This Minivan Life

My darling little sister is getting married! yes that is right, little emily is engaged! look how happy she is, pretty sure this is a real smile. The big day is June 19th, and we could not be happier for them (we couldn't be happier... hmm that reminds me of wicked)! Congratulations Emily and Colin! Brian is excited to have another hostage in the family, it's about time he had a friend with all the crazies.  and because they are engaged we can post this one too, though we will most definitely not be condoning any more kissing pictures!  and her ring, isn't it pretty. I can't believe she is engaged! And because I found it here is a photo of Brian and me the night we got engaged. It has been 8 years and let me just say friends you can tell it has been awhile. Michael saw a picture of our wedding on the fridge a few months ago and said "Mommy it's daddy and Emmy!", yes we have aged a bit over the past 8 years, but the laugh lines are worth it, rig

So remember the terrible awful no good very bad day? well it turns out there wasn't a bee sting, instead we were just bad parents. Okay maybe that is extreme, but by monday it wasn't better. he wasn't walking, he was crawling, he wouldn't put weight on his foot, and when he walked he cried. We thought he was a faker (hence the terrible parents), because he is kinda dramatic about things, but two pediatricians informed us kids don't fake limp (awesome). so we spent our first day in dallas (more on that later) at the pediatrician and then at children's getting X-rays of his foot and ankle because there was the possibility of a fracture... waited for the news... no fracture. So the pediatrician told us to have him walk it would get better... improved slightly but still not really. Got home took him to the pediatrician here... she thought he may have fractured his tibia (yes a broken leg) so we got more x rays (luckily the doctors office and imaging center are minut

We have been in austin long enough for me to notice a few differences between here and dallas and develop opinions about them. 1. people in austin love to tell you how great austin in- this goes beyond the normal texas pride, it is almost annoying. 2. no donut shops- they seem to be in every shopping center in dallas, but I have only seen one here and it was a fancy one, it even had a name instead of the generic "donuts" sign. 3. there are a lot of goodwill stores/centers (whatever they are called). In the town where we live there are at least 2, Cedar Park is not that big. I am going to have to check out the one by us, just for kicks and giggles. But i guess the hipsters need somewhere to shop- was that mean, okay it kinda was. 4. the shopping bags. This is the one i need to elaborate on. Austin has a city ordinance banning plastic grocery bags, stores will sell you either reusable bags ($1+) or brown paper bags ($0.10), but there are no plastic bags within the city

At the risk of sounding like a whiner, no scratch that, I don't even care at this point, today was an awful day, actually a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and I am thinking of moving to Australia (name the book that references). I complained yesterday that after 3pm Michael and I aren't friends, well today it was as if the universe said "you think that's bad, well try this (insert evil laugh)". Nothing went terrible I mean in the grand scheme of things- we all lived, we didn't wreck our cars, the house didn't burn down, etc... but it wasn't a great day. It started... early, well before sunrise. Michael woke up, and he was grumpy, I could hear him talking about how he needed to sleep, but he never went back to sleep. And he continued to be grumpy, all through getting ready, all through breakfast, and all through the brief period of playtime before we were about to leave for the library. This is where is gets good. He asked to play outside and

I have decided that my 2 year old and I only get along until 3pm. By 3 I am ready for him to go. I know it sounds awful, I have tried to change it, but it's the truth, we can only be friends until 3. I think part of the problem is that he wakes up... before the sun. This morning the sunrise was at 7:11am (thank you iPhone), Michael woke up around 6:47am. Which is fine... I guess. I was up with Zach, and I'm usually up and in the shower at this time (I know moms with school kids are up earlier, my time will come), but really I would like to take my shower in peace. The other problem is he doesn't nap, I know kids stop napping at a certain point, but they start napping so there's that, and sometimes they are fine without them... he is NOT fine without a nap. He is a grump, and the grumpiness really starts to escalate around... 3pm. By 7pm I am thinking about running away to a new family, selling him to the circus, or not having any more kids- yes this is how cranky he get

So we didn't give up on potty training, though I will admit I seriously considered throwing in the towel and waiting until this summer when Michael turns 3. But we didn't give up, we continued on and then... he pooped in the potty. And then he did it again, and again, and again. I am not going to say that we are potty trained yet, because I think that might jinx things (yes I am being superstitious about this), but I think we are definitely heading down that road. We haven't tackled nighttime or naps (well he doesn't take naps so this isn't really an issue), but I think that's ok. We have had clean dry underwear for awhile. The only "accidents" have been in his diaper during fake naps, and even those seem to have calmed down. He knows when he needs to go and tells up, and is willing (most of the time) to go to the potty when we request he do so. I can't wait until we are done, but I am happy to report that at least the process has been started! Wah

My sweet Zach is 2 months old already (well yesterday). I want to say these last 2 months have flown by, but they really haven't, they have been really really long. But Zach has been a dream baby (please stay that way!). Before I say a few things about this sweet kid here are his stats, what do they tell you, well if nothing else that breastfeeding works (take that mean doctor that told me I would never be able to feed Michael, hah i thought I michael was proof breastfeeding works... no Zach is... tangent), and that I have giant children. Weight: 14lbs 10oz (yes that is correct) 95th percentile Height: 23 1/2 inches 75th percentile Head circumference: 39.9 cm 50th percentile - Zach loves to be in constant motion. He has a bouncy seat (I went and bought one) and it is great. It just slightly bounces him, he loves it. He loves the stroller, the car, really anything that keeps moving, as soon as the movement stops he is unhappy (red lights, stop signs, batteries dying, etc)

We seriously needed new photos of the boys. They grow so fast that the ones I had taken were outdated. Plus we have a new house and I need to put up new photos. Mikey doesn't usually cooperate with me but today he did (yay!) I have tons of cute photos, but haven't been through them all yet, but here's a preview. His turned out really well. Zach's didn't turn out nearly as well because they were done indoors, but tomorrow should be a warm day maybe we will try his again outside.  This one made me chuckle, it is such a Brandon look. He thought he was so cute, and he is.   You can't really see the bike in the photo but Mikey wanted me to take a picture of him as the fastest racer, and let me just say he is fast! he looks so grown up here!  He was trying to see himself in the camera, this one just looks funny to me.  He was showing me his grumpy face, too cute! Look at that kid, so handsome! and so grown up! this one is getting framed. 

I love going places and getting looks from people that don't have kids. I think these people are pretty easy to spot because they look horrified when a kid acts like, well a kid. I was at Target the other day with Brian and the boys and Michael decided to throw a fit, and Zach decided to cry. We don't always have moments where they are both crying but sometimes we do, because they like to see how crazy they can make me. So they were both crying, one because he had an actual problem, and one because... he's 2. Michael was yell crying and Brian was horrified, because he doesn't go places with the two of them much so this was kind of an unusual experience for him. Me, I was still looking for what I needed, sometimes I can tune out the crying because what else are you going to do about it? trust me if I could put a stop to it all of the time my life would be much less stressful, but you can't so you have to deal with it, plus we had already made the effort to leave the

He pooped! Yes this is blog worthy. I think i have spent a good portion of the last 2 1/2 years focused on who's pooping and how much, so poop it no longer really phases me (sad I know). As I posted previously we have entered the wonderful and terrible world of potty training at our house. Mostly it is just terrible, no it is all just terrible. I think we have the peeing part down, he knows he doesn't like to have wet pants, he knows how to pee, can do it on command, and can give enough warning that you can find a bathroom before he has an accident. Pooping is another story. We had two poop accidents yesterday, and let me just say I was ticked. I know i shouldn't have been but I was because i knew he could go in the potty and he just didn't want to. Today when we were at Ikea Mikey said his tummy hurt and he needed to poop. We rushed to the nearest bathroom... 20 minutes later nothing. We start our walk over, ikea is close enough to our new house that we can go for a wa

I found these two photos and I had to post them (or post them again). Mikey looks so little in this picture, like a different kid, and come to think of it so does Zach.   Grammy and Zach. Zach looks totally different now, but this is a great picture of Grammy.

I didn't get a photo of Zach's first bath, he is the second child, but I am going to say it was because I was too busy enjoying time with him, instead of laziness.  So here is a bath his second week. He did not enjoy it. He actually didn't enjoy baths until we moved and I realized that he likes his baths to be so hot. Both my kids like their baths to be really really hot, but Zach in particular. He does not like to be cold... ever.  Mikey helped with the bath.   It was a bit more complicated than I thought  Mikey helped some more  Zach really really did not like the bath  Really didn't  Mikey liked playing in the bath after mach's torture was ended.

Here are more photos of Zach, it's time to post the pictures Poppy met Zach. He was a fan.   Zach loves to nap with people, which makes people want to nap with him even more! So sweet.  See you can't help but want to cuddle him  Look at this adorable baby. By this point he was starting to get a little bit chubbier. So cute!  Look at this sweet baby!  Again with the angry face.  Scream crying! He really doesn't cry that much.  ooo...  So relaxed.  See people like to cuddle him and sleep.  Sweet boys.  Little guy. Look at how big those booties are in comparison to his body. So sweet. And those skinny legs, yeah not so much anymore.  Emmy was not impressed.  Poppy used his usual annoying baby voice when talking to Zach. Emmy almost hurt him.  Emily was contemplating punching Poppy at this point. he loves to the do the annoying voice, it is almost as delight