I love my son, really I do, but three is a
really annoying age! I had a daycare girl who was exhausting
and I struggled with her. I thought it was just her, but now
I’m thinking it’s more the age… well, the personality at that
age. He argues with EVERYTHING these days (“no, it’s not
nighttime!” or “no, my diaper isn’t poopy!” etc.), he ignores
me when I try to give him choices, and bedtime is usually a 2hr
ordeal. And he talks non-stop! Or at least has a constant
stream of noise coming from his mouth, sometimes words and
other times just random sounds and noises. I know it all has
developmental meaning, but man it can be really frustrating and
exhausting. And somehow, at the same times, he’s sweeter than
ever. His hugs are top-notch, full body hugs, he says “I love
you” all the time, and he takes care of Eve and explains things
to her (when he’s not pushing her over or sitting on her).
Today he said, “My name is Lex, your name is mommy, and the
baby’s name is Eve.” Adorable! And yet I find myself exhausted
most days. Back when it was just him and he was younger I could
quickly and easily react to his bad behavior with appropriate
consequences. Now it’s harder to react quickly and determine
what’s appropriate. He did help her up, but he pushed her over
in the first place. Or he took her toy, but she screeched so
loud my head is pounding (her new favorite trick). Ahhh… I
shouldn’t be venting here… He is sweet and beautiful (and
finally asleep!!) but I have to say that this is the most
difficult age so far. I’m sure 16 will probably be worse
:/

Our friend Joshua gave Lex and Eve his old
Sit-n-spin toy and they absolutely love it! Eve actually has a
goose egg on her head trying to get on the thing, but once
she’s on she loves it. I have a movie of the two of them that
I’ll post later. Gotta go now

Eve’s newest present:

No Nuts No Peanuts InfantToddler
T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress
Designed by
Sans Gluten

He gets himself into the strangest
sleeping situations. But he’s actually sleeping, so I’m
happy!

We had a visit from our good friend Joshua
today. Lex loves Joshua. Joshua apparently loves Lex too and
told me many times today that he wishes Lex was his little
brother, which is cute because just this morning Lex and I were
talking about why Eve has a big brother but Lex does not.

Anyway, they had a lot of fun. Lex
was exhausted because he didn’t nap. He’s been napping every
other day or so lately, and despite a long day at the lake
yesterday he didn’t nap. I was hoping for a nap today, but he
was too excited about Joshua’s visit. All day he kept running
to the window telling me that Joshua’s car is here. All day! So
when Joshua got here, he was raring to go and Lex was
exhausted. He did his best to keep up though. Joshua always
brings Lex nice presents (toys he no longer plays with) and
today he brought a keyboard (musical, not computer) and some
Froggy books. Lex just wanted to play with the keyboard and
read the books the whole time :)

The big news of the day however, is
Lex learned (or decided) to drink from a cup! No sippy top
needed. I bought big, bright-colored, plastic tumblers at the
grocery store a few weeks ago for my party last week. At the
store this week we saw kid-sized versions of the same cups. Lex
loved them (me too!) so we bought a few. Today when Joshua
asked for a drink I pulled these out (he is 7 and doesn’t need
sippy tops!). Lex wanted one too. I put a little milk in his
and explained that these cups don’t have sippy tops, so he just
started drinking. He’s not the cleanest and I had to remind him
to close his mouth so the milk doesn’t dribble out, but he did
it. Then he asked for more. It got a little messy when Joshua
got silly and Lex cracked up, spitting milk everywhere :)
Later, for dinner, I gave him the same cup with more milk
(Joshua was gone now) and Lex drank up. Yay Lex!! We’ll see if
he repeats this new skill tomorrow.

We took Eve in for her 15 month check up
today and alleviated all concerns about her previous weight
loss. In the past 3 months she’s gained 2.5 lbs (22.2lbs) and
2″ (31.5″) and going strong. The doctor said she looked
fantastic and was pleased with her growth and development. He
also gave me contact information for a local parents group for
kids with peanut allergies. Apparently they meet monthly. I’m
going to check it out.

Lex went to bed early tonight (no nap) and
Eve was very happy to have the run of the living room. She
bopped all over taking out toys and climbing on things and
fully enjoying the fact that he wasn’t knocking her over :) The
video is about 2min, but cute.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkNEIDhxdWI]

Eve has quite the personality these days and is a lot of
fun. She’s talking more and more, and likes to say “hi lex” and
“big ball” and a few other phrases. She is very silly and
easily tickled, and she has a really funny fake-ish laugh. The
other day at the grocery store I was kind of talking to myself
and said, “what am I doing? that’s silly” Eve heard the word
silly and started laughing :) It cracked me up. She’s also
fairly strong willed when she wants to be and doesn’t hesitate
to shriek and throw a mini-tantrum if things aren’t going her
way. Other times she is mellow mellow and happy to go with the
flow. I love watching the personality emerge. I think she’s
getting more beautiful by the day too.

She does
this funny little thing where she squeezes her hands and arms
in to her body and makes a funny face. It looks like she’s
bursting with happiness. I couldn’t get a great picture of it,
but this is kind of the tail end. She’s adorable
anyway.

Alan took the week off and we had a fun,
family-filled time. We went to MA to visit Lauren, who was in
town for a quick stay on her way to Venezuela. We met her and
her boyfriend at our favorite ice cream stand, then spent the
afternoon with them at her mom’s lake front home. The kids had
a great time playing fetch with the dog and examining the boat
trailer and it’s many fancy gears and pulley systems. That
night we went to Alan’s parents house to celebrate his mom’s
birthday (and set up a new computer for them). The kids were
exhausted by the end, but a good day was had by all. The next
day Alan joined us for our regular lunch in the park and saw a
puppet show. Lex actually sits still this year and watches the
show, something he never did last year. Of course Eve is always
on the move now, but she stays pretty close to the picnic
blanket… so far. Friday night was the Pampered Chef party and
therefor Friday was devoted to prepping for it. When I host a
party I like to do it right :) On Saturday we went to a
friend’s birthday party. They had a big backyard with lots of
food and things for the kids to do. We didn’t know many people,
but we all had fun anyway. Today was a little more low key. Lex
and I went bathing suit shopping and stopped at the grocery
store (on his insistence, really) then played outside with the
neighbors all afternoon. I got some GREAT landscape/gardening
advice and then we enjoyed dinner on the deck… until the
downpour and our hasty retreat inside :)

The kids have been sleeping pretty badly lately (ok, me
too, which is why I’m blogging at 2:00am), but I think it’s
mostly because of the crazy week. I tentatively have a busy
week going forward, but I may try to scale it back a bit and
get everyone back on routine. The kids have been going to bed
really late and we’ve been even later. I’ve been struggling
with the WW thing and I think it’s mostly because I’m tired all
the time! Next week may be all about routine, rest, and proper
grocery shopping!!

Anyway, enjoy the
pics.

Watching
the chickens and goats at our favorite ice cream stand. Leonard
helped Lex up and Eve is trying to figure out how she can get
up there :)

Lex,
peeking out of the covered bridge.

After a
long day, the kids cuddle on the couch to watch a movie. It
looks like a peaceful, sleepy scene, right? It lasted about a
minute before Lex was up and bouncing again. Poor Eve just hung
on and begged with us to put her in bed. She went all day with
just one 10 minute nap. I think she was asleep before we got
out of their parking lot.

Lex
decides to try curling up with a few good books. That too
lasted about a minute before he was on the move
again.

Eve sits
on daddy’s shoulders for a better view of the puppets. One
parent per kid makes outings much easier!

Fun in
the pool at Jonathan’s birthday party.

I think
the camera was on the wrong setting here, but she’s so cute
anyway. I found a few balloons left over from Lex’s party so I
made Eve a necklace :) It was supposed to be a flower, but
ended up looking like a very large ring, and she decided to
wear it around her neck instead. She had a lot of fun with
it.

We’ve been having some late nights around
here. The kids are finally in bed, though not yet sleeping, so
I thought I’d blog for awhile :)

My Pampered Chef party on Friday was
tons of fun. All week the weather forecast was nice and sunny,
but Friday morning a storm rolled in and the day was dreary and
overcast. I was bummed. I went out, by myself!, to a WW meeting
then got a mani/pedi (treat for losing 10lbs!) and grocery
shopping. I’m kind of crappy at the grocery shopping these days
and we seem to be going every couple of days :/ Got home to a
remarkably clean house and deck. My husband rocks!! Together we
finished cleaning inside, with the expectation of moving the
party indoors. However, around 5:00 the sunshine decided to
come out and the evening was beautiful. We made Cran-Raspberry
fizz (a tasty summery drink with raspberry sherbet) and Greek
Cheese Torta (sooooo yummy!). I also had chips & salsa,
veggies, cookies, and Peach Sangria. All very yummy. We had 10
guests and my friend Andi brought her husband (Alan’s buddy
Mike) and her boys, so while the ladies where having fun, the
men and boys were running around, laughing and sharing the
food. It was really relaxed and fun. People ended up staying
until it was dark and very chilly. And not only did we have
fun, but I earned lots of free products! I’m so excited to
start this business. So far I have 5 people who want to host a
party! Yay!

A little
note we found later that night.
I’m not exactly sure
what it means, but it’s cute.

I have not changed a poopy Lex diaper in
two days! No, I haven’t been handing them off to Alan and no,
we haven’t shipped the boy out for a few days. Instead he seems
to have discovered an honest interest in toilet training. He
still insists on diapers, which is ok because I’m not convinced
he knows he’s going to pee before he starts and he often runs
to the bathroom with a slightly damp diaper and puts the rest
in the potty. He’s been burning through the sticker chart and
earning TV show privileges daily. I made him a third chart
yesterday and numbered it 10 stars instead of 5 stars to earn a
show. He’s earned two shows already! He doesn’t seem to care
much about the shows as much as the stickers though. He has
also been asking to use the bathroom at public places and at
friends houses and I think he’s interested in seeing all the
different bathrooms and he remembers which ones have potties or
step-stools or which ones don’t flush! (outhouse at the
strawberry field last week) He’s making progress. I’m so proud
of him!!

PS. We had a fantastic Pampered Chef party on
Friday. I have lots to tell and will make a separate blog about
it soon, however it is late now and we had a busy day so I need
sleep.