Sick, sick, sick

This winter has been soooo long and so snowy, even for Maine. We've been battling cabin fever and doing a pretty good job of it too. Now that we've passed the spring equinox I was really hoping that it would start to feel like spring and we'd be outside again, playing, walking, running - basically anything except being cooped up in the house. No such luck.

The weather here is still freezing. We're excited that it might hit 40 today. Ok, it's still COLD. AND, there is a good two feet of snow still all around our driveway and in the backyard. So it feels nothing like Spring to us. To top that off we are stuck inside because we're all sick. I came down with some weird stomach thing on Friday and it's still kicking around a big. I don't feel sick to my stomach anymore, but I've been having bad stomach pain, like the pain that sent me to the hospital last summer - so of course I'm paranoid that something bad is coming. Nate came down with the stomach bug on Saturday night. He seems to be doing better today, but he was sick again last night and so I'm raelly not sure. Of course, just when I think we're coming out of it, Ben woke up puking at 1am this morning. Poor kiddo. So, we're holed up in the living room with saltines, juice and blankies. We're attempting to find a movie to watch and hoping that this bug passes soon. I'm annoyed that it's not feeling Spring-like outside right now, but if we have to be inside suffering with a bug I'd rather it be cold and unwelcoming outside. The snow and wind make the couch look a lot friendlier.

Happy Birthday!

So, Ben is officially five now. 5!!! Five!!! five? I admit I'm having a little trouble processing that. Especially considering that I was pretty young when we had Ben, it just feels a little strange to see him as five years old, a school-age child and to realize how much time has passed. He's very proud and excited to be five. He received his very own library card this week which was a big milestone for him. Plus, it means we can borrow more things from the library now, since I have my card and he has his. Above are a few photos from his birthday party that we had at the Children's Museum a few weeks ago. We all had a blast. I only wish that it could have lasted longer. This was Ben's first real bday party and it was such an amazing feeling to celebrate his birth and life with our friends and family.

Political Spin

My head is spinning with political spin and coverage. I'm still totally confused by the results of Super Tuesday-I mean, litterally, yes I understand them, but I'm feeling conflicted. I think I lean more towards Hillary as far as the issues go, yet at the same time I'm really pulled by Obama as well. I've taken a bunch of online quizes to help determine which candidate's stances on the issues matches mine. Every time I come out with Hillary but only by a few points. I'm not worrying about it by any means but it is interesting to see it all play out.

I DO worry that the democratic party is getting divided and as the saying goes 'divided we fall'. I'm so scared of seeing this country run by McCain. For our troops to stay in Iraq indefinetelty and so many other sad results. We need a change and it's certainly the buzzword of this election, but who do you think we really deliver on that promise?

Tell me what you think if you feel. There's also the Ron Paul campaign plugging along (the man terrifies me - if you want to know why just ask) and I heard on NPR this afternoon that Ralph Nader is considering throwing his hat in the ring. It just keeps getting better. :)

This is the latest quiz I've subjected myself to.
http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

When bad naps happen to good families

Yesterday was a great day in our world. Nothing too exciting, but enjoyable. We visited with friends for most of the day and had a wonderful time. The mamas got to talk, laugh and reconnect with friends we haven't seen for a while thanks to the cold weather and the holidays. The kiddos ran amock and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We all enjoyed some amazing soup and a very yummy cake -it was a good day.

After leaving both boys fell asleep in the car on the drive home. I wasn't surprised by this at all, they had both been playing very hard and were showing signs of sleepiness before we had left. When we got home Ben woke up enough to walk himself into the house and proceeded to fall asleep half standing on the rug, half resting on the couch. Nate slept through being moved into the bed. I moved Ben into th ebed as well and let them both sleep. thinking they'd only be out for an hour at most, I did some dishes and puttered around on the computer. Two hours later at 6:30 they woke up.....it wasn't pretty.

They were both in great moods but Tim and I were about ready to go to sleep. Normally, Tim gets home at 6:30, we have dinner and then tub for the kids and bed. So by 9pm they are both asleep and I usually am as well. Last night we were all wide awake until about 11pm. It was a long evening. So, fortunately today they both slept from 12:30-1:30-2 and I'm hoping that they are both ready for bed by 8pm. It's only 2:30 now and the bed looks very inviting to me!

Happy Halloween!

A few late pics of Halloween! Ben was a Knight, aka Sir Benjamin. Nate was a Turtle and happily wore his costume through trick or treating and a Halloween party. Pretty impressive!!! (real blog to come soon)

New Traditions

Seems like so many folks have their own nightly rituals. Not just come home from work, eat dinner and such, but specific things they do at specific times each night. With a four year old and ten month old in the house we don't tend to do the same thing twice in a week never mind everynight. But lately some regularity has been creeping into our world.

The last few weeks, almost everynight around 7:30 I escape being Mama for a little bit to take a shower. Exciting life I lead isn't it? Anyway, the first few nights I did this Nate would start to get really cranky and bored with Tim & Ben after about 5 minutes. Then one night, I noticed I had taken a nice leisurely shower and hadn't heard a crying baby at all. When I emerged, I thought perhaps Tim had taken the boys for a drive or gone outside with them. Instead, the three were sitting happily around the kitchen table sharing a snack and smiling. Yes, even Nate greated me with big, banana-smeered smile! So, this is our new tradition. It works out well for everyone and we're going to enjoy it for as long as we can!!!

(PS Tim is purposely making a silly/weird face in the photo, he likes to do that to annoy the photographer)

Happy Summer Solstice!!!

Please excuse the picture layout - still trying to figure this out!!! the pic of Ben is from the Solstice Party. It's B roasting his first marshmallow!!! Read on for details on the pic of Nate...

Well, it's official...Nate's crawling!!! This picture doesn't quite capture the full effect but I promise he is doing it. It's actually kind of overwhelming from my perspective, I'm so used to being able to put him in one spot and he'll be there when I turn around but not anymore! It's also uncharted territory for us because Ben never crawled. So, it's been a new and fun experience for all of us. Probably more so for us than Nate, he definetely gets frustrated with it more than we do.

In other news....things are going well as we ease into Summer. We celebrated the Solstice last Saturday with friends (yes, we know the real Solstice was this Thursday and we did recognize it). Our friend and her children celebrate the Summer Solstice every year and they really do such a great job welcoming the season and getting the kids excited about it. Ben is so happy that it's Solstice, though I'm not certain that he totally understands what that means; he does realize that it's now officially summer and he's very happy about that. He's also done a great job with one of our Soltice traditions which is to gather things that you no longer need or use and pass them on for someone else to use. Normally, Ben has a hard time letting go of possesions. If I clean out his room and find things to give to Goodwill I usually have to sneak them out of the house and into the van while he's sleeping and then of course the trip to Goodwill is done without Ben it tow. This year he picked out four (yes, 4) toys that he felt he was done playing with and he packed them into a garbage bag to give away. I'm really proud of him being able to let go of things like this.

We're looking forward to our summer days. We plan on doing some camping this year, hopefully in a few more weeks when it's a big warmer at night. We'll be sure to post about those adventures, I'm sure they will be eventfull with a 4 year old and 9 month old along for the ride! Ben has joined the library's Summer Reading program, which is really a program to make sure that Tim or I read to him at least once a day. Ben is very excited about it though and not to be too corny but whatever gets him exciting about reading is good news in my book! Really, more than anything I'm looking forward to the long days and the warm sun and sitting in my backyard with the boys to take it all in. Wishing the same to you and yours!!! Happy Summer Solstice!!!!!

PS

Thank you to the little voice who remided me that I had been neglecting my blogging duties! Will not happen again, rest assured!