123, ABC

We're getting there!

I thought this conversation was hilarious so I just had to share it.

This is my favorite part of this age so far.
The things he says make me giggle sometimes.

A Day in the Life.

Alright Carrie. Here is my day....

So if you didn't already know, I work Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday in RTP so I get to stay home with Deuce on Thursdays & Fridays. I love these days and will be sad when I have to give them up. I'm taking a cue from Carrie to document my days with Deuce. This day was last Thursday. I wore no makeup (very normal for me) and I took very candid shots so laugh away... just don't tell me.

7:30am

Deuce ends up in my bed lately somewhere between 3am (ugh!) and 8am. I am usually up for the day somewhere between that time.

 8:30am

Breakfast, mandatory Diet Coke and Dora/Curious George/Caillou

 9:30am

Do the dishes, start laundry and have a snack about 10. He eats all day. He always helps with the chores and always says "I help you mommy?" as if he needs to ask me if he can do chores?!

 10:30am

Brush our teeth. Do more laundry. Pick up around the house. Make beds and whatever else needs to be done.

 11:30am

Take a shower and get ready for the day.

 12:00pm

Start dinner before we head out. I've been trying to do a lot of crock potting lately. Not much fuss when I get home from work and I like the type of meal where I can just dump everything in and not have to worry about "occasionally stirring." And yes, that's an empty bottle of Moscato. The terrible two's will do that to you.

 We almost always get out of the house a little before lunch time. We go to the mall, the park, the library or wherever. This day I chose to take him to his first movie ever. We went to see Finding Nemo 3D. He enjoyed the experience (thankfully we were the only people in the theatre) but he didn't want the glasses about 2 minutes into the movie.

 Before we head home we usually stop to eat lunch. He almost always chooses McDonalds or Chick fil-a. Judge if you must. Doesn't bother me. He eats all of his food and then plays. At this point in my life, I am trying to wear his little butt out any way I can so he will get in a good nap. He fights nap time like crazy so I have better luck if he falls asleep in the car after lunch. Again, might not be the best parenting strategy long term, but right now it works. And with the terrible two's in full effect, I am doing what I need to in order to survive.

 3pm-ish (whenever we get home)

Nap time. Bam. Fell asleep in the car and slept a good 2+ hours.

And guess what... I slept right along with him.

It's almost a given that I am only going to get 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night so I am not one of those moms that utilizes nap time to do chores or clean or craft.

Heck no. If you do, then that's amazing and I envy you.

This sista needs her sleep.

I am a grumpy b---- if I don't get it. Just ask my husband.

So if I can sneak in an hour nap, I'm on it like white on rice.

 Daddy comes home around 6:30 while I am putting dinner on plates for everyone. Deuce is either playing or sometimes just waking up, depending on when I actually got him down.

7pm

Mommy Time!

Pre-Zumba. Love it. Obsessed.

 8:30pm

Zumba done wore me out. Every time.

This awful picture doesn't even do justice to how sweaty I actually am.

Gross. Time to head back to the zoo.

 9:30pm

Yes. That's my dinner. And yes, that's what time I eat. Every. Night.

(It's roast from the crock pot and it was durn good if I do say so.)

 Bedtime for Deuce comes usually after I finish eating. If I put him to bed it takes a good 45 minutes for me to read him some books, get him settled in and asleep. Yes, he will freak out if I leave the room before he is asleep. If Ed is home to put him to sleep, it takes him all of 10 minutes. WTH?

Usually by this time, I am exhausted. All I want to do is curl up in the bed and go to sleep. Some nights that's exactly what I do. Other nights, I have to make time to be a wife too so I sit and watch tv with Ed. I am so far behind on my dvr'd shows because if I am watching tv it's usually PBS or the Disney Channel!!

I am back to being woken up anywhere between 3am and 8am to start this all over again.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

First Trip to the Dentist.

I took Deuce to the dentist for the first time a few weeks ago. I've never had a dentist in Greensboro. I've had the same dentist since I moved to Chapel Hill in 1988. The only place I've ever gone is to Dr. Seaton. I have such an extensive dental history that I needed to go by Dr. Seaton's and pick up my dental records to take with me to my new dentist. I was a little sentimental when I was in there and they showed me pictures of me and Laura when we were 6 & 4. 

I looked up the dentists in Greensboro that were covered by our dental insurance and selected Dr. Millsaps for a variety of reasons:

1. He's young. {As in about 3 years younger than me!} I like the idea of having a medical provider close to my age that I feel like I can relate to and is not going to talk to me like their child when they tell me how important it is to floss everyday {which I do actually - ask Ed!}.

2. It's a brand new office. Obviously since said doctor is about 27 years old, he has a new office with top of the line, brand new equipment. Seriously, who opens their own dental practice in their mid-twenties??

3. They are super busy. I don't know if it's because he has a slack schedule and likes to play golf more than work, but they are booking out appointments several months in advance. I took this as a sign that people really like this guy.
4. The most important reason of all!!

He is a UNC grad - both undergrad and dental school and he likes sports.

My mom spent so much money on my mouth at the UNC dental school while I was in college that I basically knew everyone that worked there from the receptionists, the students, the entodontists and the surgeons. Yes, my teeth just suck that bad.

Seriously, that's how I pick my doctors.

 I selected my OB to take care of me through my pregnancy because she went to undergrad at State (like me) and went to Med School at UNC so she liked both schools.

And she was awesome.

Anyway, I made the earliest appointment possible because we were going to the mountains that day. My mom came up to help me with Deuce so that after his check up was over, mom could take him out so I could get my teeth cleaned. It's amazing how quickly their little minds start putting pieces together. He's never minded going to the doctor prior to that CT scan, but as soon as we walked in to the dentist, he flipped. It was like the lobby area reminded him of that awful day. He wanted to be held the entire time. Lucky for us, the other patients scheduled at the same time as us had cancelled so we had the whole office to ourselves. Me, mom, Deuce, the doctor & the hygienist. It was great!

Dr. Millsaps decided to look at Deuce first and he was so good with him! He talked to Deuce, showed him pictures of his dogs, asked him about his beloved Curious George shirt and I was able to lay Deuce down on my stomach. He never loosened his grip on my wrists though. He let Dr. Millsaps examine him, scrape his teeth and floss him. Dr. Millsaps said Deuce has great spacing in between his teeth right now and they look good. He finished by letting Deuce pick out a new toothbrush, some flossies and a toy {of course he picked the ball}. Deuce did so good. I couldn't believe it. He doesn't need to go back until he's 3 for his first full cleaning and polishing. And ever since we went, Deuce brushes his teeth about 10 times a day.

After Deuce was done, it was my turn. Deuce was not happy about having to get down and leave me in there alone. Like he threw a fit. But you know what, Dr. Millsaps went out into the lobby with mom & Deuce & totally distracted him by playing with him the entire time I was getting my teeth cleaned by the hygienist. I'm talking he blew up gloves to be balloons that they were hitting all over the office, he showed Deuce how to juggle, they talked football and before I knew it, I was done and Deuce was in the lobby happy as could be. What kind of dentist does that?

A really good one.

One who's dad is a pediatrician.

A young one who has the energy and patience to deal with kids.

And one who graduated from UNC.

The appointment was exactly what I had hoped for: a positive experience that won't leave him freaked out for the next time he goes.

The news was not all good for me {I told you my teeth suck} but it's nothing compared to what I've been through in the past. Ed goes next week to meet Dr. Millsaps for the first time and I'm sure he's going to love him!

ENT Visit.

Soliciting advice on this post....

I decided to take Deuce to the ENT a few weeks back. For the past several months he has been really congested in the nose {not the chest} and sneezes all the time. He had that sinus infection back in like March or something and that cleared up with the antibiotics. I just chalked it up to spring allergies. I started giving him Claritin once a day. That stuff is expensive! When we went for the 2 year check up, I explained my concerns to the doctor and that I didn't really think the Claritin was doing too much. He says that he has often heard that Claritin is ineffective and that I should try the generic Zyrtec. I asked the doctor how long I should give it to him and that I don't want him to be given medicine every day if I don't have to. He said for a few weeks, through allergy season, wouldn't cause any sort of long term effects. So I bought several bottles of this stuff and we were giving it at bedtime, because a side effect was drowsiness. Deuce also snores when he sleeps and has bouts of what seems like apnea. I've never been a fan of him sleeping in the bed with us but even if I was, I couldn't because I listen for every single breath. So with the nasal congestion and the snoring, I decided it had to be more than allergies and maybe adenoids. I have heard many stories of children having their adenoids removed because of breathing problems. So I made an appointment with the ENT. I didn't call the pediatrician for a referral, I just went.

The office was really nice with a complete kiddie corner and a huge fish tank. He was mesmerized with the fish because there was a real, live Nemo in there. As soon as we went back to the room we had to wait about 15 minutes before the doctor came in {annoys me!}. Little dude tried to slip out and run like I wouldn't notice! 

 So we pulled out some toys to distract him until the doctor came in. This worked for all of 5 seconds before he was telling me "mommy car now."

 The doctor comes in and is really nice. He was great with Deuce and played "games" with him to get him to open his mouth. Deuce did great and the doc said that his tonsils look just fine. But because the adenoids are not visible to the eye, he wanted and "x-ray." I'm like okay, no problem. The "x-ray" was a CT scan machine. And it was traumatizing. He was scared to death and wouldn't lay down and be still. The little old lady nurse was so sweet and she kept talking to him and she let me stand right there with him but he wasn't having it. I finally had to tell her to go stand by the button and I would get him to lay down but she needed to be able to press it right away because he wasn't going to stay there for long. She agreed and when she left I talked to him but he looked me straight in the eyes and cried out "mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" I couldn't hold back my tears after that. And then I was mad at myself because him seeing me cry only confirmed to him that I was unhappy too, even if it wasn't because I was scared like he was. He held onto the doc's business card for dear life and didn't let go until we got in the car.

So, the conclusion of the visit?

His adenoids are only slightly enlarged, not worth doing anything with.

I shouldn't continue to give him the allergy medicine because it's not doing anything.

Don't worry about his sleep apnea, he'll be just fine. {really????}

That's all, have a good day.

So we have continued to sneeze, have a stuffy nose, snore and stop breathing at times when sleeping.

I have bought a new humidifier and he sleeps with that now.

His sleeping sucks.

He wakes up almost every night, at least one time and comes into the bedroom and wants me to put him back to bed. He won't let me leave until he's back asleep so I have to sit there with him. Then I am completely awake and can't go back to sleep. So I am getting 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep at night. He never calls for Ed in the middle of the night and if Ed tries to help, he won't have it and only wants mommy to do it. I am convinced that his apnea wakes him up at night, then he is scared {he sleeps with the light on now too} and he gets up to come get me.

Somebody help!

Any advice?

Do I go for a second opinion?

The "x-ray" that showed nothing left us with a $200 bill after insurance so I don't really want to do that again.

Make it stop.............

The dreaded potty training.

We're getting to that point. We gave Deuce a potty for his 2nd birthday. I mean c'mon.... what kid isn't excited about a potty as a birthday present? So we haven't been pushing the issue as of right now. The potty is there for him to use and I usually ask him before bath time but it gets much more use as a stepstool for brushing teeth than it does for peeing in it. He has peed in it a couple of times and i make sure to go cuh-razy with excitement when he does. We high five, fist bump/expolsion and all of that good stuff. But he doesn't really seem to want to do it very often. When he first got it he liked sitting on it, just beacuse. Now, he could care less. So I'm not worried about it at this moment. He has started telling me over the past week when he pees in his diaper, which is a good thing. He is recognizing that he has gone to the bathroom and needs to be changed. When he poops he goes into his room, closes the door, takes care of business and then comes out. He won't let me change him right away and if I ask if he pooped he replies with "not yet!" However he refuses to sit in it so if he won't let me change him, I ususally just try to sit him on my lap or in a chair and he says, "no, pee pee change!"

yes, there is pee in there.

When we do go for the training, I want to be fully invested in it, with no turning back. I want to let him pee on himself and figure out that he doesn't like it so I have to be mentally, emotionally and physically ready to change his clothes 50 times a day, repeatedly make him sit on the potty and just totally focus on pee & poop. I'm not sure if I'm even ready for that yet. Sometimes it's nice that taking the kid to the potty doesn't have to interrupt whatever we're doing right now. But I will be glad to not purchase diapers & wipes anymore.

this was a "cheeeeese" face. not a straining face.

and he was eating grapes at the same time.

I read on another blog that some parents decided that when they were ready to train, they decided together and developed their own method of going about it. They purchased the same diapers their son wore {and recognized} in a newborn size. One morning when he woke up they "attempted" to put the diaper on and when it woldn't fit they told their son that he had grown so much overnight that he was a big boy now and couldn't fit into diapers. It totally worked for them. Of course, he had accidents and it took a few days for him to get it, but he was mentally ready because they had convinced him he was a big boy. I love that idea and think I might use it when we're ready.

Any other advice? Special techniques for boys?

My Big 2 Year Old.

Deuce turned 2 on April 22nd and we were going to have a nice afternoon party at the park.

But then it rained. A lot.

I had been watching the forecast in the days leading up to the party so that I could make a decision about what to do and it was inevitable that there was going to be rain. We thought we would hold out until Saturday to make a decision but once we saw the 90% chance of showers we decided to move it to the house. This meant we would actually have to clean the house. Like deep clean. It was in absolutely no shape to have guests over. There were clothes thrown around in every room. About 20 loads of laundry that needed to be done {no exaggeration there}, dishes that needed to be washed, carpets to steam clean and floors to mop. Not to mention toilets and sinks that needed to be scrubbed. The house was pretty much a pig pin.

With Saturday being Aja's birthday party, we didn't have much time to clean. We got home from Aja's party about 8pm Saturday night and I was quick to make lists for each room in the house of what needed to be done. TJ was responsible for his room and his bathroom, which is also the hall bathroom that everyone would be using. I must say, he did an excellent job cleaning his two areas. Ed and I cleaned like mad men. He fell asleep around 11:30 and I was up past 2 cleaning away. Then I was up again at 7 running to Walmart and grabbing breakfast. We literally cleaned up until the 1st person showed up. The good part is that since we all worked our butts off to clean the house, we have managed to keep it very clean! Well except for TJ's bedroom, but that's another story, lol!

Because of all of the time I spent cleaning that I hadn't planned on, I didn't get to decorate like I wanted. I only had the time to make some cupcake toppers and put the gift bags together. But considering the party was in the house, I thought the set up looked very nice. Thanks to my mom & sister who brought the snacks, I didn't have to worry about that part. I also had my girlfriend from Zumba who works at Maxie B's bakery in Greensboro bring me the cupcakes.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Deuce and his friends from the party!

Erika & Jeremy were lucky that Laura gave Olivia back.

When it was time to sing Happy Birthday, Deuce clammed up just like he did last year. I truly think that he doesn't like all of the attention. All throughout the song he kept saying, "NO!" He wouldn't even eat his cupcake.

But you can bet that once he got down out of this seat and away from everyone, he crushed Elmo.

Everyone else enjoyed the yummy cupcakes too. Weston even decided to eat his just like his 3 dogs eat their food. And he smiled at us in between each bite.

I know this picture is blurry but Hailee loved her some TJ. She stuck to his side the whole day. And affectionately called him "PJ."

Zoe got Deuce a drum set that he is obsessed with. Inside the drum were enough instruments to pass around to all of the kids and they had a major jam session. It was great!

Thank you to everyone that came out to Deuce's 2nd birthday party and braved the weather. We had a house full and all of the food was gone. I cleaned the house again after everyone left and was glad that we made the decision to have it at the house.

The following week I took Deuce for his 2 year well visit.

He is still growing like a weed and continues to be at the top of the growth charts.

And PS.....

Two years ago today was my first Mother's Day.

And it was my Due Date.