Monday Picture

Monday Picture

Birthday Day!

Mike's birthday was yesterday but we decided to celebrate on Sunday with a day full of fun.  We started off the day at SLU for breakfast with Santa.  This year Mike finally got it.  He was excited, he smiled, he talked to Santa and he even sat on his lap.  Ryan, on the other hand, started crying and turned into a wet noodle the second I tried to sit him on Santa's lap, which  meant another year of me in the picture. Luckily, Ryan was perfectly happy sitting on my lap, next to Santa.

 

 

After our visit with Santa, we headed to the Magic House for a little fun.  The boys LOVED it (per usual).  Ryan is finally old enough to really start enjoying a lot of what it has to offer. 

 

After a few hours of playing we headed home for presents and cake.  Unfortunately Ryan missed this part of the day because he fell asleep in the car (don't worry he got cake later).  We facetimed with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Cami so they could watch Mike open his presents and help us sing happy birthday.

 

That evening we drove to Tilles Park to experience the "Winter Wonderland."  Mike loved it and Ryan once again fell asleep in the car.  After the lights we headed out to dinner because Mike had requested "squishy steak" for his birthday dinner. 

Monday Pictures - Birthday Boy

Today my sweet baby is 4. To sound cliche, I cannot believe how fast time has gone by. 

Things to Remember: One More

Our bed time routine is pretty established.  Each night around 8pm we herd the boys upstairs for bath and bed.  Brad flosses Mike's teeth, while I get the bath going and give Ryan his toothbrush.  Once Ryan is finished, I plop him in the bath while Mike brushes his teeth and goes potty.  I wash Ryan and then he happily plays while Mike finishes up and gets in the bath.  We get Mike's hair wet, plop some soap onto his head and let him wash himself.  After a few minutes we tell Ryan to "pull the plug" and then let them play until the water is gone.  Once the water is gone, Mike will dutifully climb out of the tub and into his warm towel, while Ryan lays down on his belly in the empty tub and slides around like a little eel.  Once I am finally able to fish him out of the tub, I dry him off and carry him to the carpet so he won't slip on the tile with his wet feet. 

At this point, Mike and Brad head to Mike's room to get his pajamas on and read stories and I take Ryan into his room to do the same.  Once Ryan has his pajamas on, he requests "down" and then happily runs down the hall to "give daddy all his love."  After burying his little body in Brad's chest, he will run (toddle) back down the hall to his room and giggle excitedly at me. 

 

As soon as he sees me, he gives me the biggest grin, then turns around and runs back down to the hall to Brad.  This would probably happen all night if we let it.  Eventually I will tell him "One More" to which he will run back and fourth 3 more times saying "Mo, Mo" (one more in toddler speak) while holding up his index finger each time.

 

 I finally grab him, spin him in the air then cuddle him in close.  He buries his little face in my neck and gives me a quick kiss before I lay him in his bed.  Each night he lays down and waits for me to give him his bibi (pacifier), water and cow.  I then hold up his blanket, which he knows signals time for him to put his little legs straight up in the air.  After repeating "legs down" a few times he slams them into the mattress then grins at me as I cover up his little body, ruffle his hair, tell him I love him and slip out the door.

Lesson Learned (I Hope)

As I pulled into the parking garage today at work I grabbed my phones to check and see if any work emails or phone calls had come in while I was driving.  I was surprised to see 5 missed calls (3 from daycare and 2 from Brad) a voicemail (from daycare) and 2 text messages (from Brad).  It would appear that the world was REALLY trying to get a hold of me.  I quickly scanned Brad's text messages and called daycare.  It turns out that 5 minutes after I had pulled out of the parking lot, Mike had found a willow (the plant that grows along streams) and stuck it up his nose.  When he tried to get it out (I'm guessing) the stick portion broke off, leaving the fuzzy little pod part stuck (way way way up) in his nose.   After getting the full story from daycare I called our pediatrician's office and made an appointment for an hour later.  I turned my computer on, told my boss what was going on, and pretty much walked back out the door to drive back down to daycare (oh in case you hadn't guessed it is a Monday morning...of course). 

We get to the pediatrician's office for our 9:45 appointment and after examining Mike and verifying that there is indeed something in his nose she suggested that I (yes I) plug one of his nostrils (obviously the one that doesn't have willow parts stuck in it), form a seal over his mouth with my mouth, and blow hard.  She was hoping It would pop the willow out - spoiler alert...it didn't.  What it did do was create a lot of snot bubbles.  Next she called in one of the nurses and had the nurse and me hold Mike down while she tried to use some random tool that was obviously specifically designed for pulling things out of people's noses.  Spoiler alert: It didn't work either.  By this point, Mike was not a happy camper.  Having 2 women hold you down while I third tries to shove stuff up your nose was not winning his affection.  The doctor sheepishly explained that she couldn't get the willow and that she wanted to send us to an ENT...Grrrrrreat.

 After a quick gas station stop for a snack we show up at the ENT a few minutes before our 11:00 appointment and fill out the applicable paperwork.  We finally get called back just to sit in another room.  The doctor eventually comes in and tries to look in Mike's nose.  By this point, Mike is pretty fed up with people messing with him and starts to cry immediately.  He has me bear hug him (arms and legs) while he tries to spray lidocane up his nose to numb everything up.  I think the ENT may be going home tonight with a few bruises on his legs thanks to my little fighter.  A few minutes later, they move us to another room (with a table to lay Mike on).  Two nurses join us and instruct me to lay him down.  One takes his legs/lower body, the other one instructs me to hold his arms, while she explains that she will be holding his head in place.  He FREAKS out (understandably).  The doctor first uses a tiny little vacuum to try to suck the willow out.  Spoiler alert: It didn't work.  He then tries another little vacuum, it also does not work.  All the while, Mike is screaming and thrashing while three grown women (myself included) hold him down on the table (how is your Monday looking compared to mine??).  The doctor next decides to use a similar tool that the pediatrician used and fishes around for a while before finally extracting the willow!!!!  Mike immediately jumps up and clings to me while the nurse carefully wraps up the boogery piece of willow in gauze, places it in a baggie and presents it to me.  I guess this is the sort of thing I'm supposed to include in the baby book.

Two minutes later Mike was 100% fine (in case anyone was concerned).

Monday Picture

Monday Picture

Builders

 

Mike has been into building things lately.  I often encourage him to get out the legos, blocks or mega blocks to see what he can make.  Lately his formations actually have a structure and are somewhat identifiable.  In the picture above he was building Six Flags.  Ryan was just perfecting his sorting and stacking skills and was not happy if you tried to encourage him to use anything but a yellow block.

Monday Picture

Hot on Broadway

Last night was the holiday event for the company I work at.  The past few years they have treated all of the employees and their families to special screenings of productions at the Peabody Opera House.  The first year we got to see The Grinch, last year it was the Rockettes and this year they treated us to Hot on Broadway.  The show itself was alright.  Not amazing, but definitely a fun night out.  The boys seemed to really enjoy it (Mike got very concerned when the "pretty ladies" went off stage).

 

Things Mike Says: Cold

 

We had a pretty significant cold front come through a few days ago.  The first cold morning as we were heading to school/work, Mike walked into the driveway and boldly told me "Mommy, it is cold enough to breathe!!" (meaning it is cold enough to SEE our breath).

Survival Mode

 

Last Sunday Brad and I did a 10K obstacle course/mud run.  It was great.  It was tiring and not very muddy (thankfully because it was cold), but it was a lot of fun.  I really enjoy running with Brad.  He is faster than I am but we always stick together and do it as a team.  Unfortunately, as we were driving home from the race I got a migraine, which kind of knocked me on my butt for the rest of the day.  Thankfully, Brad let me rest and took care of the boys.  By early evening I was finally able to (somewhat) function again so we settled in for dinner.  After dinner, Brad wasn't feeling great either and we got to the point where we were counting down the minutes until bedtime for the boys.  I hate these days.  I genuinely enjoy my two little guys and love playing with them and spending time with them, but sometimes we just try to survive long enough to make it until bedtime.

Monday Picture

Things Ryan Says: NO!

The other day we were sitting at the table eating breakfast and Ryan started to get upset and whine/cry/grunt about something he wanted.  He isn't talking much, so this is pretty standard.  During this particular exchange Brad looked at him and said "Ryan, if you want something you need to use your words.  Use your words, Ryan."  Ryan looked straight at Brad and boldly shouted "NO, NO Dada."  I don't think this was quite what Brad had in mind.

Monday Picture

Soccer

Today the boys started soccer. Yes, both of them. They offered a class for Ryan at the same time as Mike's and I figured he would enjoy it much more than sitting around for 45 minutes waiting for Mike. 

Mike did great. He followed directions, played really well and had so much fun. Ryan, on the other hand, started out fine then turned into a clingy mess. I tapped Brad out and convinced Ryan to stop crying/clinging and play a little bit, but he had zero interest in following the instructor's directions or doing what he was supposed to (I know, I know, he isn't even 2. But none of the kids were and most if them did really well). We will see how next week goes. Either way Mike will be back!!

Halloween 2013

Halloween this year was great.  Mike was SO excited about everything and had decided in July that he wanted to be Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates).  I  kept asking him and he never wavered in his decision, so Jake it was.  My sister was nice enough to help us make the costume and Ryan rocked the same cowboy costume that Mike wore two years ago.  Ryan was a bit apprehensive at first and full out screamed anytime we put the costume on him, but finally came around when he realized the process involved candy.

We headed over to the Lyons' house again and were met with rain, lots and lots of rain.  While periodically checking the weather forecast and hoping that it would let up we finally got everyone dressed and decided to head out anyway.  Rain coats covered costumes, but spirits weren't dampened and the rain quickly turned to drizzle then disappeared entirely.  

 Mike and Lukas joyfully ran from house to house requesting candy and telling their jokes (a weird St. Louis thing).  Mike's joke this year was: What do ghosts wear?...BOO Jeans.  I was so proud that he remembered it and told it to every single person who handed out candy.  I was a little mad when an 8 year old kid we were also trick or treating with stole the joke, but we were able to move the bigger kid onto something else, so Mike could have his "Boo Jeans" glory.

 Unfortunately the neighborhood the Lyons' live in does not have sidewalks and the yards are pretty uneven, so due to the wet conditions all day I ended up carrying Ryan from house to house for over an hour.  I would dutifully carry him to a house, set him down on the porch and he would pilfer the candy dish while the other kids were telling jokes.  Then sweetly say "Tank OO" (thank you).

Once their pumpkin buckets were full we headed home, bathed two sticky boys, put them to bed and then practiced the fine are of candy theivery.

Happy Halloween!!

Wish List

Tuesday the Toys R Us Christmas catalogue showed up in the mail.  I gave Mike a marker and told him to circle all the toys he thought were cool - it bought me 20 minutes to cook dinner!  The downside is that he now thinks he "needs" every single toy in the catalogue.  Oh, and it was crazy hair day at school.  His hair isn't normally blue.

Peter Pan, Baseball, the Zoo and Running

See the title up there...yeah, that one.  Well that pretty much sums up our entire weekend.  Brad got called in early Saturday morning to operate so the boys and I (ok, just I) organized half of Ryan's closet.  The boys thought it was great fun because they got to play in the bathtub (without water) and jump on my bed.

After I finally convinced them to get off the bed we actually got out of our pajamas and headed out for the play Peter Pan.  Unfortunately it was LONG...2.5 hours long.  Which is asking A LOT from little kids, fortunately the boys both did great!

After we finally made it home that night we snuggled in (for at least 2.7 seconds) to watch the Cards and the Red Sox in the World Series.

Sunday morning we broke out all the warm clothes and headed to the Zoo where we pretended to be Spoooooky monsters;

 watched hippos fight (which was crazy);

 and measured up against some furry friends.  Ryan is approximately the size of a koala and mike is 1/2 way between a river otter and pygmy goat.

 Once we left the zoo, Brad and I settled in for a 6 mile run around Forest Park.  Ryan decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a little cat nap.

As I was cooking dinner that night the boys came clomping into the kitchen in Brad's shoes.  Mike proudly declared that he was daddy and Ryan was his friend Ryan (very creative).  He then proceeded to "go to work" and "talk on my phone."  Apparently after work "Daddy and his friend Ryan" went to the Cardinals game. 

Monday Picture

The Greatest Show on Earth, and other happenings last weekend

Even though it is completely out of order I'm going to start by talking about our trip to the circus, which happened Sunday afternoon.  It is out of order because I listed the circus first in the title and it feels wrong to talk about other stuff first.  I guess I could always go change the title, but then I would have to delete all of this and well...I don't want to.  So here is our out of order weekend:

On Sunday afternoon Mike, Ryan and I went to the circus (Brad was out of town).  I scored tickets from work (in the box nonetheless).  They loved it.  Mike couldn't sit still and danced most of the time.  Ryan LOVED the animals more than anything.

As a funny story.  Right as the tight-rope walkers were setting up for the stunt shown below, Mike looked over at me and said "Mom, I DO NOT think this is a good idea."

Before the circus on Saturday morning Brad left semi-bright on early with a group of friends for the Notre Dame - USC game in South Bend, which left the boys and I alone to our own devices.  I wasn't feeling great (yay for head colds) but decided to suck it up and get some exercise anyway.  "We" accomplished a chilly 4 mile run.

Saturday afternoon my sickness/tiredness caught up with me and that coupled with the boys indecisiveness about napping killed my idea of a trip to the zoo.  We hung out around the house and just played instead.

On Sunday, after the circus (see kind of confusing) we met Brad at home (yay he was back) and headed out to a pumpkin carving party.  Mike went for a traditional jack-o-lantern, while Brad opted for a more scary pumpkin, using the stem as a nose.