Doctors & Doggies

So I'll just start out with: Monday night was ROUGH. Like whoa. About 30 minutes after I finished yesterday's blog, Gavin woke up SCA-REAMING. I checked his gums and he finally had a little white, sharp dagger tooth poking through. 'Bout time, buddy! However, apparently this kid is going to be a rough teether! Christian would fuss a little, but nothing that Tylenol couldn't take care of. This kid? Nope. Tylenol, teething tablets, Orajel, frozen washcloths, teething toys...he wanted NOTHING. He pretty much screamed & cried from 3pm until bedtime.

Oh wait, there was that 10 minute break he took & allowed me to feed everyone dinner! Apparently peas are a popular item around the house!

Christian even came in the living room (he had been hiding out in his bedroom) several times to ask if I could please make baby Gavin stop crying. I wish, pal, I wish. Luckily, he went to bed just fine & the tooth didn't affect his sleep. Hallelujah!

There were a few good things to come out of our Monday though! I got my new headbands from, where else, Jane.com.

 I also picked up a new doggie bed for our first born fur-pup & this cute chalkboard print that I thought went perfect with my brother's picture. 

Look, ma! No crying!

Today Christian had a doctor appointment to get his eczema checked out. While getting the boys ready to leave, I usually put Gavin in his rock-n-play while I fix my hair & put on my make-up. Today, however, little dude showed me he is finally too big! WHAT am I going to do when I need to shower? The rock-n-play has been my lifesaver! RIP rock-n-play days, you will be missed!

Christian weighs in at 32 pounds and 40 inches tall! He's been 40 inches for awhile...I think he had a huge growth spurt before he turned 3 and hasn't grown any since. 

The doctor confirmed it's his eczema flaring back up & prescribed him some steroid cream. And I survived my first doctor's visit with 2 boys by myself! Once again, baby-wearing for the win!

When we got home, Gavin was looking TOO CUTE not take a bazillion photos of, so here are just a few. This is one of our Little Treasures consignment finds, and I love it! Anything with a hood & I'm sold!

Also, apparently it's National Doggie Day. We recently re-homed one of our dogs that we found a couple years back. We sure do miss him, but I'm slightly allergic to dogs & I'm hoping to help with my sinus issues by downgrading to just one. Here is Mr. Toby, whom we've had for 7 years. We got him just after my brother passed away...he was just a tiny, furry pup!

Gavin trying to steal Toby's toy...nope, not going to happen!

So happy doggie days & happy Tuesday, too!

Thanks for reading!

Teething Babies & Lazy Weekends

Hello & happy Monday! Normally Mondays are filled with exhaustion for this mama, but the husband had a golf event for work today so he was able to spend the morning with us. That meant sleeping in for me & a donut breakfast for us all!

Nothing like a cold glass of milk with fresh fruit & donuts to start the week!

Our weekend was a really good one! We didn't do a whole lot, but it was nice spending time together & the husband and I even snuck in a date night! 

Off to pick big brother up from pre-school on Friday!

When I picked up Christian, I walked into a full on toddler dance party! Christian was having a blast dancing with all of his friends & wouldn't leave until his song ended.  They learned the letter "F" for friends & family, and the number 2. We also had "homework" this past week. We had to make a house with pictures of everyone that lives in his house. He said he loved showing his friends his mommy, daddy, baby Gavin, "ti-ti" & Toby. 

Here is a picture from his teacher's blog. Working on those fine motor skills!

Friday night we dealt with a super fussy baby. I swear this kid has been teething forever. He started at 3 months and has yet to cut that darned tooth through! He even fell asleep on me, which never happens anymore!

 He might be teething, but he sure is cute!

Naptime for all the boys, apparently!

Friday night we got Subway, ice cream & rented a movie. Dustin & I made it through over half of the movie before we passed out...that's a record! ;) Saturday morning is always so nice for me, as I get to sleep in a little while Dustin takes care of the boys. Ah-mazing! This Saturday, he brought the boys in bed with us and we snuggled & watched cartoons. Gavin loves to pester Christian by grabbing his face, hair & his beloved "coo-coo." <-----We have NO idea why Christian calls it a coo-coo, but we are referring to his blue lovie that he has had since he was born. He became very attached to it from infancy & around 1-year-old starting calling it a coo-coo. We don't know why, we always called it a stuffy. However, it's the only thing left that remains of him being a little guy, and we haven't had the heart to take it away yet. He's also never taken a pacifier...instead he sucks on his two middle fingers anytime he has his coo-coo. We have both decided that 4-years-old will be the cut-off age for his finger sucking & coo-coo. Until then, he only gets them at nap & bedtime. However, Gavin has recently starting trying to steal it in the morning, and it's quite funny watching Christian react. "No baby Gavin! Thats MY coo-coo! You have your own!" These two boys are the best Saturday morning entertainment!

It was crazy hot & humid all day, but Christian needed to get outside & burn some energy, so Dustin took him to help wash the Jeep. Gavin & I stayed inside & enjoyed the fabulous AC. 

Poor teething baby!

Saturday night, we left the boys with my mom and went out for a date night! It's the 1st one we've had in awhile, but decided that since I've finally got Gavin in a good bedtime routine, we could brave someone else putting him to bed. Plus, next weekend is our 11 year dating anniversary! We gave lots of hugs & kisses and headed off to dinner & a movie! We went to our favorite Hibachi restaurant for some steak & fried rice. We then grabbed a large popcorn & cherry coke (our staple movie snacks!) and went to see 'Into The Storm.' I'm a huge storm lover, so it was right up my alley. Tornado alley, if you will? ;D It's definitely not a movie you go to see for the acting or story line, but if you like storms & anxiety inducing special effects, it's a pretty good one. Plus, it was super nice eating dinner without calming a fussy baby and trying to tell the 3-year-old to sit down and use his manners every 30 seconds. 

See ya boys!

11 years later!

Sunday, Dustin went golfing with work and then met us for dinner at my grandma's. Papaw & Gavin were having some fun playtime on the floor. 

And that was our weekend! Now I'm off to enjoy the remainder of nap time...and maybe even nap myself?! 

Look at these sweet sleeping babies...they're just perfect angels when they're sleeping!

Until next time...thanks for reading!

Baby-Wearing Win!

So with Christian, I never used any wraps or carrier-mainly because I couldn't figure them out. But with two kiddos, baby-wearing is a must. I need to have free hands to chase the toddler, duh! ;) I've tried a handful of carriers and I thought I would post my 2 favs.

Gavin was excited to wake up from his nap & try out the new carrier! Okay...mom was excited & Gavin was just...well, look at him...ADORABLE!

So my new carrier came today...it's called a Tula carrier. I ordered this a couple weeks ago because I needed something more supportive than a wrap for my wiggly, growing guy.

I did some research, because I'm pretty picky about my carriers. My criteria is: COMFORTABLE & easy to use. My current one is super tricky, not comfortable and Gavin hates it. The only plus about my current one (I can't remember the name of it!) is he can be carried forward-facing. The Tula carrier is really light, so easy to use & come on, look at the cute pattern! They have a LOT of cute patterns. The baby can be worn on your front or back, but always has to be facing your body. My only complaint about this carrier is that the fabric covers half of his face. I rigged it so that he sits up taller, but he still just sits there and chews on the fabric, haha. But other than that-I love it! Which is good, because these puppies aren't cheap. But I needed something that I knew I would like, because I baby-wear a lot! 

Notice how the fabric is bunched up in this one...luckily I figured out how to sit him taller, but I still wish that it folded down or something. Maybe I need to send a suggestion card to the company! ;)

Baby approved!

So that's my current mode of baby transport. But before he got all big and squirmy on me, I wrapped him in a Solly baby wrap. I originally had a Moby wrap, but that was not for me. It was too hot & bulky, and I could never get a tight enough wrap. A blog I follow recommended the Solly wrap, so I ordered one and fell in love! 

The material was stretchy, lightweight material so Gavin and I never got too hot & sweaty. Plus I got a really tight, comfy wrap and he loved it. But once he turned about 5 months old, Mr. Wiggle-worm would squirm so much that he would cause the fabric to loosen, and then I'd have to re-wrap him...hence the need for a new carrier. ;) SO there ya have it...my 2 favorite carriers from a mom who has tried a bunch of them! 

Happy wearing mommas!

Mom Moments

We started our morning bright & early to take the oldest to preschool. Once again, dropped his bag off, hugged me good-bye & he's off with his friends! He's so big. Just yesterday he put himself down for a nap while I was putting Gavin down for his. I came out of the nursery and Christian's door was shut. I opened it & he's passed out! Curtains closed, noise machine on, lights off. Seriously? Teach this kid how to make himself meals & he doesn't even need a parent anymore! After we dropped Christian off, Gavin & I decided we needed donuts! We have the yummiest little donut shop in between Christian's school & home...how convenient horrible & awful for my diet. ;)

We have a donut thief on our hands!

I attempted to finish some laundry and when I came out of the boys' room, someone had disappeared on me! He's my little roly-poly, that's for sure!

Uhh, where's the baby?!?

There he is! ;)

I laid him down for his morning nap & FINALLY showered! No 3-year-old staring me down while I speed wash as fast as I can so that he doesn't play escape artist or try to "play" with Gavin...in case you cannot tell, showers are becoming increasingly more difficult. I have NO clue what I'm going to do once Gavin is mobile! I then had to wake lazy bones up so that we could leave to pick up his brother...so sleepy!

What car ride home from school would be complete without a dance party to Christian's current favorite song...Paramore's 'Ain't It Fun?'...he knows all the words and gets crazy excited when it comes on.

Now, as I sit here eating lunch, watching Grey's Anatomy (bomb guy just got blown up!) and trying to come up with a catchy blog title, I can't help but enjoy every.single.second of my quiet time. With two boys, quiet is RARE in this house. And don't get me wrong-I love every second of being a mom, but being a mom also means I get to enjoy the rarity that is quiet! With that said, I had two very real "mom moments" today.

The first was an overwhelming feeling of joy as I picked Christian up from pre-school. As soon as he saw me in his classroom door, he ran as fast as his little feet could go, screamed, "mommy!" and threw his arms around me. My heart could have melted out of my chest. It got me thinking that these boys will never know how much they are loved by their mommy. Sure, they'll eventually have kids (or at least they better!), and they will finally understand how much their daddy loves them. But they'll never know the feeling of carrying life inside of their bodies, feeling them kick & squirm against your bladder & ribs, & eventually give birth to this tiny little being. They'll never know how at that exact moment, your entire life complete shifts, and as you hold them for the first time on your chest, life has taken on a completely new meaning. It's a heart shattering feeling that only a mom of a boy can understand...no matter what, those boys can never know the depth of my love for them. If I'm ever blessed with a girl, she will learn one day...but not these sweet boys.

So that was one of my "mom moments." And as I was holding back tears driving to Target, I thought to myself...no, they might not ever truly know, but I will make it my life's mission to show them.

That leads us to the other "mom moment." The moment of pure embarrassment because your toddler has a very simple, innocent mind...and generally says whatever he is thinking. As we are checking out, a very nice African American woman was our cashier. And Christian has recently become aware that we are not all the same skin color, height, weight, etc. So I knew it. I knew it was coming. First he pointed at her and said, "Momma! Look at her!" I knew what was next. I tried to distract him. "Yes, Christian, she's checking our stuff out. Isn't that so nice of her?? She's putting your COOL NEW shirt in the bag!" "Look at her, momma, she's BLACK!" ...as loud as his innocent little voice could carry. *Insert me wanting to crawl under a rock and hide.* The lady looked at him and responded with a nice, simple, "Yes, I am!" But she was embarrassed. I was embarrassed. I apologized and gave a simple, "Oh, leave it to kids!"

We thanked her for our stuff, and I darted out of there as quickly as I could before he could say it again. Which he did as soon as we left the store. "Mom! She was black!" "Yes, Christian, some people have darker skin color than ours. Look at that bird!" I wanted to compose myself and try to figure out the best way to handle the situation before going on. The way I looked at it, I could either A) Ignore it and hope he doesn't say it again. or B) Try to explain to his innocent little mind why we shouldn't say that. If he were younger, I would probably go with option A. But he is pretty mature for his age, and I wanted to explain to him why he shouldn't say things like that. So I did-as much as I could to a three year old who just wanted to go get his "chick-a-fway." I told him that people come in all different colors, shapes & sizes, and we shouldn't say what that color, shape & size is. We should just say 'hi!' to people and not comment on their looks. He said, "Okay mommy. I won't. Can we eat fruit & chicken now?" Hmm. We'll see how that goes. He's so observant though, I'm getting afraid to take him in public! Just last week there was a larger woman behind us at the grocery and he said to me quietly (thank the Lord), "Mommy! She's big like a giant!" *face palm* So how do you other mommies deal with your toddlers & kids becoming very observant of people's differences? Any other embarrassing stories out there?

So there are my two "mommy moments" of the day. I'm sure they won't be the only ones, as life is never dull with a 3-year-old!

So aside from the embarrassing moment at Target, today is good...the boys are napping, I am showered AND have my hair fixed (yes, husband, I actually look like a human being today instead of a troll...you're welcome!), I got my new baby carrier in the mail today (separate blog later) and it's Big Brother eviction night! The husband and I are OBSESSED with Big Brother. Definitely our #1 guilty pleasure right now.

Thanks for reading & Happy Thursday!