This story is too hilarious NOT to share right now. Today after church we went to Hardees for lunch. All of us love their food. Funny, I never used to like Hardees but that is because I worked for McDonalds all those years ago but I tell you what, I prefer Hardees any day now! Sorry Mom!

So I ordered our food and it was so awesome that we could pick between lunch or BREAKFAST items because they served breakfast until 11 am and we were just making the cutoff. I ordered our food (Aaron wanted breakfast and I wanted lunch). The food comes out and we are sitting waiting patiently. We say our family prayer and some ladies had walked by in the midst of our prayer and just giggled at how strained Abraham looked while praying. He does work rather hard to keep his eyes closed. Aaron starts to open up his breakfast of biscuits and gravy with egg and the sausage patties were on the side in a dish. Aaron starts eating and Abraham notices the sausages patties in the dish and declares to just about everyone in the restaurant “POOP.” He is chanting “poop” at a rather loud volume and pointing to the sausage patties!!!! I bust out laughing with a bite of burger in my mouth! I honestly couldn’t control myself. It was absolutely hilarious! He was so innocent and truly thought the patties looked like poop. We of course did our best to correct this misunderstanding and explain that it was sausage. He would repeat the word “sausage” but I don’t think he believed us. He still thought it was poop and would tell us so. To put an end to the conversation we had to cover up the sausage patties. Ah kids. We love them for so many reasons but their candidness is priceless. Speaking of which, we can no longer get away with things we used to. Abraham will call you out! Such as a fart that is stinky, he will let you and everyone else on this planet that he smells poop! Can you see a pattern developing? Poop is the newest phase we have entered. He will hunt you down if you sneak off to the bathroom for a “moment” because he HAS to flush the poop. He is just about the funniest kid around. I love the little guy even if he calls me out when I fart. Gotta love it.

Who doesn’t like eating out? Who doesn’t LOVE a great deal? Well, money surely doesn’t grow on trees and saving money and still having fun is a win-win for me! I love these 2 sites and greatly enjoy the money savings while still getting to enjoy a good meal or a fun activity.

Groupon.com – sends you an email for the “day’s deal.” It will be for something local or online. Example: Today’s deal was 1/2 price admission tickets to Rhythm Discovery Center. You can buy now and save for a later date (expiration dates are included with the deal so you know before you buy).

Restaurant.com – You buy certificates to restaurants at a SUPER cheap price. Tonight, with my coupon code, I bought $150 worth of certificates for $13. There are stipulations with the certificates like must buy $20 or more to use a $10 certificate…well, that’s 1/2 off your meal! AWESOME!

If you have any questions about these sites, feel free to contact me and I will explain further!

My husband loves me so much that he bought me a new keyboard! My old keyboard has been used SO much that most of the letters are actually worn off the keyboard keys and it is really loud when typing! He had replaced it once before but the replacement had a HORRIBLE space bar and I refused to continue typing with it. Since I typed really fast for nearly 4 years, I have become a bit picky. Anyway, I absolutely LOVE my new keyboard! It is silent, all letters are visible (when entering nonsensical words, this is essential) and it just plain feels good!

THANK YOU HONEY!

Ok, so yesterday I ended up having to take Abraham to the doctor due to his head injury. Turns out he hit the BACK of his head and he hit it hard enough that his head is bruised nicely and he refused to have his diaper changed or lay in his bed because it HURT! He even complained today in his car seat. Poor kid. The doctor said he looked okay and that he will most likely be sore for a few days and possibly have a headache. I am just to watch for signs of a concussion (which I was doing anyway which is why I called the doc in the first place). Abraham hadn’t been eating and was very snugly. Not at all himself. He was extremely calm which is highly unusual. So either he was sick or his head was really hurting. He wasn’t sick…so I guess his head was really bothering him. Poor kid. But he was back to his old self by late evening yesterday and today he has been fine other than a couple of “ow” statements while in the car seat.

Oh, and I am absolutely insane…in guess you didn’t know that. You would think I learned my lesson on Thursday…but no, I have gone out EVERY SINGLE DAY with both kids! Yes. I am a glutton for punishment. We had the doc appointment on Friday and since we were out I decided to try and buy a patch kit for Abraham’s burned pool (long story) and I needed to get some bananas and/or a new pool at Meijer. So we did those things before going to the doc’s office. Then today, I had the desire to visit my mom at work. She runs a McDonald’s in Columbus, we went to Meijer first and I got Abraham a birthday present (I saw it yesterday but needed Aaron’s input first) then we headed to Columbus to visit Grandma Jean and have lunch. It was a great day! We even stopped by the church on the way home so Abraham could play while I fed Abel. The weather was awesome! Of course, this meant NO nap time today for Abraham which makes for a LONG day for mommy…but these days will be over before I know it so I will enjoy them while I can!

Funny, I have no idea why God picked me for these 2 awesome little boys. I most certainly don’t deserve them but I do love them with every bit of my being. They are so wonderful to have in my life. I am eternally grateful for this gift from Him. Thank you God!

Some days I feel smart other days I feel rather dumb…today is a dumb day. I don’t mean this in the sense of being intelligent but in making a judgment call and being WAY wrong. Let me share my story…

So, the original plan for today was for me to wake up around 7 am, workout, get the kids up and ready and take Ark to the vet at 10:45 am and then we were going to go to Dairy Queen for a blizzard since it is Riley Day. Well, I was TOO exhausted since Abel decided to eat every 3 hours last night. No fun. My ability to cope with so little sleep is starting to fail. I am not coping nearly as well as I had been. Guess that tends to happen when you are running on fumes for nearly 3 months. Anyway, I digress… I made the decision to heed my husband’s advice and call the vet and see if I could move the appointment without penalty to another day when he would be home. Thankfully, our vet was awesome and said that was no problem at all! YIPPEE! No rushing around or trying to wrangle my circus at the vet’s office.

Now, let me tell you something about the next 4 days…Aaron is gone. I mean out of town, not available to help in any way. I am completely ALONE with 2 kids, 2 dogs and the house. Not a challenge that I don’t think I can handle but I am just sick and tired of being left at home to take care of everything ALL the time. I need a break. It has been nearly 2 YEARS and the closest I have been to a BREAK was spending 5 days in the hospital giving birth to another child!!! Not much of a break if you ask me! If you sense a bit of bitterness or resentment, you got it. I know my job and I love my job but just as with anything you love and enjoy doing, there is the possibility of a burnout….I am getting close. Now I can continue my story…

Since I am SO close to burning out, I decided to go out to lunch today. I love food and food is a comfort for me. I was planning on going to Dairy Queen anyway and Aaron doesn’t care much for Mexican food…I of course LOVE it. I made the INFAMOUS judgment call and took the kids to our local Mexican joint for their famous Taco Salad Fajitas. We get there and both kids are in great moods. Abraham is really calm because of his allergies and the Zyrtec he is taking. It doesn’t fully dope him up but he is very docile which was great for being at a restaurant. Abel had woken from his 1st nap of the day and I knew by the time we made it to the restaurant he would be ready to nap again. Cool Beans! Of course, Murphy was waiting around the corner for me. We get seated and there is NO one else there! YEAH! Just in case the kids get loud, we won’t disturb anyone. I order and my food comes rather quickly and Abraham is enjoying the chips and salsa and some bites of my taco salad. I am about 1/2 through eating (and as any mom knows, you eat super fast no matter what – just in case) and Abel starts fussing. I know he is tired and just needs to pass out but he won’t. For the next 5-10 minutes I do everything I know to calm him down except taking him out of the car seat because that means no food for me (not that it matter). This wouldn’t have been too bad except the restaurant was now in full lunch rush mode. Several people had filled the room and Abel was disturbing everyone. I could feel the “eyes” of everyone. I didn’t realize I was spending WAY too much time with Abel and didn’t look over my shoulder at Abraham until I made the decision we had to leave. I look over and Abraham had decided to redecorate the table with SALSA!!! I never heard him or the bowl or anything! I was mortified. I quickly clean up the salsa and throw the messy napkins into my 1/2 eaten taco salad. I grab the car seat and my bag and tell Abraham to climb down because we are leaving. He proceeds to STAND UP on the bench but I quickly correct him and he sits and scoots to the end. Our waiter has rushed my check to me and I am heading to the register with Abraham trailing (so I thought). Next thing I hear is Abraham screaming and a crash! I put Abel who is still in the car seat down and toss my bag down too and run back to see what has happened. Now I really feel the EYES of everyone in that place. I am sure most of them were wishing I would have my tubes tied or that they could call CPS and give the kids a better mother. I see Abraham in the arms of our waiter and I try to extrapolate what took place since I don’t speak Spanish and he doesn’t speak much English. I gathered from the hand gestures that Abraham was scooting off the bench and lost his balance at the end and went face first into the floor. Fortunately, he did not hurt the floor and he seemed okay too other than a little embarrassed which led to the continual crying. I am only able to calm him with distraction and let him pay for my 1/2 eaten lunch which was thrown away and I didn’t even get but 4 or 5 sips of my soda…and that cost me $11.38!

I was highly embarrassed and very upset with my kids. After we got back into the car and started heading toward Dairy Queen’s DRIVE THRU, I began to realize that God was teaching me a valuable lesson or maybe lessons…First of all, I need to realize that there will be moments that are not pleasant and I must realize that many of the people with EYES are probably being sympathetic as they too have dealt with a similar situation. Second, I really need to re-think my spending. I didn’t NEED to have lunch out. I WANTED it and what did I get? Heartburn? Yeah. Okay God. Gotcha. Third, feeling sorry for myself just because I don’t get to go away and have fun for 4 days (even though I would NOT be doing what Aaron is doing) is not good for me or the kids. I will have to find a happy medium, such as forgetting the chores for a day or whatever and just play with the kids because that makes me very happy. I enjoy their smiles and giggles and I know how much they live for one-on-one time with Mommy.  All these lessons were figured out in the 5-minute drive to Dairy Queen! And not to mention Abel passed out the second I put him IN the car. Turkey. So, I ordered us the new mini blizzard in the new Oreo Brownie Earthquake or something like that made with chocolate ice cream. I ate most of it before we got home but Abraham did get to have several bites and really liked it. It is so much fun sharing new foods with him. He still has a bit of a texture issue but mostly likes everything we feed him.

Anyway, both kids are napping TOGETHER; as in, at the SAME TIME. This is HIGHLY unusual because Abel typically refuses to nap when Abraham is napping because I think he knows that is his only Mommy-Abel time. So I took this most precious moment of peace and decided to blog about my morning and will now go take of care my ever mountainous laundry. Thanks for listening!

Yep. This is late too. But better late than never! As I look back at these pictures, I can’t believe he was ever that small! He sure has grown!

I have notes written that say he measured 23.5 inches and his head was 15.5 inches but I cannot find the weight! I haven’t a clue what he weighed. Probably somewhere around 12 pounds but I really don’t recall. This is what happens when you have 2 kids and have NO time to blog!

We were very blessed to have celebrated Abel’s 1-month birthday and Father’s Day on the same day! Abel and Abraham got to spend time with their grandparents and that was great!

My Snugglebug

Abel with Grandpa

Abel with Grandma

Abraham turned 22 months on July 1st. Yes, this post is REALLY late. There are so many changes happening with this little guy and since pictures are worth a thousand words…here you go!

Obie One Hambo

It was so much fun intruding Abraham to stickers! He loved them! He put them all over his PJs! It was too cute!

He likes RUNNING when he is naked!

Big Brother

He loves cars and trucks!

First Bandage

Abraham got his first decent “ow” as he calls them and it required bandaging to keep the blood off my carpet. He did great letting me doctor his foot up. Of course as soon as he went to stand up, his foot was somehow broken. He couldn’t walk with this bandage! It took quite a bit of coaxing and he still limped. Absolutely hilarious! Now if you bandage anything, that part of his body just doesn’t work. It is “broke” as he will say or it is “ow” and it can’t work. Kids are so funny:)

Big OW

This happened on Father’s Day. Abraham was acting silly and not watching where he was going and tripped and fell right into our living room coffee table. He hit right on the side of it with the side of his head. Usually our first reaction is “did he hurt the table” because his head is so hard and he takes falls/bumps/scrapes all in stride. However, this time he screamed bloody murder. It was horrific. The swelling and discoloration showed up immediately. We got ice on it right away to help but knew we might have to go to the doctor. We observed him the rest of the night and he showed no signs of a concussion but the ear did worsen by morning so we did end up at the pediatrician’s office. We never saw any blood from the ear canal but deep inside there had been some bleeding. Had Abraham not already been on antibiotics from a previous infection (of which I will explain here in a minute) he would have been put on some to prevent infection of his ear with the bleeding. Fortunately he was okay:) And yes, our table was fine too!

Ok, so the antibiotic story…it was a week or so before Father’s Day and I had several errands to run in Greenwood. Aaron volunteered to come with me and both kids. As the day wore on, I knew we would have to come up with some form of outlet for Abraham as he would need to run around instead of being couped up in carts or strollers. I had heard that there was a playground in the mall. We couldn’t find it at first but we did eventually find it and we let Abraham play. He had SO much fun! He loved it. After about 30 or 40 minutes, we needed to go. Abel had had enough and wanted to be in the nice AC in our car. So we left and didn’t realize at the time that we were taking a present from the playground home with us. Abraham got sick first. He was super tired for about a week and then ended up with a BAD fever. This was his first fever EVER. 103! I of course did not like it one bit. It passed and then I got slightly sick. I felt feverish for 2 days but it was very mild and chalked it up to sleep deprivation. Then Abraham started exhibiting symptoms again and on the Friday before Father’s Day we rushed off to the After-Hours clinic because during teeth brushing I found white spots galore on his throat! No wonder the kid didn’t want to eat or drink anything. Poor baby. So the doctor at the clinic couldn’t be sure whether or not it was viral or bacterial so they opted on antibiotics “just in case” and our life mostly returned to normal by the following Monday. But we did get to have our pediatrician re-evaluate his progress since we were there for his ear anyway! They said his throat and ears looked much better than what was described from the clinic:) It could have been viral or bacterial, it is still an unknown. Aaron ended up getting this illness too. Unfortunately, he got it on Father’s Day. Poor guy. He went down with a 104 degree fever for a couple days and that was NO fun. Had it gone much higher or lasted any longer, I was taking HIM to the hospital! Fortunately, it subsided too but Aaron will NOT let me take Abraham back to any playground indoors…kinda. I will explain that later:)

Starting to get close to little brother

Look At ME!

Abraham has started undressing and dressing himself. He loves to put anything on. My clothes, Daddy’s clothes and even Abel’s clothes (pictured above). It is so cute to watch him. He gets better every day! Of course I have had to eliminate certain outfits or else he will be totally naked in about 30 seconds!

Ham

I did buy Abraham a pool this year since going to the neighborhood pool is just out of the question with Abel and all the crazies at our pool. I got a GREAT deal on this pool and it deflates for easy storage! The best part is that Abraham loves it! He was very timid at first and didn’t care to get his swim diaper wet and pretty much refused swim trunks. He ended up slipping and getting his swim diaper soaked and realized it was okay and ever since has had a blast in the water!

Big Boy

He looked so grown up in this picture. Sniff sniff.

First Big Boy Jeepy Ride

Look at that face

Abraham got to experience his first REAL Jeep ride. We had a “Safety Day” event in our neighborhood with food, firetrucks and bounce houses. I screwed up on its location and had to walk a bit with Abel in the stroller but Abraham got to ride with Daddy in the Big Jeepy as he calls it. That boy was so excited! His smile was plastered on his face the whole day! It was a very short ride but he loved every second.

First time in a bounce house

He wasn’t too sure about the bounce house. He didn’t hate it but was ready to come out pretty fast. There was only one other child in the house with him but it was a girl and I think he was too shy! I am sure that will change. He will be just like every other child and LOVE bounce houses!

Abraham did a great job at  playing this game! He was so sweet and really enjoyed learning new skills! Plus the candy he won was a great bonus!

Now for his 22nd month birthday celebration, I decided to take him to McDonald’s and let him play in the playland! I know, you are probably thinking I am crazy since we ALL got sick from the last indoor playground. I did things a bit different. I made sure we had TONS of sanitizer and nothing that was worn at the playground stayed on. We changed clothes before heading home. It worked great! No sickness! Abraham had so much fun. He climbed all the way to the top (3 stories) and had no fear. He followed some other kid that was a few years older than him into a spot that wasn’t quite for him. It was a little advanced. Sure enough, he fell. He saw me right before he fell and then he shrieked and yelled for me. I was already half way up the playland thing before he could scream. It was okay. I got him and let him know all was okay. No tears! He did have a much greater appreciation for heights though. He didn’t go back up the rest of the time we were there. He played on the floor level and had lots of fun with that. Abel slept through the whole ordeal. He loved the super cold AC!

Counting pace beads

Say CHEESE!

In playland

At the tippy top

Ground Control to Major Tom

Abacus play

That sums up our little man for his 22nd month of life. He is a wonderful little man with a heart of gold. He is very independent and wants things done a certain way but that’s okay. He is an individual and we love him for it!

I have to brag to somebody besides my Anna.

For the first time since Airborne (circa 8/1997), I ran a 5-miler this morning, on the hottest day of the year no less (heat index was at or over 105F today, though 86F at the time I ran)

I had no preconceptions and didn’t look at my time until finished, so I just did my best and attempted to pace myself the best I could and was thoroughly enthused afterward. I feel great thus far and can’t wait until my “long” run again next week. I accidentally throttled myself back more than necessary to conserve energy and mostly out of lack of any recent experience. I suppose that’s better than being over confident and trashing myself too early? Anyway, as I tie a few more of these on I’ll be dropping my times substantially (cooler weather would help too) as I become more comfortable pacing myself and gaining confidence.

Can you tell who is who?

Me neither sometimes!

Goodness gracious! Can you believe it? Abel is 2 months old today! I will get to posting the older stuff at some point but I figured I might as well get on with the current stuff since I am forgetting SO much and time just isn’t abundant:)

Abel is such a joy! At around 5 weeks we all finally got into a good system and we all are happy campers! Momma gave up caffeine and that helped TREMENDOUSLY! Abel sleeps well and in his bed. He loves his pacifier but really likes his fist and thumb! He is pretty easy going. He is only upset when he is super tired or hungry. He is laughing, cooing, giggling, and smiling! We love it! He loves to look at the light fixtures on our ceilings because they look like a “boobie in the sky” as we joke. And he loves our ceiling fan. The boy will just smile and giggle at these things! He likes to be held sometimes but don’t cradle him! He only wants held up! He is unbelievablely strong. He can hold his head rather well and he actually LIKES tummy time! It is amazing how different he and Abraham are even though they look like twins!

We had Abel’s 2-month appointment today and we have changed pediatricians. After my most recent run-ins with our usual pediatrician, I was SO dissatisfied with the level of care we were receiving, I thought it best to seek a new doctor. I absolutely LOVE this new office! They were wonderful. Super nice, extremely attentive and didn’t make me feel like a “weird” person for wanting to space out immunizations due to Abraham’s previous reaction. They are extremely supportive of breast feeding and really just extremely nice people that genuinely love what they do. Plus they are all believers!!!!

Anyway back to Abel’s appointment…he weighs 15 pounds!!! He is 24 1/4 inches long and his head is a whopping 16 1/4 inches!!!! Our newest “little” man isn’t so little! He is in the 85th percentile for head and length and 90th for weight. I am so thankful he is healthy and growing like a weed! The doctor was very pleased with him and his progress.

Tonight I had to look up some previous info…I wanted to see what Abraham weighed and measured at this same time. Abel is 1.5 pounds BIGGER! Abraham only weighed 13 pounds 8 oz. Plus Abel is 1/2 an inch LONGER!! Abraham was 23 3/4 inches long. I am not sure about head size since I don’t have that on the lovely sticker from Abraham’s 2-month appointment. I can’t wrap my brain around what a GIANT baby I have! He was moved to 3-6 month clothes at 6 weeks and he is actually starting to NOT fit some of those outfits! Gee whiz! It is not easy keeping him in clothes or diapers for that matter! This boy is already wearing size 2 and he could easily be in size 3. Actually, if he keeps having leaks, I WILL be switching him to size 3.

Anyway, I am sure you want to see him…here he is!!!

Ain’t he cute?