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Not a lot of sleep. . . for mommy & daddy

Posted on December 27, 2007 9:26 am by TheAngelForever

Sleep . . . . what is that again? I seriously do not think that JL and I have a clue these days. It has been WAY too long since we have been able to sleep more than 6 hours a night. For me I think it was likely before I was pregnant with NHL (think November 2002), aside from when I am sick.

The last three nights have been VERY rough. JSL is getting at least his top two front teeth and he is a mess. His gums are so swollen, he is clingy, he keeps throwing up, and he whimpers when going to sleep. In addition to this, he wakes up when resting all the time. Naps only last 20-30 minutes unless I am holding his for the entire nap (like yesterday – thanks Mom). Last night he cried through our entire dinner. We were keeping my mother company and had brought things for JSL to eat. He wanted nothing to do with the green beans, rice cereal, or puffs. He just wanted to be held, nursed or cry. Not the happy, smiling baby we are used to. We dosed him up with some Tylenol since he was clearly in pain.

When we got home JSL only wanted to nursed. He fell asleep at that point and we moved him into his crib. He woke up several times and quickly drifted back with a quick binky application. Before we went to sleep I went to check on the boys. Here is how I found NHL:

This really dose prove he could sleep anywhere! The night time camera setting did make him stir a little. Here he is seconds later:

Meanwhile the little teething machine was snoring away in his crib. He was all cozy and happy thanks to the milk and Tylenol.

And another view of the sleep that did not last long.

As hinted at this sleep did not last long. At 2:00 JSL was up and crying again. He came into our bed and was ready to party from not wanting to sleep. JL was able to get him to curl up and get back to sleep with us after 30+ minutes. Then at 6:30 NHL woke us up and it was time to get Daddy out to work.

*sigh*

Now I have a little teething monkey asleep on me as I type. He was crying again, so I gave him more Tylenol (it had been well over 12 hours) and he is catching up on sleep. I am off to see if I can convince another little boy to rest so I can as well. I feel bad for JL since I know his boss will not allow him to curl up and nap under his desk.

Categories:
jsl nhl photos sleep teething

Bonding brothers, car naps and birthday party fun!

Posted on December 24, 2007 11:10 pm by TheAngelForever

This part Saturday was a busy day. In the morning JL went outside to remove ice from the driveway since the temperature was going to get close to 45 degrees during the day. While he went outside the two boys were playing together. As mentioned before JSL loves to watch NHL and laughs at everything he does. NHL just eats this attention up.

Here are the boys hanging out on the couch together. NHL just loves to hug his little brother and JSL is tolerates SO much since he is a very easy going baby.

NHL is not the only one that tries to entertain. Here is the little guy trying to get his big brother’s attention. Instead of NHL laughing you can see JSL is the one about to laugh.

Can you tell the wheels are turning inside NHL’s head?

Please note who now likes a binky. JSL is trying to be shy while thinking about playing peek-a-boo with his buddy.

Soon after JL came in from outside it was time to get the boys ready to head to Chuck E Cheese. NHL decided that he wanted to go to his friend’s party that was there. Cool right? Well, we were a little hesitant because NHL is petrified of Chuck E Cheese. Still he wanted to go, so we opted to try it. Last time he went to a party there (over a year ago) he stayed in a corner in tears the entire time until we left. When we got in the car it quickly became very quiet. Here is how the boys looked when we got to Chuck E Cheese:

We decided to wake NHL up to head inside. BIG MISTAKE!!!! The kid was a mess. He had a full blown temper tantrum in the parking lot. I let JL go ahead while I told NHL to be a big boy and go in. He suddenly did not want to go inside where the costume would be. I practically dragged him inside. He immediately wanted to hide inside the bathroom. B’s mother knew about NHL’s fear. She told me that they promised to warn us when the costume would come out and it would only be out at cake time. We told NHL this and after a little while he eased into playing some games.

Getting him to the table (where the cake and Chuck E Cheese would later be) would be tricky, but he eventually went with JL standing nearby. As promised we told him when and where the costume would be coming and he was pretty calm. The poor birthday did not do as well. He was shaking and VERY upset by the appearance of Chuck E Cheese. JL and I were floored that NHL actually wanted to Conga around the place with the costume! At the end of the time NHL did not want to go. He loved it and kept talking about wanting to go back – WAHOO! Now I do not feel as bad about being a "mean mommy" – LOL!

Here are some sketches that we had made there using our tokens:

And here is NHL on a ride with Chuck E Cheese that takes a photo when you aren’t paying attention:

Now NHL keeps asking to go back – it looks like we may have created a monster. Mind you I reserve the right to wait and see if he goes in without kicking and screaming next time before I officially consider this a done deal.

Categories:
birthday brothers jsl nhl photos sleep weekend

Tub full of my boys!

Posted on December 24, 2007 10:29 pm by TheAngelForever

Tonight JSL had to have two tubs in less than an hour. I will spare you the details of the event, but it required a third load of laundry for the day. My mother was quick to point out a positive, at least it did not happen while JSL was in the tub with NHL.

That reminded me that I had never posted photos of the boys first tub together. Their first tub together was about 10 days ago on December 14th. This also happened to be JSL’s first time in the big tub using his ring. NHL was so excited to show JSL the big boy tub and play with him. As you will see he also helped Daddy to clean his little brother. All of the following photos have been "cleaned" up for sharing. I became a mohel in one so as not to show the family jewels of one of the boys!

So now I present you with a brother bath!

Here is JSL’s reaction upon entering the tub. I believe it is pretty self explanatory.

If that was not clear enough – maybe this one will make it more obvious!

As NHL was getting ready to head into join his little brother, Daddy tried to show the little guy how to splash in the tub. This got his attention.

Now enter big brother NHL into the tub.

JSL gets shampooed while trying to splash Daddy. Meanwhile NHL’s hand can be seen trying to help wash the little guy.

Check out who was a really happy boy:

The boys play before washing continues:

Big brother helps out in the tub:

JSL looking VERY soggy here:

The boys seem to like taking a bath together. Tonight went a little better than last time. JSL enjoys being entertained by NHL . . . and NHL loves an audience! It works out very nicely.

Now if only the boys would stay clean and not need a second tub 20 minutes after the first. *sigh*

Categories:
brothers jsl milestone nhl photos

Tuckered out at Target

Posted on December 21, 2007 11:04 pm by TheAngelForever

Today must have been an exhausting day at nursery school! It also could have been all of the fresh air and anticipation of many days home with Mommy and JSL over break ;)

Poor NHL conked out in the car on the way to get his friend a birthday present at about 6:20. JL managed to take him out of the car, carry him into Target, put him into a cart and then we propped him up using JSL’s blanket. Here is what the tired 4 year old looked like.

Comfy looking isn’t it? Here’s a complete view including his lovely boots:

I’m not sure what was more priceless: (1) When a person passed by us and grabbed his friend and said "Man that dude is passed out!" or (2) The look on JL’s face and the woman helping him get glasses when I pulled out my camera and took the photos.

JL should have known I now have my camera with me at almost all times just in case (I learn from the best – JL himself). Mind you I goofed and did not have it the other day when JSL fell asleep and we plopped him into the supermarket cart. I did have my cell phone and took a picture that I now have to get off to view. Kids and their odd sleeping poses!

Categories:
interesting laughs nhl photos sleep

Icy nightmare & thank you J & H

Posted on December 20, 2007 9:53 pm by TheAngelForever

The following picture was going to be my Wordless Wednesday. Unfortunately, a stomach bug that has been passed through everyone in our house finally hit me yesterday afternoon/evening. Here is the photo:

This is the side of our house. As you can see it is a HUGE mess thanks to recent storms. Since we bought our house we have had trouble with ice damns forming and at least two times backing up into the house. I now hear water dripping and am paranoid. The mess pictured above was a new spot that we had never had problems with in the past. The cause – leaving the AC unit in the window.Why did we leave said AC unit in? Well, because we have had a really hard time year in and year out getting that sucker back in to cool the room. We never figured it would be an issue.

The issues that caused the horror shown stem from something that occurred when we bought the house. One of JL’s coworkers removed a tile in our ceiling because it was bulging. Much to our dismay we had a leak in that section of the rubber roofing. That part of the roof had to be replaced. $1000 later it was done just in time for the new carpet to be installed. So for over three years we have left the hole in the ceiling with NO insulation. Can you see where this is going?

Yes, the lack of insulation, along with the heat escaping from the AC unit in the window gave the ice the perfect opportunity to have this occur. The AC unit itself allowed a wonderful spot for the obscene amount of ice to collect.

Tuesday evening JL went up to try to chip away at the ice and put some stuff up there to melt it. That did little or nothing. Here is all he was able to remove next to his hand as a size reference:

Fast forward to me pitching a FIT to dear hubby about this and fearing that the AC unit was going to fall and put a hole in our roof and land in a room below. I blew a gasket (I admit it). Luckily JL talked with our friend J. J had some ideas on what to do and said he would come over. So J and his wife (who I have grown up with) H came over last night. By the time they got here I was not feeling so well. I was in denial and thought I was feeling better. Thank goodness H came – she watched the boys while I tried to keep stomach contents in.

JL and J went upstairs so they could see what was going on. They brought up something to hack at the ice from the tiny crack in the window. Here are two views from the window upstairs:

The guys came downstairs and told us they were going up the ladder to see what else they could do. JL called soon after (via cell phone) to tell me there was good news and bad news. The good news – the ice was gone! The bad news – the AC cover came with it. JL and J came back in and were going to head to Home Depot for insulation and a tarp to put the AC on in the attic. I asked if they could use our old shower curtain instead. I really did not want them going since I was feeling worse again. They said they would. So they went upstairs and removed the AC, took away more ice and then came down.

At this point I was GREEN — I will spare you the details.

The end result is the following was removed from the house (here with some fresh snow on it) and the house as it is now:

So now you can see why I "love" this house so much (long story goes with that) and why I want to move to Florida.

A big thank you to J & H for being so wonderful and helping us with this. I seriously was going insane from worry about this ice formation on the outside of the house. Also sorry that you were exposed to whatever I had – the good news is 24 hours later I feel human again!

Oh and even our rose bush wants the spring to come . . . *sigh*