I wish I were an Octopus...

This morning, while changing a poopy diaper, I found myself laughing at my lack of hands but resourcefulness of the few I have....let me paint a picture for you:

Ethan declared that he had a 'poopy diaper' and wanted it changed; so we get the changing pad out, get the wipes and plop him down to get moving. Diaper's off - (Oh and it was major mess...) - I have his legs up with one hand (no problem right?) - then Judah sees us....here comes trouble. Have I mentioned that Judah's on the move now? and he's fast. So, for some reason, Judah thought this poopy diaper was very interesting and wanted to get it.....Judah rushes over to the production - thank goodness for my left leg! I ward him away from the poopy mess with my leg (while holding Ethan's legs up away from the poopy mess and cleaning his bottom with one hand) whew. THEN - Judah thought maybe he could get to the poopy if he started to TICKLE me by sucking on my ankle! All that did was make me squirm and giggle...which Ethan found hilarious so he started to squirm and giggle - with his legs held in the air with one arm and poopy's still on his bottom. Are you getting this funny picture? Judah sucking my ankle; I'm trying to keep Judah away from the messy diaper; giggly like mad; holding a squirmy/giggle 2 year old's legs up out of his diaper and trying to clean his bottom with my remaining hand. HA. I laugh just reliving it. I wish I were an octopus.... or I can just laugh at the craziness that happens because I'm NOT:)

Buddies!

Ethan and Judah are starting to interact more and more each day - it's so much fun to see! Ethan loves to play with his little brother...

Here's Ethan giving Judah a 'hug' - both boys were giggling and giggling! Since this, Ethan has been into giving Judah hugs on the floor - Judah gets this huge SMILE when he gets attention from his big brother:)
The other day, Judah decided he wanted to sit up. He's not super stable with his sitting but he sure does enjoy it! My two boys sat across from each other and played with the 'tool bench' for a good long time. I think Ethan was excited to have Judah sitting and playing 'with' him.

Ethan and Judah; my two little cuties; who are turning into two little buddies!

Lemonade Cheesecake Pie

For the 4th of July I tried out a new recipe I found in my Food&Family magazine....and it was soooo good. Joe and I consumed the entire pie within 24 hours (Ethan did get a little slice)

Lemonade Cheesecake Pie
1 pkg. (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 Cup thawed frozen lemonade concentrate
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust
1 1/2 Cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 Tbsp. sugar

Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually add concentrate, beating well after each addition. Whisk in 2 cups of Cool Whip; spoon into crust.
Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Meanwhile, toss berries with sugar. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Pipe or spoon remaining Cool Whip around edge of pie just before spooning. Top with berry mixture.

My baby is growing up...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU EE-EE" is Ethan's new favorite phrase....yes and his birthday was like 2 weeks ago! He's still really into his birthday - he loves to sing about it, talk about it, pretend about it, and on and on.... He had 3 wonderful birthday celebrations for his turning 2 - one with my side, one with Joe's side and one with just us (mommy, daddy and Judah) LOTS OF FUN!

Here's some snipits of Ethan's birthday festivities:

Ethan had a combined birthday party with his cousin Kayla (2 days older than him) that was Elmo themed...let's just say there were A LOT of Elmo-ness going on there! We had 4 tickle me Elmo's (all going at once of course) and lots of Elmo cupcakes for desserts! Tell me what kind of 2 year old doesn't like a chocolate cake? MINE. Ah well, he sure does love his fruit!
Then on Ethan's actual DAY of birth (June 9th) we spent the day as a family.
We packed a picnic lunch of Ethan's favorite foods and went to the park for some playtime. Ethan loves to play outside and would probably stay out there for hours if we let him! For his picnic lunch we had wraps sandwiches (Ethan's fave) and pretzels (another fave) and STRAWBERRIES (another major fave!) Yummo. We gave Ethan his gift from us at the park and then he proceeded to play with them for a loonngg time there.


We gave him new sand toys - bucket, shovel, molder-things, rake, etc... and he LOVES them! It doesn't matter if it's the beach or a sandbox or the park - anywhere that there is sand Ethan is one happy camper. He now likes to fill the bucket up with water in our driveway and mix it up with a shovel making "noodles" - love the creativity!



Ethan had another birthday party on Joe's side -because Ethan didn't want to eat any of his Chocolate Elmo cake I thought I was so smart for making a cake with Strawberries on it and in it...well at least he ate the strawberries off! Silly boy. I was pretty impressed by my cake; yummy double decker with strawberry filling and delicious frosting! I'm drooling remembering it....

The theme for Ethan's party was 'cars' - he came home with tons of matchbox cars (which he LOVES) and plays with constantly! I made him a mini cake with strawberries and a little red car on top!
Ethan came home from all his parties with lots of wonderful gifts! It's always fun to get new toys to play with:)
Oh my little baby is growing up so fast! I feel like I was just prego with him and now he's 2! Next thing you know he'll be driving - awhh:) I've loved every minute with my little man and can't wait to see what the next 2 years will bring! Happy Birthday to you Ethan!

Laundry

A little note about laundry....

It seems as though with each kid you add to the mix it TRIPLES your laundry needs...why? I haven't quite figured that one out yet - all I know is that I'm doing a load a day and if I take a day "off" then I pay for it later! I just threw a load in the washer and see that I have a load of towels staring at me from the bedroom...hmmm didn't I just do a load yesterday?

I'll chalk it up to having a messy toddler and a spitter-upper baby! It is nice to see the pile of laundry temporarily disappear from the floor- and smell the scent dryer sheets and fresh blankets.

At times like these (when I feel like all I do is start/switch/fold/put away laundry/repeat) I am reminded of how blessed I am to have all that I have! I have a washer and dryer at my instant use; I have laundry detergent and dryer sheets in excess, and that I have clothes and blankets to wash! I am truly blessed and have more than I deserve!

LET'S GO DO SOME MORE LAUNDRY! WOO-HOO!

Face to Face

Bumbo chair + Judah + Ethan + markers = fun! Judah tried out his Bumbo chair the other day and both Judah and Ethan LOVED it! Judah enjoys being able to see what's going on more and Ethan enjoys to see Judah sitting up like a big-boy! Win-win for everyone:)
I love this picture of my two boys - I like to think they're having some deep, heart to heart discussion...

I have a feeling this wonderful Bumbo chair will be used more and more as Judah's neck gets stronger (he has a BIG head - I don't blame him for holding it all the time!)

Mother's Day

Happy (day late) Mother's Day! I had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday - my amazing husband created these "dollars" for me to use (effective date Today --> no expiration!). The one with Ethan's cute face on it is a "Day Dollar" that I can use for time away without either boy to do whatever! And the dollar with Judah's precious face on it is a "Diaper Dollar" that I can pull out when there's the occasional blow-out that I don't want to change! What a great gift:) I can't wait to use either of them (and I have like 15 of each!!!)

I woke up to the normal crying/hungry Judah but after feeding him I got to SLEEP IN! wow! and then at 7:30 (which IS sleeping in now) my 2 big boys (Joe and Ethan) came in carrying a tray of delicious breakfast food...Ethan on one end and Joe on the other (brave move Joe!) -- I was treated to a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast and Juice:) My big boy Ethan ate with me in our room...in his highchair though - we didn't really want scrambled eggs in bed!

Also, on the tray there was a diaper that said "DO NOT TOUCH ME!" - I momentarily thought Joe had given me a dirty diaper..then realized I was about to have a DIAPER FREE DAY! woot woot! What a nice break for a stay-at-home-mom with 2 kids in diapers!
The bucket with flowers is from my dear Ethan - he did a little art project on Mother's day afternoon with his other cousins...too cute! It melted me heart to see him walk up to me holding the flowers with a big proud grin on his face! awwhh.

So, I had breakfast in bed+no diaper day+cute flowers from Ethan+coupons for kid-free-time+coupons for dirty-diaper-help+so much LOVE from my family! WONDERFUL MOTHER'S DAY! Oh and I even got a little mommy's stash of delectable chocolates to boot!