Adventure Science Center

Carter has been asking to go to the "Science Center" now for weeks. I did not want to go over winter break just because of how crowded it gets when the kids are out of school but for some reason decided that today, the MLK holiday, was okay. Brian was trying to get some work done from home today so I wanted to get the kids out of the house and do something for them and since it was cold and rainy today, the Adventure Science Center is what came to mind.

We lasted about 2 hours and I only lost Carter once for about 30 seconds (it gets hard when they run in different directions and there are tons of kids around!).

Rylan is still wearing his "crown" ALL THE TIME. I don't even notice it anymore. We were out at dinner the other night and Brian and I suddenly realized he was wearing it when we were almost done with our meal. I wonder what other people think.


Carter yelling out "All Aboard!" ...


The boys in an eagle nest ...


So silly ...

Recent Photos

There are lots of little things that the boys are doing right now that I've wanted to post about so I don't forget them. I need to make a list of all the things when I think about them during the day because when I sit down to do a post, I forget everything. In the meantime, here are a few recent pictures and a video.

It was relatively warm on New Year's Day so the boys played outside for a bit. Carter is finally big enough for his Radio Flyer tricycle and was very happy to pass his smaller green tricycle off to Rylan.


Last week we met Sophie from Carter's PDO class at Shipwrecked Playhouse. The kids had lots of fun but the place is overpriced so we won't be going there often.


Carter's been dancing a lot lately and most of his moves involve being on the ground. Are there break dancing classes we can enroll him in?


After Carter got himself all dressed up in his workman stuff, I asked if I could take his picture and he posed for me like this with his arms crossed. Rylan is a ham for the camera sometimes and had to join in for the picture.


A few days ago Rylan pulled the inside of a play construction hat out and has been absolutely obsessed with it. It's his little crown and he wants to wear it all the time and even has to take it to bed with him (though he takes it off to sleep because it seems to poke into his head when he lays down). Here's a little video with him wearing it ...

It snowed a little yesterday. Nothing major, just some flurries. It was so cold though that the dusting didn't melt when it stopped and schools got canceled today. I think most people thought it was a waste of a snow day - the weather didn't stop us from getting out early and running our errands. Here's a picture of the snow coming down yesterday and the workers still bricking the house being built behind us ...

Target Toy Clearance

I spent way too much money this morning. I hit up 3 Targets and got tons of toys for the kids' birthdays and Christmas, for friends' birthdays, and to donate next Christmas. Everything I bought (minus one Lego set at 50% off) was 70% off. I spent a total of $178.62 (plus tax) for $582.09 worth of toys.

Carter had school this morning so I went to the first 2 Targets with both boys before dropping Carter off. The Target in Brentwood was almost done with their markdowns and scanning the last few things. The ladies working their were super nice and no one else was there shopping yet. I easily got tons of stuff there and then headed over to the Cool Springs Target.

They were just starting to do markdowns at the Cool Springs location. The two ladies there were not friendly and at first refused to scan anything for me. Until they scan an item, it won't ring up at the register at the lower price. (I am a little obsessed with this sale and know too much about it, can you tell?) Their excuse was if they scan my item, when they get to more of that toy, they won't put a sticker on them because they already scanned mine. I nicely argued that that doesn't make sense because even though a lot of the same toys are grouped together, there were still a lot all mixed up. I pointed out a specific example of a group she had finished a minute ago and that there was an identical toy further down the aisle. She huffily gave in and scanned my 3 items and we left.

We dropped Carter off at school and then Rylan and I went to another Target in Franklin. It was almost 9:30 am when we got there and it was very picked over. All the markdowns had been completed at least. I still found several awesome deals.

So, here is my haul. As usual, I'll probably have buyer's remorse and return at least a few things.

Step2 Real Projects Workshop ($20.98) - I totally caved and let Carter open this today. I was planning on keeping it for awhile but he kept asking for his "work kitchen". I guess it resembles his kitchen, which is also Step2. The boys played with it most of the afternoon.


Playskool Heroes Transformers Rescue Bots Fire Station ($11.96)


Fisher-Price Big Action Construction Site ($14.96)


Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Play'n Go Construction Site ($5.08)


Fisher-Price Lil' Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway ($9.88)


Playskool Weebles Turn 'n Tumble Home ($8.98)


Tag Activity Storybook ($4.18)


Thomas & Friends Vehicle Playhut ($8.98) - Everytime we pass this in the toy section, Rylan freaks out and screams "That, that!". I have Carter's tent set up in the playroom right now and Rylan is a little scared of it but hopefully he'll like this one!


Play Wonder Folding Wooden Barn ($10.48)


Circo Roundhouse Train Station ($6.58)


Circo Collapsing Bridge ($6.58)


Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Rattle & Shake Coal Hopper ($7.18)


Toy Story Buzz Lightyear Deluxe Talking Figure ($5.08)
Toy Story Garbage Truck Playset ($9.58)


Cars 2 Francesco Bernoulli Air Hogs ($8.98)


Fisher-Price Big Action Trucks ($3.28 each)


Mega Bloks Cat Mixer ($1.18)
Tonka Chuck & Friends Trucks ($1.36 each)


Jungle Junction Roadway Racers ($1.94 each)


Vtech Letter Sounds Learning Bus ($4.48)


Time 4 Toyz! Fireman Playset ($3.00)


Time 4 Toyz! Foam Floor Mats ($6.00)


Lego Duplo My First Supermarket ($9.98)

Stomach Bug

I'd heard the stomach bug was going around so I have been sanitizing all our hands when we go out like crazy. Unfortunately, it didn't prevent it from claiming us.

On Friday night Rylan threw up a little before bed but I didn't think much of it. It seemed a little more like spit up and he barely seemed to notice it. We put him to bed, and we never heard him make a peep all night.

When Rylan woke up in the morning he did his normal calling for me and Brian. When we went to him, he was covered in old, stinky throw up. It appeared that he had thrown up a few times during the night and slept in it. Poor thing! He was happy though!

Rylan was acting normal so we fed him breakfast and played. He went and hung out in Brian's office for a bit and did his business. Unfortunately it was not healthy and as soon as I picked him up, we were both covered in it. Yuck!

After getting us cleaned up, I took Rylan back downstairs and was holding him when he threw up all over me. I knew at that point that there was no way I wasn't getting sick.

Rylan didn't have much of an appetite the rest of the day, but he also didn't throw up again. His diapers are still gross, but not nearly as bad as the first time on Saturday. Though it's like he's a newborn again and is having lots of blowouts that have been getting all over me.

I was starting to think we were out of the woods and that Rylan was going to be the only one that got sick until I got up on Monday morning and felt terrible. I never threw up but was hanging over the toilet several times thinking I was going to lose it. Brian decided to work from home for the morning to help me some with the kids. He was about to head to work when Carter stood up and lost everything he'd eaten.

I was super dumb and kept giving in to Carter as he asked me for food the rest of the day. Every time he threw it up. But between throwing up, Carter was acting normal, jumping around and playing. I blame my stupidity of feeding him on feeling terrible myself and not being able to handle any whining. After throwing up on the hardwood and all over his crib and carpet during his nap, Carter managed to hit a bucket every other time! Our new carpet is broken in now!

Carter made it through the night without waking up or getting sick. He said he felt fine this morning so I was letting him drink water since his diaper overnight was completely dry. Unfortunately that didn't stay down. I finally got smarter though. I didn't let Carter get off the couch most of the rest of the day. Do you know how hard it is to keep a 3 year old still? Even one that feels bad?


I did let him eat but just a very, very small amount once an hour. I still am not feeling great, but am a lot better than yesterday. Apparently I'm thinking a lot clearer!

Carter continued to improve all day and tonight seemed back to normal.

Unfortunately Brian now has it. He slept until noon and has been suffering the rest of the day. Hopefully he's better by tomorrow because he really needs to get back to work.

So my best guess of where we picked this up is the pediatrician's office. Rylan and I were there on Thursday morning for his 18 month checkup. I sanitized us both a dozen times while we were there, but I don't think it helped.

Hopefully the kids and I will be 100% tomorrow too. We need to scope out Targets tomorrow because the big January toy clearance should be on Thursday and I need to stock up!

Predators Game

Brian's company has a box at Bridgestone Arena, where the Nashville Predators play hockey. Jason, Brian's boss, got the box for a few of his direct reports and their families for the game Thursday night.

It was awesome having so much room with the boys and letting them run around some. They did amazing and made it until the end of the game which finished up around 9:30 pm. We had all sorts of food and beverages and a great view of the game. Unfortunately the Predators lost, but we aren't diehard fans so we still enjoyed the game. Both boys watched the game and cheered when other people were.








Hopefully this will become an annual tradition!

Forget You

Carter's favorite song is the "Chicken Song", as he calls it. It is actually a version of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You" in which all the words are replaced with clucking. Carter saw this a few times on Disney and it's a commercial for the new Muppet's movie. It's a little weird to me that they would use a song which originally is called "F___ You" to promote a children's movie.

Anyway, here are the boys dancing to "Forget You" today (I had to split it up into a few videos since Blogger won't let me post such a large file) ...

Rylan's 18 Month Checkup

Rylan had his 18 month checkup today. We tried out a new pediatrician in the same practice because we weren't liking the last one we'd seen. Today I saw the pediatrician that Missy takes her boys too. I liked this doctor a lot better but I still didn't absolutely love her. I think I just miss our pediatrician in Knoxville. He was laid back and much more realistic with expectations regarding diet, potty training, etc. I don't mind being told that the boys need to eat more vegetables and such, but I just don't love the approach these doctors have been taking.

Ultimately, this pediatrician listened to all my concerns, asked lots of questions about Rylan's development so she could make sure he is on track, and was sweet to him. So we'll see her again and then decide if we want to stay with her.

The pediatrician said Rylan looked great, was developing normally, and only had to get one shot. Here are his stats. She wasn't worried at all about Rylan's weight since he's proportional with his weight and height.

Rylan's 18 month stats:

• Weight: 27 lbs, 3 oz (50-75th percentile)
• Height: 32.5 inches (50-75th percentile)

Rylan's 15 month stats:

• Weight: 26 lbs, 2 oz (75th percentile)
• Length: 31.75 inches (70th percentile)

Carter's 18 month stats:

• Weight: 23 lbs, 1 oz (14th percentile)
• Height: 31.5 inches (26th percentile)

Today was Carter's first day back at Parents' Day Out and we went to the Predators game tonight (I'll post about that later). Tomorrow is going to be a rough day with short naps and getting to bed so late. Oh well!

Christmas

Christmas morning was a frenzy of present opening. There was so much for the boys to open that Carter eventually was having more fun passing out gifts for other people than opening his own!

Carter was excited to see that there were presents from Santa under the tree. He was very happy that Santa brought him the "real BIG treehouse" ...


Rylan's favorite present from Santa were these Handy Manny Pez dispensers (he doesn't eat the candy but he LOVES Handy Manny right now) ...


The boys got Little Tikes cars from my mom and Brian got to do the Dad thing and spend the morning putting them together ...


Unfortunately I took almost no pictures on Christmas morning. At least that means I got to experience everything with the boys instead of focusing on taking pictures.

Brian's parents and sister and my mom were staying with us so they got to experience Christmas morning with us. Then we spent most of the day cooking and eating.

After an early Christmas dinner, we went over to Opryland to see the lights. It was insanely crowded again but we enjoyed showing our family all the lights. And we managed to get a few group pictures.

Music and a Soccer Ball

Brian and I don't usually exchange presents for Christmas, but we decided to have Carter pick out presents for us that were around $10 each.

A couple of weeks ago Brian took Carter to Target to find something for me. They apparently went over several times that Carter was not supposed to tell me what he picked out. As soon as Carter walked in the door, he told me he wanted to open my music. It became obvious that Carter had picked out a CD as he kept asking me to open my music.

A few days later I took Carter to pick something out for Brian. We were again at Target and looking through the sporting goods section. Carter first picked out a skateboard, and if it hadn't been $25, we would have gotten it. Eventually after about 15 minutes of searching, Carter picked out a soccer ball.

I thought it would be funny if Carter told Brian he got him music so I coached Carter on it all day. I must have asked him 30 times what he picked out for Daddy, and he answered "music" every time. And of course as soon as Brian got home from work, Carter told him that he got him a soccer ball.

However, that was the only time he told him that. Until Christmas, Carter kept telling Brian he got him music. And then he started telling me he got me a soccer ball.

Carter did keep what he made for me at school a complete secret. This is what the kids made ...


Looks familiar :) The kids and I made these for our tree and all the grandparents ...


We also made these ....


I had the kids put brown thumbprints on the ornaments and then I painted on antlers, eyes, and noses to make them into reindeer.

Carter also made two other ornaments at school ...


Carter has been absolutely obsessed with baby Jesus this year. I still don't think he completely gets how baby Jesus is associated with Christmas, but it's a start.

Happy New Year!

Last night we went to one of Missy's friend's house to celebrate New Year's Eve. There were several families there and most of them had young children. Lauren has a beautiful, huge home and all the kids had a blast running around and playing with all her kids' toys.

Since all the kids are young, we did a ball drop around 7 pm and then most people headed out around 8 pm. It was a lot of fun and Brian and I were in bed by 9 pm (we are exhausted from unpacking!).





A terrible picture of the ball drop, but you get the idea ...