sheesh.

My kids are killing me! Slowly, but surely, they are killing me. Well, to be fair - Rhys and Oliver, together, on their worst days are half the challenge of Charlie on a typical day. I'm flummoxed.

On one hand, my picky child has been eating foods I never imagined would pass his lips. Pizza, spagetti (the sauce, at least), gravy on his mashed potatoes! Charlie showers on his own now. And he's done beautifully at school. Loves his teacher. Adores riding the school bus.

The problem comes when he isn't at school. He has regressed to where he was before the wonder of preschool--back to the tornado of a child I had hoped I'd seen the last of. Enlisting little Rhys as his accomplice, Charlie has been emptying hampers full of dirty laundry and throwing the clothing around the room. He's been urinating in my house! Pouring milk on my kitchen floor. Coloring on my furniture with pink sidewalk chalk. Spitting at me. Ripping entire boxes of tissues into tiny pieces and tossing them around like confetti. Escaping through windows and climbing fences and pulling down blinds and curtains and breaking windows on my van. The two little delinquents sneak upstairs and throw things out the window. Toys, candy, books, cd's, pillows... anything they can get their hands on. Today it was snaps. An entire bag of snap pieces rained down on my driveway.

I should take this moment to clarify that though Rhys surely makes his own contribution to the chaos, he never does anything like this on his own. His largest motivation, it seems, is pleasing his big brother. While I suspect that Charlie's motivation is to con Rhys into doing the dirty work.

I just can't keep up anymore. I'm drowning. I really wish that someone would take me seriously about my trouble with Charlie and HELP me!

Quikie Update ;)

Been so long since I blogged! How has it been since the end of March?! Wow. Looking back at the past few months -- in an exhausted, bleary-eyed daze, mind you -- nothing really stands out. I'll probably kick myself for that statement soon, but for the moment, let's look forward, shall we? :)

Being past midnight, my little Charlie - my first baby! - starts kindergarten TOMORROW. I've impatiently anticipated this day for years (so has he); yet, now that it has arrived I can't believe that the school years have come already. Charlie is so grown up now! Quite the little character too. ;) I'm so excited to see what this new chapter in our lives will bring. And so not excited about getting up so EARLY. ug.

Rhys has been getting speech therapy a couple of days per week this summer to work on his k, b, and g sounds. He's had a blast in "school" and he's much easier to understand now. ;) Now I'm trying to come up with a last-minute, affordable preschool option for him so that he can continue getting regular interaction with other kiddos his age (who don't beat him up!).
Oliver is a hoot! Quite the charming little fellow. :) He does a lot of talking now; unfortunately, it seems that he speaks a foreign language. Been working on sign language a bit with him and trying to teach him English. ;) He really gets a kick out of me doing the signs for him - even more so when his brothers help - but seems to think that those hand signals are just silly things that everyone else does.

David is finishing his fifth year with CableOne this month. Another "where has the time gone?" scenario. He gets along well with his co-workers and is well respected for the excellent work that he does. I'm so proud of him :) He's been trying harder lately to be a better father and husband. Most days, I can tell. ;) The other day, while visiting Judy and Dennis, David's parents, Rhys wanted Daddy to read books with him - not Mommy, not Grammie, Daddy! Melted my heart. There are few things more beautiful to me than a man being a great dad. :)

And I've now given up a whole hour of sleep! Hope you appreciate it. (hehe. ;) ) Until next time... :)

Now what was I gonna say....?

Last night, as I was nursing my tiny one to sleep, I was planning a blog post about something that he'd been doing all day long. Now that I stop for a moment to write it down, I can't seem to recall what it was. Bah! Mommy Brain.

So I'll just tell you about how he's growing up too fast.
My little guy turned 1 last week. -- I know, I can't believe it either! It MUST be a trick; he can't be more than 4 or 5 months old. We had a little party for him with cupcakes and friends. His brothers didn't want to leave Grammy's house just for Olly's party. But they did insist that we save them each a cupcake.

He visited his doctor yesterday. Getting bigger, but still pretty darn little. Just under the 3rd percentile for weight. Doc was very surprised by how "really busy" he is. The only times he was still were when she'd talk to him and he'd play bashful. Then right back to up - down - up - down - climb - "help" - down - in the cupboard - need a cup - have to play with the faucet - where is the koala toy? - want to nurse - no, didn't really want to nurse - chew on mom's nose - "hey, what's that in mom's bag?" - "why would you put me down??? **tear**- and so on. Doc may have found him to be squirrelly, but Oliver's the calmest babe I've had.

Poor Babies :(

Rhys is kinda being a butt head today. Not quite sure why, other than he just spent a few days at Grammie's house with Charlie and is, perhaps, feeling a bit neglected by Mama. I've been trying to give him extra attention, but he has been taking his frustration out on Oliver all morning, culminating in Rhys tossing the cat at little Olly. Poor baby has scratches all over his face and we are all upset now. Oliver, because his face hurts; Rhys, because he knows that I'm angry with him; and I, because Oliver is hurt and Rhys is sad. Sometimes, this Mom thing is tough. :(

(I'll post a couple of pictures of Olly's face as soon as I find my camera cable. It seems to have wandered off...)

Okay, here are a few...

Good news is that the scratches are healing nicely. But little Olly is going to have a "prison scar" for a little while.

Never Stand On Things With Wheels

OK.  So this was dramatized a bit.  He just happened to be holding his little skateboard when he fell into the box.

But I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a small lesson.

And the opportunity for some cute photos.

What can I say?  He doesn't hold still much anymore. ;)

Poor Dumb Dog

Mopey Miles
Originally uploaded by cocoafairy

Miles came home a few days ago from a week long stay at the Idaho Humane Society veterinary hospital. He had eaten approximately two pounds of chocolate and was deathly ill. The wonderful folks at IHS took excellent care of him and kept him company when we couldn't be with him. Each of the first few days they were amazed that he made it through the night. Then his kidneys failed. They started getting better, then his liver stopped working. All the while, poor Miles is vomiting every couple of hours and having intradermal fluids administered. He's definitely a tough guy. Still sick, but slowly returning to normal.

Grandma Came to Visit

My mom visited this week by herself. We seem to have only gotten a portion of a picture of her though. :( But Rhys tried his first poppy seed muffin. (his "bun")

Oliver had his first taste of strawberries while Grandma was here. He squished them all over and was quite fond of them.

And he was a bit upset when breakfast was over.


We seem to have forgotten to get pictures of most of her visit. We ate lots of good food, shopped a lot, had lots of fun, and not a lot of sleep.
Not a stitch of knitting was accomplished; my housekeeping fell dreadfully by the wayside. And I don't know about Grandma, but I'm spending today trying to recover. :0)