TGIF!!

I am so happy is Friday! It’s been a week, needless to say. The weather forecast shows it will be a little cool and I can’t wait. I hoping my mom will prepare a big ole pot of chili to enjoy! (HINT,HINT) Foot ball and chili…it doesn’t get any better than that.

Tomorrow is October the 1st! Which means only a few (short) weeks until Christmas….say it isn’t so! I had a dream the other night that it was Christmas eve and I had not bought a single thing. I was at work when it dawned on me, and I left and somehow ended up at Wal-mart with both boys buying their own Christmas gifts. Needless to say it panicked me once I woke up, and yesterday I started a little list of things that I think the boys would like. I’m actually thinking about starting, one so I don’t feel rushed, but also because I have a feeling that things might be a little crazier than normal this holiday season and I would like to have some things completed early.

Have you started your Christmas shopping?

Hope you have a Wonderful Fall Weekend!

What I'm Loving....

It's been a while since I linked up with Jamie at This Kind of Love, but here is what I'm loving this week!!

1- It FALL!!! I am Loving the cooler weather, and so are the boys. We are spending a lot of time outside playing!

2- With Fall come SEC Football!! Yep, I'm a southern girl and one thing that is big in the south is SEC football.

GO DAWGS!!!

Sadly they lost their first two games, but the last two we won and I'll take it!

3- I'm Loving all the recipes I am finding on line that have to do with my crock pot. Nothing better than letting something cook all day, and you technically don't have to do anything with it. I am looking forward to some good ole' chili!

4- I am loving my friends and family!! I (we) have been going trough a lot of stressful things the past month or so, and I love all the support I get from them. I love that no matter what happens in life they are there for me, and that's the best support any one can ask for.

5- As always I am loving my boys and hubby!! My boys are the most sweet and loving boys ever!! And the hubby....well he's pretty fantastic too! No matter how long we have been together I seem to love him more each day. He is such a hard working husband and father and I thank God every day for him!

So...What are you loving this week???

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!

What's been going on?!?!

Yep, a week since my last blog, sorry about that. I kind of feel like last week flew right by and here we are getting ready to start another week. Funny how when your younger time seems to go by so slow, and when your an adult, time flies!

Last week was crazy and we were all out of sorts all week. My parents headed down to Florida for vacation and the boys and I stayed at their house and took care of Ebony, the dog. Last Sunday I spent the day grocery shopping, cleaning and packing for the week, since I wanted to try and avoid coming back home at all. It felt like we were going on vacation. I packed food for breakfast, lunches, and dinners all week, plus all the clothes and the kids school stuff. We headed over Sunday after dinner. Even though we kept our same routine the whole week, doing it somewhere other than our house seem a little crazy, but we managed.

Monday after work we headed up to Christian's school for the book fair. He had gone with his class to preview the selection and all I had heard for about a week is about a "Dude Diary." Why, mainly because it had a lock and keys. Yeah, I'm sure that was the main thing that captured his attention. So we made sure we picked it up along with a few other books for the both of them. Christian had spent everyday writing and drawing in the diary, which my dad said he should call it a journal. It's definitely not a "diary" like I had growing up, it it for the total boy! He loves it and it helps with his writing and reading skills so I guess I can't complain to much.

One day Colin got attacked by ants at daycare. I went and picked him up, and was informed that he had gotten bitten a few times. They never could find an ant pile but they took all his clothes of to make sure there were no little ants left. I checked him out and only saw a few small spots on his legs, and thankfully he's not allergic to them. Maybe just a little itchy but all is good. That night while in the bath I think I counted like 20 different bites all on his legs and lower back. He never complained about them and we keep a close eye on them.

Thursday I was off and Michael came back in town, and so did my parents.

Saturday night my parents took the boys along with Jadon to see The Lion King in 3d! It was Colin's first movie, and he did great!! We took that time to have a date night! We did a little shopping and went out for dinner. It was so nice to have some adult time, and catch up on us. With everything that has gone on this past year we SO needed it.

I'm glad last week is over, it was busy and crazy. Along with other unexpected things the week also ended a lot more stressful than we would have like. I'm ready to start a new week!

Hope you all had a fabulous week and weekend!!

Colin's Check-Up!

Colin had his 3 year check up at the doctor last week. I still can’t believe that he is 3! The appointment took about 2 hours and he did fabulous!!

Here are his stats:

Weight: 32 lbs (50%-75%)
Height: 38” (50%-75%) She did say he grew 3 inches this year!! WOW!!!
BMI: 15.5 (25%-50%)


He wasn’t up for any shots, which I was happy about. I know he needs them but I hate that it’s hurts him. He did receive a flu shot, but I opted for the flu mist vaccine. It’s a small shot looking thing but of course no needle that was administrated through his nose. He did not like it at all!!! I think the whole putting something in his nose, and the feeling of the actual liquid was all too weird for him.

He has always had a little larger gland in his neck, since he was born. The left side is the one that seems to be a little bigger. Normally when I see it getting large I can tell he is getting sick, even before a fever starts. The doctor said a few months back that it’s normal with some kids. There isn’t anything technically wrong, it just happens. She told me to keep an eye out for it, but should always say around the size of the tip of my finger. On this particular day it was a little larger than normal. She said it could be nothing or the first on set of something viral. She wanted to prick his finger and test his white blood cell count. When the nurse came in and pricked his finger Colin was in complete awe! He didn’t even flinch. He could not keep his eyes off what she was doing, it was complete fascination. She came back with the result and they were perfect! Not even the slightest off. She did give him an antibiotic anyways, and told me to watch it over the next 60 days for it to shrink. If for some reason it doesn’t then we will re-check it later. She wasn’t worried…so neither was I.

Other than that the doctor said he looked great!! I am so proud of how he did, with it being such a long appointment. He was rewarded with an Popsicle from the nurse before we left, and even snagged a sticker and lollipop too!! Have I ever said how much I LOVE our pediatricians?!?! They are awesome!!

Here he is hiding under the table waiting for the doctor to come in.

Colin's Birthday Party!!

A few months ago I started brain storming about ideas for Colin's birthday. To be honest his 1st and 2nd birthday we didn't go all out. Last year we had a small family birthday since we were heading to the beach a few days later. So I wanted to have a "party" this year. Thanks to the "pinterest" and "etsy" I had plenty of things to choose from. Since he absolutely loves trains that is the way I wanted to go. He watches Thomas the Train, and honestly he kind of creeps me out a little. Plus I wanted to do something a little more creative. One night I was browsing Pinterest for Train themed birthday party's and stumbled across a lady who creates customizable party's. She had an adorable train party set that I just had to have, and she sold them on Etsy.

I planned on having the party at my parents house, since they have a little more room. We had the party the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and I am so happy how every things turned out.

I was able to customize everything, and print it from home.

We had lots of yummy food!!

For little "Thank You" gifts I made a "Candy Bar!" I printed up tags and glued them onto white bags, and each person was able to fill their bag with what ever they wanted!!

Can we say sugar rush!! Each kids also received their very own train whistle!!

My mom made the cupcakes, and they were so good! She found a train mold and even made the chocolate trains.

Blowing out his big "3" candle!!

Present time!!

Colin got three of the Dinosaurs from the show "Dinosaur Train" which he LOVES!

Some fire truck blocks from Leigh, Kenny and the kiddo's!! Since Christian LOVES firetrucks it works out that Colin now can build his own.

And you can never go wrong with Geo-Tracks! We have a billion, so what's a few more...right?!?!

In all I think Colin had a fantastic birthday! I absolutely loved being about to customize everything form him.

Attack of the ANTS!!!

So 2 weeks ago I had the worst time with ants! It was horrible!!! Monday night I was sitting on my bedroom floor and noticed a few ants where the hard wood meets the carpet leading into our room. I killed them and thought that was it. Tuesday morning I woke up and turned the lights on and walked out of the room and there they were again, but had about double in amount. I attempted to kill as many as I could, and found some ant spray in the garage, that was safe to use inside. I sprayed all along the baseboards and trim. That afternoon once we got home, they were gone! Yippee….I thought! Until Thursday morning. I woke up took a shower, got things together and about 10 minutes walked back into the bathroom to discover about 100 black ants all over the floor. I went and put a pair of shoes on so I could step on them to kill them but they were not dying. They were being quite stubborn! I got the spray again and went all along the baseboards in the bathroom. That afternoon once we got home, I walked in and there were not more ants just hundreds of dead ants. After getting everything all cleaned up, I thought surely that was it. Nope, then came Friday!! The worst day by far. After starting to get ready I walked into our closet to get my pants; I had a bag that had fallen off the shelf and a white skirt that had fallen off the hanger. I looked down and my white skirt was no longer white it was black, because it was covered by the stupid ants!! I was so mad!! I grab up what I could and threw it all in the bathtub and ran and got the spray again. I know you are supposed to spray along the base boards but by this point, 3 days of dealing with it I was pissed. I spray everywhere! I swear there were hundreds of them, and it seemed like they were just coming out of everywhere. Once I took care of the closet, Christian yelled that there were some in our bedroom. I quickly moved as much furniture away from the wall and sprayed all along the room. Keep in mind that it took an extra 30 minutes each morning out of my limited time already to deal with these little pest. I quickly dried my hair, got the kids ready, and ran out the door. Leaving with my shoes in hand, no makeup, no shoes on Colin, it was just the craziest morning by far! I rushed to get Christian to the day care to get to school, in which on the way he told me “mommy you need to relax!” So easy for him to say, he didn’t know what I just had dealt with. I called Michael, which I woke him up and just vented to him. Not like he could do anything about it right then, but it sure did make me feel better. I explained that I didn’t understand why we were having such a hard time with them, we have lived in our house for 7 years and never have had a bug or Ant issue what so ever. I knew they were probably trying to get in from the heat, or looking for water but it was driving me crazy. We have our house treated every year from the exterminator on top of Michael treating every summer around the house, the yard and everything. Then he said, “I do treat every year, however this year with his work schedule he did not do anything.” That was why we were having such a hard time. That night he stopped by home depot and pickup stuff to treat around the house, the yard, and inside as well. I am happy to say since then, I have not seen a single ant. I have though swept up a lot of dead ones from the hardwood, but I will take dead ones over live ones any day!

Bye-Bye Paci

The Paci is officially gone!! It was tough, but I am so glad it's gone and it was gone before his third birthday! After my post here, and some advice from a couple of fellow blogger mommies, and friends we have won the battle. Colin was so attached to it, and at first I honestly thought we would never get rid of it. Like I said we were down to 1 paci left, after he chewed holes in about 3-4 other ones, and the final one got lost.

Night time was bad but I keep telling him that all the other paci's were broking or not working. When that didn't really work too well I told him paci's were for babies and he was a big boy. I even told him that Christian was a big boy and didn't use them either. He kindly added "paci's are not cool!" Every night I would let him pick out 2-3 small toys out that he could sleep with for trading out the paci. After a couple of days it was a huge deal to decide what toys he would pick out. Over all he normally picked Mickey Mouse, Rocket (from Little Einsteins), Leo (from Little Einsteins), and/or a couple of trucks.

In fact the other day, about 15 days or so paci free, he found a long lost paci under the TV cabinet. I literally gasped in fear that he would pop it in his mouth, he picked it up through it across the room. Mission accomplished!! The paci is gone, and even finding one and being tempted he wanted nothing to do with it.

Night Time Routine...

I like being on a schudule, and having the kids on one makes my life easier and honestly helps me keep my sanity. I have always set a "bed time" with Christian but for some reason I was a little more slacked with Colin. My thought process was Christian was in school and needed to get plenty of sleep and with Colin if he stayed up an hour later it would be OK, since he would take a good nap the next day. I know, wrong thinking, Since the past year of our lives have not been somewhat normal, I have let A LOT of things go that I normally would not. The main thing was letting Colin not only stay up late with me, but sleep with me. Horrible I know! To be honest 99% of the time it was just easier. Most of the time he would fall sleep in my bed and I would then take him to his room to sleep the rest of the night, however there would be those times I would just leave him because I was too tired to get up and walk to the other side of the house to put him down. I know, not mother of the year.

Since I was tackling the whole paci thing I thought I ought to just bit the bullet, and if I was going to loose about 2 weeks or so of sleep with out the paci I should just add making him sleep in his bed at the same time. Well we got rid of the paci, (post to come!) and sleeping in the bed was a little harder. I started a couple of weeks ago on a Monday and made a nightly routine. Starting at 7:00 the boys would shower, and get into their pjs. Followed by a small snack, brush teeth and then by 8:00-8:15 start heading towards bed. It was a good thing to have them in bed at 8:30. Christian was already used to this so that helped with Colin. We always tucked Christian in first. Getting in bed, covering up, many hugs an kisses and our nightly little chit-chat! Then it was Colin's turn. The first week was horrible! I usually spent at least 30-45 minutes laying on the floor next to him or on the floor next to his bed holding his hand until he would finally fall asleep. I knew no matter how hard it was I was sticking to it! The second week went a little better. I would tuck him in and lay there for about 10 minutes. I would leave and tell him I would check back in a couple of minutes. Which I did. I wanted him to know I wasn't just going to leave. There were only a few nights were he would creep out of his bed and literally sneak up on me.

Every night got a little easier, and I am proud of myself to sticking with it even when it was tough. This is a every night thing, even if it's the weekends. I know how important it is that they get a full night sleep, plus it gives me a couple of hours to catch up on things around the house I need to, email, laundry, kitchen, etc..and on occasion go to bed early my self!

Our nights are going great, and the boys were getting used to our "new" routine. However this past weekend Michael was home, I was so proud of our nights, and I knew he would be super excited that Colin was sleeping in his bed. Friday night around 7 we started our routine and by 8:30 both boys were in their bed. Christian was out with in 10-15 minutes and Colin wasn't having it at all. Daddy was home, and he was trying so had not to fall asleep. We had just a small set back and he didn't get to sleep until about 9:30. Saturday night both boys fell asleep on the floor while watching the Georgia game, and when I looked at the clock it was 8 o'clock. Funny how getting in to a routine their little bodies have adapted to it.

Happy Birthday Colin!!

Happy 3rd Birthday!! I can't believe that 3 years has already flown by. I can remember the day we found out you would be joining our family. You are such a joy to us and we love you so very much. You are ALL BOY!! You love dinosaurs, cars but by far you love trains more than anything. You adore you big brother, and play really well together. You are such a sweet loving boy, who say's "thank you" at everything.

You can count to 12, know some of your colors, and can carry on a good conversation with anyone and we know what you are saying. You learned how to hold your breath and swim this summer. When your playing you say "1,2,3 go" and take off. You have successfully overcome the paci, and are growing into such a sweet boy!

We hope you have the best birthday!