Oma's Gone... Boo Whoo

Today Oma went home... Reese cried and I got teary eyed watching him struggle with telling her goodbye... We love our visits from Oma and wish they were more frequent. Carsten was even excited to see her show up at our front door. I think we could get used to having her always here. Another set of hands is very useful indeed. Especially when your children love those hands!

Since we haven't updated enough this month, you all are expecting great things! We haven't had any more sickness, no great hurdles, nothing really too note worthy. I've come to terms with *me time* and am figuring out ways to keep my sanity. Jim is so helpful and supportive (even though he still believes in his heart that I sit/eat bon bons (whatever those are)/and read books and magazines).

Other than that we are looking forward to the holidays and being with lots of family and friends...

Carsten with Whiffer, his special animal (it goes everywhere and sleeps with him)

Lamby LuLu, Reese's special animal...

Lane, watching our two boys...

A funny grin from Carsten this morning...

Reese got a stethoscope and thermometer from a friend that had to be in the hospital. They have throw-away stethoscopes and thermometers now, so Reese scored them. He brings them everywhere we go. If you need your heart/lungs checked out or your temperature taken he still has some openings.

Reese got to make a gingerbread house last year at a grocery store where Oma lives. This year we couldn't find any here, so we made one at home. Thankfully they make kits for this type of thing... I don't think I have the patience to make it from scratch.

Good Karma

I am going to try for some good karma now...
Yes, I can put Reese in our room for quiet time and I'll try not to worry too much about the worrisome things kids do. What I meant by the naughty things kids do--the time Reese confiscated a pen and drew on his sheets, pillow, books, body parts not mentionable... I've then heard of some worse things involving body fluids/solids... I do need to let go though I realize as I cannot watch 24/7 and if I did that would be weird in itself... Thank you prrrof for pointing out that we can be *watching* them and disastrous things occur (brings to mind a battery and a broken collar bone...).
So, I am going to try to wiggle naps around, get Reese some quiet time and me a little kid free relief. Reminds me of a sign I saw, "I child-proofed, but they keep getting in".

I should mention that Jim got the sickness... Now I just hope the kids don't get it... or at least wait until my mom is here until they get sick!

Thank you wise moms...

Okay,
First, thank you for all your wise council! Great ideas of which I'm going to implement some of them (Reese is laying on the couch listening to a story right now!)...
Now for the complications...
*Lane takes a different nap than my boys. When??? do I get a break???
*I have a hard time disciplining Reese for, say taking more than 5 books when he is in the same room as Carsten. Even if I take him out to talk to him and he ends up crying, etc. it wakes his brother. And, each time I go in to tell him to lay down, no more books, stay put, and so on I get more and more frustrated which I'm sure gives him frustrated vibes...
*I have heard of kids doing naughty/weird/quiet stuff while they are in quiet time and want to keep that from happening... I like the couch idea--then I can keep an eye, but have boundaries (no getting up except for the bathroom and no talking to me, etc.)
*When Reese does nap, or did nap, he was having a harder time going to bed at night... he'd lay there for an hour or more trying to fall asleep. But, on the other hand without any nap he does get a little cranky in the evening--a shorter fuse.

Thanks for letting me vent here and for helping me! My mom is coming next week and I can't wait!!! She is an indispensable help. It is always like a mini-vacation for me when she comes. Not so many diapers to change, baths to give, dishwasher loads to empty... love it!

Help...

Dear Blog Readers,
I am hoping you can help. Reese is 3 1/2 and he is no longer taking a nap. We still go through the routine--read three books, go empty the bladder, lay down with LuLu and a couple of books... and then he proceeds to get up and get more books, many more books (did I mention a gazillion more books???) and eventually ends up waking up his brother by turning pages loudly, dropping finished books on the floor, going to the bathroom, etc. I get irritated (hardly ever do that, but at these times I do) and then I don't know what to do--end Reese's nap time? I desperately look forward to my boys' nap time and I NEED their nap time. I kind of thought they'd nap until they were 18... maybe not. On that thread... when does a mom get a little down time when she has a non-napper? I've thought about quiet time downstairs with me, but then I still have to be ON (and have to keep telling someone to be quiet and lay down, or stay put or whatever).
Hopefully you all are more knowledgeable on this than I am and can fill me in...
Sincerely,
A Mom Needing Selfish Me Time

First day with Lane...

We started watching Lane today... Fun stuff--figuring out naps, changing diapers, how to feed three at once... We had a good time and Lane was awesome! We'll be watching him for six months while his mom goes back to work.
We were getting ready for Lane to come, so we were setting up the Pack & Play and just talking to our boys how Lane was going to be coming each day and napping here, eating lunch with us, etc. Reese said, "I don't think I can handle two babies in my room". I assured him that we would put Lane in guest room so he wouldn't have too *deal* with him!

On another note... NOT FAIR. I really don't think it is fair that moms can get sick. I'm talking the throwing up kind of sick. I can handle a cold, the aches, but NOT throwing up. I haven't thrown up in over 4 years and this weekend I got sick and threw up... with Reese watching! I told him to go get daddy please which he promptly did... "Daddy, come help... mommy's throwing up". Nice little helper the whole weekend. I'm recovered, but still miffed that moms CAN get sick--we have too much to do and take care of and I can't stand the way I feel when I'm nauseated.