Rota virus is not our friend

I've never seen so much diarrhea in my life. This Rota Virus is a nasty thing. And thankfully it's gone. Day 2 of having healthy children. When it was all said and done, we had four days of nastiness and had to rent a steam cleaner for our carpet. Ugh.

But, let's move on to something more fun. I gave Brody some ice cream, and did not expect this response at all:

Skater Boy

Dylan had his first hockey skating lesson on Saturday morning. He seemed pretty excited when we picked up his helmet and skates. 

Daddy laced up his skates, made sure they were nice and tight.

The class lasts a half hour, and is weekly for six weeks. It's called Chair Hockey. It's an introductory class to hockey skating. He can move up to the  next level when he can get up from a fall on his own, without a chair or hockey stick.

Brian said Dylan seemed very uncomfortable when he was slipping, but after he got comfortable he did a pretty good job. He was moving his feet in a walking motion on the ice while he pushed the chair. After about 20 minutes, he'd had enough! Daddy pushed him in the chair once, and they tried again for a few more minutes. 

Overall I think Dylan enjoyed it, and is looking forward to going back next week!

Three!

Our big boy turns three today! He's so sharp, and funny. Dylan is truly a joy to have around. In the past months he's started understanding reasoning skills a bit more, and is demanding more of us. He wants to make deals about getting dressed, or what he can eat for lunch or dinner. He's started helping himself to food, and like to sleep with his blankets on the floor. He still has his "coffee" each morning. He still doesn't like to wear socks, and now is beginning to dislike wearing clothes at all! He has been potty trained for five months. He is still in love with trains. He's started to enjoy puzzles, and is now putting 70 piece puzzles together, almost all by himself. He's really smart...sometimes Brian and I look at each other in amazement at Dylan's memory. We think he might have a photographic memory. It has happened often, that as we drive by a building we visited months ago, Dylan will tell us we were there, what we bought, and who he was with. He can go through every book on his bookshelf and tell us who gave it to him. He can recall events from months ago, or conversations.  He's a pretty cool kid!

The view is so much better up here!

Brody has been taking steps and even crouching down, picking something up and standing back up, but he didn't seem to realize it. Once he became aware he was taking a few steps, he'd get wobbly. 

But not today!

He took some steps into the middle of the playroom, and there was no piece of furniture to grab. He looked around, and once he realized there was nothing, he just kept walking!

Here is a video I took earlier today. 

It's amazing how fast he's catching on. Now that he has the confidence to walk, he is walking across an entire room already!

Needed that....to get through this

Last night we had a wonderful Valentine's date. We double dated with our friends Joe and Janine, and had a super evening. It was nice to be treated like a queen! I'm lucky enough to be married to a guy who is nice most every day of the year, so I try not to be disappointed when the "Hallmark" holidays roll by without my special someone noticing. But every now and then it feels really special to be recognized on those holidays, and last night was one of them.

And let me tell you ...I needed the positive juju from that great date last night to get through today. We got home shortly after 1 a.m. The kids were up shortly after 7. Respectable...

Brian had to work all day today, so mommy duty started early and hasn't ended yet. 

It was one of those days when you are so tired that your mental energy is the only thing carrying you through, because you are far beyond "E" on the physical energy gauge.

One of those days when you turn off the kitchen faucet to the sound of moans and wailing coming from the living room. Dylan has been practicing some of his new wrestling moves on Brody. Brody does not enjoy being sandwiched between the floor and his big brother. 

One of those days when you close the door to pee, and your toddler whips the door open, pretending he doesn't know what privacy means, while the baby lays on the floor outside the bathroom, wailing in despair that you've gone and abandoned him .

One of those days when you catch your baby attempting death defying climbing feats...

One of those days when every time you turn around, the toddler is naked as the day he was born and is sitting his bare ass on your furniture.

One of those days when every time you step foot in the kitchen, there are crumbs clinging to your socks, and you mutter to yourself, didn't I just sweep and vacuum in here an hour ago?

One of those days when just after you've swept and vacuumed the after dinner food bomb that fell on your kitchen floor, wiped down the counters, put away leftovers of the new (crappy) recipe you tried, loaded the dishwasher and put lotion on your hands, the toddler sing-songs "Moooooooommmmmmmmmmm, I want a snack."

One of those days when you are folding laundry in the tiny bathroom while your kids are in the bath tub, and one of the mischievous boys throws a cup of water over board...right into your clean and dry basket of laundry.

One of those days when, while mid-bath, your toddler stands up and says he has to pee. And you respond with "just pee in the tub."

A bad day? No. But an exhausting one. A day that makes you thankful for great date nights with your husband that rejuvenate your spirit. A day that makes you think....this is a great life. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For lunch today, Dylan had pink milk and a heart shaped PB&J!

My little office workers

Taking this picture of Brody really reminded me of Dylan doing the same thing when he was about the same age.

Brody at 12 1/2 months playing in the office

Dylan at 11 1/2 months, playing in the office

I just love their sweet little profiles with the chubby cheeks!

Temper, temper

Brody and I usually spent one on one time together in the afternoons, before Dylan wakes up from his nap. On this afternoon, Brody was busy playing with things that he shouldn't have been.

He loves to play in the office, with the mouse and keyboard. He knows he's not supposed to, and when I discover him in there, he always starts giggling.

We also spent some fun time in the living room, throwing and catching balls, trying out big brother's Smart Cycle, and other mischievous things.

Brody has quite a temper. He gets angry very fast, squirms, yells "wah, wah, wah" and throws himself on the ground on his belly and cries until he is comforted. Occasionally he'll peek over his shoulder to see if you are watching him, and then will adjust his volume as needed. 

On this occasion, he was getting angry because the scanner on the cash register wouldn't come loose. Apparently he wanted to play with just the scanner, not the entire register!

This entertaining display of temper happens, oh, about 15-20 times a day. I thought it was spot on when my sister Kelly looked at Brody one day and said "He's just like me."  

Birthday Party!

Yesterday we had a party to celebrate Dylan's 3rd birthday and Brody's 1st birthday. We had a joint party because we had a lot of family and friends that traveled for the party. 

Dylan's party theme was Diego. I made his cake...whew, that was a labor of love. I was swearing to myself that next year I am calling a bakery. But now that the party is over and I saw how much he loved the cake, I'm having my doubts about paying someone to make a basic rectangle bakery cake. 

Dylan fell asleep on the couch about a half hour before the party started. I woke him up, but he didn't seem to feel well. He wanted me to hold him the whole time, and said his belly hurt. Thankfully both Oma and Grandma were here to help out. Dylan eventually went upstairs to his bed and took a good nap. When he came downstairs afterwards, he was bright eyed and happy as could be! I'm so glad it worked out that way and he wasn't sick on his party day!

For Brody's cake, I made a chocolate number 1. It matched his party decorations. He really wanted to stick his fingers in it!

I made Brody his own little smash cake, and he dove right in. He started slowly by dipping his fingers in the frosting, but before long he had his entire hand in the cake and was shoving as much as he could in his mouth.

He made such a mess! The two Grandma's cleaned up Brody and got him dressed for gift opening.

We gave Brody the Little People farm, and he seems to love it, despite the fact the silo was missing from the package! I'll call the Fisher Price customer service tomorrow to see if we can't get that little addition for our farm! He also received many other nice gifts. A beautiful flannel quilt from his Grandma, a flashing sweatshirt, monetary gifts, little cars, and more!

Dylan too was showered with gifts. Brian and I bought him the bike in the picture above. It's the Smart Cycle - the child has to pedal the bike to make the video game progress. He received two games for the bike, a Leapster 2, a game for the Leapster, his very own guitar, a sweatshirt, a big floor puzzle, and so much more I can't remember it all! I'm getting a little worried these kids will expect to receive piles of gift every time they see their grandparents!

We had a very nice party. Some great friends and our family were here to celebrate with us, and that means so much. It was an exhausting day, followed by a fun evening. We went to the rodeo! Dylan and Brody both really seemed to enjoy the show. This morning we had breakfast with Oma and Auntie Kelly before they left, and now it's time to play with all these new toys!

We have a walker!

I saw it with my very own eyes...Brody walked from one piece of furniture to another, without holding on to anything! He did it twice tonight! It won't be long before he's walking everywhere instead of crawling.

A little getaway

The last week has been a whirlwind! Brian got home on Thursday night. Friday morning I woke up with a horrible sore throat and just knew I had strep. I went to the doctor to have it confirmed, and came home and laid in bed for the next 24 hours! Thankfully Noelle was able to take the boys that day, because Brian had a full day of work planned. They both had such a great time there with Noelle and the other kids. Thank you so much Noelle!!

By Saturday I was up and around but not very useful. Sunday we relaxed with friends and watched the Superbowl. Then Monday morning, we packed up the family truckster and headed to the Wisconsin Dells! We stayed at the Wilderness and had a great time.

We had a two-bedroom condo, with a full kitchen, dining room and living room. It was so great! We really just enjoyed ourselves so much, we can't wait to go back and do it again. I think this vacation proved to us that traveling with children can actually be fun.  The short (one and a half hour) drive was nice too.

The boys had fun exploring their bedroom. We brought a travel crib for Brody, so no one actually slept up on top, but Dylan had fun crawling up there.

The Wilderness provides life jackets for children. This one was the smallest they had, and it was for a child ten pounds heavier than Brody. It ended up riding in his face, so it didn't last too long.

Brody wasn't thrilled with the water in general. He seemed overwhelmed by all the noise and activity. We eventually settled in a quiet corner of a kids pool and he started enjoying himself.

Dylan loved every minute of this vacation! There was a lot of walking involved, and he ran everywhere we went. At night he was exhausted and slept well.

Dylan and Brian enjoyed the wave pool.

We enjoyed two indoor water parks and a big arcade/playground. We wish the vacation could have lasted longer! Our friends the Idstein's came up and joined us for the second day and night, and it made our trip doubly fun. 

It is nice to be home, showered, unpacked, etc. I'm making mental lists of everything I have to do before the big birthday party on Saturday. Deep breaths...