Starbucks and I are setting some boundaries

in our relationship.

we've made a commitment, and i think its in both of our best interests to keep it up. from here on out, on payday (well B's payday) i'll be putting $30 on my Starbucks gift card and that's all i get for 2 weeks, until the following payday. while i love me some Starbucks, its an expensive love/hate relationship.

i love going, i love the smell--even going through the drive thru--that yummy coffee smell wafts out that little window and makes me inhale the expresso goodness with a smile on my face. i love the friendly baristas, even the one who is kinda crazy and talks in a different voice/accent everytime i go. i love the cute cups with the matching green straw...almost like a little beverage accessory. most of all i love that i can go to starbucks and suddenly my name is Shannon again. to them, my life is a mystery. kids, no kids? it doesn't matter. i love settling down in one of the overstuffed arm chairs with a good book and a iced vanilla latte in my hand. i love that Starbucks is always dependable. they are open everyday--even most holidays. whether i'm having a great day or a ''just kill me now'' kinda day, they are there for me without judgement. enjoying that latte, on some days, is like my lifesupport system. its my caffeniated IV drip that gets me through the day. i love the energy boost...i crave that boost some days.

i fully admit that i'm addicted to starbucks, and i see no problem with that. everyone has a "dirty" habit and starbucks is a hell of a lot healthier that gambling, drinking, or smoking. heck a venti latte provides 35% of the calcium that a person needs for the day and is full of protein. its a healthy addiction...well almost, if you ignore the fact that my venti love has 270 calories...

but i hate that my one cup of sweet coffee goodness comes to $4.08 a cup (well for my latest love). it's an expensive habit esspecially given the economy and recession. and trust me, B points out just how many times that $4.08 shows up on our statement! i hate that there isn't a Starbucks on my side of town so some days i find myself looking for an excuse to visit that drive thru.

well i recently discovered something: if you register your starbucks giftcard online and use it to pay, you get syrups added at no extra charge. that means i save .30 cents off of each of my loves. now you may be thinking "woohoo, 30 cents" but if I buy 8 iced venti vanilla lattes in 2 weeks, i've just saved $2.40 my friend. figuring that i really do buy 8 drinks in 2 weeks--that adds up to a whole 'nother beverage that becomes FREE each month, with a little change leftover.

so we now have a visitation guideline. for $30 i can visit starbucks roughly 4 times a week...i can do it. i can learn to really value and appreciate those 4 visits. they will mean more to me now right? i won't take them for granted.

a case of the monday's

*sigh*

i am not even going to post about everything that happened today, but it was definitely a monday. since becoming a stay at home mom the days all kinda run into together. is it thursday? tuesday? i usually don't know and unless one of the kids have a dr. appt scheduled or if grey's anatomy is on...it doesn't really matter.

but today was the kinda monday that you dread. you know its a monday.

first off peanut slept like crap last night. up at 3am, 4am, 5am, 6am and finally sound asleep at 6:30. i had/have a killer headache and just when i think i'll get a solid 2 hours sleep the older boys are awake by 7:20am. peachy.

then at 7:40, we had a slight garage door malfuction that resulted in some damage to the pacifica. great. called around and that'll be about $300 unless we can find a new rear spoiler and brake light at a salvage yard. add that to the list of things i wasn't planning on.

after breakfast i had to get bubba dressed and ready for his very first dentist appt. the potty training is going awesome, i should add. he's wearing real underwear daily now, and is usually accident free. he hasn't had a pee accident in 3 days! even at naps and overnight he holds it, then tells me. woohoo!! going #2 is a problem and i'm not sure how to fix it...he just won't go in the potty. he gets completely embarrassed, hates being cleaned up, hates pooping on his ''Cars" underwear but still won't go on any of the pottys. i don't know what to do about that. tomorrow i'm gonna watch him like a hawk and hopefully (cross your fingers) i'll recognize the signs and get his bootie on a potty.

oh and the dentist appt went well. he sat like a big boy, the dentist checked his teeth and everything looks great. no cavities, he has the all the teeth that he is suppose to have and he's to come back in 6 months for a check up and flouride treatment. aside from the fact that i hated that dentist office and will never go there again, all was well. i HATE that they talk down to him. well i hate when anyone talks down to him. i get that he is not even 3 yrs old, but he's pretty mature and understands quite a bit...so when you realize that he's able to understand basic commands and ''gets it'' stop acting like he's stupid. no he's not going to fall/jump out of the chair...does he look like he is? he's not even moving. when he asks ''whats that?" and points to the overhead light you don't need to look at me to answer the question...tell him its a freaking light! and when you give him a sticker for being such a big boy, don't tell him that the "little tooth is sitting on a toothbrush" tell the truth...the tooth is SURFING on the toothbrush...just like the sticker shows. he gets it, he knows what surfing is, he knows what water is. idiots.

we're all still adjusting to tito's re-homing. the boys naps were all off because they woke up so early, and they all fell asleep at different times so i didn't get to nap. my headaches are still bad, despite doing what the doctor said. btw, i don't think that i ever updated--they think my headaches are a hormonal imbalance and i was supposed to stop taking my mini-pill and they *should* go away. yeah well, its been over a week and i still have a headache. thanks.

pooks is teething and therefore not eating very well. you cannot bribe the kid to sit in his chair for longer than 5 minutes. you can buckle him in and he'll scream. i even tried letting him sit on his knees in the big chair at dinner and that didn't work either. he kept climbing down, feeding food to rascal, screaming...ugh. total all day today i think he had a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of soy milk, 2 mini hotdogs with maybe 2 bites of macaroni, a cup of diluted apple juice with a few cheddar rice cakes, and about 5 bites of a pork stir fry that b made for super with a sippy of water. if you know pooks, you know that isn't normal. usually the kid eats non-stop all day...or wants to eat non-stop. i know he'll be fine, but a cranky 20month old doesn't make your day any easier. then at bed time he's started this new habit of kicking me while i attempt to get him dressed. he thinks its hilarious, i think its painful.

i had a bad day.

peanut is doing better, i think he had a tummy ache last night...kept pulling up his legs and crying. he slept virtually all morning and went to bed tonight without a hitch. here's hoping that tonight isn't a repeat performance of last night. i sure hope not! the one positive about today's post that i wanted to share is peanut is now smiling ALL THE TIME and has even started giggling. of course, he only giggles when you make a complete fool out of yourself trying to make him giggle (ie- me singing backyardigan's songs while making silly faces). he has also started mimicking us..when we stick out our tongue at him, smile or frown, he'll do the same back. its very cute! here are some pics of the fat lil man getting a bath. i think its getting to the point where we won't be able to bathe him in the sink anymore!

a little smile at daddy

...and a giggle.
(i love all his chubbiness! he has little man boobs!)

we survived...

well, we are surviving.

tito was adopted on saturday and it was really hard for all of us. i know its best for him and his new family sounds great but that doesn't make it any easier to cope. going over his routine with the lady from the humane society, giving her his favorite toys, removing his ID tag with our address, then watching her leave with *our* dog was REALLY hard. i was crying, bubba was crying, pooks didn't get it--he was just carrying tito's dogtag around all day saturday. rascal initially didn't seem to bothered by it; at least not when they first left. by sat night he didn't want to get out of his crate, he wouldn't sit up by me on the couch like usual, he just kinda moped/paced.

over night he actually pooped by the front door, which he hasn't done since he was a puppy. i think its going to take awhile for him to adjust and to trust us. i mean, tito didn't pass away, he wasn't sick--rascal watched us let a stranger take him. if that doesn't cause some trust issues, i don't know what will.

today was a bit better. he laid in his doggy bed in the front room rather than his crate, he napped with B up on the sofa...he's doing better. bubba is doing better today too. whenever he thinks of tito he comes and tell's me how tito is at a new big house and he gets to play with big dogs outside and that he has fun. (the new family are attorneys and live on a golf course) we hung up a picture of tito in his room and he really likes that.

pooks doesn't get it, and won't until he probably just forgets. he'll go to the dogs' crate and stick his whole upper body in looking for him and i just have to remind him that tito went bye-bye...then he just goes back to playing.

i know it seems crazy but B and I got tito when we were dating back in 2004. he was a part of our family and we miss him :(

updates galore!

update #1--potty training boot camp: day 4
-we did not have any accidents today!! WOOHOO!! none as in zero. bubba went pee pee on the potty all day. now i'm trying not to get too excited, i know that pt'ing is a ''2 steps forward 1 step back'' kind of thing but you haven't heard the kicker yet....

update #2--we visited the nanaw's today (we were in the car for over an hour -twice!-and bubba didn't have an accident!)
-we went with nanaw to visit nanaw phew phew and great great nanaw today. they live an hour away and with great great nanaw being 97yrs old, she doesn't usually get to visit us so we surprised her. boy was she surprised! she loves it when the babies visit and i know she was excited to see all of us, but (you knew it was coming) i think she gets the biggest joy from seeing/holding peanut. she just loves her babies. the last time we saw her was Christmas day so it had been almost a month. we took lots of pictures. luckily peanut was awake and happy, he even laughed for nanaw phew phew!

the big boys of course had a blast. they love being the center of attention and spoiled rotten. they got to play with a ton of cars, they had everyones full attention and they had mcdonald's for lunch. in short: they were silly and hyper and typical toddler boys.

here are the pics:

peanut giving g-g-nanaw the eye

she was so excited!!

laughing for nanaw phew phew

making faces while being burped

looking bored while nanaw tries to make him sit up for a "normal" picture

i didn't take any of the b and p...they were so busy eating and playing and honestly, peanut was awake and happy so he trumped them in picture ''neediness''. i feel like i rarely get to post pics of him because he's always sleeping or making a silly face.

i do have pictures of the older boys from at our house this morning, i'll get those up tomorrow because they are on the other camera.

and lastly:
update #3--tito is being adopted
i know its techinically ''good" news (i mean if getting rid of your dog is ever good)...he really cannot stay here and i am glad that he will be going to a nice family. the lady from the humane society called today and announced that they found the perfect applicant for lil' tito--for the time being we are keeping rascal and seeing how bubba's allergies do, then go from there [it was too hard to find someone to place them together] we may end up having to put him up for adoption or we may be able to control his dander/shedding enough to keep him, we just don't know--anyways...the family sounds nice.

its a married lady with kids, she has an older dog and she had a chihuahua but he died of old age. she is wanting to get another chihuahua and fell in love with tito's profile. she passed all of their screening (they do background checks via the applicants vet to see if their animals are up to date on shots, well cared for, etc) and is really excited. and she must be REALLY excited because she lives 3 hours away and is driving up saturday to meet him. normally after the meeting tito would come back home and she would then have a bit to decide. well since she is driving 3 hours, the humane society lady wanted to see if i would consider letting them have tito that day, rather than having to drive again in 2 days. she hadn't told the other family yet, but wanted to check with me. i told her that i thought that would be best.

it is going to be so hard to hand tito over on saturday, period. i cannot imagine having to do it once, only to get him back for a day or two and then do it again. i don't know how i would handle it or how i would explain it to bubba and pooks. i know deep down that this is best for tito, this lady will probably love him and spoil him rotten...i mean she is driving 3 hours to MEET him and anyone who is that interested, serious and dedicated sounds like the right person. and i'm glad that she has an older dog that tito can befriend. but it doesn't make things any easier.

Well baby visit

peanut had a well baby exam this morning and i thought i'd post his stats.

at birth he was: 6lbs 130z and 20 inches
today at 2 mos: 12lbs 12 oz and 23.5 inches!!

can you even believe that? he's about doubled his birth weight and has grown 3.5 inches! he looks great. surprisingly he is in the 75th percentile for HEIGHT (?) and the 50th for weight. i can't believe that he is so 'tall' for his age (given we are all so short) but its true. he got 3 shots and he did great. a few tears but as soon as he started nursing he forgot all about his little legs.

he does have a small hernia under/on his belly button but nothing serious. he's not in pain and they don't do anything for it, other than watch it. she said that it will go away on its own and that he'll probably have an outtie.

i asked her about his eyes...he looks crossed eyed quite often (i thought it was just because of his eye shape) but i did want to make sure. well, i was right again :) she did this little test to see where the light hits his eyes and he's normal. basically, in completely non PC terms: its because he's asian. seriously, i'm not kidding B! i know he's gonna think i made that up but i swear...it has to do with the shape of his eyes and the way the folds of his eyes are shaped. the inner part of his eye (closest to his nose) is shaped in such a way that we don't see his full eyeball when he looks straightforward, which makes it looks like his eye isn't centered. it is. as he gets bigger and his face grows and he learns to focus better, he'll look "normal".

well i'll get pics up later--just wanted to get the numbers up before i forgot!

PTBC: Day 2

went much better than expected!

bubba did great wearing his "Cars" undies all day. he did wear a pull-up at nap time and while at the park. after his nap it was wet but we didn't fuss about it...however, he held it the entire time we were at the park! woohoo! total today i think he had 2 accidents, both of which were while sitting in his high chair. i don't know why because he went before and after, but whatever. maybe since he's sitting it feels natural? i don't know. regardless, in the grand scheme of things he pee'd probably 15 times in the potty today. woohoo!

we did have another talk about big boys vs babies and how he wasn't going to wear a diaper anymore...that he would be in big boy undies all the time now. he didn't look at me like i was nuts, so thats a plus!!

on another note, i mentioned the park above and thought that i would share some pics. since it actually got above 50 degrees today we took all the boys to the park. it was techinically peanut's first time but he never even got out of the carseat. nonetheless, i'm sure he was impressed. bubba and pooks sure were! its new playground equipment so they were very excited. i took a ton of pics, but only resized a few. (i'm lazy, i admit it!) here they are, enjoy ;)

pooks on a bouncy ATV
(he actually tried ripping another kiddo off of this thing!)

peanut "playing" in the sand

bubba digging

we learned the hard way that pooks' still hates the swings
(bubba however, loves them!)

these things were by far their favorite

all my boys holding hands
(err...sorta)

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 1

well i don't know what got into me this morning but i decided that bubba wearing diapers, is ridiculous. firstoff, its a power play. he totally knows when he needs to potty. hell, somedays he'll go all day wearing pull-ups and not have an accident only to wake up the next morning and TELL ME that he wants to wear "blues clues" aka diapers. um, okay. why have i been letting my almost 3 year old boss me around??

well its because he's cute, he's overly sensitive, and i'll admit it: it's easier. i already have 2 that *have* to be in diapers, what's a third added to the mix? its way easier than running up and down a flight of stairs to get to the potty in a hurry with him, while trying to watch the "little" ones at the same time.

not today mister. no more nice mom. my push over days have ended. (well, at least when it comes to the potty)

as i was putting a diaper on him he was complaining of an ouchie. well he has a rash/exzema on his leg and his diaper is rubbing on it. i told him that if he would just wear his big boy pants, it wouldn't hurt. he said ''no''. well today was the day that i said ''no, you are wearing big boy underwear and you're going pee-pee in the potty." i told him that he sleeps in a big boy bed, he drinks out of a big boy cup, and if he wants to play with cars and watch tv and do all the other fun big boy things, no more diapers. diapers are for peanut and pooks--they still have binkys, they wear diapers. i asked him if he wanted a binky? well naturally he said "no" and laughed. so i took him into the bathroom and he peed. right after he peed he wanted a pull-up. i said "nope, pull ups are for night time and naps. you get underwear like daddy." and i put underwear on him.

we get downstairs and i set up another potty. i made sure to tell him that if he had to go, he didn't have to go all the way upstairs. well pooks sees the elmo potty and decides, 'hey this is pretty cool, i'll sit on that' so i took off his diaper and let him sit. oh my gosh did bubba FREAK out. he did not want his brother on his potty. so once pooks had been sitting for about 5 minutes and doing everything but pee, i took him off. as soon as his butt left the seat, bubba wanted to sit. so i put him on the potty and he pee'd again!

i set the kitchen timer and literally, every 35 minutes we took him to the potty. i'm hoping that he'll realize..."hey, this isn't fun. i don't like to quit playing to pee...i'll just go now BEFORE i start to play."

he did okay. he had one accident at lunch. he was sitting in his chair and apparently pee'd. i didn't make a big deal about it or anything, just told him that we'd go upstairs and get him cleaned up. i made him take off his dirty pants/undies (i read somewhere that *he* needs to be the one to take them off, not me--makes it more real for the toddler), i had him pee again in the potty and then he got re-dressed.

we're not doing rewards, no m&m's or stickers this time. i'm serious. if he wants to go to preschool, he has to be potty trained. for early preschool he doesn't have to be, but they do prefer it and honestly he "gets it". there is no reason that he's still in diapers other than the fact that he is stubborn. (pooks on the other hand, doesn't have a clue. he'll sit on the potty for 15 mins and make peeing sounds, but not pee. he doesn't seem to notice when he does go, he doesn't hide when he poops, etc)

so, wish us luck! day 2 starts tomorrow!

my chub-a-wubb

just wanted to quickly share a few pics of peanut...the little guy is always making weird faces so i can never find a pic where he looks "normal". oh well.

check out that chin and that face!

"do you see what they do to me??"

he's sensitive when you talk about the number of chins he has

okay and finally, you HAVE to check out how light peanuts' hair is. i have been saying his hair is lighter than the other boys but i couldn't get the right lighting i guess. regardless, today i did and you can totally see how light it is:

my lil superheros

i realized that the last few posts have been lacking pictures, and i know how you guys like pictures. so this is another one of those random postings just so you can all get your fill of cuteness ;)

Superhero Hug!

The most cheesy Batman that I have ever seen

what pooks looks like when he's coming in for a kiss...

(imagine you are hearing ''mmmwah")

a very smiley bubba

bubba and B snuggling in pooks bed

oh and this has to be one of the greatest Target deals that I've ever found and lemme tell ya, i've found some real bargains at Target. today we [the boys, myself and nanaw] ventured out in the 4 degree weather to shop. well one thing led to another and somehow we were in the toy department, which usually given the ages and number of kids i have, we avoid. so many toys were on super clearance...like 75% off. well i was looking up above the risers, on the backwall (hint hint to you shoppers) and they had the bigger ''little tike'' style toys up there. a work bench, train table, rocking horse, puppet theater and these easels all 75% off. so the $100 train table was $24.98--but we didn't need a train table. the puppet theater that was adorable--for a girl, was $17. well these little chalkboard easels that we normally $29.99 were only $7.48! can we say BARGAIN?! so being the worlds greatest nanaw, she bought the last two for bubba and pooks. they love them!!

thanks nanaw!! (btw, pooks is saying "cheese")

now you maybe wondering ''where is peanut in all of this?" well i tell ya what if he's not eating then he's screaming and if he's not eating or screaming, then he must be sleeping. the poor kid is just so fussy for so much of the day, but when he sleeps, he sleeps! and today he slept a lot. here is picture proof:
oh and you have to take note of his new stuffed animal that nanaw bought him:
bubba named him Puppy (creative right?) and he's just like the lovey that bubba carries around named Arf (gotta give it to the kid!). well peanut and Puppy have only been BFF's since about 1pm but so far, they seem to be smitten. you pull Puppy's tail and he plays music and surprisingly as soon as peanut hears said music, he stops screaming. its a wonderful glorious thing, and so worth the $13.99 that nanaw paid.

in the words of bubba: "sanks nanaw" :)

it just melted my heart.

bubba.
i'll tell you, that kid can be the biggest sweetie when he wants to be.

backstory: last night after the boys were tucked in and supposed to be sleeping, they kept laughing and giggling and i could hear little feet running around. i was in the tub and hollered at them to lay down. well i heard bubba get in his bed and say ''bra bra" while laughing. this tells me that pooks was obviously up to no good. i went in there and he was STANDING ON TOP of the changing table, trying to reach his "cars" lamp. i yanked him down, swatted his butt and told him not to do it again.

i leave, return to bathtub.

2 minutes later i hear giggling and feet. so i chalk the bubble bath up as a loss, dry off and go back in their room. pooks is on top of the changing table, again. bubba is standing on the edge of his car bed trying to reach/play with his lamp as well. i had had it. i went in and took both of their lamps away and spanked pooks. i told them that nanaw bought those lamps because they were pretty, that they were NOT toys, and that they were NOT to touch them. if they were going to play with them, then they were getting put up and they would have to ask nanaw to get them back. i told pooks that we do not climb, its a no-no and he could get a big ''ouchie'' if he ever does it again. of course tears, screaming and general fit-throwing lasted about 10 mins...but they stayed in their beds!

fast-forward to this morning. around 10am bubba starts asking about his ''yamp''. well since its after 9am i assume its safe to say that nanaw is awake. i tell him that he has to call nanaw, tell her what happened, then he can have his lamp back. so we call nanaw and he tries to tell her what happened. after a little help from me nanaw gets the jest of it. bubba says '' pees nanaw? pees car yamp?" and nanaw proceeds to tell him that he needs to tell mommy that he is sorry for acting up. (well i should mention that bubba doesn't say ''sorry''. he'll give you and hug and a kiss but he's never said sorry before.)

he looks me dead in the eye and says '' sorry mommy. i sorry mama."my heart just melted. those puppy dog eyes and he was SO sincere. even nanaw said ''shannon! he said sorry. aww"

5 seconds later he got his lamp back :)

and at bedtime tonight when pooks once again crawled on top of the changing table, bubba tattle-taled so fast you would have thought he was getting paid! this time B took charge and when pooks climbed up there yet a second time, that was it. no lamp.

so now bubba has his lamp and pooks does not.

my head is going to explode!

or at least it feels that way.

i haven't posted in days, i know. its because my damn head hurts so bad i can't even think straight. not a single day has gone by that I do not have a headache in 3 weeks. seriously, this is not just shannon exaggerating and being melodramatic (yeah i know, like i even do that, right?) i have had a headache every.single.day since christmas eve.

at first i thought it might have been a migraine but it starts with a sharp shooting pain on the left side of my head but way down almost by my neck, then it migrates up throughout my head, turning into a full-blown headache. i'm not sensitive to light but sounds and smells make it worse. when it comes on i get super lightheaded and dizzy. kid you not i fell down the stairs last week because it came on so fast. and half the time, i feel like i'm going to throw up--at least 3 times, i actually have. the shooting pain sometimes happens anywhere from not at all that day to four times in one day. the headache is pretty much constant.

so by now you're thinking: "Dumbass, go to the doctor."

yeah, i did that.

they don't know whats wrong. i saw the physician's assistant, who then conferred with my doctor and they don't know. while asking me 4 billion questions (like if my headband is too tight?!) and making me walk on my toes, walk on my heels, follow her finger with my eyes, etc. the PA also noticed that my right hand has a tremor.

lovely.

so they took a ton of blood and ran tests to check my blood count, iron levels, pregnancy (yeah i told them "no way in hell" but apparently they had their own ideas), thyroid levels and blood sugars....all of it came back fine. according to my lab work, i'm the epitome of good health.

well the tremor and MASSIVE headaches prove otherwise, so on thursday i have to go get a CT scan.

meanwhile they gave me tylenol 3 with codeine....thus the reason for the drastic cut in my posting. its hard to blog in your sleep, which is what the tylenol does to me; knocks me on my ass. so [obviously] i don't take the codeine laced tylenol while home alone with my 3 kids...that would be irresponsible to say the least!

thus i have a killer headache pretty much non-stop all day while listening to 2 toddlers scream at each other for stealing each other's cars, magna-doodles, snacks, sippy cups, etc or because they want to watch "cars" or because they want to go to nanaw's house or because they are two years old and just feel like yelling.

singing back up for the screaming toddlers is the gassy 2 month old who lately is pretty much fussy 20 out of 24 hours a day. i swear peanut is the GASSIEST baby i have ever seen. he'll burp 3 times, fart and fall asleep only to wake up screaming 10 minutes later, drawing his legs up because his poor little tummy hurts.

*sigh*

i'm not trying to complain, really i'm not. this post was suppose to be a quick explanation as to why i haven't posted since last week but i got a little out of hand didn't i?

sorry 'bout that.

did i mention that i already took the tylenol with codeine, then decided to post?

sad news...

most of you know that we suspected that bubba had a gluten allergy. we limited his gluten intake and things got better. since moving back, he's been having trouble breathing. at first they thought it was bronchitis but it didn't get much better after treatment; he was diagnosed with asthma. I had asthma when I was his age but gradually outgrew it. well he's been doing breathing treatments every morning and evening and he's been doing better. my biggest concern was why he had this sudden onset when we moved. the only thing that I could think of was since his birth, we've always lived in a house with mostly hardwood floors but this house has carpet. I wondered if the dust or dog hair or something was aggravating him. I talked to our doctor about my concerns; both the asthma and the wheat allergy. she agreed that it would be a good idea and drew blood, then on the 14th we meet with an allergist.

today, I got the results back. bubba tested positive for allergies, his highest irritant being: dogs.

we have 2 dogs, Rascal and Tito. we got them back when we were engaged, they were our babies when we thought we couldn't have babies, then when B was in Iraq they were all I had to come home too after school and work. i love them a ton. its been harder taking care of them since having kids (and losing the backyard when we moved here) but i've been bound and determined to make it work.

well, obviously we have to get rid of our dogs. I'm bawling just thinking about it.

i'm not going to keep something in the house that he is allergic too. i cannot rationalize making my 2 year old do breathing treatments, if he doesn't have to. i'm not going to put him on a daily allergy medication for something that isn't his fault. i realize that his asthma isn't going to disappear but it will be much more easily managed without their hair and dander everywhere.

the problem (other than having to get rid of them) is that they are SO dependent on each other. they share food dishes, water dishes, and they sleep in the same kennel. tito is very shy and timid both around other dogs and people. he's loving once he knows you but if he doesn't know you, he hides and shakes. I want to make sure that wherever they end up, its together. I honestly don't know how tito would do if he was separated from rascal.

DOES ANYONE WANT TO ADOPT TITO AND RASCAL FROM US?

we have everything they need, i still have some heartworm meds and flea and tic prevention meds. they are up to date on all of their shots and vaccines. you could have their kennel, toys, leashes and food. tito doesn't need a leash but rascal does. (he's been doing better and could probably be trained not to need the leash...he's gotten outside twice since moving back and he didn't run, he came right back when we called him.) they aren't puppies anymore in fact rascal just turned 4 in november and tito will be 4 years old in february. they obviously aren't security dogs with their size, but they are good watch dogs; they bark when ever someone is in/near the house and yard. they are good with kids, pooks has pulled their tails/ears and while they may yelp or growl, they have NEVER bitten or snapped at anyone. they eat pretty cheap dog and snacks and are obviously house trained.

rascal

together
tito

PLEASE if you are interested call me, email me, call my mom or B and let them know. i really want to know where they end up and make sure they go to a good family and home.

------------------------------------------------
So back to the allergy test results...

his highest marker was dogs, followed by milk and eggs. so I was wrong about the wheat allergy (although she said that he may still have a sensitivity) but I was right about a food allergy. she thinks for now we should just limit his intake--no milk in a cup, no scrambled eggs for breakfast--and see how he improves. for now we can continue using it in meals and such but we need to talk to the allergist about further measures.

honestly I'm really glad that we figured out what was bothering him. hopefully once we get rid of the dogs, steam clean the carpets, and change his diet he'll be a happier kid. I really hope we won't have to do daily breathing treatments anymore...that's our goal.

i just hate having to get rid of the dogs.

"pooks, what are you doing?"

silence is not taken for granted in our house. i love peace and quiet...when all the kids are tucked in their beds sleeping like little angels, it is wonderful. like a little gift.

however, when its 10am and my house is quiet--it is suspicious. 2 toddlers are not quiet and when silence is experienced in the middle of the day, that means something is probably wrong. something is guaranteed to be wrong when pooks is the quiet one.

this morning bubba was sitting next to me on the couch watching "Cars", peanut was nursing and pooks' was being suspiciously quiet on the floor. from my perch on the couch, i could just see the back of his head but i couldn't tell what was in his hands or what he was doing. so i say ''pooks, what are you doing?" and the response is laughter. i get up and this is what i find:

somebody found the wipes container and managed to open it--not by the pop up opening--but by the lid. wipes were everywhere. off to the side, in his lap and (not that you can see this) but under his butt and behind him. and you can't tell in the pictures but he had PILES of wipes not just one or two but 10-12 per 'area'.

he was really fazed by me catching him too, let me tell ya.

and this is his newest thing:he apparently thinks that if he covers his ears and can't hear me, then that must mean that i can't see him?! where he comes up with this stuff, i don't know but he does it all the time. earlier (when he was supposed to be napping) i caught him in the middle of his room, playing with his hot wheels cars. well he immediately dropped his cars, covered his ears and just stared at the floor grinning while i'm telling him to get back in his car bed.

he's nuts.

just cuteness...

nothing really to post about or update, i just wanted to share some cute pics that i took today.

enjoy ;)

peanut snuggling with his elephant

2 seconds later....literally.

bubba enjoying his "Cars" ornament that Nanaw bought for him
(it lights up)
pooks running around like a crazy nun
(notice how dirty the shirt is? i was in the middle of changing him when he ran off)

his 'i'm a big boy mom, i can do whatever i want' face