Remodel complete

Before... it was a hot mess

You can see some of the water damage in this pic

After

The bathroom remodel is complete....with the exception of a leaky sink but that is a minor issue at this point. I'm happy it's over, it was a rough ride. The tile was supposed to be laid in a brick pattern and it was not so that was a disapointment. The contractor broke our toliet and dinged up our vanity causing a bit of an arguement between us, however bottom line is it's way better than what we had and we're happy with it. Now comes the fun part, accessorizing.

Anderson

The summer is just flying by! I've been reminding myself that it was time for an Anderson update but I honestly thought it had only been a couple of days since I posted about Jake. It's been 8 days!

Anderson's personality changes have surprised us much like Jake's transformation. As a baby, Anderson was always very demanding but as he is growing into his own little person he is becoming much more easy going. Anderson has a maturity about him that quite impressive. Unlike most toddlers, he can be reasoned with (most times), he is a good listener and follows directions to a tee.

He is very inquisitive about his surroundings, learns at lightning speed and really loves life. Anderson does a great job making me feel appreciated and needed. He politely thanks me for the things I do for him and fills me up with his hugs and kisses.

Anderson is still a bit bossy to Jake, but he has definitely softened. He doesn't bite Jake anymore, in fact Jake bit him pretty hard the other day, and these days he is more likely to share and allow Jake to take the lead sometimes. Anderson's memory is sharp and he is difficult to distract. When he sets his mind to something there is no stopping him. Our neighborhood had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and we were on our daily walk checking it out. Anderson saw a tool bench that he liked and I said that maybe we could come back for it. He repeatedly whined "I want the tool bench Mom, I want the tool bench" for about 90 minutes and showed no signs of letting up. I felt as though he was using some sort of torture techniques on me. Finally, when I could take no more, I loaded them up in the car and went back for the tool bench. I was never so happy to give into him. I give him credit, he's persistent and determined....a lot like his mommy.

Jake

eta...I do know how to space paragraphs but for some reason blogger won't let me.

It's been a while since I wrote about the boys individually so today is a post about Jake. Jake's personality has been surprising us over the past few months. He spent his first two years of life laid back, rolling with punches (and taking them from his brother), and being pretty darn compliant. Since turning two, things have changed a bit. For the most part he is still pretty laid back, but when he's on a roll....look out.

He doesn't really tantrum when he's angry, instead he has this stubborn, silent, opposition about him. He quietly tosses toys over the railing down to the basement, pulls apart any toy within his reach, and will walk up to you and pretend he's going to hit you real hard but then really only tap you. We have a hard time reigning him in. It seems like the more you draw attention to his behaviour the more defiant he becomes. We usually try to just pick him up and smother him in love and kisses to snap him out of it.

Jake loves playing with Anderson. It's important to him that they are always playing with the same toy. If he has a car, then he insists Anderson have one too. If Anderson doesn't cooperate then Jake usually shrieks this high pitch scream to show his disdain. Jake is really good at pretending. He reinacts movie scenes using his toys and will mumble a conversation between two toys often. Last week with no prompting, Jake told Kevin that he was his hero :).

Jake loves cars. He is rarely seen without a car in his hand. He carries at least two cars around as he plays inside, outside, while traveling in our car, anywhere we allow it. Jake loves being outside and asks often if he can play outside. I suspect it might be because he is absolutely smitten by airplanes. Anytime an airplane flies overhead he gets so excited and must find it up in the sky. We can't wait to take him to the airport for his first plane ride.

He is still a dream when it comes to food. He is willing to try everything and anything you put in front of him. He likes strong flavors and loves sweets when he gets a sampling. He is starting to realize that there are other drinks in the world besides milk and water. At this point, the boys are only served milk or water. To my knowledge he has only tried juice a few times, and that was just a couple of sips. Lately though he is really interested in what Kevin and I are drinking and when we aren't looking he goes in for the kill.

While he might be a great eater, he is not a great sleeper. Well at least not compared to the standards that Anderson has set in this household. The boys still sleep in their cribs and will remain there for an undetermined amount of time. This past week Jake has been climbing out of his crib creating some nighttime mayhem. He isn't at any risk from climbing out of his crib because we have butted up a double bed against it. His fall is only about a foot onto a soft mattress. When he climbs out he opens his door and innocently says "Where is everyone?". We have to bite our tongue from laughing and put our stern faces on and carry him back to bed.

Jake has such a sweet demeanor about him. He loves animals, nature, and other kids. Last week on our walk there was a four year old girl playing outside and she yelled to the boys "I'm going to draw a smiley face for you guys in the dirt". Jake called out in the softest voice "I love yooouuuu!!!".

First time for everything...

including one's first ceremonious call to Poison control. We had a very close call today and Kevin and I are still unsettled and rattled.

Kevin was putting the boys shoes on this morning as I was doing what I normally do before we leave the house....packing the diaper bag. As Kevin was putting Anderson's shoes on, little Jakey got a hold of Kevin's pill box. The M, T, W, TH, F type. The non-child proof type. Kevin takes several medications daily for his heart and cholesterol. There was a pill missing. There was a PILL MISSING, his heart med.

The rest of the pills were laying on Jake's legs as he was sitting on the couch examining the pills. We immediately swept his mouth, nothing. We pulled the cushions off the couch and searched the couch, nothing. He became scared by our reaction and began crying uncontrollably. Try asking a 2.5 year old if he ate a pill. We immediately called Poison control, why I'm not really sure. Obviously we were going to have to take him to the hospital, I guess we just needed to know if 911 was in order or if we had the time to drive him.

As we starting grabbing our things to rush him to the hospital, the pill appeared. Kevin spotted the tiny white pill on our off white carpet. Jake had thrown it across the room. Relief swept over us but I still couldn't shake the what if feeling. What if Kevin was mistaken about how many pills were actually in there. What if they would have had to pump his stomach. What if he started seizing in the car. What if I lost my reason for breathing, my sunshine, my everything.

Kevin and I held them both so tightly afterwards. Amazingly on some level they understood, they wanted to be held as much as we longed to hold them so close to our hearts.

Big Kid Fun

Look out!

Sharing some love

A successful run

Jake getting ready to belly slide

Our weekend so far..

Brothers hand in hand

AJ



JT

Peek a boo

Whee!

We've had a busy weekend and it's only Saturday night. On Friday we ran some errands and ended up buying some new leather couches for our living room. We've been talking about it for a while, but we talk about a lot of things that never come to fruition. We just happened to come across some that we liked and the price was right so we snatched them up. Since the boys arrival, our couches have taken a beating. The main problem were splashes of milk that would dry on the couch and I had a bad habit of cleaning them up with baby wipes out of convienence. Not a good idea. The leather has kinda dulled and something about the sheen just wasn't right. Not to mention about 6 months ago Kevin broke the frame. We fixed it (with a staple gun) but it wasn't going to last much longer so these new couches were gonna happen sooner than later.

Later in the day on Friday we took the boys to Rochester Park. Auntie Sara came with us and took all of the above great pics of the boys. The boys spent a long time "skipping" rocks in the stream, that was by far their favorite part. We took them on a long walk and they got to see the ducks. Then it was home for dinner and bed. After the boys were in bed Kevin and I grabbed dinner and met up with some high school friends of Kevin who were in town from out of state.

Today we spent the first part of the day around the house. Kevin took the boys grocery shopping and I stayed home to prepare food for the bbq at the McBride's house. After the boys non existent nap we headed to the bbq. The boys enjoyed time on the slip and slide, swinging on the porch swing their cousins and lots of yummy food. By six they were starting to drag from skipping their nap so we were home by 7 and they went right to bed. As I type this their Dad is sleeping(snoring) also, apparently he was wiped out as well.

Are you happy?

This morning while I was changing Anderson's yuckies I smelled something burning. The smell was strong and I immediately sprung into action. I left him diaperless and starting going from room to room to find the source of the smoke smell. I couldn't smell anything in our bedrooms, the kitchen, bathrooms, so I headed to the basement to see if that was the source. Nada. I was beginning to think it was all my imagination so I sat back down to put a diaper on him.





As soon as I sat back down, I could smell it again. His dirty diaper was next to me. I picked it up and took a small whiff and sure enough the burning smell was coming from his diaper! It smelled like burnt popcorn. You see yesterday, I took the boys to a movie and they ate an entire small popcorn EACH. Grant and Claire didn't even finish their popcorn, but my two popcorn nuts ate every last kernel. I was worried for the rest of the day what the ramifications might be from such a little tummy eating all that popcorn and this morning I found out. Never a dull moment.





The boys had a great time at the movies with Grant and Claire. I was so impressed with them. The movie theatre was jammed as was the parking lot and concession area but the boys held our hands, stayed next to us, and cooperated the whole time. They sat nicely for the first three quarters of the movie (including 20 minutes of waiting for it to start) and then asked to get up. We let them out of their boosters and they stood up for a few minutes watching the movies and then cuddled up in our laps. At one point Jake gently placed his hand on my arm and whispered, "Are you happy Momma?". Yes baby, more than you could ever know.