Catch-up

Oh yea...I have a blog.
So I'm behind on blogging. The good news is, when it happens (and I don't think it happens too often), there aren't many people who notice. :)
My excuses are as follows:
1) We have been insanely busy.
2) Most of the activities which have kept us so busy have also resulted in numerous pictures. The thought of uploading mass quantities of photos at an excruciatingly slow rate of 5 pics at a time requires more patience and time than I've had during the moments I've considered blogging.
3) I fell so behind that I didn't even know where to begin. Feeling overwhelmed, I decided to do nothing.

And there you have it.

I suppose the easiest way to get things moving again is to tell you what we've been up to, and catch up on a few activities from MAY (Yes- last month) I never blogged about. Don't even expect pictures from our two trips to the beach in one month to show up on here. Those pics need their own separate post.

As my sister so eloquently stated over the weekend: some people just shouldn't blog. Apparently I am one of them.

Prepare yourself for the most random post ever.
And without further ado...

...we've spent some time at our neighborhood playground.





Jacob proudly (and cautiously) descending the fireman's pole all by himself!


"I do NOT understand the appeal of these contraptions."


"OK...maybe it's not so bad, after all. Jacob seems to love it."




We shucked some corn with Grandmom. Who doesn't love a good corn shucking?





We managed to multi-task, not only shucking corn, but also dancing and celebrating Jeff's birthday with his family.


When an attempt at a perfectly posed photo of 2 little boys smiling lovingly with their father, the birthday boy, doesn't quite work out as planned...


...just go with a "capture the moment" shot. And I think this one's sweet, even if it wasn't what I had in mind.


Jeff's sneaky plan to take a nice, relaxing nap was foiled after only 10 minutes.



Later in May, it was time to celebrate my dad's (aka Pop Pop) birthday. His birthday celebration coincided with the grand opening of my parents' pool. As you'll see, the boys had no fun at all.



<



Swimming on his own. And holding his breath, of course.


When he volunteered his head, maybe Pop Pop thought Alex wouldn't take him up on his offer. Lesson learned. Well, maybe not, since it happened twice.


Pool snorkeling.


The water guns were just as big of a hit as they were last year. And unfortunately for the rest of us, Jacob has remarkably good aim.

He snuck up on Aunt Kerri and initiated a stealth attack.

Happy Birthday to Pop Pop!


On rainy days, we've had fun indoors with cars, Transformers, Spiderman, puzzles, coloring, drawing, Play-Doh, dance parties, etc. etc. During one of those days, Jacob called out to me, "Mommy, look! I skiing!"


I love a child's imagination.


We spent a day with Nan & Pop Pop. A jam session was in order. It's pretty cool having a Pop Pop who's just as into music as you are. (Not to mention, a mommy, daddy, and Uncle Chris too.)





Hard to tell who was having the most fun. I think I declared it a 3-way tie.


Alex made silly faces like this.


Which made Jacob laugh hysterically. Both boys love making others laugh.


And of course, there was some snuggling with Nan...



and racing with Pop Pop.



Then we visited a playground near Nan & Pop Pop's house. All in all, a very fun day that did an excellent job of wearing everyone out.







Told you it was random.

Recipe for Disaster

Take one tired mommy.

Add two little boys (these first three ingredients can almost always be found packaged together.)

Sprinkle with bits of whining.

Add a dash of one boy sticking his fingers in his poop diaper as Mommy is rushing to leave on time.

Mix with 3 errands (Dr.'s appointment at 8:50, Speech Therapy at 9:45, and Target afterwards.)

Stir in one weather forecast that projects rain and thunderstorms all day.

Here you have the ingredients for what could possibly create the day from you know where.
But somehow, after following the recipe precisely, our Friday actually turned out pretty wonderful.

We were stuck in the house because of the rain that lasted all afternoon. But after such a hectic and hurried morning, it was nice knowing we had nowhere else to go. Aside from the usual favorites of cars and action figures, we managed to find plenty of other fun indoors.

The J & A Clinic was bustling with patients, and Dr. Jacob and Physician's Assistant Alex efficiently met everyone's needs.

(I know, I know. Alex is practicing medicine shirtless. It might not be what you're accustomed to, but I can vouch for his professionalism.)

"Quick, Alex, help me with this CPR! Stay with us, Curious George! Don't you dare die on us! You're a fighter!"


Whew. George pulled through, but unfortunately now requires a shot directly in the jugular.



What's that? You didn't hear Coffee-Mate teamed up with the American Medical Association? I'm sure you'll be receiving this treatment during your next physical.



Later, while Alex was napping (I miss naps on rainy days- those are the best.), Jacob and I enjoyed some Play-Doh, which has the ability to entertain children and adults alike. Fun to play with, but such a pain to clean up.
Usually when I play with it, I like to sculpt faces. Here's an example of one particularly creepy looking (maybe because he has no pupils?) French man. I named him Pierre.

I know- I'm weird.

Instead of sculpting faces, Jacob asked for a Play-Doh picnic. And since the Play-Doh is his, I gave in.


Food looks good, huh? How about that salt on the pretzels? My favorite is the cookies. I had such a chocolate craving after looking at them, that I wound up baking brownies at 10:30 p.m.
Naturally, I blame the powers of Play-Doh.


"This neon orange cheese on white, crustless bread is delectable."




After Alex woke up, it was time for a snack. With real food. Their choice? Cheetos.

A Cheetos Enthusiast. And who can blame him? Cheetos are awesome.


I love how close together they're sitting. And the synchronized eating and TV watching.



Who would have thought a day that began with scrubbing poop off a little boy's fingers and hurrying two slowpokes along to make it to our appointments on time would end with one smiling, happy mommy? I should have known. With these two around, I've got sunshine on all cloudy days.

3-0

This morning around 7:30, I walked into Alex's room to find him standing in his crib, grinning happily. He almost always wakes up in a good mood, chattering and singing to himself. I was marveling at his beautiful smile and big, gorgeous blue eyes as his little arms reached out for me. And that's when I noticed a bit of poop on his fingers. And crib sheet. The same crib sheet I just replaced yesterday after finding poopy smears on it.
A fun way to begin the day.

Alex: 1
Mommy: 0

A little while ago, Jacob approached me in the kitchen and asked, "Mommy? What did you give Alex?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Jacob: "What's he eatin'?"
I had given him a small bowl of dry Cheerios to snack on, so I wasn't too alarmed until I walked in the family room and found no trace of Alex cramming cereal into his mouth.

Hmm...if he's hiding, that can't be good.

As I quickly rounded the corner to check the dining room, I found him standing in the foyer, clearly chewing.
Me: "Alex? What's in your mouth? Open your mouth and show Mommy." And I began trying to pry open his mouth, which apparently had been welded closed.

And then he swallowed.

One of my biggest fears is choking. I calmed down when I realized he was breathing normally and perfectly fine. He smiled and then cooperatively opened his mouth. I saw no traces of anything left behind.
So I smelled his breath.
Interesting. Smelled a whole heck of a lot like the Trident Watermelon Twist gum Jacob had just chewed and spit out into the trash can.
Guess I got my money's worth out of that piece.

Alex: 2
Mommy: 0

Not 10 minutes later, I noticed Alex peering into the trash can again, no doubt looking for more edible goods. (I promise I feed this child.) Do they make trash alarms? I need something as obnoxious as they come, with a loud, blaring siren and flashing lights. Alex is way too stealthy for me to compete with.
I hurried over to the trash can, but quickly discovered I was too late. He had already discovered the coffee grounds that I so "cleverly" hid under 2 paper plates when disposing of them. Why do I think I can outwit him? Grounds were all over his hand, onesie, and the floor.

"My, these coffee grounds are quite difficult to clean. Is this why I shouldn't play in them? Guess you'll have to add this to the laundry pile, Mother."


"I picked up the delicious looking, chewed up piece of gum from the trash can and put it right here."



It's only 9:30 a.m., and I'm already losing three to zip.

Dirty little habit

Alex has a dirty little habit. I've referenced it in recent posts, but over the past 24 hours, it has manifested itself twice with messy and disgusting results.
I never went through this particular issue with Jacob, and frankly, I'm not sure how to handle it.

Last night, around 8:30 p.m., Jeff and I were relaxing, browsing the internet, and winding down after a long, tiring day. The boys were playing. Bedtime was in a few minutes.

Ahhh. Things were good.

Then we heard Alex talking gibberish at the top of the stairs. If I haven't mentioned it before, Alex has learned how to climb over the safety gate at the bottom of the steps. As you can imagine, this is just a fantastic development. Now he can't even be contained to one floor.

Jeff: "You know Alex is upstairs, right?"
Me: "Yea. Doesn't he sound so cute talking?"

Fast forward about 3 minutes later. Jeff & I decide we should head upstairs and get the boys in pj's and into bed. I reached the top first, and what did I see?

Alex.

Standing wide-eyed, shirt raised over his belly, and a hand on his cheek.

Oh, and did I mention the 2 little balls of poop beside the railing?

And the poop smeared on his belly, back, and beside his mouth?





OK, so maybe he didn't look exactly like he'd had a mud bath. There were a few minor differences. He wasn't wearing a pink towel turban, it was obviously not mud (oh, how I wish it had been mud), was not done for the purpose of rejuvenation or exfoliation (or whatever the reason is people have mud baths), and no cucumber slices were harmed in the process.

I guess when he was so sweetly talking to us from the top of the stairs, he was saying something along the lines of, "Hey guys...I think you're gonna want to come check this out."

And this morning, approximately 12 hours after his faux mud bath, Alex walked up to me with his arms outstretched, palms facing me.
"Look, Mom! I put both hands down my diaper, and check out what I found! More poop!"

[Insert loud, long, frustrated sigh here.]

I'm often told that Alex is my Mini Me since he looks a lot like I do. Well, here's another person he bears a strong resemblance to:

Yes, that is Al Bundy. (Is Al short for Alex?) And what is Al Bundy doing with his hand? The same thing Alex does. All.The.Time.

I thought I had outwitted him with my plan to dress him in a onesie all the time.
Me: "Ha! No reaching down your diaper now!"
That worked for a little while, until he learned he could just reach in through the side.
Alex: "I feel a bit sorry for you, Mother dear. Your plan has been so easily foiled by a toddler."

Me: "OK, what if I dress you in a onesie and shorts?"
Alex: "Well, it's quite simple, really. See, all I have to do is this."
And he proceeds to either:
a) take off his shorts, or
b) stick his hand up his shorts leg, gaining access to the diaper.

So, I guess my solution is to dress him in outfits like this all of the time:


Too bad it's summer. That looks a little warm. And anyway, I'm sure he'd figure out how to unsnap the top, pull the zipper down, and have a field day inside his diaper.

I could just follow him around every second of every day.

Or drape the entire interior of the house in tarps.

But I guess I'll just have to brace myself for many more episodes of poop scrubbing.