Newest members of our family

And introducing the newest members of our family... Kingsley and Zelda a.k.a. the kittens! Kingsley is the gray kitten. A total giant and wild man. What is it with me producing wild, giant boys?? But he's also a total love bug, but only when he's ready. At his four month appointment, he was already 7 pounds! and totally didn't even notice a needle jabbing into his back. Unlike my little lady, Zelda who totally noticed the needle, as well as the thermometer up her butt! She's a tuxedo cat (my personal favorite) and a complete snuggle kitty. She loves being loved. And she is dainty (only 5 pounds). But she plays really well by herself except when she wants to play fetch with the milk ring. that's right, fetch. But the nice thing is that they love each other very much. they wrestle and run around like crazy people making a mess and lots of noise. And big guy LOVES them. "Kitties!" is what he yells most of the day at them. We've been practicing being gentle which sometimes big guy is totally. giving pets, playing with cat toys, slobbery kisses, and giving "treats," lots of treats. Then there are times where he picks them up by their tails or tries to smother them. So, it is a work in progress. But the kittens have brought the realization that it might be chaos, but full of love and lots of fun!!

Snapshot

Its about noon on Monday. One of my last two Mondays of summer vacation. I have scarfed down my lunch and I am casually reading at the table while trying to entice big guy to the table. And I look around and see a snapshot of this moment in my life. Big guy is on the couch doing acrobatics. Throwing pillows around, jumping and playing with a car that lights up when you hit it in the floor. The girl cat is playing wildly by herself with a baby sock she found. The boy car is of course eating a broken pretzel big guy left on the floor. My old white cat is sitting in the kitchen chair next to me. Clearly she's excited about eating lunch with me. Such a nice snapshot of my life.

It's August already!

I can't believe it- it's August! Time has been flying this summer. And the onset of august means that it's almost the end of August which means its back to work for me and back to school for big guy. Pre-school, because he's old enough now to be in Pre-school. Crazy! Anyway, we've been busy. And while I wait for hubs to fulfill my request to put the pictures from my phone onto the computer so that I can thoroughly show what we've been up to- I'll give a brief overview. We got two new members of the family- don't get too excited- they are kittens. We went down the shore and had a blast! we started our music class. We bought big guy a big guy bed( still to be built... Notice a trend with hubs). Hubs finished his second masters. We had a disastrous first couple/kid date at a local diner. We've visited two local zoos. We've frequented every park around us. We've been swimming at the pool a lot. Big guy and I have been to work and it's actually been a pleasant experience. So, as you can see, we have a lot of catching up to do. Oh, and did I mention the child said his first sentence? Promises to catch up. :)

The queen

big guy has this habit of saying hi and bye to everyone and everything, with a big wave and a smile. it's hilarious- just like the queen! In fact, that's what we've nicknamed him when he starts his hellos and goodbyes.

The return of the Olympics

I say the return of the Olympics because big guy was born during the winter Olympics. Though this Olympics is much better namely because I don't have a newborn and am awake at appropriate times! Anyway, as we've been watching with big guy he definitely has some favorites! Equestrian events have brought about a lot of talk about farm animals. And soccer is of course a huge draw- mostly because we watch it a lot during the year. And we enjoy kicking. And playing with balls in every size and shape. By far our favorite event has been synchronized diving! surprising, I know. We recently bought a new papasan cushion, but we've put it on the floor for fun. big guy will watch diving and then jump off the couch. hubs and I give a score and then clap after each dive. most dives consist of falling face first into the cushion, but big guy thinks it is hilarious and fun, so who am I to stop the fun?

baby pool

yesterday, after big guy decided he was NOT taking a afternoon nap, we headed to the pool a bit early. on our way there, big guy was drifting to sleep, so I was tickling him and singing loudly in a ploy to keep him awake. so mean, but I wasn't going to let him sleep in the car at 3 in the afternoon and ruin our schedule more than it already was ruined. cruel, aren't I? anyway, we got to the pool, and it was nice and hot/sunny. big guy was awesome! he was swimming, splashing, talking. we found a dump truck that he filled with leaves- leaf being one of his new words- and drove them around the pool. so sweet when it would tip over, he would scramble to rescue them! after about an hour, big guy started talking about how dirty the pool was- lots of leaves and dirt due to a bad storm we had the night before. I looked at one of the other moms and said, better dirt than poop. then I checked big guy's diaper, as he had been pretty poop-y recently- due to an excess consumption of carmel corn from down the shore (more on that later!) I checked, oh yeah- BIG poop! I grabbed big guy and plopped him on the towel- poop exploded everywhere, which means I also threw out the towel. I wiped him down with about thirty wipes. it got on his swim trunks, swimmy shirt, and I didn't have extra. I looked at big guy and asked if it was ok to just go get a soft pretzel instead of swimming, and I got a positive head nod with an "uh-huh!"So, we ended the trip very nicely and didn't shut down the baby pool! phew!

The poop pendulum

I feel like we are on the poop pendulum for the past few weeks. Aunt M came to visit for July 4th weekend and big guy went like eight times a day for the four days she was here. His poor little booty was so red and irritated. I felt so bad. But as soon as she left- he was refusing to go. For three days at a time. I started our miralax regimen. Half a cap every morning. But he was still loading it. And waking up at night sobbing in pain and gassy. I was finally exhausted and worried enough to call the drs office. The lovely nurse laughed at my explanation of big guy stretching his toddler wings in terms of holding the poop and then very slyly told me to give him a full cap full every other day bc he wouldn't be able to hold that. Which has been working! I need to start this whole potty training thing. I mean thre is still a month left in summer, right? I have time.