Monday, January 23, 2012

Ooooooooohhhhhhh so thaaaaaat's what it is.

So all day yesterday I was snappish, was really sensitive about my space bubble (why is Quint ALWAYS within 6 inches of my legs?!), and got exceptionally emotional after 5 minutes of a conjoined twins TV show. Then finally it hit me. This is PMS!

I immediately went to the other room to tell Hubby. I said, " I finally figured out what's wrong with me today." He didn't say whatdyamean. A clue. He said, "what?" I said, "I think this is PMS!" He thought about it for a minute and said, "yeah, that would explain all of it!"

Go figure. When PMS shows up just three times in three years, you forget what it looks like. Also, we are now on red alert for "all systems go - DON'T GET PREGNANT!"

Friday, January 20, 2012

tons of photos

So today I took a friends' advice and dug a grand hole in the yard with my son. Our yard has limited toddler fun resources, but lots of space. It was about 50 degrees - warm for lately. It took about 15 minutes of me digging and playing before he really got it, but then he didn't want to stop. We had sweetgum-tree-stickerball-people, shelters made from tree bark, flags made from leaves, and lots and lots of sticks in the damp earth. All eventually got whacked with a plastic shovel, but who cares. AND we got really dirty. Which is tricky to accomplish in the winter.

Here's Hank in his hanging outside ewok uniform.

Cutie pie

And here's your Where's Waldo quiz for the day. Can you find where Sir Topham Hat is hiding?


Getting warmer
There he is! Quint moves these wall stickers around most days.

And here's what the boy's room looks like at the moment. It is forever a work in progress.




Super cute - brother teaching!

My boys are a continual joy. Except starting around 4:30 until 6pm, that is. The witching hour just really sucks sometimes! Today at one point when everyone else was screaming, I screamed too!! And thank goodness neither of them thought it was funny or I'da had'ta knocked their block off!!

Anyway. This morning when I was bathing them, they were playing together so nice. Quint was coloring on the wall of the tub with a tub crayon. After a few minutes, he said to Hank, "here you try it.... like this." He put the crayon in Hank's hand, put his hand over Hanks, and drew on the tub. It was so darn cute!! And that's the first time Quint has tried to teach Hank something. Awesome!!

A friend came over today to watch the boys while I went to the dentist. She told me about the imaginary play that she and Quint had done. And it was Quint's idea! In some Sesame Street books we have, Elmo is perpetually looking for a little black puppy (which he never finds!!) Quint took his Fisher Price Little People dog, would hide him, and wanted my friend to have another Little People look for him and find him. Quint just amazes me sometimes.

Hank is trying to learn to crawl which is a frustrating process for all of us. One day soon, he'll get really ticked off, gain super-human strength from his anger, and get it done for the first time. Right now, he's pushing around on his toes, sliding his face along the floor. If he would just extend his arms, he would be walking like a bear. But I can't really help him with that. When I try to lift his shoulders, he thinks I'm trying to pick him up. In the mean time, he scoots around a lot crying in frustration. He can roll and stretch to move around quite well. He can't go from laying to sitting on his own yet. He'll get there.

Quint will frequently beg and beg and beg to see either Nannie or Grandma online or on the computer. I always feel bad when we DO get on skype and then he takes off doing something else. When I pick up the phone, he has started telling me, "no, Mama, no talk on the phone." Monopolizing little so and so....

Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday update

Last night the temperature plummeted and it spit rain/sleet/snow for a couple hours. The result was a snow day for most businesses when there was only black ice on bridges. The high today was only 36 degrees so we didn't leave the house for the second day straight. Quint was a huge whiny butt. He may not be feeling good and I know Hank isn't feeling good. He's had a fever, has been pulling at an ear, and is way too snugly when I'm holding him. So going outside in this weather was out of the question. Mid-morning, when Quint wanted to lay in my lap and have me cover him up, I knew it was time to administer Advil all around. After that, things got better.

And snow day inspiration struck!

I got our camping tent out of the garage and put it up in the loft. Now let me tell you about this tent. It was bought at the beginning of my disaster preparedness binge when I wasn't willing to spend hardly any money on the project. I found this 9ft x 9ft tent on craigslist for $20. It's got a bit of a funky smell, but we have camped with it once. (What can I say, my wonderful hubby is a city boy to the core.) So it's not new, is sandy inside and has leaves on the outside. After Quint has caught me fiddling with it and is now completely underfoot, it dawns on me that one person is simply not capable of putting up a tent of that size. Picture lots of cussing and springy stick comedy here. I finally leave it until Uncle Four wakes up from his long winter's nap. I ask him if he thinks it will fit in the loft, or if I'm just smoking crack. He thinks it will fit!

We get the whole darned thing up only to realize that the door of the tent is as far away from the loft door as possible. And it is barely possible for me to get back to that door once the whole tent is up. So we take it down again and rotate it-twice-before we actually have it in the right place. And then I vacuum out the sand.

Quint is delighted with a REAL tent! Not just a blanket over dining chairs. I tell him I'll try to "find" the ball-pit balls so he can play with them in the tent. I close him out of the loft and get out the huge box of annoying toys. (The toy vacuum that won't stand up. The tumbling tiger that will only stand on his head. The psychotic teddy bear that speaks whenever you bump it in the middle of the night. And all the extremely heavy toys that look like you're supposed to throw them at your brother's head. And nearly 200 ball pit balls.) Quint hasn't seen the balls for at least a month. He spends about 30 minutes running around in the tent in the balls yelling "hello balls!" which after the 85th repetition, is actually "bellow halls!"

Awesome!

When Papa gets home, Papa and Quint disappear into the tent. Quint runs up and down the stairs several times, not looking for me (what a nice change!) and continues to play upstairs with Papa. After he's in bed, I peek in the tent and find that Papa had made them a nest of blankets, pillows, and a flash light. Very cool Papa time.

Hank is so much fun at this age. He's a great size. I can play rough with him and not throw my back out. I can dangle him upside down and make him giggle. He's animated and responds to conversation across the room. He communicates physically. When he's upset, he will clamp down on my arm and neck in a tight little baby hug. When I get down on the floor beside him while he's sitting, he will lean over with one arm, hug me, and sit back up to play. When he's hungry, he will lean over, grab my shirt collar with one hand and try to yank it down. Or he will try to nurse on my bare shoulder. When he's excited he will flop both arms and legs up and down, HARD, as if he's trying to take flight. He already has an "aw-shucks" look!

Since I first bathed them at the same time last Tuesday, it has finally occurred to them that they can do things TOGETHER! Hank has tried to lean over and hug Quint! Quint has started requesting a Hank kiss before bed as if he were, you know, an actual person in this household! There's only an occasional "No, Hank!" when he takes a toy. Quint will share his applesauce with Hank. They're starting to become, you know, brothers!! It's fun to see.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Hank's first word!!

Hank said his first word! He's nearly 8 months old. He was staring at the light above the kitchen table. He lifted hid arm, pointed at the light and said "light". I said, "that's right! It's a light!" And he smiled.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Hank's first tooth!!!

Hank has his first tooth! I found it this morning when he was gnawing on my finger. Quint and I jumped around singing, "he's got a tooth, he's got a tooth" and I think Hank said, "too" when we were done!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Random bits

Several years ago, our shower leaked through the floor to the downstairs kitchen table area. Well, it has started up again. But there's a weird delay. Sometimes Hubby will be done with his shower and already downstairs when it starts dripping through. Does not bode well. So the wonderful dudes who repaired it last time are coming tomorrow and will probably be ripping a hole in the center of our house.

And I really mean they are wonderful. They aren't going to charge us for this one since they should have fixed it last time. This is the same company who did $50k worth of repair to our house after the house wreck. You know, that time two teenagers drove a Bonneville through the people door to our garage. The impact scooted our Crown Victoria sideways 18inches and launched paint cans across the garage to leave inch deep dents the size of your head in the drywall. So we know these guys.

When little Hank cuddles up to my shoulder, he wraps his little arm around my neck and squeezes soooo tight! It is so sweet! Except when he grabs a handful of hair and twists, but still, I LOVE those baby hugs.

The other day, Hank was screaming his head off because I wasn't holding him, but lunch had to be made using two hands. I asked Quint to go over there and sing him a song. Sing him itsy bitsy spider. He went over there, sat down beside him and I heard him singing tunelessly and making the little finger motions. Sweetest thing ever!! After the song, he came back over to me. I asked him if Hank liked it. He looked back at Hank (no gap in screaming), looked back at me like I was nuts, shrugged, and went back to his toys.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Cookies!!! 20 minute video

Yeah, so it's way too long, but it's primarily for my family so stuff it.



Whistle Stop Park video and still shots