Cleaning and Hair Cut

So we did actually manage to get some cleaning done in the living room.  Just in time because Devin is rolling all over the place.

 Yeah, he started over on the sheet and made it clear over to the couch.

 We got a box of National Geographic books out of the attic for Liam to start looking at and reading.  He felt that it was important that he put them on the shelf in the order they were in the box in, but I told him that they had not been in a particular order.  So I suggested that he could put them in alphabetical order.  He liked that idea.  Made the job a little more complicated than I had anticipated.

Still studying the situation.  He did get them all on the shelf.

Today I took Liam to get his hair cut. 

Tired Mommy Gets Sarcastic

Operation "Save the Grass" started yesterday.  We never got all the leaves raked last fall and now that the snow has almost melted a squished down,  partly decomposed layer of leaves is visible.  And of course it's blocking sunlight from getting to the grass.  Once the leaves come out on the oak trees in the back yard the grass will get no sunlight, so time is of the essence.

Devin did not enjoy being outside while Liam and I raked.  Something about being stuffed into a suit that didn't even allow him access to his hands, then being buckled into a stroller and left sitting with the sun shining in his eyes didn't seem fun to him.  I got in about half an hour of raking before heading in with the intention of starting supper.  That didn't go well since the baby was fussy and I had no tolerance left for fussing.  None.

We just can't seem to completely shake these colds.  For the past several days Devin has been stuffed up.  That means he doesn't sleep very well and when he wakes up at night he can't really nurse laying down.  And he's very prone to nurse for a few minutes, need to catch his breath and decide that he'd rather scream loudly for several minutes than nurse.  This makes it hard for me to sleep.  This might also be related to the fact that he seems pretty constipated.  I thought I had solved this problem by giving him water mixed with apple juice, but it turns out that just doing this once isn't enough to solve the problem.

So I  mentioned my despair about sickness on Facebook and my mom suggested washing the bedding.  Oh.  Right.  Why didn't I think of that.  Really.  This is not the sarcastic part.  Mark it down to exhaustion.  I haven't even washed the quilt since the last time the baby threw up on it.  And there are still old snotty bits of toilet paper sitting around.  Really.  Germs.  But aren't we supposed to build up an immunity to sicknesses we've already had?

And how can I possibly avoid getting every sickness the baby gets?  I have a sore throat.  Go figure.  Devin's favorite thing to do while he's nursing, or when he needs to be comforted is to try to stick his fingers into my mouth and nose.  Then I clamp my mouth shut and he tries to squeeze his fingers through.  When I'm extra tired and can't breath through my nose real well I find this extremely irritating.  This and pretty much everything else that happens.  Ever.

We're trying to (start to) get things arranged for the time when Devin gets really mobile. Liam has identified some toys that he feels can be moved to the attic for the time being.  Yesterday during the horrible-fussy-baby-mommy-exhausted time I stepped on some Legos and proceeded to put a bunch of Legos and other toys into a garbage bag.  Then I ran out of anger and haven't figure out what to do with the stuff in the bag other than try to make Liam put it away.

So it's Saturday and Liam really wants to go over to one of two friend's houses.  So that he can play video games with them.  They have WIIs.  It has begun.  Socializing through the use of electronics.  I never do that.  Now he says he should go because Allen and I are both exhausted.  That would give us a break, right.  How considerate.

Except how much of a break is it really?  We need to put laundry away and work on the leaves and the kitchen.  Our dear friend Mary came over on...Tuesday and helped with the kitchen, but (annoyingly) we eat every day and just have to keep cleaning it up.  And of course the baby still needs to be taken care of.  And I should eat something besides tea and chocolate chip cookies.

So happy Saturday.

Brotherly Love

Devin has been enjoying playing on the floor lately.  He rolls around a lot, so he tends to end up off his play mat.  I added a sheet on the floor but somehow he usually ends up off that too.  He really wants to get "stuff" and there's plenty around for him to get.  We're working on it, but we may need to get some kind of containment system, which we never did for Liam because he was not that interested in being mobile early.  Also because there weren't dangerous "big kid" toys like Legos that might accidentally get left where baby could reach them.  Sometimes the brothers like to play together.  They love each other.

Liam has been painting and coloring a lot lately.  The picture in the background was painted by Liam.  The one in the foreground was colored by me.

 We had frozen berries for lunch.  I forgot to tell Liam to wipe them off his face.

(Writing blog entries is not as fun with a learning-to-read kid looking over ones shoulder and suggesting picture caption ideas.  Just saying.)

Career Plans and Snow Day

I'm having some trouble with formatting.  So I'm going to put the end of the post at the beginning.  Sorry.  We are having this kind of day:

 No school.  Level two snow emergency.  Now it's starting to blow.

 Liam got all bundled up to shovel, but couldn't stay out long.

 These brothers love each other!

Liam has been planning his career as an author/illustrator/designer.  He says he's going to do art on the weekends.  Here is a book he crafted while he was sick.  The pictures came out a little fuzzy for some reason, but I think you get the idea.

"I am eating apple sauce."

"I didn't eat very much."

 

 

Eight Month Pics

Devin was eight months old yesterday.  He's still getting over his cold, so he celebrated by taking a long afternoon nap.  He loves his pacifier - also known as "Nukie" because it's Nuk brand and because of a funny Youtube video.

Still Here

So sorry for the break.  We've been sick with colds and just "toughing out" the end of February.  But now we are a week into March and you'd think things would be getting easier.  I took the baby to the doctor Monday and went myself on Wednesday.  We are both on antibiotics.  But Devin still woke up about every hour last night and my ear is still super sore and blocked up today.  It's frustrating.

Allen is also feeling pretty gross.  He has a doctor's appointment for Monday.  Liam is doing pretty well.  He hasn't quite kicked the cold, but I don't think he'll need a doctor's visit.   He wishes he could marry his baby brother.  Or maybe his teacher.  He really wants to have play dates with some of his friends from school.  He has come home with a couple of different phone numbers.  I called one and left a number but haven't gotten a response.  I'm not sure how to proceed.

I won't be posting pictures today.  I don't even know where the camera is.  Last Sunday we went to an open house at a Catholic school near here.  It was a big stretch for Allen and I to get everybody ready and go, but we have really been wanting to check this out to see if there would be chance that Liam could go there.  Afterward we ate at Wendy's.  Allen was holding Devin and they were so beautiful together I really wished I had the camera.  Then I took a moment to enjoy the scene and it brought me to tears.

We can actually see some of the ground in the back yard today.  Or the leaves that we never got raked off of the ground anyway.  The big, crusty piles of roadside snow are not to beautiful but the sunshine is nice.

Liam has been busy going through an old dot-to-dot book his dad had when he was a kid.  He has also completed a writing workbook he got for his last birthday.  Now he wants some new books to work on.  We found some good ones online but I've been to exhausted and fuzzy to figure out which ones to get.