Brooklyn's Last Day

It's been a while since I posted anything. We've had a very crazy, messed up, shocking roller coaster ride of events happen over the last couple of weeks. First of all, we have just been trying to prepare ourselves for our summer move to Texas. We were in the middle of doing that, when the lady upstairs died! It was unexpected and very surreal. She was only 59, but had diabetes and had just recently developed an infection in her leg that was spreading. The combonation of the 2 caused her to have a heart attack. It was 1 o'clock in the morning when I was woken up by the noise of the paramedics and about 3:30 when we heard her husband come home and Brian went up to make sure everything was okay. Needless to say, it wasn't. That was on the 21st. We decided to move out then, instead of waiting until the end of the month like originally planned. We didn't want to be in Rock 'n Roll Larry's mourning space or have me be there alone with just him and 3 little kids all the time. So we have been living at Brian's parents' house and making trips back and forth to get all of our stuff out of there. We're still not quite done. Then while we've been here, Dexy got bit on the leg by a horse (he was wearing orange baby legs while we were feeding them carrots, so I don't blame the horse), Ollie somehow managed to get down in an uncovered window well (it's quite deep) without hurting himself (luckily), and Spanky (the Bowles' shitzu dog) bit Oliver in the face when Ollie wasn't even being mean! And through all of this, I've had to keep watching Brooklyn because she couldn't start at the daycare Alisha was putting her in until May 1st. So like I said, it's like we've been on a crazy, messed up roller coaster ride!!! But, the Bowles have been very kind and generous to let us be here and Alisha was understanding and Brooklyn has been super nice, so it has at least been managable.

But, anyway. On to the subject of our post. Yesterday was Brooklyn's last day. I can't believe that we won't be seeing her anymore. I started watching her on January 6th, 2009. She and Ollie were only about 10 months old. Neither of them could really even feed themselves, let alone talk, walk, throw balls, jump, sing, dance or do any of the other big kid things that they are getting so good at. And Dexy was still "baking!" She has come so far and we have been lucky to play a part in her growh and development. She has gotten so good at talking nice and being a good friend. She is an excellent helper and always wants to have a baby or stuffed animal to take care of. And she has a super cute, big cheesy smile! The Bowles have a great backyard, but unfortunately it's been super cold and SNOWING the last few days! Snow and it's almost May! But, they actually had fun sitting on the window seat in the bonus room starting out at this...

They had a fun last day watching it snow, playing, and even getting to play the piano and sing with Brian. They were pounding away and singing so loud! I wish I could have caught it at it's peek because it was soooo funny! This isn't a fabulous example of it, because kids always know when you're trying to get a good video or picture so they promptly stop doing whatever it was that they were doing, but it will at least give you an idea.

We're glad that she had a good last day and we hope that she has a great time at daycare/preschool. We are sad, but it will be good for us to have this adventure in Texas this summer and we hope that it will be good for Brooklyn to have a new adventure, too! Bye, girlfriend (I sometimes called her girlfriend and it was always so cute and funny when Ollie would then call her girlfriend). We will miss you, cute girl!!!

"Uh-oh Lamby!"

A couple of mornings ago, both Ollie and Dexy woke up at about the same time while Brooklyn was still sleeping. Since she has to sleep out in the open space, I took the boys into the bedroom to play. We don't keep any toys in the room, they're all in the living area, but they still found a way to entertain themselves. We did have Ollie's bed caravan with all of his blankies and friends. They were being so cute and funny with their stuff animals and each other. Ollie was standing on our blanket box, hitting his Lamby into the wall over and over again, and when Lamby would fall he would say, "Uh-oh Lamby!" Then he'd pick Lamby up and resume the wall bashing and it would start all over agian. Lamby is one of his very favorite stuffed friends, so I guess this was his way of showing affection? Who knows what goes on in the mind of a 2 year, but it was funny! When Dexy saw what was going on, he had to get Ducky and come over to try it, too! Then they decided to pile all of the blankets and animals into Dexy's bed, making it nice and comfy and full of friends! So that they could...

...climb in with them and play. They flopped all around in the cozy pile, wrestled each other a little and Ollie did his classic quote, "ee brofies" that he learned from us. We always say, "you brothies!" when they are playing together or being cute with each other. And they were doing both, so he was right on. It was pretty cute! And just as they were getting bored, Brooklyn woke up, so I could release them from the bedroom to go play.

What Beautiful Babies! (Old Post)

This is an old post, almost a year old now, that didn't work for some reason the first time I posted it. Now that I'm working on our photo book, I realized that it wasn't there. So, I'm just reposting it to get the words to add to our photo book. It's also like my journal and I want this is there. Ignore it. I'll try to slurp it in quickly and delete it.

Recently I have been feeling....frusterated..overwhelmed..down on myself....just kind of off, to say the least. I don't know exactly why. I'm pretty sure that a lot of it has to do with the fact that Brian and I are preparing to take our little family all the way to Irving, Texas for the summer. I'm so excited to get out of this place! I'm looking forward to an adventure! But there still is the "fear of the unknown" factor as well as all of the work that I'm suppose to be getting done to get us moved out by the end of the month. And with 3 little kids running around here 4 days a week, being such good "helpers," I feel like I'm taking 2 steps forward and 8 back! And then I feel disappointed in my lack of productivity and frusterated with myself, and unfortuantely, with the kids sometimes. That is why I am doing this post. It's time for me to take a step back, take a deep breath or two, and realize how good things, and my sweet babies, really are. First of all, the other day Brooklyn was sick so her mom didn't bring her over. Brian didn't have to be to work untill 1:oo PM and we actually got some stuff done. That was nice! I should feel good that we are starting to be able to check things off of our oober-long to do lists. I have also sacrificed a few nap times to go through toys, clear out some junk, and even cleaned that nasty kitchen floor on my hands and knees with a rag. That floor is a bear to clean! It's waxed, ugly white spotted black lynoleum (spelling? we all know I have phonics problems). And once the food hits the floor, the wax starts to act as some sort of magic glue, causing the food to adhere itself semi-permanently to the floor. Every time I clean it, it takes me at least an hour. But, anyway. I cleaned it and that's good! And we are starting to make some progress and that's good! Plus, Brian is no longer working on the mornings that he doesn't have school, so he will be around for a few hours to help and that's good, too!

And now, about the children. They are really such sweet kids, even that cheeky Brooklyn! Oliver is such a good communicator! I am so lucky to have a 2 year old who can speak so well! Imagine my stress level, and his for that matter, if we were still playing that oh so fun, what is it that you need, guessing game. He and I can talk about things and that's good! I need to remember how lucky I am that he is so smart and so easy to reason with, instruct, and guide. He's nice to his little brother and has lately been a very good friend to Brooklyn. I don't even hear him yelling, "NO! Botan(that's how he pronounces her name)!" anymore. They are generally getting along and that's good, too. Now, Brooklyn and I are finally coming to a happy place. She is a cute, funny little girl. She has a scream that makes me want to tear my ears off, but she now knows the way that things are run around here and that scream happens very rarely as of late. She loves helping! She'll wipe their little table off for me, find Dexy's shoes, bring Ollie his pants, whatever. She is very much a girl in that aspect. She always has to have a baby to take care off and fills every piece of our baby gear with dolls and stuffed animals. She's good at helping me get her dressed, sits still while I do her hair, and wants to put her socks and shoes on by herself. She's also getting so good at knowing that she's a big girl and can learn to be independant. She's the only child of a still somewhat selfish couple, so they just coddle her. But she has come so far in gaining confidence to grow up. She's starting to speak more clearly and more often, and is also picking up on colors and shapes some. And I've come to a better understanding of her. A lot of our issues were me. She doesn't live by the same rules that my boys live by and I was expecting her to right away. I needed to let her have some time to get it and she has. And I feel so sad for her. Lately, she tells me. "Mommy working," and I say, "yes, your mommy's working." And then she tells me, "and Daddy working," and I say, "yes, your daddy's working, too." And then she has to tell me one more time that her mommy is working. She tells me this everyday, at least a couple times. It's just so sad that she has to feel so abandoned just so her parents can have a big house, drive fancy cars and use iTouch cell phones. I should have been giving her everything I had to give, because where else is she going to get it! And now my time with her is almost over! I am disappointed in my treatment of Brooklyn. Once I realized these things, I resolved to do better and I have and that's good. I just wish I would have done it sooner. But, it is also good that we will end our time together on a happy note!

And last, there is my sweet Dexy. He is so sure that he's big. He walks so well now and always wants me to either be reading him a story or carring him around the room so that we can point and name everything in site. He is getting to a hard age for the situation that I'm in now. He wants to learn and absorb constantly and I am so busy trying to get everything done and taken care of, that I feel like I'm failing him. It will be so good for us to be done watching Brooklyn, be out of this dingy place, and be into summer so that I can focus on him for a little while. He will love having the chance to be outside, see a new place and have a Mommy who can just sit and read to him. He is very paitent with Ollie and Brooklyn as they take his stuff and run around without him. And he's very paitent with me! He always has a big, dimpled smile for me. Unless he's finished lunch and is ready to nurse and go down for a nap, but I've got to put the big kids down first. Then he's pretty sad! But, even then, he's still pretty nice. He just sounds so sad! That is really the only time that he cries, though. And that's amazing! He's so gentle and paitent and sweet and that's really good, too! And speaking of my Dexy crying, he is right now. I guess he wants his midnight feeding. I had better wrap up. To make a very long story not any shorter, there are many things that are good in my life! I wanted to recognize them. I am thankful for my good husband who works so hard both in school and at work! And he is so nice to me. I'm thankful for my 2 nice boys! And I'm thankful for the opportunity that I've had to make maybe a little bit of a good impact in Brooklyn's life. And I'm so looking forward to the opportunity that we will have for a change! And now, it's time for me to remember these good things and be happy! And to go feed Dexy. Good night!

A Truly Spring Weekend

Saturday was one of the first really nice, sunny, beautiful days of spring. The sky was blue and the sun was out and all though there was a little bit of wind, it wasn't too cold or blowing too much. It was a great day, so I took the boys over to the Bowles' house to play in their yard. They needed to get out and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. Brian was at work for the first half of the day, but even he got to come and play with us after nap time. The boys loved it! The lot next to the Bowles's house that has been empty for a long time, is finally getting a house, so there was tons of dirt, rocks, and wood boards for them to play with and on. They wandered through the unfinished house (with my supervision, of course), threw dirt everywhere (most of it landed on Ollie's head), played in the rocks (Dexy tried to eat them and Ollie stuffed his pockets with them), climbed on the boards, jumped on the tramp, threw the ball for the dogs, and even got to play with the neighbor kids for a little while (the boy in the pic with Dexy, Cade, use to be in the primary class that Brian and I taught when we lived there). They were covered with dirt by nap time, so I just stripped them down, changed their diapers, washed their hands and faces and put them down to sleep. When they woke up, we just put the dirty clothes back on and let them go at it again! What fun!

Then on Sunday, the weather was totally different. It was gray, cloudy and WINDY! But it was again, at least not too cold, so I decided to make the most of it. We were at the Bowles' house for Sunday dinner when Ollie found a kite. He dragged it over to me saying, "Kite? Kite?" And I said, "Yes! Let's go fly a kite!" So, outside we headed again. It was so windy that even a couple of girls and a couple of toddlers could get a kite in the air. Ollie even got to hold on to the string! I was so well pleased in myself! I got my kids outside again, eventhough the day wasn't "perfect," and I managed to get the kite in the air!

After dinner, the wind had gotten colder and it was darker so we had to keep our play indoors. But, Angela went and busted out an old game of theirs called Chicken Limbo. We all tried to play, but just got stuck. The boys, obviously, were the best at actually going under the limbo bar. The chicken in the middle bawks the limbo tune at you until someone bumps it. Then it squawks loudly, yells, "I got you" and laugh in your face. Oliver liked that part the best. He figured out that he could go over and just hit it to make it say, "I got you" without having to go under the bar at all. Then he'd run to the chair, throw himself on it, bury his face in the cushion, try to mimic the chicken saying, "I got you" and then laugh histerically. Then he'd go over to the chicken to do it all over again. He's so funny! We had a fun spring weekend. Sunny on Saturday. Windy and gray on Sunday. Rain today. That's spring for you! But at least there hasn't been anymore snow and we've gotten to get outside!

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter weekend. My parents came up to visit so that my Dad could help me with our difficult taxes (thanks! - they were a bear to figure out), and then stayed to play. The boys are still pretty little, so they had a simple Easter, but they liked it and we just enjoyed our time with family. My parents headed home early Sunday afternoon and then we went to our usually Bowles Sunday dinner where we had delicious Easter ham and cheesy potatoes! They got us all Easter treats, too! The boys liked their Pez dispensers the best. Then we had fun dying Easter eggs. Both Ollie and Dexy tried to drink the dye, followed by playing around in it. Ollie colored a couple of eggs fairly successfully, before just dropping all the eggs that were left into whatever colored cup might possibly hold it! We had a great weekend and are glad that we got to see so many family members and just have fun!

And Ollie learned a new skill of smarts. Angela was asking him to distigusih between the rabit Pez dispenser and the ducky Pez dispenser. He got it right every time, even if she said the same animal consecutively. But, alas. Every time I went to record it, he would stop. This is the best one I could get.

The Spring Chickies and Bunnies

On the 26th of March, we took the boys to a Cal Ranch store to see the new spring arrivals.
They had cute, little chickies, ducklings, and bunnies. The boys were fascinated by the tiny animals. I thought that they might be a little hesitant to touch them, but they weren't. They petted the chicks and Grandma Bowles even helped Ollie hold a bunny.

Dexy was even happy about meeting the fluffy little friends.

They had a good experience seeing real animals. Brian, of all people, was the one who wanted to take a couple of chickies home with us. It took about 10 minutes of me, Angela, Hollianne, and his mom all trying to convince him not to buy 2 chicks (and about 10 dollars worth of care nessicites), before he went and put them back. Someday down the road, we'll try our hand at raising a couple of chicks, Brian, but today is not that day! Especially since we live in an already smelly enough basement, have little tiny kids running around and are so close to moving. It was his idea to go look at them, though and it was a fun spring activity!