Having children, in lists.

Having children means:

never having a moment alone.
Waking up at all hours.
Being covered in bodily fluid, none of which are yours.
breaking down.
Tears. For all parties.
Losing out.
Walking out of a restaurant with a screamer under your arm.
Feeling alone.
Giving up.
Little hands, grabbing.
Little Teeth, gnawing.
Child centered everything.
Fevers, rashes, snot.
Doing it wrong.
Being pulled in every direction.
Always being needed.

Having Children means:

endless laughter.
the brightest smiles.
Wonder, through a child's eyes.
Magic exists.
Kisses and Hugs.
All the I Love You's.
Hiding in the shower for an extra two minutes.
tickles.
Did I mention the laughter!
remembering how to splash in the rain.
Learning to silently scoop ice cream.
invented games
The greatest Imagination!
secrets and stories.
Family visits.
Reasons to GO!
Always being needed.

My children are a constant test, to not give up and give in. But to go on and LIVE. With out them, I would not have seen the most amazing sights I've ever seen.

Happy Smiley Boys.

Secret dreams.

I have a secret dream. It is pretty silly, considering how much I love a big city. And sorta hate rustic...

Ready for it?

i want to own a cattle ranch... :)

It's kinda silly right?

I mean I can't keep a plant alive..Let alone a whole group of moo moos.

But oh how I wish!! 

You know when people say "if you could do anything, money doesn't matter, what would it be?"

Cattle ranch. Thats what. Not any of the different things I went to school for. Just wide open spaces, hay, cattle, horses and miles of fence line. And chaps, obviously.

I can't explain it, especially since I get overly attached to any animal I meet immediately. But I can feel it in my bones! I must have won the wild west in another life. Sometimes, i have such vivid dreams about it, I wake up ready to push the cattle back to their pens...

and then I look around.

I mean Titus is pretty big,

but he's no cattle...

Easton's First Bike Race!

Josh works in a bike shop. He is a big bike guy and now Easton has become quite the little bike guy too. If you ask him where he works he says with papa on bikes! Sunday the shop hosted a kids bike race using balance bikes. Which are really, really great! The teach kids to ride a two wheel bike and balance without training wheels. Easton has just started riding his, but he LOVES it!

I was a little nervous for him. There was a lot of people there, cheering and running along side the kids. They were broken into age groups so that made it a bit easier. I thought maybe he would back out last minute but he didn't! He did great! He was more concerned with how his cousin and friend were doing, so he stopped anytime the got behind. He also stopped anytime anyone was near him, just to check on them :) He was so very sweet!

Arriving to help set up

Pre-race run

Papa and Hudson taking a go at it!

Go Eastie!

Almost at the finish!

Hard work for Huddy!

It was a lot of fun! The kids all enjoyed it and Easton is already looking forward to it next year! :)

This ones about poop...

So we have dove..dived...divened..actually made an effort at potty training this week. Easton was doing great! He went all day Monday and Tuesday with only one accident per day. Both of which could totally be blamed on me, I did not ask before I put him in his chair for lunch and again he was getting really tired and I wasn't paying attention. Yesterday was less than great, but I blame the fact that Josh was on duty for part of the day....

Hudson had an upset stomach yesterday and was pretty poopy. At one point, josh got up to change him and Easton was sitting in his highchair eating lunch without pants on. At all. Nakey time has helped him get to the potty by himself. Well, I was out cleaning up and I realize easton is saying "poopy!" and I say, yep Huddy was poopy. and he just kept on...

you can pretty much finish this story right..

Well I look over, and he's standing up and looks mortified...

Lesson one: listen to the potty trainee when he says poopy. He might be letting one loose in his highchair.

Later that day, Hudson needed a bath. Mostly because we forget to bathe him, it had been a while. The easiest way to bathe the wiggle butt, is to get in with him and set him on your lap. So guess who pooped the bath, on someones lap, while getting washed up first time in aweek... Hudson did.

Lesson two: Never trust a fart from The Shart King.


Luckily:

they are really cute.

Late to the party...

These are from saturday...I barely know what day it is today. Thanks Easton for waking up 4 times last night...you are 2 you should know better! And Hudson, really you tagged in when he finally went to sleep, 3.5 months old- you should have your act together!

Saturday started out pretty crappy. Cold, cloudy and cranky kids galore.... So off we went, to the safety fest (or whatev they've dubbed it.)

helichopter

super serious about firefighting

aunt kiki is going to kill me for this one..

super serious again. This time about the cookie I was holding for him.

This was a really great time for Easton. He is really into anything that goes/wheels/etc. and all the firemen were so sweet! I was glad we heard about it and went when we did, right as we were leaving the helicopter took off the go assist on an accident. All day easton would say "helichopter, to the rescue!" 

The best part for me was he spent most of the day listening to me! He didn't run from one engine or ambulance to the next. He waited patiently for each station and listened when I asked him to hold my hand/not run away/wait his turn. He is usually a really good boy, but lately he has started running full speed away from me. And of course its only when its just us. And I am always wearing Hudson. Chasing your crazy fast seriously why?!?!how!?? are you SO FAST!?!?! two year old whilst wearing your 3.5 month old who is quite a chunk! is not the type of heavy lifting/cardio/death I signed up for, son.

Over all it was a great day, we did some shopping afterwards, saw his favorite aunt kiki and met papa for lunch. And much to my surprise, both boys were well behaved and happy the whole day! 

Heres to hoping a trip to see the firetrucks still solves all the problems when they are teens....

My nerves

My children like to push me. I think once they realize I am out numbered for the day, they open up the flood gates. Easton tends to live on my last nerve most days. Hitting, yelling, whining-all rolled into a little ball of crazy energy that no amount of play or length of walk can cure. Hudson seems to suffer from some sort of colic. Somedays it seems like actual colic, other times its just 'I don't want to be set down and I hate that I am not getting what I want' colic...

I try not to complain too much. Because I know I am lucky. Lucky that I have a hand to hold, two pieces of my heart that laugh and love. I know what we have, many don't.

But sometimes, I just want to complain. I want to not have to repeat things, or say things I shouldn't have to..

all day its a constant stream of:

this is ridiculous...
why don't you listen....
why are you crying?
I am sorry that the tv turned off when you wanted to turn it on, but thats no reason to cry.
You can't have more gummies.
Please just eat SOMETHING.
what? Speak louder please...no, not yell...ok NOW why are you crying????
What were we thinking, two under two?!??!
oksowhatEastonstechnicallyOVERtwo...but still...
Don't hit me. or your brother! or the dog!
the cat is going to scratch you!
see i told you he was going to scratch you.
Well, you pulled his tail. I am sure if you were playing friendly with him he wouldn't have hurt you.
No, i think he was telling you it hurt and you didn't listen.
get off your brother.
stop licking the floor its dirty.
I don't know where (papa/kiki/grampie/nammie/uncleT/etc/etcetc)....are.
this is ridiculous...
why don't you listen...

repeat.

While it's true that over all, I have two GREAT kids.
Do i rejoice in that always? No. Nope. Not at all.
Often times I rejoice in it um, never. I still manage to find something wrong. And then i fall into this downward spiral feeling guilty, wanting to apologize.

But sometimes, I just want to say no, today sucks.
I don't know what I am doing!
they are out of control and theres no hope!
This is rediculous!
why dont you listen...
why are you crying......