Horror on the Carousel

Alli and I took the boys to the mall yesterday. Colin was saying "horsies" the whole ride there. It's amazing how well he knows directions...he usually can tell where we're going without me telling him. We got the boys in the double stroller, said goodbye to the car (what? you dont say goodbye to your car? "Ba Bye cah!") and headed to the carousel. I had another great idea....I'm FULL of them lately! I thought it would be a good idea for Joey to go on his very first carousel ride. We unstrapped them both and I gave Colin a dollar. So cute - he knows exactly what to do with it. He walks right up to the counter, hands the man his dollar, and waits for his token. I paid for Joey's token and we got in line to wait:

Colin put his token in the slot all by himself and then we let him pick a horse. That is...he USUALLY picks a horse. This time he decided he wanted to sit on the carriage. Perfect! I thought. That is where I was going to sit with JoJo anyway. We did get one picture of JoJo on a horse though:
We were the only ones on the carousel. Kinda cool. They started it up and Allison and I agreed it was one of the best moments of the whole summer. The two boys sitting next to each other were just so sweet. They were really enjoying themselves and really enjoying each other's company.

Precious, you think, right? Oh yes...Alli and I thought so too....until something happened. You see, I started to feel a little dizzy. I told Al and she said that she felt a little dizzy too. Then she said she was feeling sweaty. I told her I was too. And then I really, truly felt like I was going to throw up all over the place. Like...REALLY. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't put my head down or close my eyes or anything because I had to support Joey. We tried to see the humor in it...especially since we realized that they were giving us an extra long ride because we were the only ones on. It took every SINGLE cell in my body to prevent spewing all over those stupid horses. Oh boy...I've never been more relieved that nothing actually came up.

We went and got a "zetzel" afterwards as we usually do. Colin loves pretzels and lemonade. :)

Let's see...Joey didn't sleep again last night. Woke up another 6 times. GOD, he's just so CUTE though! I almost, ALMOST don't mind seeing his precious face in the middle of the night. Maybe I would enjoy it MORE if I went through the whole night without seeing it...wouldn't know what that's like though...I'd like to say that he redeems himself during the day but this morning he was extra cranky and he puked right down my shirt after I showered. :) Brian had coffee made though so that helped. And both of my babies' smiles make every day worth it.

It's the Little Things:

Today Colin ran out the front door in his PJs and no shoes on. He thought it was the coolest thing. You could tell by the look on his face that he knew he was being naughty. So sweet. And ask him what a monkey says, "OOH OOH AH AH!" :)

And Joey sort of hugs now....he grabs your face and pulls you close. Sometimes he'll try to suck on your nose or your chin but usually he just wants to be close. I think that's why he wakes up in the middle of the night too...he doesn't like being alone. Poor guy. Tonight we're going to try a CD player in his room with lullabies....maybe hearing a voice will make him think that he's not alone.

ER Trip #1 and Other Fun Stuff

Ohhhhhh boy....the day I've been dreading but realistically anticipating has finally arrived. Our first trip to the ER. Since Colin has been born I have asked my mom a million times where I should take him if something were to happen. Colin is a climber and a clumsy runner - I knew it was inevitable that some sort of serious "boo boo" would occur during non-doctor's office hours and that I would have to take him to the ER or something. But we have 4 hospitals in the area plus a new children's hospital!! Where do I go? Well...my mom told me back when I asked her but I still had to call 4 people to figure out where to go.

REWIND! Last Wednesday Brian went to Rochester for the Buffalo Bills training camp. My sister Amanda was with me for the evening so I decided to take the boys to the playground so that Colin could do some running. After all, the days are getting shorter, fall is approaching and Mommy has to go back to work very soon. Well.......worst decision EVER, Mommy!!! Colin went down the slide once.....ONCE!!! As he joyfully ran to climb back up for a second ride I lost sight of him for a second (I was waiting for him at the top) and I heard him kind of whimper. I got closer to him and he was rubbing at his eye. I could tell that he was having a serious debate with himself....my eye really hurts but I REALLY want to keep playing. I got even closer to him and forced him to let me look at his eye. I pulled his eyelid down and HELLO MR. UGLY GASH!! His eyelid had a mouth-like gash and it was talking to me, "Whatcha gonna do now, Mom? Huh?" Damn you talking gash! And with Mom in Maine and Brian in Rochester, Amanda and Allison truly saved the day! Amanda stayed with JoJo at home (baby whisperer...he was an angel for her - I mean, she whipped him into SHAPE!! :) and Alli came with me because she's a doctor (well....no. Not a doctor...but in the medical field). Off we went to Upstate with a bag full of tricks - crackers, juice, pacifier, trains, books, etc. We sat in the "Pediatric Waiting Room" where a kid proceeded to explain to me how, what I called a "door" was really a "gateway" due to the lack of an actual door, and a teeny little guy used a tissue to "blow his nose", aka making blowing-your-nose noises and repeatedly folding the tissue. SO cute! Alli and I played a fun game and we were finally called and taken..............TO ANOTHER WAITING ROOM! Then we were brought to a room smaller than my thumb and we WAITED some more! Colin was wonderful and even a little fun! His eye didn't bother him a bit. Alli and I were playing defense to make sure he didn't A) hurt the other eye or B) hurt the original eye even worse. We did a good job...the worst thing he did was use a blue crayon to color all over the sheets. Finally, Doctor Hottie Pants (aka Meredith Grey) came in and told us that he didn't think he needed stitches and Doctor Little Guy (aka Derek Shepherd) came in and told us that it did. Since it was already close to midnight and because Colin is ginormous, he decided to glue it instead. I told him to get some big guys to help hold him down. In comes Dr. Hottie Pants, Dr. Little Guy, Mr. Big Male Nurse and Mrs. Normal Female Nurse. They first tried putting him into this swaddling blanket/straight jacket type thing...but Colin was WAY too big for it. So they tied one arm down with Velcro, I took the other arm, Mr. Big Male Nurse took from his stomach to his thighs, Mrs. Normal Female Nurse took his legs, Doctor Little Guy took his big ol' noggin' and Doctor Hottie Pants had the glue. APPARENTLY the staff underestimated my little guy even though I warned them.....his right arm (Velcro'd arm) got loose and his legs came out of the nurse's grip. HA HA!And APPARENTLY they don't have doctors practice using the glue in their 8 years of medical school....because Colin ended up with a glued up gash as well as an eyelid glued to his eyebrow, glue all over the side of his face and a big glob of glue in the corner. Poor kid looked way worse than when we brought him in.

We went home after Colin calmed down and after another nurse came in and had me sign a pile of paperwork while explaining to me what to do with his stitches (uhhh....he doesn't HAVE stitches). Here's a pic before he was glued and some more of him from this night:

Like I said, JoJo was perfectly behaved for Aunt Manda. And speaking of JoJo....he is TOTALLY trying to crawl. Uh...who does he think he is!?!?!? He was JUST BORN!!!!! :) He actually turned 5 months old on the 21st. Where does the time go???? He still isn't the best sleeper. He likes to wake up screaming, act like he's starving, suck 3 times and fall asleep. Pain in the butt! But oh that smile....he warms my heart. He's looking so much like his brother lately. Here's a funny picture of JoJo:

Yes he IS wearing a Christmas bib in August!

I'm sick to my stomach about having to go back to work....I'll have to write more about that tomorrow but I am definitely losing sleep over it. :(

Pumping, Bath Time with Boys, The Sleep Factor, The Zoo and MENSTRUATION!!!!

I'll pick up my blog now on a somewhat day-to-day basis, though I told my husband last night that I will feel lucky to get at least one post in a week. There isn't always time and when I start work again (let's not even GO there today) it'll be even harder to find the time.

Yesterday was a good day. It started off with Curious George in bed with my two babies. Colin yells, "GEORGE!" at the screen and talks jibberish and Joey smiles and coos while Mommy gets a few extra minutes of lounging before the day begins. After the show, we headed downstairs where I set Colin up with breakfast, set Joey in the exersaucer and I sat down on the floor to pump. I pump right after Joey's morning feeding so I can save up a supply for....ya know...when I go back to....SOB!!!!!!!! Anyway, Colin always gave me a funny look when I pumped. Sort of like a, "Mom....what're you doing? That's weird," kind of look. He usually stays away though. Today, he got down from the table, walked over to me, took one of the pump pieces and held it up to his chest. Ha ha! He looked down at it like, "Okay. I'm doing it. Not sure why. But I'm doing it."

He's just so sweet! After breakfast we packed up and headed to Courtney's house for the morning. Courtney has an almost 3 year old named Owen and baby Ethan who is only 10 days older than Joey! We love hanging out with them. Courtney also teaches with me so we will both be sobbing when it comes time to........WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm going to fastforward to bath time at this point. My sisters Amanda and Allison come over to help me with the kids on Tuesday nights. We have ghetto dinner (something totally unhealthy and easy to make. ie. tacos, chicken patties, hot dogs, etc.). Amanda brought her boyfriend Greg who Colin absolutely adores and having Allison here is like having another me! It's wonderful! So anyway...bath. Colin is in the bath tub on this particular night. I washed him down and he was playing. And then....he started PLAYING....if you know what I mean. I felt like I should leave the room! I felt like this was inappropriate! I felt like this was HILARIOUS!!!!! Little guy was having a grand old time and I just tried my best to look away while supervising him.....oh, and I tried very hard to distract him. BOYS! What am I supposed to do with them! I grew up around girls. We didn't have these "parts" and we didn't do these things! My sisters love to tease me and insist that I'm only adding to the smelliness of the world by continuing to bring boys into it. :) Love my stinky boys!

Colin fell asleep easily as he usually does and Joey didn't - as HE usually does. Colin has always been the PERFECT little sleeper - since the moment we took him home. Not Joey....he's Colin's polar opposite when it comes to sleeping. We swaddled both boys but Colin weaned himself off of it by 4 months. Joey is pretty addicted to being swaddled, but I can't keep doing it! First of all, he's WAY too long for it now so I'd just be swaddling his arms. Second, he can roll over onto his tummy but has a hard time rolling back to his back - even WITH his arms being free. We started putting him in his own room but he wakes up frequently. Too frequently. Last night I just about lost it. I felt physically sick from lack of sleep and, I'll admit it, I'm a HUGE baby in the middle of the night when my sleep is disrupted. I've always aspired to be one of those moms who rises with a smile because she's so excited to see her baby no matter what time of day or night it is. One of those moms who thinks, "I LOVE being able to settle my little one down and to comfort him." Okay...I mean, yeah....I like these things. BETWEEN THE HOURS OF SIX AND MIDNIGHT!!!!!!! Of course I wake up and cuddle my babies and settle them back to sleep and smooch them, but inside I'm screaming, "GO TO SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!" The funny part is, I wake up in the morning, not easily, but I wake up in the morning and I'm ok. I'm not so tired that I can't function. Don't get be wrong - coffee is no longer an option and I'd love to look into getting an IV of it. But honestly, I'm ok. So why does "nighttime me" freak out so bad?

PHEW! Onward.....today was beautiful and Courtney and I took our boys to the zoo. They were all so well behaved and Colin actually understood the concept a little more this time. I asked him what the tiger says and he answered, "ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR." So cute! I got a great picture of his little face in a penguin poster:

And here's my little JoJo:

After seeing all of the animals we went to our cars and started to get everything and everyone back into the cars. As I put Colin into his car seat I smelled something a little....funky. I was going to let it go until we got home but I thought better of it because I didn't want my little guy to have to sit in that the whole way home. So I got Colin OUT of the car seat and layed him down in the back of the van. All I can say is, I have never, EVER seen nor could I ever IMAGINE that I WOULD see what I saw in that diaper. I'm not kidding....the biggest poop in the entire universe. Thank God the diaper trapped it all - but that diaper worked HARD. The diaper appeared to be brown. Like....as if I BOUGHT it that way. It soaked up SO much poop. I probably used about 55 diaper wipes and Colin, being the fabulous 2 year old that he is, decided that he didn't want to lay there anymore. So he began to thrash and lift and twist his legs. I found myself struggling with this stinky poop machine, thankful that I had put down a changing pad, praying that I wouldn't get any on the car or on myself and REALLY hoping that Joey wouldn't begin crying and break my concentration. I've concentrated less on final exams....this was a toughy! I got him cleaned up and sat down in the driver's seat. I couldn't even drive right away. I had to fully comprehend what just happened. Ha ha.....poop, poop, poop.....

Oh yeah....and to top it off....I got my period today. First one since June 2010....yeah...it sucks. Only one way to fix it.................................Brian???????? :-)

The Reason

Well...there are a few reasons behind why I wanted to start this blog. First and foremost...I LOVE to write and ever since I've become a mother I haven't had the time to write (or do much of anything other than being a Mommy). Don't get me wrong...I LOVE being a Mommy, but writing is my outlet and without an outlet...well...let's just say I feel very lucky that my husband hasn't gone running for the hills.

My second reason for blogging is because of my ever-present attribute of being sentimental. I hold onto people, things, moments, etc with large amounts of passion and I am constantly feeling like I will someday forget certain things if I don't write them down. The most pressing thing is my childrens' youth. Though my sons are only 2 and 4 months, I feel like I've already forgotten so much due to the whirlwind of life. Having this blog will allow for me to document their lives in a way that I will cherish forever. I've always found mommies with reality shows to be so lucky - not because of the fame or fortune, but because they get to rewind their lives at any point and watch their kids and the amazing things they've said and done. I highly doubt that anyone would want to follow me with a camera. I would totally get mad at the cameramen for being in my way (I can't handle the DOG being in my way). So anyway, this will really help me to document some really cool moments.

Another reason I want to blog is because I think other mothers will find comfort, humor, and definitely some common ground in my words. I also think that other mothers might be able to help ME in times of need when it comes to motherhood.

Phew....well, with that out of the way I should probably introduce myself. My name is Annette. I am 30 years old and I live in New York State. My husband's name is Brian and he is the most wonderful man. He has always taken such good care of me as his wife and I don't think I give him enough credit - I am NOT easy to deal with! I am sometimes a perfectionist, sometimes not. I am sometimes Type A and sometimes Type B. I have LOTS of opinions and LOTS of moods. Sometimes I care about people's thoughts WAY too much. My biggest flaw is how critical I am of myself. Over the years I have tried to be self-reflective and I now do that to a fault. I am complicated but Brian loves me. He definitely deserves some recognition for that (even on a puny little blog forum like this). The most amazing part about Brian, though, is how good of a dad he is. I married him knowing that he would be a great father to our children, but I had no idea how great he would be. He sings to them, cuddles them, plays with them, stands up for them. Seriously...I couldn't have asked for better for them. On that note....we have two beautiful sons. Colin is 2 years and 1.5 months old. Joey is just shy of being 5 months old. This blog will mostly be about them and the hilarious, cringe-worthy, cute, mortifying, wonderful things that they do. PLEASE read, comment and ENJOY.... <3