Puddle jumping :-)

It's puddle season ... or laundry season, whichever way you choose to look at it. The boys both had a ton of fun playing in the puddles with all the neighbour kids today! Arlan is so funny when he gets around other kids - he's so happy and amazed and just wants to participate :-)

Arlan's very favourite new thing is story time before bed. I started including him in the stories in Landon's bed. Now when it's bed time he's laying in there, with his blankie, all ready and waiting!! So sweet! Now to get Landon that ready and willing...

Other than that, we've been hanging out at home. With this nice weather, neither kid wants to fall asleep at night. you'd think more fresh air would mean easier bedtimes, but nope! Not in our house... Of course with Arlan he did sleep late this morning, and have a nice long nap, so that may contribute as well.

We bought Landon's b'day gift today - a 2-wheeler bicycle. I think he'll love it. Hopefully this nice weather holds out so he can start learning to ride it right away. Now I just have to get his party planned....cake, guests invited, etc etc ...
We also bought Landon a booster seat today. He's 40 lbs, and I think he's ready to be in a big-boy seat. I'm sick of strapping him into the car seat too, the straps barely fit around him he's getting so big! It'll be nice to just use the seat belt - hopefully he'll be able to do it himself.

We got rid of a bunch of baby toys etc this weekend too. The neighbours are expecting, so we off-loaded a pile. If they throw it away, I'm ok with that, as long as I don't have to!!

Anyways, that's the news from here for today ... until next time!

Aaaallllmost!

We took Arlan to the doc again yesterday - he wanted to see him after 10 days of antibiotics. One ear is all cleared up, but the other is still a bit red :-( Poor guy - it's taking him a really long time! But the doctor said he can go swimming now, so we'll be able to make the last 2 weeks of swim lessons YAY

Last night Landon's laying in bed, not sleeping (well, technically he was building train tracks very quietly in his room, but we aren't supposed to know that). He calls out "Mom! I can't sleep!" I reply, "Landon just lay quiet and close your eyes, you'll fall asleep." A few minutes later I hear, "Mom, it's not working! My HANDS are still AWAKE!" Really - how do you answer that one!! John and I just giggled and told him to keep trying.

Arlan and Landon are mischief makers these days. Landon convinces Arlan to "come upstairs and play!" (it doesn't take much convincing ... Arlan bobs his head and toddles for the stairs immediately). They are giggling and laughing, there's much banging and bonking, I decide I have to go and see what they're doing (even though I hate to). If you can believe, they've stripped Landon's bed, and pulled the mattress off!! They have the mattress propped up against the boxspring, so that they can stand on the boxspring and jump on the mattress and sort of slide / fall down. Then they smack the closet doors and turn around to do it again. *sigh* Do you even bother trying to curb this fun??
No need, they eventually smash their heads together, or Arlan smacks his head on one of the many objects in the room. Invariably, Arlan cries for approximately 30 seconds, while Landon howls for 5 minutes or more because Arlan hurt himself! Landon maybe wasn't even involved in the injury, but he's the one crying the hardest :-/ Poor kid ... rough life he leads!!

So that's the news from here for today -- until next time...

Better? YES!

I think Arlan's over this infection - although he does still dig his thumb into his eyes when he cries. We go to the dr again tomorrow afternoon, so we'll find out for sure one way or the other. It's too bad I didn't take him in a day earlier, because we are missing TWO weeks of swimming lessons (last Thursday and I really don't want to take him tomorrow morning either, just in case he still has infection :-( ). So ... I guess we miss two weeks. Poor kid - I think there are still two weeks left after that though, so we should be fine (he likely doesn't even notice it!).

It was finally nice here, just yesterday I commented on how it is starting to smell like spring. Well, that wrecked it all - woke up to about 3" of snow, and more fell throughout the day :-/ So we'll need to shovel again ... *sigh* We stayed in all day today, but tomorrow Landon has preschool again so we'll head out. Arlan and I will buy groceries while Landon's having fun :-)

Until next time...

and so it goes...

Landon: "I'm going to hit you!"
Arlan: [laughs]
Landon: "Stop Laughing!!"
Arlan: [laughs]
Landon: "STOP LAUGHING!"
Arlan: [laughs]
Landon: [giggles ... finally]

Sigh ...

Happy Valentine's Day :-)

We've had a nice Valentines Day. It started off extra sweet as Danika (our sitter last night) had spent the night here, and entertained the kids this morning so John & I could sleep in! YAY Helped to sleep off that beer from last night :-/

We've spent the day playing and going for a walk outside and stuff. Arlan is considerably better - not nearly as much snot.
Landon sure is a bawl baby these days. Does that come with being (almost) 4? aiaiai ... he cries over everything!! Especially when told not to do something ...

So not much news, Arlan's on the mend, Landon cries all day, and I'm almost nuts :-) You know, typical stuff! Until next time...

Happy Birthday to MEEE!!

Heading out tonight with friends to celebrate all of our February birthdays - I can hardly wait! I am so looking forward to time with other adults who aren't knuckle-heads! That's not a shot at John, but at some other people (that I'm not related to) that I've been dealing with. But tomorrow's a new day, so we'll go from there. In the meantime, we'll have fun at the piano-bar I'm sure!

Arlan's looking much better! Still snotty, but not coughing as much, and actually eating which is a relief. He spent some time playing outside today (thanks to John getting them out there), so hopefully we'll have our happy camper back in the next day or so.

That's the quick post, until next time...

He's doing better

Well Arlan is definitely better today. Now I don't know if he's feeling punky or just 20 months old. This kid sure knows exactly what he wants!! No, not this, not that. He wants what he's not supposed to have, of course! He likes to stand in his chair at the table, and then look all sly at us when we tell him to sit down. In fact, anytime we tell him "no" he gives us that doe-eyed look .... *sigh*! Stinker. He still coughs a lot if he starts running around or walking too much - we had a couple of sessions today when I was out running errands. But no actual upchucking which was nice for a change.

Landon's a stinker - he doesn't want to go outside because it's still snowy and such, so it's not much fun; but he NEEDS to get outside and burn off some energy! He just wants to play in his sand box...that's all he asks for :-/ When oh when will spring get here......

Tomorrow we are going out - can't wait! A group of friends going out to celebrate our February birthdays - YAY! I'm really looking forward to it.


And now, a moment of silence for the Georgian luger. I know it may be a crazy sport, but still....

A wee bit of the happy Arlan we saw tonight...

Yup, Arlan actually played a bit tonight! So I do believe he's on the mend, finally. This afternoon he wanted to walk at the mall (vs ride in the cart), so he did. [GORE ALERT -- You should be a mom before you keep reading, unless you like stories about snot!] But whenever he 'plays' or runs or jumps these days, he ends up in a coughing fit that causes him to puke. Yup - coughing his poor lungs out in the mall ... I felt so bad for him. He doesn't like, vomit ... just has to cough up the gobs of mucous sliding down his throat. When he can get it out, then he goes back to good.
But tonight he played for a bit after supper and didn't have such a bad coughing fit. I think it helped that I was able to suction his nose right away. You know it's bad when he actually wants his nose suctioned (we never did get to that point with Landon!) ... he just lays there quietly for me. Which is good, because it's effective.
Anyway, so Arlan actually played. He even ate a bit, but not much. Just no appetite with your stomach full of snot I guess. But it was nice to get out for a bit, if even to the mall. There's a play area there which Landon loves of course. It's the first time I had Arlan there - all he wanted to do was slide, but he's too small yet to climb to the top of it. So he was frustrated with that, poor kid. Life sucks for him these days. I was so proud of Landon though - when I said it was time to go, he came out, found his shoes, and away we went. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't thrilled and likely would've stayed there until he was 14, but there was not a melt-down, and for that I am happy!

I'm off to bed - hoping to sleep all night long. If it's not Arlan being sick, it's Landon needing us to take the monsters out from under his bed (that's easy enough to do, just put your hand out and they crawl into your lap; then you put them in the bathroom) or just wanting snuggles (which I don't mind usually, but I am tired these days! But I still do take the opportunity to snuggle!).
Until next time...

Not out of the woods yet, but I think I can see daylight...

Arlan isn't back to his old self quite yet, but he's on the mend by all appearances. His naps are still disrupted by coughing fits, but at night he's able to sleep through. And he's not quite as miserable as he has been - but there's still lots of cuddling required. The amount of snot coming out of his nose would choke an elephant - I can't blame him for being pissy!!

Landon's playing with him a bit nicer today too. Likely because I did the "toy swap". Brought the tote in from the garage and swapped toys out. So Landon feels like he's got all new toys today. I still hear wailing from Arlan every 5 minutes or so, but it's usually curtailed as Landon has finally learned that he doesn't get what he wants if Arlan's crying, so he's usually trying to give Arlan something to placate him. But not always, I just heard "You can cry ALL YOU WANT!" from Landon. Yes, the boys are in the basement playing -- it's nicer that way.

But I do think it's time to see what's what. Trying to get out to the mall for a quick shopping excursion this afternoon, and if we don't get going right smartly, we won't be going at all. Until next time...

Ear Infection!

Poor Arlan ... he has infection in BOTH ears :-( No wonder he's so pissy!!

He wasn't better this morning, so it was time to take him to the dr. We got an appt today, and what a gongshow it was. Doc appt was 20 mins late (which is very unusual in that office), then prescription took over 45 mins to fill (we'd been told it would be 20 mins). So our 'little outing' was almost 2 hours long ... at the end of the day ... with a screaming/fussy Arlan....and a cabin-fevered Landon. It was not fun. For any of us.

But we're home - Arlan has had 2 doses of antibiotics, plus some homeopathic earache meds to help combat the pain. He seems to be sleeping better so far (knock on wood). Let's hope that the meds will kick in and our happy baby can return tomorrow! Mommy needs that in order to maintain her sanity.

Landon had a Valentine's party at preschool today. He really enjoyed it, despite not wanting to go to preschool this morning. What amazes me is the amount of candy given away for Valentine's Day -- it's not Hallowe'en! He came home with a loot bag, which I get to fight with him over for the next few days ... thanks alot! We didn't even send V'day cards, I'm thinking we'll get that pleasure often enough in upcoming years, I don't need to jump into it quite yet...

Other than that - life is ticking along. I guess no swimming for Arlan this week, give his ears a chance to heal up. Maybe we'll do the play time at the gym on Thursday, both boys can have fun there since Landon doesn't have preschool. Spread our illnesses around a bit ...

until next time...

Still sick :-(

Arlan's still sick -- coughing and snotty. Poor kid - he woke up with a bloody nose this morning. Not enough to be all over him and the bed, just his nose, but still. Still a bit of a fever, although we didn't have to treat it until later in the day. He napped for about 4 hours (up every hour for a soother plug, then back to sleep). Tonight he's struggling again - I sure hope he can get some sleep tonight. He did not too badly last night - up only once between 1 and 8 (although he was up frequently before that).

Landon still has the cough, but no fever and is pretty much his old self - a bit less energy (which is nice, to be honest). Tomorrow Landon and I are making cookies for his Valentine's party at preschool - heart-shaped cookies! He can cut them out and we'll decorate a few as well. Should be f-u-n...

Poor sick little Arlan

Well, Arlan now has whatever it was that Landon had last week. Poor little stinker. Last night he was up more than he was asleep. John and I took shifts - I had him until 5 am, then it was John's turn. We were up until 3 with Arlan staring at Treehouse. When he decided he wanted to get up and play with his school bus (busses are one of his absolute favourite things), I put him to bed. But he never slept for more than an hour at a time, so I was up at 4 with him, then John at shortly after 5, and 6, and 7.... Poor kid. The worst was this afternoon - so fevered, he just sat on me while we rocked in the chair. Thankfully Landon entertained himself for the most part - which he had to do as Arlan would cry so hard if I put him down and John was out. sometimes Landon comes through and is such a good kid it warms my heart.

So Arlan wakes every hour or so now, usually from coughing so hard he's gagging. But at least he's going back to sleep a bit better. He has been wanting his door open too. This started while we were in Swift. He has always slept in pitch black with his door closed. Now he'll fall asleep like that, but wake after a couple of hours and want the door open, preferably with a bit of light coming in. Something that is easily accommodated of course ... thankfully.

And Landon - such a good kid all day. I asked him to go upstairs to get Arlan a soother. As usual, I had to ask Landon about 6 times, and then finally tell him to go and get it, NOW. But he went, and came down with a soother a few minutes later. About an hour later I went upstairs, and I see that Landon had to MOVE the crib out away from the wall to get the soother that had fallen in behind it! Wow ... So I definitely made an even bigger deal of him being not only a good big brother helping mommy, but so determined.

But I had better get to bed to see if I can get some sleep tonight. I hear Arlan coughing again - hopefully he'll be able to get more sleep tonight too - he had such tired red eyes today :-( And I hope he recovers as quickly as Landon did.

until next time...

Hi again

Well, it hasn't been a month ... yet (Yvonne!), but it sure has been a long time. I want to get to bed, but I'll post a brief update.

Arlan is such a funny duck I can't get over it. He's learning how to jump now, and gets so excited he ends up spinning in circles and falling down more than he ever actually lands a jump. Come to think of it, I really should try to video tape that move - it's SO funny. He also imitates pretty much everything we say ... or at least the intonation. He continues with "noooooo" as an answer to every question, but now his favourite thing is to say "NOOOOW!" to Landon, particularly when I've just said something to Landon in a certain tone of voice meaning that I want him to actually do something. So Arlan walks around saying "NOOOW!" most of the day...

Landon is a stinker - I can't believe how big he's getting. He can officially get his own cereal in the mornings ... cheerios and milk :-) Which is nice, if a tad messy at times. He wants to do everything himself (I thought kids went through this at age 2, not almost 4!), including pouring milk from a full 4L container, stirring macaroni that's boiling, you know -- the fun stuff :-/ But he's still alive and not horribly scarred, so I consider it good thus far!

Landon's still enjoying preschool, and we signed him up for 3 days a week this fall. I like the "break", although I usually have something planned for those days. Right now Arlan is taking swim lessons Thursday mornings when Landon's at preschool. Arlan loves the water MORE than Landon, if that is humanly possible! He jumps jumps jumps. In his class, he's supposed to sit on the edge of the pool and it's a big advancement if he lets himself fall into the water without me holding his hands. Well, today Arlan was standing on the edge of the pool, half jumping (see earlier in this post), half falling into the pool - whether I was ready for it or not. He just loves it! So much so that when it was time for playing other games in the water he cried for the next 20 minutes! Wanting to jump in, then slide (which he actually yelled out "SLIIIII!!!"), and finally to go in the hot tub (which I complied with ... we skipped out a bit early).

Other than that - well, the kids are just busy. Landon's getting over a cold or flu; he had a fever for the 2 days we were in Swift Current, broke it last night when we got home (of course). Still has a cough, poor little bugger.
I am really noticing that the boys play together a lot more now. When Arlan is napping, Landon can just about drive me batty, but as soon as Arlan wakes up they are running around, destroying the house, and playing (of a sort). Arlan certainly holds his own now, and has learned to walk up and smack Landon as hard as Landon used to smack him. Now to teach Arlan that that isn't acceptable .... Landon is such a good big brother (at times), and is certainly enjoying having a little brother that can play (as opposed to just eat and sleep like baby brothers do).

So I'm off to bed. I'll try to post more frequently, and to get more photos up :-/ Just haven't been taking pictures. Although Landon has taken about 14, 167 with his camera cousin Kyle got the kids for Christmas. I won't bother posting them ... trust me on this one. G'nite! Until next time...