Insanity

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. "-Benjamin Franklin


An example, sweeping the kitchen floor after every meal and expecting, or hoping, that maybe after the next meal I won't have to do it again.


Or going to wal-mart and thinking, maybe this time I will NOT see anyone wearing their pajamas - seriously every time?


Or buying Hostess chocolate donettes (as a treat "for the boys") and thinking I can exercise self-control.


Or expecting both boys to nap so they are well-behaved for Daddy on the ONE night I get to go out and do something fun - not grocery shopping or errand running.

Or starting every week expecting to clean my whole house, only to fizzle out by Wednesday and still have a mostly dirty house.

Or thinking maybe I could turn on the television and hear about something (anything!) other than swine flu, oops, I mean the H1N1 virus.

Argh.

So, how did you spend your weekend?

Our weekend started Friday afternoon. David, who went to the doctor Thursday and found out he had an ear infection and a sinus infection, was kind enough to come home from work so I could go to the doctor and find out I had pharyngitis. Not so sure what that is, but it felt a bit like having been run over by a small truck. AND my voice was nearly gone and we just can't have that! It's hard to bark orders when they can't be heard!! Oh, I must share that the nurse, on her way out of the room, said, "I hope you can get some rest this weekend." Ha ha ha. Ha.

So, I digress for a moment and must confess something to my faithful blog readers: I was mom to the oldest child still sleeping in a crib. But you must know, we tried once before to convert his crib to a daybed and he absolutely would have NONE of it - cried, screamed, finally fell asleep on his floor, begged for Daddy to "fix" the bed before bedtime. Also, he has never once attempted to get out of his crib on his own [further digression: I do not believe Luke will spoil us like this. Occasionally I go in to get Luke out of his bed and find all of his stuffed dogs and his blanket are on the floor. I'm convinced he's testing to see how they land, just in case he decides to join them.]
Okay, back to post-doctor's visit Friday: I arrived home to a completely paint-taped room (chair rails make this twice as much work - unless you are an excellent free hand painter, which I am NOT, and trimming is generally my job when we are painting). David had taped some Thursday night and I had attempted to tape some more Friday morning, although maneuvering around Seth and his toys was a little challenging at times. When I got home Friday, I also found Seth attempting to nap in our room. For better or worse, Seth was trained from his second day home from the hospital that sleeping either happened in his own crib, or sometimes in Daddy's arms (okay, I might be a little guilty there too). It wasn't so much intentional as it is that I like my sleep. But he is not good at sleeping anywhere else, so the nap didn't really happen, but he did watch a movie and look at some books for a long time SO David went to pick up the mattress and I started painting. We were able to finish all of the dark blue, on the bottom half of the walls, Friday afternoon and evening. There was time to start the lighter blue for the top of the walls, but I was too tired and getting even sloppier in my painting than usual so I begged off. We were able to reassemble the room enough that Seth could sleep there and not be uprooted Friday night. Dave went to a friend's house (I stayed home to feel miserable in the comfort of my own home). I got the boys in bed and went from feeling icky to really icky. I don't think I have ever been so excited to get up and be able to take another dose of antibiotic as I was Saturday morning!


But a Paint Princess just cannot be contained. So, we tried to send Dave, Seth and Luke outside to play in the morning while I painted. Unfortunately, we have multiple neighbors who mistakenly think the phrase "it takes a village" applies to dogs. Seth does not care much for real dogs. He LOVES stuffed dogs and dogs on TV and dogs in other people's yards if we are driving by. He says, "aaaaawwwwwwwwwww". Every time. Without fail. Even at a yard that we drive by all the time where there used to be a dog. {Do you think the antibiotics could be killing brain cells? Anyway...} The guys ended up inside, Luke opted for a nap and I'm not sure what Seth and Dave did, but I painted. Eventually, Dave came up and painted some too while we begged Seth not to cross the doorway into his own room.


We got a reprieve at lunchtime as we all gathered at the local Chinese food buffet to celebrate Aunt Gretchen's birthday. It was earlier in the week but she was just too busy to stop and party with us until Saturday. We came home and ran around the backyard with the boys for awhile to tire them out and get some much needed activity and fresh air! Then it was another nap for Luke - he really likes to sleep, but that's another post. And more lounging around for Seth - poor guy, at least it was his room being updated! Finally, Saturday afternoon we finished painting and it was time for bed assembly. We tried to involve Seth in a lot of the shopping, etc. so maybe this would be a fun change. He laid on the mattress at the store, he helped me (with a bit of nudging) pick out the bedding, he snuggled with the new bedding all the way through Target, etc. So, when it came time for assembling the bed, Seth got to "help" Daddy. He was even very excited to test out the bed after it was all put together and made. Grammy and Grampy brought dinner and oohed and aahed over the new room. They left a little after 8PM and the meltdown began. Poor Seth. Two days of no naps. AND upheaval in his sleeping arrangements. He started crying and screaming, "I want my old bed. I don't want this bed."

Thankfully, Dave is often more patient than me and I got Luke-duty while Dave took Seth-duty. He stayed with him for a half hour or 45 minutes. Seth eventually covered himself up and fell asleep. Of course, between the coughing and the waiting to hear him fall out of bed, I didn't get much sleep. About 3:30 (when I had finally been asleep about an hour) I heard him crying and went scurrying into his room. There he was, still right in the middle of the bed, all covered up. "I need a drink." And a drink he got. I think I was just relieved not to find him in the floor! And he has been fine since. The boys all played on the bed Sunday while I tried to get some more things under control (closet cleaning in Seth's closet, etc.). He has napped fine and slept fine at night, with the exception of needing to have his door left open a crack - but I can live with that much better than an hysterical meltdown!!

And I have become a big fan of Robitussin and it's ability to get me through the night rather peacefully. Yeah, modern medicine. Although I think Robitussin has been around since I was a kid, so not sure how modern it is.

The most disturbing part of the weekend for me though - my three year old has a better bed than Dave and me!! I'm a little jealous, really. And there are no pictures of the completed room yet as there are a few more items we need to complete it (purchases to be made, not much remaining manual labor). But, hopefully this weekend or next we will be able to finish it up and pictures will be posted. So, how DID you spend your weekend?

Happy Easter...

We hope everyone had as nice an Easter day as we did...

We went to church with Grammy and Grampy and my fabulous friend Lynette and her family. We all used to go to church together but have ended up in different places in the last year so it was really special to all be together again. Lynette and I shopped the same sale, and completely UNintentionally, dressed all four of our boys in the same outfits. If you know us, you will appreciate that we very often do these things. One Easter we showed up in the same dress - again, accidentally. Both of our oldest boys just had John Deere birthday parties this spring. The list goes on! Anyway, it was wonderful to hear a very familiar Pastor and leave my children in a nursery with people whom I knew would take great care of them.

After church we headed to Grammy and Grampy's for a nice time of food and family (and our traditional Easter photos). We took lots and lots of pictures - the grandkids are 4, 3, 3, and 1, but if you take enough you can get a decent one or two. Here are a few of my favorites...

Seth and Luke with two of their favorite people!

Luke is escaping! But Delaney managed to hold the pose.

Not bad - a Dillard sandwich on McNichols bread.

A RARE family photo with all four of us.

We hope all of you were blessed with a great day and are thankful for Jesus's sacrifice for us.

Seth is three...

For Seth's birthday, he convinced Daddy to take the day off and head to the zoo with us. When the weather forecast said 40 and snow for the day before his birthday, I was a little worried. But we woke up to lots of sun and a forecasted high in the mid-50's. Who could stay inside on a gorgeous day like that? We started out with our traditional 'Seth's birthday breakfast' of chocolate chip mini muffins. Yummy. Then we had to get moving to get to the dolphin show by 10:30. We hit all of Seth's favorites - penguins, dolphins, giraffes, horses, goats. In fact, there were baby goats, born around 9 that morning (thus, they share Seth's birthday). And he got to ride the carousel at the zoo - not something we normally do, but it WAS a special occasion. We all came home for naps, except me - I got to go to the mall all alone and then get a treat for Seth's mini-birthday celebration. I have to share the packaging information from the Cold Stone Creamery cupcakes:

Double Chocolate Devotion. A rich Belgian chocolate cup filled with a layer of moist Devil's Food cake, fudge, and chocolate ice cream and topped with fluffy buttercreme forsting and an Oreo Cookie. YUMMY!!Then it was candles, a few presents (MORE tractors from Grammy and Grampy), and bed.

Seth's Third Birthday Party...

How did this happen? How did he get to be three?? I remember so well the day he was born (not much for the next 24 hours or so - someone should REALLY warn you about that morphine drip with an emergency c-section!!). Nevertheless, it seems like I blinked and he turned three. He is so much fun and can be so incredibly sweet (when he chooses to). He can also be a very typical (from what I've heard) three year old boy! We are still struggling with potty training and he has completely irrational outbursts of whining/crying (no idea where that comes from!). But he can also just stop and ask for a kiss or say 'please' and 'thank you' without direction or tell you he loves you at bedtime.

He and I spent some time in front of the computer screen searching for a birthday party theme (I really cannot work without a theme!). At first he wandered around and it changed daily (I've learned to start these things early and just persist until he repeats his choice multiple days). We finally settled on John Deere. I will admit to not being so thrilled in the beginning. But he loves to see tractors when we are out and about so John Deere it was!

The party was Saturday, the 4th. I kept having to explain that the party and his birthday were different days because people have to work and couldn't come to a party on his real birthday. We dined on salad and pizza from Pizzeria Uno's [I mentioned in Luke's birthday post that the food situation was a bit of a disaster]. This was wonderful! I ordered it online the day before and they had it ready for pick-up 15 minutes before the party started. We had a lot of choices and it was easy and yummy. Yeah!!! Luke ate lunch on Grampy's lap. Why, you ask? Isn't that his highchair on the right side of the photo? Well, per Grampy, "because Luke wanted to." Seth got some clothes, new sheets and a shelf for his new room, some Elmo toys, books, and even some underwear, which he modeled on his head at the urging of the crowd. Nice. And finally, the cake. Sam's club made the cake and iced it and then my mom took over "John Deere'izing" it. She did a great job and I loved the cake. I could live without the little farm animals that seem to be reproducing all over my house though since they left the cake!

Must have been some good cake!! Written as though I couldn't tell you firsthand. Ha ha ha!!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

We found our way Friday night! Not only did we find Sesame Street but we also found Elmo and Big Bird and all the other favorites. Speaking of favorites, should it concern me that the following is Seth's favorite right now? Unfortunately, he is starting to possess many character traits of his favorite. Anyway, my sister was kind enough to order tickets for Seth and David and me when she was ordering her own - they were a great deal and great seats! Seth had never been to anything quite like this before. He was really good pretty much the entire time. We didn't tell him we were going anywhere until after dinner, knowing he wouldn't eat if we told him ahead of time. Unfortunately, he still didn't eat more than two bites of his dinner. So, at intermission, rather than ask for $8 balloons, he asked for dinner. We introduced him to cotton candy (great parents that we are) and let that suffice until the show was over. He really seemed to enjoy himself. And I loved watching him watch the show.

Seth always refers to Abby as "Abby Ca Daddy", rather than Abby Cadabby. I love it. It's one of those cute little things that I don't feel needs corrected. It makes me smile. And always makes me think of how much he adores his daddy! The whole Sesame Street gang was there!A happy family, minus Luke, who stayed home for special Grammy and Grampy spoiling. I guess I should've checked the settings on the camera or popped up the flash before handing it off, as the blurriness is my fault! But thanks to Matt for taking a picture where my eyes are actually open.

Okay, I'm a slacker...

I didn't really miss Dave's birthday. Dave missed his birthday.

He was out of town with some friends, watching basketball games and enjoying some much-deserved down time. I was home, fielding meltdowns and flying objects from my very very upset Seth. He does not enjoy being separated from Daddy. And he was sure to let me know. Cute story though - every time Seth would lie down in the floor to cry, Luke would tackle, err I mean bear hug, Seth. It was sweet to see him try to comfort him. Or maybe just try to make him not be so loud!

Anyway, Dave was gone on his actual birthday, but the boys gave Dave cards before he left, and a present that didn't fit that got returned. Sorry hon! I sent a card in his suitcase. And then we enjoyed a quiet family day together when he got home. We went to brunch and then when we got home we took a walk and played with sidewalk chalk. I escaped during naps and then we had dinner together and some Toll House pie (instead of birthday cake). Yummy!!

Happy birthday honey! Glad to have you home.

Oops - I almost forgot my cupcake...

I discovered that I neglected to recap Luke's first birthday party on the blog. I shared all about his actual birthday, but I forgot the party. Oops. I'm going with 'better late than never' and adding it now. Besides, I hope someday the boys will be able to look back through the blog and I don't want Luke to think that we didn't throw him a birthday bash! So, here goes.

I love a good theme so I searched the internet and local party supply stores and fell in love with the little cupcake theme.

For the menu, I planned a potato bar. A ridiculoulsy detailed potato bar, but I learned my lesson (Seth's birthday party update to follow). We had the fixings for a philly steak potato, a mexican potato, a ham and cheese potato, really any kind of potato you could desire. But the party started at noon and the potatoes baked for nearly an hour and were still not done. We ended up with my mom, sister, and myself shuffling potatoes from the oven to the microwave (to finish them off) to the roasting pan (to keep the warm) all while the guests milled around in the kitchen waiting for food. But it was yummy when they finally got to eat.I have discovered that every first birthday party must include a time when the guest of honor lies down in the middle of the floor and pretends that participating in the opening of gifts is pure torture.

Thankfully, Luke's big brother (the train conductor) and his cousins were all too eager to be helpful during this protest.And then Luke found a gift that he decided to love. Truth be told, the train conductor was probably trying to rip it out of his hands. Luke got lots of great gifts - noisy toys and clothes and books and gift certificates for books and money for the new swingset we are hoping to purchase as a combined gift for both boys.

There was a lot of catching up amongst family members who just don't see each other often enough. And I suppose you couldn't expect everyone to stay awake for such a fun-filled day (especially not with all the great food!).

And finally it was time for cake. Well, cupcakes to go with the theme of course! Luke loves nothing more than to demolish a sweet treat so away he went. Unlike a lot of one year olds, he didn't really need any help with the cupcake. And no, these pictures are not staged and we did not pose him with the icing. This is the look of pure enjoyment!

Happy first birthday my little cupcake!!