Snow Day

Last night it started to snow a little bit--much to the joy of one Liam J. He could not wait to see if the snow would still be there in the morning when we woke up. Per the normal "snow day" routine, Liam asked for hot cocoa as soon as he woke up. "When it snows you drink hot cocoa and that will keep the mosquitos away!" (And who doesn't hate those pesky winter mosquitos?!) Later in the morning we got all bundled up and we went out back to build miniature snowpeople. Sawyer did NOT like getting bundled up and sat on the ground and cried most of the time. His snowsuit is a bit on the large side (as are the boots) so he basically was rendered immobile which he did not appreciate one little bit. He tried to take one step, fell flat on the snow and smack onto his poor little face. It wasn't until we came inside and peeled off the layers so he could move again was he happy. He LOVES to be outside, just not restricted.

Liam of course had lots of fun despite a recurring mitten malfunction. Winter is here--if only for the day. As I type this the sun is out and it will all be melted by afternoon. Gotta love Colorado!

The Sweetest Thing

This morning I had both boys in the room with me as I tried to get ready for work. As I was blowing my hair dry I watched both boys in the reflection of the big mirror. They were sitting on the floor playing quite well together. Suddenly out of the blue Liam leaned over and planted a sweet little kiss on Sawyer's scraped up nose. Sawyer leaned in and then smiled the biggest gummy grin I have ever seen.

Sweetness, thy name is Liam & Sawyer. At least right now anyway. ;-)

Your Daily Liam

The question asked at preschool: "What I am Most Thankful For..."

Liam's answer: "The house painter" (When I asked him about this he said "I just liked watching them paint!")

And also tonight: "Mom, heaven is another name for Jail." ?????? WHERE he ever heard this I'll never know...

Beanie Meets Mantle

Sigh. This child is going to give me grey hair. What you can't see is the bruise and scrape on the side of his face and the big bump on the top of his head. The ironic thing?? I was just looking up "Fireplace Cushions" at work today.

Tired

A tired Monday morning hello. For some reason last night I was wide awake from 1:30 until 3:30, and then Sawyer woke up wailing at 4:00 (teething trauma) so I took care of him, got back to bed and was called into service by Liam who had wet the bed at 4:30. Ken had to be up at 4:40 to get ready to catch an early flight so I never did get back to sleep. We crossed paths at 4:45 as I was coming up from doing a load of pee laundry and he was headed downstairs to grab some clothes. (Ken is a "pack your bags the morning of the trip" kind of guy). There is only so much a cup of coffee can do...

Ken is in San Francisco for two days so it will be just the lads and I. I always have these grand ideas for what special Mommy & Boy things we can do when I get home and Ken is out of town "Let's bake cookies! Let's make a pinecone turkey! Let's play a game! Let's order a pizza and watch Nightmare before Christmas!" but in reality it is "Let's do laundry! Let's get you fed. Let's give you a bath. Let's go to bed soon so Mommy can fall into a deep, deep sleep." I often imagine what it might be like to stay home and actually be able to accomplish ALL of the things I intend to do everyday without having to cram it all into 2 hours at night. I just hope and pray (and worry) that the time I do get to spend with the boys at night is enough to matter to them. When I get home and I am tired and frazzled and I open up the door and Sawyer comes running to me and crying at my feet to be picked up and Liam runs to me and starts talking loudly about his day (to drown out Sawyer's pleas to be held) I remind myself that the hours with my boys are precious few. No matter how tired I am, or how much needs to be done I need to just stop and live in the moment--however crazy that moment is.

Hooray for Liam!!!!

Today was a big day for Liam...he is finally able to click his tongue!! While this might not seem like a big deal to most people, for Liam it is HUGE! Liam has an Oral Apraxia which basically means his tongue and brain don't always speak the same language. He was never able to click his tongue, blow bubbles, sip through straws or eat or drink without making a major mess. All of this is due to lack of motor control in his tongue which in turn creates an embarrassing drool problem (all because his tongue lacks the muscular control). Luckily it never affected his speech. Most people are able to touch their tongues to the left and right side of their mouthes, puff out their cheeks, etc. Liam has never been able to do any of those things. Now with the help of his wonderful speech therapist he is able to move his tongue to BOTH sides of his mouth, blow bubbles, click his tongue, etc. and slowly we are starting to see a definite improvement in his drooling. He was *SO* proud of himself for being able to click his tongue that he showed the therapist the minute he got into her office. I literally teared up watching how proud and happy he was with his accomplishment. He used to hear Sawyer click his tongue and he would look at me sad and discouraged and say "Why can't I do that Mommy?" If I could pick out one thing that my children would learn from me it would be that they should NEVER give up trying. This is something I try to reinforce with Liam, who tends to get discouraged easily. I am hoping that having gone through this process with his speech therapist, he is seeing JUST how far he has come.

Good job sweet boy--I am so very proud of you!

Monday, Monday

It was a crazy Monday after a rather lovely weekend of firehouse visits, park playing and a dinner party for Mommy & Daddy. The weather has been positively gorgeous--near 70 and it looks like it will be that way for the better part of a week. I actually ran in shorts and a tank top today and was warm. I know that next week at this time we could have two feet of snow--gotta love Colorado.

"Puppy doesn't WANT to eat his dinner"

Oh joy of joys!!! Liam and his best buddy Sam have been obsessed lately with playing "puppies!". From dawn to dusk the kids act, talk, eat and drink like dogs. They are FIXATED on this new game and it is driving every adult in the house insane. It has gotten so bad that tonight I actually caught Liam lapping up his milk from his cup like a dog. I said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!!!" and he said "this is how puppy drinks his milk!" When I told him puppy better learn REAL quick to drink out of his cup like a boy again, he said "Puppy does NOT care!" and continued to do it anyway. The minute Sam comes here she is also a puppy and the two of them crawl around on all fours barking, panting and wimpering. We are all hoping that this new phase will end soon or else two little puppies might get sent to the pound...

Tired, Potential Long Night Ahead

I came home from work tonight to find Beanie crying at the tops of his lungs, not wanting to eat much and not drinking. He is working on two bottom teeth and not at ALL happy about it. I noticed when I was putting him to bed that he was tugging on his ears...so I HOPE that teething is the worst of it and not an ear infection. He (knocking on wood) has never had one and I pray we can avoid all the ear infections that his brother went through every time he cut a tooth. His Motrin wears off at midnight, so we'll know one way or the other then.

Here's hoping that it is just teeth...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEANIE BABY!!!!!!!

We love you with all our hearts. Thanks for joining our family one year ago tonight!


PS: Here is some cake footage. As we thought, he got the hang of it pretty quickly!

TO DOs

My how it has been a very, very long week and yet, I still feel like there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. I realized much to my horror this morning that both of the boys have outgrown nearly all their clothes. I am not sure WHEN this happened (I think sometime during this long week) but it definitely happened. Either that or or dryer has shrunk everything drastically. Stuff I bought them in the Fall is now too short (Liam) or too tight (ummm...guess who?). So now my TO-DO List has expanded for the weekend. This is what I have to get done today at lunch...

FRIDAY LUNCHTIME TO-DO:
• Run/then shower/then change (sidebar: Some might say "Just skip the run!" If I don't run, I could hurt someone with pent up energy.)
• Go to store and get Beanie at least a few little birthday items to open (The grandma's have sent PLENTY to keep him busy tomorrow!!!),
• Get two new convertible car seats (one for each car)
• Pick up lunch somewhere

AND, if I have time on my way home from work:
Swing by grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner tonight
Have nice fireman install new carseat in my filthy vehicle.

Yeah, I think I can get it all done...

A Year Ago Today...

I was in labor with the Bean. Today was the start of the very LONG three days of labor, in and out of the hospital (3 times!) and the eventual extraction of Beanie on the 8th, (but only after pushing hard for nearly 4 hours and the use of forceps and other distasteful necessities). This alone should have been a BIG tip off of what is very much a Beanie trait--stubborn determination. The child has quite the temper when it interferes with what he has set his mind to doing...like trying to climb up on a box in order to climb up on the dresser, or trying to walk alone down a full flight of stairs like a big boy. All grey hair accumulation will be a direct result of this child--for this I am certain. We have taken to calling him a bulldozer--because from the moment he has been able to propel himself forward he has refused to go *around* anything. He goes over or through. Now that he is walking (actually, he is RUNNING now and I am not even joking!) he plows right through everything and everyone (Liam, dogs, etc.) to get to his destination. If he can use his powers for good, and not evil, his determination will serve him well in life! ;-

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Last night after the election results rolled in, I tried to calm down and come off cloud nine and let it all sink in. I went in to check on the boys, as I always do before I go to bed when suddenly, it hit me. I realized that my children will never know the historic significance of what happened last night. They will never know anything different that a black man is president. And I realized what a very good thing that is!!!. To them, they will grow up accepting that any PERSON, regardless of race or gender can be president and that alone gives me hope. I feel like I woke up to a new world today and the optimism that it is generating is palpable. You can feel it and see it just about everywhere you look. I know not everyone is a fan but since this is my blog, I get to say whatever I want so pardon me if you disagree! ;-)

There is so much work ahead. Let's work together to try and fix what has been broken the past 8 years.

Yeah Obama Family. Yeah America!

Get Out & Vote!!

This morning I got up early to go to my gym and work out and vote. My gym luckily is also my polling place (it is in a community center). I was number 19 in line. I had studied my Issue Booklet while I was on the elliptical trainer and had my cheat sheet filled out so that when it was my turn to vote, I was prepared. I must say that in the 20 years that I have been voting I have NEVER seen so much interest and enthusiasm as I have this year. It is a wonderful and powerful thing to be on the cusp of history.

Halloween Revisited

I apologize for being so delinquent in posting. I pinched a nerve in my neck this past week (BIKE riding, of all things) and it wasn't until today that I finally feel good. The ironic thing is that I rode the bike last Sunday because I thought I should give my body a break from running two marathons back to back. Murphy's Law I suppose...

In any case, here are a few photos of the lads in their costumes. Note these pics were not taken Halloween night...Liam was out the door and over at the neighbors before we could grab the camera and Beanie...he was LESS than thrilled with the whole concept. Methinks that next year he will catch on mighty quick. He has already figured out that the stuff in the bright wrappers that Mommy & Daddy and Liam keep eating is something he feels he should be a part of. I think Beanie makes an adorable Bee and Liam...well, he's the cutest arachnid EVER!