Update

It's been almost 2 months since I have written anything on this blog.  I've thought about it but have been so busy with work that by the time I get home and have any free time, instead of blogging I end up sitting on the couch watching television.  Over the past 2 months, I have found a new hobby and actually got a camera.  First things first, my new hobby: knitting.  I started knitting the week of Christmas and have made 2 scarfs and am working on my third.  I am really enjoying it.  I have given away both of my scarfs to my mother-in-law and to my mom.  The third scarf is for The Mr. and my father has already requested a scarf of navy and orange as those are the colors for the Chicago Bears and Illini.  Here's a picture of the first scarf I knitted:

Also during these past 2 months, Thing 1 has learned how to read 64 words and is doing really well sounding out words he hasn't seen before.  Thing 2 is working really hard on potty training and has spent many days in underpants, even if only for a few hours.  He tells us if he has to poop and often lets us know when he has to pee.  He enjoys wearing underpants so wearing them as reward for going in the potty is perfect.  Here are some updated pictures of the boys:

They are getting so big!  Just a couple days ago we took them to the dentist.  It was Thing 2's first time at the dentist but Thing 1 had been a few times.  Thing 1 did an excellent job during the x-rays and cleaning.  He did everything that was asked and didn't complain a bit.  Thing 2, on the other hand, was very nervous about the whole situation.  The dentist didn't try x-rays on him as she figured he wouldn't sit still.  When it came time to clean his teeth, he cried!  Luckily, he had his mouth open wide during his crying so it worked out in the dentist's favor.  The dentist was very good with the kids and did the cleaning as quickly as possible.  I was rather impressed with how she handled the kids.  (I didn't go for the last appointments as The Mr. had taken Thing 1 so I wasn't sure what to expect.)

As for me, I've been spending the majority of my time working.  If I'm not actually at work, I'm in contact with one of my staff about work or thinking about work.  I did decide to take this week off to just have a staycation.  I plan to use a gift certificate for a saloon that I received to get a new hairdo.  Other than that, nothing has been decided.  I hope to keep up with this blog better than I have recently.  We shall see what happens!

Benefits

I have determined that parenthood needs some more benefits.  Sure there is the love and joy that having children brings but I am talking more about the benefits that a person would get from a paying job.  You know, health insurance, vacation days, sick days...those types of things.  I love my children dearly and enjoy the time that we get to spend together.  I also like being the one they turn to when they need comforting, either because they got a boo boo or because they aren't feeling well.  However, during this past week I have been fighting off something that has decided it would be a good idea to invade my body.  I really just need some rest and quiet.  But since I have two small children, I do not get rest or quiet.  Sure, I took part of a day off work on Monday and The Mr. was home for part of that time so I got to take a nap.  Once he left for work, it was all over for me.  I was back to working, but this time it was around the house.  Kids constantly need something: a drink, something to eat, a toy that is too high to reach...anything.  Then if you do not give them enough attention, they start destroying things, or at least my children do.  By the end of the day I end up more tired than I started out just because I was chasing children around the house.  So if someone could work on getting benefits for parents as it is a very difficult job and there is no break, that would be fabulous and I would be forever in your debt.

Snow Over Our Heads

The snow finally stopped around 5pm yesterday. The Mr. began shoveling us out of the driveway last night so we could go places today, if needed. We did finally leave the house after noon today, just so we could see something besides the inside of our home. A lot of the schools seem to be closed for tomorrow and driving around here isn't the greatest. I've found that they really don't know how to plow here.

Once we got back from driving around town to see what the rest of the city looked like, The Mr. took the kids out to play. Here's some pictures of their fun:


Here's a picture of Thing 1's snow angel:

Blizzard 2010

Me and the boys haven't left the house since Thursday evening due to the anticipation of the blizzard of 2010, or snow-maggedon or snow-pocalypse, whichever you prefer. The Mr. did go to work on Friday. I stayed home with the boys and gave him my 4-wheel drive vehicle to drive around. I was able to do work from home and wouldn't be missing anything at work that day. Now that it is Saturday evening, I am already dreading another day indoors. The boys are getting antsy as it is, another day inside isn't going to help things. My biggest concern is if we have enough stuff to do to keep all of us occupied until we are able to leave. We made a pizza, baked cookies, played Wii, and watched a new movie that we purchased just for the occasion. What should we do tomorrow?

The Mr. decided to begin shoveling since it stopped snowing right before dinner. It only took him an hour to shovel a path from our back steps to our vehicles parked at the end of the driveway. I'm hoping we are able to get out of the house by tomorrow around noon, just so we can see something besides the inside of our home!

We have been letting MJ out multiple times to allow her to do her business and The Mr. said it was funny to see her hop around in the snow. It is well over her head! We are unsure how much snow we have received but I am sure it is over 2 feet.

Here's some pictures before the blizzard:

During the snow:

Excuses, Excuses

I've been absent from blogging. I was very bad at blogging in August with only 2 posts. That's terrible. I can't say it is because nothing occurred in this household and that our lives have been so boring that all of you would have fallen asleep. It's been my own procrastination and preoccupation with other things.

After our vacation to visit family in August, The Mr. was gone for a week on business. This happens on occasion, as you already know. However, this time he left on a Sunday afternoon and returned on a Friday evening. This left me extremely busy and exhausted by the time the week was over. Then, the weekend of his return, I began feeling ill. I went to work on Monday, only to leave at noon. My hope was that I would rest all afternoon and be at 100% by Tuesday morning. I was, unfortunately, mistaken. I felt awful. I attempted to get an appointment with my doctor to be told that they had no appointments that day or the next day. I would have to go to an urgent care clinic. Wednesday morning I made an appointment with the urgent care clinic. The doctor there told me that I had a stomach virus. I am out of work until Monday. I could have gone back today but I figured, why go back on a Friday? So, I had the doctor write the note for Monday.

So there you have it. My excuses for not blogging much in the month of August - or at least not for the past 2 weeks.

My future plans include: attending the Renaissance Faire and taking a Sign Language class. I start class on Thursday and purchased my book today. The class is 100% paid by my employer as we have a Deaf Program where we work and it would be helpful in my position if I could communicate with the staff and clients of that program without the use of an interpreter. (Interpreters are expensive, if you didn't know.) Posts on these events, as well as any cute or odd things my boys do, should follow.

I have gone to the darkside!

Yep, you heard it folks. This household has gone to the darkside. We now Wii! We went shopping this weekend to actually purchase a laptop, however they didn't have what we were looking for. So, we purchased a Wii instead. You know, how they are so similar!?

Anyway, we had talked about getting one for awhile. I just could justify spending that amount of money, especially since I really wanted it for the yoga and would also need to purchase the Wii fit. Well, there was a sale going on if we purchased a package and even though the particular packages they had put together weren't exactly what we wanted, the sales people worked with us to give us the same discount on the items we wanted to purchase.

So last night we set up the system after the kids were asleep and began fiddling with it. This morning we had Thing 1 enjoying the Wii as well. He didn't do too bad on golf and also made it difficult for The Mr. to box with him as he kept dancing around the room! Thing 2 enjoyed watching us make fools of ourselves. So everyone had fun! I checked out the Wii fit today and found that I have skipped the "unbalanced" phase and went straight to amateur! I was pretty proud of myself. The Mr., however, is unbalanced. Oh well, we can't all be amateurs!

Since we have now gone to the darkside with the Wii, does anyone have any suggestions on good games for a 4 year old? I would also like suggestions on good puzzle games as I enjoy puzzles. The Mr. already has his eye on a few games and has purchased his first one so I think he will be fine.

And We're Back!

We arrived back at our house early this afternoon from the wedding that 3 out of 4 of us were in!  We had a great time and the bride and groom looked wonderful!  Here are some pictures from our trip as I am sure all you want to see is Thing 1 in his tux!

Of course, Thing 2 was there even though he wasn't actually in the wedding.  Here is a picture of him relaxing in the hotel.

We're Off!

Tomorrow we leave for a long weekend trip.  We are going to see some friends that we haven't seen in awhile and share in their wedding experience.  The Mr. will be doing a reading at the wedding, I will be a bridesmaid, and Thing 1 is going to be the ring bearer.  I am looking forward to seeing my 4-year old in a tux and top hat!  I will be sure to post pictures when we get back!  I hope everyone has had a great week so far and has a wonderful weekend!

Safe Haven

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law volunteer at an animal shelter in the area where they live. This particular animal shelter, Safe Haven, needs some assistance in funding a new building to provide quality care to the animals waiting to be adopted. Please visit my sister-in-law's blog where she writes more about this cause and its need. Anything you can do to help is highly appreciated. Here is a direct link to that particular post.

For more information on the Safe Haven of Iowa County, please visit http://www.wesavepets.com/.

The Break-In

So, yesterday I couldn't find my house key. Luckily, The Mr. was "working from home" so I told him not to lock me out as I didn't know where my key was. I knew it was either in my purse or in the house as I was able to get into the house the day before. On my way out yesterday afternoon to pick the boys up from daycare I reminded The Mr. not to lock me out. We also talked about how he would work until I got back and then we would go to Target.

When I arrived back at the house, I called The Mr. on my cellphone to have him come out to the Jeep. When he got to the Jeep he said he only had his wallet with him. I said "You didn't bring your keys?" He said "No, I thought you had your key?" I said, "No, I told you I can't find my key and not to lock me out!" So he proceeded to empty my purse trying to find my house key. It was no where to be found. He then went up to the house to open one of the windows from the outside to attempt to climb in and then open the door. He got the window open without any problem (it's good to know we can break into our own house) but couldn't figure out how to climb through the window without falling on his face. I then suggested that we get Thing 1 out of the Jeep and put him through the window. The Mr. seemed to think that may work and Thing 1 thought it would be fun. So, we got Thing 1 out of the Jeep and The Mr. put him through the window while I was at the back door telling him what to do to unlock the door. Thing 1 did a great job unlocking the door and he thought it was the best thing ever.

A few hours later, when we were home and the kids were in bed, I found my house keys. They were in my purse.

Time Out

It may sound like I am going to write about time outs for my children, but I am not. I am actually going to write about spending time out with my husband. Alone.

A few weeks ago we received an invitation in the mail to a wedding for one of my co-workers. I was excited to receive the invitation as I never thought that I may actually be invited. I was also excited to find that The Mr. and I might actually get to spend an evening out together without children. I promptly (well, maybe not so promptly as it didn’t arrive on the designated return by date – it was a day late) returned the RSVP card stating that we would indeed be attending. I then began looking for a babysitter. Since we live many, many miles away from any family that would be willing to watch our children for free without a second thought, I began what ended up being a long journey of asking multiple people to watch my 2 children. I didn’t realize this would be such an ordeal. Thing 1 has had a babysitter twice in his life (and he will be 4 in April) and Thing 2 has never been with a babysitter.

Over the course of the past two weeks I have asked multiple people if they would be available or knew someone who would be available to watch my boys for approximately 8 hours on a Sunday as we are attempting to attend a wedding and reception. The first 2 people I asked had other plans (one had a family birthday and the other already had a babysitting job that day). The next group of 3 I had asked requested what I thought was way too much money. I didn’t realize that babysitters were requesting $15-$20 per hour to watch 2 children. I quickly and politely told them this was not in my budget and it wouldn’t be happening. I had to ask 8 people before I found someone who was available and would babysit for the amount I was willing to pay. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find a babysitter and how lucrative the business was. If I could consistently make $15-$20 per hour in cash for babysitting, I may have to think about quitting my current job.

Their Season Is Over

Even though the playoffs start soon, the two teams we root for in this house are done. On Sunday, we had to put the boys in their jerseys for the last day of the regular season.

My family had sent them Bears outfits for Christmas and felt this was the perfect opportunity for them to wear them. Our other team, the Patriots, is out as well, even though they had an 11-5 season. Well, there is always next year. I hope everyone else’s teams are doing well and I wish them the best in the playoffs!

The Best Part Of My Day

Naptime.

The Christmas Spirit - Or Not

This afternoon, The Mr., the boys, and I were in a mall parking lot driving around to find a space to park. We were lucky enough to see a van pulling out, so we waited. As this person was pulling out of the space, they backed right into a parked car. The person in the van then pulled forward back into the parking space. I thought that maybe the driver would check out the damage to the car that she hit and then leave her insurance and contact information. Unfortunately not. The woman, instead, backed back out of the parking space and drove away. The Mr. and I decided to leave a note on the car that was hit with our name and number as well as the license plate number of the person who hit their car. As we got out of our vehicle to place our note, 2 other groups of people were also leaving information on said car as to the hit and run.

I was really appalled that a person would hit a parked car and then just drive away. I was very impressed that 3 groups of people, including ourselves, would leave information for someone we didn't even know informing them of what had happened. I don't know what the other 2 groups of people put in their notes, but from talking to the others, they were also doing what they felt was right. They also couldn't believe someone would do such a thing and seemed very impressed that so many people would help a stranger. It shows me that there are more people in the world willing to do what is right than there are people who do what isn't right. I hope the person who received all of our letters does something with the information and is able to get the damage to their car repaired, with no cost to them.

Nothing But Gunk

I have thought about this blog practically every day this week. I haven’t come up with anything to write about. I think it’s because my head is full of gunk. All in my household are sick with some sort of virus that doesn’t want to go away. The Mr. was home two days last week with this illness. I was home Tuesday and Wednesday this week trying to recover. However, during my first sick day I received a phone call from daycare at 10 in the morning saying that Thing 2 was sick and needed to be picked up. The Mr. picked Thing 2 up and took him to the doctor. It was at this appointment that we found out that this awfulness that has invaded our household is a virus that lasts 2-3 weeks and there is nothing we can do about it. The doctor was even sick. So for the second half of my 1st sick day, I had Thing 2 home with me. At about 3 o’clock that afternoon, daycare called again stating that Thing 1 was not feeling well. I informed them that I would try to get a hold of my husband to pick him up. The teacher said not to worry about it at this time and just see if he could pick up Thing 1 early. I was unable to get in contact with The Mr. until after 4pm, at which time I had received a 2nd call about Thing 1 – that he was indeed sick. The Mr. stated that he would be there to pick up Thing 1 as soon as he could.

On my 2nd sick day, I was home with 2 sick boys. Thing 2 slept a lot in the morning but was happy and playing in the afternoon. Thing 1…I don’t think he was all that sick. Does he have a cold? Yes. Could he have gone to daycare? Yes. I just feared receiving more phone calls from daycare while I was trying to rest. Thing 1 didn’t nap all day. Instead, he played, watched various movies on DVD, and demanded my attention. I didn’t get any rest on my 2nd sick day.

Yesterday I decided everyone would be going back to their normal weekly routine. The kids went to daycare and The Mr. and I went to work. I have to say I still feel like I could use a day of sleep but I guess when you are a mother, there is no sick day.