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.