This Week

I'm back! I have been really sick since Wednesday and haven't had the energy to blog. I'm still feeling lousy but am managing (plus my mom got here today so she's helping with the boys). I'm not sure what I have but it's flu-ish. Brian convinced me to go to the doctor on Thursday night and they ended up giving me an IV to hydrate me and get some medicine in me. Unfortunately Brian is insanely busy at work so he wasn't able to stay home and take care of the boys for me (but he did his best to leave a little early and take over for me when he was here).

Before I got sick, we had lots of playdates at parks because the weather was gorgeous all week.

On Tuesday Rylan and I met Kelly and Charlie at Fannie Mae Dees Park. I took the boys there when we first moved here but hadn't been back since. The playground and park are great and the boys had fun exploring.






Rylan REALLY wanted to climb this wall ...


Whenever Charlie gives Rylan a hug, he always says, "Aawwwww."



These two appeared ready for naps when they both started staring into space ...


On Wednesday morning the boys both had dentist appointments for a cleaning. Originally their appointments were supposed to be back-to-back, but they changed them so they were at the same time. Luckily it worked out fine. We go to a pediatric dentist so they were in the same room. Carter had a hygienist that was super with him - showing him everything before she did it and letting him feel things. He really liked her. I was then able to sit with Rylan who is still in his super shy phase. He didn't really want to open his mouth but eventually did though the hygienist had to battle his tongue then that he used to try to push everything away.

The staining that both boys have is much better than it used to be now that we use electric toothbrushes. The dentist was able to scrape off the majority of Carter's and a tiny bit of Rylan's. Neither boy had any cavities and the dentist said they both did better than most kids their age do.

Later that morning we met Missy and Heather at the Brentwood Library with their kids for storytime.

Carter wanted to take a picture with Luke ...


One of Carter's preschool classmates came to storytime (Claire) and she sat next to Carter at storytime. Then she also came across the street and played at the park with us. I don't think she ever said a word but had the biggest smile on her face the whole time. (She's next to Carter in the picture below.)


On Thursday our upstairs air conditioning FINALLY got repaired. Another repairman from the company that installed the unit came as well as our builder's warranty representative. Together they found the leak. A nail from the crown molding in the dining room went through the coolant line (on both sides of it). This wasn't our first time dealing with the problem. We had the same thing happen when our new roof was installed in Knoxville (see this post).

Anyway, they had to tear down a section of crown molding and cut a hole in the drywall ...



That was only the second hole they made. They first cut out a large section of drywall in our closet under the stairs ...


A repairman is coming on Monday to repair all the drywall and molding damage. Thankfully all this is covered under our new home warranty. We are sleeping much better now that we have air conditioning again. It's been warm here and the pollen is so bad that leaving the windows open isn't a good option either (plus ours only open from the bottom and we aren't going to risk that with the boys).

My mom is here for a week so hopefully I start feeling better soon and we get to do lots of fun things!

Target Toy Deals

I stocked up today on more super cheap toys at Target. They have some awesome sales and Target coupons that combine with manufacturer coupons right now.

Sesame Street Memory Game - $1.04


My First Crayola Mess-Free Marker & Paper - $1.00


24 Pack of Playdoh - $3.99


6 Games (Battleship, Simon Flash, Bob It!, Monopoly Deal, Sorry Revenge, Battleship Card Game) - $14.00 total


And Carter opened this one already so I had to use a picture from the internet ...

Playskool Heroes Transformers Rescue Bots - $0.99


I may have a slight addition to Target (and to www.totallytarget.com where I find all these deals).

Landscaping

There is so much we want to do with our backyard, but we are waiting to get an irrigation system and we want to take our time planning it so we still like it a few years from now. Plus there are a ton of other projects that have to get done this spring (like sealing our deck, screened porch, arbor, and driveway). So we may put off planting anything until the fall.

However, our grass is coming in! Our front yard and the one side along the alley were sodded in December. The rest of the yard got seed and straw. This warm and wet enough winter allowed quite a bit of that seed to germinate and grow. And our early spring has really helped. There are still plenty of sparse sections, but we are super impressed considering this was all put down in December.


Our front landscaping had an open spot that really needed an ornamental tree. When we were at Lowe's on Saturday morning, I saw a gorgeous Weeping Japanese Maple for only $94. Brian agreed that it would work and we managed to squeeze it in my car even with the carseats in.

Carter begged and begged to plant the tree yesterday and this morning. The only part he ended up helping with was watering it once it was planted.

Kid Room Decorations

I finally got a few wall decoration projects done this weekend.

Rylan has a really long wall in his room that I wasn't sure how to decorate. I ended up getting letters at Michael's and painting them. They take up the entire wall which is perfect.


I let the boys each paint the the first letter of their names ...



I picked the colors for the letters to match Rylan's crib sheet. It's Dwell Studio from when Target used to carry that brand (they are the softest crib sheets ever and not too expensive).


In the playroom, I put pictures of the boys on one wall ...


And on the opposite wall I hung cork boards so we could hang up some of their art work.


Carter picked out his favorite art from school to hang up. I need to get out some of the stuff we've kept from Rylan to hang on his board.


I painted the wood edges white and then added the boys' names to the corners (they each picked the color they wanted) ...


Carter asked to do "arts and crafts" this afternoon so Rylan worked on something new to hang on his board!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Here is a video of Carter singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Please excuse the outfit. If Carter wears shorts or pants over his underwear, he completely forgets he doesn't have a diaper on. We only have so many shorts at this point in the year so we run out quickly. And he was obsessed with his bike helmet today and wore it all afternoon.

Class Picture

I got Carter's class picture this week that was taken a couple of weeks ago. All the kids in his class are in the picture but only one of his teachers (Ms. Toni).


We usually get awesome pictures of Carter from school but he's missing his smile this time!

Carter's class started off with 6 girls and 4 boys. One girl moved over Christmas break and they just got two new girls at the beginning of March. So they now have 7 girls and 4 boys, which is perfect for Carter, the ladies man at preschool! He talks about Sophie constantly (and Logan and Sarah Kate a lot too).

Playdates and Other Stuff

We've had playdates with Charlie (and Kelly) the last couple of days. Yesterday Rylan and I met them at Centennial Park again.

Rylan was obsessed with this slide. It was cool except for the fact that he was also obsessed with the deep rung arch ladder that I had to help him up every time so that he could get back to the slide. He kept going back to the ladder but luckily I noticed him on it every time before he could fall.


These two blondes are so similar in size and build - they are too cute together ...


After our playdate, I took Rylan on a run (more of a jog with the occasional walk break). I got in 10 miles though. Hurting my back set me back quite a bit but I'm still hoping to run the marathon at the end of April (though I no longer have any time goal - I just want to finish).

Today the boys and I met Kelly and Charlie at the zoo. I have never seen the zoo so crowded before. Our county doesn't have spring break for a couple more weeks but I guess the other surrounding counties must have it this week. Plus it was super warm again today (mid-80s).

Kelly got stuck in traffic so the boys and I played on the mats in the Jungle Gym until they got there. Carter had a blast jumping and having me take his picture ...



Then Carter worked on doing somersaults. He's never done one at gymnastics though they do several of them on inclined mats during every class. He always waits for a coach to come over and help him. Well, he finally mastered them today. He even was doing them tonight at home on the carpet. Yeah!

After playing at the playground we checked out the animals. Charlie took a ride with Rylan for awhile ...


Rylan fell asleep around 11:45 am in his stroller and Charlie could barely keep his eyes open so we headed out.

After naps and going to the grocery store, I went upstairs to discover that our air conditioning was again not working. We first started it up at the beginning of last week. I discovered on last Tuesday afternoon that the upstairs was hot - in the low 80s and that the vents were blowing air the same temperature as the intake. Our a/c is under warranty for a year so I called the company that installed it on Wednesday morning. A technician came out in the afternoon. He said that since the unit was installed in winter, it was never charged up. So he added freon and it appeared to be working.

However on Sunday afternoon, the upstairs was hot again. Luckily our big weekend project (other than watching basketball - Go Pack!) was installing 4 ceiling fans so the bedrooms were much cooler than on Tuesday. Another technician came out on Monday afternoon and this time found a leaking valve. He replaced it and recharged the unit with freon.

We thought all was good until the unit stopped producing cold air again this afternoon. I'll be calling again in the morning to get a technician out here again tomorrow. Hopefully they will solve it this time! Even with the ceiling fans, it's warm at night.

On the subject of sleeping, Carter is still doing great with the front of his crib off. I've heard him get out a couple of times to get a toy but get right back into bed. He's always in there when I get him in the morning or after nap. And Rylan will finally let me put a blanket on him when he goes to sleep (not that he needs it right now). He also always has to sleep with with his hands between his crib bumper and the mattress. He usually scoots all the way up in this crib so his head is jammed up against the bumper and he can reach both hands up over his head. Both boys have been sleeping great lately since they've been healthier. However Rylan has had a random cough and runny nose for 3 or 4 weeks now - I'm thinking it may be allergies?

Phillip's Toy Mart

Between gymnastics and speech, we went with Missy and a couple of other moms from gymnastics to Phillip's Toy Mart to see the bunnies they have for Easter.

Rylan got in a little nap on the way there. He looks so comfy with the one hand behind his head ...



The setup wasn't as good as we expected. Only older kids (that are like 10) can reach down to pet the bunnies. We had to hold the kids pretty much upside-down in the enclosed area so they could reach the bunnies.



We didn't get a picture of Rylan, but he really liked the bunnies too. He was more pinching though than petting.

Even though the toy store is set up for kids with train tables and dollhouses out to play with, the store employees did NOT want them to take anything off the shelves. So it was pretty difficult to keep all the kids wrangled.

They did have one neat elevated area where the kids could watch the model trains from ...


Speech is still going well. Last week Carter worked on "sp" as the initial sound and this week is "k" as the initial sound. Ms. Judy says every week that he is doing amazing. She usually says he accomplished in one week what often takes kids 3 to 4 weeks. One of Carter's preschool teachers even said she's noticing a difference in his speech. He's only had 4 sessions so I'm really impressed.

Self Portrait

Carter is starting to do more than just scribble when drawing. Here's a drawing he did of himself ...

Carter Says

I love talking with Carter. We have lots of funny conversations lately. I wish I could remember them all right now but here are a few of them ...

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Carter was wearing a pair of jeans that had a hole in the knee. He asked earlier in the day why there was a hole, and I told him they were getting old and worn out.

Later in the day, Carter says to me, "You're old and worn out."

Me: "What?!?!?"

Carter: "Are your jeans old and worn out?"

Good save.

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Me: "I want you to stay little forever!"

Carter: "No, I going to eat a lot so I get big and be a fireman!"

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For some reason I was saying something out loud to myself. Carter asked what I was doing and I told him I was talking to myself.

This conversation happens all the time now, especially in the car:

Carter: "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy."

Me: "What?"

Carter: "I just talking to myself."

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And we've reached the "Why?" phase.

I'll say some random statement.

Carter: "Why?"

I'll answer with some reason.

Carter: "Why?

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, etc.

I'll usually give up first and just say "I don't know."

Then Carter says "why" 20 times in a row.