Bye Bye Hair!!!

We decided the boys needed their summer haircuts today. After about a week of 100 weather, it was past due. Poor Connor spent most of the day yesterday with his hair matted all over the place from sweating so much.

Here is what we started with... this picture was taken last weekend...


During the haircut, which Tyler thought was pretty cool...



Connor didn't know what was just around the corner. Bye bye pretty blond hair!!!

Connor right after the haircut. He looked like a little like a refugee at first, but after a day of playing in the sun, he looked like the cutest little boy that he is. He is absolutely darling! He looks quite ornery, but that is Connor!!!

I'll be honest - I'll look forward to fall when his hair can grown back a bit longer, but this is cute!!! His hair is so blond, he looks bald in this picture!!!

Oh look, a chicken!!!

Ever seen that t-shirt that is making fun of people with ADD/ADHD where it says something like, "They tell me I have ADD, but they just don't underst.... HEY, look a Chicken!"

That was us tonight.

Tyler is on a total candy kick. He asks for candy about every 45 seconds. And every 45 seconds I tell him "no". We give in to candy sometimes, but definitely not every time he asks, or else he would be diabetic tomorrow.

We were sitting outside tonight just enjoying the beautiful evening. It was getting pretty dark outside, and Tyler decided he wanted to go on a bike ride. He put on his helmet and everything, which is odd, because he NEVER wears a bike helmet. Since it was getting dark, and okay, we were happy just sitting on the deck and PROMISED him we would take him on a ride in the morning, we politely told Tyler we weren't going on a bike ride.

Introduce dancing tantrum here.

I call them dancing tantrums because his whole body is limp, but he is still upright, and he is jogging in place with his arms flapping at his sides sobbing, "but I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna go on a bike ride..."

Poor kid, I felt sorry for him but it was a) way past his bedtime b) getting dark and c) we were feeling kind of lazy after a very long day of playing in the pool.

As he was having this tantrum, I almost couldn't believe my ears..."I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna.... HEY LOOK, Lightening Bugs!!!" and then he was good as gold.

I'm really trying not to already label Tyler as ADD or ADHD, and doing my best to control it with a diet (with some cheating), but that demonstration tonight was just priceless.

Poor kid. He's following in his father's footsteps!

What has happened to me?

Ever since I became a mom, things changed. Well, I changed.

I looked at the world a bit differently. I watched people with their kids, and how they interact. A crying baby in the store was enough to make me lose my mind, not because it bothered me, but because I just wanted to help.

As I flew to California yesterday, I was sitting in the Bermuda Triangle of crying babies. There were three all around me, and the one behind me - holy cow. She cried and cried and cried. She was about 18 months old (likely) and was going through the "I'm going to do what I want to do when I want to do it I don't care what you say and if you don't let me do what I want I will scream this blood-curdling scream for hours at the top of my lungs" stage. It was beautiful.

I felt so horribly sorry for her parents though, I imagined myself in that situation, and how I would be feeling. I could imagine myself sweating, and at one point considering running up to the pilot and hijacking the plane and landing at the nearest airport.

Last night in my hotel room, I flipped through the channels on TV. I came across the show "Intervention" which has always interested me. (I swear I should've been a counselor to help people deal with addictions, it's a secret passion of mine). This show featured a young man, likely 22 years old or so, who was addicted to heroine and cocaine. His family was in shambles, and his mom was a total wreck.

That brought tears to my eyes.

I've spent so much time thinking of my kids as children, and watching people around me with children, I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about what they will be like as adults. How did he turn out to be a drug addict? What did his parents do wrong? Did they do anything wrong? How can I prevent this from happening to them?

It really did all come back to the boys father as the root of his addiction, but still. The pain that his mother felt for her son was so real, you could see she would've given her own life to see her son well again.

I thought about that a lot as I woke up last night. Can I be more focused on my kids? How can Kyle and I have a better marriage so our kids always feel secure and never have to look elsewhere for contentment?

My thoughts were never this heavy without kids. People say your heart grows ten times bigger when you have children, and that is definitely true. And you start worrying about things you never would've in the past...

Brothers

Although I have found that Tyler can teach Connor cuss words, I hope that they develop the same sort of friendship that many siblings do.

In this picture I captured, Tyler had been having a bad morning, and was crying for some reason. I asked Connor to go give him a hug to make him feel better, and he did.

As I grabbed the camera, once again, as usual, I got huge tears in my eyes....as I do every day.

Thanks boys. You remind me of what is important every moment of every day...

Awwww.... shit

I have the best sister in the world that bought our kids a DVD Player for the car for Christmas. It is awesome. Worth every penny, plus millions more. I wonder how on earth families survived without these.

One of the kids' favorite movies to watch in the car is The Goonies. I remember going to see The Goonies when I was like, 12, so it's a pretty harmless movie. Very cute, but also, bordering on PG-13.

There is a part in the movie where one of the characters says, "Aw, shit!". Very typical for a movie, no biggie, but Tyler quickly picked up on this cuss word.

"Aw, shit. Aw, shit" he will say over and over, to try to get an reaction out of me. I know this is a stage he's going through, and ignore it.

The other night, we were driving home, and watching turned on the movie again.

As soon as the kids say the opening credits for the movie, I hear an "Aw, shit!", from the backseat of the car. This time from Connor.

Nice.

Now I have a 2 year old that can discriminate the cuss words in a movie, and will repeat them over and over and over.

I can't wait to see what else Tyler can teach him over the next 20 years or so.....

Jason's Sale!

Well, we survived the sale! And it was a total success!

At about 9am on Friday, I didn't think we were going to be able to do it! We had stuff EVERYWHERE! We had received more donations than we knew what to do with, and needed about 40 more tables to lay it all out. It was insane! We spent all day sorting and organizing, and sorting, and then you would turn around, and there would be another pile of stuff that someone dropped off!

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When the sale started on Saturday, it was awesome! The weather didn't cooperate too much at first with the drizzle, but it slowed down after a while, and at about 8:30 - Sponge Bob Square Pants stopped by! Seriously! Sponge Bob is Jason's favorite!!!

People came from everywhere! I couldn't keep up with everything that was going on, it just seems like a haze! I tried a couple times to count how many people were there - but kept losing count!

At the end of the sale, one lady lingered around looking for things. We found out that her trailer had burned down last Sunday (and then remembered hearing the story on the news), so we literally loaded up her van and a truck we had and brought TONS of stuff to her new place. It felt good to have the items that were going to be left, go to someone that really needed it! All that is left that she didn't need is going to the North Liberty Food/Clothing Pantry and the Auction. We are opening up an account in Jason's name.

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Then we got down to business - CELEBRATING!!! Kyle and Tyler did some interesting dancing that was hilarious! We closed the night sitting by the fire, eating smores, and drinking more beer than should be legal! It was the perfect way to close up our event! We presented the $4000 that we raised to the family - which we were all surprised by! People were so generous, we had people pay us $100 for $5 worth of goods.

Jason and Tyler continued their partying into today by eating popcorn (Jason's favorite food) in our garage while watching cartoons. (Yes, we have a huge TV in our garage - but mostly all that is watched on it is golf!). I found a skull and crossbones handkerchief at the garage sale and saved it for Tyler. He wanted to put it on so he would look like Jason. It was so cute. As I was putting it on his head, he asked me, "Mom, if I wear this, will all of my hair fall out too?".

I had to gulp hard and try to not have my eyes swell up with tears. It's so cute to listen Tyler and Jason talk to each other, because they are so honest. There's not that "adult filter" that we all use. Tyler will ask him why he doesn't have any eyebrows, and Jason will tell him straight up, "All of my hair fell out, but I get to wear this cool hat that says something..."

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His hat says, "Cancer fears me"

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Yep - it sure does Jason!

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Jason goes in on June 23rd for a bone marrow biopsy to see if the Leukemia is in remission. If so - he's clear! If not, it's another YEAR in the hospital! Pray that Jason does well on the 23rd!!!

2 year old + 4 year old + caffeine = stupid mom

When I picked the boys up from daycare yesterday, Tyler DID NOT want to go! He was very happy playing in the Before and After School Room (his age gets to linger in there towards the end of the day), playing with their new Foosball Table!!! He was having a blast!

I literally had to drag him out of daycare, against his will, after he told me, "Mommy, just leave me here tonight, you can come back tomorrow!". Nice. I just zoomed out of work, to get told to leave him at daycare...

In order to get him in the car, I thought fast - BRIBE! One of my favorite parenting tactics! I have been known to use everything for a bribe, from food, to candy, to going to the neighbors.
I had some Diet Dr. Pepper on my car that I didn't drink all of on the way home. I never drink pop usually, but needed a small boost of caffeine yesterday afternoon.

As we got in the car, and in order to them both to quit yelling, screaming and kicking the back of my chair, I offered up what was left of my drink. Approximately 8 ounces of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Fast forward to 7pm.

Both boys are INSANE! They are running laps around the house, pushing cars, running into each other, and otherwise having a hysterical time!

When bedtime came, Connor sat and talked to his puppies in his bed until about 8:30 - WAY too late for him. I heard "NO! NO! Puppy!" about 100 times from his room. Whatever was going on, his puppies were not behaving. At least that child is in a crib, and cannot get out.

Then it came time to put Tyler to bed. Oh. My. God.

Both Kyle and I had to take turns walking away from the situation, because he was so out of control. I think we put him back in his bed at least 20 times (this is no exaggeration), and I finally fell asleep at about 10:10pm, while Tyler was still talking in his bedroom. Seriously. At least he had stopped trying to come out of his room, but wasn't ready to settle down yet!

Lesson learned. Note to self - NO CAFFEINE for the boys - EVER!!!!!

Tyler's 2%

Tyler at the Devonian Fossil Gorge at the Resevior

Tonight, Loren at sweetentaters.com posted about her 2%. She explained how taking her triplets to Target is impossible because they are good only 98% of the time, but it's the 2% of the time she will remember.


This really hit me.

I hate to post about it, AGAIN, but tonight was another one of those nights. I was greeted at Daycare by Tyler's teacher telling me how bad he was today. "He didn't take a nap, he told Roly he hated her, and he was very hard to control..." are some of the phrases I remember Jesse telling me before I left.


I know Tyler isn't an easy child. He never has been. Since the day he was born, Tyler was a "high maintenance" child. (Ask anyone that knows me or him. Seriously.) I have got to the point that if people I know say they have "fussy babies" I will ask them to bring the baby over, or to go visit them. I can calm the most fussy of babies after dealing with the most difficult infant, that grew into a toddler, and now into a preschooler.

With all of that being said, I have learned to manage Tyler. It is a little bit like walking a tightroap, but I can do it - pretty damn good. But I still have bad days, like today.


Tyler's "bad day at daycare" continued into the evening. He totally freaked out the whole way home because I wouldn't give him candy, which included him spitting, kicking, and trying to actually bite me in the car. Nice.

After we got home, he ate everything in sight. He was STARVING. Usually, Tyler's outbursts are a result of a) not enough sleep, b) eating the wrong food, or not enough food or c) one parent has been absent for a couple of days. (insert my own gulp here)


When I picked Tyler up from daycare tonight, I hadn't seen him since Tuesday morning at 6:30, when he jumped into Kyle's truck to go to daycare, when I zoomed off to work. Over 40 hours had passed from the last time I saw him.

Now the guilt kicks in. There were a number of reasons for Tyler's behavior today.

After he finally came out of his bedroom that I threw him in when we got home, I held him. I hugged him, and I just let him cry. And I tried really hard to not start crying myself. The boys get really worried when I cry. (Actually, the makes my heart grow ten times bigger for them because they are sensitive little boys).

Tyler's "2%" of bad behavior today had completely taken over his day. I have papers from daycare where he drew letters, colored pictures, and wrote his name. Things that I'm certain he couldn't have done while having a spaz attack.


I often focus on Tyler 2% behavior in the evenings. I go to bed worrying, and actually buy books about "How to deal with a Spirited Child" and "Dealing with the Difficult Toddler", instead of focusing on him. I'm trying to "fix" him, without remembering to just love him.

Tyler needs my love 100% of the time. Not 98%.


Thanks Loren!