Long time, no post...

Yes, it has been nearly two months but I have lots of excuses that I'm sure everyone is jumping up and down, impatiently waiting to find out just what the hold up is. The first thing that started the downhill spiral of no-blogging-ness was the tornados. Yes...THE tornados. That, coupled with my mother flying out the day OF the tornados to be here for Ryan's long awaited surgery. We spent 5 days with no electricity and Ryan's surgery was postponed...three times. I didnt go to work for 4 days. The two little ones had no idea what was going on but it all ended up okay. The only damage we sustained was the Rec room has a pump that is electric. So water was not being pumped out; therefore the rec room flooded. Not a big deal. It was fun to have my mom out for a week though!
Work has been crazy...crazy busy. I was running a lot in the afternoon but it got too hot. I started running at 4am which was working out great for a bit.
Ryan dislocated his shoulder playing racquetball. That was fun. He couldn't lift so I had to take a day or two off to take care of the kids.
Ryan had his surgery for his gallbladder this week. So I have taken the rest of the week off while he barely leaves the bedroom.
The little ones are doing great. Charley, Izyk, and Mama got sick for a week. Somehow Ryan avoided the bug. In the process of getting checked for this bug, the doctor heard a murmur in Charley's chest. We proceeded to get xrays and stuff for that.



Boys are stinking expensive...even when they are grown. My goodness.

Izyk is taking his lovely time crawling...which he had just started doing a couple of weeks ago, at the same time he started pulling up. He army crawls everywhere and is fast. We are teaching him how to crawl up and down stairs. He stopped gaining weight at 9 months. He's still about 22lbs but he's getting longer.

Charley loves "Iwa"...greets him in the morning sometimes with kisses. They play well together. Charley loves, loves, loves to read.

My not-so-baby baby and the toddler

Izyk had his nine month appointment last week. He weighed in at 20 lbs and 28 inches long. He has slowed down in his growing. He is now in the 60th percentile. He's not so chunky anymore, he is stretching out. He sits like a champ and rolls at 40mph. He loves finger foods which is way too quick for me but that's okay. So many differences between Charley and Izyk. Some things Izyk did earlier and some things Charley did earlier. Two very different temperments. Izyk is such a Mama's boy. I am soaking it up! Izyk thinks his older brother is hilarious. I love watching them interact.
Charley has been learning a whole lot of words. He says some sentences but not a whole lot. He loves talking on the phone. He can count to three. He still loves fruit. He likes to sing...without words...he just babbles. It's funny.

And they still aren't used to each other crying. If one gets upset, the other starts to cry as well. SOMETIMES it's funny. Like when I have the hubby home so he can grab one child and I can grab the other. Otherwise, I'm double-hipping it. Is that a word?

Ryan has surgery next Thursday for his gallbladder. I'm excited to be having my mom come out for a week to help out some. I'm hoping she will be able to look past the atrocity that I call my house.

Ah-hem.

In my spare time, I do housework...not blog. Right? OOOOOFFFFF course.

A couple of days ago, there was a spider in our house...not just any kind of spider. It was the size of a small dog.

SERIOUSLY THOUGH...bugs in the south are MUTANTS. I have yet to find one NOT the size of my head.

I wish I had a picture of the thing but all that I have is of it in the toilet performing water ballet. And for a good 45 minutes too. I'm not even sure how it got into our house. It's not like it could've SLIPPED through a crack. I mean, it had to break through a window or something to get in. I also start thinking about how long it has been IN my house and where it had been. What if in the middle of the night, I went to get some water and just...you know...ACCIDENTALLY stepped on it...bare foot. It could probably swallow my foot whole.

*heart attack*

My irises have bloomed...this year, Charley hasn't eaten any. He does like to smell EVERYTHING. He'll make you smell it too. He absolutely LOVES reading. Don't let him catch you sitting down, he'll crawl into your lap with a book. He also hates wearing clothing. It's really fun when you have the plumber coming soon and he won't let you put clothes on him. He's been wanting to potty like a big boy. And by big boy, I mean he wants to stand up. Let's just say, we are still working on AIMING. He knows how to go potty by himself (sitting position) so unless we're watching him, it'll be ALL AROUND the potty, not in it.

After about 10pm, the baby monitors start going crazy.

Not because the kids haven't gone to sleep. Both of my children talk in their sleep. It's kind of creepy. How do I know they're asleep? When we first started hearing them, we would check on them. They'd be PASSED OUT and BABBLING.

Just the other day, Charley got into the butter. Not just "got into" but also ATE it. He eats butter. My son eats butter. We do feed our children. I promise.

*sigh*
My eldest...getting so big.


My men.


Brotherly love...


Happy boy!


On Daddy's shoulders


And lining blocks up on brother's bum.


"Sti-ers" (Stickers)


Playing in the dirt...if you were to look in any of his 4 pockets, you'd find lots of rocks. He likes...rocks.


Just because it's spring, doesn't mean that snow boots AREN'T in style.
When I forwarded this to my mom, she responded saying that Charley wearing his snow boots all the time is a sign that we need to move back to the mountains so Charley can live his dream. Haha!

The non-existent plan

You know those days, where if you had a plan nothing would go to it? Today has been the epitome of one of those days. And I KNOW there are going to be days like this and there have been. Just today is worth documenting (also known as complaining or venting). So, Ryan wasn't feeling well last night. He was up until 6am. The whole pacifier vs. me thing is not working out well but we can get to that in a minute. Charley had two accidents, out of blue. Fine, whatever, it happens. Before I could get breakfast started, he broke the ONLY egg we had left in the house. I had planned pancakes but without that ONE last egg, I couldn't make them. While I was cleaning up the egg, he decided to pick up his potty. The apparently had not been cleaned out...urine...ALL OVER the place and on him. Seriously, had not even got breakfast started. But that's okay...we all ate, I got dinner in the crockpot, I did the dishes, started the laundry, picked up 75% of the house. I'm on a roll. There are a couple of things that happened over the past couple of weeks. Ryan has had a bad string of luck. He ended up in the ER at 7 in the morning on a saturday. He was there all day. He needs to have his gallbladder out. He still has not made an appointment with the surgeon. He was also clearing the vines off the back fence and got poison ivy. He waited two weeks before going to the doctor so he was covered. He got a shot and a couple of prescriptions.

Pacifiers. Now I know most people use pacifiers. I have nothing against pacifiers, I just prefer not to use them. With Charley, he just didn't need one. Izyk didn't need one until we decided to bring one with us to California for the plane ride. Like I said in a previous post, he was having trouble sleeping. We continued with the pacifier but only at bedtime. Since then, he does not sleep continuously through the night anymore. He used to but no longer does. You can tell when he has those nights that he wakes up a lot. 30% of the time, he doesn't wake up at all during the night but the other 70% he does and he does A LOT.

On a happier note, Izyk loves food and is rolling over. That is his preferred method of transportation. He sits up great for minutes at a time. He loves his older brother. Charley is doing great with pottying...minus the two accidents today. Ryan starts coaching soccer this week at the YMCA. He's coaching 5-6 year olds. Should be fun.

Izyk and his food

This kid cracks me up. This weekend I couldn't help but laugh hysterically each time I went to feed him. He's still getting used to mushed up foods. HAHA!

Randomness #6578.2

• I am so tired after my run today. It felt good but I am SO tired.
• Happy Valentine's Day!
• we weren't going to do anything but decided to go out. Brave the two year old in underwear. So we packed extra clothing on the chance of an accident. I'm proud to say we didn't need it. I thought for sure after his second cup of half juice and half water, there'd be Lake Michigan under his tush. I continue to underestimate this child. He used the public bathrooms for the first time and honestly I thought he was going to get stage fright. I'm giddy with pride.
• Have I mentioned that my house is a disaster area?
• Love love love my new phone.
• Did I mention I was exhausted?
• After we got back from Cali over Christmas, Izyk had been having major issues sleeping. I do not how working mothers who have children that DO NOT sleep through the night do it. Ridiculous. So I have been barely surviving. Anyways, he's back to his normal sleeping self. I thought it was teething, jet lag, growth spurt...but come on, a month and a half of waking up in the middle of the night? Over it. Glad to be back to my normal six hours...ah-hem.
• We still need to do our taxes.
• I love girl scout cookies.
• Now that I'm back to running I feel justified for eating half a box of Samoas.
• Izyk talks more than his older brother.

No turning back...

Today, we took the plunge. No more diapers for Charley-man. We were brave enough to leave the house with him in underwear. We brought along the little potty, just in case. We were going to go to the store to pick up a few things for dinner (and by a few things, like $100 worth because we think we are going to starve to death...ah-hem). We were gone for an hour and he used the potty twice. He told us in the car he had to go. The next week or so should be interesting. We know there will be some accidents so we will prepare ourselves as much as possible. Here's to accomplishing a big milestone!!! Woot Woot!!

Giddy

This is how awesome my hubby is. I've been needing new running shoes but have been putting it off for months and months. Mainly due to the fact that I HATE spending money. Ryan drove me to Fleet Feet and told me to get my shoes. I love these Brooks. I really liked my last Asics and was going to stick to the brand until I tried these on.

I'm a believer.

The last Brooks I owned were in high school and I remember them being heavy with not much support. These Ravenna 2's are very comfortable. I likened them to wearing socks. Weird, but they feel good and they're light. I'm ready to visit my happy running place AND to get some muscles on these bones...gain some weight. I have missed my running greatly and look forward to being toned once again!! Thanks hubs...I sure do love you!! MUAH!