He packs a mean punch!

Colt sure is a strong thing for being so little! He isn't afraid to go after Jacob if he steals one of his toys, nor is he afraid to take on anyone else! Now, don't think we condone hitting or fighting in our house, but we do teach our boys to stand up for themselves.....well, not so much at this age, but you get the idea!

For instance, Colt is playing with ball, Jacob decides he wants it. Well, what does Jacob do? He goes and snatches it from Colt. What does Colt do? He squeals at the top of his lungs and charges toward Jacob, knocking him over like a set of bowling pins! LOL! Jacob gets right back up and pushes him! Geez, I tell ya.....they are ALL boys! I don't know what I am going to do with them!

Clicks and pops!

For a one year old, Colt sure does know how to make a lot of different sounds! I wouldn't be surprised if he let out a whistle any minute now!

We'll be driving down the road and all of the sudden you hear , "click!" You turn around to find him flicking his tongue off the top of his mouth! I have my husband to thank for that noise. He said he and Colt were going back and forth one day for several minutes. A-ha! So now I know who to blame! LOL!

I swear, Colt cracks me up! He runs around the house breathing in real heavy and making "shushing" noises with his mouth. I never worry about him, I always know where he is at because he is always making an noise! It's when he's quiet that I worry!

So, I guess it's not so bad he makes all those noises after all!

Another try at dinner out!

This past Friday, my husband and I decided to try our hand at eating out in public....after our Olive Garden fiasco.....whew, who could forget that!!

So, we ventured to Applebees' and we had one of the best dinners out in a long time! Our server, Holly was a single mom, raising a 6 year old and an 18 month old, all while working and going to nursing school!

The dinner started off a but hectic, but I ordered the boys food early, so they wouldn't starve. Holly also was gracious enough to bring us chocolate milk labeled as "water" and also, dessert that was made that was the wrong order, for the boys!!! How sweet!

We made it though dinner without too much of a melt down from either of the boys....that was a relief!

"I got a bo-bo, let's go see Dr."

Poor Jacob sure has had his fair share of doctor visits. He being my first born, he was always going to the doctor for something...well that, and he was born in December! Anyway, he was in and out of the doctor probably every week for the first 6 months of his life, no kidding! Most of it was just common cold stuff that kept him up all night, but he did manage to catch a case of RSV.

Fast forward to about a year ago, he was in the ER for croup, then streap throat, and who could forget him cutting his head open on the fireplace, needing staples??? In order to make our ER and doctor trips easier, we always just told him he had a bo-bo, he seemed to understand that a doctor needed to look at that and would let them. It made things much easier on my husband and me to tell him that.

Now that he is older, every time he gets a scrape or cut, he comes running to tell us he has a bo-bo and that he needs to "go see doctor." Now, don't get me wrong, he isn't whining about it, he is just informing us that he got hurt, and I guess since we have always told him a doctor needs to look at a bo-bo and since he has been to the doctor so much, he thinks every time he gets one, that's where he needs to go! LOL! That's kids for ya!

More Spongebob!?

Ugh, my 2-year old LOVES Spongebob Squarepants!!

It's becoming a little annoying, but it is the only thing that calms him down! He will sit on the couch for hours (much like a teen vegging out) watching the Spongebob DVD's that we have. I guess since he doesn't take two naps anymore, it is a good thing. It gives him a chance to rest a bit, and gives me a chance to get his brother down for his first nap.

I swear we have seen EVERY Spongebob episode a thousand times, and I am not exaggerating! It's the first thing he asks about in the morning and the last thing he asks about at night. AHHHH!!! LOL!

He was watching way too much Spongebob for being so young, that I told him it was a privilege. We only let him watch it when I am trying to get Colt down for a nap and when we have a few things that need to be done around the house. Surprisingly, it keeps both my boys entertained long enough to do a load of laundry or fix dinner quickly!

So I guess more Spongebob isn't such a bad thing after all, right?

My apologies...

So, if you were at Olive Garden this past Sunday night, I sincerely apologize!!!

Let me fill those in, who had the pleasure of staying home to eat that night..

Our day began innocently enough as we planned to spend some time with my husband's brother and niece. We set out to eat some lunch and afterwards head to Sci-Port for an afternoon of fun and discovery. I must say, I was very impressed with the place and so were my young boys!

We choose to view an IMAX movie, which I wasn't too sure about because, well...can you really expect a 1 and 2-year old to sit still in the dark for 45 minutes?? Not so much..but I gave in anyway. Within minutes of the film they both were asleep...."good," I told whispered to my husband, "it's their nap time anyway!"

They wake up just as the movie was ending and we set off to explore a little more of Sci-Port before they close. After learning and discovering, we decided to head on out for dinner, but not before making a stop to Kmart to look for something real quick. By the time we finished at Kmart it was right at dinner time. Anxious to feed my kids, my brother-in-law decides Olive Garden....okay...so here we go...

I had an idea it was going to be a little difficult, but no one could prepare me for the battle that lay ahead! We walk into a 25 minute wait....who could have seen that coming?? My husband and brother-in-law sit at the bar (unbeknowst to me) as I sit far away from them with my boys and 12-year old niece. The boys were hungry and tired..and kept wanting to run around. I just held on tight to them. By the time our buzzer went off, my hubby and bro-in-law come happily around the corner....I must have had the most disgusting look on my face, because I was instantly asked, "what's wrong?" Like he didn't know!

Anyway, they sit us at a round table and take our drink orders and soon bring out fresh bread. I couldn't pop it into my boys' mouth's fast enough! They must have eaten a whole basket! Okay, so I am exaggerating, but it seemed like it! After their hunger was subsided a bit, onto the noise making they went. I had Jacob doing a news report with his menu, talking in his regressing baby babble voice and then Colt squealing. Geez...we even had a couple ask not to be seated next to us. I can't blame them, but they could have been just a bit nicer, but oh well!

Two younger couples finally were brave enough to sit near us. I just prayed they didn't get annoyed easily. Our food finally came, fettuccine for the boys. I couldn't get that on the plate fast enough either! My 1-year old ate like a pig, even started to hold it up, as if to say, "look, the almighty noodle is here to feed me!" Just as soon as he did it landed on his face...freaking hilarious! He knew it too! So, guess what?? He did it again....on purpose! The little rascal!

After that, my 2-year old starts to do his news report again...he sees the all the attention going to his brother. It just makes for an interesting dinner, and especially so after a full day!

So, that is why I apologize. I should have known better, but I think I was too pooped to realize that it was a major no-no!

Bathtub dilema!

Okay, I have considered myself lucky to never have too many accidents at bathtime. By accidents, I mean poopy. Yea, that...all you moms out there know what I am talking about! LOL!

Jacob did it only once in his ENTIRE infancy and has never done it since. I was lucky that time, it was after the water had drained..no floatations in the bath! But it did freak me out, not in a bad way, but in the way where I couldn't stop laughing hysterically. Jacob just looked at me funny.

I knew that I would probably encounter more bathtub dilemmas as my 1-year old, Colt would soon be showing me. TWICE, yes twice, in a week he has pooped in the tub!! Now, I bathe him and Jacob together, so you can imagine the warning I get. "Momma, bubba made a stinky!" "Oh geez, is that what all that grunting was about Colty!?" Sure enough! How in the heck do you clean it out when it's floating around in the water?? I drained the tub and it got STUCK in the drain! I had to push it down in there, because I couldn't scoop it out! Again, I get that look from Colt that Jacob gave me not too long ago, as if to say.."what ma? It's just a little poop!"

You can see the look that I got....

What's a mom to do???

To be a kid again...

Ah, the joys of being young. I watch my boys play, and they are so imaginative...even at a young age. It just amazes me at how they play "pretend." Jacob plays in his Little Tikes car and acts like he is going to work. He also likes to fix me burgers, I guess he gets that from his daddy, because we grill burgers quite a bit in the summer!

Colt loves to talk on the phone! He will hold anything up to his ear and jibber jabber away! Then he hangs up on whoever he thinks he is talking to! LOL! Sometimes, you can tell he is telling off someone on the other end...lol!

Another thing that they both love to do, is pretend to be Pop. That's my dad...and he is a voice over artist, you know, the guy you hear on commercials?? Anyway, he has a studio at home, and does his spots there. Well, Jacob and Colt both find something to stand in front of them and put their little headphones on and go to town acting like Pop when he records a spot! It is SO cute!!

I know I had an imagination when I was young, but I don't really remember a whole lot. Having children of my own now, I have to reach back into the files and remind myself of how to play "pretend." It only takes a few minutes for my mind to be refreshed though, after all....what adult doesn't like to drift away to "Imagination Land?"

"No, no. no....no!"

Colt, my 1-year old is quite verbal nowadays! I never thought a 1-year old really understood the meaning of "no," boy was I wrong...

I tried to take away my cell phone from Colt yesterday and he straight up told me, "no, no, no!" I thought maybe it was a fluke, but then later, his brother tried to take away his toy truck and he told him "no, no!" I swear, no, I KNOW he knows what he is saying! It is actually pretty funny to hear him say it...it's real cute.

I just had no idea that at such a young age, they would know how to use a word so correctly!!

Parents - 1, child - 0!

We finally did it.....my husband and I have gotten our 2 1/2-year old off the pacifier!! After many failed attempts, screaming nights and worry, we have finally broken him of the need to have it when he goes to bed! It's been almost a week!

I am sure some are wondering "so, what's the big deal?" Well, it IS a big deal to anyone that has had a child so dependent on it, that they almost throw up from crying so much about it. Don't get me wrong, I didn't put my child through that night after night, but we have had two bad nights.

I didn't even plan this, it just kind of happened. I was tired of keeping up with the pacifier all the time, and was tired of him being so dependent on it. And now, we his "big boy" haircut, it just looked a little odd for him to have a pacifier stuck in his mouth.

I started Sunday night, I just had an idea to take an old pacifier that had been chewed through by Jacob a few months ago. I held onto it, thinking it could come in handy. Anyway, I just decided that I wasn't going to offer a pacifier to him at night time, unless he asked, which he always does. So, when he did, I went and got the one with holes in it. Of course, he tried to suck on it, but realized he couldn't. I told him it was broken and that was the only one I had. (Come to think of it, the whole other reason I did this, is because I had NO clue where the good one was!)

We sat on the couch and watched Spongebob until 10 pm, when he asked to go lay down in bed. So we did. He took the holey pacifier with him. He tossed and turned and tossed and turned, much like he does anyway. He asked a few times for another pacifier, and I just kept telling him that was all we had. He would try to suck on it and then take it out of his mouth. He eventually fell asleep!! I went to bed knowing that the battle wasn't over. I was expecting screaming and crying, if he woke in the middle of the night. Well, midnight came around and he did wake up, looking for his paci. I just took him into out bedroom with the broken paci and we laid down to go back to sleep. Oh, he whined and cried a bit about it, but he eventually went back to sleep. He did that a few more times too, with the same thing happening.

We got up in the morning, and he asked for it. I just kept telling him the same thing, "paci is broken, this is all we have." He would go about his day, maybe asking for it occasionally. I told my parents of the situation and they did pretty good, giving in I think, twice this week. I think Tuesday night, and last night were the bad ones, where he cried so hard, we thought he would get sick. We didn't make him suffer, but we didn't give in either.

He made it through the night, without it. I am sure it is going to take a few more weeks for him to completely get over it. When his baby brother uses the pacifier at night or nap time, I just try and keep his face out of Jacob's site, and when he falls asleep, I take it out of his mouth, one, so Jacob doesn't see it, and two so Colt doesn't get addicted to it!!!

I think it's safe to say that the battle has been won! WHEW! What a relief!