Little Grown Ups

I LOVE this picture of Kendall, Ethan, & Brynnie.

I think they look as if they are engaging in a grown ups conversation that is making them all laugh...

I love how Ethan's tails of his shirt are a little untucked and how Brynnie is leaning like she is telling the most hilarious of stories, and Ethan is leaning in grabbing his ear like he is really trying to listen, while Kendall is just stands there grabbing at the latest gossip.

Must Have

Recommended Music to invest in because I am going to soon... alright, alright, I will wait until after my birthday to induldge.

Josh Radin: Simple Times
Have you seen and heard this dude? Love Him.

and along the same lines...

Jack Johnson's new one: Sleep Through the Static
This one is a good one, similar to all his others. It makes you want to jump into a hammock with your babies and lover and swing in the breeze...really it is that good of music.

One of our Sweet Angels

On the Way to Cape May...

So this is what we will be doing this weekend. It is my cousin Ashley's wedding and my sisters and I are bridesmaids...

This is what I will be wearing on my hand...

It is my Mom Mom Lyons' ring. She gave me this ring before she fell ill. The pearl was something my Pop Pop bought/found on one of their many vacations, and gave it to her in a box at dinner one night. Upon their return, he told her to pick a setting to have it placed in. She said she picked a box shape because I think she thought it looked different but also to remember how it was given to her, in a box. I remember always going through her jewelry box, she had so much jewelry and loved to wear it. I picked up the ring and she said, 'oh everyone thinks that ring is just so ugly, but I like it.' I said that I liked it too, and she said to me, 'well you can have it, just take care of it.' And so I have.

I think of my grandparents often, but most especially on days like tomorrow. This is the only thing I have of hers, besides wedding pictures my Pop Pop gave me, and I like to wear it on special occasions like this. It's like a piece of her is there. She was full of laughter and loud like me and many who knew her at my age say that I resemble her. I wish she could be with us tomorrow to be with our entire family and its continual growth. I also wish that Pop Pop could be there, the last wedding he attended before passing away, was mine, I am thankful for him being there, but wish he could be at all the others. I know that their memory will be there, and I know that they will be thought of often tomorrow, and I am thankful for this pearl in a box that will be there with me.

Wednesday Night Scenes from a Bath!

Kendall is becoming a creature of habit and taking notice and verbally telling us when something is not the same. Que last night's dinner. Kendall, Ethan, and I sat down to eat, and Kendall looks to her right and exclaims, "WHERE IS DADDY!?!?!?' Because the four of us sit at the table and eat dinner together and since there was only 3 of us and not 4 of us, this was just not right. I explained to her that Daddy was at a hockey game with Sarah, Emily, and Baby Dominic's Daddies, and that none of the Daddies were home for dinner. 'He come home and eat dinner with us,' she asked. I told her not tonight, tomorrow night though Daddy will be home and eat dinner with us. This caused her eyes to well and she cried out, 'I want Daddy to come home!!!' I thought that she would not eat her dinner, and then came up with the fabulous idea that during bath time we can pretend that we are in a BIG swimming pool, and Mommy will take silly pictures. This is the new thing they really enjoy, being silly in pictures and then looking at them and laughing their heads off. She quickly finished her dinner, and we raced upstairs for bath time. I was soaked by the end of it, but they were tired and ready to snuggle by the time jammies were put on, and I got some really cute pics.

And tonight, Daddy will be home for dinner. :)

Kendall and her "Cwazy Hair!"

'Mommy take a picture of me weal close to my nose.'

One of Kendall's many talents.

' I will make a weal cwazy face, and den you let me see it!'

'Ebee, you make a silly face for Mommy!'

Cute and also bruised bottoms, I suppose when there isn't

the diaper to cushion a fall, a bottom can look like this.

Capturing his height, that is going to keep going, and going up to the sky!

'I SEE!!!!!'

'I make a mad face.'

Shaking dry

The Princess & The Potty

She looks as though she might be trying really hard in this pic, but don't be fooled, she is just saying, 'cheese!'

I have put of blogging about,' Adventures in Potty Training,' due to the fact that I didn't think it would really stick with Kendall. She is still a little young to get the hang of it, but all her friends and cousins around her were talking about being big girls and wearing big girl panties, so I thought that we would give it a whirl.

So far so good. She does have her moments, and she REFUSES to poo on the potty, but all in all potty training is going well. She constantly needs reminding. After about an hour since her last visit to the potty I start asking her if she needs to use it. When we hit the 2 hour mark, she comes and sits on it, no discussions about it. When she goes she gets to pick a treat out of the potty tin. (a specific tin in the kitchen that holds wonderful treats that can only be obtained through potty use) Kendall's choice is usually gum, and Ethan gets one too. I usually have him say thank you to Kendall for going pee pee so that he can have this oh so fabulous treat. But you know me and my ways, it doesn't just stop with a high five and treat, when Kendall does go pee pee it is as if a touchdown was scored in our house with 5 seconds left in the game to clench the title of the best team ever in the history of the world. We jump, we cheer, we sing silly songs and dance around. She has now started cheering for me when I use the potty. Ethan is our resident flusher. He usually gets to push down on the lever and says,'bye bye.'

Kendall posing on her special potty and her apprentice walking into the shot.

So the poo situation. Well what it comes down to is Kendall holding it in. She won't just go in her princess panties. She will hold it. Which some may think is a good thing, she gets the concept of holding poo. But not on day 3. So usually on day 3 I leave her diaper on after her nap until she goes. I tell her to please tell me when she has to go poopie and she will get two treats instead of one, but it never really works out that way. We have time.

She is in a diaper at nap time and overnight. She never wanted pull ups. It was straight to panty town for her. Pull ups were of diaper consistency and that was not good enough. So she has special Dora, Sleeping Beauty, and Ariel panties, we are well on our way to collecting a full set of princess panties, just what every two year old girl dreams of.

So when it is all said and done and poopie and pee pee is fully accomplished Kendall will get her potty prize. And what is her potty prize? Well after picking out some out of the question items that can only be brought by Santa, she has settled on a princess head. Well ok, not just any head. It is a head of hair so that she can be that hair stylist she imagines to be.

E-A-G-L-E-S!!

This is just the beginning for my poor little Ethan and his grooming to be a sports obsessed junkie just like his father.

Oh I could go on and on about football season, give me a soapbox and I could just go to town. Football season to my husband is more anticipated than any holiday, by far. And if the Eagles are playing, forget about it. It is as if the world has completely stopped spinning on its axis for the news paper articles and website write ups on the upcoming game, the pregame show, 4 long quarters, a half time report, the post game show, and then consequently the following morning's coverage of the game.

I am the Eagles worst nightmare. For at the beginning of the season I do a little chant in my room for the worst season ever. No really, I do. I know, I am terrible. Some might think I am just the worst for not supporting my husband and his deep interest in this team and its franchise. But I have to some extent, half of our finished basement is centered around the Eagles, so that way when they stop by for a post game wrap up, they feel more at home. But let me explain my devious anti-football ways. If they have a really bad team, the loss is expected, Andy knows that this season isn't going to be it for the Eagles, and the hype is just a little less, the fall is not so high. For if there is a good team, the loss is greater. I am talking bad mood for about 3 days after the game if they lose.

It is as if he is part of the team, as if Andy Reid calls him and asks his opinion on the next play. Now if they win he acts like he is a kid who has just won the game of his life in wee-wee football or whatever you call it. He acts as though he knew it all along, his team is the best ever, you would expect that the team members were going to call him up and thank him for his support, bc after all it is his complete dedication to the game that had them win. And no lie, he will talk to all of his friends for hours on end after the game, the next day, so on and so forth and dissect the game like it was some great science that led the Eagles to victory. So in my case, the boasting is as bad as the sulking.

But, you know what...if the Eagles go far into the season and they are in the playoffs, suddenly I am interested. I know I am a hypocrite, the last thing the Eagles need. They want the faithful fan who is going to tailgate all day long in a parking lot with a bunch of morons screaming their heads off. But I am wired like that. I hop on the bandwagon as it is flying by, enjoying myself doing other things until the last minute.

And I do watch some of the game each week, I need to prepare myself for the sulking or the crazy happiness that is my husband's mood.

So tonight they play Dallas, and of course my husband hates the Cowboys just like every other dedicated Eagles fan. He especially hates T.O. which I just find hysterical bc when T.O. was on the Eagles it was as if God had given the Eagles the key to victory, he could do no wrong. But T.O., did wrong by the team, and consequently Andy, so we aren't allowed to like him, he is the worst player...ever. So this is a big night for our house, or 60 inch HD T.V. that Andy just had to have to feel like he is there right next to the boys on the sideline. And so I dressed the children in their Eagles attire. I am sure Andy will be jumping in his upon his arrival home, I am sure he is talking about the game right now with his buddies on the train. I am sure on my Target run tonight I will be asked to pick up football snacks. The kids were cheering as I put on the Eagles wear, and I asked them to act like football players...





As you can see, Kendall is going to take the same point of view as me.

My Saturday Night

So I fought sleep just long enough to see one of my favorites, Tina Fey,back on SNL. I don't watch the show at all anymore bc really it isn't as funny, however, when I heard she was going to be on impersonating Sarah Palin, I was all over it. When I first saw Sarah Palin I thought, man she looks like Tina Fey, and apparently, I wasn't the only one. She opened the show and as soon as the opening credits were rolling I was fast asleep.

Post Op Update

Yesterday Ethan had the tubes put in his ears! So far so good, no ear infections as of this morning, I am kidding, but in slight reality that was our life before this surgery, ear infections occurred just like that.

We woke at 5:45 a.m., got ready for the day, grabbed Ethan and were out the door by 6:15 a.m., we had to be at CHOP, the center in Chalfont, by 6:45 a.m. My mom stayed over to watch Kendall and help out when we got home and Kendall was still fast asleep when we left.

We got to there and were put in a room with all the pre-op stuff that needed to be done and we put Ethan in this adorable yellow hospital gown and comfy socks. He was able to play with a toy that they had there which he thought was great while the nurses took care of all the testing that needed to be done to prep him. Ethan has had this cough for about 3-4 weeks now that is now mainly in the morning. This cough typically clears up with some juice, but he was not allowed to have any before surgery so the cough was there, with the Ethan boogers and all. The nurse said that before she would give him the giggle juice she wanted to check with the anesthesiologist to make sure he would put Ethan under with those symptoms, she was pretty sure he would, but had to check. So of course I am thinking, well the nose is just going to get worse the further we go in to the fall and winter, and the cough, well that is hit or miss, so Ethan will most likely always have these symptoms on a scheduled surgery day unless we do it in June, and I am not about to go through another winter being attacked by ear infections. And then she arrived with the giggle juice.

I gave it to Ethan through the dropper since he is used to me giving him medicine, and he took it like a champ. She then started a Wiggles video to wait for the juice to take effect. It did not take long at all. Within minutes Ethan's body went to rubber in my arms and his face took on the face of someone who just smoked the best pot ever. (sorry for the drug reference, but that is the only way I can think to describe it.) He was just staring into space with his chin dropped down, mouth wide open. I would lift his mouth shut and it would drop right back open. Then the Operating Room Nurses came in to check on him and take him back when he was ready and they had those shower cap head covers on which Ethan just looked at and giggled away. So they picked him up and off he went, no tears.

Andy and I were in the waiting room for maybe 15 minutes when the doctor came out to give us an update. The tubes were in great but his left ear had a ton of gunk in it that he had to suction out which was most likely the cause of the morning cough and also would have led to a terrible ear infection, and it must have been bc he was cough free this morning.

Then all we had to do was wait for him to wake up. They told us as they led us back that he was out cold sleeping, and I let them know that since that is the case, he will now sleep for hours unless woken up. They let us know that they would give him 45 minutes to sleep and then wake him to check on him. We went around the curtain and that kid was out, I mean mouth open, snoring away...man how long has it been since I slept like that?

So we went over all the post op instructions and then it was time to wake him. And on a normal day, if Ethan is tired and you wake him, it is similar to releasing a beast. I mean tantrum, pissy crying, flopping of the body, nothing can be done to satisfy him. This was no different except for the fact that he had a monitor clipped onto his big toe, was hungry, thirsty, sore, didn't feel right, and in a strange place...so it was on. He was mad. And then we heard the congestion just stuck in there, and he began to cough. We decided to let him have juice even though he really shouldn't have bc his tummy was upset, but his oxygen level was dropping and not coming back up and he needed to clear this. So of course I was filled with immense guilt for letting him go through with the surgery with this congestion bc he wasn't ok. So finally after guzzling two sippy cups worth of juice and working the gunk out, the oxygen level went back up, the mood didn't, but that was ok. So they discharged us and we were on our way home and it was 8:45 a.m.

Kendall was wake when we got home, and being the great big sister she is asked where her brother was so she could check him out as soon as we walked in the door. She continued to check his status all day long, since as you know she is our resident physician. She also instructed me to make a "message" for Ethan on the chalk board since I do for most events, like birthdays or special days, and so we left Ethan a get well message.

They let us know that Ethan would most likely not have an appetite that day and that he would be lethargic so to not let him walk on his own, and have him take it easy. So what 18 month old do you know does this? No way, this kid was home, with his toys and his best friend,he wanted to play. He had his bouts of crankiness and discomfort which were fixed through ibuprofen, oh and just a 4 hour nap. But the kid continued like it was any other day, and ate like a horse.

My phone rang all day long with people checking to see how he was, MomMomMom stopped by to see him, and bring his favorite treat, donuts, and my Mom was there until nap time entertaining Kendall. So thanks to everyone who prayed for and thought of Ethan yesterday, it made for a successful surgery and an easier than anticipated day.

Here is video of one of my consultations with Ethan's at home physician and him, her office is very chaotic and noisy, and she is busy reviewing her notes on her last patient, the little red hen , hope you can make out the, 'mmmhmm', answers...

Kendall and her proper English

Kendall has recently been starting to grasp the correct pronunciation of words, the most noticeable to us has been, "yes." Since she says the word often as it is, she now feels the need to over use it I think its because she loves to say it. She has this certain twang and lisp to it that is so funny to us. Here she is in all her vocabulary glory. Please ignore her and Ethan's snotty nose and her grown out bangs. We are attempting to grow those suckers out and if they are not pulled back from her face at all times I go crazy and I have to resist the urge to grab the scissors and go to town...and the runny nose thing, well that is a staple in our house.