Love these boys

Some videos of the boys.

Logan is attempting to howl like a wolf. I wasn't talking loud so you can't really hear my commentary, so to summarize, it's just a cute video of Logan trying to howl.

This is of Brenden imitating "Five Joeys jumping on the bed" (The Wiggle's rendition of Five Monkeys)
It just cracked me up every time they said 'One fell off and bumped his head' Brenden would say "OW!" and grab his head.

Visit to WV

My brother Tom came to Princeton, WV (the town we grew up in) for his 20yr high school reunion. He lives in Denver Colorado so I seized the opportunity to visit him while he was in a reasonable driving distance. Of course traveling with 2 kids ages 2 and under is always an adventure, but we did manage to get a few fun moments in between all of the chaos!

Hanging out in Geema's room playing with the Thomas table

Brenden had a sinus infection he was getting over and it made his eye water. He rubbed it so much he made it bleed :(  Luckily he's doing much better now.

Who needs a high chair. The tray can be both the seat and the tray!

We went to Tom's friend Wyatt's house for dinner one night. He had a little bounce house set up outside and Logan LOVED it! My little tackler!

Shhhhh.. don't tell him, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be getting one for his birthday next month!

Its an expensive gift for a 1-yr old, but LOOK how happy he is!

And if he shares it with big brother Brenden, then its double the fun!

A group shot of the whole family. Geema (that's what Brenden has decided we should say instead of Grandma) bought the boys matching shirts to wear. Needless to say Wyatt and his wife had no idea which kid has what name, we barely kept it straight!

From left to right -- Me, Logan, Will, Tom, Noah, Jen, Brenden, Mom (Geema)

Videos of the kids

I don't take enough video footage of the kids! I'm not crazy about my camcorder, and I never have my point-n-shoot camera, that has 3 minute video capability, charged. I tried to take some random videos of the boys the other night.

Here is one of Logan taking a few steps (yes that is a diaper on the floor, I was getting ready to change him)

Here is one of Brenden howling life a wolf. His "GeeMa" taught him how to do this at Great Wolf Lodge. There were images of wolves in the carpet and on the light fixtures so they went on a nature walk down the hallway and learned how to make wolf sounds. His little face just cracks me up

And finally here is one of Logan saying 'Thank you' and 'uh oh!'  I love how he's learning to use words. He also says mama, dada, no no, hello, yah!, tickle tickle. He's picking up on words faster than Brenden did, I guess having a chatty big brother is helping him learn.

My not-so-great Great Wolf experience…

I will start off with a warning – I will use the words ‘poop’ and ‘throw up’ in this blog, if that is something that offends you, stop reading now. If you have small children, you know that those are everyday household words :) Also - I promise I don't complain all the time! I just seem to be going through an unlucky phase in my life right now.

So I don’t want to slam the Great Wolf Lodge completely. I think had my kids been older, this would have been a better experience. My brother Will, who is 7 had a great time there. I recommend not bringing your kids there unless they are over the age of 3.

I wanted a vacation close to home, all-inclusive, and fun for kids of all ages. They just put a Great Wolf Lodge here in Concord and it seemed like the perfect solution. Their web site made it seem like it was great for kids of all ages. I thought it would work out great.. boy was I wrong.

The place is kinda expensive, but also included in the room rate is full access to the water park. So I really thought the cost would prove to be worth it. Well things started out bad and just went downhill from there! The day we are to check into the lodge it seemed like I was never going to get out the door. Someone was eating, sleeping, pooping, clinging to my leg every moment of the day. Just before we left Brenden had a very watery poop. He really never gets sick so I just figured something he ate gave him diarrhea and headed out the door. We get checked in and all seems to be going okay. Brenden hadn’t had any more pooping episodes and both kids were ready to go play. Well once I get there I read the booklet in the hotel room and come to find out that NO inflatable floaties/rafts/etc are allowed in the pools. WHAT??!! Also no water toys are allowed either (I let Logan play with toys anyway)! This wasn’t good. What was poor little Logan supposed to do? They had life vests for the kids there but they were pretty big and were all wet and cold from being used all day by other kids so Brenden didn’t want to wear one and they were way too big for Logan. So we ended up just taking the kids over to the toddler area and letting them sit in the zero depth end of the pool. It was okay, but the kids got bored fast and wanted to do other things, but there wasn’t much else for them to do. Brenden doesn’t care for having water sprayed in his face, and many of the toys in the toddler area did just that so he wouldn’t go in the water. He thought it was fun to watch, but I paid a lot of money for him to just stand around the edge of the pool not wanting to go it. It was also very cold in the toddler area and many of the kids (Brenden included) stood there shivering from head to toe.

We went to the outdoor pool next. This was a little better. It wasn’t as crowded, the water was warm and there weren’t any objects squirting the kids in the face. However, again, they couldn’t go much further than the zero depth area. It would have been so nice to have been allowed to put Logan in the little baby float I brought him. Brenden was a little more brave in this area and actually ventured out to waist deep water.

We went to dinner next. We had the buffet and it was pretty good for adults, but the things on the kids bar weren’t so great. They had hot dog (B doesn’t like) and chicken tenders that were VERY tough. I couldn’t even cut them with a knife. So B just ended up eating crackers for dinner that night. Thank goodness under age 3 eats free. I enjoyed my food, but the kids got so tired that I didn’t really get to eat much before I had to leave the rest of the family at the table to take the kids back to the room and get them ready for bed. Brenden’s bedtime diaper was a little runny again so I’m starting to wonder if he’s sick…

The complimentary wolf ears given at dinner... "aoooooooooo!"

 

Brenden slept in the sofa bed with me and Logan had his pack n play. The sofa bed was AWFUL. The springs could be felt throughout the bed and it actually leaned backwards so your head seemed like it was lower than your feet. Even Brenden could tell the bed wasn’t level. Brenden tossed and turned all night long. It was like sleeping with a wild animal. He rolled off the bed at one point. I was so tired. About 5 a.m. he wakes up and coughs a few times and then starts crying and wakes up Logan in the process. So mom takes Logan and I take Brenden and notice there is a little wet spot on the bed. I wasn’t sure if he threw up or not, because the wet area wasn’t that big and was also clear, but the way he cried and held his mouth, it made me wonder if he had thrown up. I stripped the bed down. Mom got Logan back to sleep and Brenden never went back down. Around 10:00 we head down to the water park. Brenden hadn’t had anymore diarrhea and seemed just fine. He ate breakfast and everything stayed down.

We get to the water park and decide to skip the toddler area and just go outside. It was only in the 80’s (so rare for our 90+ average temp area) and overcast. Mom had brought a life vest for Brenden so we tried that one out and he was willing to wear that one. Mom sat on the sidelines with Logan and I got B to go in the water, but he wasn’t really digging it. He kept putting his hands over his ears and not really wanting to play with anything. He wanted to be held nonstop and I can only hold him so long before my arms/back get tired. Then he started dishing out attitude and being defiant. I decide that he is in desperate need of a nap so I take him back to the room and Logan stayed with mom and took a nap in the stroller. --- oh and speaking of stroller, that IS a complaint I have about the GWL. They have this magic quest game for the kids there to play. They get these wands and have to flick them at various objects on the walls throughout the floors of the lodge. EVERY time I tried to get my stroller on the elevator to go up/downstairs, I was ALWAYS knocked out of the way by these kids playing the game wanting to go between the 3rd and 4th floor (apparently taking the stairs is too much exercise for kids). It was AWFUL. Most of the kids were unsupervised, or the ones that were had parents who didn’t care that their children were being very rude. I get it.. its part of the experience to play the game.. but I don’t think its fair for people with small children to get knocked over and shoved out of the way because of this game. I just wished the staff would have done something to keep the game separate from the main elevator so those of us just trying to use the resort didn’t have to deal with the chaos… ANYWAY I end up spending most of the day up in the room with Brenden while he finally napped and got his nasty attitude out of his system. I finally decided to take him down to the lobby and just let him run wild. You could tell he was getting cabin fever being stuck in a small room for so long. I have to say.. sadly.. running around the lobby was the most I saw him smile the entire vacation.

I then had my mom take Logan and I got Brenden dressed to go play in the water. I felt like he had been there over 24 hours and pretty much hadn’t played in the water park at all. We played a little bit in the toddler area. There were these little jet skis (stationary) that kids could sit on and they’d spray water everywhere. B wanted to ride one but there were a bunch of big kids hogging them all so he never got a turn (too big to be in this area, and the staff did nothing to control them). So I took him to the outside pool again. This time he got a little more brave and was wading around the water and played with one of the little basketballs they had floating around the water. He still didn’t do much and wanted to be glued to my leg the whole time, but he did try to have fun this time. After an hour I took him back to the room and we ordered a pizza for dinner that night. B didn’t eat much. We went down for story time in the lobby (lame – GWL, pick a person who can actually engage kids in a story to do your story time from now on!) B did enjoy the big stuffed wolf that came down to say hi to all the kids. He didn’t want to leave him and give other kids a turn.

Everybody was pretty cranky from not sleeping the night before and having to get up so early. I had the front desk deliver a second pack n play for B to use so I could just sleep on the couch and not even try the sofa bed. B went right to bed and Logan did great too. I wake at around 3 a.m. and see everyone sound asleep and think.. “ahhhhh, we will finally get a good nights sleep, this second pack n play was a great idea Amy”… well about 20 minutes later I hear B coughing in bed again and crying and this time I am POSITIVE.. he’s throwing up. I run and get some towels to put in the bed and he continued to throw up a few more times. I get him to the bathroom and clean him up. Obviously he couldn’t use the pack n play anymore. Oh and he woke up Logan when he cried so Mom had to get up and occupy Logan. I get some towels and make B a bed on the floor. He was so wore out he didn’t care where he slept at this point. I start to take Logan from mom to get him back down and I hear B crying again.. I go back to him and he’s thrown up again, this time it’s a lot and his pj’s are soaked. Logan gets mad and starts screaming.. B is screaming (I want to scream). I get him changed again and make another bed for him. He falls back to sleep and Logan starts to fall asleep.. I close my eyes.. and B throws up AGAIN! So Al has to go to the front desk to get some more towels and sheets as we had nothing left for me or B to sleep on. This is where I compliment the hotel as they got us fresh linens, told us to just put the soiled sheets in the hallway and they’d take care of the rest and said if we needed a Dr. or anything to not hesitate to call them.

The kids get back to sleep and everyone gets to sleep until 7. B wakes up in a good mood and wants to eat so I give him some dry cheerios and some sprite to drink. He made it a good 2 hours before he started throwing up again. At this point I said “I give up.. I’m going home!” It was check-out day anyway, but even on check-out day you have full access to the water park until 9pm but it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I was miserable, the kids were miserable, it was stupid to stay just because I wanted to get my money’s worth. It just wasn’t meant to be. I packed up the kids and the car and went home. Both boys seemed much more relaxed at home. Mom, Al, and Will stayed at the park and got to play so I don’t feel like the money was a complete loss.

In the end I can say I would have had more fun staying in a regular hotel with a swimming pool and it would have cost me half the amount of money. I think it was just a bad combination of having kids too small to enjoy a vacation, B being too sick, and the vacation spot just not being right for the age of my kids. I now need another vacation to recover from my vacation.

Helicopter parent

I read this term, helicopter parent, in one of my parenting magazines. They wrote it as if it were a bad thing :) Helicopter parent:  From the tendency to hover over their children's lives, like a helicopter. I'm not a complete helicopter parent - I don't hover at the daycare or question their ability to educate my children. I let him make decisions on his own and TRY to let him experience the ups and downs of life on his own. I'm not an extreme helicopter parent, but I admit to being one, for sure. Maybe its because of how difficult it was for me to have Brenden that makes me hover? I can't help but want to be there to protect both of them, always. Of course now that I have 2 kids its hard to hover over both of them at once, but I still try. I am trying not to hold back their independence. I want them to learn independence and how to play 'safe' vs. not letting them play at all. I don't necessarily hinder their growth, I'm just there to catch them if the fall along the way :). I'm trying to hover at a greater distance, especially with Brenden, but it will always be in my nature to be a helicopter parent. Is it really such a bad thing to want to protect your kids?

That being said, I was very proud of myself a few weekends ago when I took the kids to the park for a birthday party. I had Logan in my arms and was 'hovering' around the playground to make sure Brenden was okay. He usually sticks to the small slides - however, he would pick the time my hands are full to climb to the top of the climber to the highest slide they have. He was way above my head, climbing metal stairs, higher than some of the nearby trees, just having fun and not knowing at all that he needed to be careful to not fall (if you know my kids.. you know they fall.. a LOT). However - I was a good mommy and let him ride the big slide and have fun like the other kids at the party. This may not seem like a big deal to most, but for this helicopter mama, it was very difficult and very stressful. BUT I spent most of my childhood afraid of everything, and I am trying to teach Brenden how to be brave and independent - and CAREFUL ("hold the handrail Brenden!" "Do not stand up on the slide Brenden!")

Here are some pictures of his first trip on the 'big slide.'

Someone held Logan so I could walk to the top with Brenden a few times (he invited me to hover!). Here's a view from the top of the slide.

He's becoming a big boy way too fast!

At least I still have one baby - for now....

Some random cuteness from this weekend.

He has it so tough, doesn't he?

Thought this expression was funny. Love those big brown eyes!

Logan and Brenden sharing some cheerios (a rare display of brotherly love)

Do you think its time for a haircut?

I have returned (briefly)!

I have been disconnected from the real world for the past few weeks trying to deal with 'life.' Brenden started out sick with a little head cold. Nothing too serious, just a runny nose and cough, but it definitely disrupted his sleep. Then Logan got some sort of tummy flu. I expected it to run its course in the normal 2-3 days max, but 6 days later he was still very sick. He either had diarrhea or vomiting or both every day and would only take milk. On the 6th day he seemed to be feeling better, but as I checked his diaper all day to change it, it was dry every time. 10 hours later... still dry :( so I called the Dr and they said to take him to the urgent care. This is where I criticize my Dr's office as it turns out the urgent care can't treat dehydration and based on the lack of urine alone; he needed some IV fluids administered. So after waiting around 45 minutes at the urgent care, we were sent to the ER. It was almost 4 hours of waiting in the waiting room alone, and then another 4 hours of waiting on treatment once we were given a room. Logan's poor veins were so small and so dehydrated it took 4 tries and 3 ER nurses to get the IV started, then the IV would cease to flow any time he moved his hand (which was taped down to a little board, but that didn't seem to help). I couldn't hold him in my arms and hold his hand steady at the same time. Finally someone came in and held his hand while I held the rest of him and a few minutes later the IV was done.

We got home at 3:30 a.m. and the next day he started to improve. I was able to get him to take pedialite from a bottle - but I had to warm it up first or he'd have nothing to do with it. My mom came down to help out as well so that Logan could get round the clock TLC and Brenden wouldn't feel too neglected in the process. After 2 days of love and fluids Logan made a full recovery. He is now trying to eat us out of house and home :) I guess he needs to gain back all that weight he lost! Luckily nobody else caught what Logan had. I'm pretty sure it was a Rota virus. The Dr's were more concerned with treating his dehydration than diagnosing a common stomach bug.



Updates on the kids:



The kids are changing so much every day. Brenden is talking up a storm and just as silly as ever. He loves the Mickey Mouse clubhouse and likes to pick out the tools and answer their questions. He really has learned a lot from that show. Then he plays little games like they do on the show, like he'll draw a 1 on his magnedoodle and say "is that a five? NOoooo. Is that a one? YES!" haha. He cracks me up. He's almost 2 and a half now. I can't figure out how time is moving so fast. He likes to run and jump and dance. He's having a little trouble with being nice to his little brother. It’s funny how they just KNOW they are supposed to pick on their little brother without any training :) He's not like this with any other kids. He's constantly taking toys away from Logan or swatting at him when he gets too close. So we are working on teaching him to be nice to his little brother. It’s a lost cause, I'm sure.

Brenden loves to sing about 5 monkeys jumping on the bed. Here is a video of him doing it all by himself. He cut the song a little short once he realized he was on film. Please excuse Mt. Laundry in the background, the washroom is next to the playroom and I was washing clothes that day. The video is from my phone so its horrible quality… sorry for that too!

Logan is learning all sorts of new things. He can clap and imitate things that you show him. He will try to imitate sounds (I swear when we pinch Brenden's hiney and say "tushie!" Logan says 'tussieeeee' too). He is standing unassisted all the time and the other day actually took a step forward on his own. I'm not ready for 2 kids walking! He loves his big brother Brenden. He likes to tackle him and chase him down the hall when we are getting ready for bath. He loves to dance just like his big brother. Its so cute to watch Brenden and Logan do the "hot dog dance" when Mickey Mouse is on. He gives the best hugs in the world and everybody at the daycare agrees. Whenever I come to pick him up, someone has to stop and tell me that they got a big hug from Logan that day. He's really a sweet little guy. His hair is out of control but I just CAN'T make myself cut those cute little corkscrew curls yet - no matter how many people tell me how cute my little girl is. He has a thing for hair anyway and I think he'd be sad if he reached up to stroke his hair and it wasn't there anymore.

He likes to use this little desk chair as a walker and pushes it all over the kitchen. It worries me to death, but its his favorite thing to play with so I try to have faith that he won't bust his lip on it one day.

Sorry I've been so out of touch with the world lately. I've had a lot of personal challenges going on so that has kept me away from my various online vices. Other than the occasional facebook update via my blackberry (and the blackberry facebook app sux!), I haven't been online much or keeping up with email. I've been in a bit of a funk and trying my best not to spread my black cloud onto the rest of the world. I'm taking life a day at a time and am constantly reminded of how blessed I really am, even in the midst of a storm, each time I look at my baby boys. Even if nothing else makes sense to me, I know that I always have joy and purpose in my life thanks to these two sweet little angels.

Brenden, Logan, and the Slip n Slide

I picked up this little slip n slide from Wal-mart for $5.  I knew the boys couldn't actually slide on it, but I knew they'd like the little streams of water that came out of it and the little splash pool at the end of it. I was right, they loved it.  I'd like to imagine their thoughts went a little something like this...

 

"Hey Mama, this thing looks fun.  I'm so happy you got it for me."

"Okay Logan, you need to try to catch the streams of water like this."

"Okay Brenden, I'll try, but it looks pretty tricky."

"Keep trying Logan. While you're doing that, I'm going to take all of the balls."

"Logan look, I'm catching it with my mouth now!"

"Hmm... Where shall I spit this out?"


"Well Logan, Mama says its time for lunch and nap now. We can play out here again this afternoon!"

Afternoon....


"Oh Logan, I don't remember the water being this cold this morning!"

"Mama, can you stop taking pictures please"

"Mama look, while Brenden is playing with the streams of water, I'm going to take all of the balls!"


"Hah-ha!! Look Brenden, now I've got the balls! Hah!"


"That's okay Logan, I'm going to catch more water in my mouth."


"Here Mama, catch!"


"What's that Brenden? You want to slide? Okay, I think you are the best, so I'll do anything you say!"


"Here's how it works Logan, you go first, so I can watch, and then I'll be right behind you."

"Really, you want me to go down there? Okay, if you say so..."



"Weeeeeee! Brenden this is FUN! Its not scary at all!"


"Yeah Logan, you're right, this is LOTS of fun! Woo hoo!"