Blake is Sick

I guess I should not be complaining to much as this is the first time Blake has ever had a stomach bug and he is not throwing up. He has been running a fever since Friday morning and has had diarrhea. He is still sick. We are going on the 5th day. This sucks!! We have been in this house since Friday and we are all about to go stir crazy. And the worst part is that we are set to leave this Thursday for Atl. I really don't want to put Blake in the car for a nine hour drive with him not feeling well. But he has already packed his bags and asks everyday if it is time to go. So here we are, taking Imodium, Motrin, Tylenol and drinking Gatorade like it is going out of style. I am praying the fever will break soon and he will be feeling better by the time we pack up the van and head north. Cross your fingers.

We made it through the holidays.

Let me start with saying that we had a wonderful Christmas here in Florida. My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and 2 nieces all came to stay with us for the week. We also had three dogs. All of us in a 1700 square foot house. And we all survived with no fighting, no biting, no pinching and no major drama. Well, except for Buck, the escape artist, taking a tour of Vero Beach and almost taking residence in the Animal Control. This is a huge accomplishment for the three cousins. The last couple of times that we have been together, Blake and Caroline, who are 5 months apart, have not really loved each other. The problems were Blake pinching Caroline and Caroline crying because Blake did something or did not do something that she wanted. I am so happy to report that this week went off without any of this. All three kids got along great and Blake misses his cousins horribly now. He is like a lost puppy dog. Very sad. He asks me everyday when we are going to Georgia and Kentucky to see everyone. Only one more week and we will be on the road. Darren and I can't wait to get some good cold weather. I am hoping for snow. I know it won't happen but a girl can dream.

I am alive and blogging again

First, sorry for the long break. I have been in hiding without really knowing it. Things have not been crazy, no sick babies, no real drama, no excuses. Just not blogging. Well, I'm back. Things here have been moving at normal speed. Blake is still a wild, wild three year old. I am at my wits ends with him and not listening. I was beginning to think that I was the only mother who has a three year old who is still not listening. I have tried many, many different discipline techniques which all work for a little while and then seem to loose the magic. Yesterday I implemented a new one. I began taking away his beloved toys. Oh, the heartbreak. After a nice little episode of me repeating myself for the 50th time, I calmly walked to my room and got a bag. I then took Blake into his room and made him place one of his race cars into the bag. I then explained that Daddy works very hard so that Blake can have these nice toys and that there are a lot of little boys who don't have any toys to play with. I told him it is his job to listen to us and that if he can't do that I will begin taking toys away to give to the little boys who do listen. INSERT TEARS AND SNOT. He LOVES his cars and I feel horrible taking them, but something has to give. I am crossing my fingers that this will work.
Kayce is growing and meeting milestones like crazy. She is FINALLY crawling, 10 months later, and is now starting to pull up. She is eating us out of all of our food. She loves to eat. I have not found anything that she will not eat. She has not gotten any teeth yet, but that does not slow her down with eating. She is a very sweet baby. She is a huge snuggler. She is very happy to be held and rocked. All she needs is her lovey and her thumb.
Darren and I are the same just older. We love to be in bed at 9:30 and we are not the least bit embarrassed by this little fact. I still can't not believe that I used to be able to stay up into the wee hours of the night and then wake up and go to class. What was I thinking?? I have no desire to be out past dark these days. It is sad. On our anniversary we got a babysitter and went out to a local cuban resturant. We had a couple glasses of wine with our dinner. When it was over Darren asked if I wanted to go somewhere and get a drink. I actually said that I would rather go get a cup of coffee and go sit on the beach and watch the sunset. He thought it was a great idea. We are getting old.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Things Change

It is funny how things change as you get older and have kids. I used to LOVE daylight savings time because it meant that I could sleep 1 extra hour, even if only for one day. Now I HATE daylight savings time. Children have internal clocks and have no concept of the fact that the clock says 6:00AM. To their bodies, it is still 7:00am. So for the past two mornings, my children have been up and ready to play at 6:00am. What is wrong with them??? Don't they know that you can sleep for one extra hour??? Obviously, not children from my genes. Not only that but Blake loved to go outside and play after dinner because here in this hot state, that is when the weather was bearable enough to enjoy yourself. Now it is dark when we eat dinner, so he burns his energy running around in the house instead of out of the house. Not only am I overly tired, I have a 3 year old bouncing off the walls. Calgon, take me away!!!!

It's Winter in Florida!! Yeah Right!

This weekend has been wonderful here. The highs were in the high 70's, low 80's and the low's were in the mid to upper 60's. Now for Darren and I, this meant that we wore shorts and long sleeved shirts or short sleeved shirts and jeans. For most everyone else here in the state of Florida, it meant sweatshirts, sweaters, jeans and long sleeved t-shirts. These people would freeze to death if they lived anywhere else where the temps actually drop to 30 degrees and lower. Because the weather was so wonderful, we spent a lot of time outside this weekend. We planted new plants in our pots, Darren and Blake mowed the lawn (a weekly chore) and other odd ends around the house. We have had a wonderful relaxing weekend.

Its a bird, Its a plane, No its Superman (AKA- Blake in his halloween costume)

Blake insisted on being superman this year even though he has never seen the movie nor have we really ever talked about superman. But he LOVES the costume and loves to wear it whenever he can. Kayce is going to be a ladybug this year. She is not as crazy about her costume, probably because she knows that it will be 100% degrees outside on Halloween night and her costume is fleece. That is the downfall of living in Florida around the holidays. It is very hard to find costumes that are made for hot weather. So all of the parents torture the kids by dressing them in hot costumes for the sake of some Halloween fun. I am one of those parents. Today, after both kids got their flu shots, we went to the park and almost suffered from heat stroke. It is so sad to see everyone enjoying fall weather and we are still enjoying the hot Florida weather. Oh well!!!! Here are the pics of the kids in their Halloween Costumes.

I'm Back!!!

It has been a while since my last post and here is why. The kids and I flew to Atl on the 25th of Sept. We met my parents and then we all drove to Ky to see family. Then we came back to Atl and went to Darrens parents until last Monday, Columbus Day. We had a great time but it sure does make us homesick. It does not help that Blake cries when we have to come home. He loves being with his grandparents and I feel horrible that he does not get to spend more time with them. So now we are home and getting back into the swing of things. This harder than one might think. Blake loves to help me get things put away but his version of put away and my version are two different ideas. I am still trying to get clothes put up. Today while I was feeding Kayce, Blake decided to help around the house. I did not think anything of this and paid no attention. All of a sudden I heard something fall and a little voice say, "Sorry mommy". I did not even want to look around the corner, but when I did, I saw part of our door frame on the ground and Blake standing there with his play hammer. To his benefit, the door frame was already cracked, but it was by no means hanging off. Then he looked at me with big sad eyes and said," that was my fault, I am sorry" and walked into his room and put himself in time-out. I felt horrible for him but at the same time was fuming inside because I know what a task it will be to fix it. But since he was already punishing himself, I did not have to. What a morning!!