Long Time and All That

Things have been busy, but not crazy. So, I guess that is a step in the right direction.

Dylan is doing great in school and is already talking about starting first grade next year. He earned a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese yesterday and we had a great time. And, can I just add, that going to CEC at 3:00 on a Wednesday afternoon might be the absolute perfect time to visit that establishment? We were one of approximately 3 families in the entire place. It was wonderful and not anxiety inducing at all.

Brady is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems like he is learning a new word or ten every single day. I was beginning to get anxious about his language development, but his vocabulary has just exploded since Christmas.

Jason is still crazy busy and stressed out beyond belief, but next year will be better. Right?!?!

I have started trying to purge all of our excess stuff through some local and not-so-local selling sites. I have sold about half of what I have listed so far. It could be better, but it could be a whole lot worse too.

CHANGE

Well, change starts today. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, forgot to mention . . .

Brady's international "lap" ticket only wound up costing us about $12.00, but I did have to stand in line for about an hour to get it. When I finally got to the front of the line, the agent was upset that I had to wait so long. She said that when we first checked in the agent should have taken care of it then. She was quite upset when she realized that we had asked two separate airline ticketing agents and both of them said we did not need a ticket. We asked one last time at the gate and the gate agent told us we did need the ticket, thus the long line I stood in. Luckily, we had gotten to the airport very early.

Dylan's all-inclusive resort fee was waived by a very nice man. When he asked about the children's ages, we were honest. When he realized we had not paid for Dylan because of Dylan's age at the time of reservation (4) and because of the length of time that had passed since we made the reservation (almost a year), he said that for that week, we could just say that Dylan was four.

Home Again

Well, we have been home for about a week now. Vacation was good, trip was without too many problems, and it is good to be home.

Dylan and Brady did very well on the plane trip to Mexico and the trip home. We spent a lot of time just hanging out at the pool at the resort and trying to find ways to keep Brady entertained so that he would stop trying to run all over the place. Two of the best purchases we made right before the trip were this (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4532497) and an umbrella stroller. The stroller was great in the airports and getting through security stuff. The harness was wonderful everywhere else. It helped us keep him close while letting him feel free and it also helped us keep him from falling down a lot. The pathways were uneven and he tripped quite a bit. By keeping a tight hold on the tail of the monkey, we could keep him from falling down.

The resort had programs for the kids almost every night and they also had a kids club that scheduled activities for the kids. We never left the kids alone there, but they still had a blast.

Anyway, we are home now and currently preparing for our last Christmas of the year. We will celebrate with the rest of Jason's family who did not come to Mexico.

ARRGGH!!

I hate sudden suprises, unknown fees, and hidden arrangements. It makes me crazy. Especially when I find out about these things a week or so before I am about to take a trip.

Situation #1 - We owe more money to our resort because Dylan will be 5 when we travel. Children under 5 are free and he was under 5 when the reservations were made. But when the person who made the reservations for us was giving ages she gave them at time of reservation, not time of trip. I tried to tell her, but she just waved me off. Now, if this wasn't an international trip maybe we could get away with not paying. But, he has a freakin' passport with his date of birth listed right on it. No way can we get around paying this extra couple hundred dollars. Now, I know part of this is my fault for trusting someone else to make reservations for me, but geeze, at least attempt to give the company accurate information. By the way, I did call the company and clarify. We definitely owe the money and the policy has not changed recently to exclude 5 year olds. It was clearly a problem that created by the person who made the reservation.

Situation #2 - We did not purchase a ticket for Brady on the airplane. He is under two and can fly for free in our laps, right? That is what everyone told us. Nope, wrong. That only applies to flights within the USA. International flights require a ticket for children of any age no matter where they will be sitting. Now, the ticket in a small percentage of the adult fee, but still. I find this out one week before we leave. I mean, when I made the reservations online, I put in that there would be 4 people, 2 adults, 2 children and the ages of the children. Wouldn't you think this would have come up at some point during that transaction? Nope.

This is almost more stress than I think this trip is going to be worth. Plus all the packing and planning for what about this and how am I going to keep Brady and Dylan happy on the plane ride. WHAT WERE WE THINKING??? This had better be fun or I don't know what the heck I am going to do.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

Okay, so I said I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to decorate for Christmas because we weren't going to be home. But Jason convinced me to decorate the outside and the downstairs so that the kids have a feeling of Christmas. We did decide not to put up a tree this year, but at least the house looks a little festive.

Dylan helped me outside and inside. He was a good helper and had a good time. I guess just letting him enjoy putting up the decorations made it all worth it.

Brady is already trying to tear stuff down, so that will be my challenge for the next few weeks.

I have a little work to do before we leave for Christmas, but the major thing I have to do is to dig out all of our summer stuff again. Christmas at the beach should be interesting to say the least.

Big and Brave

Dylan's class performed a Thanksgiving program today. All of the kids were dressed up (in costumes made and provided by the teachers - yeah!!) as pilgrims, Indians, corn, or turkeys. They each had group speaking parts and individual parts. Dylan was an Indian man ("big and brave"). He did so great. He remembered all of his lines and spoke loudly enough that you could hear and understand what he was saying. I was so proud of him. After the program, we all went back to the classroom and had a Thanksgiving feast. The meat was provided by the teachers and the parents provided the rest. It was wonderful. Here is my big and brave Indian man.



Brady was with me at Dylan's program and he was such a good, big boy. He sat quietly throughout the program and was just wonderful. He, however, was not interested in eating lunch and refused everything I offered to him. He seems to be on an eating strike right now and I can only get 1 good meal into him each day. He does snack some throughout the day, but not enough to make up for refusing to eat at mealtime. Here is a picture of my big, little man.

On Your Mark . . .

So, it's that time of year again. Whoever decided it was a good idea to have two of the biggest holidays within one month of each other was just crazy. Now, I suppose, the argument could be made that when the holidays were originally established families lived much closer together and the holidays in general were not commercialized or resembled anything like they appear today. But, now, everyone travels everywhere for what seems like a month to a month and a half and spends way too much money. Things are tight everywhere this year, but my family has been pretty lucky so far (knock wood). No one, that I know of, has lost their job and everyone still has their homes. So, in the grand scheme of things, we are probably a lot luckier than most families in this great country of ours.

For Thanksgiving, we are headed down to see my family. We will split Thanksgiving Day between my dad's family and my mom. On the day after Thanksgiving, I am planning to spend some time over at my dad's house beginning to pack of all of his stuff in anticipation in possibly renting it out after the estate is settled. My grandmother (dad's mom) and my aunt (dad's sister-in-law) have spent a lot of time cleaning the house. Apparently, it was pretty disgusting. On Saturday, we are going to an old fashioned cane syrup making session and having a miniature family reunion.

For Christmas, we are flying to Mexico and spending Christmas at the beach. We are all looking forward to it and I hope it is as wonderful as we are expecting. Due to the expense of this trip (which was paid for almost a year ago), we are having a very small Christmas present-wise. We are thinking this may be something we do every year - a fabulous trip the week of Christmas as our main family gift and then have a few gifts for the kids just so they don't completely feel like they didn't have a Christmas.

Nothing Much To Say

Well, I'm still here. Nothing much going on.

Brady is still growing and learning new things everyday it seems.

Dylan got his second report card yesterday and is doing well in kindergarten.

Jason is still really busy and the kids only get to see him a couple of nights a week. He is home every night; he just gets home after they are in bed.

I am hanging in there; thinking, maybe, I should go to the doctor and see if there is anything she can give me to work through this funk that I am in.

Anyway, we are all still here and still doing relatively well.

Halloween - Take Two

After school, Dylan kept asking every ten minutes if it was time to go trick-or-treating. It seemed like Brady was in on the conspiracy to drive me crazy too because he refused to take a nap today. Anyway, after all of that we finally got the kids dressed and they stood still enough for one decent picture.

Darth Vader and Yoda . . .



Dylan did all of the trick-or-treating this year. He was so cute. He still gets a little shy when he is talking to strangers, but at least this year he went up to the homes by himself and usually remembered to say "thank you" to everyone handing out candy.

Brady just rode around in his little push car. There were several very kind people who actually walked out and handed some candy to Brady too. He did eat his way through a couple of packs of sweettarts while we were walking around the neighborhood.

Halloween - Take One

Dylan dressed as the big, bad wolf for school today. The costume we had already purchased for trick-or-treating was "not acceptable" as a storybook character, so we had to improvise.

We did purchase the wolf mask. I bought some brown clothing (that will be reworn - darn it) and then purchased brown fur and tacked it on myself. I tacked fur onto the tummy, around the hands, and around the feet. He looked so cute.

So, may I present "The Big, Bad Wolf" . . .



Sadly, soon after the school day started one of Dylan's classmates ripped off his tummy fur (after he had told her to please be careful and not to pull). His teacher, however, was very kind and gave him a safety pin so the the fur could still be used.

Traveling Pajamas

These pajamas have been around and survived three boys. I love looking at pictures of all of the boys wearing the same outfit. Sadly, I don't have a picture of my nephew wearing them when he was 18 months old.

Dylan - 18 months old in 2004 (sorry for the poor quality, we didn't have a digital camera then and our scanner is pretty bad too)




Brady - 18 months old in 2008

Dylan's Nose

I got a call from Dylan's school yesterday. He had fallen down some steps at recess and hit his nose. It bled quite a bit and the nurse was afraid he may have broken his nose. So, we rushed to the pediatrician's office and got him checked out.

(Can I just say I love our pediatricians? The doctors, not the office staff, took it upon themselves to get us in and out in under twenty minutes. Most of the doctors were on their lunch break and one of them saw us sitting in the waiting room (by ourselves) and said there was no reason we should have to hang out all afternoon just so she could shine a light up his nose and then send us home or to the ER.)

His nose was not broken - just some soft tissue damage. He is a little bruised, but the swelling has gone way down. We actually expected him to wake up with raccoon eyes today, but he escaped that fate. Actually, for as bad as his nose looked yesterday, I am suprised at how little bruising there is today.

Just a Few Pictures

Family Pictures

We had family (and extended family) pictures taken yesterday. I don't have any of the pictures back yet, but should have them soon. I can't wait to see them and share them.

It was quite an experience. We had nine people (Jason's grandmother, Jason's dad, Jason's sister, her husband, and son, Jason, me, Dylan, and Brady). We tried really hard to get a good shot of everyone, but with the three kids ages 5, 3, and 1, it didn't quite work out the way we had planned. Brady was not happy at all to be held and he was screaming and kicking. Dylan and Ty (our nephew) were almost never looking at the camera at the same time.

I am sure the photographer got some great candid shots (which she admittedly prefers doing with kids). We have used her before and she always winds up getting some really good shots. Not to mention, she was amazing with all of the chaos of the kids and fighting of the adults - it was a very interesting couple of hours. She just laughed it all off - though she may have gone home and gotten drunk afterwards. I probably would have in her position.

I am hoping we got some good shots of our family. We haven't had a family shot done since Dylan was a baby. I did get to see some of her previews and they look promising, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

Pictures to come in the next day or so - I hope.

Give Me A Break . . .

or, you know, a sprain.



So, I was walking down my driveway on Monday and my foot decided that it should twist up underneath of itself instead of actually walking.



I thought I had torn a ligament. It looked like a small snake or large worm had crawled into my foot and coiled up on top of it. Then, it started swellling like crazy. We wound up going to the ER that night and found out that nothing was broken or torn. But I had sprained my foot.



A couple of days later and I feel better, but it still hurts to walk on it. Not fun, not fun at all. It's really swollen and bruised and I can't move my three middle toes very well, but it definitely could have been worse.



Please forgive my ugly toes - I can't remember the last time I had a pedicure

31!!!

Well, I had another birthday. I am thirty-one years old now and, no, I don't feel any different.

Saturday was a good day. We lazed around the house for a little while and then went up to the lake for the rest of the weekend.

Went out to dinner, went swimming in the lake, and came home today.

Dylan stayed at the lake with his Nana for some one-on-one time. He really needs to feel special and loved and he doesn't just need it from his parents, so this came at a great time. I think they are going to go out to eat (Mexican, Dylan's choice) and maybe to see a movie tomorrow before he comes home.

Dylan will be home tomorrow afternoon and we will have a cook-out with Nana.

Just a relaxing birthday, holiday weekend. They all should be like this.

It's a Showdown

Little Brother

Big Brother

Stare Down

Little Brother Wins and Jumps on Big Brother's Back (See how Brady is all blurred - he was in constant motion)

Nuttin' Honey

Well, there's not much going on here. We are trying to get back into the swing of the school year and I am trying to get on some sort of a schedule - again. Why does it always seem like just when I get a schedule worked out - it's time to start something new?

Anyway, Dylan is still doing good in school. He hates getting up in the morning (I have no idea where he got that from, nuh uh, not me), but once we get past that he looks forward to going. Well, I mean it is only the first week, but we can hope it continues, right?

Brady is doing great. I am going to start taking him to storytime at the library, I think. I am also going to make sure we (I mean, I) get back to the gym. That way, I know he is getting some interaction with other children. It was so important for Dylan and I don't want Brady to miss out, but I also think it is important for me to be home with them too.

Jason is tired and stressed. This new school is going to drive him (and maybe me via secondhand stress) crazy. I hope things start to shape up soon.

Anyway, I have made out a huge list of projects (some big, some small) that I want to get done around here. I don't have a deadline for myself, but I am thinking I could have everything done by Christmas (or maybe next summer, yeah, that's sounds more like it) without really stressing myself out. I mean, if I will actually get started, I could.

First thing on the list (and most important to me right now) is to start sleeping at night. I just can't seem to fall asleep at night and then I am waiting like a crazy woman for Brady's naptime so that I can take one too. How sad is that especially since I need to be working during that time? But it's what keeps me sane right now. I also think the reason I continue not sleeping at night is because I nap during the day, but if I don't nap during the day I can't function. It's a crazy cycle that I just need to break somehow.

Well, TTFN - Ta Ta For Now.