Confession

While I'm "blog documenting" I figured I would confess to a little mommy moment that's worth sharing...

Last week I was driving home from Houston with both Colin and Monster. Colin had finally conceded to take a nap on the 3 hour road trip to Austin. Thank God! It's not easy to get him to nap but I continue to try. I like to drive long distances at nap time so it shaves at least 1-2 hours off of Colin's car trip.

Typically, when I am driving by myself I don't make any pit stops, especially if I have both babies sleeping. It creates a logistical nightmare for one person, but this time I had to make an exception. After all, I had been chugging water to combat the 105 degree heat (packing and loading the car at noon is like taking an hour long bikram yoga class). So I had to GO...and BAD.

After weighing my options: 1. Pull over on the side of the road OR 2. Wake Colin up to take a bathroom break. I decided to improvise! (This is where it gets embarrassing). Every parent knows it's not easy (or sanitary) to drag a toddler into a gas station bathroom and it's not safe (or even legal) to leave him in the car alone.

So I made the decision to drive through Jack in the Box and order a large french fry and an empty cup. This way, both Colin and Monster could remain asleep while I relieved myself. Then we could peacefully continue our drive back to Austin. That was the plan. I made an excuse at the Jack window about how I was going to give water to the dog. Was that obvious? Do they get crazies like me all the time? I bet they were onto me. Anyhoo, I pulled into a spot WAY away from all the traffic and contorted myself into a position that was not at all natural and relieved my aching bladder. Success - and I had baby wipes - an added bonus.

I could still hear Colin snoring and my plan had worked. Well almost. I was left holding the bag (so to speak) more like the cup. What am I going to do with this? I am certainly not going to drive away with it in an actual drink holder and risk spillage.

My next step was my fatal mistake. I made eyes at a garbage can and ran quickly to dispose of my evidence. With one click of the door handle, Colin moaned and rubbed his eyes. He was awake! Rats!!! I stopped abruptly hoping he would go back to sleep but the damage had been done. I had literally peed in a cup - in vain. That's a pisser.

I drove the rest of the way back to Austin listening to a Thomas the Train DVD. And of course, once Colin was awake, he made me share my french fries with him.

Terrible Twos

I wanted to blog document something - all parents/caregivers to toddlers can relate to this - I just witnessed a 15-20 minute temper tantrum that ended with Colin vomiting on the floor. He literally cried so hard he made himself puke. Call it a hunch, but I think we are approaching the terrible twos I've heard so much about.

You can't seem to rationalize with a toddler near the age of two. We were "arguing" over Colin wanting to eat a popsicle for breakfast and I said "no" (like any good, sensible parent would say). Nothing could comfort him, no cheesy song and dance, not even a good bribe. Usually cartoon time will turn any frown upside down. Not this time. Not even Mickey, Daisy, Donald or Goofy could help me. Colin was furious with me, and I was determined to stay strong. This is when I started to hear cries and screams turn into dry heaves and well, you know what happens next. :)

I know I'm not the first parent to witness such a thing. Lord help me if this continues to happen over the course of the second year. I think I'm going to blame it on Colin waking up on the wrong side of the crib. It happens to the best of us, right? Sigh, I'm SO in for the terrible twos!

The Great Pack and Play Escape

All Colin's climbing practice has provided him with excellent upper body strength, coordination, and sense of balance. Translation = Colin can now flee any Pack and Play with ease. What does this mean for me? Oh s#$%, now what? A toddler bed with a padlock? A size 2T straight jacket? A baby monitor with infrared motion detection? I hope Babies R Us sells such a thing!!!

Let me describe Colin's "Great Escape"...

It all happened during nap time. I was staying at my parents house this week. I put Colin in his PnP and jumped into the shower thinking I had an hour or so to bathe, eat lunch, nap, etc. WRONG. When I was toweling off and about to dry my hair, I heard Colin playing up stairs (Note: Colin's room is down stairs). Not believing my ears, I ran into Colin's room only to find an empty PnP. Heart racing, I rushed up the stairs, dripping wet in my towel, to discover Colin casually talking to my mom during her afternoon conference call. OMG!

Colin had successfully accomplished the following: scaled the PnP, opened the bedroom door, and climbed the stairs all by himself. He then communicated to my mom that he had a "stink" "poo" and he needed "help" - all while "knocking" at his diaper (this is now the universal sign to open something). At this point I exploded in laughter, totally unable to punish Colin for his mischief. Even my mom had to prematurely end her conference call.

The Great Escape was a great effort to get a clean diaper. Can you blame him?

Rockport

Recently our family had the opportunity to take a little vacation (or vay-cay, as I’ve been calling it) to Rockport. We have not gone anywhere this summer, and we were due some days of fun away from home. Thankfully, Pappa D and Letty just remodeled their precious beach house, so we loaded up our car and hit the road.

Colin had a blast! We took him to the beach, on a boat ride, and taught him how to fish in the pool. He even found Aunt Fancy's old barbie dolls (complete with the sporty red barbie convertible).

Colin's First Beach Trip

Introducing Colin to the Rockport beach was so much fun. He took one look at the water and said, "da pool." We were camera ready to capture the picture perfect moment. Nothing is more precious than babies at the beach.



His favorite part was the sand and his least favorite part was ALSO the sand. It's super fun when you don't mind being dirty and building sandcastles but when you want to eat a snack or rub your eyes, it can be slightly annoying. Sand + sunscreen = a sticky hot mess. Colin repeated, "dirt" and "mess" probably ten times before we packed up and called it a day.

Helmet Head

Sunday night we went to Best Buy to check out new vacuum cleaners. Our current Hoover model "sucks at sucking" (as David likes to say). I can think of over 100 better ways to spend hundreds of dollars - rather than on a vacuum - but it is one of those things that you can't live without, especially when you live with a dog and a toddler.

We were walking out to the car when David and I grabbed our hats (bad hair day for me and a weekend wardrobe staple for David). Then Colin said "hat" and "too" and pointed to HIS head. I think he wanted to be part of the club. Well we don't exactly have a hat or ball cap for Colin. So we looked around and for an adequate substitute and grabbed Colin's bike helmet. Happy to feel included, Colin smiled and laughed and headed to the car all dressed and ready.

Here's Colin at Best Buy with his helmet head. What a cutie! I can't wait until he wants to dress himself - what will he come up with then?

Backyard Makeover Week 4

The backyard is finished!!! Let's take a look back at where we started...remember when the yard looked like this?

Drum roll please....now it looks like this..

Here are the pictures of the progress:




Here is the view from the patio...




Here's the sandbox nook...we're not quite finished with this corner.