Good bye dear friend.....

In a week or two I will be saying good bye to a good companion of mine. She's been there with me for over 2 years (plus some) and right by my side through a very special, important, huge, wonderful part of my life. It's going to be hard to say "good bye". It's almost like saying good bye to a very dear friend. But she's had a good run and it's time to put her to rest. I never thought it would be so hard and bring out so many emotions when it was time to throw out my breast pump. I stopped pumping with Jake shortly after he was a year and I will do the same with Scott. When Mommy's not around, he'll get whole milk instead. My pump is on it's last leg and it's time to put the tired pump to rest. In fact, I wasn't sure she was going to make it a month ago. It's definitely been used as much as it can be used. It's done for and soon I'll stop babying it along and put it to rest like it needs to be. She's worn out that's for sure. So I guess I am doing her a favor as she just can't take anymore. But still, I have an emotional attachment to her and it's going to be hard to say "good bye". Maybe instead of throwing her away, I'll put her in my baby keepsake box. haha Just kidding. That would be strange for my boys to be going through their baby things one day and come across mommy's breast pump. :)

Have any other mothers felt this same way???

This & That... and one more thing :)

** Sunday afternoon my oldest walked up to his brother and slapped him. I have read hard discipline regards to this activity will make it worse as he's doing it because he is somewhat jealous of his brother so disciplining him while comforting his brother makes it worse. Therefore, I simply took his red Lightning McQueen chair away for awhile. All I told him was "we don't hit people. That's not nice. Because you did that, I took your chair away." Well, it worked! The next morning he went to Grandma Rhonda's and one of the first things he said to her was "Mommy took my red chair." And he's been nicer to his brother. Oh I love finding something that works!

** Tonight we ran an errand and it was snowing. My oldest was very concerned about getting the snow off everything. He had a perfect solution.... "Get my vacuum cleaner" Brilliant. I'll get out the vacuum and clean up all this snow. :) Love it!

** My youngest just turned 11 months on Saturday and he's walking! Walking! It's crazy how he's doing things sooner than his brother. Just shows how much he is learning from his big brother. :)

Blogging Change

Wow, can't believe it's been since the end of October since I last blogged. It's not that I haven't had things to write about, because I definitely have. But November 1 the company I work for changed ownership, which meant change of our computer network, and now this site is one of the many blocked. And I used to write my blog while pumping at work. (TMI? Well then you are reading the wrong blog because this is a mommy blog after all! :)) So now I don't get to write during that time at work and I am just not on the computer much when I am home. So instead of having long, written out posts like this one, I will be posting short & sweet, to the point posts. Of course all Mommy related of course. I've done this with the books I keep for my boys as well. For each of my boys, I have kept a journal for them starting with their pregnancy and try to document as much as their life as possible. Someday I will give them to them. I used to write a letter to each as often as possible, which I aimed for every other day. Now I write list and they still get a documentary of their life by their mommy and I save time. Perfect!

3 in 1

So this post will be 3 posts in one. Yep, I have that much to talk about!

First, other mommies out there -- ever realize that something your child is about to embark on makes you worried, stressed, and nervous way more than you should. Yep, pretty much every milestone does that for me. Especially with my oldest as I am not always quite sure how to approach the situation. That is what makes me the most uneasy about the situation. But then your child makes it easier than you could ever imagine. And for that, you are VERY grateful! Thank you dear child. :) This new milestone I have been worrying about, nervous about, stressing how to do it correctly is potty training Jake. He had started on his own a few months back but then stopped having any interest as there was a lot going on our life. Then this week I bought him Diego big boy underwear (he picked them out too) and pretty much, the rest is history. He had used the potty and I didn't give him a choice, he was going to wear his Diego underwear. He had accidents but knew immediately after he needed to go to the potty - big progress! And yesterday, he only had one accident. And he went poopy in the potty and thought it was hilarious! At bedtime we still need something but last night he did not want to wear a diaper or training pants, "Big boy" he told me. So my wonderful husband talked him into wearing the training pants as they are big boy bedtime underwear. :) What a big boy he is! He is growing up way too quickly! (*sigh*)

Next, I must talk about my other perfect son, Scott. He is only 8 months old and such a sweetheart already! He is so loving and caring. And he already shares! I was playing with him earlier this week and I put his paci backwards in my mouth so I did put the same side in my mouth that he puts in his. He laughed and laughed. It was the funniest thing to him because Mommy didn't know how to use the pacifier. He grabbed it out of my mouth, turned it around, and put in my mouth the right way! I thought that was pretty funny and very impressive. He was already trying to help out and take care of others. How sweet is he?! Yep, I have pretty amazing kids! God truly blessed me!

And finally, as I am running out of time, I have found another product I am in love with.... Cloud b Sleep Sheep.

This product is AMAZING! And my life saver! For over a month now Scott will only sleep if he is laying on my chest. Needless to say, Mommy hasn't gotten very much sleep! Thankgoodness for this sheep! It has different sounds, the one we need is heartbeat. I have it playing after I put him in the crib and he is sleeping SO much better! He will sleep in the crib and is only getting up once or twice at night. Thank you Lord for this great invention!!

You just never know.

Yesterday I wanted to do a fun Halloween activity with the boys, particularly Jake as Scott wouldn't be able to participate but he would have fun watching. =) I decided we could make Halloween paper plate masks. Perfect I thought. This would be fun as Jake loves to draw so he could draw on the plate as much as he would like after I cut out goofy faces on the plates. Then we would have lots of fun wearing them and later "scaring" Daddy when he got home from work. Plus, it was a pretty much free activity since we have all items needed on hand, bonus! I was excited. I had these visions of a very fun activity. As all parents must know, you must go with the flow and your expections can easily be smashed to pieces in a matter of seconds. Everything depends on your child. And this activity was just that. I had goofy faces cut out on a couple plates with ribbon tied to them, all ready for Jake to draw on. I put the masks on and Jake loved it. He was laughing and have a lot of fun. And then it ended. No drawing was done, no more fun with these plates were had. Jake was so upset that the plates were not "whole" anymore. "Fix it, fix it" he cried. I tried changing them out with new "whole" plates but that wouldn't do as the masks were not whole. I tried to explain to Jake the pieces could not be put back on the plates that were cut out but "Fix it, fix it" was still be cried out. Eventually, Jake was caught up in playing with his cars and trucks. And the plate masks were in the trash. Just like my vision for this activity was. Oh well, we will try again next year. :)

Perfect.

My oldest, Jake, is absolutely perfect. Okay, no one is perfect and like all 2 year olds, he has his days. But, he is amazing and an incredible blessing to me. He is only 2 1/2 and already knows exactly what to say and do at just the right moment. What an amazing young man he will be and what an amazing husband he will be to one lucky lady some day. And I know that time will come all too quickly. (*tear*) Here are two perfect things he has done the last two weeks:

It was a weekend day and my husband was gone working hard so it was just me and the boys. And it was a very stressful day. Scott was fussy and wouldn't let me take him away from my side. Jake had just had Purple taken away and this was the worst day of that transition (lots and lots of whining for Purple). I have gotten less sleep than usual the last couple months so I am overly tired and when I am overly tired, my patience is a lot less than usual, and I will admit it, I can get grumpy. So I had had enough this day. I was past my limit when we were trying to get out the door to go say HI to Daddy and Jake was very insistent on having a cookie, so I gave him one. Then I was trying to my coat and shoes on and he was very isnsitent again. I tried telling him no but then he said "Mommmmmy", so I gave him one. Then he totally melted my heart and did just want I needed. He gave the second cookie to me. How sweet was it that he wanted to share and have a cookie with his mommy? Then as I have a hold of Scott's car seat walking out the door, Jake is yelling "tiss, tiss, tiss!" I put Scott down, get on my knees, and Jake runs to me and gives me the sweetest little kiss. Awwwww. Yep, perfect.

And that's not it. There's more. =) This past weekend Josh was working for a little bit again so it was me and the boys and we were doing great, having fun, getting the house clean, and so much checked off my "To Do List". Then it was time to clean the wood floor in the dining room and our bedroom. That's when chaos and all hit. Jake was watching TV in the living room and Scott was in his walker in the living room. The carpet keeps Scott walker there pretty well. I told Jake to stay in the living room while I cleaned the floor. He did, for a little while. Then it was run as much as I can on the wood floor. Plus, Scott wasn't happy he wasn't in on this fun so he was fussing. Add to that, the cleaner bottle wasn't working very well so it was a struggle getting cleaner out of the bottle on to the floor. And yep, there's more. My mop broke. Yep, at the beginning of the cleaning. Great. So on top of everything, I had to result in cleaning the floor with a sponge on my hands and knees. I was about to throw the towel in and forget about cleaning the floor when Jake was absolutely perfect once again. He was on the carpet, stopped where it meets the wood floor. Looked down at the wood floor so seriously and carefully and said, "OOhhhh, Shiny!" "Mommy clean it!" He was so happy and loved seeing the shiny floor I cleaned. Thanks sweetie, Mommy needed that. So yes, I finished cleaning the wood floor, with my heart smiling big thanks to Jake.

Yep, he's that amazing!

Goodbye Purple. Goodbye Yellow.

Purple and Yellow are gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone! No those colors aren't removed from my house. Although I don't believe there is much purple in my house. Purple and Yellow are the final names my oldest gave his pacifiers. He first changed their name from paci to Yellow and then changed their name to Purple. And they are gone. Thanks to my husband. He took action and took them away one evening. Yep, just like that. I was not thrilled to be honest with you. But my husband was right, I probably never would have been ready to do it. Good thing he took charge! Jake did surprisingly well too. There were only a couple melt downs, really I can only think of 2 times. Otherwise he would ask for Purple or Yellow and we would tell them it was gone. He's a big boy now and a little baby needed a paci so he now has Purple (or Yellow depending on which name he was calling it). And yes, that actually worked. A couple days into the removal of Purple and Yellow, we took Jake to a store to pick out a new toy. He wanted a new tractor. So he looked and looked and looked and finally picked out his new tractor he got for being a big boy and giving up Purple/Yellow. And the rest is history. He will occasionally say "Purple?...... Nooooo". He knows it's gone and he doesn't need it. He has even surprised me by not trying to use Scott's paci. Instead he will find Scott's paci for me and give it straight to Scott's mouth. He knows baby's need pacifiers and he's not a baby anymore. What a big boy he is. (sigh) He is growing up too fast. The only real struggle with this "milestone" was bedtime. He had a hard time soothing himself to sleep and calming down to go to bed. It has improved but it's not as struggle free as it once was. We'll get there. And also, Jake seems happier without Purple/Yellow. Not sure why but he just does. He is also using my hair less as his security blanket and is talking LOTS and LOTS! He really is growing up way too quickly right before my eyes. I better not blink or I will miss it.