Since my last post...

...We had a garage sale, packed lots of boxes, decided to eat our words about never moving ourselves again, Ryder became a Big Boy (aka no more diapers!!!), my external hard drive that I store all of our pictures on crashed, Best Buy says they can't recover the data, Best Buy's special team can recover the data for a steep price, I accept steep price over losing all of our pictures, became an advocate of backing up and then backing up your back-up, started cooking again (for whatever reason, I quit doing this while we were weight-watchering it and showing the house), started walking with a good friend again, thought our house deal was off, stopped packing, found out house deal was back on, continued packing, Ryder has gained a new found obsession with our IPhone (it is scary to watch him...he can work it better than me for sure and maybe better than Matt), Rustin kicked the pink-eye and is being a trooper with the havoc the antibiotic is leaving on his biscuits (aka bum), packed more boxes, Rustin fell in love with the fruit puff, hit the park, soaked up our backyard, Rustin started sitting up on his own for longer increments of time which in turn led to joint baths (hallelujah!). Sigh. Hope y'all had a great week, too! Getting ready to catch up on all your blogs and happenings as soon as the crazy two year old hits the sack!

Poor Baby!

Rustin...We are so sorry! Mommy and Daddy were teasing you the night before last for being overly dramatic. We even grabbed the camera and left you there to cry by yourself while we snapped away. We definitely thought these tears were worth documenting. You were trying to tell us, but we didn't listen. Poor Baby!


Dang, I felt like a bad parent yesterday. Sometimes I am just not very intuitive. Rustin woke up with a swollen eye and I blew it off to allergies. Ryder and I took him on a walk, we went to the park with friends, we went to McDonald's. We came home and I put them both down for naps. Rustin didn't sleep very long and when he woke up it looked like he had been punched in the eye. Of course, I self diagnosed him with pink-eye. I love self diagnosing my kids, my husband, myself. I called the Doctor's office and asked them to call in some pink-eye drops that I could run to Target and pick up. Their response...Nice try lady, we have to see him first. Good thing. Poor baby had massive double ear infections, pink eye in both eyes and chest congestion. I never saw it. Would have never called the Pediatrician if it hadn't been for his eye. He never ran a fever, never made a fuss I thought...then I remembered back to the night before and the above picture. Hmmm...guess there were signs, I just had my eyes closed.

I'm taking the crown today...Mom of the Year indeed.


I had to post this picture, too. Its Ryder (Obviously. I guess you didn't think it was Matt or I.). This is his new trick. He loves forts of any kind...even if the fort is simply a blanket over his head. I was going to post it yesterday as a "Wordless Wednesday", but with unknowingly taking a sick kid out on lots of adventures and then realizing that I actually needed to have the sick kid at the Doctor I ran out of time.

It won't be long...

It won't be long before our little Plus One is on the move. I have relished the past 7 months of Rustin's inability to move from the location I last placed him. Over the past few days, we've found him doing this every chance he gets.

Moving Etiquette

Tell me ladies (I say ladies because I assume that is all that reads this blog), is it proper etiquette to clean the years of filth from your house before you turn it over to the new owners? Today, I decided to start packing a few things up. I feel like we are pretty clean people, until I clean out bathroom cabinets. Ewwwwwww! How does that grime get down there? I broke out the 409 and started putting muscle into making the cabinets look shiny new. As I'm scrubbing, I started thinking about how I'll be doing this again in our "New to Us" digs. We've never bought a pre-existing home before. We've had two houses in the course of our marriage and we built both. Did I mention that I am OCD about other people's germs? I am. I even take my own towel to hotels and don't dare walk around without flip-flops. Seriously. I wasn't kidding when I said I was OCD.

My glass half empty frame of mind tells me, that the people living in the house we put an offer on over the weekend, aren't going to go the extra mile to clean the place. And lets be honest, even if they did, I'd clean it again anyway. Its just my nature. And probably the nature of the woman who is buying our house, which brings me full circle in my question. Should I or should I not be scrubbing things down as I empty them out?

Ryder's room looks sad and blank now. We have so many memories in this house and many of you know that I have been torn about leaving this house. But, as I was taking the things off the walls of his room today, I had a realization. It is not his room that I love. I love him. I love all of the things in his room that we have collected since I was pregnant with him. That is what makes his room...not the four walls.

So there it is. Today I made my first steps towards this new adventure. We aren't moving far. Not out of the state, not the other end of the state...just a town away. It's a little bit country, but still close enough that our life can stay mostly the same. Ryder will still attend the same preschool, we'll just have to leave 20 minutes sooner. We'll still attend our Church, we'll just just have to leave a little earlier. We'll still have our Play-dates. We'll still go to Sonic and the Car Wash, it just won't be around the corner. It's gonna be fun...we are Blessed!

A Colorful Wednesday

Plain and simple, I am a slow learner. One day I will grasp the concept that quiet is never good when combined with Ryder. Quiet, Ryder, and this smile is an even worse combination. It essentially screams TROUBLE!

I am so naive that I actually stood in my room, folding laundry and listening to the ladies on The View in peace, assuming Ryder was quietly watching Sesame Street on the I-Touch.  I stuck my head in the other room several times, making sure he did not start digging into anything toxic or dangerous.  After I had put everything away I grabbed my camera wanting to capture some of this sweet and quiet moment.  He looks up at me and flashes that big smile above saying, "Ryder Color".  Let me show you exactly what Ryder colors.

He also colored Grover (i.e. the screen of the I-Touch...thank goodness clorox wipes removed the ink).  It was all over his legs, his tummy, his shirt, his shorts.  Ryder...Mommy has a question for you.  Why do you do these things only on my watch?  Do you know how much better I would feel if you just sometimes did these things when you're with Daddy?  I'm just saying. 

My Tuesday

Since last September, I have spent every single Tuesday, one on one with this little angel. I love you, Rustin! I feel like you always get put on the back burner because your big brother needs me all the time, but you never complain. You are the most patient, happy, loving baby. I could not have asked for more and I absolutely can not imagine US without YOU!

He is getting ready to eat a Mum-Mum in this picture.  If you have a little one this age or know of someone who has a baby this age, you must introduce the Mum-mum!  I can only find them at Wal-Mart, but they are great.  They come in a bar shape, but are very thin and dissolve in their mouth.  Kind of the same idea as the Fruit Puffs, but they can hold these sooner because they don't have to have the pincher grip mastered to hold the Mum-Mum.  Rustin loves his Mum-mums!  

Hmmm....

Hmmmm....Do you ever have one of those week's that just zooms by and you wonder where it went? I did not get a single thing accomplished last week. Pretty much just went around in circles and survived each day. I am in denial about this whole moving thing...if I don't think about it then it isn't really happening! This week I am back to reality. I do want to enjoy some of the beautiful sunshine and I need to pull my camera out from under my desk so that it gets some use.

I spent Friday and Saturday at my parent's house which ended up being a "work" weekend, so no pictures were taken. They are making progress on a new project they are working on, so that is exciting for them.

Matt went to Cincinnati on Friday morning to visit his best friend. They go back a very, very long way and at one point I was pretty certain Matt loved Mike more than he loved me. Mike is a Veterinary Surgeon and let Matt watch him amputate a leg on Friday. Lets just say that my husband was ooober excited!

Rustin has a lingering cough that I want the Doctor to check out today and then we have laundry, laundry, laundry and house hunting to do! OK off to check on the brother and brother bear.

For Amber

This post is for our cousin, Amber. Just so you know...pictures are hard to come by here as well!

Ryder cries.

 Rustin decides to cry since Ryder is temporarily tear free.

Then Ryder cries some more.  In between the tears we keep our fingers crossed that the camera will catch something semi-good.  That is almost always how picture taking goes at this house!

PS... I forgot to say Thank you in my last post to my Mom and Dad for getting R&R these super handsome Easter outfits.  The way things worked out this year, we didn't see them on Easter so I promised to take pictures of them in their spiffy clothes!  They fit perfect and I absolutely loved them!

Happy Easter!

Spring is here

I took the boys to the Arboretum this week to soak up some sunshine! We may go again next week because it is a good energy burner for a 2-year old who loves to be outside and run, run, run! Here are some pictures from our trip. My sister met me out there with her little girl "Monster Anna". Not that I think she is a monster, but that is currently what she is calling herself...she is no longer Anna...she is "Monster Anna" and will chase you around while growling. It is pretty funny!

Easter Party

It was Easter Party Day at First Faith. Saying that Ryder's Egg Hunt and Class Party was chaotic is slightly an understatement. We are always pressed for time on preschool days. I am not sure why. How could it possibly be so hard for me to get two kids out the door by 9:00 a.m.? As I ask this question, I remind myself that it was hard for me to get just Ryder out the door by 9:00 a.m. last year.

To change subjects slightly, our house was showed this morning. I received a call at 8:45 a.m. stating that a showing was scheduled from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Ummm...o.k. people...that does not give a lady with a 2-year old and a 6 month old enough notice to get everything in order for a showing. Really. Would you be able to get your house ready with 15 minutes notice?

Did I mention that Ryder is really grasping potty training and we are spending time at home in big boy underwear and lots of time is taken up in the bathroom? I may have also failed to mention that when said 2-year old is engrossed by "Olivia" (thank you Nick Jr.), he will forgo the potty and have an accident. This ensures that he doesn't have to get up from the TV and miss any of the highly imaginative pig and her little "bother". There was an accident that had to be cleaned up, which led to me stripping the beds of sheets, and then frantically making up beds with no sheets before the showing.

As I am throwing a pair of sandals on Ryder so we can get in the car, he decides that he can no longer wear shoes without socks.  Yes, I am even speaking of sandals and flip-flops. They can be worn, but only with socks. Seriously? Seriously? Tennis shoes it was. What happened to the boy who never questioned what I dressed him in?

So. We are late to school, but better late than never is my mantra. I find out from "Ames" (as Ryder calls his teacher) that I need to be back by 10:45 a.m. to hide eggs. I run back home to get Rustin his oatmeal and feed it to him in the car. Head to the bank, get gas in the car and then stop back by the house to grab my camera. Guess What? I can't grab my camera because the people are still in our house. I sit outside my house for 45 minutes and they never come out. No camera for the class party.

Arrive at school, the poop incident of 2010 occurs. Seriously. I go to put Rustin in my sling and notice that there is crusties all over his legs and hands. It wasn't pretty...the worst I have ever encountered. Luckily, I had a change of clothes for him. Poor baby had to endure a full blown baby-wipe bath in the Church parking lot.

Hide eggs, wait for Ryder's class to come out. As expected, Ryder had no interest in hunting eggs. Why would you want to hunt eggs when you can go down the slide, ride the car, swing in the swing? I urged him to put a few eggs in his plastic bucket. Yes, he was the only one with a plastic bucket. I guess no one else felt it was acceptable to send their kid with the $1 job from Wal-mart. Everyone else had the cutest baskets, some even had liners with their name embroidered. We have a cute basket, but I didn't send it to school. Poor kid.  Below is his massive loot (ha!) in his super cute plastic bucket!

Ryder then notices my phone and is only interested in that. He will not sit for his class picture, I bribe him with french fries. "Ryder sit with Reesie and say Cheese...then you can have french fries". Ryder is now fixated on French Fries. He does not understand why the French Fries do not just appear. He really does not understand that he can go back into his classroom and have French Fries (they had ordered Chickaflicka for the party). He insists on getting in Mommy's car for the French Fries. Now he only wants Mommy's keys. Mommy's keys turn on Mommy's car and Mommy's car drives us to the French Fries. Screaming insues. I don't feel bad because every other kid whose Mom came to the party is screaming.

I gained new respect for his teacher if this is what she listens to every day.

I brought him home after finally having French Fries for lunch. He didn't nap, but he did spend 2-hours in his room without fussing. Thank you!!

Finally, I find out that the people who spent so long in the house this morning did decide to go under contract on our house. We are totally lost but at peace. We have no idea where we are going, but we have 2-months to figure it out. The family is moving to Texas from Illinois and waiting until school ends before they make the move. This gives us a little time to figure out where we should be. I know that this is in His plan...I just wish he'd show us the answers.

Thanks for reliving and enduring the day with me...on another note... a sweet friend of mine's little girl underwent a lengthy surgery today on her foot. I just received the update that the surgery went well and all are happy. She is resting with an epidural and able to eat some ice chips. In the words of Jill..."God is Good!".