1 WEEK

Only 1 more week full time and I am overwhelmed. I have so much to do at work in order to get ready to be there fewer hours and so much to do at home in order to get ready to be there more. Just thinking of what all I have to do makes me want to put my head down for a bit but that is not very productive.

A few new pics of the boys playing outside.

A couple of Saturdays ago we spent some time with Madi and Dana (first time in FOREVER) we exchanged Christmas gifts – that is how long it has been. We had a blast. The kids were C-R-A-Z-Y but that is not unusual. Here are few of the pics I managed to get. Hopefully we can do it again VERY SOON!!

Notice the slobber on Jackson’s shirt-yes he still drools and should probably still be wearing a bib!!

Time changes this next weekend and I am so excited. I love the longer days, I am sure I will change my mind once I trapped home with two balls of energy all day.

REALLY???

I day dream/worry A LOT especially at night after my children go to sleep and I have finished with the daily chores (ha! Who am I kidding when are the daily chores ever finished)!! I like to blame it on my self diagnosed ADHD. Anything my husband says after 9:00 p.m. I do not hear. I have gotten pretty good over the years in making him believe I am always listening but in reality I only hear about half of what he has said. This gets me in trouble from time to time. Since I never heard what he said he may as well have not said it. Later when I am questioned about what I think or if I remember what “we” talked about last night-I’m clueless. This brings me to the Lexus and the Play Station 3. Apparently, in my nodding and smiling and responding with uh huh, yeah, we’ll see, I’ll thinking about, I unknowingly agreed to consider purchasing these two items. Yes we are thinking of trading in my car for a “new to me” vehicle but a LEXUS. Please-new or used I don’t want to spend that kind of money right now. End of discussion. Now to the Play Station, REALLY?? As if there isn’t enough SEC, Nascar and UFC interrupting what little peace and quiet my house sees he wants to bring in a game console. This might would fly if the boys were old enough to participate and play with this but I just can’t wrap my head around this purchase--especially since the majority of my time is spent scrubbing, folding, sweeping, mopping, washing, NOT sitting, watching, playing, screaming at the television, asking “why aren’t the jeans I want to wear clean?”, “are you ever gonna finish with the dishes?” followed up with “why don’t you sit down and watch t.v. with me??”

Please, don’t get me wrong, my husband is wonderful to me, he is my best friend and is the BEST father/daddy to our boys and I am blessed to have such an amazing man in my life BUT COME ON NOW!!

MOMMY NEEDS A PLAY DATE

FEELING NOSTALGIC

This morning I bundled up in my husband’s northface (after leaving the house I notice it is covered in snot and what appears to be bananas) run back inside for a cup of water to “defrost” my frozen windshield and make the commute to take Coop to granny’s. As I am scanning the radio and hear the announcer say that today is March whatever we are expected to have sunshine I remember a time when my weeks were spent living for the weekends. Not that I do not live for the weekends now but the weekends are much different. Weekends once consisted of waking up early to finish laundry so I could be sitting in my plastic lawn chair in the creek or river by 9:30 a.m. where I would sit with my besties for hours upon hours talking about everything and absolutely nothing. Some of my best memories are sitting in those chairs in early march freezing my butt off “working on my tan.” The conversation was unstoppable, we all spoke at the same time b/c we couldn’t wait for the other one to shut up before we chimed in, yet we all seemed to know exactly verbatim what the other had said. We wouldn’t budge from these chairs until we were burnt to a crisp and famished some 6 or so hours later. Many a plans for the future were made, we fussed about our men (now our husbands) either b/c they didn’t want to join us or b/c they wouldn’t leave (just depended on the day and the direction of the conversation) and swore we would spend every spring/summer right where we were with kids in tow no matter what. WELL, as we’ve gotten older and gotten married and had babies I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw my plastic lawn chair much less loaded it up for a day out. I find myself longing for the smell of tanning oil and making a run for Chinese food with crispy wet hair, reeking of sweat and tanning oil with beach towels wrapped around our wastes.

Our conversations now are often (who am I kidding) always interrupted by screaming children and are so few and far between that we can’t remember what we’ve caught one another up on. This makes me sad and DETERMINED. Determined to keep the promises we made. We will be back in our plastic lawn chairs at the creek/river/next to the plastic yard pool/WHATEVER this spring/summer kids in tow NO MATTER WHAT!! No matter how many times we find ourselves jumping up to pull apart the children fighting, how many snack breaks they need, how many times we have to wipe away their tears or how ill they get from lack of naps I WILL be digging out my lawn chair and tanning oil and praying it fits in the trunk along with the double stroller, floaties, extra box of diapers, changes of clothes and box of toys because MOMMY NEEDS PLAY DATES TOO!!

I am super excited about being home with the boys more and some what TERRIFIED!! I work, always have, it is what I do, it is all i know. Since having children, that means my house is a disaster most days. There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done and I try my best to spend as much time with them as I can each day-which doesn't seem like much at all. THEN the weekend comes. Travis works on Saturdays so I am home alone with these two little people (I LOVE THEM MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW) they absolutely wear me out! Jackson has decided that his sole purpose in life for the time being is to torture Cooper so every 4.5 seconds I am having to either pry Jackson's hands from Coopers face/head/neck/etc. or peal him off of Cooper-He jumps on him like a UFC wrestler. Cooper, who is a mommas boy, screams like a girl until he is safely propped on my hip like a spider monkey, with his right hand clenching my arm and his left hand clenching the neck of my shirt-this is where he would stay at all times if i allowed it. So needless to say nothing much gets done on Saturdays unless the two of them happen to nap at the same time. When this happens I race around the house like a psychotic OCD maid getting as much done in what little time I have and THEN the second they wake up both toy bins and every basket is then dumped into the middle of the living room making it appear as though i have sat on the couch, ignoring the children, letting them run amuck, eating bon bons and watching lifetime movie network all day. Travis gets home a little after 5 and I hide in the bathroom and try not to cry b/c I know that he is thinking "what in the world did she let them do and why did she not stop them." SO in an attempt to fool myself and my husband, I have really big plans and lists and am knowingly setting myself up for major disappointment by thinking that these extra days home will allow me to get more done, be more patient, have more "me time", master potty training, start weaning Cooper from the bottle, finish unpacking, spend more time on my bible study, read some books, etc, the list goes on and on and on. If you see me in the next couple of weeks walking around blissfully unaware of what is about to take place, please let me be, I enjoy it here in la la land, it makes me happy and makes me feel as though i may gain some control of the chaos of my life sooner rather than later. Give me a couple of weeks of being home with them more and then please offer suggestions to help save my sanity!!

FINALLY FRIDAY

We saw the immunologist last week and got our lab results back this week. Cooper's immunology work up looks good, he does have an over agressive immune system. His CBC did concern Dr. Adkins. Cooper's lymphocytes and monocytes were elevated indicating that he has some type of virus. CBC will have to be repeated regularly to keep a check on this. Dr. Adkins suggested pulling Jackson from daycare until Cooper's immune system has matured. I have been expecting & fearing this news. Travis and I have discussed trying to make this work with me working part time. I have found a baby sitter for Jackson and Cooper will continue to stay with my grandmother on the days that I work. Praise the Lord -- I was able to work all this out with my employer and will be able to stay where I am and work part time until we get Cooper well. They have really been awesome through out this entire process. I am truly blessed.

AND

Here are some recent pics of the boys. Cooper had his first Oreo the other day and OF COURSE he is a big fan!!

JACKSON wasn't really sure what to think of this, especially since we aren't real big on letting him make such messes with food and he wasn't as amused as we were so he went on to other things.

and here are few more - you will notice they are both snotty and red eyed. we've pretty much had the crud at my house since early December

RECENT PICTURES

CATCH UP

Well, Travis and I survived the flu two weeks ago and it truly was a nightmare. We had to send the boys away for almost a week while we got over it. So we are just now getting back into our routine.

Our Snow Day made for a really good time. Travis hates the snow so he stayed inside with Coop while Jackson and I played. We had the best time. Pics will be coming soon!!

Bailey and Brighton's Birthday Party was this weekend. Since Coop sees the specialist on Wednesday I didn't want to expose him to anything so he stayed with mom so me and Jackson could party. As always, Dee Dee's cupcakes and cakes were AWESOME!! Jackson had a blast-I could not pry him away from the footballs!!




Mom kept the boys for us Saturday night so Travis and I could go on a date to see a movie!! I had said earlier in the day that I did not care if we saw Wolfman just as long as I got to have popcorn...WELL I changed my mind but tried really hard not to pressure Travis into seeing Valentines Day-okay so that is a lie. I did my best to convince him that it was up to him and that Valentines Day is what he wanted to see. IT WORKED and we both enjoyed the movie!! It was PACKED/SOLD OUT and those of you who know my husband know how he is about crowd but we had a really great time!!