Brothers?

Carson at 8 months & Keaton at 7 months

First Shopping Cart Ride

Buddy was so excited because I finally remembered to let him ride in the shopping cart like the big boy that he is.

At first he was pretty unsure of his metal carriage ride

but quickly realized how great it was to watch everyone and get oohed and ahhed over.

World's Cutest Kids Seeking New Daycare

My adorable boys just took their first bath together. I wish I could say the whole experience was as cute as these pictures but there was an awesome tantrum from Carson (3 going on 13) because he had to share his bathtub.

Regardless, it was super cute! Keaton is in an awkward stage. Too big for his baby bathtub but not quite steady enough for the big tub. So we've compromised by using this fun bath seat. He really enjoyed it!

I am very busy with work and now have the added stress of finding new daycare. We love Carson's current daycare provider but unfortunately she can't take Keaton too.

I'm going nuts trying to balance two different sitters in two different locations for Keaton and also taking Carson to school.

Commercial daycare centers cost the same as a mortgage payment, an expensive mortgage payment.

In-home daycares are half the price but honestly creep me out if I don't know someone who already has their kids there. I located two great ones but of course both had JUST taken on a new family and were full.

I go back and forth between wanting to cry and wanting to scream in my search.

I started visiting the commerical centers this week. I know the boys will do great where ever they are but it's so hard to stomach paying $2000 a month for four days a week.

How much is my sanity worth?

How much are my boys worth?

Is it all worth it?

I love my boys but I love working. I can't balance it all.

I can balance it all and I will.

I will find the right place.

I will.

PICTURES! Finally!

Beautiful spring day! Headed to the skate park again and remembered the camera this time!

Carson getting very brave and adventurous at the end of our visit.

Carson had a great time riding the bowl and wowing his fan club of one. (One super dorky 40+ year old dude with a 10 speed bike, break-away pants, and a skateboard circa 1985.

Buddy slept through the first half but then enjoyed the rest of the visit. An active 7 month old, he would much rather be standing, sitting, or rolling around, anything other than stuck in a carseat or stroller. I don't want to jinx it but I think he may be crawling by the 8 month mark.

He is developing in a drama king!

If he isn't getting enough attention, he screams at the top of his lungs. But then instantly stops and laughs when you look at him.

When Carson was exploring new food flavors, he would make awful faces but was such a pig he'd even swallow his spoonfuls of peas or green beans as he was making barfy face.

Not Keaton. Try to feed him something he doesn't like, say a "puff" or a teeny bit of avocado and he gags and gags and gags until he barfs. Literally barfs ALL over himself. It's so gross it's hilarious.

Speaking of "puffs" . . . we had an unfortunate incident on Friday. Fridays are my "day off" from work when I have both my boys and we get to do fun things together.

Unfortunately I tried to open a can of "puffs" with my front teeth. The foil seal popped but took my front tooth along with it.

Thirteen years I've been waiting for this day. We've always wondered when my "temporary" fake tooth was going to give up.

Thirteen years ago I was the victim of a hit and run, just a few weeks before I graduated from college. My front tooth was knocked out and the college dental clinic used a temporary bondo-type product to make me a new one. It was only supposed to last 6 months to a year.

Thirteen years later it finally broke off.

At first I couldn't figure out what I saw flying across the room but then I felt my tounge shoot through the gap in my mouth and I started laughing. I couldn't help it.

The look was awful. Very trailer trash. Very ugly.

I found the tiny little partial tooth in the carpet and stuck in my pocket for memory's sake.

My wonderful mother let me drop the boys off at her office while I rushed down to the dentist for my repair.

The dental assistant asked me if I brought the tooth with me and I smiled broadly (a rather jagged grin) and reached into my pocket. For the second time that day, my tooth went flying across the room.

Five minutes later with three of us on our hands and knees searching madly, we found the stinkin' tooth bit. It had bounced up into the bottom workings of the dental chair. Good God.

It was a good thing because Dr. P was able to bondo it back in. It's temporary again. Even more temporary than last time. I'm pretty nervous about when and where it's going to choose to part ways with my porcelin again. When I least expect it.

Carson is now a firm believer that he should NEVER try to open anything with his teeth or they will pop out.

Oh Dear God

We are pretty easy going about Carson playing outside by himself.

We are currently living on 20 acres.

He could be eaten by a coyote.

He could fall into the pond.

He could pee on the electric horse fence and get the shock of his life.

He could try playing with the horses and get trampled.

But we don't worry.

We are stupid.

Unsupervised play is dangerous.

"Mommy, Daddy, look at me! I look so cool!"

OH MY GOD!

I nearly fainted. My heart almost stopped. My ears were ringing.

Unsupervised play outdoors = in daddy's car = dressing up in daddy's $200 (splurge of a lifetime-I swear I'll have them for the rest of my life) Ray Ban sunglasses!!!

Should I have so upset that Carson was playing around in the car? Yes!

Could he have knocked it out of gear and gone rolling down the hill? Probably!

Could he have gotten mud everywhere (newly detailed cars don't like that and their daddy's like it even less). Oh, more than likely!

BUT HOLY CRAP, the sunglasses! Bent? Scraped? Scratched? Broken? Oh Dear God, please let them be okay.

It took every ounce of control not to freak out. I gingerly pulled them off his face, and examined them like a new mother counting ten fingers and ten toes on her newborn.

No scratches, no dents, just about a 1000 grubby fingerprints.

Halla-frickin-luya!!!

We had a tender but firm mother-to-son discussion as to why you NEVER EVER play in the cars by yourself. And you NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER touch Daddy's sunglasses.

I think I would rather have seen him pee on the electric fence. At least I know for sure he'd never do that again!

Poor Buddy!

My dear sweet Buddy has slept through the night since he was around 3.5 months old. Even when he was sick with a cough and cold last week, he slept through it all.

Two nights ago at 2:13 am, we were woken up by blood curdling screaming. Nothing I did consoled my baby.

Binkie spit out, more screaming.

Bottle accepted and finished but screaming immediately afterward.

Rocking chair, more screaming

Nothing was working. I walked laps around his little room, bouncing him, praying he wasn't waking up everyone else and wondering what on earth was happening.

This went on for the rest of the night. He would finally stop screaming, fall asleep abruptly, sleep 15-30 minutes but then wake up screaming again.

It was AWFUL! I felt so helpless.

Such a horrible feeling to not know why your baby is in pain and not be able to take it away.

I slept a few minutes here and there in the rocking chair with Keaton in my arms.

We were able to get into the doctor at 9:45. Thank goodness for same day appointments!

So sad for him but so glad the doctor was able to locate the source of his pain.

Little Buddy was suffering from a double ear infection!

Fortuntely he responded very well to the antibiotics and a dose of Motrin. Within 45 minutes he was already sleeping soundly.

My baby is back.

Belated Pics

Hopefully we have enough pics to do any kind of baby book for sweet Keaton! The second child definitely gets short-changed in the photo department.

Here is our happy little guy at 6.5 months!

Carrots and sweet pototoes everywhere but in the mouth
Never stops smiling!

And laughing! Loves his mommy!

Just plain happy!

And his famous "who me?" look

Bad bad blogger

I am embarrassed that my cousin-in-law with NINE children can blog on a daily basis WITH pictures and I can't even post once a month anymore!

Work is crazy busy (which is a good thing) and our remodel is nearing the final phase. Hence the NO TIME for anything else. I barely get laundry done.

That being said, I was about to download pics to post .... just discovered that Jeremy has the camera with him to take pictures of our newly hung drywall so check back later this week for some updated photos of my blond haired, blue eyed precious boys.

Carson: Still bi-polar but we're working on not reacting and just trying to ignore it. When he's in a good mood, he is hilarious! Quite the joker and still very busy.

Highlights:

Skate park was a BLAST with his balance bike! He could have stayed there for hours but apparently teenagers wake up around 11 because the park started to fill up with cussing and strange hair-do's at 11:30 so we escaped quickly.

Soccer- over, done, no more for at least another 6 months. It was a drag, to literally drag him onto the field crying and make the coach hold onto him until he realized he was having fun.

Swim class- we've missed the last 4 classes due to sickness, diarrhea, and two more sickness. EXPENSIVE to miss class and it's killing me! MUST go on Monday!

Appetite- picky as ever and is VERY affected by low blood sugar so I'm constantly trying to figure out how to get him to eat. So very frustrating.

Newest challenge- He's been potty-trained since he was 2 years 4 months old. But we are still wiping him for #2. I'm scared to death to let go control of this messy process but it's time. Our mission for the week, no more assistance with the TP. ANY TIPS would be greatly appreciated!


Keaton: Oh boy did we luck out with this adorable little guy!! This kid NEVER stops smiling! He even got sick for the first time this week. Icky cold and cough, yet he smiled through all of it. His new babysitter commented that he smiles after each sneeze. It's true. It's so stinkin' cute!

And even sick, this amazing child sleeps through all of it. Very occasionally I'll have to put a binkie in around 10 pm or 5:15 am but maybe once every 3 days or so.

We are noticing, scratch that, I am noticing that he is getting up earlier for the past two weeks. 5:30ish. Yuck. Not loving that but am willing to suck it up for all his other goodness!

Eating- Dr. M suggested we try him on solids back at 4 months to up his calories due to the reflux. It never really caught on until about 3 weeks ago. It's like a light went on and now he's ravenous for food! Loves to eat!

Milestones- 6 month check up went well, weight 16.8 pounds, 25th percentile, head 68th percentile, height 27" 68th percentile. So, tall and skinny like his father.

He is sitting up for longer and longer periods of time and now rolling both ways. He would probably spend hours in his jumper if we let him and prefers standing to any other position (just like his brother did).

Carson outgrew his infant carseat at 6 months due to height (29") but we lucked out and I figure have another 3 months or so with Keaton in his infant seat. It's nice because I still do have to take him to show homes a couple times a week and it's much easier with him trapped in the seat.

Speaking of work, I just can't balance it all. And I love and value my job. And I really am not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. So Keaton is hangs out on Tuesdays with a friend whose has a son Carson's age. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays a former student of mine comes to our house and watches him.

This is the temporary plan until Carson's daycare can take Keaton in the fall. We are in count-down mode for that. While I do GREATLY appreciate his two sitters now, it is very challenging to drop boys off at opposite ends of town in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.

The house- We are in count down mode!!

Drywall hung this past week and will be textured and painted by next weekend.

Our masoner is coming in a week and a half to install our stone fireplace.

The new hardwoods go in right after that.

And then . . . new kitchen cabinets, buffet and wet bar go in on the 23rd and 24th!!! Woooohooo!

Granite and tile follow cabinets.

And finally carpet and the staining of the hardwoods.

It is all very exciting to see it coming together although it would be great to wave a magic wand and have it all done tomorrow :)

I promise to post pics SOON!