Lots of Changes Soon

Well, I can finally say it on here since my current work knows - I have a new job! I am very excited about it and feel like it is a great program that I really believe in and will enjoy raising money for. What makes it even better is that it is at a non-profit childcare program and the kids will get to go there, so finally we have a preschool for them! Of course, there are challenges with changes but hopefully we can get them worked out. Insurance, the primary challenge right now, is miserable! Tyler's asthma (which has been so great - even with his cold he didn't have respiratory issues this time) is considered a pre-existing condition which means no coverage for a year and ironically his issues are the primary reason we cannot go even a day without insurance. I will do COBRA which will keep him covered but it is very, very, very expensive . As recommended by my new employer because of the high cost of their insurance, I was looking at individual family insurance options which are much more affordable, but most carry really high deductibles and still won't cover Tyler so we are kind of stuck. I really dislike insurance and mortgage companies right now! Insurance companies only cover the people who are likely to not need services and the threat and bully tactics of the land company are almost criminal. Ugh - BUT, the new gig will help and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am sad to leave my current job, and especially the cushy hours and vacation time (which is certainly not the case at the new place), but I get excited and motivated just talking about the mission and services of the program I will be working for and that's a good thing! The only negative (aside from the insurance) is that my last day here will be on a Friday and my first day there will be the following Monday of our anniversary week. With only one week vacation offered at the new place I was really hoping to have a little time to decompress and maybe have an overnight in celebration of nine years of marriage prior to starting, but my start date is already delayed more than they would like so I am just jumping in! Our daycare is closed tomorrow and we both have to work, but I may take off to watch them if we can't find another solution so hopefully between Thursday, Friday and Saturday I will remember to take some pictures and get them posted!!!

Silly and Sassy

Well, I actually didn't take any pictures yesterday. The kids had a blast at So-So and Ray-Rays. They got to ride on the "tractor," aka lawnmower again, played in the blow-up pool, got to eat a "big kid" table - and not a single picture to show for it. Luckily, Nana Pam snapped a couple and they are pretty funny. They aren't doing anything in particular, but both of their typical demeanors are captured in these photos. Tyler is just a silly, sweetheart whose smile will melt your heart. Katie is sassy and spunky and you can just see the mischief in her eyes!

Feeding the Goats

Well, I had good intentions to take the camera today and get some new pictures for this blog. Unfortunately, the struggle to get dressed, get them to put on shoes (only the ones they want to wear and not ones that match, of course), coerce them into the carseats, etc. meant that the camera was completely forgotten today on our excursion. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it - they had a great time. We went to the Tennessee Agricultural Museum and fed the goats. They both held the cup of food and let the goats eat - so brave. We wandered around the museum some and saw some big police horses. We then went to the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum to see some trains. They convince us every night to read the Thomas the Train book (along with 5 others - we are such pushovers), and are so excited to make the choo choo sounds and talk about the trains. In real life they didn't quite seem to get it!

Hopefully, the book reading will help us transition when we finally make the switch to toddler beds. I have decided that we will probably do the beds before potty training, because they can get out now - they just haven't done it yet - when they do there will be no keeping them in there! Everyone suggests to only do one "big" thing at once and they aren't quite ready for potty training. They still aren't very predictable, can't pull down their pants on their own, and don't tell us before going (they do afterward though). I took some readiness quizzes and we aren't far away - but it will probably be a few months after their 2nd birthday (unbelievably less that two months away). Our routine now is to get jammies on and then put them in their beds and then we read books and that helps with them getting so upset about getting into bed. They even sometimes ask to get in at bedtime so we can read "Bown Bear" or "Moon." I am hoping that they will get into the toddler beds to be read to in the same way - wishful thinking I am sure, but one can dream. No big plans for tomorrow, but I promise to take pictures whatever we are doing!

Sand!

Well, still no pictures. They were playing so well together the other night sitting at the table reading to each other (very, very sweet and cute) and I wanted to get a picture, but I was too lazy to go get the camera out of the car in the pouring rain since I figured the moment would be gone by the time I got back in. Maybe I will get some tonight - or tomorrow on one of my last Fridays off (so sad). We went to a friend's house last night for a baby shower/end of season tennis party and the kids discovered the sandbox she has in her backyard. They were such a mess, but Tyler especially had fun digging in the sand and filling up the truck. At the beach, it was more about the water, but I suspected that Tyler would be a fan of digging! They also had a blast climbing up the "big kid" ladder and sliding down the looong slide. Lance was helping them down, and I was standing behind them on the ladder so I couldn't see their faces (although I heard the squeals of delight), but he said that Tyler was smiling his so sweet and sincere smile the entire time and just looked like he was experiencing "pure joy." Katie did pretty good with all of the strangers - just a couple of moments where she got overwhelmed and wanted to be held. Tyler was caught off guard by the huge German Shepherd that greeted him at the door and the one following him, not to mention the 15 people all smiling and cooing at him so he was very hesitant for a while. He had his arms wrapped around Lance's neck and his head down and he wouldn't even look up or even let go (not even for his favorite - crackers) for about 30 minutes. By the end, though, he didn't even seem to notice the dog that was licking his ear and begging for food, and he was taking full advantage of being up past bedtime (we didn't leave there until 8:00 or so) by getting a crazy and funny second wind that made him run like a maniac from the kitchen to the living room and back again. Their daycare says that Katie is still spending more time in time-out than she is in playtime, and she has had a few episodes, but for the most part she is responding well to my new tactic - excessive praise either for something she is doing right, or something that Tyler is doing that I want her to do as well (like get dressed, sit in carseat, or eat).

Terrible, Terrible, Terrific (?), Twos!

Ok, so I am learning more and more each day why they are called the "terrible twos!" I have to give the munchkins credit, though, there are also some really great things happening at this age too. Tyler testing out his peripheral vision while spinning in circles was hilarious, even more so when he kept saying "all fall down" when he got too dizzy to stand up as if he was just doing ring around the roses! Miss, "I do it" Bug, will "read" Brown Bear to you complete with sound effects for every animal and she gets so excited when she guesses the next animal correctly - and her dancing that now includes a shoulder shimmy for some reason is still hysterical. They are getting less frustrated about communication nowadays because they are really doing outstanding at putting words and phrases together and figuring out how to tell us about things (everything). On the otherhand, they are getting more frustrated when things don't go their way because they now have a better idea of what they really do and don't want. They did excellent at the zoo on Friday and I was kind of lulled into thinking that we were in a blissful period of them being cooperative - BIG mistake. We went to Target on Saturday and all was well until we were looking at shoes for Tyler (aka - pod foot, he is the widest little feet that just keep growing almost before we can get him new shoes). Katie proceeded to throw her shoes off and "demand" that I put some new ones on her feet too (I had put the shoes against Tyler's foot to make sure they would fit and she saw me). Well, she doesn't need new shoes and we weren't getting her any and so we started to leave at which point she began to stand in the cart and wiggle her way out of the constraints to literally attempt to jump out. When I realized that keeping her in the cart was not going to work I offered to let her hold my hand and walk around. She did it, unwillingly, for a couple of minutes but then jerked her hand away and threw herself down in the middle of the aisle. So, I picked her up and told her that she would have to be carried until she could hold my hand like she was supposed to. She would do it for a minute and then jerk away again and was then picked up again. It was miserable, but I chalked it up to it being past her lunchtime and rapidly approaching naptime. Well, part two happened at Publix. We walked in and Tyler happily got into his cart (we have started just using one cart each because the car carts are so much trouble), but Katie laid eyes on the lone car cart and wanted in. I told her it was broken and put her in the cart. She promptly threw her shoes, started yelling and stood up. I caught her as she was about to fall out, again, and tried the hand holding thing again. Well, she threw herself down in the pasta aisle and since Lance was with me and knew what we needed I picked her up and went to take her back to the car. She was yelling "down," and "stop" and luckily "no mama." I say luckily, because if she hadn't been saying mama I swear I would have been stopped by other customers who thought I was stealing and/or abusing her. It took me about 20 minutes to get her in her carseat and then she was still screaming when Lance came back out and until we got home. I was so embarrassed - I know that many toddler parents have dealt with the same thing, but by looking at everyone staring at me you wouldn't think so. I just don't know what to do. Everyone says to ignore the tantrum, but you can't very well do that in the middle of a store (especially when I don't really like her laying on the ground at those places) and it just doesn't seem very effective even when we do it at home, but then again neither are time-outs and especially not a spanking since she is in a major hit, slap, grab, claw phase, so I am at a loss.

Poor Tyler was the victim in one of her many shenanigans this weekend. He had to go to the doctor on Sunday because he woke up with his eyes swollen shut and what looked like bruising on his eyelids and cheeks. He was diagnosed with a sinus and ear infection and we were given medicine, but he didn't seem to feel bad so he was playing as usual. Well, he was working on his blocks that Katie apparently wanted too and she bear hugged him from behind, clawed his cheek, and then wrestled him to the ground right onto a lego that pierced his neck. It was very red and bleeding and matched the gash on his already swollen cheek. He is such a trooper though, that he didn't even seem to care other than the perfunctory mention of "cheek hurt" and then he reveled in the fact that his daddy picked him up and gave him lots of special attention while Katie was being held in time-out by me. Don't think Tyler is an angel, by any means. He had meltdowns and tantrums, too - just nothing like his sister's. So, I go back to the title of the post - these episodes really are terrible and I hope that we can figure out some way to deal with them and that they don't continue to escalate as has happened with so many people that I know that really are not enjoying their children at this age. I want to remember that there are also so many wonderful things happening in the midst of the meltdowns and that for the most part it is really fun to be around these two in this time of so much learning and when they are starting to let their spunky and funny personalities shine through. I know that I am going to miss these days, and I will try to continue to tell myself that as I deal with my little Bug, who is fast approaching earning a new nickname - "brat."

"_____ Hurts"

"Hurts" has become the most often heard word around our house lately. I can't even think of a way to spell it like they say it (herwats, maybe), but it is certainly cute. What isn't cute, is that there actually was some truth behind it when Katie said it about her ear recently. We took her to the doctor and found out she has an ear infection, and since she had been unusually fussy and clingy for about a week - I shamefully guess that it wasn't very new. She seems to be on the mend, though, and now I know to be a bit more cautious with all of her time spent "floating" in the baby pool. Her recent congestion combined with her penchant for "get hair wet" by laying on her back, seem to be the culprit. In the last couple of days they have each told me that their hair, the air blowing on them in the car, their foot, hand, finger, head, belly, nose, eye, back, mouth, cheek, bath, fork, hot dog, and dipey all herwat so I am going to cut myself some slack on not immediately assuming that Katie's ear really did hurt!

It is my Friday - sadly, there are only 3 more short weeks left for me - and I think I am going to take the kids to see horses (since they currently think deer are horses) tomorrow if it doesn't rain. If I can manage the two of them and the camera I'll have some new pics!!!

4th of July Weekend

We had an awesome Holiday weekend. It started with the kids staying overnight (!) with So-So and Ray-Ray on Friday. Lance and I went out for dinner and drinks and had a ball while the kids enjoyed spending time playing in their grandparents backyard, reading lots of books (their new obsession - literally, obsessed) and eating yummy blueberries (it's pretty funny that at all of their grandparents houses they eat healthier than they do at home - I always thought that grandparents were the ones to give sweets and candy). On Sunday we took the kids to Centennial Park to feed the ducks and they thought it was great throwing the bread and watching the "quack quacks" gobble it up. I toyed with the idea of letting them stay up to watch fireworks, but playing in the backyard and baby pool all afternoon meant Katie was ready for sleep at 6:30 so that didn't really work out since it wasn't dark until 9:00! We went to the Adventure Science Museum on Sunday followed by more backyard play. It is amazing how exhausted the kids get after just a couple of hours in the baby pool, and on the swings and slide. I have to admit, we were pretty worn out too! I don't know if the kids have molars coming in, if Katie has an allergy, or if they picked up a slight cold - but Katie was unusually cranky (she is often pretty stubborn about getting her way but this was whining, I don't feel good, lay down on mama type of stuff). They didn't have fevers, and when they were in the pool or swings or out and about they were pretty good so I hope it isn't a lingering sickness - it really seems like teeth or allergies, both pretty common at this this age and time of year.

This is kind of an odd look - but Tyler has gotten so expressive with his "conversations" lately. He nods his head and scrunches up his face when he tells you what he is doing - like here when he was confirming that we would go "outside" after we cleaned up. It still amazes me to watch and hear them learning language and the nuances of talking TO someone.

My prissy little girl loves pretending that hairthings are necklaces and bracelets - unfortunately, though, she won't keep them in her hair. We are undecided about her hair. It probably needs to be cut because it is annoying her hanging in her eyes, but I don't want to try to keep trimming her bangs all the time so we think we should let it grow past eye level (but that means barrettes are a must right now- and she takes them out immediately)! Poor thing got her mom and dad's hair that just grows down and straight but she does have a few curls in her new "rat tail" :-)!

They were SO excited about the ducks.

The water hose was more Tyler's style - he was helping dad water our already dead grass and almost dead trees (I've loved the sunny weather, but guess we do need some rain some time). Katie is pretty fearless in the pool now - she "swims" laying on her belly and kicking her feet, "floats" on her back to get her "hair wet," and sprays the hose on herself and anyone around her.