What I learned this week

This week I learned more about the male anatomy then I really wanted to know.

I learned that little boys DO NOT like to poop in the potty.

I learned that when told that my 16 month old may have testicular constriction I instantly thought "Oh no I won't be a grandmother." Cuz that is so in my near future... and I am completely selfish.

I learned that when a nurse tells you to go to Vanderbilt Children's ER you don't hear much else after that.

I learned that really bad diaper rash can look like testicular constriction.

I learned that my 3 year old has no problem pooping in his underpants while at the same time explaining to me that pooping in the potty is really hard and that when he is just an inch taller then he will be a big enough boy to do it.

I learned that a certain appendage of the male anatomy has to be perfectly pushed down while using the potty or I will be cleaning the bathroom floor 15 times a day.

I learned that I want new bathroom floors with cleaning said floors 15 times a day.

I learned that threatening a certain 3 year old with a suppository will do the trick to get him to poop in the potty.

I learned that there are certain time in my life that I will always remember...the day Mr. Genius proposed at the Biltmore, the day we found out we were pregnant each time, and the day that Wild Man pooped in the potty. WhooHoo!!

Tonight...

Romeo got out of the bath and ran out from under my legs to the balcony rather then his room.

Then he...








This is another good reason to have hardwood floors.

Chairs and the Dentist

We are all healthy right now!

*knock on wood*

Like I mentioned in my last post, Wild Man got sick Sunday night, March 1st, and then I got the bug on Wednesday. I am telling you we have never been so sick so much. Luckily neither Romeo nor Mr. Genius got this bug.

With the winter coming to an end I am crossing my fingers that the sickness is too.

I am also hoping that the items in my house will stop breaking too.

Here is a picture of my kitchen table.

One of these things is not like the other. Can you tell which one?




The back of the chair just broke off!

Really it is amazing that more of the chairs haven't broken before at this point. Our chairs are not just used for a place to sit down while eating, cutting coupons, coloring or to just sit and whine about the food that was placed in front of them (but Mr. Genius is getting better about that). They have also been known to be scaled the back of like a rock climbing wall, a shield from an onslaught of toys that suddenly fly into the kitchen by a 3 year old that claims he didn't know that toys weren't meant to be airborne, or a step ladder (guilty for that one).

So now I am just trying to figure out how we are going to fix the chair or just find some different chairs that can be stained or painted.

Speaking of painted furniture. Romeo has graduated to the blue table! I got rid of the high chair!



(Beth the red chairs work great thanks for letting us borrow them!)

One big advantage of the 2nd child is they want to do things that the older child does (can also be a challenge too). Romeo kept trying to sit at the table when it was time to eat so I just started letting him and he is doing really good at it.

I thought I would be really be sentimental about getting rid of the highchair since it has been in our kitchen since I was 8 months preggers with Wild Man.

That's 3 and a half years ago!

I was so happy to get that bulky thing out of my kitchen and I do not miss it one bit.

Another event that has happen in this household is that Wild Man had his first dentist appointment, and he did amazing!!

We went to Snodgrass and King that just opened up here in the 'Boro and I highly recommend them.

The dentist did mention that he has a enlarged thingy (the technical term).

It's that thing of skin that connects the upper lips to your gums and is right above your front teeth, or also know as a thingy.

When he is about 5 they will cut it, I am sure that will be a really fun day.

He also has an overbite and will probably have to have braces.

Are there any kids nowadays that do not have to have braces?

Other then that he looks great and did great!

We also learned that Wild Man knows his right and lefts now.

As Dr. Snodgrass was leaving the room Wild Man asks (very loudly I might add).

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS LEFT EYE?"

Here is a picture of Dr. Snodgrass.



He did try to wait til he was leaving to ask me what was wrong with him, I guess I should give him points for that.

Well, I set the camera out to take with us and I of course forgot it.

But here is a picture of Wild Man when we got home with his balloon. You can't tell but he is holding the toothpaste and brush and toy that he got in his hand.



Also notice the shirt he is wearing.

I made it! Well not the shirt just the tie on it.

And I didn't so much make it as iron it on and then highlight with a little sewing that may or may not have taken me about 2 hours just to figure out how to turn it on.

Hope everyone is having a great March.

Is it 2010 yet?

So far this year has not been a fun year.

We started with the hurlapalooza and turned into a breakarama.

When it rains it pours and then the torrential rains come.

First we replaced the dryer. It wasn't completely dead but I was having to put the clothes through two cycles and it would get just get them just kind of dry.

One night Mr. Genius and I had to sleep in the playroom due to washing our bedding and after 3 times through the dryer they still were not dry.

We decided it was time to get a new dryer.

Then our faucet has been bothering us for a while. It leaked really bad and would shake so bad it would make the whole counter shake sometimes if the water was on really high. Again not completely broken, just drove us crazy.

So being the practical gal I am I got a faucet for Valentine's day. Cuz really I didn't need flowers and I definitely didn't need chocolate. But Matt and I thought this is something we actually needed.

By the way it is actually a very pretty faucet.

See...



So after Mr. Genius installed the faucet and we thought...good I am glad that is done.

Then one Sunday morning as we are leaving to go to church, water was streaming out of our water heater and all over our garage.

Mr. Genius turned off our water and we just ran away to church.

Because that is what we want to teach our boys... when you don't know what to do just run, run away.

Thankfully a friend in our Sunday School class knows a little about water heaters and came over to see if he could help.

Turns out we just had to replace a hose.

Crisis averted.

Or so we thought.

It only just started.

About a year ago our broiler blew out in our oven. We never replaced it.

Then Wild Man went to my parents and mom asked him if he wanted some toast.

Wild Man replied.."What's toast?"

We thought it is time to replace the broiler.

We need to expand our sons bead eating horizons.

So being the do-it-yourselfers we are we thought we would do it ourselves. Really how hard could it be?

Mistake number one...

So I unscrewed the broiler and took it out to make sure that we bought the right one.

That day I got a new one and before Mr. Genius got home I decided to cook some dinner.

In my head I thought the broiler hasn't worked in over a year so I can cook something without having the broiler in.

Mistake number two...

I turned on the oven put in the dinner.

About 10 minutes later a saw a flash out the side of my eye.

I went to take a look at the oven... it was dead.

...Lovely...

So we had half cook pizza for dinner.

When Mr. Genius got home he thought that he could fix it by just putting in the new broiler.

Mistake number 3...

He put in the new broiler and we turned the oven back on, another big flash.

and because we didn't learn the first time we tried 2 more times.

There were two more flashes.

I guess we liked to see little fireworks in our kitchen.

Wednesday night our oven died.

Thursday morning I called a oven repairman and told him what we did and he said that it would not be worth him coming out cuz it sounds like we killed the whole oven and even if he did come out he can't guarantee that he can get it to work when he is done and we can use that money towards a new oven.

The positive thing I got out of that conversation is that at least he was being honest and we didn't throw away $400.

So we are in the market for a new oven.

I went to the bookstore looked at the Consumer Reports ad and read up on what free standing ranges have good ratings.

I got sold on the Kenmore 9614.



What I liked about it is that it has a warming drawer! Now Mr. Genius can actually have a warm dinner!

Talked it over with Mr. Genius and we planned for me to go to the Sears store and buy it tomorrow.

First the boys and I had a play date and quite honestly play dates are just as much for the moms as they are for the kids.

So don't you think I was going to miss it.

We had a great time! And even better we wore out the kids.

Two birds with one stone!

So onto the next part, I am going to abbreviate this story a lot.

During the boys naptime I called our local Sears store to see if the range was in stock. The person I talked to informed me that it was not in the store but if I ordered it right now with her it will be in my house tomorrow (Saturday).

Considering you can only make so many nutritional meals out of the microwave I was thrilled to hear I could get the range the next day.

So I ordered it.

It is now Sunday, and I still don't have an oven.

As it looks right now we will not be receiving the range until Tuesday!

So if we actually receive the range on Tuesday that will be almost a week without a range.

I really miss my range.

Any range at that.

I am not a huge fan of cooking but when the option is not there I really want to.

So February wasn't that good of a month. (Other then a short get away to snow skiing with Mr. Genius, Andrew and Kat, thanks guys).

Now today the first day of March.

It snowed!

YEAH!

Then Wild Man threw up all over me about 6 times tonight and Romeo busted his lip by playing tug of war with Wild Man's barf bucket.

Good times!

Are these the times that people talk about that I am suppose to look back on with longing? Wishing I could go back in time to this time?

No thank you.

I want to go to sleep and you wake me up when it is all over... and I have a working stove.

Mr. Genius took of work tomorrow so I can work a consignment sale all day and the go to the worker's sale tomorrow night.

There better be some good stuff there and those women better not get in my way. I don't know if I will be able to control myself much longer.

I may blow up over a part of plaid shorts!

So with all that said, March isn't looking too good so far either.

Only 305 days left til 2010!

Wild Man's 22 Random

1. My name is Wild Man

2. I refuse to use the big boy potty at home.

3. But am completely fascinated with sitting on all the public potties, without actually using the potty for its intended purpose...just like to sit on them. It totally freaks mom out.

4. I love people. All people.

5. I don't like going to the park when no one else is there. It is so boring.

6. I refuse to share with my brother...but I will give my favorite toys to complete strangers.

7. Sometimes when my mom asks me something I won't answer her until she is on the phone and I will talk louder and louder until she gets off.

8. My friends Blake and Gabe have a little sister named Hallie, pronounced like Sallie with a H. If you mispronounce her name I will yell at you til you say it right.

9. Benadryl doesn't work on me. HeHeHe

10. I believe that Uncy Andy owns that entire city of Memphis including the zoo. I think that zoo is the coolest place on earth.

11. I like to call my Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jenny just to see if anyone will notice.

12. I am the most hyper 3 year old you will ever meet.

13. Mom tells me that the curse is real and that I will one day understand what I am putting her through. I don't understand what that means so I say OK and go back to using my brother for target practice.

14. I love my JJ and wake up in the morning asking to see her and will ask all day til I go to sleep.

15. I will eat anything if you give me something to dip it in.

16. I am the spitting image of my Uncle Reid.

17. I love girls. Especially blond ones, but I have no idea how to act around them.

18. So I just push them down or throw a ball in their face.

19. I am at your mercy if you take my food away.

20. My mom told me that I can watch Madagascar 2 when I don't go into time out at Mother's Day Out.

21. That will happen as soon as those other kids in there realize that all those toys are mine and I will let them play with them when I am ready.

22. Just when I think I am about to push my mom over the edge, I tell her that she has pretty hair and eyes...It works every time.

Romeo's random

For over a month on Facebook most everyone has been making a list of 25 random facts about themselves, me included. So I thought I would do this for my boys too.

So here are Romeo's list 25 random facts:

1. My name is Romeo.

2. I love my mom more then anything in this world... if you don't believe me just try to take me away from her. I can make your ears bleed.

3. My hair is a good indicator to how I will act. When it is not as spikey I am generally laid back when it is really wild and crazy I also will act wild and crazy.

4. Due to my brother being the loudest 3 year old in the world when I feel no need to talk. No one will hear me anyways.

5. I was born with dark brown hair and at 3 months it all feel out. My mom felt that all the pregnancy heart burn was just a waste.

6. I started sleeping through the night a 6 weeks! My mom was so proud!

7. Then when I was 5 months old I screamed for 2 weeks solid and would only stop if mom would hold me.

8. I love balls...if I look as if I am going to freak out give me a ball.

9. I equally love food...if I look like I am going to freak out give me food.

10. I have big round blue eyes and I am very loving like my daddy.

11. I love my brother and all of his toys so much that I only want to play with my own toys when he is playing with them.

12. I love to take toys away from my brother and try to run away from him...one day I will be able to keep the toys for more then 2 milliseconds.

13. I have been making car sounds while playing with cars since I was 9 months old. No matter how hard my mom tries to persuade me I will not say the word car.

14. Right now the main way I communicate is by pointing and saying psst. I do realize in some cultures this maybe rude.

15. My favorite thing to do is the squeal at Wild Man.

16. Mom tells him to ignore me, but he totally can't do it, and I find that empowering, so I keep doing it.

17. I would eat all the live long day if I could.

18. Sometimes I decide that I won't eat vegetables one week, so I will throw them on the floor. Then when mom puts me down I will eat the food I threw on the floor. It tasted better that way.

19. I love my cousin Eli so much that I scare him.

20. I recently discovered that I can hit Wild man and he can't hit me back! I also find this empowering.

21. I remember the voice of the nurse that has given me all my shots. As soon as I hear her voice I scream as loud as I can to warn all the other kids in the waiting room to run for the hills. I am pretty sure they can hear me.

22. I am also find it completely humiliating to be put on a scale with no clothes on.

23. I love my brother so much and don't know what to do when he isn't around.

What has been happenin'

Boy this has been a long month.

The sickness lasted for over 20 days I like to call the Hurlapalooza of 09!

First I got sick ,then Wild Man, then Romeo, then me, then Romeo, then me, then Romeo and me, then just me, then...well you get the picture.

It hasn't been fun.

Well truth be told we are not really sure if Romeo and I really got sick. Other people around us who got sick, would only be sick for 24 hours and then they were done. Mine would last for 3 or 4 days straight with 2 days of relief and then start all over again.

Also for those of you that had the privilege of knowing me right out of college knew I went through a crazy, random barfing phase.

Yes, you read that right.

Random barfing.

Kind of like random selection.

It was crazy I would be driving to work and all the sudden throw up all over myself.

Let me tell me you the first time it scared me to death. I had to turn around run home changed clothes cleaned my car, and gave my roommates a good laugh.

This happened for 4 straight years. Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

I went to Dr.'s about it and they all assumed I was pregnant. I can not tell you how mad that would make me. I would ask them to give me a pregnancy test so they can see that that wasn't an option and then we can try to figure this out but nothing was ever determined.

Well we are wondering if it is starting up again and even worse we are wondering if Romeo has it too. The whole time Romeo and I were "sick" we never had a fever. Which is why I am thinking we didn't have a virus.

This morning Romeo threw up again in his bed but he didn't have a fever and he acts perfectly fine.

It is crazy.

Romeo has an appointment on Monday with the Dr. and since there is no way he can be pregnant I am hoping we can figure this out.

We are hoping it is something simple, like reflux.

Anyways, because we weren't sure if we were sick or not. We were stuck in the house the WHOLE time. Stir Crazy does not even describe how crazy we were feeling about our longing to get out.

I turned our garage into a playground.

We have given every toy car in the house a bath...three times.

Oh the days I was feeling good I actually started on my goal of organizing.

I am happy to say that I am DONE!

With just the kitchen that is.

But I am pretty proud of that considering I was laying on the floor half of the month.

Here are some pictures of the month.


Here is Wild Man giving his cars a bath.



This was a day I was actually feeling good, so I scrubbed the kitchen floor.

Romeo, who has turned into my little helper, wanted to help me.

But he has rules. He helps if I stand or sit right next to him. The second I pull back to relax or take a picture. He stops and tries to hand the brush back to me. As if to say " I'm not doing it if you aren't doing it."

Here he is giving me back to scrubber.



Also, because I am a gluten for punishment. I found a side table on Craigslist for FREE! I couldn't pass that up, and the boys need their own little eating table. So I started another project.

Here is the table when we first got it.



I didn't get a good after picture, but here are the boys in their capes around the table after I painted it.



I want to get little wooden chairs to put with them. I have been looking on craigslist but haven't found matching ones.

Here are the boys running around in the their capes.


One last story.

So I can make this my longest post ever.

Apparently I was sick so much that the boys went into survival mode. One time when I was hugging the porcelain throne.
Here is what I heard.

Romeo "Whaaaaa" probably doing sign language for eat.

Wild Man "Here little buddy I will get you something to eat."

Romeo "He He" that is him laughing. Which is what he does when he realizes you are giving him what he wants.

Wild Man "Would you like some grapes?"

I finally pulled myself up off the bathroom floor and grabbed my camera.

Here is Wild Man getting the grapes for Romeo.



The boy even got a bowl to put Romeo's grapes in.
Next I need to teach him to button his britches. Details go out the window when you can't haven't held food down in a few days.



Hopefully next month will be easier on us.