Funny Seth...

Today Luke was supposed to be enjoying some tummy time on the floor. However, tummy time has now turned into "Luke sleeps on his belly" time. Anyway, I was sitting on the floor to protect Luke from his overly loving big brother (who does not yet understand that Luke does not need sloppy kisses when he is sleeping, nor does he need Seth to scream 'Hi Baby' in his sleeping ears). In an effort to distract, I asked Seth, "why don't you pick a book that I could read to you?" His reply? "No thank you mommy." Okey dokey.

Later, out of nowhere, Seth burped. He looked at me and said, "I burp. I feel good." When Luke burps we ask, 'do you feel better?' Apparently Seth didn't have time to wait around for the question.

Finally, Seth has a very favorite teddy bear, Rusty. Because you never know what the answer might be, I have started to ask Seth if Rusty behaved during their nap, since Rusty naps with Seth. Today after nap I went into Seth's room. First, I walked in and Seth was lying on his back awake. He looked up at me and said, "I sleep." Okay, good to know. So I asked if Rusty slept. Seth informed me, "Rusty behave." So, I guess Rusty slept too.

Our week in review...

Tuesday the 15th (tax day) was Gretchen's birthday. We all gathered at mom and dad's for Aunt G's specially requested meal of fried chicken, real mashed potatoes and corn. Delaney, knowing that Gretch loves the Disney princesses (or is that Delaney?), made sure that Grammy got a Disney princess ice cream cake. While the cake is beautiful, the look of excitement on Carson's face is even better to look at. So, happy birthday to Aunt G! It was a milestone birthday and she handled it like a pro. But then, she did have the princesses to help her through!

Wednesday the 16th,I took the plunge and got my hair chopped off, at my husband's urging. I don't understand him. Most men are all about the long hair, but Dave kept telling me to cut it off so I did. No more ponytails but about half the time to blow it dry in the mornings so it's an okay trade off.

Thursday the 17th, Carson came to play with us while Delaney went to dance class. Luke is very popular, not just with his big brother but with his cousins too. Carson was helping him with his pacifier. Too sweet!

Friday the 18th, Luke was 2 months old. His babbling, cooing, smiling is really picking up here lately and he's content for longer periods of time in his bouncy seat or his swing. I am also working on getting him to take a consistent afternoon nap in his bed while Seth naps. I'm not very good at listening to him cry (although I do appreciate the payoff when everyone is sleeping!), plus it wakes Seth if Luke just screams nonstop, so it's a bit of a slow process.

Saturday the 19th, my mom and I went for a Ladies Day out (although it was more like a couple of hours) to a charity/fundraising shopping event. Luke went with us but it was nice to get out and see some good friends and introduce Luke to some of them for the first time. The organization doing the fundraising was stophd.org.

Sunday the 20th, my wonderful sister got her birthday present from me - a pedicure, with me. Yeah! For those of you who know me, it's tough to believe I'm posting my feet for all the world to see but I think a pedicure might be one of life's greatest pamperings - the massaging chair, the warm water, someone besides me painting my toenails. It's just a nice, brief escape from reality! Thank you for putting this on your birthday list Gretchen! As a little sidenote, I actually painted my own toenails the day before Luke was born. NOT an easy task. I had hoped to lay on the guilt and beg my hubby to do it, but Seth chose not to sleep and Dave ended up spending the better part of the evening trying to comfort him.

Finally, today, the 21st, the three of us went to Meijer together. It was honestly not as bad as I had expected (the first time I typed this left out the word "not" - do you think that means anything?). We have a lovely tool that we use to negotiate with Seth. Not too far from our house there are two horses. Seth LOVES these horses. So, usually if he behaves we will drive by the horses. We have named them Chocolate and Chip. There were only a couple of times that I had to ask him if he wanted to see the horses. And for those of you wondering, yes I really would have skipped the trip by the horses if he had been bad. We started out with Luke's carrier in the child seat and Seth in the big basket part of the cart. Then Seth saw some balls and insisted on walking (so he could get closer to them). Unfortunately, the office supplies are an aisle over from the toys. I "needed" to look at a couple of office/scrapbooking supplies and Seth decided he "needed" to ride a bike. Interesting as he has never ridden a bike before. I can only guess he's noticed neighbor kids doing it, or maybe he's seen someone on TV. The bikes were on a little platform and chained up so he couldn't really get to them but he kept saying, "I ride." He did get carried for a few aisles at that point. Well, Luke eventually fell asleep so I put him in the basket, piled the few groceries I needed around him, and had Seth ride in the seat so he and I could actually chat our way through the store. Good fun! This picture is just to prove that everyone survived our outing.

Hope you all had a great week as well.

Tacky tacky...

Today I braved the elements (meaning a 2 year old and an 8 week old) and took both to the pediatrician, at the same time, solo. Our appointments were at 10AM. Luke is a big fan of eating every 3 hours so, of course, he got up at 7AM and demanded food. Perfect timing to need to eat again right when we got to the doctor's office. Anticipating a wait at the office, I had a bottle ready. He was pretty good in the car but began to demand food in his loud, wailing way as we checked in. Never fails, they needed the same information on Seth (his marital status has not changed) that they always need. So, now I have Luke in an infant carrier, trying to feed him one handed with my left hand, and hoping not to be lectured about how I should really hold him to feed him so we can bond. A clipboard and pen in the other hand/on my lap. And finally, Seth hanging off my right arm while I try to write. The office is filled with toys but Seth refuses to leave my side (really doesn't bother me as I figure sick kids come and go all day, touching all over the toys).

Anyway, in the midst of all this fun a dad from the other side of the room waves at me. We worked together and had some law school classes together. Here begins the tacky portion of my story: He asks me where I'm working now. I kindly respond that I quit my job in January to stay home with my boys. He responds with, 'Oh, I guess that's okay.' Oddly, I don't recall asking for his permission, but thanks for giving it anyway. Did I mention that HE took his WIFE'S last name when he got married? I managed to suddenly be very busy talking to my boys and never quite got back to the conversation with him!

On a much more pitiful note, Poor Luke got all kinds of shots. Seth did not need any shots but was a bit jealous of Luke's "stickers" (band-aids). Thankfully, they have stickers for all the kiddos where you pay and make the next appointment. Seth was apparently confused - he asked for the choo choo, I gave him the choo choo but still ended up lying in the floor crying. Looking forward to those next appointments...

The barnyard birthday bash

Seth's party was last Saturday afternoon. Twenty of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents gathered to celebrate his second birthday. Two of Seth's favorite things at the moment are balloons and animals, especially horses, so our theme was barnyard animals. We even had a large horse-shaped balloon. I felt a little bad that people bothered to bring gifts as Seth really just wanted to play with the balloons. [Two days later, he's still waking up from his nap asking for his balloons!] He had a nice two-year-old meltdown while he was opening his presents but soon regained his composure. The cupcakes were baked in ice cream cones (thank you Lynette for the great idea!) and expertly iced by Grammy, lots of sprinkles on top to complete the look. After everyone left and the decorations were taken down, Seth ran around the downstairs like a wild man with his whole bouquet of balloons. He loved the balloons so much in fact that he had to have one during bath...

after bath...

and even while daddy read bedtime stories...

Such a simple treasure, but a treasure nonetheless. And not that Seth is spoiled, but we now own a small helium tank! (p.s. Thanks to our photograher, Aunt G, for all the great party pictures.)

Little Lukey...

Just a sweet little picture of Luke. He is 7 weeks and a couple of days old. He is really starting to smile and coo. And last night he let me sleep 5 solid hours. A fluke, I'm sure but a wonderful fluke it was!

Happy Birthday my sweet little Sethers...

Today Seth is 2 years old! I could not imagine 2 years ago how much joy a little boy could bring into my life. There is nothing more wonderful than when my little boy wants to pat me on the back while I hold him. Or when he tells me he loves me. Or blows me kisses at bedtime. Or when he kisses his little brother and says, "Hi Baby Uke."

Yesterday my sweet little boy helped me make chocolate chip muffins for his birthday breakfast. I might have added a few extra chocolate chips and we might have sampled a few of those chips along the way. But, never fear, with a 2 year old you always get ratted out! "Chocolate chips - in mouth." I bet he's said it 20 times since we sampled them!

Anyway, today started out with chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. Then, the 4 of us went to the zoo (daddy took the day off to play with us for Seth's big day). Seth loved the dolphin show - "dolphins in the water; play ball."

He is also a huge fan of horses so we spent some time checking out the horses at the zoo too. Horseys - neigh!

Next it was McDonald's for chicken nuggets, apples, and even a special treat - ice cream! Then a nice long nap (actually we all napped, which was wonderful!). Then Grammy came by with birthday presents - books! Next was dinner, and finally we played outside with sidewalk chalk and the new bubble wand. A pretty great day for a two year old!

It's Cool...

Our Sethers decided to get into a fight with the oversized TV stand (both the TV and the stand are oversized). Well, Seth lost. Being the inexperienced parent that I am, I surmised that all skin was gone, hence nothing to sew up, hence apply pressure and wait for the bleeding to stop. Bleeding stopped, we cleaned the wound and applied a band-aid. Seth hasn't had many band-aid-worthy incidents in his nearly 2 years so we took him to the mirror, showed him the band-aid, and told him how cool he looked.

Well, my parents came over to watch the boys so we could go order new carpet. One look at the wound, and a not so discreet glance at each other, and my parents ended up watching one boy while the other went to the ER with mommy and daddy.

Three and a half hours later, he was "glued" back together - a pretty nifty little invention that takes the place of stitches. Only scary when the doctor kept asking the nurse (who was holding his little wound together) if her glove was okay. Yes, please move the glove away from the glue! All this to say, Seth now just walks around pointing at his head, declaring, "It's cool."

Peeta Buttah...

Seth has a new obsession - peanut butter. It doesn't matter what I offer up for lunch, the response is always "peeta buttah!!" Granted, it's easy to slap together a PB & J for lunch, but I wouldn't mind some variety in what I eat (and it's too much trouble and too time consuming to make myself something more elaborate than what he gets). So, for now, we'll continue to enjoy our peeta buttah and bwead.

I'm official...

As a new stay at home mom, I just left my job January 31st and had my second little boy February 18, I knew I was official the day I had spit up in my hair and snuck the last three chicken nuggets off the baking sheet, standing by the oven, hoping my son didn't notice!