Just Sayin'

Here are some recent cute sayings from our oldest son. I know they are not new to others, and are just small, but I needed to write them down somewhere. And, since this blog has become sort of our baby book (need help on tips for printing it out, does not work so well on a Mac), this is the best place to do so!

More Koo-Kum-Berrrr. Peese.

Daddy’s Juice.

Go Way An-Gus.

Eggy-Weggy-Woos.

MAC-Cheese

He points to Lightning McQueen on his sippy cup, and asks "wassss-DAT?" And I say "Lightning McQueen" and he repeats "Car." (normally he repeats exactly what you say but here opts for the easy way out).

Digger in my out-side! (as a result that there actually was a digger in our backyard, putting in our hot tub patio).

Nana - Pa. In response to the image of American Gothic in his art book. Ha!

I will keep thinking of more... So cute!

York Wild Animal Kingdom, Take 2

Yesterday we went to York Wild Animal Kingdom. This is where we all learned that it is helpful to go with other Mommies, as we all have eachother's backs. We had Jenny with Caroline and Troy; Lauren with Declan and Nolan; Michelle with Ainsley; and Heather with Bryce and Laurel (in addition to me with Joel Andrew and James, of course). All Moms were there to pitch in when someone's little needed to be fed, someone's big needed to go potty, or if someone needed to go potty. I am not sure I could have done it alone, plus it would have been far less fun!
The double stroller stress still continued, but I am solid now in my plan. We ended up buying the attach-on seat to our existing uppababy. This saves us hundreds of dollars, plus the space of having yet another stroller. Other Moms had the side-by-side yesterday making us slightly jealous, but really - how long was Joel Andrew in the stroller for? From the parking lot to the entrance, that's it. Not even to the parking lot on the way back. I can't wait till the foot-riding attachment for our stroller comes in, he will love that!
The toddlers all loved the zoo, it was such a different experience than last year where we had to strain to point out the animals and get them to notice anything. Declan wildly screamed as he saw the crocodiles. At one point I was saying to the other Moms: "What animal is that?" And Joel Andrew says: "Mommy, Llama!" Yes, I know, I should recognize a llama when I see one but bringing two under two to the zoo is tiring.
Once again we noticed the zoo was small, but it was perfect for our little ones. As they grow older there are more things for them to do, I am looking forward to next year when we can try the paddle boats, Joel Andrew can ride on the elephant, and maybe even go on the carnival rides too. There is plenty to do there.
So, although I started off the day saying "why did I come up with this activity? How am I going to do this?" And, I ended our lunch by saying: "I am not sure that I can do anything with two..." I can tell you it was totally worth it. Joel Andrew had a great time and I look back and I know I did too. It is nice to get out with other Mom's for a bit. Everyone's child took turns in meltdown time too!

Strawberry Picking with Friends

Last year we went strawberry picking with Nana, and Joel Andrew was in the backpack. This year we went with friends and it was a whole different story. Joel Andrew is now mobile, and able to pick, which is the upside. Joel Andrew is now mobile, which is the downside. And then there is James, who is not able to help at all yet. At least he had a cute outfit on for the occasion.
It was pretty much the most beautiful day ever for the event. We had ice cream at Applecrest first, which was a nice mid-day snack, except my son will not eat ice cream. Bryce and Declan enjoyed enough for Laurel and Joel, who instead munched on cones. Their chalkboards there kept Laurel and Joel occupied while the others finished their ice creams. And Mommy's ignored the sign that was posted: "keep chalk to the boards and not on the wall." They should just make that whole wall a chalkboard, really!
After ice cream we went picking. Lauren and I coached ourselves. If all else fails, we had fun at ice cream, it is beautiful out, etc. Good thing we did because it was tough. Running after toddlers in a strawberry field with a bjorn on is a workout!
Joel Andrew took to it anyway, he enjoyed picking the strawberries and kept saying: "I see one!' He generally got some good ones too, though we did have some less than ripe ones... totally white, and a few "floor strawberries."
James did well, overall the experience was hectic and fun. What isn't with little kids? Next time though I think Applecrest should wise-up. I was slightly disappointed of their policy that you go to the store, get a basket and sign-in. Then you drive to the site, pick strawberries, then back to the store where you pay. Why can't we just buy a bucket when we sign in? That's what you do for apples? Do they know how hard it is to get two kids in and out of a car?

The Truth About Moms and Dogs

Caution: Those who love their pets should not be alarmed, I still love mine, but need to vent here.

Last night I hardly slept. No, it was not James' fault. It was Angus' fault. Angus is our 5 year old French Bulldog. He is cute, but he has lots of bad habits. One of them is waking up in the middle of the night and puking. So, at 1am I woke up not to a baby crying, but to the sound of a dog getting ready to puke. This required me to jump up and hurry him to the shower, which resulted in much noise that then woke the baby up.

At this point I am thinking, why do we have dogs? They do not matter anymore. Yes, that is sad. But I am truthful here. I have a few friends that have given away their pets since they have had children, for various reasons really. Allergies, just couldn't handle it, safety issue. And each time they did this I thought, well judged, "how could they do that, a member of their family?" Well, last night, I knew how.

When you first get a pet, and you are a young couple, everything is about that pet. You get fun embroidered collars, you let them in the bed and on the couch to snuggle with you. You refer to yourself as Mommy, you take them for car rides, and on long walks. They are your children.

Then you have children. I like to say to people having a pet is a lot like having a child, but that is not true. A child is certainly more. Combine the two, and having a pet is pretty much like having a nuisance. The once-beloved family member is now cast off into the smelly, carpet-soiling, needs to go out in the middle of the night, barking during nap time pain.

I know, mean. I still love my dogs. We also have Otter, a chocolate lab who is now 9. But they come with their own eccentricities that were once cute, and now are a royal pain. Otter likes to bark, at everything. I now have a very unfriendly sign on my front door: "Please do not ring bell for deliveries." You should see the people at my front door, hmmm.... do I ring the bell, I came to visit, but am I delivering myself? She has an unnatural, perhaps obsessive need to chase after the ball. This is fine normally, we have the Chuck-It to aid with this, but now that she is 9 she cannot play like she used to, but only we know that, she does not. So her most-unfavorite trait now is out in full force, all the time, when we are trying to enjoy the outdoors anywhere - whining. She does not understand that she just cannot do it any longer.

Angus, what a whole additional story. He is disGUSting. Besides puking in the middle of the night, he does much more. He eats his own poop. No medicine has solved that. He also eats other things, mushrooms, bugs, practically anything, and has been sent to the emergency room on a few occasions, the most recent trip costing $1,000. He farts, snores, and licks his paws. And, the most awful (as if eating your poop was not) is he pees on our couch. For some reason the damn dog likes to pee all over the area of the couch he sits on.

So, this week I have had enough. This is my couch, damn it! I am not going to allow this anymore. While spending copius volumes of time on this couch breastfeeding, and watching helplessly as my other son rubs his face all over the cushions, I have decided that these dogs will officially be treated, as dogs. No more couch for them, Angus will be crated when we are gone, both will need to be strictly watched outdoors, and no more throwing the ball for Otter. We are the boss here, not them.

They are taking to it... Otter has basically resigned herself to the fact that she is just hanging around with us since Joel Andrew came along. Angus knows he is in trouble. He has mainly stayed off the couch but has tried to sneak one in here and there. He knows it is now forbidden, because when I came downstairs the other day I heard him quickly move and then saw the impression where he was sleeping.

I have to say, so far not so bad. I washed all the couch cushions in the washing machine (something I cannot believe I haven't done sooner) and the couch is still spotless, 4 days later! Usually it would be covered in dog hair. They both seem to be enjoying their dog beds, which they should since we spent a lot of money on them and they have only been collecting dust thus far.

I do love the dogs, Otter is the sweetest girl ever, and she has been with us as long as we have been an us. She still comes to me when I am sad and gives me kisses. And, Angus is the best snuggle bug ever. Sadly, he will now have to do that not on the couch... He is a good buddy and has been so tolerant of Joel Andrew.

So, no getting rid of dogs here. But at 1am, when there is a dog puking and waking up a baby, I can totally understand why others need to...

A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Mom, Part II

Today it was just me and the boys at home. It was particularly challenging, as yesterday was James' 6 week appointment. He had his vaccines and thus was up every hour last night. Big bummer for Mommy, who is very tired. Joel Andrew has had the snots all week, and now I have a sore throat. Try to keep germs away from the baby at this point. Today was also the first complete solo day for us, complete with outing to Gymboree. I know, other mothers would have done this ten times by now. But I readily admit I am not like the other super-Moms.
The day starts with James insisting 6am is an ok wake up call. I convince him it is not, and that we should fall asleep. I very badly position him in his most soothing side lying position on his boppy, on my bed, which breaks so many rules in the Dr and my rule book, but anything for 20 more minutes. It probably took about 20 minutes, because by the time I said, well even if I get 5 minutes... he and I finally fell asleep and woke up 10 minutes before Joel Andrew's typical wake up time. Awesome. Shower? Thank Daddy for helping get Joel Andrew up and breakfast ready so that Mommy could be clean.

Joel Andrew ate none of his breakfast, Daddy got ready for work. Mommy made her breakfast (without any dairy mind you), while James cried for his. Joel Andrew took extreme interest in Mommy's breakfast, Mommy only gets one bite. At least Joel Andrew eats. Breakfast over, Mickey on, Mommy feeds James. Daddy goes to work and now Mommy has an hour to kill before we need to leave for Gymboree. Joel Andrew helps with that. With snots all over his face, he continually asks to "hold James." Fantastic.

As I am feeding James for I hope the last time, he of course ends up puking a bit. Lucky for me I have a bib on. No medicine for us as the Doctor is unsure it is reflux. He is gaining weight, and except for the vaccine incident has been sleeping just fine, so we are supposed to stay the course and invest in Dreft. While cleaning up puke, Joel Andrew proclaims: "I have to go poopy."

Now I have said time and time again, I do not want to even think about potty training until Joel Andrew is 2-1/2. It is just not worth it in my mind. But I guess some other kids in his class at school are doing it, so he has been intrigued. He even peed on the potty once this week. So, I have to take this literally and be a good Mom. We have a mini-duck potty in our downstairs shower. Boy, am I glad I put it there. So, I toss James to the side (gently of course), and take Joel Andrew into the bathroom. He insists on getting totally naked, except for his socks. Which must stay on. Ok, whatever. He sits on the potty.

Nothing. So, I go on the big potty and see if that helps him. Nothing. Fine, no big deal. I don't want to do this either! But, he will not get up. I finally make the big mistake of playing peek-a-boo with the shower curtain which gets his naked (except for socks) tushie off the potty. He then proceeds to pee all over the shower floor. Just as I am exclaiming, "go in the potty" - he walks all over said pee, with socks. Double fantastic. At least it is the shower and was easily cleaned. I get Joel Andrew dressed for the day, cue James' crying.

Sidebar: do you have more than one child? when one is crying does the other like to annoyingly point out over and over and over again, "baby's crying" baby's crying" baby's crying" - it takes the intense feeling of listening to a baby cry, up five more levels.

Anywho, we all load up and get in the car for Gymboree. Mom insists on her daily coffee, my drive-thru sanctuary. Joel Andrew sees the sign and proclaims: "Munchkins." So, yes, my son gets them. James continues to cry - as he seems to have an issue with Mommy's coffee breaks. Joel Andrew lets me know, incase I don't already, that the baby is crying.
Joel gets Munchkins, and throws them on the floor. For some reason they are unacceptable. Come to think of it he has done this three times now. Why does he keep ordering them then? We get to Gymboree 25 minutes early, which is a miracle. But James is still awake, and has stopped crying. Should I try to feed him to avoid a mid-class feeding? Yes. So, I get him, put on a DVD for Joel Andrew in the back and while parked at Gymboree try to feed James in the front seat. Joel Andrew is engrossed in Cars, and the whole parking lot can hear the music. James pukes. Awesome. We decide to bag this plan and go into Gymboree.

Luckily James sleeps the whole time and all of the other parents know how to direct their toddlers away from the baby bucket - that is all, except for me. Joel continues to pull the shade up and down despite all of my cautions and warnings. Now I look bad in front of the other parents. Otherwise we have a great time at Gymboree, Joel sings all of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star impressing everyone. Now back in the car, to go home for lunch and nap.

On the way home, Joel Andrew screams, Car Wash! I haven't taken him through the car wash in like two months, and even so he has only gone in once or twice. I was so impressed, that despite the fact that it was to downpour at any moment - why don't we spend $11 on a car wash? The kiddo really wants one. So, we get in. As soon as we get in Joel Andrew oooohhs and wows for about two minutes and then says: "car wash all done." Um, nope buddy, we still have 5 more minutes. So, that was fun. James slept through it all though. What a champ!

As always, we have "Dilla" - short for Quesadilla - for lunch on Gymboree days. There is a great Mexican take-out place here. Joel loves it. We get into the parking lot and he is screaming "Dilla! Dilla! Dilla" - and Mom looks in the window and sees a line, line, line. No way am I lugging bucket and Joel Andrew in there for a 20 minute wait in line. Now, explain this to Joel Andrew as he is screaming in the backseat, now in a sad tone, "Dilla, Dilla, Dilla" as Mommy slowly pulls away.

We get home, we are fed. James is still sleeping. Joel Andrew eats a ton, which is a welcome surprise. Joel Andrew easily goes up to bed with the promise that he will see Nana and Pa when he wakes up. The second I close his door, James wakes up. Ok. More feeding, more puking. Some playing. Outfit changing for both he and I, more feeding, more puking and finally I decide to put him in the swing. He has been up for two hours, and can no longer be consoled. Plus, I want him to get his napping out of the way so I can get back into our better nighttime routine of power-feeding and awakeness from about 4:30 - 8:00, then from 8:00 - 3:30 a good stretch of sleep, for all of us considering last night. Let's see if this works of if last night ruined this "routine" that was working so well four days prior.

So, that is our day. Waiting for Daddy to come home. Probably should be sleeping now myself. May go do that. Joel Andrew is sure to wake up then!

Pukey-Duker

This is my new nickname for James. Guess why? At first it was a laundry issue. The kiddo would puke, sometimes large amounts, after eating. Now it is much bigger. Puking is non-stop during the day, and is surrounded by crying and pain. I went to the Dr before the pain thing was involved, and he told me it was a "laundry issue" only, tomorrow I go again and will insist we look at this further. It is turning my normally chill and happy baby into a real bear. If he is not sleeping, he is crying. This is not right. I miss my happy man!

He still appears to be gaining weight, though we will know tomorrow for sure. He still eats, though sometimes it is accompanied by both he and I crying. I wonder if it is a milk allergy? All I know is now it hurts his throat. We need that reflux medicine please!
Otherwise he is doing well in the sleeping department. Much better than his brother at this time, but I do not want to jinx it you know. Once you write about it, it is sure to change.

He is also growing so big already. Into 6 month clothes, and personality shining through. Once the puking has settled and happy boy makes a brief appearance, we find he is already fascinated by rattles and colors. Still refuses to take the bink though. We have tried every brand we can get our hands on... should we give up? Thoughts?
I am now back to swaddling him. At night for a while I just loosely (and safely) wrapped the blanket around him, leaving his arms free. This has allowed for lots of evening movement accompanied by lots of grunting. Now that he is in his crib, and I can see him on the monitor, I see how this is very disturbing to his sleep. So, binding him up it is! He seems to be taking to it even though when he first came home from the hospital he refused. He appears to be able to get out of it though - even the velcro swaddling blankets. I have to get good at burrito-ing him again. When he woke up last night he did not cry for food, and just made his grunting noise for about an hour before I finally went in to feed him, and re-burrito him. Once he was back to sleep he was good for the night and only cried at 6:30am. Could this mean that with a successful burrito he may go really long? Hmmm.
I am thinking about starting a James activity. You know, instead of just lugging him around on my errands. Maybe the infant Gymboree? Why not, I did it with Joel Andrew. Why should the second kid loose out?

Here's hoping tomorrow's Dr appt. fixes or helps the pukey-duker situation!

One Liner Updates

We have been busy, so I have not posted. So, I thought I would update you with a few one-liners (or as short as I can make them, being that it is me writing), to let you know what we have been up to lately. We had our first playdate with the King boys. I looked up at told Lauren: "We are surrounded by lots of Penis's."

James continues to do his eat a ton and spit-up thing. Went to see a Dr, and it is a "laundry issue." He continues to gain weight like a tank and must be about 13 pounds by now. He is a true Hall, eats till he pukes.

All of the grandparents are here this weekend. Yesterday it was 4 grandparents to one Joel Andrew. Guess who won and wore them out? Good times were had by all.
This is a pretty unflattering photo of my son, but I had to do it...

Tomorrow is Aunt Jennie's Bridal Shower that I have planned. Lots to do for that, but luckily it is not at my house. 43 people, a newborn and rain would not be a good combination. I tried to get a pedicure for it yesterday. Brought James. Not a good plan at all. He woke up mid-pedi and I tried to feed him while on the pedi-stand. He pooped so loudly it echoed through the salon. Awesome.
Just gave away my first child things, an entire bag of newborn clothes. Most of them were Joel Andrew's that he wore twice. We may have squeezed James into one or two of the items. But I feel this is a momentous occasion. Fully admitting no more kids, I can't - I do not have anymore newborn clothes! Wear them well Baby Boy Pratt!

A Lot Has Changed in Five Years

We went to our Colby 10 Year Reunion this weekend. A lot has changed in five years. The last reunion we went for the whole weekend of fun. And boy did I have fun. I believe I went to bed at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday night. This reunion, we barely made it. Fun was had, sort of. But no drunken fun. How can you have drunken fun, or any fun really, when you are a milkmaid?
But I insisted we go, if for nothing else than to buy Colby things and take a photo there. I didn't even think about seeing people, because how can you have a meaningful conversation with someone when you have a newborn crying and a toddler throwing a tantrum? I was right about that one... but not right about the not seeing people. We did see some fun people, briefly, I hope they do not think we are awful parents...
It was a long ride, and Joel Andrew missed his entire nap but for the most part the both boys were stellar. We saw friends playing beer die, they had secured babysitting at home (or left their wives at home) - so we were jealous. Also, I did not want to have my kids around them for very long, they deserved their kid-free time! I split off from the Joel's to find a place to feed James. We went to my old haunt, the art building - that has to be empty, right? Pretty much. We took a few seconds to go into the art museum, which is now the largest in Maine and James freaked out. So sad! He is supposed to be my little buddy. While I was trying to exit the Museum in much haste, we bumped into a Lunder. Like, the people who built the Museum. I was trying to cover saying: "James' first trip to a Museum, he is overwhelmed by the beauty." The Lunder looked like she really appreciated it. I hope so, she (or, I am assuming a family member at least by the way the Museum staff was treating her) donated the $100M collection.
So, where were the Joel's while all this was happening? They were to be at the kid's play area, where a lot of my friends were waiting for us to say hello. But no, they did not go there. They were sidetracked by a beer die table. I was a little miffed to say the least. Finally I had to act like the evil bad wife in front of many old friends to get my husband to leave the table so we could do our final errand, the bookstore. We needed lots of little things that say Colby. Of course, it was too late anyway, by the time we got to the bookstore Joel Andrew was too overloaded, 1/2 hour after his afternoon naps usually end, he began grabbing magazines off the racks and throwing them. Awesome. Needless to say, we left unhappy. But what did I expect? I pretty much knew that was going to happen anyway.
So, the 10th reunion was not as good as the 5th, but still fun in it's own way. Each time we drove by the Colby Mule sculpture Joel Andrew would scream "Horsie." We re-kindled some friendships of the past which is always welcome and awesome. And we got our family photo. After about 10 minutes of both kids crying simultaneously in the car, we even had about an hour of quiet time for the ride home.

Here's to the 15th reunion. No kids, the whole weekend, and extra cocktails for me then.