Entertaining Ouselves

Yesterday afternoon Oliver woke up before Dexy, but Dexy sleeps in the main living area. Therefore, Ollie and I had to entertain ourselves in the back bedroom with the door closed. There's not a whole lot to do in there because I don't keep any toys or books back there; everything is in the main living area where Dexy was sound asleep. So, I took our portable DVD player, a Little Einsteins disc, and a few books back with me when Ollie woke up. But of course, that only lasted so long. Earlier that day, I had used my breast pump. Well, Oliver found some of the extra bottles in a box in his room and the only thing I can figure is he decided that he would try to express some milk himself. "Where does this thing go?" "Mayber here?" Not working so well, huh buddy? Fortunately, Brian came home for about an hour between jobs and then the real fun could begin. Ollie got to fly high (well, as high as he could in a basement with incredibly low ceilings). That only lasted so long, so eventually we just went out into the living room and let Ollie wake Dex up. It was after 5 by that point and I figured he needed to be awake anyway. But, we did a pretty good job of entertaining ourselves.

Look at This Big Boy

Dexy is just gianormous! I now find him standing in his playpen when he's ready to get up. He always wants me to help him walk everywhere (I really don't help him often enough). He pulls up on everything, even if it's not sturdy or super dangerous (like that darn, cast-iron stove - I hate that thing). He seems bored a lot! And now he's getting yet another tooth. His 5th tooth has already broken through and I think that actually, his 6th isn't far behind (no wonder he's kind of cranky and not sleeping well at night). That's why he has a binky in these two pictures. As we all know, binkies are disgusting according to Dexter, but lately he's started kind of liking one every now and then. He doesn't actually suck on it (that would be beneath him - babies use binkies, not big boys like Dexy), but he has does enjoy biting on one for teething purposes. Notice how in the last pic he doesn't even have it in the right way. He is now sitting at my feet crying. Must be nap time. Or time for more tylenol. Or both!

Eggs, Anybody?

We have been low on food for quite a few days and today we finally went shopping. I was so excited to have some food in our fridge. I brought all the groceries into the kitchen to put them away and told the boys to play out in the living area for a few minutes. I was almost finished, when Ollie walked into the kitchen holding something. He said, "egg, eggs" and handed it to me. And he was correct. It was an egg. In the moment, I had a sudden, horrifying realization - I had forgotten the eggs and left them sitting on the table. Ollie had been playing aweful quietly and I suddenly knew why. I walked out into the living area, knowing exactly what I was going to find - eggs, everywhere! And I was right. The egg that he had given me was the only one of it's brothers to survive the raid. Fortunately, we have been borrowing the Bowles wet/dry shop vac, so I just whipped it out and sucked it all up. Today, I was actually glad that this carpet is so old and disgusting. It made it so that I could just say to myself, "well, that's life; these things happen," take pictures, and clean it up without flipping out. Not such a good day for the eggs, but all in all not a bad day for the rest of us!

Snack Time

Dexy has very quickly learned that if he looks on, under or around the little table, he's likely to find a snack of some kind. Even if it's a little old or on the floor (yuck) he's all about the treats that Ollie leaves behind. Of course, his favorite (and mine) are the fresh goodies that Ollie shares with him right then and there. Now that he can pull himself up to stand right next to Ollie at snack time, he's getting more of the new snacks as opposed to old, floor crunchies (fortunately)!

Ollie the Frenchman

On Saturday night, Brian and I went out for sushi with Brian's boss and his wife. We hadn't been on a date in a really long time, so it was a great thing for us. We left the boys at the Bowles house (they are always so nice to watch them) and went off for some excellent sushi. The boys have tons of fun and are always happy to play there. Especially if Hollianne and Angela are around (as we've seen previously - remember how the stair sledding was their idea)! Well, they had some creative fun with the boys when they were there Saturday. When we came to get them, it looked like nothing unusual had happened. But, then they showed us these pictures.

First they helped him get into their mom's old school, decrative baby carriage.

Then they put Hollianne's black beanie on him and when it looked like a beret, they decided to just go all out and draw a mustache on him with mascara. He looks totally French. I laughed so hard as they laughed so hard while telling me the story of the night's many adventures! I'm so glad that they all like each other and can have such a fun time together! Maybe Brian and I should go on dates more often.

Is She Talking About Ikea, Again?!

Why yes. Yes I am. The designers at Ikea make products that are just pure genius. They are simple and practical inexpensive products of good quality. And they get kids. Our toddler bath tubs - Ikea, $8 each and the only place I could find anything like them. The little table and 2 chairs I got the boys for Christmas - Ikea, $32 for all 3 pieces. Our newest, fabulous Ikea purchase? These bibs. A 2 pack only costs $4. They are a fast-drying, easily wipable and yet still machine washable plastic bib with a crumb-catcher pocket and sleeves! Sleeves!!! These people are brilliant! How many times do you put a regular bib on a baby and feed them one spoonful of something, only to have them turn their head and rub their dirty face all over their shoulder? A lot! And I like to let my boys work on feeding themselves, so these were a must at our house. Between these wonderful bibs and my newest in-wash stain booster (Tide Stain Release; you just dump a capful in with the detergent and it takes out almost everything with no pretreating whatsoever), laundry is suddenly taking up way less of my time. Nothing like a good product to ease the load of a busy, tired mother!

Stair Sledding

Last night, both Oliver and Dexter seemed like they wanted to go somewhere. They kept climbing the stairs, trying to leave. We get stuck in the house a lot, so I don't blame them. Oliver even had me help him put on his dad's belt so that he'd be all ready to go. I told Brian that we needed to get out. When Brian got home from work, we headed to his parents house. There's usually someone there to play with, it's close and free entertainment. So off we went. And boy were we in for some real entertainment! I'm not quite sure how it started. Hollianne and Angela some how decided that we should use the mattress for the toddler bed, that was sitting in the garage, as a sled for stair sliding. And so they did! Once they got the idea, the went right to work on making it happen. And they even made sure that we used the stairs to the basement instead of their mom's "beautiful stairs" in the main room. It was great family entertainment. Hollianne and Ollie got the first ride. Oliver loved it! Dexy hated it! He cried everytime someone went down. He eventually got beside himself. I fed him and then Brian kindly took him upstairs so he didn't have to be sad and I for once, actually got to play some more! Brian didn't mind because he refused to try it anyway, being the accident prone person that he is and without health insurance. Even Amanda and her fiance, Ben, got in on the stair sledding (proof positive that he is going to fit in just fine)! We had a blast! We did it for about an hour and a half. Even Wade and Wendy tried it a couple of times.

Angela and Hollianne even got to the point where they could ride surf style.

While they perfected their stair surfing, Ollie entertained himself by going in and out the doggie door.

So, if you have an old, slicky mattress, some stairs and a couple of giant bean bags to break your fall, then you should definitely give this a try because it was the most fun that I've had in weeks! P.S. My personal favorite way to ride was head first!