The M&M Incident, the Switch and Pink Eye

The boys official summer vacation started after preschool let out on Friday.  All four of us went to the neighborhood pool Friday afternoon to celebrate.  Jackson was showing off all the skills he's learned at swim lessons.  His kicking and using his arms (dog paddling) has improved significantly.  He has no problem sticking his head underwater or jumping in the pool and kicking back up the surface.  Andrew and I were pretty impressed.

On Sunday, I had a handful of M&Ms which the boys discovered and demanded be shared.  Jackson inhaled his while Cullen ate his one by one.  When Cullen was on his last one, he sucked the candy coating off then took it out of his mouth.  He does this every now and then, and I told him to put it back in his mouth which he did.  I didn't notice anything amiss until Andrew was saying, "Get a paper towel!"  I look over and see Cullen had put the chocolate part of the M&M in Jackson's hair because he happened to be sitting in front of him.  Cullen was about to start playing with the M&M in Jackson's hair, but Andrew trapped his hands while I cleaned it up.  Of course before I pulled the candy out, I took a picture.  Gotta capture the moment!

"Look Mom, its right there!"

Since the boys had been good, Andrew and I decided to take them out for a little ice cream Sunday afternoon.  Cullen got a scoop of vanilla while Jackson picked out a scoop of strawberry.  Andrew and I decided to get milkshakes.  We were sitting at our table, and the boys aren't really eating their ice cream.  Cullen decided it was odd he couldn't grab it in his hand to put it in his mouth.  And this of course led to me wiping a copious amount of ice cream off his hands.  Jackson was just picking at his.  About two minutes into sipping on our milkshakes, both boys decided they wanted a taste.  Andrew let Jackson taste his and I let Cullen taste mine.  That was a mistake.  We didn't get our milkshakes back.  Neither boy would give up his cup, so Andrew and I started eating their ice cream.  I was a little disgruntled I couldn't eat what I actually ordered, but at least Jackson and Cullen enjoyed our shakes!

And to top our weekend off, Jackson woke up from his nap with some pus and drainage coming out of his right eye.  His eye was swollen and puffy.  A couple hours later, the left eye started draining too.  This morning Jackson and I headed off to the walk-in clinic at our pediatrician's office.  It didn't take long for the doctor to tell us it was pink eye.  Andrew and I knew that's what it was, but we also knew he needed a prescription.  I'm assuming he either got it from a kid a swim lessons or a classmate at preschool.  Jackson was really good about getting the eye drops put in.  No struggle and fighting took place.  Now, we are keeping our fingers crossed Cullen doesn't get it.

Swim Lessons and Last Day of Preschool

Jackson and Cullen started their adventure into swim lessons this week.  I signed then up for group swim lessons with our local Parks and Recreation Department.  So far, the boys are having a blast.

Cullen still needs a parent in the pool with him, so Andrew took on that responsibility.  Being pregnant makes me feel like a whale, so I avoid wearing a bathing suit in public as much as possible.  Cullen is enjoying being in the water with Daddy.  He especially likes it when Andrew throws him up high and lets him splash and submerge in the water.  He comes up with a big smile and demands Daddy does it again.  I was told this is the highlight of the lessons.

Jackson's lessons are right after Cullen's.  He has always loved the water, so he is loving every bit of his lessons.  He is just learning the basics right now, but he has no problem blowing bubbles, sticking his head under water or kicking.  Of course, Jackson's favorite part is jumping into the pool, submerging under the water, and kicking back up.  I definitely have a future pool rate on my hands.

Today is bittersweet.  Cullen and Jackson had their last day of preschool for the school year.  They have about 5 weeks off, then start up again.  Jackson will be moving up to the 3 year old class.  Cullen will being staying in the 18-24 month class.  I absolutely love the preschool they go to.  I couldn't imagine a better place for my kids.

Jackson has learned so much this year, and I know he will miss his teacher, Ms. Paula.  I was trying to explain to Jackson this morning how he'll have a new teacher after today because this was the last day in Ms. Paula's class.  He started crying and saying, "No!" pretty vehemently.  It was too cute and truly showed me how much he loves his teacher.  Both my kids love their preschool program.  I'm sure there will be many long explanations for the next few weeks on why they are not going to school that day.  I just hope the enthusiasm continues for school for years to come!

As our week concludes here, I get to look forward to watching the Olympics with the boys!  Go Team USA!  And our swim lessons continue into next week and end on Thursday.  It will again be a busy week in our household, but busy is definitely better than boring!

Helping Hands

Our weekend was pretty laid back.  We didn't do a whole heck of a lot which is nice to have every now and then.  I often wonder what the heck I did before kids!  I could have conquered the world or something with all the free time I used to have.  Good for me, I was usually in grad school.  Otherwise I might have gone nuts with all my spare time.

Anyway, Andrew finally finished up fixing the fence!  We have a completely stable and solid fence again.  He had a couple of 'helping hands' when he put the last part of the fence back together.  Since I was supervisor in charge (no way was I going to go help put a fence back together in 100 degree heat being 22 weeks pregnant), I made sure all areas were looked into.  In other words, I made sure cold water and lemonade were readily available as well as sunscreen was applied.  Tough job, I know.

Not in the house, buddy!

After I picked up the kids from preschool today, we came home for nap time (the best time of the day for Mommy!).  Anyway, Cullen fell asleep in the car as usual.  Jackson was wired and decided to play in the empty garage space for a few minutes.  No biggie since he's been doing it for awhile now.

I noticed Cullen had a dirty diaper which needed changing before I put him down.  I'm changing Cullen's diaper while he is completely passed out and not waking up even if a bomb went off.  I start hearing some weird noises then squeaking.  Since I have a 20 month old half diapered and passed out on the changing table, I keep listening in to figure out what the noise is.

It took me all of 5 seconds for it to dawn on me.  I knew but couldn't quite believe he was actually doing it.  Then through Cullen's bedroom door, my suspicions were confirmed.

Jackson had ridden his tricycle into the house and was riding it down the hallway into his bedroom.  Yes, apparently, it was too hot for garage riding and riding inside was way cooler.  He even was about to get a book off his bookshelf and ride with it back out of his room.

I laughed and nicely reminded him the tricycle was an outside toy.  It is only to be ridden outside and never in the house.  Not sure what made him think it would be okay to do this, but he had the grand idea and went with it.  Gotta love ingenuity!

A Little Laugh

I saw this today and just laughed and laughed.  It brightened my day!  So, I thought I would share my wicked sense of humor.



Happy Wednesday!

Weekly Review: Shanty Town

It has been a busy week in our household.  I still feel like we are getting back into a rhythm since Andrew returned home.

1) Andrew and I finally bought furniture for our back porch.  We've been looking for something ever since we bought the house, years ago.  We could never agree on what we needed since the porch is on the smaller side, and we have the grill back there.  After our purchased arrived (yeah!), we had huge boxes left over.

2) Of course, the boys were all about the boxes!  Andrew made each chair box into a little house, so we have "Shanty Town" in our front room.  The boys are having a great time with there new play houses.  They are pretty rough with them (crawling through windows, etc), so I'm not sure how long they will last.  It was funny watching them get so excited over their new cardboard box houses.  But hey,  the fun lasted for hours (literally!).  I'm not complaining!  I still have yet decided why we buy toys when boxes are so much more fun!

Yes, that is Cullen's lower half sticking out of his new play house.

3) Jackson demonstrated he had quite a throwing arm with a small padded football last night.  He and I were playing catch and throw.  His aim is something to be desired still.  Especially when he throws a perfect spiral 9 times out of 10.  He threw the spiral a little wide, hit a glass on the side table, which fell to the floor and shattered ending throw and catch for the night.  Jackson was actually upset he broke the glass and thought he was going to be in trouble.  We weren't about to punish him for an accident.  Stuff happens, and a glass is completely replaceable.

4) Cullen decided to get a fever on Thursday and have it carry over until Friday.  Because it was a decent fever (101), I decided to not have him go to school on Friday.  Instead, he came with me to get my hair cut.  He was really good, and I'm extremely happy about it.  He explored the salon, dipped his fingers into some Scentsy wax (which I found out after the fact when Cullen came in with dried wax on his hand), played with his cars, and sat on my lap.  He was quite interested in the hair dryer chairs.  His fever finally broke mid-day on Friday, so lets hope it doesn't come back.

5) One of my peaches mysteriously had several bites taken out of it and was placed back in the fruit tray.  I'm assuming the culprit was hoping I would not notice this.  The culprit has not been caught.

Here's to another busy week!

Baby Ingalls #3 is going to be a...

Boy!

Yes, we are having another boy to add to an already growing clan of Ingalls men.  Andrew and I are very excited!  I know many people were convinced it was going to be a girl, but we are truly blessed to be having another boy.  Although, my girl indulgences may have to be kicked up a notch to balance out all the testosterone coming from my house.

Andrew and I still have not decided on names.  We've been tossing a few ideas back and forth.  We've had many suggestions as well (cough, cough, no more are needed, thank you).  Whenever we finally settle on one, I'll be sure to let everyone know.

In the mean time, here are a couple of pictures from the ultrasound I had on Friday.  Yep, I've known since Friday, but things happened and I wasn't able to post about it.  And as Andrew pointed out on Friday, my blog name is still right on point!  So here is our little baby boy!



He's home! Finally!

After two very long weeks of Andrew being away overseas on a business trip, he finally returned home late Friday night.  I have proved to myself that yes, I can take care of the boys all by myself without anyone suffering from bodily harm.  Score!

Overall, Andrew's time away wasn't horrible; it definitely wasn't easy.  Being 18/19 weeks pregnant with a 3 year old and 19 month old, I was quite tired after putting them to bed.

Add on to that, Jackson's friend had a birthday party down at the Austin Children's Museum that Saturday.  I have to admit the boys were exceptionally behaved at the party.  Granted, the museum was packed, but it was a Saturday during the summer.  I think the entire morning and trip downtown I drilled into Jackson and Cullen's heads they needed to listen, stay together, and not leave my sight about a 100 times by the time we entered the party.  And they listened to me!  It wasn't as chaotic as it could have been, and both of them had a blast.  Although, next time we head to the museum Dad will be coming.

Of course something had to go wrong, however.  Jackson picked up an intestinal virus which he graciously gave to me a few days later.  Cullen decided it would a good time to pick up a cold.  He also shared that with me (and it is hanging on and refusing to leave!).  Thibie got sick a day after Andrew left, so a trip to the vet was in store as well.

And to top that all off, our upstairs air conditioning went out on the hottest day on record in the month of June.  It was 109 without the heat index.  It was hot!  Luckily, all of our bedrooms are downstairs so we weren't dying of heat exhaustion.  Unfortunatley, this happened on a Tuesday and the repairman couldn't get here until Friday morning.  He did get here, and it was an easy fix with a just a part needing to be replaced.

With Andrew arriving back home, we took the boys to the pool this weekend.  Jackson really has no fear of water.  This being good and bad.  Good because I don't have to deal with a frustratingly paranoid toddler afraid of water.  Bad because he has no problem just jumping into the pool.  Andrew and I have been drilling into his head not to jump in until we are ready for him.  It's going suprisingly well.  He even kicks to the surface after he jumps in.  It helps we've been watching the Olympic swimming trials, and he is excited to imitate the professaional swimmers.

I, personally, am just thankful to have my husband back at home.  Although, it was kinda nice not having to share a bed and fighting over the covers for once!