Joey in HIS Christmas outfit...wait that looks familiar!!!

Joshy in his Christmas outfit

Christmas Crafts and Basement fall

Posting these pictures makes me very sad. The reason you ask? Because my sweet little 2yr old boy took his first fall down the basement stairs this particular day. We were working on the crafts and well being 2, Joey wasn't all that cooperative and momma was having some hormonal issues and not very patient. I made Joey go play in the living room while Tiff and I finished up what we could without the kids. They managed to get back into the kitchen and were by the basement stairs. I was right there and it just didn't click in my head that they were by the stairs until all of a sudden it's Boom BOOM Boom BOOM Boom....we hear. We both jumped up and I grab Kasia just as the excitement almost made Bosco send Kasia after Joey. I'm standing at the top of the stairs and there lay my little boy, at the bottom, crying but not moving. I ran down the stairs trying to make sure I didn't trip and hurt myself or Jonny or Joey in the process. I actually stayed pretty calm. I think that having Tiff there helped calm me even though she was taking care of Kasia who was traumatized some from watching her little boyfriend fall like that! I checked him over, didn't let him move when he finally tried, until I was sure he was ok. God was with me because I felt this calm and just knew that he was fine, scared and bruised but nothing worse than that. I let him up and checked him over some more. He has some very slight abrasions on his butt cheek and leg and that's all I could see at that point. After washing him in the bath, getting all the marker and paint off his face I could see he had some good swelling over the bridge of his nose. In the morning a little bruise appeared on his cheek and that was that!

He gets into the kitchen all the time now, can climb over the gate there, but he goes immediately to the basement door and closes it! I don't think he's attempted the stairs yet, ever since the fall.

Misc recent pictures!

Snow Pictures

There's Joshy wishing he could be out with us! I did get him a pair of boots a couple days later so now he can join us and he will real soon!

St. Nick Pictures

Snow for the holidays?

We managed to get almost 10 inches the other day and it's still around as it's nice and freezing outside. Oh, it's also snowing a bit again too!! I so hope it sticks for Christmas. I hate no snow at Christmas!!

Today is St. Nick's day and boy was he nice to the boys. They got a bunch of nice cool little toys and matching PJ's for Christmas day. Joshy's has a bib that has Baby's first Christmas! Joey got a bunch of new Thomas the Tank Engine cars and is in heaven with them! He so loves his Thomas stuff!

In the evening Joey and I got bundled and went outside to play in the snow! He had a fit about all the clothes and stuff that was going on him but I managed to get him outside and I threw him in the snow and he totally forgot about trying to take all that stuff off and just loved playing in the snow. This was really his first time doing this as last year I was either hugely pregnant or had a newborn in the house and the year before that he was too little. I took him out but he couldn't really play in it.

I have some great pictures but I need to get them downloaded to the computer before I can post them. I hope I can do that soon!

Joshy is walking!!!!

Tonight, Joshy was playing with his big brother and daddy with the Thomas cars while mommy got a sleeper for him..... I was standing in the hallway to approach him (in Joey's room) when I stopped to watch him. He was standing there looking at Joey and the Thomas' and he took a step, then another, then another, another and another. I was counting with my fingers so DH could see what number I was on (he was laying on the floor right by Joshy) and I went through both hands and onto a third hand....

JOSHY TOOK 11 STEPS consecutively but it wouldn't have ended there...he had reached his destination and wanted some of the toys so he leaned over (still standing) and tried to pick up some toys and then stand again which if he could have gotten the toys firmly in his hand would have been able to do. But since the darn toys were magnetized together he ended up giving up his feet and knelt down to finish what he was doing.

He then was in his sleeper (after I stopped my hormonal happy crying) and was in the living room with us. He took 4 more steps to get to me and my dinner with out any wobble in his steps!!!

Totally going to be truly walking soon I think! This is great!!!! My baby is growing up and while I'm excited I'm so not ready. He is getting bigger much faster than I think Joey did. I keep consoling myself with the fact that I have another baby in the works. You know if I were younger and had more money I think I would totally turn into Michelle Duggar with like 17 kids!!!

So what is with the idiots?

This past Saturday we got some icy snow, the first that has really stuck to the ground. I was out and about with the boys doing some Christmas shopping when it started about 12:15pm. I had just gotten to Walmart so I went in and did my thing and was out about 45mins later. Since it's 1pm and I'd not eaten all day I decided to get me something to eat. After leaving the drive thru I saw my life and the lives of my children flash before my eyes.

Here I am stuck at a red light at an intersection that was pure ice. This smaller SUV tried to make a right hand turn and managed to do a 180 instead of the 90 degree turn he needed to do. He was stuck because there were cars behind him stuck at the same light and well he's on ice and in front of him is a curb and a Midas. So I'm patiently waiting at this light, wondering what this poor guy (or woman) is going to do to get out of the mess he/she is in when the light turns red for the cross street. This idiot woman had wanted to make a left turn where that SUV was now blocking her way. She decides that instead of backing up and waiting for the light to turn green again and give the SUV time to move out of the way or going forward and finding a different route that isn't blocked....to go ahead and make her turn in spite of the route being blocked! So now she's not only helping to block those lanes (heading West) but the cross street lanes (heading South!) OMG what a total and complete moron! It was then that I saw in my mind some other idiot come along and hit that ice and create some major pileup there at the intersection and kill me and my boys! As soon as I could make my turn I got us out of there and home where we should have been in the first place!

I'm a winter baby, I took my drivers test on January 16th right after a huge snow storm, I know how to drive in the winter but now with kids and being pregnant, it's so not about MY ability, it is so much more about the idiots on the road putting my kid's and my life in jeopardy!

If I could just stay at home for the rest of winter and never have to drive with the kids again (Including Jonny!!) I so would do it!

Jonny is known

By his big brother!! Tonight for some odd reason I asked Joey where Jonny was and he came over and patted my belly!!! He knows the baby's name is Jonny...wonder when he'll say it???

We were out shopping with my mom at Toys R Us and Joey was just loving being out of the cart and playing with things. He shocked me when he came up with some sidewalk chalk and paint (a kit) that he wanted opened (he recognized the chalk) and asked me with his signs for help in opening it!

He's not bursting out with words yet but he is actually being more specific which is great. He loves soda (I know I know, no need to chastise me for it) and he will use the sign for milk but to him it means soda! He does get some soda but I've stopped drinking it at home when he's up, so he can't guilt me into giving him some.

And now he's using help appropriately on his own when he wants help with something. I'm so excited for him and for us! It really helps to know what the kid wants when he tells you or gives you some idea versus the constant whining and crying and pointing (in general never at anything specific) that I was getting prior to this. He's starting to get it finally!

2yr olds, what can I say?

This really is very funny....

Joey had this thing with keyboards so we had an old one that I gave him to play with obviously not attached to anything. He LOVES that thing and surprises me all the time with his ability to find some of the letters. He knows J, O, E, very well and Y, A, T, C sometimes.

After Joshy got to crawling around he discovered his own fascination with this keyboard, or should I say the wire that is attached to it (for connecting to a computer). Joshy would just sit there with the plug in his mouth and I started saying, when daddy would ask where Joshy was, that he was "plugged in" LOL

Well now that keyboard, or once again the plug, has a new use. Joey uses it to plug in my belly (really the baby). I don't know where he figured this out as I don't use my doppler when he's around since I won't be able to hear anything with a 2yr old talking or playing. But Joey will move that plug all over my belly, push in then move it again, push in, move again etc... like he's listening to for the baby or something. It's so darn funny!

The imaginations of these kids is just astounding!

I'm a MEAN momma!!!

Joey refuses to keep his socks and shoes on when we are in the car. You can imagine how frustrating this is for me since I have an infant who can't walk, that I need to carry and a 29month old who can walk but makes me carry him or bend over in the car and find his socks and shoes on the floor and put them on him! Ugggg!!!!!

So, many times I don't even bother putting them on him until we get where we are going. Other times I put them on him as I need him to WALK.

Today, I did some running around while in the middle of a small snow storm. The snow was sticking, the roads icy etc... We get home and he's got his stinking shows off once again and I've got not just Joshy but groceries and stuff to carry in. So, I decided to start a lesson...I made him walk into the house, barefoot, through the snow.

Damn if that kid didn't mind it once he got over the initial shock of the cold!!! LOL

We'll see how he does the next time, maybe it will be even worse and eventually he'll learn to keep his damn shoes on!

Oh and I thought it was because his shoes were too small so I bought him new shoes and tie ups instead of velcro..thinking that combo would keep the shoes on, NOPE, I was wrong :(

It was 33 inches!

Joey was 33 inches at his 2yr appt so now that he's 29 1/2 months old he may very well be 3 feet tall!!

3 steps in a row today!!!

Wooohooo!! This little boy is learning fast. I can see a lot more confidence in his face now. He sees something he wants and he just goes for it. Totally confident he's going to get to it. Falling after a couple or 3 steps doesn't phase him, he just finishes his route by crawling and then stands back up again when he's got something to help him.

He CAN stand up without having to pull himself up, he doesn't realize it yet. He did it once a couple weeks ago in the bathtub. I was shocked to say the least, he must have been too because he's not done it since. At least I know he can when he wants to!

My big boy is really getting big today. He thought daddy was home from work so he just casually walked up to the front door and proceeded to unlock the deadbolt. Ok, the deadbolt itself isn't the issue, the fact that he did it without having to climb up on something is! LOL I don't know where this height has come from. I'm going to have to figure out a way to see how tall he is now. He was only 35" at his 2 yr appt. Or was it 33"? Darn, I'm going to have to look back. I do remember he was not 3 feet tall yet and Joshy was over 2 foot so they were both 2 foot some inches.

Walking update

Quick update on Joshy.....he took two consecutive steps today on three different occasions!! He's working on those sea legs :) I think he may just be walking before his 10 mos are up! LOL

Important decison in my life....

So last night I was once again having difficulties sleeping and got to finally thinking about things that were making sense. Most nights I have all these different thoughts and nothing means anything.

For quite awhile now, I've been pretty miserable and couldn't put my finger on what the exact problem was. I'm on an antidepressant but while I feel "normal" it's not helping me get out of the funk. The funk is something that needs changing, not medication I guessed.

So here is the problem as I see it. There is just too much crap going on at once with both me and JIm and this is a huge problem for me. I'm in a way, a perfectionist. I don't bother to do things half assed, if it's gotta be half assed then I won't bother because I'll just have to do it "right" the second time around. KWIM? But everything right now is half assed because it has to be. I don't have the option to just not do it, I'm stuck with everything and I can not handle it. I don't have appropriate support and in order to get even poor support I have to work for it.

I'm not taking care of my house, I don't have the energy mentally or physically.

I'm not doing my homework so my grades in school are suffering. I'll be lucky to pass my math class with a C- and that is coming from an A student! But I'm having problems and don't have the time or energy to put into what I need to. My mom watches the kids but she has car problems (as in lack of a car) so I have to drive 3 hrs a week to pick her up bring her here then take her home and come home myself. What a pain in the ass when my mother in law lives 10 mins away and I can't rely on her to visit much less to be there when I need her!

I'm not being the best mom I can be, I don't have the mental or physical energy to do ANYTHING but sleep and sit around while the kids play. I lose my temper too quickly or I don't react at all. It's bad when you don't have the energy to react!!!

I'm not a wife in any sense of the word. I don't have the energy to support DH in any way other than to let him do what he needs to and then watch as the kids and I are neglected. I get mad and well I'm not very wifely.

So while I'm not doing all these things I'm watching my husband work a full time job, take 12 credits plus two part time jobs and then come home on the weekends and clean the house and do the laundry that piles up. I don't know how in the hell he manages it other than he lets me and the kids fall by the wayside and doesn't take care of his chores like cutting the grass, getting the trash out of the house much less to the curb, doing the snow removal etc..... He loves me and the boys, there just isn't enough time in a day to give us what we all need in addition to everything else he does!

Jim graduates with his BS in May and then will start his Masters program. I'm going to let him do that, finish all that up, get himself situated with his education and then subsequent increase in income while I take care of my house, my kids and him as well have letting my babies get a little older and less needy (as in infant stages) and then when I've got at least a couple in school, be it preschool or grade school, then I will go back and finish up my education.

I need to be a SAHM in all sense of the words. I can't keep doing it half assed and it's hard work dammit! I need the energy and time to do it. And I need the support to go back to school, I need my husband at home with the boys when I'm in class or watching them while I!!! do homework and not have to care for them and try to do homework at the same time.

All this stress of doing nothing right and getting nothing done the way I want it done is destroying me and my health and it's gotta stop.

I talked to Jim about it tonight, it took all of 2 seconds to explain myself and he was 100% supportive of it. I think he's tired of doing the housework and watching me let him without batting an eye. So after I am done with this current semester, I'm done for probably 3-4yrs.

Hopefully baby 4 will be around 3 years old and they ALL will be in preschool or grade school by then! :) What a darn help that will be! :)

Ride um Toys (and da-da too)!

This is what happens when...

You leave 2yr olds unsupervised...they take $25 cans of Nutramagen formula and play with it!!! :(

Joshy's first Halloween