Where's Heather?

My computer at home has contracted a nasty nasty virus. I haven't had access to it since the last time I blogged and probably won't have it back until Monday (if things go well). Thank goodness Wesley got a Leapster for Christmas and has finally stopped asking for computer time!I promise to "back post" and let you all about our holiday (complete with lots of pictures) when my computer starts running again. BTW - I'm posting this at work, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet!

Focus on the Positive

My stress level is much lower than it was this morning because today went pretty smoothly. I got the car dropped off and received the best customer service I have had (outside of my work) in a very long time. The guys were so helpful and friendly - they even carried my diaper bag! My car is still there, but after a year, I am FINALLY getting my remote start installed, so it's totally worth it. Lunch was delicious and Ryan did not have to go the doctor. Unless he gets a fever or starts making a "whooping" noise, he doesn't need to be seen. YAY!

Here are a few pictures (mostly from today) that I wanted to share.

This is how Wesley helped me wrap gifts on Saturday. Not real effective for wrapping, but very effective for entertaining Mommy.


Wesley just wanted his picture taken this morning. I'm not sure if he wanted to show off his favorite shirt (he'd wear it every day if I'd let him) or the fact that he was standing on one leg.

Ryan was seriously fascinated with my coffee cup this morning. I mean he had a killer grip on it.

Despite the way this picture looks, Ryan did not actually taste any coffee and Santa will not be leaving a Starbucks gift card in his stocking.

How cute is this!? Seriously, could you say "no" to that face?

All I Want for Christmas

Forget the two front teeth. All I want for Christmas is a little more time! Here it is, 7:15 on the 22nd of December and my stress level is through the roof!! I took today and tomorrow off work so I could have a vacation the week of Christmas. Vacation. That's funny.

Shopping on Saturday went amazingly well. People were in a good mood, the stores were busy but not insane and we got what we needed. I even wrapped everything Saturday night. Well, everything except Duane's gifts which I'll do tomorrow while he's at work. Yesterday we went to church and to Duane's family Christmas party which was really nice too. Now the stress begins in earnest. I know everyone gets stressed out at this time of year, so please take my grumping with a grain of salt, I understand that you are probably stressed out too.

Today: I'm taking the "grocery go getter" (aka the mini van) in for some general service at 9:00. Then I need to try and get Ryan into the doctor. He went last week because he cannot kick his cold and cough. In fact every day since Thursday he's coughed hard enough to throw up. Yes, I know that is a symptom of whooping cough. That's why I'm supposed to call to the doctor today if Ryan's cough hadn't improved. The good news is, that's the only symptom he has. My boss is taking all her direct reports out to lunch today at 12:30. I have to drop some stuff off at the library, go to Target, and go to the grocery store for a handful of items. I suppose I'll have to pick my car up at some time and chances are good I'll also need to get a prescription for Ryan. After we make supper, I want to decorate a gingerbread house with Wesley. Plus we REALLY need to clean to the house. OK that's today.

Tuesday: We are insane. Truly. Between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning the guys are coming to put new windows in our upstairs bathroom. Yes, it's supposed to be in the teens. Yes, it's two days before Christmas. Sure, come on over and put our windows in. Please. I want to lock the cats in my bedroom with a litter pan and listen to them yowl all day. I want to have to keep two children out of the way (Grandpa P - want the kids for a while???) On top of that, I have to wrap Duane's gifts and bake a cake for Christmas Eve.

Wednesday: Christmas Eve day. I need to put together a potato casserole to take to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s. We're going to celebrate Christmas there around 4:00. Church is at 7:30. After church we'll get the boys ready for bed, and read The Night Before Christmas. Then I have a breakfast casserole to assemble and make sure Santa gets all the gifts delivered to our house.

Thursday: Christmas. Get up and put the casserole in the oven. Open gifts. Eat. Make a different casserole to take to Grandma W.'s. Run around getting the kids and ourselves ready and loading up the van. Go to Grandma W.'s around noon. Eat and open gifts. Run around getting our kids and ourselves ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa P.'s. Eat and open gifts. Get kids ready for bed. Run around loading the kids and our things into the van. Drive home and unload kids and van. Fall in a heap in bed!!

So like I said, what I really want for Christmas is more time. I know I won't be able to squeeze an extra day in before Christmas. But maybe somehow I can get a Mommy Day. What would I do with a Mommy Day? Well, ideally it would be a rainy or cold day. I would make a big pot of coffee and get all my flavored creamers and sugars out. I would put on some warm socks and bury myself on the couch under several blankets. Then I would spend the entire day chain reading with with a cat on my lap. The entire day. And then, when Duane came home, we would go out to dinner without the kids. That would be my perfect Mommy Day.

Wish Us Luck

Duane and I are getting ready to hit the malls for a few last minute gifts. We know it's going to be UGLY, but it has to be done. Thank goodness we don't have to take the boys with us! I'll let you know how it goes!

My Name is Wesley and I'm a Chocoholic

Is there a chocoholic's anonymous program for 3 year olds? Because if there is, I REALLY need to sign Wesley up. Wesley will not drink plain milk, only chocolate milk. We combat this by putting the smallest amount of chocolate syrup possible in his milk, and that usually works. But I think this kid could sniff out chocolate a mile away!

This morning I broke into my stash of Godiva candy that someone gave me. I selected two pieces and put them into a little plastic container for my dessert at lunch today. I carried the container into Wesley's room with me (since my stash is upstairs). Wesley saw it immediately.

Wesley: What's that?
Mommy: It's my dessert for lunchtime today. I am taking it to work.
Wesley: Is it a chocolate snack?
Mommy: It's a chocolate dessert for Mommy.
Wesley: Maybe I could just hold the chocolate for you?

Yeah right, like I was going to fall for that. He wanted to hold it alright. In his tummy!

We stopped for a donut on the way to Cathy's this morning. As usual, Wesley chose a chocolate one. He munched contentedly until we pulled onto Cathy's street, when I heard a big sigh. I asked what was wrong and glanced in the rear view mirror. I saw Wesley looking regretfully at the remaining two bites of donut as he said, "I wish I could finish that." Then he handed last two bites to me. I have some Fiber One chocolate toaster pastries at home. I wonder if he'd eat those.

Sweeties

I love how hard Ryan is concentrating on his toy in this picture.

Wesley helped me decorate cut out cookies tonight.

Christmas Spirit

Wesley had a chance to really get into the Christmas spirit today. Notice I said he had a chance to - not that he actually did.

While I was working at the library, Duane, Wesley and Grandma H. went to have breakfast with Santa Claus (Ryan went to Aunt Melissa's). Some of you may remember our wonderful experience having breakfast with Santa last year. Well, let's just say it was not repeated. It's not that Wesley was bad, he was just totally uninterested (despite being so excited about it Friday night that he was jumping up and down). He was more interested in the train display and gingerbread houses than seeing the jolly old elf, or eating. Oh, and I have to publicly say how WONDERFUL Duane and Grandma were for taking Wesley when they were BOTH sick.

The breakfast was set up in the lobby of the conservatory this year. Still very pretty.

See the smiling kid with the plate full of food? Daddy reports that Wesley ate the chocolate chips off his waffle and maybe two bites of hash browns. That's it. Ah, the breakfast of champions.

Daddy hates to have his picture taken, but I really love this shot of

him and Wesley.

Of course, not as much as I love this shot of the two of them and Santa.

Wesley spent a good chunk of his time pretending to bake a cake for Santa. Here is an artist's renditioning (Daddy's) of what the cake for Santa looked like.

Of course, one party on the weekend is never enough for the W. family. Not even when Mommy and Wesley are coughing up a lung, Ryan is blowing snot bubbles and Daddy is so stuffed up his nose looks like Rudolf. Oh no! We went to my work party last night too! I was a slacker mom and didn't take any pictures even though I had my camera hanging from my wrist all night. It was a lot of fun though.

Wesley couldn't wait to go to the party. He was excited to get his party clothes on and packed a bag of toys to take. He insisted that there would be no dancing at the party. In fact, he told me that if people started to dance he would tell them, "Everyone stop dancing!" I guess it was opposite day in Wesley world because that boy worked up a sweat out on the dance floor and he'd dance with anyone whether they gave him the time of day or not. He grabbed Kim and Janet's hands and danced with them. He tried to cut in when Karen was dancing with her son, he tried to pull Lara out on the dance floor, he started dancing with a staff person I don't even know from Northwest. Really, he was very good.

Ryan got to shine as one of the two youngest at the party (the other baby is 10 months old). Which meant everyone played my favorite party game- "Pass the Baby!" Thank goodness he's still at the age when it doesn't bother him to have strangers holding him. He even danced with Ann P. and Adam!

I don't think poor sick Daddy had a very good time, but I thought it was the best party in years - and Wesley agreed!

We're Outta Here

I finally took the boys out of the house today. Except for going to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s on Tuesday, they've been in these four walls all week. You want proof? When we stepped outside Wesley exclaimed, "Hey! The snow's all gone!" Um..yeah, for several days.

So what did we do on our day out? We went to my favorite store (Target) to do a little Christmas shopping. Grandpa P. met us at the store (THANK GOODNESS) and we had a rather pleasant shopping experience. Well, there was the screaming fit when we first put Wesley in the cart, but that didn't last long.

I can't tell you how great it was to shop with Grandpa. When I was in college, Grandpa was newly retired. On days I didn't have classes we'd hang out together, shop, go to lunch and stuff like that. I remember one day we stood at Hallmark and read cards out loud to each other until we had tears pouring down our faces. Then we'd go back to his house and watch our favorite afternoon show (Home and Family - which NEVER should have been canceled). I just remember having the best time with him and today really reminded me of those times. Of course, back then we didn't have a three year old making a hidey hole under the table at the restaurant. Oh well, it kept him busy.

Bottom line: Thanks for braving the cold (and the colds) to spend part of the day with us, Grandpa. It was wonderful!!!!

The Plague Spreads

What a week for illness! I stayed home Monday with the sick kids and fighting a cold of my own. Tuesday the boys went to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s house despite the fact that Grandpa was sick too. Ryan barely ate all day and went 5 hours without a wet diaper. Duane stayed home yesterday so the boys wouldn't infect Kei and pass this yuckiness back and forth. Well now, Grandma H. is sick too, so I'm taking another day off work. I (briefly) considered calling Grandma and Grandpa P., but the last thing we need to do is get them sick too and then we'd be in the same boat next week!

So now I'm feeling a bit guilty about work. Never mind that the budget year is over and I can't really order much anyhow. I've already decided that I'm going to not take my comp. time next week for working on Sunday or for the staff meeting. I've even considered canceling my doctor's appointment for Monday morning, but that could cause more problems in the long run, so I guess I"ll keep that. I just feel kind of bad taking the time - even though the organization NEVER makes me feel guilty about it. Oh well, such is life with kids.

I guess I'd better go now. I suddenly have baby snot all over my sleeve.

Nothing to Do with Anything

OK so I saw this picture on I Can Haz Cheezburger

...and since Wesley calls himself "Cat" it reminds me of this picture from August

Gimme That

Wesley was trying to be very sweet to Ryan tonight and was showing his little brother a stuffed cat. He'd take Ryan's hand and pet the cat with it, then say "See? Nice and soft." But he was awfully surprised when Ryan snatched the cat from his big brother! I'm sure it won't be the last time a toy gets taken away.

This is a picture from Ryan's baptism. Isn't he cute!? He just figured out how to stick his tongue out and does it ALL the time now.

No Perks

Well, my prediction from last night was correct. Ryan's temperature increased and Wesley was coughing so badly he threw up so I stayed home from work today. Except for the hacking cough and constant runny nose, you wouldn't know Wesley was sick. He woke up at 5:45 this morning and has been going non-stop. Of course that totally negates the one perk of having a sick infant.

What? A perk to having a sick infant? Yes, sick infants may whine and are pathetic and you feel so bad for them, but they tend to be really cuddly. Ryan always wants held, but he also wants to move. A sick Ryan just wants to be held and to sleep on you. Unfortunately, Wesley was having none of that. Any time Ryan did manage to fall asleep on me, I'd have to put him in the cradle so I could play with Wesley. That also means that even though I'm still sick, I didn't get any rest today either.

On the up side, Duane felt bad about leaving me (sick) home with two sick kids all day and brought me home a box of chocolates. Maybe there was one perk after all.

Weekend Update

It's been another whirlwind weekend for the W. family. It will almost be a relief to go back to work tomorrow. That is, of course, assuming I get to work. I'm still fighting a nasty cold and sore throat, Wesley has a really rotten cold (his nose is running a mile a minute and he's so stuffy, his eyes are tearing) and Ryan has a cold and slight fever. So work is not exactly a "gimme" tomorrow.

Anyhow, despite the plague at our house, we had a good weekend. I went shopping with Aunt Susan on Friday night. What a treat that was! Just me and my sister-in-law. No kids, no hubbys, just the girls. It was so much fun - and I got some GREAT deals. I think we'll have to make shopping together a habit.

Yesterday we went to two holiday parties. The first was Duane's company party at noon. It was "no kids" so the two of us put on some semi-nice clothes and partied with the grownups. The snow was starting to come down and things looked beautiful. I was really in the Christmas spirit. That changed to the spirit of Scrooge by the time we were headed to our second party.

At 5:00 we loaded the kids into the van and set off into the snow for a small town about a 40 minute drive from us for Aunt Buzzy's tree trimming party. The trip took us a little more than an hour to make - not too bad considering the fact that an inch of snow tried to shut down the city. We passed accident after accident on the freeways - in fact the back country roads were MUCH better traveling. Still, there are probably a few fingernail marks in the seats of the van from my nervous white knuckles.

Buzzy's party was sparsely attended, but that gave Wesley and Ryan the chance to be the stars. One of Duane's cousins kids (BTW Duane has something like 24 first cousins) named Olivia was completely taken with Ryan. Some of you loyal reader may remember Olivia from the pictures of this years hog roast. She was the one running around with the hog head on her hand. Anyhow, she asked to hold Ryan and that's the last we saw of him all night.

Wesley took a little while to warm up to everyone, but before too long he was the center of attention. He took over decorating the tree for Buzzy. She ended up with a whole lot of ornaments right at Wesley height. He did manage to break one, and even though no one was the least bit upset about it, he was mortified and refused to have anything to do with the tree for at least half and hour. But then Amy entered the picture.

Amy is the wife of one of Duane's army of cousins. She's a little bit younger than me and is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Apparently Wesley agrees with me because once Amy started decorating the tree, Wesley was back in the game. He'd tell her where to hang the ornaments, then turn to the rest of the people in the room and declare, "Let's all work together! It's the best Christmas decoration EVER!" Amy thought this was really cute and before long Wesley was talking her ear off about everything under the sun. She was probably a little relieved when we left. Wesley was heartbroken though. When we got into the car he announced that "Amy is my girlfriend." But did I get any pictures of them together? No. Hope she's at the family Christmas party in a couple of weeks.

The drive home in the snow was much better. I think traffic was lighter and the salt trucks had been out. Unfortunately, salt trucks don't take care of our back walk. As I was carrying Wesley in from the car, I tripped and fell flat on my face. Wesley hit his head on the snow covered sidewalk and Bear slid a little ways. Was Wesley upset about his head or the snow all over his pajamas? NO! He was upset there was snow on Bear! Duane shook the snow off the stinky one and all was better. Well, better might be stretching it since Wesley was up past midnight with a nasty cough.

Still, we made it to church for Ryan's baptism today. Unfortunately, Slacker Mom did not take any pictures. Aunt Susan did though and I'll post some when I get them. We got home from the service and luncheon only to discover that Ryan was running a fever. So we've all been kind of vegging out in the front room this evening. Thank goodness tomorrow is Monday!

Once Upon a Time AKA Assorted Wesley Stories

Wesley is in love with those prepackaged sticks of cheese you can buy. The only time he has ever opened the refrigerator on his own was to get a cheese stick out of the snack drawer. This morning, the cheese stick broke as I was taking it out of the package. I braced myself for a whining fit as I handed the little piece that broke off to Wesley. He looked at it, then held it on the larger piece and bent over to eat it. So cute.

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Wesley and I are both fighting colds right now. I am trying desperately NOT to loose my voice as I seem to do once a year. Wesley must be fighting the same fight. This morning when he woke up and spent a few moments trying to clear his throat before crying out, " AGH! I can't talk!" Now, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that for a few minutes I hoped and prayed that he really would lose his voice and I'd have a day or two of relative quiet. I don't know if I've told you, but a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) once paid her preschool daughter to be quiet for five minutes. I totally understand what drove her to that and if Wesley understood what money was, I'm sure I would have already done the same thing.

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Wesley is a little bit confused when it comes to NHL teams. When we were watching hockey one night I said, "Do we like the Red Wings? No! Do we like the Blackhawks? No! Do we like the Blue Jackets? YES!" Apparently I should have said more teams that didn't have a color in their name, because now Wesley will come up to me and say, "Do we like the Red Wings? No! Do we like the orange cats? No! Do we like the green frogs? No! Do we like the Blue Jackets? Yes!"

Let's Eat

Ryan had his first taste of rice cereal last night. Considering how much this child likes to eat, I thought he'd be more impressed with it. Instead, he eats about 5 bites, then gets frustrated with the whole thing and starts to cry - probably because the food isn't getting there fast enough! We'll keep working on it though. I'm sure he'll be a pro in no time.

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