Happy Mother's Day!

I'm never usually one for the 'Hallmark Holidays', but I'm taking full advantage of this one.  Funny how all I really want for mother's day is to NOT be a mother for a few hours.....

Lars has been wonderful so far today - he took care of Isaac all night, his usual brief wake up call at 9pm lasted for 2 hours, then Lars got him at 5am and let me sleep in till 6:30 when Carter woke up.  He then took Carter downstairs and made me breakfast, delivering it with an almost disgusted look of "I know you won't get out of bed today until I do this for you, so here it is..." Then he dealt with Carter, who wasn't wearing a diaper and proceeded to poop down his pants, coating his legs as well.  I guess Carter, covered in said poop, then thought more poop was coming, sat on his little potty, covering that with poop as well.  And while Lars was then trying to clean the little potty over the composting toilet, dropped the little potty down and had to go into the composter unit to retrieve the potty, now even more covered with poop.... Then Carter decided that, even though every Sunday he goes with Lars to play in the gym while Lars plays basketball, that this Sunday, he was definitely NOT going to go with him, and surely not going to wear any pants... He did eventually go, but he was wearing green alligator pj pants with his too tight blue moose pj top, one knee high red spiderman sock and one too small white sock.  All this before 8 am.  I bet Lars can't wait for mother's day to be over!

We spent last weekend with a rented mini-loader, hauling trees out of the woods and flattening out our yard.  We then spent all day bringing up loads of topsoil, raking it out, then spreading grass seed and covering the whole mess with hay in hopes that we would have a wonderful yard to play in by summer.  Well, it proceeded to rain all week and now our "yard" consists of clumps of hay floating around in puddles... ahh well, maybe someday.

Isaac getting ready to crawl.... time to baby proof again!

I read some where that when you have a second child, the older one regresses, uses baby talk, wants to play with the younger ones toys..... haven't seen any of that around here....

What a difference a week makes....

I am slowly returning to the wonderful world of sleep!  Seems Isaac has finally learned how to get some shut-eye.  I've been hesitant to jinx myself by writing anything, but for the past week, we've finally gotten to the point where sleeping 10 hours straight is the norm rather than the exception.  How wonderful it feels to sleep uninterrupted for hours on end! I'm a new person....

We have been having fun enjoying the onset of spring.  This is one of my favorite times of the year - it's been warm enough to play outside, yet none of the dreaded bugs have appeared (besides the ants, which always makes Carter yell "Ant! Ant! Get it mama!" You'd think it was going to eat his toes off.  We've spent lots of time outdoors, playing in the sand pit that I built him last week, walking to the Johnnie Brook almost daily and throwing lots of rocks.  Isaac is getting really good at scooting, almost imperceptibly, on his bottom.  I put him near the fridge last night while making dinner, and five minutes later, he had moved 4 feet and was tugging on my pant leg.  Not sure how he does it, just seems to be an inch at a time....

Other exciting news is that Carter, at 3 1/2, has finally peed on the potty for the first time! The amazing part was, he did it while no one was looking.  We had started the bath water and Lars went downstairs to get something, when he neared the bathroom door, we noticed Carter sitting on the little potty, so he slowly backed away and waited, and Carter came out holding the potty and said, "Look papa! I peed!"  Figures he was going to do it on his own time - all the m&ms, potty charts, bribes, and days of taking away his diapers didn't do it, he just had to decide to do it on his own.  So for all the moms out there, thinking their kid may never get potty trained, take heart, they'll do it when they're ready.....

Here's some photos of our latest photo shoot, trying to keep the Michigan spirit alive in the Green Mountain State!  Now just got to get the kids to stop moving long enough to look at the camera...

Carter took this shot of his baby brother.

The sand pit Carter and I built!

Hodgepodge

Hmm, so I guess hodgepodge really is a word, or at least the spell-checker didn't pick up on it.  What's in this hodgepodge.... well, I've officially, or at least temporarily, started back working at the Health Center.  Crazy thing is, I have actually been enjoying it! Maybe it's because I get to get out of the house and have some time to focus on myself (while trying to help out as many people per hour as I can!).  I am only doing 2 half days a week for a total of 10 or so hours, and the kids are both going to grandma's house (which they love).  I asked Carter if he likes going to Grandma's or Playcare (his old daycare center) better - he responded immediately "Grandma's!"  When I asked why, he said "because she has toys with batteries!" Ahhh well.  

I'm planning on only working for the next 2 months and then taking most of the summer off.  It's too darn nice to work during the summer - beaches, gardens.... We are trying our hand at vegetable gardening for the first time this summer.  I am soooo excited because we have started tomato plants inside and they have sprouted already!  I have never successfully grown anything, in fact, I can barely keep already living plants alive, so this is quite a feat!  We've also purchased blueberry bushes for the yard and a plum tree! Now we just need to figure out how to get some topsoil and a yard to play in....

Here's some photos, cause I know the photos are more fun then my grammatically incorrect ramblings....

Carter coming down the water slide in Jackson Hole, pure excitement...
Don't move or I'll come after you with my drill.  I'm serious
Isaac and Maude Walker staring.... and staring.....
Had to include this one to prove to people that his eyes aren't always THAT big...
Painting easter eggs...
Isaac and Papa
Carter wanted to take a bath where Isaac took his - I couldn't say no...

Jackson

After 15 hours of travel, 3 planes, one delay, 3 gate changes, one diarrhea diaper blowout, 2 vomiting attacks, 45 minutes of waiting for our bags and then coming home at midnight with no power.... we are finally home! We had a great time in Jackson, even though both boys were sick most of the time.

Carter had his first real day of skiing! He took a half day lesson on the Magic Carpet at Jackson Hole. We cheated our way into the lesson, though, since you are supposed to be potty trained. We just put him in a diaper, put all his ski clothes over and hoped he didn't have a really bad smelling poop. He didn't, and he seemed to have a great time! Quite a cautious skier (despite the fact that he kept telling us he wanted to go "super fast!") Here's a little montage from his lesson. We were the really obnoxious parents hiding in the entryway with our video camera so he couldn't see us.

Here's some more photos from the week - 

Spending time at the teepee in the yard

Can I go skiing, too? Please?
Isaac, Papa and the new tram
Carter posing with his first pair of 'real skis'
Congratulations to sister Christina and soon to be Uncle Andy!  They got engaged while we were hiking to Taggart and Bradley Lakes.  We are very excited for them!

Cutest Kids Ever!

I think it most be some parental hormone that makes every parent think that, yes, THEIR kid is the cutest ever.  Well, I've fallen victim to that.  It probably occurs so we don't leave them on the porch step when they frustrate you beyond belief.  Here are some examples of said frustration:

1. Not sleeping.  Ever. (Isaac) Although this is getting better as we approach 6 months old!

2. Actually regressing in potty training (is that possible when they've never peed on the potty?)

3. Yelling over and over 'keep talking!' when you are, in fact, talking about their 3 imaginary mice (fee fee, foo foo and fa fa). And, in fact, you have been talking about them for the last 2 hours, yet the stories aren't exactly right (probably because every time I say something, it's wrong and must be corrected) Here's an example of one of my stories:

carter: let's keep talking about fee fee foo foo and fa fa.

me: so what are they doing today?

carter: ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ playing outside

m: OK, so fee fee foo foo and fa fa are getting ready to go outside so they put on their teeny tiny glov-

c: NOOOOOO!

m: what?

c: they heard a noise!

m: OK, what kind of noise?

c: GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

m: ooooooo, what was it?

c: You say it.

m: a tiger

c: NOOOOOOOO!

m: what was it?

c: You say it.

m: ummmm, a -

c: it's a tiger!

m: Oh, a tiger! So they are playing outside and they heard a noise...

c: NOOOOO! (quite upset) they weren't playing OUTSIDE! they were in the basement! (duh, mama)

Anyway, you get the drift.  I should make a recording someday to get a real transcript, but that is pretty accurate...

Even though my stories are all unfinished, I never get to shower, I'm out of shape and can barely keep the house clean, I must admit I hug my kids tighter than I should, give them more kisses then they really need and take way too many pictures.  These boys are my world right now and I love them to pieces. 

Here are a few of my 'cutest kids ever' photos. 

And here's Isaac leaning in for a kiss from Maude (Rebecca and Jake's daughter) while she pretends not to notice.

Slices of life at the Whitmans

Hi all.  I've been a little lazy about blogging, so here's a bunch of pictures to show you what we've been up too.  Here's our latest family photo - I won't show you the 7 others it took to get this shot.  Carter developed this 'fake cough' every time we'd sit down, so all the others show him in various coughing fits.  Isaac just stares wide eyed, as usual.

Grammy K and Grandpa came for a visit and we went sledding at the local hill at the Round Church.  Here's the money shot of Grandpa going over the jump.  Check out the look of anticipated pain on his face.
Carter and Papa took lots of runs, all with Carter covering his eyes.
Project time at the Whitman's one morning consisted of making 'party hats'.  I think all the stuffed animals in our house have now worn them at one point or another.  Isaac was a willing participant.  He just loves when Carter plays with him!
Carter and Mumble (the penguin) kneading bread.  We're not afraid of a little flour!
Carter has recently enjoyed pretending he is a baby.  What fun.  My favorite is when he takes Isaac's pacifier, lies on the ground, spits it out of his mouth and makes annoying little noises until I pick it up and put it back in his mouth.  For real, Carter? Isn't one little guy enough? Most of the time he is a big help, though.  AND, big news: Carter is currently wearing UNDERWEAR! Never mind that he has never peed on the potty.  We just decided today was the day.  He hasn't peed yet, I think he'll be in for a bit of a surprise in a few hours (and we'll be doing a lot of clean up) but he's in a pair of underwear! How exciting.

Isaac is a champ.  He's 5 1/2 months old and sitting up.  No rolling over yet.  I think he weighs too much to push himself over.  He has been sleeping 9-10 hours at night (YES!!!) for the last 2 weeks, which we all love! And he's finding his voice - lots of 'ba ba ba ba da ba da ba' (which obviously means 'I'd like to play with that ball over there')

Squeals of joy!

Sweet! I finally figured out how to add a video on to the blog! Carter loves to entertain Isaac.  I was upstairs getting ready and heard laughter coming from Isaac, here's what I came down to! Enough to brighten anyone's day, which is what we needed after a week of the stomach flu, our generator breaking, Isaac not sleeping more than an hour at a time, and then, to top it all off, our built-in cabinets above our computer came crashing down in the middle of the night.  The only causality was a bobble-head figurine whose head got sheared off....