We are surviving!

So we have survived yet again another week of Ryan in grad school. Tuesday and Wednesday Ryan is gone all day and only sees the kids for maybe 5 minutes if he makes it home before they go to bed. Now it has gotten so that Turner is waking up on Thursday morning begging for Daddy. I know this is a good thing because it shows how much he loves Ryan and misses him, but it still breaks my heart. I tell him that Daddy is working and at school, but as a two year old his concept of this is not too great. I can't wait until next winter when he is done, and then our lives can resume to being normal (okay.... maybe start to be normal... hehe).

Today I went out and bought a ton of paint and such so that hopefully this weekend Ryan and I can get a lot of house things done! Wish us luck!

Boys vs. Girls

I have decided there is a HUGE difference between boys and girls! My son is a two year old american gladiator in training with the little boy, Jeffrey from across the street. They wrestle all morning if I let them, which is not the case. They will start with running around my living room in circles and then Jeffrey takes Turner out. And basically they continue to go from there. Part of me laughs at it because it is really funny, yet another part of me thinks I need to teach Turner to be crazy in certain situations and not others. I think that this is the eternal struggle with all mothers of boys- trying to rein them in!

And then there is my girl and the twins. So cute all three of them. They all will stare blankly at the boys and then look at me like, "Where in the world did these guys come from?" Then they will continue to play nicely with one another. Reese loves it because the girls are gentle with her, and I love it because she has other kids to look up to other then Turner. I'm not saying that I don't want my girl to be tough and capable, BUT I really do want to have a little girl too, and too much Turner time may corrupt her:-).

Well I am off to get some rest so that tomorrow I will be ready for both my boy and girl (and mommy's group!).

Amazing Weekend

Our family had an amazing weekend, and we did nothing! We just spent the entire thing as a family and enjoyed one another. On Saturday we did go to Babie-r-us and bought some more child proofing gadgets. Now Turner can not throw all of his clothing and socks all over the floor when he is in his "rest area". The 1,2,3, Magic is really working and it has only been 5 days! Turner has realized that he is not really in charge and he is beginning to HATE going into his room. So he has started to realize that if he stops after "thats 1" he can still play and have fun! It is making all of our lives more peaceful and I am not feeling stressed with him all the time! YAY!

The other thing that we did invest in this weekend was Wii! Ryan and I then changed into "big kids" and we have become completely addicted to it! We played "Big Brain Academy", "Mario Party 8", all the Wii sports! I am not a huge video game fan, but it is sooooo much fun!! SO if people don't hear from us for more than a couple days at a time, you might need to send in a search party!

Terrible No's

So my friend Tracey had someone tell her the other day that the terrible two's should actually be called the terrible no's, and I completely agree with her. Turner used to be so cute and sweet and now he is a complete terror 80-90% of the time. Some of it is really bad, like hitting and spitting (the worst!!) and doing everything he knows that he is not supposed to do. We are doing time out and he thinks it is a joke... AHHHHHH sooo frustrating. I finally asked the pediatrician for some advice at Reese's 9 month visit last week and he recommended a book called "1,2,3 Magic" . We will be getting this book, and I will let you all know how it is!

I have to admit though, that even though he is a living terror most of the time. Occasionally all we can do is laugh about it. Like last night we had dinner with the neighbors because Ryan was in class and it was so nice out. The dogs were out back yesterday and so I had put the water dish out for them during the day and forgot to pick it up. I was letting Turner play out back where i could see him and it looked like he was playing with cars while I was finishing up the dishes. When I went outside, I soon realized that I had left the box of rice cereal on the ledge in the back and he got it and was making a paste out of the dogs water and cereal. He had it all around his mouth... yuck.. and it is all over the back wall of the house! While I was telling him no and we don't play with that, blah blah blah, I was out there with my camera. It was sooo funny and I realized that all I could do was laugh about it!

Then this morning after I changed his diaper I put the vaseline that we use instead of balmex on the bookshelf and went to wash my hands. I hear this giggling as I walk back in the room and Turner is sitting with the vaseline in his hands, next to the dog who is coated in it! The dog of course is looking up at me like, "yay, Turner is being nice and petting me!". Once again, I had to step back and all I could do is laugh while telling him no!

We are well into our way of being a terrible two, but at least I have a sense of humor about it! If I didn't I don't know that I would survive it!

I forgot to mention earlier that I am so proud of all the men and women who lost their lives 6 years ago today. I am also so grateful for all the men and women who are risking their lives in our military to protect our country. They will all be in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you sooo much to all the true heros in this world. We all take it for granted, but know that we will keep you in our hearts! Thank you for trying to make this world a better place for my children to be in!

Organizing

I am feeling the need for our family to begin organizing our lives a little more. I think that we need to spend a little more time and effort in making our home a place that we want it to be. So last night I went to Walmart and bought a ton more cleaning supplies so that we can start with the basics. I made Ryan sit down and come up with a "chore chart" for us. We have done this several times in the past, but I am determined to make this work this time! It is not like we live in a pigs pen, but I feel that if we do a little each day and make it more of a routine, then the days of big cleanings will be less stressful!

This fall we are going to be doing a lot of changing in the look of the inside of our home. We are going to be painting a lot of the rooms and we are going to be tearing up the carpet in what is Reese's room now. The previous owners put their daughter in the Master bedroom and they were in the next largest one. At first we just left it that way because they put huge murals on the walls of the girls room which is really cute. Looking at the rooms we thought the size difference was not that big, but after we got all the furniture in the rooms we realized that we really do need the bigger room. That, and we are the parents!! I am so excited about all the changes because we are going to be making our beautiful home more ours!

We even have Turner learning to pick up his toys and such after he is done with them. He thinks it is a game still and it is nice to see him participate in the family!

I will post some pictures when we get the projects done! (I know that this post is not that exciting, but I promise future ones will be better!)