This is my life:)

WARNING: THIS DEFINITELY CLASSIFIES AS A "TMI" POST SO IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN POOP DETAILS, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ:)

Max is away this week for a couple days (comes home tonight!!).  He's been traveling for work for the past 4 or 5 years pretty regularly.  About one week a month I am on my own.  I used to somewhat enjoy it.  I really missed him by day 3, but the first few days I enjoyed being able to enjoy a nice glass of wine while watching P.S. I Love You (and bawling my eyes out) and NCIS and any other show that  he wasn't a fan of, by myself:)  Things are different now.  We have kids-TWO kids.  Two BOYS. They are great!  They are full of energy! They never stop moving! It's what keeps me moving and I love it.  Some nights though, when it's just me at home, I yearn for those times when I curled up on the couch at 7:00 to watch a chick flick, wine in hand, and some delicious Lipton pasta packet for dinner:)
Tonight was that night.
If you know our family well, you know our first son has some problems producing regular BM's, or as they're called in our house, deuces.  I flood him with apple juice, water, and he even takes daily Miralax for periods of time to expedite the "process".  He will go for a few days often without deucing.  Today was day 3 (I think-maybe longer). We had a nice dinner of french toast and scrambled eggs.  I was excited because we were done and hanging out by 6:45 and I thought to myself, we should go for a quick 3 mile run now before baths and bed!  Max and I are training for a Half Marathon and today was supposed to be 3 miles but do to sleeping in and really long naps by the kids we hadn't made it out yet.
WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! I ran out to get the stroller out of the garage and came back in and T was pooping! Great news!!! I thought, no biggie-we'll run after you're done.  Clearly I had forgotten how long it had been since he'd pooped.  The following events panned out of the next 90 minutes:

7:00 Mom thinks, let's go for a run
7:05 T decides it a good time to poop
7:06 Mom thinks, we'll just wait
7:15 T is still working things out (me: poop all done? T: no mommy, more poop)
7:20 Mom notices a wetness forming on the back of T's shorts, outlining his diaper
7:20 Mom: DO NOT SIT ANYWHERE T!
7:21 Mom runs around trying to get towels for baths and putting stroller away because we clearly are not making it to run now!
7:22 Mom reenters kitchen and T is sitting.  Fail. Quick Soap and Water and wash cloth to clean up the "residue" left behind on the floor after he gets up"
7:23 T is carried to B's changing table for a big change (thank God B is so easy going-and thank God he stayed in his room while I was changing T...he's pulling himself up on everything and even stood for 2 seconds tonight-probably a fluke, but the kid is on the move!)
7:24 Operation biggest deuce ever taken/changed in this house is underway
7:27 I finally have him all cleaned up and go to wrap up the diaper to throw it out.  Diaper is so large it won't wrap up. Keep trying. Get poop on my hand. Oh crap (no pun intended). clean that off. Try to wrap diaper again.
7:28 Wipe falls off pile of poo diaper. Pick wipe up. Huge chunky/slimy poo stuck on changing pad. Trying to maneuver to wipe it up with a wipe and more chunky slimy poo is falling out of the diaper now onto the changing pad.  Ugh! And on the changing table!
7:29 I decide there is no salvaging this and I need to get a bag. Run back to room and while I'm putting it in the bag more stuff drips out, etc.  You get the VERY disgusting picture! See B with garbage pail on the floor and playing with the other dirty diapers (thankfully just pee ones!)
7:30 get T & B to bathroom for baths.  Go to take B's diaper off: Poop! Back to his room to change it.
7:31 really in the bath now.  Thankfully they love baths. B just kept trying to stand up in the tub so that was fun!
7:40 back to B's room to get everyone ready for bed.  Boys in PJ's and I look on floor and see what looks like a wood chip...go to pick it up...not. a. wood. chip. Poop chunk! Gross!
7:41 I tell T not to touch it (B has crawled out of the room so i'm not worried) while I run to kitchen to get a wash cloth and some Resolve to clean floor. On my way back, I witness B standing at tub (emptied) and then slips and falls awkwardly hitting his head on the floor-cries ensue.  I pick him up to soothe him, walk back into the room just in time to see with his finger near his mouth, looking guilty
7:42 Me: T did you just touch the stuff on the floor? T: Yeah. Me: Did you just put it in your mouth? T: Yeah. Me: (trying to hold back the puke while quickly cleaning his mouth out with the still clean washcloth because I haven't managed to make it back to room without an injured baby and a poop-eatind toddler) We don't eat poop. That's gross. Don't eat poop anymore.  And then I thought to myself, "yet another sentence I never thought I'd utter in my lifetime."
8:15 after finally cleaning up the rug, getting both boys in PJ's, and making it upstairs to T's room, B & I put T to bed, I put B to bed, clean up the ATV course/fort/all the couch cushions on the floor, wash the poop off all affected clothing, etc., clean sink out from washing of poop clothes, etc., throwing everything in the laundry, I walk back through the living room to find a remnant chunk...washing hands and cleaning up poop AGAIN!

8:30 here I sit with an overly full (WT as my friend Emily calls it) glass of red wine and watching NCIS, trying to relive the good old days!

I apologize if that was too much information (which it totally was) but this was a hysterical night for me-one that I couldn't help but laugh at-one that despite having to wash my hands 20 times in an hour, I am incredibly grateful for:)

Brayden 9 months!

This post is WAY overdue, but every time I went to do it, there was some issue with blogger or my computer...and then we went on vacation, and i didn't bring my computer. So here we are, back in CT, with my laptop:)

Brayden continues to be an adorable and extremely pleasant little dude.  He LOVESSSSSSSS Tucker. When we go up to get him from his nap, Brayden starts kicking his legs and flapping his arms when we get to the top of the stairs, and then he has the biggest smile when we open the door and see T.  It's so cute.  He's gotten more mobile so Tucker likes to chase him or play tag...the army crawl is fast but not the best for tag yet.  This also means that B can get into T's toys even when Tucker doesn't want him to...so Brayden is providing Tucker numerous valuable lessons in how to share.

He is still eating three meals a day and taking 4, 6 oz bottles, although they've been a bear to get him to drink lately.  He's still spitting up, but it gets less and less all the time (Max hates it!) He's started to eat puffs and yogurt melts.  It only took me two days to let him eat the whole puff...i'm doing much better about the whole choking thing!  He doesn't have any teeth yet, so there's a limit on what foods I can give him without it taking an hour to eat a meal because the pieces are miniscule.  

He's still a champion napper, but really likes to be in a bed of sorts.  He usually goes from 930-11ish and then 2-330/4ish.  He and Tucker nap at the same time in the afternoon now so I can get a break which is nice:) And he's sleeping from 8-7ish which is also a great treat!

He's super squirmy and is borderline TORTURE to change his diaper lately.  I need an arsenal of toys/distractions when he gets his diaper changed!  He's got a great army crawl going and is starting to pull himself up on things (see the crib picture below). He's gotten very good at going from his belly to a sitting position and vice versal.  His increased is mobility is wonderful. I know i'm about to enter the "can't take your eyes off them" stage, but I love the excitement that he has when he gets that much closer to being able to do what Tucker does.  And although I'm sure I'll regret this, I'm excited for them to be running around with each other.  Tucker never stops moving as it is, so what's one more crazy kid in the mix!?!

He is still quite loud and has this killer screech thing going on...it's a happy screech thankfully, but a loud one. T and B like to communicate with each other by screaming/screeching at the top of their lungs it seems. Brayden is less entertained by his baby toys and more entertained by Tucker's trucks and cars.  We've had to make a Brayden safe truck bin for Tucker to share with him...much to T's dismay:)  He also loves to pull the magnetic letters off the dishwasher. When they aren't on he'll stare at his reflection and laugh...so cute.  He's also followed in Tucker's footsteps of eating people's shoes.  What is it with babies and dogs eating shoes?

At his 9 month appointment he really porked up! He's 29 inches (75th percentile) and 20lbs 11 oz (50th percentile). He jumped a growth curve in every measurement which is great, because he had dropped a bit at his 4 month appt.

We love this little boy who brings us, and apparently everyone he sees joy with his sweet smile and fiery red hair. And contrary to some initial thoughts, it is VERY clearly here to stay! He even has a few curls popping out from time to time.  We have a frame on his wall that says "I could eat you up, I love you so." We put it up before he was born-before we even knew he was a he!  It is so fitting for this little guy:) Love you lots B!

Pseudo Stay-Cation

We had a fun weekend with Max's family this past weekend! We haven't been up for a whole weekend in awhile, so it was fun to have a lot of time with the cousins for Tucker, and Brayden:)

We got up there Friday night and had some dinner with Max's sister's family.  Tucker had fun playing and dancing around with his cousins after dinner.

Brayden loved getting some attention from Auntie Erica and Uncle Mike!

We went back to Max's mom's house and after we got the kids down I found this beauty: Max was a pretty cute kid...and clearly our kids take after him, as if there was a question:) Tucker had fun sleeping at GG's in Max's old room...lots of new toys to play with!

Saturday we loved!  We are big fans of being active on trips so we were pumped that the weather cooperated to climb up Talcott mountain.  We weren't sure how the boys were going to do being in their hiking packs for that long, but they seemed to enjoy the ride.  Thankfully it was a pretty easy hike-I think Max's shoulders started to hurt towards the end, but Tucker is a heavy kid. We climbed to the top and had lunch and walked up to the top of the tower.  The views were so pretty!  Annie and Charlotte did a great job too-little kids don't always love hikes, but they did awesome!

 Ignore the awkward arm hold by Max:)

Group photo:)

 Our kids are great sleepers...but typically in a bed/crib.  Not for lack of trying, but they have never been great at falling asleep in strollers, etc.  Well, they continue to surprise us.  Brayden fell asleep on my back on the way back down.  So cute and adorable!

The girls at the bottom after finishing the hike! So proud of them!

 We continued our day of activity at the pool-some brother sister races and breath-holding contests ensued:)

 Tucker napped for most of the afternoon and thought the pool was too cold to play, but he did have fun in the sandbox with Char.

 All four of the cousins:)

 We finished the night at Peachwave...Max thought he had pulled Tucker's elbow out of its socket, but thankfully ignoring it and a little ice cream "healed" it up:)

 And then he spilled ice cream (liquid) all over his shorts...this was my solution.  Max was a little embarrassed:)

Fun times!

I worked last week at Sports Camp, my last week at JRMS...it was very sad for me:(  Needless to say, it was a bit of a crazy week, but here are some updates from the past few weeks of some fun we've had.

Finger painting with T for the first time...he did the top part.

We like to dig up the rocks back by the lawnmower shed and put sticks in the ant holes

We went to the concert on the green last week...free ice cream from the ice cream truck! Thankfully his pop matched his shirt...it was not a clean eating experience.

 Fun times with Addie and Sienna

 We finally started to let him get his own ice cream...we were holding off because he devours it if he gets his own!  You pay by the pound at these places!

 We went to an indoor play place with DD.  Tucker had a blast and was scaling the "climbing walls" on the blow up obstacle courses...i thought he'd need help on the big one but apparently not...of course he deleted the video off my phone a few days later, but it is on facebook if you're interested:)

Here's a smaller climbing wall

Two Saturdays ago my mom, sister and I had a girls day.  We had a blast!  We started the day by going to The Corner for brunch...we all had french toast stuffed with different things...DELISH!

 We did some shopping at the outlets and then headed up to John Edwards Winery for some wine tasting and quality girl time.  So much fun!!

There was a wedding going on and ironically, it was a girl I went to high school with! Such a small world, and a beautiful place for a wedding!

We ended our day in Mystic with dinner on the water.  More great food and wine and awesome time together.

 These two are so funny together, as I'm sure all siblings at this age are.  Lotsa love...and lots wrestling in their future...they are already getting started.  Here is a rare moment of quiet before bed.

It was SWELTERING last week (try sitting in a gym with 40 pubescent teenage boys running around-jealous aren't ya!) so we only got out once or twice when I got home...Tucker kept saying "too hot" for most of the days.  We had some bubble fun! Brayden was loving the bubbles:)

Friday I took Tucker to work with me...it was SO hot-he had sweat beading down his face!

We had to take some AC breaks!

Poor kid was exhausted and finally went down for a nap when we got home at 330...brand new babysitter came at 345, i left at 430 for Danielle's fundraiser, T woke up at 530...he was a little freaked out!  Not the best time or way to introduce a new babysitter, but we all survived:) And had fun with D and lots of people who came out to support her.  It was a very successful night.  I am so proud of her and all she's doing in Tanzania:)  Check her blog out at www.danielle429.blogspot.com for some stories from TZ.

Saturday night we grabbed some ice cream at the farm with our friends Nick and Amy and their adorable son Ryan.  He and Tucker had fun watching the goats.

 Sunday we had some fun at my parents' house with the pools...the first pics with the big pool are from 2 Sundays ago...the smaller ones are from this Sunday.

Video of T playing in the pool:)

D and my Dad had a water fight...Tucker was a little confused because first my Dad sat in the pool...then D attacked him and a fight ensued.  I tried to put the video up here but it's too long or something...its on Facebook too.

 His hair was getting long...

 So he got a summer cut and drove the cart at the grocery store Sunday morning.  Good times!

 Today the boys were playing at home before we went to my friend Danielle's for some pool fun with a bunch of our friends.