I never...

A few things this mommy NEVER does.

I never, ever--

...buy diapers without coupons

...give my kids pop

...buy things (from a store) that aren't on sale

...gave any of my kids juice in a bottle {something I see on Teen Mom, that always urks me!}

...have left my kids with a babysitter that wasn't family or a very close friend

...skip my kids' vaccinations(personal preference)

...sleep through the night

What do you NEVER do??????

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Phrases out of this Mama's mouth daily:

1.  "Uh, Oh! Tyler, do you need to go in your bed?"

2.  "You can go potty by yourself!"

3.  "Yell for me when you're done if you poop"

4.  "Tyler, Puh-lease!"

5.  "Ssshhhhhh!"

6.  "That's too loud, and it hurts my ears"

7.  "Please leave him alone"

8.  "Tyson John!"

9. "Kayden Michael!"

10.  "Tyler William!"

My "Little Surprise"

Today is baby Tyson's first birthday! 

It's hard to believe he's been in our lives for an entire year, while at the same time, it seems like he's always been here.  I don't really remember what our lives were like without him.  

*I'm working on his birth story, and will hopefully post it later this week*

Sooooo....for the next month, I will be the mother of TWO ONE-YEAR OLDS who are NOT TWINS.  

I don't believe there are a ton of people out there who can say that. 

Do you know of anyone?  

I'd LOVE to know them too!

Sooooo...hApPy bIrThDaY tYsOn JoHn!!!!!!!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten....

Reasons this summer will be AWESOME

1.  I only have to work 3 (maybe 4) days a week, and I will almost always be off before 3:00

2.  We will have a new swingset for the boys to play on

3. We get to go camping

4.  We don't have a newborn

5.  We will take the boys to the zoo, and I KNOW they will LOVE it!

6. We will go to at least one of Auntie Mazih's basketball tournaments (maybe even stay in a hotel)

7.  We will spend family time at "The Pink House"

8. Thursday night volleyball

9.  Twins games

10. HOPEFULLY selling our house and starting our new one!!!!!

The beginning of Easter and shopping?

We had a busy, yet relaxed weekend.  Friday night we stayed at home, and everyone(including mommy and daddy) was in bed before 10:00.  

Saturday morning, Eric and Amy and Matt came over for breakfast, then we headed to my cousin Holli's for Easter on my dad's side.  It was a long drive, but we made it work.  We spent some extra time there so that we could put the kids in their pajamas before we headed home. They all fell asleep on the way home, so it worked out perfectly.  

It was a nice, relaxing day.  It was really fun to watch all the great-grandkids play together.  They don't get time together all that often, and they are fairly close in age, and almost all boys!

Sunday we hung out at home, getting a few things done.  Then, after nap time we headed into St. Cloud.  We wanted to get dog food, and planned on shopping for a swing set for the boys.  We walked into the first store, and realized that we would be just browsing, and the dog would have to go hungry until the next day because neither of us brought our wallets :)

So, we spent some time looking at bikes and swing sets, then headed home. 

*Oh yes, and Tyler insisted on looking at all of the "potties" at Mills Fleet Farm.  So, I obliged, in order to avoid a screaming fit.*

Time to put my foot down!

Does it seem like I write about sleep {or a lack thereof} a lot?  Hmm.  Weird.

Well---*NEWSFLASH*---my little kids(#'s 2 and 3) DON'T SLEEP!

Lately, it's been worse than ever:

Tyson will be a year old in just two days {*tear*}. So, naturally, we should be weaning him off of his bottle.  During the day, he does great.  Usually, he has just one, maybe two bottles.  At night, is a different story.  He has a bottle at bed time.  Then, he wakes up at least once, lately, twice, and has a bottle.  

I really need to buckle down, and get this job done. He needs to understand that he will not starve if he doesn't have a bottle at 2:00 a.m.  

So, I've been taking baby steps.  I have been shutting my bedroom door at night.  This way, I don't hear him cry until he's really crying.  Otherwise, I wake up at the first whimper, and I have to listen to him scream until A. I go get him up, or B. he goes back to sleep {insert sarcastic laugh here}

The next step is, to send my kids somewhere (one of their grandparents' houses) and take two nights to let him "cry it out". Yes, I have done this once already.  But then he got sick, and I caved.  So, the rest of this week will be spent working on this sleeping at night/no bottle thing.  By next week, if the problem isn't solved, I'll have to use more drastic measures--like sending my bigger kids to Grammies house.

At my wit's end!

I can't take it anymore. I have this handsome little boy.  Almost 2 years old. He's adorable. He's hilarious.  He's busy.  He's lovable. HE WHINES.  A LOT. 

It's partially mostly my own fault.  You see, he has this loud, obnoxious whine he uses to get what he wants.  I can not stand the sound of it, so I find myself (more often than not) giving him what he wants so that he'll shut the h-e-double hockey sticks up! I know, that sounds mean, and very un-motherly. But, I challenge you to spend a day with the boy.  See how you feel by the end of the day.  

He asks for fruit snacks and juice constantly. If you don't get it for him, he repeats his whiny request 5 bajillion times, until you give in.  

If I'm trying to make supper, or wash dishes, he will put his body between me and the counter and push on my legs or pull on my pants.  

He wakes up in the morning YELLING.  He might call for me quietly once, maybe twice, but then it's a full-on yell.  

It's bad enough that other parents notice when Tyler is missing from daycare, because it's so much quieter.  

Poor Kayden can't get a word in sometimes, because Tyler thinks that sitting in the backseat of my car and talking to me is some sort of competition.  Whenever Kayden is trying to tell me something or ask a question, Tyler feels the need to repeat, "Mommy!" 4,298 times.  It's ridiculous.  

Now, it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not.  Really.  I'm not.  It's more of a plea for help. 

So, I called my sister in law this morning. She's been to a class on Love and Logic Parenting.  I asked what I should do, and she gave me some ideas, and I've come up with a plan.  

In my head, I see it working perfectly: 

When the whining or yelling begins, I am going to give a short phrase like, "Yelling hurts my ears", or "Uh oh, no whining please".  Then, I'm going to put him in his crib, and tell him he can come out when he's ready to stop.  When he quits yelling/crying/whining, I will go get him, and give him a hug, and we'll move on with our day.  Hopefully this works. We'll see.  I'll keep you posted.  

By the way:  If you have other suggestions---please share!

Thankful Thursday

I think we're past the icky sickiness.  We've all had it now, except for Mike.  And if he gets it?  Well, he's on his own.  I'm d-o-n-e wiping butts, giving baths, and cleaning up vomit.  Done I tell you.  Now, if only I could get my two-teething babies to sleep through the night, I'd be golden. 

So, after all of the crap we've been hit with this week, I'm thankful for:

**a hubby who is able to clean up vomit without vomiting himself (this can be a struggle for me)

**a Grammy and a Grandpa who made themselves available to take care of sick kids when they couldn't go to daycare

**a fun outing with Leah, Rhonda and the girls at Bounce Depot and La Casita (until the dreaded puking incident, that is)

**an appointment after school today to get my hair did

**a sister-in-law who is willing to pick my boys up from daycare and help watch them so that I can get my hair did, and work tonight

1st conferences!

Monday night I had Kayden's first preschool "conference".  I met with his teacher and we chatted about his progress since September, and where he is at socially, and academically.  The things she told me, were exactly what I expected.  He is quiet at school, but listening.  He knows his numbers, some letters, shapes, and is working hard at writing his name. 
I think it's really funny how he is a completely different kid at school versus at home.  At home he is always talking, and thinks he's in charge. At school, he just sits back and watches everything happen.  I often have parents of my students tell me the same thing about their kids.  My quietest kids in the classroom are the loudest kids at home. 
We are still deciding what we'll do with Kayden next fall as far as preschool.  Right now he is registered for an evening class (much like he did this year), as well as an afternoon class (two days a week).  I would much rather have him go during the day for a number of reasons, but we aren't sure if that will work out since I don't know for sure where I'll be working in the fall.  We'll have to just wait and see. 
Up next for Kayden--swimming lessons!

Is it over yet????

It has been one helluva week around here!

Let's go to the beginning (actually the end of last week).  Mike left Friday night to go fishing with his brother.  The boys and I spent most of Saturday at home.  I wanted to give them some time to relax and play at home, and I wanted to get caught up on some laundry and cleaning. 
Saturday morning I realized that I was out of Tyson's prescribed ear drops.  So, after naptime, we packed up the car (we were heading to my parents to spend the night), and headed to Target.  I was dreading the trip for two reasons: 1.  it was 50 degrees on a Saturday in April in Minnesota.  I knew it was going to be craziness! 2.  I was taking three boys, 4 and under to a store where they were bound to see toys. 
So, I loaded everyone into a cart, and we went in, got the $140 ear drops (don't get me started on the price), headed to the baby aisle because Tyson needed new generic Robeez since Mike lost one of his (which we of course found 2 days later), then to electronics for new ink for my printer, then to the dollar section to get Kayden a $1 prize for going potty by himself ten times, and a $1 prize for Tyler for--I guess I'm not real sure why he got a prize :) Then, we were out the door.
We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon/evening at my parents' house. 
Tyson woke up early Sunday morning, and threw up while I was holding him.  A little weird, but whatever.  He seemed ok, playing like normal, etc. 
A little while later I went to get Tyler out of his bed only to find him covered in vomit.  Again, weird.  He had had a really runny nose, cough etc, so I just figured he had either coughed hard enough that he threw up, or he had gagged on some of the crud that was coming out of his nose.  So, we got them both cleaned up and the rest of the morning went fine. 
Sunday's plan was go to Bounce Depot with Leah, Sydney, Karsyn and Rhonda. So, we picked up Rhonda and headed home to meet Leah and the girls.  The kids played for a little while, then we headed out to lunch.  After lunch, we spent an hour or so at Bounce Depot.  By the end of our hour, Tyler was wanting to be held, and just layed his head on my shoulder.  This is really rare for him, but it was almost 1:30, so I figured he was just tired. 
Wrong. 
As soon as we got out to the entry way to put the kids' shoes and coats on, he threw up all over the floor!  I'll spare you the details, but it was yucky!  I got him cleaned up, and we headed back to my parents' house. 
On the way to my parents' house, I got a call from our daycare provider, saying that there would be no daycare on Monday.  This was fine, because I was figuring I'd have to keep the boys home anyway.  So, I called Mike, and we decided that he'd stay home on Monday. 
Tuesday, daycare was closed again, and the boys were feeling better, but still not eating much, and lots of yucky diahhrea.  They spent the day at Grammy and Grandpa's house. 
By Wednesday evening, Kayden was getting hit.  His temp was right around 100, and his "tummy hurt".  He spent the evening laying on the couch.  By 9:00, he had thrown up the first time, and it was confirmed: I'd be taking today off to stay home with them.