My scare-d Cats

This weekend was full of the usual: tantrums, tears, and time-outs. You can always expect nothing less at Casa de Ramirez.

Andrew decided last Friday that he was afraid of the dark. I guess that Handy Manny episode about the ghost is the culprit. I had finally gotten to a point where Andrew was not getting out of bed 10 times before he fell asleep. I would tell him he would get a special treat (cereral or muffins) if he stayed in bed all night and was quiet. Alright let's call it what it is, bribery. But it works! He has been going to bed the last month with no problems, until Friday.

So, Friday night I told him if he slept all night he would get a special treat in the morning. His response, "I don't want a special treat, I'll eat waffles!" Darn smart kid.  So, he ended up sleeping with his bedroom light on which was a disaster as he didn't fall asleep until 11 pm. I knew this was a bad idea. Saturday night, same thing...scared of the dark and again the bedroom light is on. I told Raul to get Adam's lamp at least that won't be so bright.

Sunday, I went to my dads and of course the hoarder that he is has a great lamp I can put in Andrew's room. This is my solution for now, putting a lamp in his room so he's not scared. Because if he really is scared, I want him to feel some peace at night.  However, this lamp is old and not made to be on all night so I will need to wean him off of it.  So, I have to up my bribery (insert sneaky laugh). And what is that new bribe? A playdate this Saturday with a schoolmate at a pumpkin festival. I have to plan this out just right, so I think I will plant the seed on Thursday. Stay tuned...

Now on to my other scare-d cat, Adam While at my mom & dad's house on Sunday, we venture off to feed the horse across the way and the baby horse. Adam is very excited and telling me "this way" to see the horse. We get up to the stable and he seems interested, just looking and smiling. Oh does that end quickly as I move closer and I feel the deathgrip of tiny 2 yr old hands digging into me and then, "no mommy no mommy no horse no horse"  I could not get him to touch the darn thing. I guess a big horse can be scary. Adam was telling me, "this way" and pointing towards my mom's house.

I hope Adam is scared on Halloween!

Happy Monday

Have you ever had one of those moments ....

.... those crazy moments where you're scrambling to get two kids ready, breakfast done, lunches packed, get yourself ready, get the kids to brush their teeth..then something happens and you just .. loose it. Sometimes I feel like supernanny is going to walk through my front door at any moment and give me a crash course on how to raise your kids.  All of the above happened this morning (minus supernanny) after the teeth were brushed Adam decides to touch the toilet, lift the toilet seat, and flush the toilet..oy! Me, trying to stay calm and wash his hands and make sure Andrew is brushing all teeth and not just the front two.  Then little Adam decides to bring in a tub of blocks and dump them on the bathroom floor.... this is where mom cracks...

I let out a high pitched nooooooo .... as Adam dumped the toys.  Great, one more thing to pick up before we leave.

I felt awful. Adam walked away and went into his room.  The guilt filled my chest. How could I yell at that sweet face? Geez, they're just toys. It can be picked up. I ran in and hugged Adam and said I was sorry. Oh, and I also scared Andrew too because he told me "mom, you scared me" The last thing I want to be is a scary mom.... Gotta get the craziness in check.

Birthday Boy

We celebrated Adam's 2nd birthday on September 25th. I can't believe he is a two year old. I love watching him. He jumps, runs, skips, and hops with so much happiness.  He's talking so much and loves being around his big brother Andrew. I didn't realize he's such a scaredy cat. We bought him a cake for his actual birthday on the 24th and this was his response:



The funny thing is that he had this same expression when he was born! He swatted at the cake thinking he was going to knock it off the table, but he just got a hand full of icing.

The next day we had our pirate themed party.  For this birthday I ordered a 5 ft sandwich from our local deli, Cavarettas. I wanted to go the easy route and the sandwich was a hit. I also made potatoe salad, and mini corndogs for the little ones. Oh and I also made home-made ice cream (i'll save that for a later post.)

Adam loved his pirate cake and so did I!



I can't believe I got this cake from Albertson's. They really do a great job with cakes.  Everyone had a great time and i'm glad my little pirate had a good birthday.  Now I have to think about Andrew's birthday.....

September - recap

It's been a month since my last post. For some reason I haven't been inspired to write. Until this morning when I read one of my good friends blog post's; she's always so inspirational. It's tough being a mom of two little ones, running the household, making meals, entertaining the kids - how do we balance it all without going mad?  I know I try to be so patient, but sometimes it's so hard.  I got frustrated with Adam recently because I was trying to rush out the door and get them to school and get to work, and Adams says "sorry mommy". How can I be upset at that cute face?

September was a busy month. Adam turned 2 and we had a pirate themed birthday party for him. The party turned out awesome. I bought a pirate cake from albertson's. They really do a nice job on their cakes. I'm glad we had the party at 4 pm this year as it was almost 100 degrees that day and there's plenty of shade during that hour.  Also, Adam started going to Andrew's preschool. Adam is in the 2 yr old class and he loves it. Of course he cried the first 3 days, but by Friday he was saying, "bye mommy!"  Too cute.  I celebrated 8 years at my job last Thursday. What a milestone. I never thought I would make it past 3 yrs here. It's a good company, and I'm fortunate to have a job.

Raul's travel season is gearing up with his first trip at the end of October. I still get anxiety with the thought of Raul leaving. Things are easier with the boys, however, it's still tiring when they argue or fight over a toy when there's a million of toys to play with but they both want the same fire truck. Andrew's tantrums are easing up. I've learned some new techniques that I've implemented with the tantrums and it's really working. Andrew seems much more confident and he's getting more easy going.

I am anticipating potty training Adam. He's definitely showing signs such as actually going to the potty and pulling his shirt up and saying he has to go peep peep. Very cute. I also need to get Adam into a toddler bed I noticed last night he was sleeping with his legs curled up against the crib; I guess that's a sign of him getting too big. I'm just procrastinating because thought of sleep training him in a toddler bed makes me cringe. Things are great right now because he just goes right to sleep.

Those are my thoughts for now. I think I'm up to date. Thanks to my little inspirational friend who always makes me think.

My Little Pirate

It's time to start planning my little guy Adam's birthday. He'll be turning the big 2 on September 24th.  I'm planning a pirate themed birthday for him. I love, love planning my kids birthday's. It's the one time I get to use my creative side and I love having theme's.

I didn't think I would do a birthday party every year for the kids, but I thought...they're only young once and pretty soon they're not going to want a birthday party by mom. 

So here I go, time to plan!

I found my pirate ship invitations yesterday at Party City.

They have tons of Pirate themed supplies that I can't wait to buy!

...and most importantly

I dressed Adam in his pirate costume!

I will add this photo to the invites:

arghhhh!

Lunch box notes

As always, I'm on the hunt for cute lunch box things. I found the cutest lunch box notes from Frog Prince Paperie to put in your childs lunch box to let them know how much you care. How sweet is that to have your son or daughter open their lunch box and find a special note from mom. Just print the template, cut them out, and write your special message.

I have my notes printed, cut and ready to go!

I hope Andrew enjoys seeing a note from mommy.

The funny things kids say...

Today when I dropped of Andrew at school he said he needed help with his chonies. I thought, hmmm ok this isn't good. I dropped off his lunch box when we got inside and Andrew asked me to go to the bathroom with him.  We go to the bathroom and of course there's some scruff in his underwear. I asked what happened and he said he tooted.  I told him to be careful when he toots.  He said, "I know I did a toot-poop"  

Gotta love those boys!