My week

This week has been average and that's okay. I am excited that my parents will arrive tomorrow. When you ask Ryan who is coming on a plane tomorrow he says, "Nana, papa, plane high in the sky. FAST!" He's excited because I told him if we get there a little early we might get to see the plane land.

I tried packing earlier, but the task seems too big right now. Adam promised help later since he's really good at packing and I am not. We're staying at a place in Wells that is like an apartment because there's no room here to have the parents stay. Adam will be working and staying with us just two nights. I'm excited because it's like a mini-vacation.

Ryan is doing well with the potty still. He had a bit of regression this week where he just didn't want to go on the potty. Today, however, he is wearing real underpants and doing really well at keeping Mater and McQueen dry.

Timothy is still my little eater. He is loving most foods. We discovered he hates peas and carrots. He was teething pretty bad this week and was up every hour on the half hour on Wednesday night. I really like the sleeping through the night stage.... and we're back there again.

At work this week we are now required to ask for credit cards for signature comparison AND for ID. To show you how stupid people think we are because we work at WM, I must share these stories. The first is of a lady who had not signed her card. When I said I also needed her ID, she said she didn't have it with her, so I said she would have to pay another way. She tells me she can sign the card in front of me. Um, hello, a thief can do that too.

The second is of an 18 year old and his girlfriend who hand me their card and their ID. So as not to get in trouble I will make up some names. The CC says David E. Jones and the license says Brent D. Jones. And the kid tells me his middle name is David. Yeah, okay and the E on the CC stands for Brent? No, I don't think so. Similarly, a lady tried to use a card that said Lucas on it and refused to show her ID... I wonder why?

For the most part, people who come through my line want to know why, if their card is already signed, that we are asking for ID. When we say that there's a huge scam going on that involves people using other's cards because no one bothers to check signatures anymore (now that world is so electronic) they willingly give their ID and are glad we care.

I really enjoy what I do two days a week at WM. I enjoy the break from the kids, I enjoy that I feel like I am contributing to our finances and I enjoy the people that are regulars and my co-workers (at least 99% of them). I just wish there was some program that allowed kids to see what service jobs like mine are like. I think they'd be nicer to the cashier, nicer to their waitress... and the list goes on. Not that I think any of you reading this would do this, but there's no need to yell or curse or throw a fit at those serving you. If they are rude first (which I have seen) it pays to ask to see their manager.

And so that was my week and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Ten random thoughts

• It's okay for kids to scream in delight...sometimes.
• Too many rules confuses kids... and makes life really boring.
• Yelling at kids gets you nowhere. It's best to speak in a calm voice and explain briefly.
• Making a mess while having fun is good, but it sure stinks to clean stuff up.
• When kids sing it is really cute.
• A walk outside in autumn is really refreshing.
• Playing in a huge pile of leaves is fun for everyone.
• Being with family and friends who love you no matter what is comforting.
• Flannel sheets are warm and cozy.
• Everyone laughing at the same time is melodious.

The potty train

We began potty training Ryan on our vacation. We knew that no matter what age we started potty training that Ryan would be difficult for a day until he got used to the idea. We just know our kid. It's the way he is with everything (with long sleeves and short sleeves, with new foods, with new people..change takes lots of time for Ryan).

So the process began on Saturday morning with the changing from the nighttime diaper to a visit at the potty and a Pull-Up (I have since decided White Cloud disposable underwear are just as good and cheaper and that Pull-Up overnights are also good, but regular Pull-Ups aren't worth the cost). He went pee on the potty right away, but protested when it came time to put on the Pull-Up. We went down stairs and showed him that there were no more diapers for him, just for Tim. (This was part of the plan because we knew if he saw even one of his diapers he'd cry for it all day).

Ryan did well on Saturday. He peed on the potty when asked, but refused while at a birthday party. We didn't force him because we want this to be a positive experience for him. He did ask often for a diaper, but we just kept telling him we didn't have anymore his size and that he was a big boy and got to wear Pull-Ups and that Timothy wasn't big enough to wear them yet.

On day two, we put together the potty road. It's a big poster that has places for Ryan to place stickers each time he goes potty. He gets one colored sticker (red, blue or green) for going pee, two silver ones for going poop and a gold one for telling us he has to go and going to the potty. At different intervals, Ryan gets a potty prize (we've heard parents do this for every pee or poop, but we'd be broke if we did this). His first potty prize was a hot wheels car and airplane set and the second was a Diego book and sweatshirt (he LOVES Diego right now). The last big star he gets to go spend an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese.

Ryan holding his "Diego Prize" in front of his road of potty training poster.

On our trip to Vince and Kris' house, Ryan did really well, though he wanted Vince to help with the potty stuff and not mom and dad. Vince wasn't so sure about this, but did a great job with Ryan. So far, Ryan has managed lots of colored stickers, one set of silver stickers (if we would have had the chart in Manch he would have two more of the silver ones) and zero gold ones. He hasn't asked for a diaper since that first day.


While the disposable underwear are more expensive, we go through them more slowly because he wears maybe two in a day versus six or eight diapers in a day. He's learned the steps to going potty fairly well... pull down pants, go potty, put on pants, wash hands, get sticker. We're happy with Ryan's progress so far. We've only had one accident in which he refused to sit on the potty and then peed all over the floor. He cried, but we assured him that everyone has accidents and if he had just sat down a little faster there would never have been an accident.


The potty training continues!

Pumpkin Face

When we went apple picking last month we also purchased a pumpkin. It's been sitting on the table ever since.

While visiting Vince and Kris, Ryan was introduced to their "pumpkin face" aka Jack-o-lantern on their porch and he's wanted to make one ever since.

On Wednesday night we got out the pumpkin carver and scoop and went to work. Below are our photos. We had a great time. Ryan kept saying "pumpkin face has eyes, nose and mouth." He proudly put it on the front stoop this morning.










I might mention that this was my first ever pumpkin carving experience and now understand why the "experts" suggest your first pumpkin carving experience happen with a large gourd. The small ones aren't so easy to work with. I might also mention that we generally don't allow Ryan to sit on top of the table, but we made an exception so he could really see what was going on.

Vacation was great

Our vacation last week was great. I was so looking forward to Adam having a full week with me and the kids and then it was over all too fast.

On Saturday we started potty training. Then we went to a birthday party and had dinner at Alex Pizza with Gillie and Adam. We also went to the park with them and to Dunkin Donuts. It's been a while since we've seen them, which is really just not right since we live in the same state and are about 40 minutes away from each other. It was nice catching up.

On Sunday, we just went to church, worked on potty training and I went to work in the evening.

On Monday, we went to visit Memere Jan who is the mother of our friend Tanya. We had a great time. Enjoyed some lovely coffee cake and, of course, books (she's a children's librarian). Then Adam had a conference call and we played outside with the kids.

Ryan reading with memere Jan

On Tuesday I got my hair cut really cute and then we packed up and made our almost two hour trip to Manchester. This trip was so worth it! I had a blast. On the way there we had to stop in Epping to purchase Ryan's first prize for making it to the first star on his road of potty training. This proved to be more complicated than we thought and we spent an hour at that Wal-Mart. I also had to purchase a few items for the dinner I was making so Kris wouldn't have to do it when she got home from work. We had a lovely dinner, attempted to watch Notting Hill, but ended up just going to sleep.

The hair

On Wednesday we packed a picnic lunch and made the journey to Boston. On the way, Kris and I picked up or pottery. We can't wait to go again.

My santa above and Kris C's plate.

Our trip to Boston was nice because Vince, Kris, Adam and I split the cost of renting a mini-van (they work for Enterprise so this was extreemly cheap and worked out to $15 for both families) so we all got to drive together. We walked through Little Italy to get to the New England Aquarium. We really had a blast (minus the fact that I had a super headache). We saw penguins, jellyfish, a HUGE turtle, seahorses, star fish, electric eels and much more! Ryan loved it, though I think we were all tired at the end. We had gelato and cannoli in Little Italy on the way back and bought a loaf of yummy bread, which we made into garlic cheese bread to eat with our spaghetti that we had for dinner.

Ryan looking at the penguins

A male penguin

The turtle

On Thursday, Kris went to work (sigh), but the guys and I had our wonderful experience with the fire wings (see previous post) and played with the kids at the park. The guys also went to the shooting range while I watched Definitly Maybe and the two boys napped. Vince made us a wonderful bbq dinner and they convinced us to stay one more night (really we had nowhere to go on Friday).

On Friday, we drove back from Manch, Adam got a massage (I'd purchased him the gift certificate for our 6th anniversary) and I went to work.


Alas, vacation is over and we are back to our normal routine.

I have lots of upcoming posts. They include: pumpkin carving, a potty training update and more photos of the boys playing in the leaves.

In which we eat fire and survive

I have so much to post about Adam's vacation, but I wanted to post this first.

While in Manchester we decided to grab some pub food. Pub food is cheap and good. We went to the Wild Rover, which we all love, and got ready to experience some new creation.

We order buffalo wings wherever we go. It's just what we do. We love them and we sample them at every place we eat. Going to the Rover was no different. The last time we were there, we had wonderful Jamaican Jerk wings... alas they were not on the menu so we decided to go with the regular buffalo wings. In true Kris tradition, I ordered "hot" because "mild" doesn't taste anything like buffalo wings to me.

Fire wings

To truely understand, you must know that for breakfast everyone in our party had toast. We were HUNGRY. On top of that, Ryan kept saying "eat now" while we waited for the wings and an order of fries for him.

My very hungry Ryan with an almost empty plate.

The wings came but were missing the blue cheese dip. Ryan wanted a wing, but wanted dip. I was so hungry I couldn't wait for the waitress to come back so I grabbed a wing, took a bit and imediately realized I'd made a BIG mistake. I felt like I had eaten fire. My eyes were watering, my ears felt hot and my mouth was overcome by the spiciness of the wing.


"Guys, I think ordering hot was a bad idea. These things are wicked hot," I say.

Wiping my tears.

Not believing me, Adam decided to lick the sauce from one of the wings. His response: drink lots of soda and look frantically for the waitress so we can get dip.

Adam attempting to get rid of the fire in his mouth using a pickle.

Needless to say, the dip realy didn't help. After two wings, both Adam and I decided there was no way we could finish those buffalo wings and poor Vince took one bite and announced he hated me. Ryan, meanwhile is begging for a wing and we are saying," sorry buddy, these wings wouldn't be good for you."


As we are wiping away our tears, our meal comes and we all quickly eat as much bread, fries and onion rings as we can, not to mention, we needed refills on the drinks. So, we're trying to taste our food and out comes the owner.

"Guys I really need to apologize. The wings you had weren't "hot" they were "Habanero Blast" (just the hottest on the menu). Somehow, the lables got mixed up and you got the wrong sauce on your wings. We'll give you the wings free and get you the ones you originally ordered."


We asked our order be amended to be just "mild."

We ate fire and survived.

The rest of our super hot wings went to the guys behind us, who also downed lots of soda and then decided to order just "hot."

I will probably never forget this experience. I'm still not sure what my nacho crusted chicken tasted like, but we did have a great time. Ryan was the one to eat the mild wings. The rest of us decided not to even try.

Timothy is four months old

Time is going by so quickly. I can't believe that Timothy is already four months old. He LOVES sitting up. While Ryan plays in the basement he often sits in Ryan's Thomas the Train chair and watches. He's usually accompanied by a rattle or other toy that he can hold. Timothy is reaching out, grabbing items and putting them into his mouth these days. His thumb sucking abilites are unbelieveable. Last night, while checking on Ryan I peeked over at Tim in his crib to find him fast asleep with his tumb in his mouth!

Timothy can roll over from back to front and then usually bursts into tears because he hates being on his belly. Ryan seemed to do both at the same time, but Timothy is taking his time in terms of developmental milestones and that's okay with us. We fully understand that he was born almost a month early and may be behind a little because of that.

Here's Timothy with Pooh for his fourth month with Pooh photos. He's a very happy baby and is almost always smiling. He's started eating solids and so far hates most fruits (we'll keep trying) and LOVES veggies. Rice cereal is just okay, but I can't imagine that stuff tasting very good anyway.

Ryan tries to include Timothy in most everything he does lately. That's been cute too watch. Timothy gets a car when Ryan is playing with his huge stash of matchbox cars. When we go out Ryan makes sure Timothy is going with us. If Timothy cries, Ryan will run to get me or Adam to tell us that "Tim crying, tummy hurts, hungry." (Ryan thinks that your tummy hurts when you are hungry).

I'm looking forward to the boys being able to actually play together. I think Ryan is a great big brother and will do a great job of teaching Timothy all he needs to know.

Great Friends = Great Fun

The last week or so with the kids has been tough. Adam has worked some long hours and I just really needed a break. On Sunday evening, Adam suggested we spend our Wednesday with our good friends Vince and Kristin.

On Tuesday when Kris called to find out if we'd be there for dinner, I really didn't want to go. My ears have been hurting since Saturday and I really just felt like scheduling an appointment with my doctor and getting some sleep.

But we packed up the kids and drove the hour and a half to Manchester on Tuesday night anyway. I am so glad that we kept our plans to go to Manchester.

On Wednesday morning, Kris made us a very yummy breakfast just like she always does. Ryan mostly enjoyed his Apple Jacks, but the rest of us enjoyed the fresh baked bread, eggs and sausages.

While feeding Timothy, Kris did my makeup for me. It was like a little makeover... one of the nice ones, not like what you'd get at the mall. It was nice to be pampered when I didn't even ask!

We packed up a picnic lunch and made plans to see the elephants that were coming for the Ringling Brothers Circus in Manchester. Kris packed an awesome picnic. We had pasta salad, tuna sandwiches, fruit and veggies. When we left the house it started to rain, so we weren't sure how this event would work out.

The rain did stop and we found parking spots near the park and near the area where the elephants would walk by to the Verizon Arena. The two boys were sleeping, but us adults very much enjoyed our picnic. When Ryan finally awoke from his nap he mostly ate carrots and dip, which is so typical of him right now. Food must have dip.

We waited for two hours to see the elephants. We passed the time by taking photos and watching the airplanes fly overhead from nearby Manchester airport. We also watched numerous trucks drive by. Ryan named as many as he could from buses to trash trucks to mack trucks. At 3 p.m. we finally saw our elephants. None of us had seen Asian Elephants before so this was a real treat. Ryan LOVED seeing the elephants. He kept saying "big nose, big elephants."

When it was all over, us girls headed out for our first girl date in a long, long time. We went to You're Fired pottery studio and spent two wonderful hours working on some Christmas pieces. Kris painted a cookie platter that had Christmas ornaments all around the edges and I painted a santa clause that was opening his pants to make a bowl to put candy inside. I can't wait to get it back and take photos to post here (I didn't take my camera on this trip and had to rely on Kris and Vince for my photos to post on my blog).

After dinner we decided it was time to come home. We got about ten minutes away when I realized we didn't have Paws, Ryan's beloved buddy. We turned around and picked him up and then came home.

I had a GREAT day and can't wait to spend next Wednesday with Vince and Kris at the New England Aquarium.

Self

In the past few days the one word out of Ryan's mouth more than any other is "self."

Ryan would like not to be picked up and carried up the stairs. He'd like to do it himself. So, yesterday when I was trying to get us out of the house for a little bit, I picked him up and walked up the stairs with him yelling "self!" When we got upstairs, he walked back down and then walked up. Self.

To get into the truck isn't so easy for a two-year-old, yet Ryan wanted to do it "self." I let him. I let him when we were leaving Target and while he did that I was putting Timothy into the truck on the other side. Ryan was sitting so nicely in his car seat that I forgot I hadn't buckled him in. Lucky for me, we didn't even get out of the parking lot when he said, "Mom buckle."

It was time for a bath and Timothy gets his bath first. Ryan wanted to go in and I told him he'd need to have his clothes off before getting in. Of course he said he wanted to do it himself. Off came his pants, then the socks, then the diaper, but mom had to help with his shirt.

It's been "self" for eating anything from rice to yoghurt. It's been "self "during diaper changes (we're so glad potty training is just a few more diapers away. We told Ryan when his current stash of diapers run out he gets to wear big-boy pants... aka Pull-Ups.) where Ryan wants to wipe his own butt, pull the diaper tabs and pull off and on his own pants. It's been "self" for helping with Timothy (which is cute), "self" for putting on shoes and "self" for putting toast in the toaster oven. It's been "self, self, self."

My baby boy is not such a baby anymore. Really I realized this when we came home from the hospital with Timothy and Ryan seemed so big. Now, he really seems like a big boy. In some ways it's sad because mom likes doing some of these things (and I can get them done faster), but I know he needs to be able to do these things as he grows.

More fall fun



Ryan and Madison played together yesterday. I was so tired by the end of this visit that I really didn't want to do grocery shopping, but it had to be done.

Ryan with Madison's grandpa. We call him Uncle Frank and he's awesome with the kids.
Timothy and Uncle Frank pose for a photo. Uncle Frank is my sister-in-law's dad.
Ryan at the BK playground. A word of advice about these playgrounds... make sure your kid is confident enough to do them on their own or you will be climbing inside also... and it's not very big inside.

We went apple picking again on Wednesday. Here is Ryan washing some apples for eating.

I really wish Timothy would use a pacifier. You can take a pacifier away, but thumb and finger sucking will be hard to break. He's sneaky too. He'll start by sucking on the pacifier, spit it out and then put in his fingers or thumb. We were laughing about this photo. He put himself to sleep with two fingers in the mouth and one in the nose.

Also a funny photo to us. We have these cup warmers that you put on the bottom of a cup. We asked Ryan if he wanted one since he said his milk was really cold. When we gave it to him he asked for two and put them on like mittens.

Fall photos

For lack of something more interesting to do today, we went outside and took fall photos during playtime. The majority are of Timothy since Ryan didn't really want his photo taken.

Doesn't this look professional? I'm really proud of this photo of Ryan.

A happy Timothy in the leaves.

Sitting outside. He looks ilke a little man!

Cooing in the leaves.

This is his bubble making face. I love it! It reminds me of my dad.

Things I'm looking forward to

I haven't been very bloggy lately, so I thought I'd write about things I'm looking forward in the next few weeks.

The first thing is that we are going apple picking again on Wednesday, this time it's with the mom's group at church. I'm really excited for this. Ryan loved apple picking and it's just so nice to be with other moms and outdoors with the kids.

October 4th is the beginning of Adam's fall vacation. We aren't going lots of places or doing lots of things, but we do plan on attempting to potty train Ryan. We'll see how that goes. He goes on the potty once or twice a day, so we think he might be interested in the potty in general, but I do need help with those first few days. Also during that week, we plan to go to the New England Aquarium in Boston with Ryan's Godparents. We've planned this trip since before Tim was born and are now just getting around to it.

Most exciting of all is that my parents are coming to visit at the end of October. I was a bit diasappointed at the thought of us not seeing them until sometime next year. Then they decided to make this trip and I am really looking forward to the time with them. Ryan also believes he will be going swimming with Papa....too bad it will be too cold. We'll have to figure out something else fun to do with Papa. Maybe they can talk about planes... Ryan keeps saying, "Nana, Papa come on plane high in the sky."

I do have photos to post..I've mostly put them on Facebook these days along with two silly videos of Ryan.... so get Facebook if you don't have it. =-)

New photos

This was what Ryan looked like nine days ago... before all the ER stuff went down. You can see his right eye is still a bit red from where he got stung by the bee.

Timothy really likes to sit up. He doesn't use his little gym much any more because he hates being on the floor. He'd much rather sit in Ryan's chair and smile at us.

Our friends Kyle and Sarah got Timothy this cute onesie that says, "New in the Neighborhood." I can't believe he already fits into it. Timothy also loves this toy. He is also getting his lower left tooth... it's almost out. We can feel it and he drools everywhere while biting on his little fingers.

And this is a silly, but happy Ryan playing on the Boppy. Sadly, I know this was one of the throw-up days by the shirt he is wearing.

Ryan is doing much better today and is almost back to being himself.

Mum knows best

Ryan had a fever for eight days. Eight days!

It all started with the bee sting. The night of the bee sting Ryan had a fever of 102.6. We gave him Tylenol and hoped he be better in the morning. The next morning I called our doc to make sure this was normal and she said most kids can get a fever after a bee sting and that he should be okay, but to call if things didn't get better.

To make a long story short, Ryan had a fever, which kept getting higher and higher for eight days, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. He kept saying his stomach hurt and we figured that had something to do with it being upset.

On Wednesday night, when we put Ryan to bed he was a little warm, but it seemed the fever might actually go away. At 2 a.m. we packed our stuff and headed to the ER because Ryan had been talking to the wall and had a fever of 103.7.

The doc at the ER pretty much made us feel like we wasted her time. She said all kids get fevers, but that Ryan probably had a virus. We should go home and let him rest. When we persisted that he'd had this fever for eight days, she said he was fine.

The next morning I made a call to our doc and was squeezed into a very busy day. I was so thankful to see her and have someone REALLY listen to me. While waiting to be seen a wonderful lady came by to entertain Timothy while I held a very hot Ryan who cried and slept off and on.

Doc checked a lot of things, but also took a culture of some pretty white spots on his throat. She called the ER, told them we'd be coming for blood work, a urine sample, chest and stomach x-ray and IV fluids. In addition, she wanted us not to leave until we saw a pediatrician.

We had a bad experience with the triage nurse who shouldn't be in medical care at all. The hospital will be recieving a letter from me detailing her horrible bedside manner with my child and how rude she was to both Adam and me.

The nurse who spent the night with us was wonderful. The hospital will recieve a letter from me about his wonderful way with children and their scared/worried parents.

The ER doc again tried to tell us this was viral and that kids get fevers all the time, but I was firm with him and told him we weren't leaving until the tests our doctor order were done and the pediatrician had seen us.

Against our better judgement, Ryan had a catheter put in to collect urine to be sure he didn't have a bladder infection. It was the most painful and frightening thing my son has ever experienced and will never trust another doctor or nurse to look at his penis again.

When they came to take a blood sample, which Ryan is really good at, he freaked out and put his hands over his penis and screamed over and over, "please, no!" I'm sure it didn't help that both Adam and I were emotional wrecks by this point, yet we were trying to offer comfort.

The pediatrician showed up, took a look in Ry's mouth and said he thought he had tonsillitis. He looked a second time and said that was for sure what he had and that why no one else had determined this, he wasn't sure.

While Adam feels this guy was so old he could fart dust, at least he found out what was wrong with my precious two year old. Apparently while I took Ryan to examine pictures on the wall this doc scratched together a prescription for Ryan then decided that he'd written too high a dose, did some calculations on the back of the pad and then wrote a new one. Then Adam was told how to count by the pharmacist..."1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, mls of this medicine." Thanks bucky, we're not stupid. Sigh.

Ryan is a bit better today. Has managed to actually eat, but still complains his stomach and penis hurt.

Mum knows best! I KNEW my kid didn't have a virus and I hate that they blew us off thinking we were parinoid parents. At least Ryan will be okay.

All through the night

Little Timothy slept through the night for the second time last night. It's almost 7 a.m. and he's still sleeping! The first time Timothy slept through the night was when Kyle and Sarah were visiting. We joked that little Katy wore him out.

Ryan slept through the night once at three months while we were visiting my grandparents in Ohio and then he finally started sleeping through the night on a regular basis at five and a half months which was also the same time he started eating solids and crawling.

I was rather thankful both nights that Timothy has slept through the night. The first time, we'd stayed up late playing Dutch Blitz with Kyle and Sarah and I wasn't looking forward to getting up in two hours to feed a little boy, but I would have done it anyway.

This time, I have some sort of cold and went to bed at 9 p.m. and really wanted some rest. I got it!

Now to see if this will be a regular thing or if it was just a beautiful act of God to let me get some much needed rest.

Bee

If I bumble bee lands on your eye, you probably shouldn't hit it. It WILL sting you. We know this becasue that is what happened to Ryan today. His eye was swollen shut and he was miserable until after our doctor visit (it was actually a visit for me). His eye is now open and his face looks lots better. I'm so glad he didn't have an allergic reaction.

Right now Ryan is sleepy from the Benadryl and watching some Dora. Timothy is sleeping, Adam is working and this mum is taking a break.

Photos of babies

Our very dear friends Kyle and Sarah are visiting Maine this week. We were so excited to meet little Katy in person. She's a talker and is so adorable. Katy and Timothy got to spend some time together yesterday.

Size-wise, Timothy is fatter, longer and has a bigger head. Katy out does him with her talking, ability to hold things and her neck muscles. She can really hold her head up. Poor Timothy has a hard time because his head is so big.


Here they are laughing and talking together. Katy did most of the talking...typical woman.


And here is Timothy this morning posing for his three month photo with Pooh.

One of those days

Today was one of those days...

Ryan threw up at lunch after choking on a bell pepper that he didn't bother chewing. Lucky for us, I always carry a change of clothes in the diaper bag. I didn't have clean shoes for him, though, and it bugged him for the rest of the afternoon (I had clean socks). Adam had the joy of cleaning him up in the men's bathroom.

Then, we went to visit my brother-in-law and my niece. While playing outside, barefoot, Ryan stepped in dog pooh. To top it off, we didn't know what he stepped in at frist and he touched it! He was trying to wipe it off his foot. Adam had the joy of cleaning that stinky mess up too.

And then... we're driving home, Timothy is sreaming (he always cries in the car, plus he had four shots yesterday) and Ryan starts saying, "It hurts. It hurts." I suppose he was meaning his stomach hurt because two seconds later he was throwing up all over the backseat. Sigh... We both had the joy of cleaning that up. Thank God for the throw up contingency kit in our trunk (Ryan's thrown up too many times for us not to have it there. It consists of a few large trash bags, extra diapers, fabric cleaner for the car and Febreeze).

While we're laughing at it now, it wasn't so funny earlier today. We're both beat and we're hoping there is no more throwing up this week.

Silly Ryan

Here are some random silly things Ryan has said or done in the past month.

• Yesterday, he ventured downstairs by himself while I was in the bathroom. When I went to find out what he was doing, he said his hair was wet from the rain. Now, it had been raining outside so I began trying to figure out where the water could be coming from. When I took a closer look at his hair I realized he'd put diaper rash cream in his hair and what he was trying to tell me was that he needed a bath.
• One evening when we were reading a book about dinosaurs, I pointed out that the dino had a tissue. I was about to tell Ryan he was using it to wipe away his tears when Ryan asks, "Sneeze?" Well that would be a logical explaination since we tell Ryan he has to wipe his nose with a tissue when he sneezes.
• Ryan has a potty that he sometimes uses. He agreed to put on big boy underpants the other day. Right after he went to the door and asked to go in the pool. We use a real swimsuit on him when he goes swimming, not the swim diapers. I guess he figured that the underpants were a smaller version of a swimsuit.
• Pee-doh is how Ryan pronounces Play-doh.
• If Ryan comes up to you and asks for a "new." He'd like his diaper to be changed. I suppose this is because both Adam and I always tell him he needs a new diaper when he needs to be changed.
• A half hour after putting Ryan to bed one evening, he came running into our room and said, "ta-da!" He wasn't so happy when we walked him back to his room and put him back to bed.
• Yesterday, I was sure Ryan put his plate from lunch next to the sink while I was feeding Tim. While helping him clean up his toys last night, I opened the seat of his Mater ride-on to discover he had put the plate and the last two bites of his sandwich inside.

One never knows what a two year old will do or say next.

A sixth sense?

Dear husband is convinced I have a sixth sense. He's sure of this because I can ruin a surprise like no other and I've been doing it for years. I just feel or know something and I ruin all his fun.

I'll give you a few examples. Once Adam and I took a trip up to Bangor to see some friends. On the drive I was getting hungry and mentioned that it would be wonderful to eat Quiznos. At the time, there were no Quiznos sub shops in Maine. I really missed our Friday Quiznos outing from our college days in Illinois and was just expressing my craving for the food. We get to Bangor and pull into this shopping centre and I scream, "Quiznos! Oh my gosh, did you see there's a Quiznos?"

Adam had only been planning this surprise for over a week and my one mention of it ruined it for him.

I've ruined surprises for massages, dates at a specific restaurant just by mentioning things just prior to the surprise. He's even convinced I knew about my baby shower, but I honestly had no clue. I also have this sense when I think someone may be pregnant. I'll say to Adam, "wouldn't it be nice if so and so would/could have a baby?" They call and tell us they are pregnant within a few days.

My sixth sense came in handy this week. I need to give you some background information first for this story to be clear. When we put all of our belongings into storage the storage company gave us this horrible payment booklet with a little sticker on the front that stated our due date was X day of each month. I hate these booklets. I really stink using the pages in them. I do well for the first few months and then I just forget them.

Well, I missed a payment one month and got the late notice in the mail a month later. Adam and I discussed the issue and decided it would work best if they just charged our credit card each month and then I'd pay that bill. In addition, we'd be earning dollars at a local store we love.

Other than that one charge each month, we generally do not use our credit card and if we do it's rare.

So when I get a bill last month that has a charge on it for {horrible store that will not be named} I called the credit card company to dispute it. When I talked to the first lady I asked if the car could be frozen or the number changed to avoid future charges since someone obviously had our number. We did all the steps and I was satisfied.

So my sixth sense worked yesterday. I just had this feeling I should check out our card online. There was another large charge from {horrible store that will not be named} on our supposedly non-existent card.

I called the credit card company. The first lady I spoke to told me there was no way to stop future charges like this (uh, yeah, I'm not buying that) and after we argued for a while, I hung up unsatisfied. I called Adam and expressed my frustration to him and got some advice for the next phone call.

I called the company again and this time asked for someone in the fraud department. We sorted out the issue. The card is no longer usable and since we've had bad customer service with the credit card company, we've closed the account (we know it's not the best credit move, but we're just super frustrated with them).

I'd also like to mention that {store that will not be named} has a phone number, which when you dial it, it rings, and rings, and rings. No one ever answers. Also, when I Googled {store that will not be named} I discovered other people had similar charges from them.

I'm glad my sixth sense came in handy before more charges were made.