Outdoor Concert

As Mommy was feeling better. we decided to make the most of it and go out and do something for a change.  Mommy came up with the idea of going to an outdoor concert on the town lawn.  Just a mile away from home, and under the imminent threat of thunderstorms, not a bad plan.  If it didn't work out, it didn't work out.  Even better, we can pick up dinner on our way and really make a stress free picnic of it, totally what we needed to do seeing as Mommy's recent ailments have come from all stress.

So what does Daddy do?  He takes Mommy's idea up ten notches and finds an outdoor concert not to be outdone 30 minutes away, at Odiorne State Park (Seacoast Science Center), we are going to leave early to pick the kids up, pack chairs and blankets, get food there.  It is going to be a huge band, that everyone loves - Circus peanuts something or other.  I am still not my 100% self, and not so sure about this, but go because I do not want to be the one keeping everyone from having fun.

Well, it turned out to be an awesome time.  We saw some old Gymboree friends there, and danced.  James was a hit with his dance moves and won extra beads.  Both boys continued to charm with their hats.  A huge pot of french fries was a big hit with the whole family, and Mom had her first sip of alcohol in about a week (can you believe it?!).  The Smuttynose brew truck was a huge hit.  Right on the water, not a better place to see a summer concert and the band was very good.  Everyone picnicked out, and a lot of people had brought some yummy things while others, like us, relied heavily on the foods offered which included Flatbread pizza and delicious hand cut fries.

So, good times were had by all, kiddos made it home and went straight to bed a little late but it was worth it.  Fried food was consumed for the 1,000 time this summer, but that is ok, they will eat veggies again someday right?  Most of all, Mommy had an adventure with her boys which she has been missing with all of the work, sickness and stress, which was the most important thing.  I miss these guys!  It is hard to be a working mom in the summertime.

3rd Birthday Party(ies)

Joel Andrew had a number of birthday celebrations.  The first, at school, was I hope awesome.  Mommy made him a cake (see above at my awesome decorating skills), and sent him to school with all sorts of Mickey cups and plates and favors.  He wore his birthday boy shirt and they had a ball.

Next on his actual birthday morning Mommy, James and Joel opened his present from Mommy, a puppet theater.  Which so far has gotten about 30 minutes of playtime, which is huge in this house.  James and Joel especially like to play peek a boo through the curtains.  Uncle Jeremy also likes to play with the puppets, but it maybe PG and not so G.  Joel Andrew is getting the swing of using them and he is super creative.

We then packed up and went to York Wild Animal Kingdom for his birthday party with friends.  Not many friends could make it, which was a bummer - but those that did make it had an awesome time!  It was probably the perfect amount for Joel Andrew and he had a blast, which is all that matters.  He rode the pony, fed the ducks, refused a photo with the snake (Aunt Lauren and I decided that next year we will get a snake photo with James and Nolan, who will have no problem with it).  James had a blast in the petting zoo.  Everyone had a great time and meltdowns were minimal.  It made me really miss my stay at home adventure days.  It is so much more fun to get out with friends, in the summer time.

The remainder of the photos are still at York, blowing out the candles, and having a good time.  But this is where the photo and Mommy documentation ends.  On Saturday morning, Mommy woke up and could not stand.  This has since not gone away but has either gotten more manageable or is working its course, not sure which.  Such a bummer, all I could do was lay down and miss Joel Andrew's third and potentially most awesome party, which was with the family on the lake.  They went to kids day at the sandbar beach and had a blast.  I was so sad to miss it.

I did hobble over to my in-laws so see Joel Andrew open up his many presents and then hobbled back and slept more.  The important thing is that the little dude had an awesome birthday.  It kinda works out to not have one big party and instead have several few parties, then it is like a four day birthday celebration.  When we finally got Ama and Grump on the phone with Joel Andrew to sing to him, he admitted: "It's not my birthday anymore."  Super cute and funny.

The cake is almost gone and another year has passed.  The big 3 for Joel Andrew!  How exciting and crazy and strange.  I can't believe he is growing up so fast.  His last present, a big boy bed, should be on its way today.

Joel Andrew's 3rd Birthday

Today is Joel Andrew's third birthday.  And, he is awesome.  Yes, he is full blown toddler tantrum stages at times, he still gets major rashes, and he wants to talk constantly, but he is super, super cute and a really good boy.  I am very proud of my first born.

He is super smart and remembers many lines to songs.  All sorts of songs, from ABCs, to Red Solo Cup.  He and I especially like to sing the Red Solo Cup song a lot.  His memory is so remarkable. I can tell him once what we will be doing a few months from now, and over the course of the next few weeks he will randomly break it out: "I am going to the zoo with Declan in a few weeks, Mommy."  He continues to talk about his impending visit to the Castle (Disney World).  He has this rain-man like ability to remember exactly what car everyone drives, and on the highway the other day he even said: "Look, there is Ama's car!" And it was, an exact copy of Ama's car.  When we drove past he said: "That's not Ama's car."  I couldn't tell you what kind of car my parents drive, and yet my 3 year old knows.

He eats pretty well for a three year old, but I can still complain.  I am a Hall, and we eat everything and Joel Andrew certainly did not get this gene.  But, if you phrase it just right, he will try anything, and usually ends up liking it in the end.  Some meals he will eat everything and want more, others he will barely touch his plate.  He is truly a preschooler in this realm.

He is not shy with people and will say hello, bye, and how are you? to anyone.  He is happy to say his name when someone asks, and always responds : "Joel Williams" as if the last name is an integral part. I learned that you know a kid is ready for kindergarten when they can say their address, so he can now do that too, in the cutest singsongy way.  Still not interested in reading yet, no matter how hard I bug.  He is incredibly confident, and when I say Joel, you are a good boy, he will respond: "Yeah (pause), I am!"

His grammar is not always spot on, and when you correct him he will remember it for next time, though it is sad.  When we pulled in the driveway the other day he said for the umpteenth time: "We are at to Mommy Daddy's House."  And, I was so chatty with him that I explained it was we are at home.  It is all of our home(not just Mommy and Daddy), and you just say At home, not at to home.  He said, "Ok Mommy."  For the two days since, "We are at home, Mommy!"  I miss we are at to mommy daddys house.

He is a wonderful big brother and takes great care of James.  He will help James with things and try really hard to calm him down when he is upset.  He will share with James and has learned to distract him with something else before taking his toy.  They are so different the two of them, but so awesome as buddies.  I am excited they have each other and hope this continues on a good path...

We got him a big boy bed, which he will rock, no problem.  It will go in next week, it is a freakin sweet car bed.  I can't believe the crib is going.  So super sad, and happy at the same time, but sad.  He has really grown into a great little boy and we are just crazy about him.  He really loves his friends, and enjoys spending time with his parents (which is sad since I went back to work).  Each day is a new opportunity of fun for him and boy am I glad it is the summer and I have days off here and there as every day he wakes up he asks: "What are we going to do today?" - Today I am so happy not to say go to school and instead say "going to the zoo, happy birthday!"

Our Annual Trip to the ER

Last night was our annual trip to the ER.  The lucky winner, Baby James.  Happily for him, it turns out that there was absolutely nothing at all wrong with him.  Sadly for us, it still was a night of stress and terror, not to mention the baby with nothing wrong was subjected to lots and lots of radiation, but hey - he is ok, right?

It all started like a normal evening.  I picked up my CSA and ran home and starting cooking up a storm.  I was going to make a ton of stuff so we would have it on-hand for the whole week, while Joel Husband was in Canada.  This was going to be great.  Joel Husband came home, brought the boys up to the man room like usual, and I got stuff done, cooked, cleaned up, got things ready for the next day.  Finally I went upstairs to get the boys for dinner, and found the Joel's watching a Britney Spears video. Awesome.  James, however, had a cucumber in one hand and a battery cover in the other.  Strange, I thought.  I picked up Baby James and handed the battery cover to Daddy, and went downstairs.

Five minutes later, Daddy appears and exclaims that James took the battery cover off one of his devices, and a battery is missing.  A small, less than dime-sized button battery.  Um, ok.  Joel Husband goes back upstairs to frantically look and Mommy in shock continues to feed children dinner.  James eats like a champ.  Note to self: Ravioli and dip dip carrot sauce is really a hit around here.  Anyway, I call the Dr office, but I know this is pointless.  Our annual ER visit is upon us.  Finally, after 10 more minutes I say to Joel Husband it is his turn to go to the ER and he must go now.  As he is getting in the car the Dr office calls and says with passion: "you need to go now."  Alright, ok, we are going.

Joel Husband goes with James and leaves me at home with Joel Andrew.  I am still in the annoyed stage at this point, this ruined my dinner.  I guess no more wine for me tonight.  He is supposed to get a bath.  Wahh Wahh.  Then I go into the inquisitive stage.  And I google "Toddler swallows a button battery."  Pretty much DO NOT google this.  Or anything for that matter.  What came up was horrifying and terrible.  News story after news story of less than 2 year olds who cannot speak because within an hour the battery eroded their esophagus.  Others died from it becoming caught on the way down, others from exposure to the chemicals in lithium batteries.  Within hours death happens, and is unavoidable.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  I quickly went from annoyed stage to full on Mommy panic mode.  I called my mother who yelled at me to keep it together for my other child in the room.  I was a mess.

Then, I called my mother in law and I used the Roger card.  Well, sort of.  We tend to borrow the Roger card but have not actually used it yet - we are saving it for an extreme emergency like imminent death, which I hope we will never have to use.  But, Roger is a friend of the family who works at a local and very awesome hospital and knows many physicians in the area.  This is a generalization and many of my readers are actually related to him so I think explanation is not necessary.  Anyway, my mother in law got on the phone to Roger and asked him immediately if what I was reading online was true, and of course - ever the patient man, he informed us it was a gross exaggeration.  Choking is the only concern for us at this point, and the fact that the kid wolfed down dinner after the suspected ingestion leads us to believe he is fine. We are very lucky to have this man as a friend.

Anywho, Joel Husband is there and the ER, which normally makes us wait forever - must have also read those articles from google, as they put him within the hour into an x-ray.  No sign of metal.  Joel Andrew and I looked and looked and could not find the battery, so they put James in the x-ray again.  You must be wondering why this topic has all sorts of photos of Joel Andrew eating ice cream?  This is because while Mommy was freaking out, Joel Andrew told me: "James will be ok Mommy."  And, then, suggested we get ice cream.  I kid you not.  So, how can you not get ice cream?

James in his last x-ray, and Mommy and Joel Andrew down the street getting ice cream.  Joel Husband seems lighter by now as he texts that he is not worried, and he is just glad he doesn't have a girl since the man next to him was bringing his 15 year old daughter into the ER because she just found out she was allergic to latex.  All seems better.

2nd x-ray, no issue.  I should note, that like his last ER visit, James is as happy as can be, nothing wrong.  They come home and we put James to bed.  But now - where is the freakin battery?  If he did not ingest it before - we need to find it so he does not ingest it now.  Joel Husband scoured the place, and finally found, it was in the crevice of a toy.

So, that is the story of our 3rd ER visit with the boys.  1 Joel Andrew, 2 James Morris. So far.

Joel Andrew - Mommy's Helper

Tonight was funny. Joel Andrew is getting really smart. We got some pizza for dinner, and he helped me by waiting in the window for the pizza man to show up. He announced his arrival, went right to the front door and to my astonishment, opened it (lock and all) and said "hello pizza man!" We ate dinner well and afterwards Joel Andrew came outside with me to help me water the plants. And he did just that. We have a little kiddie watering can, and he watered the plants. Then Mommy cut a bush, and Joel helped by talking the discarded limbs to the side of the driveway. Super awesome Mommy helper! Then, upstairs, he helped Mommy with the laundry. Child labor? I think not, he enjoyed it! and I enjoyed having a buddy. It is so strange now to have a helper instead of someone you need to do everything for all the time. Now, with baby James in bed, Mommy and her helper are relaxing to Dumbo. Good night!

Children's Museum of Maine

I would normally gush about my outings with my boys, but it was clear to me that yesterday I didn't really want an outing.  And, neither did they.  But everyone else went golfing.  So, since I can't drive the boat, and was afraid of two boys near the water with just me (especially with James tubes), I decided we needed an outing and we went to the Children's Museum of Maine, which was once again free with my ASTC membership, and discount parking too!

As soon as we got there, Joel Andrew peed all over the toddler area.  Awesome.  Once cleaned up, James and Joel terrorized the remainder of the exhibits, and there was no way I was able to see both of them at the same time, like ever.  Lunch, Joel Andrew threw his sandwich on the floor.  Tantrum to leave, and then Mommy proceeded to drive 2 hours just so everyone could get a break and Joel Andrew and James could nap.  I drove around the entire perimeter of Sebago Lake.

Today is much better, and that is all I have to say about that.

Happy 4th!

What a wonderful 4th we all had!  Very relaxed and nice, James is taking to long walks in the carriage with Nana, Norm and Carole.  Joel Andrew is still Pa obsessed, but had some fun with Mommy and Daddy too.  We can just see that with every 4th that comes, things are going to get easier and easier and more and more fun.

They are starting to fight and play like brothers now.  And James personality is so huge that Joel is getting a little jealous... But they had a great weekend without Mommy while she was at girls time in Carmel, NY, and two days with Daddy and Nana and Pa while Mommy worked.  Now to finish out the rest of the week with the Gouldmans at the lake!