Daddy's Birthday

I'm a couple of weeks behind in posting, but better late than never, right?

Daddy's birthday didn't go quite as planned since Benny had croup and so Sean stayed home to take care of him while I subbed that day-plans were thrown out the window, actually.

BUT we did get to have some fun and love on him a bit which is what its all about.
I wanted to get one of those cute felt banners from Etsy, but we are tight on money so I just made one myself with the printer and yarn. ;)
The gifts came out from hiding (i.e. the closet that I told him not to look in)


Everyone seemed to enjoy the chicken parm I made for dinner. This is a gift in itself as Sean does the cooking most nights. (I tried not to think about how much Oxyclean I was going to need to clean their clothes after this).
In lieu of cake, we had a candle in an ice cream container. Mainly because he loves ice cream and partly because I forgot the cake. Like I said, plans out the window.
Fun was had though and I expect our birthdays will be more special each year and the kids "get" what they are and can celebrate with us. It is cool to see already how our little family is taking shape and the fun we can have on our own.

So Happy birthday to the best daddy in the whole wide world!

This week (in numbers)

1, 2 y/o with croup+ 1, 9 month old = 2 babies w/ croup.
2, 2 y/o's who love to share= 1, 2 y/o with 2 ear infections.
3 more days of work for mom.
2 dr. visits in 5 days.
$30 in co-pays.
1 pound gained by mom (due to sympathy ice cream eating)
.5 pound lost by 9 month old
$70 paid to library for overdue (ok, lost) books
2 weeks until Daddy's vacation
10 loads of laundry done over 3 day weekend

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Croup, Fevers, and Schedules. Oh My!

The last two weeks have just been kicking my butt. Sean's birthday, work demanding much more than I expected, and then Benny comes down with croup. I am hanging on by a very thin thread.

We often joke that we would like to have 4 or 5 adult children, but feel pretty overwhelmed at adding anymore actual children to the lot we've got. It's amazing, really, how they are so freaking adorable one minute and make my blood boil with frustration the next. I am starting to feel bi-polar. I want more time with them when I'm grading papers after school, and less when we are cleaning up after a dinner melt down. I want to go to hot yoga and set up my craft room/office, I want to spend time really investing in my teaching, but Benny has a fever and I don't want him to get his cuddles form anyone from me. How are we supposed to do it all? Maybe we aren't. Maybe I need to prioritize better. Maybe I need to cut myself some slack or maybe I need to grow up and suck it up? Maybe I need to edit out these cryptic blog posts? ;)


On a lighter note, Graci and Tater are talking so much and they are so funny! Who knew?!
She comes running down the hall in the morning when she wakes up "Mammaaaaa, where are you? Whatcha doooooeeeeeen?!" Adorable! And Tate is singing in his own personal music videos daily now. Hand shaped like a microphone and all. Cracks me up. He was singing about his blankie in the car yesterday and I said "Are you singing about your blankie?" and he says, "Maybe..." Sean and I laughed so hard.

Still Teething Here, People.

Toddler Beds

Dun...Dun..DUNNNNNNNNNN!

I hope you can appreciate the sheer terror and anxiety I felt every time we discussed this. Even when Tate was first climbing out of his bed, we put it off, thinking it was a fluke. We mentioned it to their babysitter and she said he had been doing it for a week after nap time. Crawling out of his pack 'n play and into Gracie's to wake her ;)

Our pediatrician confirmed it, he is going to hurt himself one of these mornings, we have to bite the bullet. I have been hesitant to post because I didn't want to jinx the progress we were making, but I think they are unaffected by my desires anyway.

SO. Mother's Day we took apart their cribs and converted them to toddler beds. Much noise was made about BIG BOY and BIG GIRL beds. They were excited and nervous. I was a little sentimental and very nervous.

Daddy went to work.

They had a lot of fun once they were put together and they could get up and down, and of course, jump around.



That night the usual bed time was 6:30 PM. We followed routine, but they didn't fall asleep until 9PM (despite their iron will to play all night). Tate then woke at 1am, roaming around the room crying, and 4am just crying until he settled himself. Then they woke for the day at 5:45am. We were exhausted.

2nd day, same story, but they also managed to blow a fuse playing with the humidifier.

Since that first night, things have gotten better. Going to sleep seems to be easy-ish, its the early wake up call that has us stumped. You are on the same mattress, why do you need to wake up a half an hour earlier every day?! We have put those black out curtains up (on sale now at Target, FYI) and nada. I think that does help them fall asleep quicker, but still up at 6am with the birds. This 30 minutes has become a challenge as we do not want to get up for work yet/let them out of their room. So we have been putting books in there at night for them to "read" when they get up. The past two mornings Tate has grabbed his blankies and crawled into bed with Gracie. Very cute. This morning, she didn't like it though and was beating him mercilessly when we came in. I think they "get" that we aren't coming in right away, but it's kind of a toss up whether they will take that lying down (excuse the pun). We have screaming and banging on the door some mornings (we installed the safety knob on the inside of their room so they can't get out!) and oh so cute giggles and cuddle time on a pile of blankets on the floor, other days.

So, if I had to grade the transition (which I would because I'm a teacher and all...) I'd give us a B. Room for improvement, but not epic failure.

Fear not, Parents of Toddlers! It can be done! Don't let the bed scare you!

Blessed!

Mother's Day was a wonderful time for me since my hubby is a thoughtful guy. I was so blessed by the kiddos and his love for me. I woke up per usual and felt badly that he had them all by himself, I went out to help and got shooed back to bed! Mother's day was golden right there.

A few minutes later I was greeted bedside by a rather short parade bearing gifts. I got the New Moon dvd (yippee!) a piping hot coffee from Starbucks (he actually went to the drive thru with all of them in their pj's!) and some custom stationary by Sarah and Abraham! I have been drooling over her designs for months (seen above)!

Next, I got treated to homemade strawberry waffles, my favorite breakfast treat and a morning of leisure. I got a few "I love you mommy" 's and those were the sweetest gifts of all. I am such a softy I actually cried a few times during breakfast. :)

But wait! there's more...

After church I got to go out to lunch and a movie with my girlfriends! Nothing says Mother's Day like time without your children. Sorry, but it's the truth. We ate well and saw the "Babies" movie. It was hysterical, adorable, and left us in the perfect mood to back home and cuddle on our own babies.

It was such a blessing to feel loved and appreciated by those I love so dearly. I know I'm lucky because not all mothers get so much as a card. I hope you all got spoiled and loved on as well !

We tried again for an annual Mother's Day picture. It didn't go so well, but I just want to document the day.

Super Cheers!

Our Mickey (and Minnie) Mouse Clubhouse Party was a success!

The weather held out. It didn't rain and wasn't freezing. It wasn't sunny either, but I can't count on that in Seattle in May anyway.We had about 35 people including many, many babies/toddlers. We played with bubbles

and in our new bouncy house:
We drove around all of our cars (I got 3 on Craigslist for $10 a piece!)


I was really proud of the Rainbow cake I made! I baked and Sean decorated, it turned out awesome if I do say so myself!

It took about 2 hours because of baking the individual layers and frosting, but I'll take that over the cupcakes I made from scratch last year.( I was up Until 2am, don't ask).
They loved the cake as far as I can tell, thought Grace still isn't a fan of the singing/candle part.



*Super cute side note: For dinner on their actual birthday we put a candle in their dinner rolls and sang to them. They blew out the candles on their own and really liked it just us. It was a sweet moment for our little family.
I Loved seeing our friends and family in their mouse gear they brought/borrowed or ears I gave them:





I was totally wiped out afterwards and the wreckage was substantial:


But as all moms know, totally worth it for smiles like these!