulled himself up to the fireplace, grabbed the tractor and wagon that was attached, and pulled it down with him as he plopped down on the ground.  The tip of the loader smacked him right in the middle of his forehead, and blood proceeded to gush out, running down his face as he screamed.  Carl and I both don't do well with blood, and we were both about ready to faint.  We thought he may need stitches, but the wound ended up being rather deep, and not wide.  Thank goodness.  



Weston eats everything in sight.  Whether it looks remotely edible or not, you can bet money on the fact that it's going to hit his mouth.  And he can spot the smallest, and strangest things.  Like little fuzzies on the carpet.  He has some mad skills when it comes to hand-eye coordination.  



I can't even put into words how complete our family feels with Wes around.  My love for him is never ending, and is so deep.  We have this special connection that I will forever hold on to.  Trust me when I say I have a special bond with my first born too.  But each of them are different, and unique, and special, and I cherish them both so much.



I get so excited as Weston continues to learn new things, and never slows down.  I love how active he is, and his personality is so sweet.  He is still a big snuggler, and I look forward to our cuddle time every night.


Happy 8 months, little Wes!