Our Money Tree...

...or well, our money child. Being as there is never a dull moment in the Carraway house, today was no exception. We had a fabulous Monday- a great breakfast of blueberry muffins, fresh strawberries and blueberries, off to the gym so the boys could play in the playroom and momma could get her 5mi run in, a nice shower for momma, home for lunch, lots of playing outside, a great nap for all four of us, more playing outside, dinner, a super fun bubble bath, and then it happened. Marshall found a penny in our bedroom and had it in his hand. I was busy getting the other two boys dressed for bed, so I told him to keep it in his hand. We came downstairs and next thing I know the penny is in Marshall's mouth. I told him to spit it out, but it was too late. I did the whole finger swoop thing and quickly realized it was down, as in down the hatch!! He was a little upset, but overall fine. No choking or anything. I figured I'd just watch for some money in his diapers over the next few days, but the more I thought about it the more I thought I should call our pediatrician just to make sure....As I expected, I am supposed to just watch for Marshall to poop money!! Of course this happens on a Monday, when Robert will be at work the next four days to escape having to dig through dirty diapers, but oh well. Maybe Marshall is the end to the recession!! :) Our own little money child. I'll let you know how it all comes out. Literally and figuratively...

Summer Vacation

This post is coming a little late, as we went on vacation over 2 months ago, but better late than never, right?!

Well, June 20th we loaded up the car (the rental Kia Sedona, that is. See previous post about me wrecking the Pathfinder!) and began the 15hr drive to Destin, FL. I say we "load up the car" as if we just piled everything in and drove off in an instant. Not the case. Those of you with small children know what I'm talking about. I spent about 10 days packing for this trip and organizing so that we could "load up the car" on the 20th and drive off. But anyway, we drove to Alabama and spent the night. The drive there was rather uneventful, other than fighting, screaming, wanting out, etc. Staying in the hotel for one night is when the fun began!!

We had two rooms and decided to put the big boys with daddy in one room and me with Graham in the other. Daddy said he had quite a good night, that was not the case for me. Graham was up ALL night long. Nursing, crying, nursing, squirming and repeat. I don't think he liked being out of his normal surroundings. But, we survived. The next morning we loaded up again and started the final 3-4hrs of our drive.

The boys were becoming increasingly tired of being in the car. They had eaten so many Smarties and Dum Dums that they no longer responded to them as my bribe for good behavior in the car. They were also quite tired of their movies we brought for them to watch. I guess Tom and Jerry and Baby Einstein loose their appeal after about 12hrs on repeat. Don't worry, they had lost their appeal to mommy and daddy, too. We were tired of hearing them!!

So, what better way to liven up our last few hours on a two lane highway in the middle of nowhere?? Well, Daddy kills Peter Rabbit!!! Yes, you heard me right. We are driving behind a truck pulling a trailer and then all the sudden something hits our windshield and leaves a wonderful mark. It seemed that the truck had actually hit the rabbit and it flew up onto our car. LOVELY!! Guess what's for dinner, boys??? RABBIT! Gave us all a good laugh. :)

We also had some other good laughs along the way, too. Patrick had decided that his carseat hurt his penis. So, every little while he would yell out, "My penis hurts!!" We all laughed, as there was nothing I could to about it. His carseat was buckled properly and not too tight. I kept telling Robert that he may need to have the "adjusting" talk with his son rather soon. Maybe Patrick needed to "adjust" himself, that was the only reason I could think of as to why his carseat was hurting.

So, we finally make it to Destin, get checked in at the condo, do the HUGE grocery run, get tucked into bed and start our first official day of family vacation!!! The first day went rather well. The boys loved the pool and mommy loved getting some alone time by the water while the boys were napping. But, then Tuesday came. We were all ready to head out to the pool when Patrick fell/jumped off the couch and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table. Lots of screaming and blood followed. So, we got him settled down, cleaned up and debated on whether to take him to Urgent Care or not. It's pretty funny how when it's your own child all of your knowledge totally goes out the window!! If it were someone else's child I would have known exactly what to do- go get staples! But, since it was my own child, the RN in me totally vanished and the worried mommy took over. We ended up spending the better part of the day in the Urgent Care getting two staples and going to buy LOTS of treats at the gas station. Ring lolipops and Dum Dums, to be exact. This leads me to our next interesting vacation experience.

We are standing in line to pay for said goodies and a young man (mid 20's??) keeps looking at us. He finally gathers up the nerve to talk.

Man: Uh, ma'am, uhhh do you know that your son has, uh, something in his head????

Me: Oh, well, we just got staples in our head, didn't we, Patrick?! (trying to be light hearted and postitive, so as to not freak out Patrick again.) He fell and cut his head pretty badly, but it's all better now, right Patrick?!

Man: (looking rather confused) Oh.

What I really wanted to say: No, you idiot. I didn't notice that my child's head is stapled back together. Or, well, he got ahold of the stapler this morning. I was wondering why it was empty! Better yet, totally freak out and start screaming, "What happened to my child???"

But anyway, Patirck's head was fixed and we had to spend the rest of the day inside, out of the water. He did not seem to be in any pain and was pretty proud of his staples.

On Wednesday evening we decided to head down to the beach in our "picture outfits" to take our annual beach photos. Everything started off quite well until out of nowhere Patrick's nose starts dripping blood. We think he and Marshall bumped heads or something. So, we try to get that settled down and clean up the nice once-white-polo-now-blood-stained-polo and get our pictures done. The kids all have a blast and just as last year, I am wondering why in the world I forgot to bring a change of dry clothes. They always end up in the water and I have no towels or clean clothes for the drive back, as we go to a rather quiet, secluded part of the beach to take pics. But, we did get some nice shots. :)

Thursday rolls around. It's been a nice week. Boys have had a blast, mommy and daddy got some date nights in and then it's ant bite time. Awesome....not really. We come in from the pool and Patrick keeps talking a bug that went down Marshall's neck. I blow it off, not really making much sense to me at the time. Then, Marshall starts squirming and freaking out. I look down his shirt, take it off and sure enough, there's ants. And, there are ant bites, too. Ugh. Now Patrick is basically, in his own 3yr old way, saying, 'I told you so." But, got it all under control. If only my children were not totally unafraid of every bug on the planet!!

We spend Friday enjoying our last day and packing for the drive home. We decide to do it in one day, instead of two as we did on the drive down. We also had a little birthday party for Marshall, as his second birthday was just a couple of days after we got back to Cincinnati. On Saturday we load up, again, and start to drive. The drive goes basically as planned. Lots of fighting, screaming, wanting out, etc. We stop at a Wendy's a couple hours outside of Cincinnati to eat dinner and put the boys in their PJ's. I am changing the boys and Patrick got a little frustrated because he couldn't get his clothes off. What does he do?? He begins to say, "Dammit, ugh...dammit, dammit..." with increasing frustration. Hmmm.....where did he hear that?? Couldn't be mommy now, could it?? I tried to turn around, so as to not let him see that I was about to burst out laughing. It was pretty funny!! I decide to ignore the whole thing, as if I make a big deal out of what he said, he will keep saying it.

We pull into our driveway late Saturday night, exhausted, but so happy to be home and even happier that we made the trip in one day. We had a blast at the beach and look forward to going again, but let's be honest, there is nothing better than your own home and bed after a long day of driving!!

Our sweet Marshall

Our big boy, Patrick

Our great little family :)

Cousins!!!

Daddy and Graham

Daddy and the big boys

Mommy working on the bloody nose

Marshall's early birthday celebration

Mommy and Daddy with the big boys at the beach

You think Patrick and Marshall are done with me taking pictures?!

Lounge time for Patrick :)

Ready and waiting to head to the pool!

Patrick's boo boo

Mommy Blogs

So, Graham woke up at 5am to nurse and went back to sleep. It's that awkward time where it's not really worth it for me to go back to bed and have to wake up 45min later. What do I do?? Well, I make my coffee and decide to Google "Mommy Blogs." I'm addicted!!!! I have been sitting here with my coffee and my video baby monitor reading various Mommy Blogs. Yes, this is how I am choosing to spend my very few free minutes of the day. But, these things are pretty darn funny! I LOVE mommies, especially HONEST mommies. I mean, come on, all children to insane, funny things that they get in trouble for and are embarrassing to us moms and I just love moms who are willing to share these stories. Makes me feel better. I am NOT alone! Now, enough about honest moms, just see my Facebook page and the craziness that has been going on over my sarcastic status updates....But anyway, I'm off to start to add some of these silly Mommy Blogs to my "Follow" list and ultimately wast more time in order to avoid folding the several loads of clothes that are sitting next me, empty the dishwasher and oh yeah, make breakfast for my amazing three little men. :)

St. Anthony and Duct Cleaning

Well, as usual, there is NEVER a dull moment in the Carraway house. The latest, you wonder? Well, Patrick managed to get out of bed during nap time today and get his hands on my night guard and put it down an air vent. What is his deal with air vents lately???? You do not want to know what it took to get any info regarding where the night guard went. I promised him a skateboard (which he has been wanting ever since he saw some guy on one on TV. We told him not until he's 15!) a Happy Meal and even a pony. I was desperate. And, to be honest, there is no telling if the night guard is really even in the air vent or not! Before retrieving this info from Patrick I did a lot of praying to St. Anthony, as a dear friend of mine recommended. No, we are not Catholic, but like I said, I was desperate. The night guard did not turn up, but at least Patrick told me what he did with it. So, my next step is to call Coit and see if they can clean our ducts or snake them or something to see if we can recover the lost night guard. All of this for a crazy night guard sounds ridiculous, but it is a $600 night guard. So, it's worth it to me. Robert has no knowledge of today's event, but I'm sure I will tell him this evening and he will be pretty not happy. I've only had the stupid mouth thing for a week and I've already managed to loose it!! Well, off to start calling Coit and see what our options are. In the mean time, if any of you have a connection to a dentist that could replace my NTI $600 night guard, let me know!!

Just In Time

Well, today started off a little hectic. Boys woke up earlier than normal, so I didn't get to drink my coffee and get breakfast made in peace which always makes for a crazy start to the day. Then, while walking out of Subway with the boys I dropped my 32oz fountain Diet Coke on top of Graham's head in the stroller. Everyone in the restaurant thought I was a nut, especially when I picked it up off the floor and drank what was left. You can't let a Diet Coke go to waste just because it's been on the floor!!! And, Marshall peed in his underwear in the car on the way home. (I put him in underwear today and he was soooo excited and proud. I was hoping this would be a deterant to the whole pooping on the floor thing!) When we got home the boys were in rare form and super rowdy. They dumped their water they had with lunch all over the dining room and kept getting up from the table and running away from me. So, needless to say, I was a little frazzled. But, just at my breaking point, Marshall told me he needed to go pee in the potty. We marched in the bathroom, sat on the potty, he pushed like a mad man and turned all red and then it came. A little trickle of pee and a tiny piece of poop!!!! HOORAY FOR MARSHALL!!!!! The sweet look on his face totally made up for their behavior this week. Marshall had the biggest smile and his eyes just lit up. I loved it! He kept saying, "I did it, Momma! I pee in potty! I poop in potty!" We called Daddy at work to tell him our exciting news and he was quite impressed. However, during this time Patrick pooped in his underwear instead of the potty. Oh well. I can't have it all, right?! But, naptime went smoother. We read stories and the big boys went to sleep. Graham decided to end his nursing strike and nursed like a champ until he was fast asleep. Needless to say, all is good in this Momma's world! :)

The Anal Stage

Well, the pooping situation has gotten out of control in a BIG way. Yesterday during nap both boys took off their clothes, pooped in their room and put it everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE!!! Dresser, nightstand, walls, bedding, back of bedroom door, carpet, stomach, hands, head, face, hair, etc. It was not pretty. We spend the better part of the afternoon and evening cleaning up the mess and both boys received major spankings. As a result of this behavior, I have been doing some research. Evidently, according to Freud, my children are in the Anal Stage of development. We have to get this under control so that they don't become anal retentive adults, or on the opposite side of the spectrum, reckless adults. I don't know how much of Freud's stages I believe, but the bottom line is that we have to do something and make sure they have boundaries while they are young. We are working on this. I am striving to be super consistent in my reactions, punishment, etc. and really work on moving past the negative behavior, so as to not dwell on it all day and make it change my behavior toward them. I also invested way too much money in one of those video baby monitors. The one I bought is pretty amazing! The camera can pan and zoom and is in color during the day and has night vision for at night. However, my boys are way too smart for their own good. Patrick noticed the camera moving on top of his dresser and wanted to know what it was doing. I explained to him that it makes mommy and daddy able to see EVERY move they make in their room. He didn't have much to say about it this morning after I told him, but the little booger unplugged the camera during nap time!!! I plugged it back in and told him to never touch it again. We'll see how it goes.
But, on a lighter note, I do plan to tell every future girlfriend this story. Especially the ones I deem not worthy on my beautiful little boys! ;)

Ummm, yeah...about that 'Never a Dull Moment' post...

Question: How does one clean poop out of an air vent???? As I was typing the previous post I heard the big boys awake in their room. I went up to find that not only had they emptied their entire dresser, Patrick had pooped and managed to stick it in the air vent. The air vents in our house are at the baseboards, so I guess he thought it was a nice hiding place for his feces. Any ideas on how to clean this up, please send them my way.

Never a Dull Moment

Monday- Shoo fly don't bother me....Well, Patrick has become quite the fly swatter! It got really quiet in the playroom, which is always cause for concern, and I went in just in time to see that Patrick had killed a fly with his toy hammer. He brought the hammer to me, quite proud of his accomplishment, as asked me to wash it. Later, he went in the kitchen and got a paper towel and came back with another fly! I'm going to assume that he must have amazing hand-eye coordination because I can't swat a fly to save my life!!!!

Yes, I took pictures of our dead flies. Gross, but pretty impressive for a 3 yr old!

Tuesday- We were at the gym in the morning so momma could get her run in when I was called to the playroom. I went in and found that Patrick had pooped in his underwear. He was a little worried about this and I felt bad for him. He had tried twice to go before we left the house, but kept telling me, "It not comin' momma, it not comin'!" So, we left the house and I told him we would try later. I guess he couldn't wait for later. But, I got him cleaned up and in a diaper and he was good as new!!

Wednesday- It finally quit raining and we headed out to play on our new play set. The boys were having a blast with one of their friends until the bees came. Evidently, we have a ground bee nest in our backyard under where the slide is. As the kids were running around and going down the slide the bees became a little irritated. One of them decided to sting Marshall right between the eyes!! He was VERY upset, and kept telling me how the bees had stung him. The sting became swollen and was a big knot right between is eyes. But, other than that he was fine. I dosed him up with Benadryl and put some Arnica gel on his sting and off he went. (Side note: I LOVE Arnica. It works for everything. Muscle aches, bruises, bites, etc. Go buy some- it's in the homeopathic section!!) That night we started our bee extermination project. I am happy to report that we have successfully gotten rid of the bees, but the boys definitely remember when the bee stung Marshy!!

Thursday- The morning got of to a crappy start, literally!! Graham had a dirty diaper and his bottom was a little red so I let him run bare-bottomed through the house for a few minutes. He was sooo happy about this!!! But, little did I know he was actually happy for another reason. I walked in the dining room to discover that he had pooped ALL OVER the floor. There was a nice little trail behind everywhere he went. The big boys were finishing breakfast when this happened and of course, had to get down to check out the poop. What is it with toddlers being fascinated by each other's poop??? But, I got Graham and the floor cleaned up, the big boys back under control and we enjoyed the rest of our morning. Then, nap time rolled around. Marshall was demoted back to the nursery because he wouldn't leave Patrick alone. Graham was already asleep in the nursery, so I put Marshall down and left. A little while later I heard a little too much fun going on in there. I opened the door to discover that Marshall had gotten in the top drawer of the changing table, pulled everything out, gotten in the crib with Graham and covered himself in butt cream!!! So much for nap time.

Marshall with butt cream on his face and Graham playing with some random object from the changing table.

Friday- At about 2am I heard all three boys crying. I went in and calmed Graham down. He went right back to sleep. I then went in the big boys' room to see what was going on. I found Marshall crying on the floor where he had decided to sleep. I could not find Patrick, but I could hear him crying louder and louder. I ended up tripping over his feet, as they were sticking our from UNDER the bed. I pulled his legs, thinking I would get him out and settle him down, but he did not move. He was stuck! He started to scream louder (probably because mommy just hurt him) and saying that he was stuck. In my drowsy, confused state it took me a minute to figure out what to do because he really was stuck. I tried to turn his head and get him out, but he just wouldn't fit. So, Super Momma ended up picking up the headboard and frame and getting him out. Freed at last, but very scared. I got him settled back in bed, put Marshall in his bed and headed back to sleep. All while Daddy was sleeping peacefully down the hall.

Did I mention that there is never a dull moment in the Carraway house???

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

July 30th was Robert's 33rd birthday, and the boys were so excited to make daddy's birthday special. We made cards and I was feeling rather brave, so we made a garden stone. The finished product turned out pretty cute, but I cannot say the same for my kitchen. It was raining the day we made it, so we had to be inside. I mixed up the cement and called the boys in to put their handprints in the wet cement. This was an absolute disaster!!! They kept grabbing handfuls and flinging wet cement EVERYWHERE. So, I quickly moved on to plan B for the stone- the marbles that came with the kit. This worked a little better, but they just couldn't resist getting their hands all in it. But, we made it and the kitchen (and boys) survived. Note to self: any art project that involves cement and three small children is not recommended for indoors.