It’s Always Something…

It’s official Followers… I can’t remember the last time I had a full-night’s sleep. Usually our kids are pretty decent sleepers, but every night for the past couple of weeks there has been something that has interrupted Mommy B and I’s sleep pattern. It’s bad enough that we don’t really get much sleep as it is, but to have that little bit of sleep interrupted on a constant basis – we feel like we have an infant (or two) in the house again. Here’s a short list of what has woken us up recently:

• Alli waking up due to a bad dream (we think). Luckily all it usually takes to get her back to sleep is a sip of water and a hug from one of us (usually me).

• Aiden waking up because of a bad dream (again, we think). He’s a little harder to get back to sleep, usually because he wants to be held and rocked back to sleep – even though he’s almost one and a half. Our forever baby…

• Aiden waking up because he’s sick. We thought he was just getting more teeth, but they have yet to appear so we’re assuming that he just caught a little bug of some type. So into the bathroom he came for his usual dose of Tylenol or Motrin… a couple nights in a row.

• Alli waking up due to a low-grade fever. We’re pretty sure that she was just overheated from playing outside that day, so we gave her some medicine to make her fever go down and luckily she ended up sleeping pretty soundly the rest of the night.

• Aiden waking up because he’s hungry. That night I picked him up out of bed and he kept pointing towards the bedroom door. He had been coughing a bit before he woke up, so I walked him downstairs to get him a drink. He wasn’t having any of it – but he kept pointing towards the kitchen counter. Directly at the bag of mini Krispy Kreme donuts. I took one out and gave it to him, just out of sheer curiosity. He shoved the whole thing in his mouth and cuddled back up onto my shoulder. I swear he was back asleep by the time we made it upstairs to his bedroom. Well, OK. What can I say, the boy loves to eat.

• Fireworks being set off on a random Saturday night. It wasn’t even a holiday but apparently the neighbors at the end of the cul-de-sac had something to celebrate. OK, so these didn’t really wake us up, but they kept us awake later than normal… especially because I was nervous they were going to wake up one of the kids. There we were, trying to get settled in for the night and all of a sudden I’m hearing the explosions of Roman Candles coming from less than 40 yards away from my kids’ windows. And these people have young kids of their own! Jerks.

• Thunderstorms. Anyone who lives in a southern coastal city knows what I’m talking about here. Thunderstorms can pop up at any time and anywhere, typically without warning. Leave it to Mother Nature to have a few pass by our house while we’re all trying to sleep. Luckily the kids could have cared less and slept soundly through them, but that didn’t stop the dog from barking right beside our bed at 1am.

• Speaking of the dog, she decided that Tuesday night’s dinner (or something she found outside and ate afterwards) didn’t sit well with her stomach. So at 3am yesterday morning I was awoken from a dead sleep to the lovely sounds of Scarlett regurgitating the contents of her stomach onto the carpet at the foot of our bed. Not once, but twice. Anyone with a dog knows what that sounds like. Mommy B had slept right through it, so I had to wake her up to help me get everything cleaned up and disposed of. Thanks dog… the one night both of the kids sleep soundly through the night, you have to screw it up. Not to mention Mommy B had to get up at 4 (and I at 5) to head to work.

I think youse guys get the picture. As Mommy B and I crawled back in bed last night (technically it was this morning since it was around 2:30am after Aiden woke up crying for some ungodly reason,) I joked that the worst part about it all was that it seemed like they all had agreed to take turns depriving us of sleep. Like a conspiracy of the little ones – as if they had sat around and agreed to it one day while we weren’t looking. Because it’s always one of them or the other, never both.

I can hear it now, as they’re sitting around the coloring table with Aiden taking point because he’s the worst offender: “OK girls, here’s how it’s gonna go down. I’m going to start things off tonight by fake-teething. Tomorrow night, big sis Alli you take over with some crying and when they come in to comfort you, mumble something about monsters coming to get you even though you haven’t seen Monsters, Inc. yet. I heard we were going to get some rain the next night, so when the thunder starts rumbling, Scarlett you do your thing. I’ll take over again the following night and pretend I’m hungry. Who knows, maybe I’ll even score a midnight snack out of the deal! Scarlett you come back in the night after – try to eat something really nasty in the back yard before they bring you in for the night. And make sure to really hack it up nice and loud around 3am… they’ll hate that! Alli, you’re up next with more crying and requests to see someone who you haven’t seen in a while and who isn’t even in the same state. Grandma C maybe? Or perhaps a long-lost aunt you’ve only met once when you were six months old. I’ll follow that up the next night with more crying for no good reason. Sound good? OK, Operation ‘Make Mom And Dad Go Batsh*t Crazy’ is now underway. Good luck ladies.”

Yep, I can totally see that happening. Or maybe the sleep deprivation is catching up to me…

Taking a second to think about our second...

My friend Gena posted this quote the other day as she's getting closer and closer to expecting her second child... and it got me thinking...

"Second children are blessings. They bring comfort and confidence. They bring joy and chaos. They remind you about everything you love and hate about parenting. They also solidify that that is the most important thing you will ever do."

We have (possibly unfairly) deemed Aiden as our forever baby. He has gotten a little better here and there, but for the most part, he has tested us more than Alli ever did (that I can remember?), and he still holds on to that "I'm the baby and I know it" attitude. But just seeing that quote and trying to think back about Alli really got me wondering... is he that bad, or do I just have amnesia when it comes to remembering this age/these moments with Alli? I looked back to read blog posts about her at 15-16 months, and, it sounds eerily familiar. He seems to display all the same attitudes, drama, etc. that she did. Nothing too different in that department. So truly, I think there's some magic part of being a parent that makes you forget all the crazy moments (or just make them not so bad), and put the good moments at such a brighter, more permanent part of your memory.

Aiden loves to be held. And really, if that's the worst of it, is that really that bad? Someday, we're going to wish he wanted held again.

What’s up?

My apologies again Followers… Mommy B and I haven’t been great on keeping up with our blogging responsibilities in the last few weeks (ok, months). But you know how it goes – it’s summer time and lots of things are going on which means less time for jotting it all down. However, we must not let time get away from us… as I’ve always said. So here’s what’s been going on lately:

Mommy B is still working hard on her Master's degree. I honestly don’t know how she does it. The seemingly endless papers and online responses week after week… it’s enough to make my head spin and I’m not even taking the classes. There have been some rough patches with it, especially when we have travel plans or something else going on that forces her to get all her schoolwork done ahead of time. But she’s a trooper (as she always has been when it comes to school) and has made it work. And I keep reminding her that a year from now when it’s all said and done she’ll be really glad she stuck it out. If there was a “best” time to do it, now would be that time. Because before we know it, the kids will be in school and who-knows-what type of after-school activities… which means even less time for her to go back to school.

Now that I’ve completed the final wedding circuit and obtained my PMP certification, I’m ready to gear things up at work. I have a mid-year review with our Vice President next week (which will nearly coincide with my one-year anniversary) that I’m particularly looking forward to. I’m going to let him know that I’m ready for some bigger responsibilities and that I’m ready for whatever new projects he has up his sleeve. The more initiatives I can get my hand in (and have my name stamped on), the better. We’ll see where that conversation goes, so stay tuned Followers.

Alli is learning more and more every day. I know children her age have a better memory than most adults anyway, but I swear to Mommy B that she has a photographic memory some days. Alli will recall something random that she saw one time (for a minute) months later when she sees that object or place again. I learned all about associative learning in my Psych classes back in college, and Alli is just reinforcing those lessons on a daily basis. Now, if she could just remember to not steal whatever toy Aiden is playing with…

Another thing I’ve been amazed with lately is her understanding of spatial relationships. For example, she knows when something is on top of something else or when something is behind a larger object. For example, I asked her the other day after dinner where her Pooh Bear was, and she replied, “He’s over there on the table.” I know she’s almost three, but she not only recalled where she left said Pooh but also properly described his spatial relationship to where we were sitting at that moment. Or if we ask her to take an object and put it somewhere, she knows exactly where to go, how to get there, and how to place that object where we told her to put it. What really impresses me is that she not only understands where things are in relation to her, but she has the vocabulary to verbalize them to us as well. Gotta love that school they go to!

She’s been on a Lion King bender lately, which means this DVD gets played over and over in Mommy B’s car anytime she’s in it. Luckily my car doesn’t have a DVD player in it, so they’re not completely spoiled every time we leave the house. It’s a good thing too, because Mommy B’s car had to go into the shop this week to have some work done. It was only for a day, but I don’t mess around when it comes to my children’s safety. If there is something that risks putting them in danger – like bad brakes or balding tires – it gets done right away. The funny part was when Alli got into my mom’s car to head home she didn’t waste any time pointing out the obvious. “Tatsy’s car doesn’t have Lion King.” You’re right, Alli, it doesn’t. But it does have a huge sunroof!

She’s memorized all the songs from that movie, and naturally we’ve had to do the same because she wants to sing them every night before she falls asleep. Really? I have to memorize the Lion King version of Elton John’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” No wonder I can’t remember where my keys are sometimes. She’s taken things a step further in the last couple of weeks, though. She’s started to memorize other random parts of the movie and spurting them out to us at random times. For example, she was sitting at the dinner table the other night with her brother while Mommy B and I prepped and cleaned the kitchen. All of a sudden she looked over at Aiden and in a raised voice said, “You can’t change the past, Aiden!” Very philosophical, she is. Aiden just stared back at her while he shoved more food into his mouth.

And that brings me to my little man, Bubby. Aiden is catching up to big sis in more ways than one. He went in for his 15-month checkup a couple weeks ago and got weighed, as did Alli just for fun. She’ll always be about 18 months older than him, but she only outweighs him by about 6.5 pounds at the moment. We’ve said it countless times, but the boy loves to eat. He’s pretty good at making a mess while he’s at it (typical boy), but the overwhelming majority makes it into his mouth and into his belly. And even though he’s our little hip-hugger he loves running around the living room with his big sister. He can’t quite keep up with her sometimes (she’s getting pretty darn fast these days), but he tries hard and it’s cute as can be watching him watch her.

And I know we’ve said it before as well, but the boy absolutely LOVES being outside. It doesn’t really matter what he’s doing as long as it is not within the confines of any structure. He loves riding around in the Cozy Truck or pushing his mower that Grandma C got him, wandering over to the neighbor’s yard or just pushing the broom around the sidewalk. It doesn’t matter how tired he is or how crappy he feels – the guy just wants to be outdoors. I’m crossing my fingers that he keeps this trend up as he gets older. I was always an outdoor kid growing up but I know boys are more inclined to hit up the video games these days. I’m not saying video games are evil, I just know how much I learned being out and about playing instead of glued to a TV screen. That being said, he may not have much choice on some of these South Carolina sweltering summer days.

His vocabulary is starting to pick up a bit too. You can tell he knows what he wants, but he doesn’t quite have all the words down yet. He’s also really starting to learn (and remember) where certain things are, as evidenced when we say “OK guys, time to go upstairs and take a bath!” he’ll dart towards the baby gate and start pulling on it. As we were walking into school the other morning I noticed he wasn’t following me right away. I turned around and saw him pointing up into the sky as he said “Moooon!” Good job buddy, you found the moon in the sky during daytime and pointed it out to me. Where were ya on that one Alli?? Just kidding…

We’re trying to get them both used to riding around on my parent’s boat as well. I mean, you can’t live in a coastal city and not have a boat around, right? With just like everything else, you gotta get ‘em started early. This past weekend we decided to go tubing – which I haven’t done since I was in middle school. And by tubing I mean my parents bought a giant inflatable contraption called Big Mable, which basically looks like a big lounge chair with straps to hold on to. Seriously, the only thing it’s missing is a cup holder. We took both kids for a spin on it to get started, taking it easy so as not to scare them too much on their first time. After a while Mommy B took Aiden down below into the air conditioning to take a nap. Which he did – for 2 hours while the rest of us partied. Alli had a blast riding it up and down the river off my parent’s dock. In fact, she had so much fun that she actually fell asleep on it during a straight stretch. Who falls asleep while tubing?? My kids, apparently.

Anyway, there you have it Followers. I know there’s probably a ton of other little things I didn’t go into detail about – like Alli’s love for Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” because she can sing the colors along with the song. I won’t say how she heard it the first time… But now when we get in my car she requests it by name and she and Aiden bob their heads to the beat. Yep, it’s just a laugh a minute with these two kiddos.

Aiden's 15 Months Old!

So, here we are... 15 months. (OK, so we're a week late on this post, sorry youngest child, I'm just not as up on my game as I was with writing blog posts on big sis, my apologies...) I am not sure where time seems to slip away to each month, but, nonetheless, Aiden's now well on his way to becoming a big boy. Alli and I took him to the doctor yesterday for his 15 month check up and shots, and he was a sweetheart. A big cuddle bug on me most of the time (what's new there!), and he did great throughout the checkup and shots. Of course, big crocodile tears during the shots and a few minutes after, and poor big sis watching was pretty upset that the nurse was making him cry... "She's hurting Aiden!!" were Alli's exact words. The doctor asked all the normal questions, how's he doing with eating (ha! he eats everything!), sleeping (yeah, he sleeps, it's just still so early when he wakes up, but, that's the way it has to be with our work schedules, and he doesn't get the concept of 'weekends'), motor skills, vocabulary, etc. He seems to be right on track with everything, no issues at all during this visit, which is refreshing since we've been there a few times the past month with Alli for ear infections.

Here are the stats:

Weight: 23 lbs 15 oz (67th percentile)

Length: 32 inches (78th percentile)

Head: 19 inches (86th percentile)

Diaper Size: 4's

Clothing Size: 12-18 months in most everything, definitely 18 months for PJ's

Shoe Size: 5

Food: Still eats everything. All the teachers at school always make comments that, "whewww Aiden can EAT!" He loves to eat... and wants whatever you are eating and definitely whatever Alli has. Thankfully, she's big into sharing most things these days.

Naps: One two hour nap each day, typically around 12:30-2:30

Sleep: In bed by 7, awake around 6:15

Teeth: 8. We thought there had to be more coming in but after the doctor visit and a good look in his mouth by myself and the doctor, we don't see much else happening in there yet... ugh.

Sounds: He still babbles a lot and most of it we don't understand as real words yet, but, we have heard him say "up", "down", "all done", "outside", "mama", "nanananana" - is what he says for more... especially more food so he's got that noise/sound down pat, "dada" for sure, and he definitely knows who dada is, he'll bark like a dog and make elephant sounds too with his arm up pretending to be the trunk

Play: His all time favorite is still to be outside doing anything and everything. He loves riding in the cozy coupe, loves swimming and playing in the water, and feeding the geese/duck/turtles/fish in the pond. He loves throwing the ball and chasing after it and playing with his toy broom. He loves to dance whenever he hears music, it has to be the cutest lil move ever. He also loves to be tickled, because that's close to being held, and we all know that's still his all-time favorite in the whole world. Our forever baby.

New buddies: He has a few new friends at school that have moved up to his class, Eleanor and Rivers. He got to hang out with Anneliese this past weekend too and he seems to have lovey dovey eyes for her :), and Miss Harper from down the street has played a couple times recently too. 

He is definitely becoming more and more of an independent kid, although he still has his moments of being the baby and wanting to be held and snuggled. He still falls asleep on me sometimes, like this past weekend when we were at the pool in Charlotte, when he passed right out on my shoulder. At this age, Alli was nothing like that. Each day we realize how similar yet how different they truly are. 

Alli helping Aiden at the doctor, Aiden being unsuspecting of what's about to come his way (Shots! boo!), the stats, and the celebratory Popsicle afterward for being such a big boy :)

Whew...

What a whirlwind the last couple of weeks have been! We wrapped up the month of June with one of my good friends from college getting married right in our own backyard (sort of), in which I was honored to be one of his eight groomsmen. While it was a destination wedding for everyone else, Mommy B and I could have practically walked to the location from our house. Not to mention I got a round of golf in with the rest of the groomsmen at the same place I got married – a course I haven’t seen since my wedding day. The place looks almost as gorgeous as Mommy B did standing across from me five short years ago. It was a beautiful wedding and we partied into the early morning hours, which is something Mommy B and I only do when one of the kids isn’t feeling well and we’re up all night. We also booked a hotel for the fun of it and went on a helicopter tour of the city the next day as a late anniversary present. My parents were on A-Team duty for those couple of days while we were busy doing wedding party stuff.

After a quick week off, the grandparents were back on the clock so Mommy B and I could fly to Stamford, Connecticut so see the last of my groomsmen get married. Technically the last one is getting married this Friday, but he’s having a “private ceremony” with only immediate family. But I just received word that they’re streaming the ceremony live online so people can watch it.. kind of contradictory, yeah? Ah, the times we live in…

Anyway, Mommy B and I got to fly into JFK and hop a rental car to Stamford, about 45 minutes away. Being a Damn Yankee (as the name of the blog implies), I learned how to be an offensive driver from very early on. And it only took about two minutes on the Van Wyck Expressway for those skills to come racing back to me. I was checking mirrors, changing lanes and dodging through traffic like I was the newest up-and-coming NASCAR driver… all the while trying to take directions from our GPS and Mommy B the co-pilot. We made it into town with enough time for me to try on my tux and get checked into the hotel before I was whisked away to the rehearsal. I met up with Mommy B afterwards at the rehearsal dinner where we all celebrated the upcoming nuptials of another good friend from college, Steve.

We had the next day “off” from wedding festivities, so Mommy B decided to venture into “The City”, as it’s called in those parts. We hopped a train to Grand Central Station (“Terminal”, as it’s called) and decided to roam The Big Apple. We hit the majority of the major tourist spots – Times Square, Central Park, Ground Zero, Wall Street, Battery Park to name a few. Of course, we couldn’t pass up pictures with the Elmos in Times Square, nor the Disney and M&M’s store close by.

But the highlight of the trip was meeting up with another former football player that both Steve and I graduated with, Zach Jump. I hadn’t seen this guy since we graduated back in 2006 and it was like we had never been apart once we started catching up. When I switched positions from receiver to cornerback entering my sophomore year, Zach was the guy I turned to to teach me the position – everything from the play calls to the hand signals to proper stance and form. While I never got to formally thank him for everything back in the day, I’m doubtful that I would have ended up becoming the all-conference defensive back I did without his help. In any case, he gave us his personal tour of lower Manhattan which included seeing the Statue of Liberty from across the harbor. As a final act of kindness that only comes from friends who toiled on the same gridiron together, Zach swiped his Metro card twice to allow Mommy B and I to catch a subway back to Grand Central free of charge. We then hopped back on the train headed back to Stamford just in time for dinner. We didn’t find out until later that we had accidentally gotten on the “local” train home, which meant that we stopped at every. single. stop. Interesting scenery we saw along the way, but I still don’t ever want to get off at the Harlem – 125^th St. stop. No thanks.

The wedding day arrived which meant I was out the door early to go get ready with the rest of the groomsmen. And by that I mean I had to go one floor up in the hotel because Steve had booked a suite for us to use to get dressed then for himself and his bride to use that night. We then climbed aboard the stretch Navigator limo to pick up the bridesmaids and head to the church, only to find out that not only had Steve left the rings at his house but the bridesmaids were nowhere close to being ready. A small act of fate put Mommy B in the same car with the friends who went to retrieve the rings, which made us all breathe a little easier. Needless to say, the wedding didn’t start on time but we made up time where we could. It was a gorgeous wedding and the reception was even better. We danced all night and stuffed ourselves silly with the plethora of food that was provided. Mommy B told me that I even made a cameo in a video montage that they played while dinner was being served. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to celebrate Steve’s wedding with.

We had an absolute blast while we were there and luckily made it home without any difficulties. Direct flights are the only way to go, I swear. To make things even better, Grandma C picked us up from the airport as she was coming into town for a few days. We dashed home and surprised the kiddos as we all walked in the door. Aiden wouldn’t let me put him down the whole rest of the day and Alli was so excited to tell us everything that they had done the last few days. I missed the crap out of those kids, but it was great getting to spend some quality time with my friends and celebrate their big days – but more importantly, spend some quality time with Mommy B.

The night we got back, Alli was up every couple of hours claiming her ear hurt… but I think she just missed us and wanted to see if we would come get her. The next night, Aiden was up every couple of hours thanks to what we believe are more teeth coming in. Yep, looks like we’re right back into the swing of things…

Perspective

Working in a Children's Hospital each day, I see a lot. A lot that I keep to myself, a lot that I don't want to share with anyone, a lot that no one else should have to see or experience. In the pre-operative area, I help get children ready for surgery. Sometimes "minor surgeries", like ear tubes or tonsillectomies. But trust me, even to those parents, nothing is "minor", especially when you are trusting your child's life to an anesthesia team they may have only met one hour prior to surgery. Sometimes, it's major surgery. Heart surgery, complete bowel resections, life-saving measures. I go to the PICU, NICU, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care, and see babies and teenagers being kept alive by tubes and machines. And after all that, my life really gets put in perspective.

I often come in to work in a daze. It's 5:23 A.M. when I clock in, I've been up for over an hour and sometimes, been woken through the night by one or both of my beautiful babies. At the time, I'm frustrated, annoyed, and just plain tired and ready to get back to my bed ASAP. As soon as I step into work and see what is on our schedule for the day, the only annoyance in my life is that I can't rush back home and give them both an extra hug.

Some days, times get tough. I get worn out, exhausted, overwhelmed, and just unsure of how I'll make it through another toddler meltdown or another "Mr. Drama needs held by mama" episode. When our kids get ear infections, coughs, or runny noses, I worry, wonder, fret, and over analyze. Then I get to work and see the families of children who are a lot sicker than my poor child at home with an ear infection, and I wonder how I would be in their shoes. Then, I feel bad for feeling thankful that I'm not in their shoes. It's all about perspective, and I gain more each day. I realize how very lucky we truly are, and I am thankful for the insight gained each day at my job.

Van Halen Friday

I don’t mean to mess with your heads Followers, but unfortunately no, today is not Friday. However, Friday is quickly approaching, which means two things – 1) my good friend Steve is getting married, and 2) it’s Van Halen Friday.

For those of you who don’t know – Steve and I met as incoming college freshman football players. Steve was a kicker/punter and I was runnin’ with the devil while being an extremely unsure-handed wide-receiver. Since there were plenty of incumbent starters on the team when we joined the mix, we had dreams that we’d both be out on the field one day. I mean come on, everybody wants some playing time, right? We met each other where most other non-starters do – on the sidelines. Even though we didn’t play the same position, we commiserated together while being black and blue from training camp. We wanted nothing more than to jump into the ice bath after practice and talk about the beautiful girls we saw on the soccer field that day. Even when the coach told me “you’re no good” and convinced me to switch to cornerback, we toughed it out together and it paid off; we both had two solid years as starting college football players. You could say we were on top of the world.

We were even roommates for the last two years of college. Since our school was a residential campus, that meant we had the pleasure of living in dormitories for all four years of school. This also meant we had to get up for breakfast and walk to the dining hall every day for poundcake and other food. Sometime around our junior year, I began an unofficial tradition of playing a random Van Halen song on my computer at full blast every Friday before we trudged off to class for the day. This became known as “Van Halen Friday”.

But as the old saying goes, you gotta finish what ya started, and we graduated and moved apart. However, a couple years later Steve called me to tell me that he had met someone very special and wanted to bring her to Charleston to meet Mommy B and I instead of taking her to Panama. I said, “It’s about time!” We met the special lady a couple months later on their visit and I asked Steve, “So this is love?” He said, “Why can’t this be love? I’ve had my heart broken before, but I won’t get fooled again… She’s the woman.” He went on to tell me how she was finishing her Master’s degree so she could teach and coach softball in the future. I knew he’d be hot for teacher.

Fast forward a couple years and where have all the good times gone? Steve and his bride-to-be are getting married this Friday! Mommy B and I are very excited to leave the kiddos at home with my parents (for the first time ever!) and head up to New York/Connecticut for the wedding. It’ll be our last chance to get unchained and dance the night away for the foreseeable future. But right now, we’re just over-the-moon happy for Steve and his fiancé.

They couldn’t have picked a better day of the week to get married. Mommy B and I got married on a Friday, and while I can’t recall if any Van Halen was played during our wedding, it’ll be a special bond that Steve and I share forever. Even to this day, I’ll still call Steve as I’m driving home from work to wish him a happy Van Halen Friday and crank Eddie’s finger-tapping up to full volume.