Ton's of Fun

I've been meaning to post the progress on the playroom for a while now.  But, I'll be honest, it's usually a disaster.  This week I decided I needed to pick it up, and vacuum the floor and everything.  So while the monsters were sleeping, I took pictures of a somewhat organized, clean play room.

I desperately want to paint the walls some weird off the wall color that would only work in a playroom, but I can't.  If there is a baby #3, this will be their nursery and Adam refuses to paint it twice.  So I'm stuck with "builder beige"

When Dylan was just a baby, I made the alphabet letters than go across the top of the wall that you see when you walk in.  We also put the chalk board wall up.  The most recent additions have been the crayon,chalk, and marker holders above said chalk board, the red shelves that hold bigger toys, as well as the Ikea easel that he got for Christmas. 

Both boys love spending time in the play room.  Graham likes to watch some of his pre school prep videos while chewing on blocks, and Dylan will color for as long as you let him.  They both love climbing on the " Blueberry" that's the bean bag.  And of course they love looking out the window at people walking by, the trash truck or mailman( the dogs too). 
I'm really grateful that we have a big enough house that we are able to have a playroom, as well as a guest room, but if there is a baby # 3, I think our guests are going to have to sleep on the couch in the media room.  I refuse to give up my playroom.  I don't want toys everywhere on the landing.  There are enough overflow toys there already!

Wakey Wakey

For those of you who don't know, Dylan is a very good sleeper.  He always has been. But he isn't the greatest waker upper. I'm sure that is not a word, but oh well.  Dylan is a deep sleeper.  A few months ago, any time the dog would bark, he would be up in a heartbeat.  Before then, if there was someone mowing the lawn across the street he would wake up.  The trash trucks used to wake him up, but he goes to school on Thursday's now, so that isn't a problem.  The point is, he went back to sleeping through everything, thank goodness. 

When he wakes up on his own, he is in a good mood.  When I wake him up, not soo much.  He is whiny, and clingy, and just a pain.  So I've resorted to ways of " him waking up"  My number one go to is dogs barking.  Sometimes this takes forever though.  I will take the monitor, and go out my front door, and ring the doorbell. Since the dogs are dumb, they will go crazy, even if they just saw me walk out the door.  Ding dongs.  It usually takes a few rings of the bell to get them to bark long enough to wake him up.  If that fails, I go and open his door and then try again.  That usually does it. 

My neighbors probably wonder what I am doing outside my door, ringing the bell with the baby monitor in my hands, but hey, he wakes up in a good mood and we can go do whatever it is we were needing to do.  I won't wake him up unless it's 6 PM or we need to go somewhere!:)

Monday Menu's- return!

Thanks to my Maybook, I'm hoping that I will get back into the habit of creating a menu.  I didn't do the co-op this week, because I forgot, so our fruits and veggies leave a little to be desired.  But here it is.  In no particular order.

The menu

Chicken Salad sammies on Croissants with tomato and moz salad.
Taco Bites with black beans and guacamole
Crab Cakes with roasted cauliflower
Brisket taco's with something
Ham and Cheese sliders with chips and fruit
Baked Creamy chicken taquitos
Banana Bread for breakfast

Eye Spy

Little boy eyes.

Impromptu

Im-promp-tu:

Prompted by the occasion rather than being planned in advance

Last weekend ( late I know) we had a little impromptu party if you will.  Our neighborhood was having a pool party, after nap time, we loaded the boys up in the stroller and walked down to the pool to meet Becca, Garet, Carson and Caleb.  The pool was handing out prizes.  Carson and Dylan were delighted with the cardboard planes they got, as well as the tiny little bottles of bubbles.  Once we finally got everyone into the cold  water, it wasn't 15 minuets before they blew the whistle for "safety break"  Which is really just a reason for the teenage lifeguards to get a break from the sun.  Fine by me, usually we don't have to get out because of the babies!  This time was different. 

We were sitting with our feet in the pool when a lifeguard comes up and tells us that the pool has been contaminated.  Yup, a kid choked on water and vomited.  NICE.  Usually when this happens they shut the pool down.  Well, about 2 seconds later, they say they are closing it for 2 hours.  There were lots of unhappy people, and well 2 very unhappy little boys.  So we moved the party to our house.

Becca and Garet drove down, so they beat us to the house.  Carson opened the front door and set the alarm off.  I think this was the beginning of the spectacular evening ahead. Becca and I had taken " mommy drinks" to the pool so we were already feeling fantastic.  We filled up the two baby pools, ordered a couple of pizzas and let the good time roll.  Then a storm rolled in, really quickly and we had to move the party inside. It was nice to let the boys go hang with their daddy's, while Becca and I sat on the pouch, drinking and talking. 

We were having such a good time, I only took ONE picture.  A picture of Becca changing her baby Caleb, with Graham crawling all over her, and Dylan trying to hand her something.  All while she was in her bikini.  I am not going to post it, because well, I know she would kill me, and I value our friendship!:)

Lets just say, I ended the night, not remembering putting Dylan to bed at 11 pm the night before, and having a lot less Vodka than we started with!;)  I had so much fun with out little party, and it's always fun to drink at home and not have to worry about anything! 

Summer Lovin...

Seriously, could they be any more adorable? I know I'm biased, but I've had enough strangers tell me what cutie patooties I have to know, these guys are going to be trouble when they are teenagers!

CO-OP

Do any of my lovely three readers know anything about produce co-ops?  I didn't know much, other than I had heard and read about CSA's maybe last year.  The deal is, it's a bunch of people who pool their money together to buy produce.  I'm not sure where from to be honest, I didn't really do much research.  But a few weeks ago, a girl on my soccer team emailed the information to me because she had started doing it and thought I might be interested.  She was right.  I pay $15, for produce.  Now, I've only done it once ( the pickup location in Plano sells out pretty quick so I missed it the first week) but I was really pleased.  I have eaten more fruit in the last 3 days than I did in the entire month of June I think.  We got peaches, plums, bananas, limes, mangoes, strawberries,grapes probably 2 lbs, probably 2 lbs of green beans, cauliflower,  green leaf lettuce, tomato's and 3 huge zucchini.  I'm not sure how much I usually spend on fruits and veggies, but I do know that mango's alone at about $1 a piece, so I feel like I got a pretty good deal.  I even signed up again for this week.  I might start doing every other week depending on how quickly stuff goes bad, or we eat it.  I will tell you though, I had a peach yesterday, it was AMAZING!!!

So if you haven't looked into doing a co-op, you should give it a whirl.  I usually get stuck in a rut with the veggies I buy so this is nice to have to change it up a bit.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask, but I can't gurantee I can answer them!:)

Graham { 9 Months}

Wow, only three months until he is one.  When did he get so big? I guess it's really time for me to start planning his first birthday brunch.  This month was pretty  low key.  A lot of the same ol' same ol'.  He did get a cough this month, and his nose seems to have finally stopped running.( thank you mother's day out) I would say his biggest accomplishments are standing up unassisted, he did it for like 20 seconds the other day, and walking along furniture.  He has also mastered bending down and picking things up and standing back up.  It's funny how these little things are such huge milestones for babies.  He is still just the sweetest little guy.  We are still not having any issues with separation which is great, but  I read back on Dylan's month posts and that didn't hit him until 10 months.  OHHH, he also cut his third tooth last week.  It's a fang.  I'm not sure why my kids teeth grow in weird,  but they do, and they are adorable so I'll take it. 

Graham is such a sweet baby.  He still isn't a cuddler, but he is willing to sit ( recline) on me for a little while and watch some TV.  I really enjoy those few minuets because well, he doesn't cuddle.  I think that's one reason we haven't had to deal with attachment issues yet either.  He has been doing great going to the childcare ladies at the gym too.  One day, they referred to him as the "cute one" I asked if he was the only baby in there and he wasn't.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of people telling me how cute my babies are. 

He is an explorer.  We will put him down on the grown and he will be in the other room exploring in no time.  I often say to Adam, " can you go locate the little one?" There isn't really anything that he can get hurt on, but there are a number of things that he can put in his mouth.  His number one favorite is shoes.  It also reminds me of another little boy who lives in this house.  Dylan was obsessed with shoes, and so is Graham. I think that Graham will be our climber.  He likes to stand on things to get to places.  Dylan's nap mat?  No problem.  One day he was just hanging out on Dylan's Anywhere chair.  I didn't put him up there.  Luckily, he knows how to get down without killing himself! Another thing I have noticed, Graham is TOUGH.  He hardly ever cries if he falls or hits his head or anything.  That's nice.  I worry about him a lot less than I did Dylan at this age, I think because he is bigger. 

Slapping.  It's his new favorite thing.  He can put the smack down on anyone.  I really have to start telling him no.  Dylan sees it and then thinks it's a fun game.  It's cute though how Graham gets so into it.  He will be on his knees ( most of the time) and arch his back, then slam down on you. It really hurts when he connects with  my face.  I still feel bad telling him no.  I know he knows what the word means, but he isn't hitting me to be mean, it's just what he does.

Food.  This kid loves food.  He really got good at puffs this month, so we moved onto bigger and better things.  Like crackers.  Just this Friday at Chuck E Cheese, Grandpa gave him a cracker, and he loved it.  So we have been giving them to him since.  He also likes shredded cheese.  Still loves hunks of zucchini, and we might try some fruit this week since we got so much from out Co-op. 

Jabbering. Dylan obviously wasn't much of a babbler.  It's weird to hear some of the sounds that come out of Graham's mouth.  He already says "mama"  though I know it isn't directed at me just yet.  Baba, Dadada, gagaga and he has this pretty awesome Chewy sound.  I think he and Dylan will have their own language.  They can just look at each other and Dylan will say something and Graham will make noise back and Graham will get a huge smile oh his face, then Dylan will say " Oh Bubba" and then rub his head like a dog.  It's hilarious, but so sweet at the same time.  I am always fearful that Graham will say things wrong because he hears how Dylan says them.  Which is most of the time wrong:)  So we will see.

I would say Graham found a love of balls this month.  He loves to chase them.  Throw them. Eat them.  Good thing we have lots of them in this house.  I mean, I feel like we have 200 balls.  Yet every time I see one, I think " Ohhhh the boys will love this."  Then I complain about how there are always balls on the floor.  I think this month I will blow up the ball pit and hope for the best!  I think he will love it.  Though Dylan will love to throw the balls down stairs:(

9 Month Stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz ( 20th %)

Length:29 and 3/4 inchs ( 90th %)

9 Month onsies, though sometimes still 6 month

9 month sleepers, though your feet are about to bust out of those

Most days: 2 naps

Eating 3 8 oz bottles and 1 6 oz, plus three meals a day

Size 3 diapers ( you have no waist like your brother.)

Modern Technology

I have always known I rely to much on modern technologies, but haven't really appreciated them until the last few days.  You see, when we had Dylan we bought a nice video monitor.  My mom always made fun, saying things like " Why can't you just go check on them?" Adam's mom whenever they stay at her house says " We didn't have one with yall, we can just check on them" Ok ok, I know that's how our parents did it.  But why go in and chance waking them up, when you can put a camera above their bed and look at the silly positions they sleep in?  Oh, and we have a two story house, and I'm far too lazy to walk up the stairs every time I want to make sure they are still asleep. 

Back to the point, our monitor is dead.  It stopped charging, so I am now waiting on a new charger that I know is not going to work.  I bought a new monitor just to see if the battery would work, it doesn't.  It's the connection between the charger and monitor that is broken.  Boo.  The worst part is, I have slept without having a monitor on for the last few nights.  I hate it. Now I know my babes sleep through the night, so that's not a big deal.  The big deal is waking up.  My kids don't cry when they wake up.  They play.  Both of them.  At least Dylan will start yelling " MAMA" when he is awake.  Graham just plays, with his feet, the bumper, his mobile, anything.  He hardly ever crys.  So the last few mornings, I've had to go up there to check to see if he is awake.  He has been, but who knows for how long. 

So a new monitor is in our future.  I would change brands but we already have the cameras for the one we have, so we are sticking to it.  So, moral of the story.  Without modern technology, I would go bananas.

Weekends

The weekends around here have been jam packed lately it seems.  We usually take the weekend to try and recover from the exhausting week of work, and well, work.  After this weekend, I'm looking forward to next weekend for some rest. 

Friday night started out with a soccer game.  Becca and I are playing on a co-ed indoor team.  Our guys stepped down so that we could be guaranteed babysitters, and since they played on both Monday and Wednesday nights anyway.  After the soccer game we were going to hit up reverse happy hour at Houlihans, but we decided to stay at the Spectrum and have a pitcher of beer, or four, with the team.  It was a good time. We couldn't stay out too late, we had to get our rest for Courtney's super pool party bash.

This party had been on my calendar for over a month.  It started at noon, and went until our little hearts desire.  Adam and I had made arrangements to have Erin watch the boys all day, so we were free to do as we pleased.  Becca and I actually only stayed at the party a few hours before we left to meet up with her mom and sister to see MAGIC MIKE.  I'll tell you, Channing Tatum is one good looking guy, but his bad teeth are a deal breaker for me.  After the movie, we met up with the guys and kiddos ( We left our kiddos at home since we had planned for a day of babysitting,) and had some dinner and more margaritas at Glorias. 

After dinner we all went over( we went home and got Dylan so he could play) and hung out in Becca and Garets driveway to watch the South Fork Ranch fireworks, that we thought would go off at about 10ish.  Well, around 11 Pm we finally got some fireworks.  Luckily, Shanda had been so sweet and got all the kiddos a little goody bag, that had light sticks, poppers, and some other toys like a bubble blower in them.  They were great for distractions.  They all did great and Dylan even liked the fireworks.  I was a little afraid that he would be afraid of them because of the sound, but he just kept saying " Uh Oh" when he heard them.  He sat in Adam's lap and watched though. 

I am so glad that we have such good friends so close.  I'm glad that their family loves our just as much as we love theirs.  We hope there are many more holiday memories made in the future, just like this.

We had a great pre Fourth Of July.  We probably won't be doing anything to exciting tomorrow since Adam has to work, but he has Friday off, so he is going to go to swim lessons, then we are going to Chuckie Cheese for lunch!  It will be a good time.