We Beat the Lollipops

Drew just came up to me and said, "I love you and Dad more than candy, licorice, lollipops and cake with icing."  That really means a lot coming from him. :)

Florida Vacation

At the beginning of March we planned an impromptu Florida vacation.  Mitch came home with the idea and a little over a week later we were packed into the van heading south for a week.  I figure if your husband comes home suggesting a beach vacation you quickly make it happen before he changes his mind.  It was such an unexpected but definitely needed break and lined up really well with Drew's school schedule so he only missed a day and a half of class.

We planned to leave on Friday and poor Cade got sick and was throwing up Wednesday and Thursday.  We woke up Friday unsure whether we would be heading out that morning but when we got up we realized Cade was in the playroom and back to his old self.  Armed with a sickness kit in case things went bad we hit the road.  We drove 13 hours the first day and the boys did so good.  The second day we still had six hours and they were ready to be done.  There was way too much excitement to be at the beach house to sit in the car for that long.  On the way we stopped at fun places like Metropolis, IL to see all the Superman items.  Not sure who liked it more; Mitch or the little boys.      

Once at the beach we lazily spent the first few hours of our mornings waiting for it to warm up outside.  It was in the 60s every day but the mornings were pretty chilly on the beach.  There were pretty high winds most days too so that didn't make it any warmer.  Once it finally got warm enough, we all headed out to play in the sand.  Drew and Cade loved digging holes and throwing sand into the water.  Mace on the other hand didn't really enjoy much about the beach.  He played for about ten minutes and then would get up a wander off.  He would either head back up to the house or sometimes someone else's house or down the beach crying most of the way.  I would just chase him around trying to get him to have a good time.  Then we would head in for lunch and a nap. While Mace napped the older two would head back to the beach to play more.  On the days I stayed up at the house with Mace I got to sit on the deck basking in the sun reading a couple magazines and a book.  It was exactly why I wanted to take the trip.  Watching the boys having a blast on the beach, sitting relaxing in the sun, reading a book.  Does it get better?  Well, another 10 degrees warmer would have made it better but I'm not going to complain one bit.  

View from our deck

One of the days we headed out to visit a nearby zoo.  The boys had a good time checking out all of the animals and riding the train through the 30 acre area where they let the animals roam free. It was more like a natural habitat and was really cool to see.  The weather was perfect for us that day to be able to spend the day walking around.

Cade at the zoo

One morning Mitch and the boys headed out to a local doughnut shop that Mitch had found on the internet.  They came home with a box full of yummy.  Note from the picture below that Mitch came home with 11 doughnuts for five people.  Apparently everything was looking good to him that morning.

Doughnut run

Boys enjoying the doughnuts

This is what Mace thought of the beach

Drew & Cade playing in the water

After a week on the beach it was sadly time to pack up to head home.  On the morning we planned to leave, Mace woke us up two minutes before our alarms were about to go off.  He was sick again which is not the ideal situation for being in a car for two days.  After throwing up twice before we left and once in the van we made the decision to make the whole trip home in one day.  We never erven got out of the car for meals and briefly stretched legs at gas stations.  By 9:00 that night poor Cade was crying that his butt hurt and we all felt his pain.  We powered through and made it home in 18 hours.  It ended up being a really good decision because the next morning Drew joined in the sickness.  I guess with three little boys you just never know what to expect.  At least the sickness came at the end of the trip and we were still able to have a great family vacation.  Can't wait to do it again soon.

Cade's Big Changes

When you look at Cade's life over the last couple weeks it has changed dramatically.  So much so that I really can't even believe it.  Last Monday I took him to the doctor for his three year check.  In talking to the doctor we discussed the lack of potty training that was happening in our house.  I informed her that I didn't think Cade would ever want to potty on the toilet.  He has said that he's scared of sitting on the toilet and that he wants to wear diapers forever.  Nothing we tried was even slightly successful in getting him to do anything on the toilet.  The doctor told me a story about her daughter who was also scared of the potty.  Her daughter's really wanted a pair of ballet slippers so every time she was on the potty for a little bit she could play with the slippers for 10 minutes.  I realized that for Cade we had been thinking too small scale with candy and other things as an incentive.  That morning he had mentioned to me that we needed to go to the movie store to buy a Larryboy toy.  Apparently he thinks there's a store somewhere that has all the toys from movies that he watches.  So, on the way home from the doctor I decided to give the doctor's theory a try.  We stopped at Lemstone to see what they had and we found a Larryboy helicopter with action figures.  That afternoon we started letting him play with it for 10 minutes every time he sat on the potty.  You know what?  He sat right on there no longer scared and crying like we had experienced the last six months.  

Throughout the week he started asking me to go sit on the potty so he'd be able to play with his new toy.  Then on Saturday Mitch and I decided we were going to see if we could get him to sit there for an extended period of time after lunch to see what would happen.  We told him there would be an extra special surprise if he was successful in going potty.  The three of us camped out in the bathroom for probably half an hour talking and looking at pictures on Mitch's phone trying to distract him long enough.  Then it happened.  He pottied!! As soon as Mace woke up from his nap we packed everyone into the car and headed out for celebratory ice cream at Orange Leaf.  By Sunday he was going so well we decided to let him wear big boy underwear.  So far we have been to my parents house, out for dinner, and to my sisters house all in underwear with no accidents during those outings.  He cries now if we put him in a diaper.  

Just all of a sudden he has completely made a change.  Once he understood what was happening he picked right up on it and is doing great.  He has had accidents a couple times during quiet time and immediately comes crying because he doesn't like that his pants are wet - an encouraging sign.  I hope he keeps on track and I can start working on Mace so I have no more diapers in this house.  That would be so awesome.

Later last Monday after Cade's doctor's appointment he had speech.  The therapist shocked me by telling me she wanted to test Cade again because she wants to discharge him.  I know that he still has lots of issues with his speech abilities but he has come such a long way over the last year.  He has been catching on so fast to her articulation lessons and she thinks he's ready to be done.  I think part of it is that he doesn't like going any more and she's having a hard time getting him to do anything lately.  So this Monday she finished her testing and recommended discharge.  He still actually qualifies for therapy with his test results but was only one point away.  We decided a break would be good for him and we'll continue to work with him at home.  If we feel that he's falling behind again we can always get him tested again and back in for more therapy.  Right now he's just really excited to not have to go there every week.  

Mace - 15 Months

Yesterday Mr. Mace had his 15 month check with the doctor and passed with flying colors.  He is 27 lbs 7 oz (80%) and he's 33.5" tall (97%).  He's right on target for all of his milestones.  He should have 3-6 words at this age and currently has 6 that he pretty consistently uses.  They are da-da, hi, kitty, ball, on, and up.  It's so cute because Mace calls babies and all animals kitties.  He is doing a good job at pointing at what he wants.  He knows that his shoes go on his feet and hats go on his head.  Yesterday I asked the boys if they wanted to go out for supper.  Mace ran right over to his diaper bag, pulled out his shoes and tried putting one on his foot.  He's such a smarty pants.

He currently likes to help with laundry; he knows to pull the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer.  Then when he's finished he closes the door and after I set it, he pushes the start button.  He is also getting really good at following simple directions like "throw this in the garbage" or "find your cup".

His current favorite activities include dance parties, itsy bitsy spider, emptying the kitchen drawers, and playing with big boys toys.  Now he can walk around pushing a dump truck just like his older brothers and loves to tag along with them.  

In the last couple weeks he has pooped twice and pottied once on the big potty.  We've only put him on there three times so three for three is pretty good odds.  Please note that I am in no way attempting to potty train.  While we are trying to get Cade comfortable with the big potty we might as well do it with Mace too.

What You Don't Want To Hear

This morning when I went to pick Mace up from his nursery room after MOPS I heard the following, "Has anyone seen Mace?"  This was then followed by all of the women responding "no".  The woman started looking around and he was nowhere to be found in the room.  Apparently he likes to wander over to the other side of the room into the other class.  It's a really large room separated by a half wall with a half door in between.  The door must have been opened and he wondered over.  That's the second time I've found him in that room.  Maybe they have better toys over there. :)

My Poor Little Ones

We have snot, coughing, and more snot.  I just love this time of year.  The two little ones seem to be miserable which makes me feel so bad for them.  They have these horrible coughs that sound so giant from their little bodies.  Cade has had to miss two speech sessions this week due to the sickness.  Hopefully it gets out of here quickly and doesn't infect the rest of us.

3 Little Words

I was just telling the boys goodnight as Mitch was preparing to read them a story and Cade looked up at me and said "I love you".  That was the first time he has ever said those words and they were very clear.  I'm not going to lie, it was overwhelming to hear my son utter those three little words after spending so long not talking.

A Normal Day Around Here

So this morning Drew didn't have school.  I had great visions of the boys sleeping in and having a nice relaxing morning.  Normally on school days I end up having to wake them up but on non-school days they don't have any problems getting up early.  This morning was no different.  Drew and Cade were up much earlier than normal and I was disappointed my morning hadn't worked as I had it planned out in my head.  So, I told them they could watch cartoons in my room with me for a little bit before we went down for breakfast.  A little while later I woke again because Mace was awake.  When I got up I realized the boys were gone.  They had sneaked out without telling me and went downstairs.  As Mace and I walked down the stairs, I was scared of the make-your-own-breakfast mess I would find on the counters but I was pleasantly surprised that I found them void of any supplies.  As they sat on the couch watching cartoons I asked them what exactly they were doing coming downstairs without telling me and Cade handed me a wad of plastic.  I grabbed it and studied it a minute trying to figure out what in the world it had come from.  What exactly had they been doing?  It was strange because the bottom was full of white little crystals.  Then it hit me.  They had gotten into Mitch's candy stash.  He had an unopened box of Sour Patch Kids in the pantry and they had helped themselves to the whole thing for breakfast.  What a healthy way to start your day when you are two.  They seemed pretty proud of themselves though that they had only taken one box of candy so I guess we have that going for us.  They didn't wipe everything out.

Then a little later Drew and Cade were upstairs playing and Mace was downstairs with me.  I was cleaning up the kitchen from the actual breakfast I fed them and Mace headed into the pantry.  I was calling for him because I needed to run some dirty towels up to the laundry room and didn't want him in the pantry alone while I was gone.  He didn't come and it was pretty silent back there.  I headed back to grab him and threw all the towels on the floor and screamed when I saw what he was doing.  He was standing at the toilet with his hands inside of it.  Gross yes, but it got so much worse when I got closer.  Drew has had the tendency not to flush the toilet lately.  It's so nasty and I don't know why he all of  sudden started doing that.  So Mace had been playing in a toilet full of pee.  Nasty, nasty, NASTY!  At least he hadn't thrown a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet again.  I would not have been very happy about fishing out a pee soaked roll of toilet paper and having a pee covered baby.

The best thing about the morning was realizing that these two incidents didn't even really strike me as crazy or out of the ordinary.  I didn't even text Mitch and let him know.  Well, I guess I did make Drew send him an apology email.  But with three active little boys in the house right now, we're constantly finding ourselves part of crazy situations like these.  I now think of these times as amusing stories to share instead of stressful situations.  The alternative of losing my mind doesn't sound all that appealing to me.

Is it Really That Time Already

I cannot believe that I just had to bundle Drew & Cade up in winter coats, hats and gloves to play outside after lunch today.  It is really cold out there!!  I still want more glorious fall days to be able to play outside and enjoy before the bitter cold temperatures of winter move in.

It Made Me Happier than I Thought it Would

I feel like in a pinch I am really bad about coming up with something quick and easy for dinner.  If I don't make up a menu for the week I'm totally lost at dinner time.  Ask Mitch; I think it drives him crazy when he asks what's for dinner and I say I have no idea.  It is especially difficult because the defrost on our microwave doesn't work.  It just cooks the meat no matter what you try.  So everything I think of I can't ever make.

Mondays are terribly busy days around here.  We get home from speech when I would normally like to be sitting down for dinner.  So, I'm working on finding quick and easy things to be able to still get a good dinner on the table for us.  I'm finding that the easiest way I'm able to accomplish this is by putting something in the crock pot so it's ready for my hungry kids right when we get home.  Over the last few months as I've made crock pot meals I've doubled the recipe and made one for dinner and put the other in the freezer for later when I need a meal.  Today as I was struggling with what I was going to do for dinner because I hadn't yet made my menu, I decided to get one of those meals out.  It was awesome.  I had no prep time at all and we're going to have a great yummy meal tonight.  It's really little things like this that make me so ridiculously happy.  It wasn't that much extra work when I froze them because I was already using all the ingredients and it made no extra dishes (big plus).  Just a bonus meal to use on a day like today when I don't have time to whip something up.  {happy sigh!!}