This Minivan Life

So today was... well not a win day. Let's start by saying that Zach is cutting at least 6 teeth. I think it could be 8, but he chomped down on my hand (breaking the skin) and I didn't try and check again. So he's been screaming since... Friday. And Michael, oh sweet Michael has decided to be really really feisty and mean lately. So there's that. On a normal day totally fine. Add to it the 20 days of rain we have received and the one day of sun (yesterday) and they have cabin fever. So today went fine except that Michael woke up SCREAMING at 6am and never really went back to sleep. Brian went up to get him calmed down and they both were a little bit cross. By 7 both kids were up, by 9 both were yawning and asking for naps, by 10 Michael went to school and Zach went down for a short lived nap. We tried naps after school but somehow bothering your brother is more fun and by 4 they had to be physically restrained from each other. Brian also had to work late, not normally

Zachary graduated to the toddler bed today. It was a little bit sad, but it was time. This kid is a daredevil and his brother loves to encourage him. I walked in and he was almost out of the crib and Michael was cheering him on. About 10 minutes later I started converting the crib, if he gets out once he will be able to do it again and again.  Big kid! His first night went well. Ok the bedtime went well, the night isn't over. I put him in it, he pointed to his puppy and pacifier, we read a few books and I left. I don't know how the morning will go but the beginning went ok. He has been waiting a big kid bed since we made Michael's low again and I highly doubt he will be satisfied with the toddler bed for long. When Mikey moved on to a big kid bed it was because we needed the crib for zach, this time it's for Zach's own health and safety... because he's a crazy person. It's a little sad he's growing up so fast, but as he has a pacifier (and it's

I think of blogging a bit like family history. I don't keep a journal but I try to update this on a semi regular basis. I like having a record of some of the happenings of our family and then a way to refer back to them, link them to related events, and find them... because I am awful at keeping up with paper. So in a very rough way this is our family journal. And yes I would love to print out each year and look through it, but I havent done it yet. But for now, it's good to be able to look back as "see" things that happened after the memories begin to fade. So life in a nutshell. Life with two children is... loud. For those of your with more than two children I cannot even being to imagine how you keep yourselves sane. For me, well the sanity is waning on a daily basis, especially between 4:30-6:30pm. I would imagine that as our kids get bigger and have more activities things will become even more chaotic, but for now I think about those two hours as a test of endu

If Zach was a superhero his name would be Danger Man. Anything that can be climbed is. He has NO fear.  You would think standing on the table might hurt his feet. you would be wrong that that would stop him. Michael made it two rungs up the ladder, Brian had to pry Zach off. He gets on the racetrack table and dances. Yep. 

Last weekend Camp Mabry hosted a Touch a Truck event. Basically they park a punch of community,  military, and construction vehicles in once place and kids can touch them, climb in the driver's seat, and generally have a blast with trucks. You pay an entrance fee, ours went towards the Austin Children's Center and walk around. Our kids had a blast. Michael really wanted to sit in a school bus so we waited in line for that one. The other one he wanted to see was a fire truck, but by the time we found it they were grumpy and tired so we'll have to do that one next year.  Since the event was at Camp Mabry, we got to see the jets too. Michael really wanted to touch them, but when Brian lifted him up he was too nervous to reach out and touch them... Zach on the other hand... yeah he tried to climb them.   A clean garbage truck.  Climbing the ladder until the garbage man stopped him.  Waiting in line for the school bus  You can't see t

Before this feeling of gratitude wears off, because it will really soon. I have to say there is one thing I am thankful about with Michael's no napping. If you havent met the kid you don't know that he is the Energizer Bunny. He just doesn't stop. He pushes through the exhaustion and doesn't let it stop him... except when he's grumpy. He can go all day and be fine, unpleasant towards the evening but fine. Zach on the other hand... not so much. Today I took Zach to the grocery store after we dropped Michael off at school and about halfway through our very short trip he was SCREAMING "NIGHT NIGHT! NIGHT NIGHT!" followed by "PupPup!" it was 9:30am. He loves his naps. Sometimes I forget that while Michael can go on forever, Zach cannot, zach very much wants to be back in his bed about 20 minutes after his brother is dropped off at school. Which is awesome... unless you need eggs...

Michael Plays on a T Ball team. it's a bit hilarious to watch, possibly even better than 3 year old soccer. Let's say the team loves to bat but hates fielding. And the baseball parents seems to take it way more seriously than the soccer parents. Brian is coaching again and he and his co-coach have done a great job. I deleted the photos from the first game (still lamenting that), but I took a few today. And luckily it was also picture day so I got one of the whole team, you can't really see their faces, but it's a photo.  The Fort Wayne Tincaps   Stretching before the game.  Trying to figure out batting order  Waiting for the ball. He is standing so we are going to count this as a win.  Playing 3rd base and waiting, and his glove is still on.  Waiting to bat  Baseball ready... yeah... not so much. So a couple of things about T Ball. I need to take more photos next week. but by the end of the first inning (there are two) more than half the pare

On this Mother's Day Eve (go with it, it's a thing now) I thought it would be fitting to say a few words to a few people. To my Marby, Well lots has been said, but a few more things things should be say. Marby, you my friend have the patience of a saint. I do remember you yelling (let's be realistic, everyone has their moments), but for the most part you were pretty patient. I didn't appreciate it, but now that I have my own crazy people I often find my self (hiding in the bathroom) wondering how you didn't scream at us, lock us in our room, or pretend we weren't talking to you. Maybe I need to learn more patience. You also taught me that moms have flaws. Don't take it the wrong way, this is a good thing. I recently read and article on Facebook (yep, it's true) about how we often idealize our mothers, hold ourselves up to that idealized standard, and then struggle when we can't meet it. While I will admit that you were an awesome mom and we all su

The title of the post might have thrown a few of you off. Let me clarify. Recently I have been asked (on more than one occasion, by different people who hadn't heard the previous conversations) about Zach's adoption. Yeah....  So to stop any further inquiries into Zach's "adoption" let me show these photos: Zach is NOT adopted, trust me friends I have the stretch marks to prove it. While he may not look like the rest of us (and I beg to differ, he kinda does), we did not adopt him.  see he's in there.  night before zach was born checked into the hospital... not to watch someone else give birth to him.  I don't really know what to say in these situations. The first time someone told me how kind it was that we had adopted an african american baby. I didn't know what to say... he's not african american or adopted. and the second time someone told me he looked just like "The Rock". You know the wrestler and that he was a