Evan’s acting like a 2 year-old

Today was a long day.

I took Evan and Noah to the doctor at 10:15am this morning. They have both had runny noses for a long time and I wanted to get them checked out before Thanksgiving. Getting out of the house was not fun. First, Lizzy would not come in the house. The old guy with the walker was walking his dogs (who Lizzy hates) along our fence. I had to wait forever for him to pass before Lizzy would come inside. Then, Evan insisted on bringing his helicopter with us, but it wasn’t downstairs and we were in a hurry. He threw a fit. I already had Noah in the car seat and was carrying the seat. Evan got so mad he threw the helicopter pilot into the kitchen and I dragged him to the car. He was screaming that he wanted the guy (helicopter pilot). Then, we get to the doctor’s office and there’s not where to park. We had to park way on the other side of the shopping center. We ended up getting there about 10 minutes. I went to check in. Since our insurance changed they made me use the phone in the waiting room to call the records line of Austin Regional Clinic to give them my new info. I had to stand up using the phone near the check in desk, while holding Noah, and trying to watch Evan. They put me on hold forever. Noah and Evan kept trying to pull at the phone cord.

It turns out Noah just has a cold, but Evan has a sinus infection. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for Evan and recommended Mucinex for kids. They weighed the boys and Noah weighs 22 lbs and Evan is 35 lbs.

I got gas on the way home ($1.64/gal). It took forever getting into and out of the gas station because of traffic.

At home Evan was very cranky. I fed the boys and then put them down for naps. I was hungry but also had a lot to do, so I just made a bowl of cereal. I sat down at the computer to eat my cereal and check email. I ate a few bites of cereal and then realized there were bugs in the cereal. At that point I wanted move to Austrailia like in the Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day


So much for lunch. Right after I poured the cereal down the sink I hear Evan turn off the monitor in his room. I went up there to check on him and I find 2 of his drawers open, clothes on the floor, and Evan’s sitting on top of his changing table putting his shoes on. He climbed up there on his own. After that he didn’t want to get back in bed. He threw another fit. I was absolutely exhausted and needed a nap badly. He said he wanted to lay in bed with me so I said he could as long as he really napped. The kid would not be quiet. He was singing and making sound effects and talking about who knows what. It was hard to be mad at him because he was so cute. Finally, I gave up on the nap and just brought Evan downstairs with me. Evan was drawing on this little Aqua Doodle. He drew a big circle. He was very proud of it. I asked if he could make 2 eyes, and he did. Then, I asked for a nose and a mouth. Evan made his first real drawing all by himself. Below is a picture.

When Morry got home we heated up leftovers for dinner and then I tutored from 7-10.

Evan's face drawing

How I found him when he was supposed to be napping.

The Short Version

Hello everyone, this is Morry again. Rachel is doing some stuff around the house so I'm filling in for a second day in a row.

While I was very proud of my post yesterday, my mom commented on the length of the post, calling it "18 pages" long. So I will be more brief today.

Here's a recap:

We were awaken by the neighbor's dog.
We did some stuff.
Evan and Noah were cute.
We had dinner.
And now it's night time and the boys are in bed.

If that's enough for you, have a nice day/evening (whatever time of day you are reading this). If you do want to find out more details, read on.

So yes, we were awakened by the dog at 7:13 am. Evan and I both were up. Rachel seemed to go back to sleep only to be awakened at 8:07 am by the dog.

We needed to get some stuff, so we went over to Half-Price Books. Evan really enjoyed running around the store. For some reason, Noah was cranky. Rachel was holding him and I was in another part of the store and I heard him crying. Evan was with me. While we were looking at the books, an ambulance went by. Evan announced, loud enough for the entire store to hear, that there was an ambulance.

We came home and both Rachel and I tried to trim Lizzy. For some reason she really didn't want it and kept barking and growling at us. That's very unusual. She seems fine though, otherwise.

We had some lunch and then put the boys down for an early nap. Then we went over to confront the neighbors. We have been keeping a log over the last four weeks of the times the dog barks. We make a special note for when we were awakened. Someone in the house was woken up on 14 of the 28 days. There were 19 times in that 28 days that we were awakened. So we made a copy of this, highlighted all the times we were awakened. I also printed some articles about why it's bad to keep your dog outside and we went over. Our neighbor was very apologetic and said he'd do something about. I think the fact that the entire sheet was almost entirely highlighted was pretty alarming to him. We'll see if that helps.

Rachel then went out for coffee during the naps with Alissa. When the boys got up, I brought them downstairs and made some dinner.

After dinner, we gave the boys baths. When I was dressing Evan he became very agitated because he looked at his thumb and it was wrinkly. He kept wanting me to wash his thumb. I said if I wash it, it will make it worse. He insisted so we washed his thumb. Of course, that didn't help. Finally we got his mind off of it by reading him a book. The good news, his thumb did return to normal.

Well that's it for now. Until next time...

What Evan Wants

Hi everyone, this is Morry for my weekly post. It's been a while since I last posted since I was gone last weekend. As I'm sure of some of you waited with anticipation for my post, the wait is now over.

So this morning, Rachel went to tutor the old guy for his GREs. They met at the LBJ library on UT's campus. She left the house at 8:15am. So I was with the boys this morning. When Evan and Noah woke up, Evan told me he wanted to go to the bookstore today. I told him we'd go when Mommy came home. Then he said he wanted to watch the Polar Express. So we watched that. I got breakfast ready for both boys while we watched. After the Polar Express was over, Evan insisted on watching the GeoTrax DVD. That DVD is so bad, I've debated over whether to pretend that we "lost" the DVD. Evan wants to watch it over and over and over again.

When Rachel got home, we made lunch and then, of course, we did what Evan wanted. We went to Starbucks. After seeing the Polar Express in the morning, Evan was really talking about hot chocolate. So I told him I'd get hot chocolate at Barnes & Noble and we could share it. So as soon as we got to the book store, he ran over to the Starbucks inside. While we were waiting in line, I noticed all the cookies and cakes in the case. My eyes locked on these sugar cookies they had with red crystals on them. Then, suddenly, Evan said, those cookies look good. He was looking at the same cookies. He was in front of me, so there's no way he saw what I had been looking at. I said, "yeah, I was looking at those too." I told him that we'd get one to share. He said "No, I want my own." We did not give in though. He and I shared the cookie. It was a good one. Evan and I obviously share the same taste in desserts.

Evan played with the trains at Barnes and Noble for awhile. We let Noah crawl around in that area for a bit. Then Noah and I walked around the store together. Noah wanted to grab all the books as I walked by, if I was close enough.

When we got home, we put the boys down for a nap. Evan must have been very tired as he never got out of bed.

Last night, Evan told us he wanted to go to Logan's for dinner, but we couldn't go there. Logan's is a steakhouse where you get peanuts and you throw the shells on the floor. So since we do what Evan wants, we took him to Logan's tonight. He was very excited to go. He kept talking about throwing the shells on the floor the entire ride. As soon as we sat down I opened up a peanut for him, gave him the shells and the peanut itself. He took the shells and threw them half way across the room. He definitely likes Logan's.

We brought cheese cubes for Evan for dinner but Rachel thought Noah might like them. Up until now, the only food that he's fed himself really has been the puffs. So Rachel cut up the cheese cubes into much smaller cubes. Noah had a blast feeding himself. It kept him occupied all night.

After dinner we ran some errands at Southpark Meadows. That's a massive shopping center which used to be a concert venue. We went to Sports Authority, Marshall's and Circuit City. You can get good deals at Marshall's, but man is that place a pigsty. (Note: I looked up the spelling of pigsty. I would have thought it was two words. Weird.) Every time I go there, I feel like I need a bath when I get out. I have bad memories of Marshall's and TJ Maxx from when I was a kid and my mom would drag me along. I also really hate TJ Maxx because they took over where the toy store was when I was 5 or 6. As a kid, it's a no-brainer. If you have a choice of going to TJ Maxx or a toy store, the toy store would win in a heartbeat.

Some other random stories that aren't from today: Evan really enjoyed watching the Steelers game with me the other night. When the game started, he climbed up on the couch and sat right down next to me. Every time Ben Roethlisberger was on tv, Evan would say "There's Roethlisberger!" When they weren't showing him, Evan would ask where he was or point to the player they were showing and tell me, "That's not Roethlisberger." Evan also wanted to play football during the game. He'd throw his little football to me, then I'd throw it back. He'd run around the couch and down the hall and dive onto the floor and yell "touchdown!" Then he'd leave the ball on the floor, run all the way back to me, give me a high-five, run all the way back to get the ball and then back to me where he'd start the process over. And finally, when Rachel got Evan up yesterday morning, he told Rachel that "Roethlisberger wears Number 7." (Yes, I am beaming with pride)

Meanwhile, Noah is really enjoying his crawling. That kid will not stay in one place. He's all over. It looks like he's trying to get up on his knees too.

Until next time...

Kevin’s house

This morning we went over to Yenis and Kevin’s house. We had a nice time and Evan and Kevin played well together. We ate lunch over there. Yenis and I made mac and cheese for the boys and had tortellini for us. We had planned to walk to the park near them, but it was cold outside. It was in the 50s today.

We stayed at their house until around 1:30 and then went to the bank. I had some checks and cash from tutoring to deposit. Evan was very excited about going to the bank. He asked the teller for a lollypop and told her he wanted a green one.

By the time we got home and I put Evan and Noah down for a nap it was 3:00. Evan didn’t fall asleep until probably 4:00. He was just playing in his room until then. He even turned his CD player on at one point.

Evan and Noah slept until about the time Morry got home. Then, we went to a new restaurant that opened near us. It’s called Natural Planet. We liked it and would go back there. Morry got a hamburger and I got a pasta with veggies. We were also able to order edamame for Evan.

At home I was finishing folding laundry and Evan was running around with his clean truck sheets. I put the pillowcase over his head and thought that was really funny. Then, he wouldn’t let me take it off. He was running around pretending like he couldn’t see and was running into things. Then I took the sheet and hung it from the dining room half wall to the couch to make a little tent. Evan loved that too.

Lots of stuff

Today was a busy day. I started out the day at the doctor’s. I went to his office yesterday (when Blanca was here taking care of the boys) and right as I was about to see him he got called to deliver a baby so they asked if I could come back today. This morning after I dropped Evan off at school I took Noah with me to the doctor. I had to go to the lab to get my blood drawn (thyroid check) and had to wait forever. It was really annoying.

Then, I went to Ana’s house. She was having a skin care demonstration for products she sells. It was for all her Spanish speaking friends, but she invited me since I understand Spanish. One of the other women had her daughter with her. This girl was almost 2 and she loved Noah. She kept coming up to him and blowing raspberries. Noah started doing it back to her. Everyone thought that was pretty funny that he imitated her.

After that Noah and I went home for a little bit so I could take care of the laundry and get the next load started. Then, it was time to pick up Evan.

When I walked in Evan ran up to me and was very excited to see me. In his folder were hand print painted turkeys that they made the other day. It was very cute. I asked Evan if he made it and he said yes very proudly. Then he told me he wanted to put it on the fridge.

In the car I asked Evan if he had a good day and then if he was excited to see me. He said ,"Yes, I ran to Mommy. That made Mommy very happy."

I really needed to go to HEB, but I didn’t want to push Evan if he was too tired. I asked Evan if he wanted to go home or to HEB and he said HEB. Evan and Noah were very good there and I was able to get what I needed. I also saved $14 with coupons.

By the time we got home it was nap time. Evan and Noah went to sleep really easily and Evan actually stayed in his bed during his nap.

For diner we made cheesy foldovers http://www.recipezaar.com/Easy-Cheesy-Foldover-16578

Now Morry and the boys are upstairs watching the Steelers game.

Evan did it!

Manuela came over around 9:30am. I tutored one student from 10-11:30 and another from 12-1. I got home around 1:30. Manuela said everything went well and Noah was already taking a nap. She said he was very tired and she put him down around 12:45.

Blanca came at 3:15 and I tutored one student for 2 hours.

On the way home I picked up Freebirds (burritos like Chipotle).

Noah is in a stage of always wanting attention or being held. After dinner he was crying while we were trying to clean up. I got on the floor and played with him and he was as happy as can be. When it was time for me to get back to cleaning up, Noah starting screaming again.

We gave Evan and Noah a bath tonight. After the bath, while I was feeding Noah, Morry had Evan sit on his potty. After just a few minutes Evan looked up at Morry and said, “I made pee pee.” Yea! We were all very excited. He’s still not close to being potty trained, but at least this is one step closer.

Evan speaks Spanish!

I walked Evan to school today. Then, I walked back home and it was time to turn around and come right back to school for Evan’s parent-teacher conference. Morry worked from home today, so we went together with Noah to meet Wendy. It was fun hearing about Evan and how he is doing at school. Wendy said he’s doing great and meeting all the developmental milestones. It really seems like she takes the time to get to know the kids. She said the only thing Evan needs to work on is cleaning up, especially after lunch. She said after lunch he just wants to run off and play.

Morry picked Evan up at school. When he got home I noticed there were stamps on his arm and I asked where he got them. He said Ms. Aranza gave them to him during Spanish. I asked what he learned in Spanish class and he said “ojos (eyes)”. I was so impressed. I asked where his ojos were and he pointed to his eye. I asked Evan what else he learned and he pointed to his nose and then said “nariz.”

Blanca came at 2:00. I had an appointment for a mammogram. My doctor and I figured it was a good idea to get a baseline test since there is a history of cancer in the family. After the mammogram I had some time to kill before tutoring so I went over to Marshall’s. I went there to look for shoes for Evan, but didn’t find any wides in his size. They had some great deals and I bought a few things for me.

I got home at 8. We just put the boys to bed.


I just wanted to add…. When we were getting Evan ready for bed tonight, he was at his sink drinking some water and he spilled it on his pajama top. I brought him in his room to get another top. He wanted the truck pajamas, so I put the top on. He wanted the bottoms of the truck pajamas too, but I refused since the pajama pants he had on where fine and dry. Well, when Morry went upstairs to put Evan back to bed Evan said, “I put these on.” Morry looked down and saw Evan had taken off his other pajama pants, got his truck pajama pants out of his drawer, and put them on by himself.

Morry’s Back

Last night Noah woke up at 4am for some reason. I couldn’t find his pacifier in his room and had to run downstairs to get another. By that time Noah was screaming. I had to rock him a while to get him calmed down.

This morning Manuela (Ana’s nanny from Mexico) came over to take care of the boys so I could tutor. I would have had Blanca come, but Blanca has classes in the morning. I tutored from 10-12. I met one of my students at the library to help him study for the math part of the GRE. Manuela said the boys did well. Manuela pretty much only speaks Spanish, but can understand a little English. It was good practice for me.

When I got home I took Evan and Noah in the front yard. Evan played on his motorized car for a little bit, but then wanted to ride his bike. He’s really getting good at riding his tricycle. He was peddling and steering on his own. While we were outside we saw Blanca and Rita. Evan was showing off for Blanca.

Evan and Noah took great naps today. They each slept about 3 hours!

We made pasta for dinner tonight and then took a short walk

Whew!

Man, it’s tough taking care of the boys alone.

This morning I took them to Ruta Maya (a coffee shop) for a kid’s show. Noah loved watching and listening to the lady play guitar. Evan loved the last song about bubbles because she had a bubble machine blowing bubbles for all the kids.

After Ruta Maya we went to HEB.

Then, we came home, ate lunch, and went to Kevin’s 3rd birthday party.

The weather was great and they had most of the party outside. Evan painted and was easily the messiest kid there. See pictures below. They even had baby toys and a mat for the few babies that were there. Since the boys didn’t have a nap it was sort of tough by the end of the party. Noah fell asleep in my arms and Evan was acting pretty tired.

At the party Evan was playing with Kevin’s Diego Doll and I found it interesting that Evan was being very gentle with the doll and holding it like a baby.

I had planned on giving Evan a bath or shower when we got home and then just making pasta for dinner. Alissa called and asked if we would like to go out to dinner with her and Molly and then she could help me bathe the boys.

We went to Chipotle. The kids were good, but Evan didn’t each much. At home Alissa helped me give Noah and Evan a bath. She was a big help. It would have been very hard for me to do that on my own.

Today is Nolan’s birthday so I had Evan and Noah send a video greeting to him. I posted it to YouTube, so you should be able to see the video at the bottom of this page.

Just me and the boys

Morry’s in Pittsburgh now. He left early this morning.

Evan, Noah, and I had a busy morning. The first part of the morning was rough. I needed to do a few things around the house and Noah would cry every time I put him down.

Our printer ran out of one of the colors of ink and it won’t even let you print in black and white until you replace the cartridge. I ordered some ink online through Circuit City since they have the store pick up option. It’s great. You can just order and pay for it online and then they guarantee it will be ready at the store in 24 minutes.

We left the house around 11. The first place we went was Old Navy. I decided to try and see if they would honor the coupon I got yesterday. I got a coupon though email right after I had just purchased a lot. Since the coupon was 30% off, I decided to give it a try. I had no problems. They honored the coupon for the stuff I bought yesterday and they credited us $37. So, I would say it was worth it. Then we went to the mall parking lot to meet a woman who was buying 2 of our UT vs A&M football tickets.

We bought season tickets for the University of Texas football games. We thought we go to a few games and sell the rest. It’s very hard to get tickets to the football games so we thought this would be a great way to go to the games and maybe make a little bit of money. I think we paid $1500 for 4 seats for 7 home games. The face value of the tickets ranged from $60-$90 depending on the game. We went to a few games and the ones we couldn’t go to we sold the tickets to our friends at face value (which let’s us make a little money since they give a little discount when buying season tickets). There is one game left. It’s a big one against Texas A&M. We can’t go to that one because it is over Thanksgiving and figured we could make some good money selling the tickets. The face value is $90/ticket. I put them on Craigslist and got quite a few responses. The lady today bought 2 tickets for $300. We made $60/ticket so far. I have someone else who is interested in the other 2 at the same price. Let’s hope it works out.

After meeting for the ticket exchange. We stopped at Payless to return shoes I had bought for Evan for Chicago that he didn’t wear. Then, we went to Circuit City to pick up the ink. Evan had a great time at Circuit City. On the big screen TVs they were showing Kung Fu Panda.

Then, we went to the library to pick up a few kid’s videos we had on hold.

They boys were so great on all the errands that I took them to a nearby park to play for a little bit before going home. It was a neat “old school” park. They had lots of the equipment I remember playing on as a kid that many parks don’t have any more. There was a merry-go-round, see-saws, a big metal slide, … It was Evan’s first time on a merry-go-round and he loved it. I started out slow because I wasn’t sure if he would like it. We were the only people on the playground. There were some older men playing tennis right next to the playground. Evan was very excited to see them play tennis.

We came home. Evan had a good lunch. He ate a whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich, string cheese, snap peas, and applesauce.

I started another blog…this one is for money saving and making tips. I have had lots of friends ask me about how I save money, win things, get free stuff, etc. So, I set up a separate blog just for that. We’ll see if I’ll be able to keep it up. http://chachingqueen.blogspot.com/

Busy Friday

Last night Noah didn’t go to sleep until 2am. He would not sleep. I rocked him for a long time and then was able to put him in his crib without him crying. I woke up around 7:30am to the neighbor’s dog barking – still a problem and wakes at least one of us the majority of the mornings.

At 10:30 Yenis and Kevin came over to borrow some of Evan’s toys for Kevin’s birthday party on Sunday.

Then, at 11:00 Ana brought Manuela (her nanny) over to meet the boys. Manuela is going to babysit for Evan and Noah next week on Monday and Wednesday mornings when I tutor. Blanca has class at that time so I asked Ana (a mom in the playgroup) if her nanny would be available.

They stayed for about 30-45 min. Then, I took the boys shopping. We went to Old Navy first. I heard they were having a sale on winter coats. Evan outgrew his coat and we needed a coat for him for the one week it gets really cold here in the winter.

After Old Navy we went to Kohls. We needed to buy some birthday presents. Kohls is having a sale on toys, plus I had a coupon. We got a good deal.

After Kohls we came home for a little bit and then went to Matt and Alissa’s house to hang out with Alissa and the kids. Evan had a great time playing with Geo Tracks and Ben and Molly’s other toys.

We came home and fed Noah and then went out to dinner at Hyde Park. After dinner, we stopped at the bookstore so Morry could get some books for his trip. Of course I had a coupon. :)

We had a successful day of shopping. The only bad thing, is just now I checked my email and I got a coupon for 30% off at Old Navy. I wonder if I can go in there and get them to give me the discount on the stuff I bought today. Is it worth the effort? I’ll think about it.

I’m worried Evan might be getting sick. When we got home from the Podber’s Evan was very clingy and not acting like his usual self. Morry thought he felt warm and looked like he didn’t feel well. We took his temperature and it was normal. We thought maybe he was just really tired since he didn’t nap. But tonight before bed I took his temperature again and he has a slight fever, 99.7. I’ll have to check again in the morning and see how he’s doing.

Trying to feel better

So, today was my turn to bring in snacks for Evan’s class. Every other Thursday is pizza day and the moms take turns bringing in sides or snacks to go with the pizza. I (with Evan’s help) made blueberry muffins last night and cut up some apples and grapes. Last night Evan wanted a blueberry muffin, but we told him he had to wait until school to eat one and he could tell everyone he helped make them.

Well, as soon as we got to school today Evan ran up to Wendy and told her about the muffins and that he helped make them.

Before school I left Noah at home with Blanca. After dropping Evan off I went to Starbucks to tutor. A 63 year-old man going back to school needs help with the math part of the GRE so he contacted me. It was our first time meeting so we met at Starbucks. Most likely we’ll meet twice a week for a couple of hours until he takes the GRE in January or February.

After tutoring I came home and did some stuff around the house. I washed clothes, fed Noah, and ate lunch. Then it was time to get Evan.

Evan seemed tired when I picked him up. In his folder there was a picture he had made. It is on blue construction paper and looks like maybe they used some kind of chalk. Under the drawing it says, “It’s and airplane!”

Noah took a nap, but Evan didn’t. He just played in his room for a little bit.

Blanca came at 4 and then I went to tutor 2 more students. I came back at 7:30. Morry made pizza for us for dinner.

I’m feeling better today, though still not great. I took Mucinex last night and it helped me sleep. I just hope the boys don’t get sick. Morry said he’s starting to feel sick. Hopefully, he doesn’t get sick. He’ll be in some very cold and wet weather in just a few days. I'm on antibiotics so I don't think I'm contagious now.

Hello everyone, this is Morry. This is a special weekday edition of my posts. Rachel is not feeling well. She has a sinus infection, so I'm filling in. I'm like the weekend anchor of a news station who fills in during the week when the main anchor can't do it. Also, I'll be gone this weekend so I probably won't post this weekend. I'm going to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers play the Chargers. It will be only the second time I've gone to Heinz Field. The high on Sunday is supposed to be 39 degrees. Remind me, why did I buy tickets for mid-November?

So this morning, when Rachel went to get Evan, she went in his room and he had his diaper off again. He had put the diaper in the Diaper Champ. Again, we are lucky it was not a poopy diaper.

Rachel was not feeling well so she made a doctor's appointment and she and the boys went to the doctor this morning. That's where the doctor said that Rachel had the sinus infection. After the doctor, they stopped by the library and picked up some books and then to HEB to get Rachel's antibiotics.

Other than that, the Rachel and the boys did not do much.

When I got home, the boys were just getting up from their naps. Rachel made soup for dinner while I fed Noah. Noah has begun this really bad habit of blowing raspberries while you're feeding. So basically he spits all over you. He does it the entire time. He did it to Rachel at lunch and me at dinner. I think I'm going to have to start wearing some shield. We're not sure how to stop him from spitting

Noah got a gift yesterday from Rachel's cousins. They are these soft building blocks of different sizes but the are open in the middle. Basically they are like square rings that you can stack. Evan put one on each arm and told us that it was his swimsuit. I think he was pretending they were floaties. He then told us he wanted to go to the beach to go swimming.

Today is Quin's (Evan and Noah's cousin) birthday. He is 3. So the boys made a Happy Birthday video for him. You can see the video down below. After dinner, we called Quin and Evan and Quin talked very briefly. Evan wished Quin a happy birthday.

Before bed tonight, Evan told us he wanted to sit on his potty. He sat there for about 30 minutes. He told us the pee was stuck. I think he's beginning to want to be potty-trained, but I'm not sure that he's aware of when he has to go pee and when he doesn't. Probably after Thanksgiving, we'll take a weekend and really work with him.

The boys are now in bed. It sounds like it's quiet up there. Hopefully it stays that way.

Until next time...

Another cold

I think I either have another cold, bad allergies, or a sinus infection. I was up a lot of the night coughing and sneezing. I didn’t get much sleep. I finally fell asleep around 3 something and then woke up at 7 something.

I drove Evan to school today because not only was I tired, but they were predicting rain. After dropping Evan off I went to HEB to get a refill on my thyroid medicine. We just got new insurance. I gave them the info I had on the new insurance, but for some reason it wasn’t going through. They had my birthday wrong on something. I called Morry when I got home and after talking to someone at his work they said just to use the old insurance info. and they would figure it all out.

I picked Evan up at school and then went back to HEB to get my medicine. This time I had no problems.

When I was changing Evan before his nap he told me he wanted to go potty. He has yet to actually do anything on the potty, but sometimes he will ask to sit on it. He sat on the potty for a few seconds and I gave him a sticker. I give him a sticker every time he sits on the potty. I put Evan back in bed with just a shirt and diaper on. I didn’t feel like putting his jeans back on if he was just going to be in bed, and I thought he’d be more comfortable without the jeans anyway.

Noah went down for his nap pretty easily but Evan wasn’t napping. I went to Evan’s room again. When I walked in he had his jeans on (not zipped or snapped), his shoes on and velcroed (but on the wrong feet), and his socks on both of his hands like mittens. He told me he wanted to sit on the potty again. So, I got him undressed and this time he sat on the potty for a while. Every time I’d ask him if he was done, he’d say no. Evan is still somewhat confused about how to pee in the potty. He kept telling me it didn’t work or that the pee was stuck. After a while on the potty, and still no pee, I put Evan back in his room and he fell asleep at the door by the gate. At least he took a nap. I was able to nap for a little bit too while the boys were napping.

For dinner we just had soup and leftover pasta and bread from the other night.

Chuck E Cheese

Noah slept until 10:30am this morning. I’m glad. He really needed his sleep.

Ben and Molly had off of school today so we went with them to Chuck E Cheese. It was Evan’s first time there. He had a great time. The first thing we did was a little car ride that just moves up and down. Then, we played ski ball. Evan enjoyed rolling the ball and got it in the lower gutter a few times, but could not get it high enough to get any points. We played basketball and some other games. I thought I would try air hockey with Evan. I wasn’t sure if he would understand, but he did really well. He caught on pretty quickly on how to hit the puck. At the end we went to cash in our tickets for prizes. Evan chose an orange lollypop and I decided to save the rest of the tickets for another time so we can get a better prize.

My tutoring schedule for today was 3:30-5:30 and then 6:45-7:45. Since I had a break in between, Morry, Evan, and Noah met me for dinner at Chick-fil-A. We ordered a kids meal for Evan and he barely touched it. We decided to let him play on the playscape and then eat after playing. Evan loved the playscape and climbed all the way to the top, through the tunnels, and down the slide. That was the first time he has done that on his own. After he was done playing he said he was hungry and ready to eat. He ate well and finished all of his nuggets.

I got home around 8:15 and just put the boys to bed.

Need some sleep

Noah did it again. He was up the majority of the night. I don’t know what is going on. Morry and I both think his stomach is bothering him. We were so tired today.

We took Evan and Noah to see Madagascar 2 today. We went to the 11am show. Noah was a little cranky and slept on Morry some of the time. Evan did well and seemed to like the movie. Before the movie they showed a preview of Wall-E for the DVD and Evan got very excited.

After the movie we tried to put the boys down for a nap, but weren’t too successful. Noah maybe slept a few minutes, and Evan didn’t sleep at all.

While they were trying to nap I ran over to HEB to get some food for dinner. We invited the Podbers over.

I made spaghetti, zucchini, salad, roasted garlic and bread. For dessert I made chocolate chip meringue cookies and rice crispy treats. Evan had a good time playing with Ben and Molly. Noah was cranky for a lot of time. I think he was just over tired.

Well, we had a long day, I hope the boys sleep well tonight.

Longhorn Football

Hello everyone. This is Morry. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in Austin, TX. In case anyone who's in cold weather is wondering, it is 80 degrees and absolutely no clouds in the sky. This is my 11th November in Austin and I'm still surprised when it's not cold in November.

Today the Texas Longhorns were playing Baylor. Since Baylor is not a football powerhouse and they are not a team that is a rival of Texas, we decided to take the boys to the football game. We have 4 tickets, but we were able to sell one to someone who was trying to get in but wouldn't sit with us. We brought Aunt Susan to the game with us. We were told that as long as the boys were going to sit on our laps, they could get in free.

We had Aunt Susan meet us at Barton Creek Mall, which is about halfway between our house and campus (although it's still pretty far from her house). We got ready, put the boys in the car and left. As we were coming to the first light, we realized that we forgot the tickets. I can't believe we forgot them. We talked about them, but neither Rachel nor I got them. So we had to turn around and go back to get them.

When we got to the mall to pick up Aunt Susan, she was telling us that all the cars parked around her were people who had gotten picked up to go to the game. She said they were all talking. There is also an area where you can get on a bus from the mall to go to the game for $5 round trip.

We were able to find street parking but we had a bit of a walk. I put Noah in the backpack and Evan walked along with us. I think he really enjoyed walking across campus. He wanted to touch and look at everything. As we were walking, we came upon a fountain. If we would let him, Evan would just jump right in. Rachel promised him he could touch the water on the way back to the car, but she didn't want him wet right then. Noah also got excited by the fountain. He was jumping and kicking in the backpack

As we came up to the stadium, the band was marching in. We caught the tail end of it and I think Evan enjoyed it. I actually walked in holding Evan while Noah was in the backpack. I gave one ticket and three of us got in.

Once the game started, Evan told me it was loud. It seemed like he enjoyed looking at the football. We were bad parents though, we forgot sunscreen and hats for the boys. I don't what we were doing this morning, but definitely not planning ahead. That's for sure. About half way through the first quarter, Rachel took Evan to go buy hats for Noah and him. Apparently, they also found a Starbucks. Yes, Starbucks has actually infiltrated a college football stadium. Evan told Rachel that he wanted his own coffee. She got him a fruit drink. It's some strawberry cream drink. They also found hats although they were adult size.

At halftime, the Texas band played big band music, including the song "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy." Evan thought the phrase "boogie-woogie" was very funny.

We left midway through the third quarter as Evan was starting to get antsy. Noah did great (as usual) the whole game. He slept on me for most of the first quarter but I think he enjoyed seeing all the people and the sounds. Neither boy was scared of the cannon they shoot off after each touchdown or during kickoffs.

On the way back to the car, Evan did get to touch the water in the fountain. We also got him a strawberry lemonade which he finished.

Now both boys (and Rachel) are taking naps. Rachel and I were able to, at the last minute, organize a date night. We're going to Louie's 106 and then to a place called the Hideout for improv.

Day of Errands

We didn’t do anything too exciting today. We just ran some errands. The boys slept late and then we went to CVS and the bank.

As we were leaving CVS there was a mom and two little boys (maybe around 4 and 5) coming in. Evan was very excited to see the boys. He said, “Look, there’s a boy!” One of the boys noticed Evan, and Evan was very excited that they acknowledged him.

On the way to the bank Evan asked me if he could have a lollypop at the bank. I said he could and he told me he wanted a strawberry one. At the bank the teller gave Evan the box of lolly pops and let him choose which one he wanted. Evan picked the orange lolly pop. Before I got the wrapper off Evan told me he wanted to bite the lollypop. He ate the lollypop very quickly with just a few bites.

Both Evan and Noah were very good at CVS and the bank. I still have Noah in the infant car seat because it is so much easier to get in and out of the car, but it was pretty hard walking around CVS holding the car seat. I’m not sure how much longer I can do that.

For lunch Evan told me he wanted peanut butter and jelly. He helped spread the peanut butter and jelly on the bread. Evan enjoys doing that. I think it helps encourage him to eat his food as well. He finished the whole sandwich.

Evan and Noah took good naps and woke up around the time Morry got home.

We went to BJ’s for dinner and ran into Kennison, Nem, and their boys. They are the ones that bought our old house and who opened up the baby clothes store. We sat and talked to them for a little bit while we waited for our table. We ordered Evan a kids pizza and he actually ate a few slices of it. A lot of the time, when we order Evan something off a kid’s menu he ends up not touching it or hardly eating any. We have found that he has the greatest chance of eating restaurant food if they have pizza.

Evan and Noah just went to bed and so far, so good.

We have to get up somewhat early tomorrow. We are going to the University of Texas football game in the morning. We have season tickets and we decided this will be a good game to take the boys. They are playing Baylor and it shouldn’t be too rowdy.

Gra’noah’bar

Last night I went out with the girls (Yenis and Alissa). We had a nice time, but it was pretty empty downtown. Maybe because people were up late the night before watching election stuff, they didn’t feel like going out?

This morning I drove Evan to school so I didn’t have to rush around trying to get out in time to walk. While Evan was at school Noah and I just hung out at the house. I did laundry and just got little things taken care of. Noah started acting real cranky around 10:30, so I put him down for a nap and he slept for about an hour.

At lunch I gave Noah a straw sippy cup with some juice in it. He did pretty well holding the cup on his own and getting the straw to his mouth.

We drove to pick Evan up and Wendy told me again how much Evan doesn’t like art. They had some project with cut up bell peppers and paint. I think they were using pepper halves as stamps. Anyway, Evan wanted nothing to do with it.

Blanca came at 4 and I tutored 2 students.

It was almost 7 when I got home. As we were getting dinner ready Evan came up with a new nickname for Noah. He started calling him “granoahbar”. Evan made that up all on his own. Morry and I were pretty impressed.

Evan and Noah are in bed now and it seems quiet up there.

Flu Shots for Evan and Noah

I took Evan and Noah to their doctor today for flu shots. Noah needed the booster shot. For babies they have to give them 2 separate shots a month apart. I warned Evan ahead of time what was going to happen and that it would just hurt for a minute. Right as we walked into the waiting room this little girl yells to Evan, “They give shots here!” I guess she was trying to warn him. The parents seemed embarrassed, but I said it was ok and I already talked to Evan about the shot. I decided to have Evan go first. He did very well. He just whined a little, but was easily calmed down when the nurse offered him a sticker. Noah did well too and only cried for a few seconds.

After the shots, we went to Target to return something. We walked around the store. Evan loves walking in Target. I ended buying Evan some Spiderman tennis shoes. He really needed another pair of shoes. He only had one pair that fit him. They had light up Spiderman shoes that just happened to fit him.

After Target we came home and ate lunch. While I was getting lunch ready I put Noah on the floor and he actually crawled a little. It was more like an army crawl, but he was actually moving forward. We put up a video on YouTube. It should show up at the bottom of this page. We also added a video from Halloween of Evan looking at the candy in the candy bowl.

Blanca came at 1:45. I signed up for a focus group study about cleaning supplies from 2-4 today. I met 2 interviewers at HEB to talk about what products I used and how I clean the house. We talked for a little bit then we went down the cleaning aisle and picked a few items for me to try at home. We went back to our house. I showed them what cleaning products I typically use and did a few cleaning demonstrations of how I use them. I got paid $200 for those 2 hours. Good deal, huh?

Tonight I’m going out for a girl’s night. Alissa, Yenis, and I are going to Speakeasy (a bar downtown). It has been a very long time since I’ve had a girl’s night out. I’m looking forward to it. The Brew (salsa band) will be playing.

Election Day

Evan actually fell asleep in his bed last night. Usually he falls asleep on the floor at the gate and then Morry moves him when we go to bed. Last night he stayed in his bed. I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Noah woke up just once around 3am and I gave him his pacifier and he fell back asleep.

Both Evan and Noah woke up around 8am. We walked Evan to school and then got back just in time for the cleaning lady.

I usually do most of the cleaning, but our house really needed a good cleaning so we hired someone. I just don’t have the time to do a good cleaning and I don’t really know how to clean either. I never know what products to use or how to use them best. Do you use a sponge or a paper towel? How wet are you supposed to get the floor when you mop? Anyway, 2 people came (the main lady and a helper) and they did a pretty good job. I would definitely have them come back maybe once a month or so.

Noah and I went to the bank and then HEB before picking Evan up from school. Evan didn’t finish all of his lunch, so on the way home he opened up his lunch box and ate more of his lunch in the car.

Evan napped in his bed again. Yea! Let’s hope this continues.

I tutored 2 students today. I was supposed to have a 3rd, but she came home sick.

We made pork tenderloin and potatoes for dinner and then took a short walk.

It’s an exciting night. Morry keeps running back and forth to the computer to check election results. We’ll see what happens.

Evan changed his diaper

This morning when I went to Evan’s room he was at the gate with no pants or diaper on. He told me he took his diaper off. I looked around his room, but didn’t see it. I asked Evan where it was and he told me he threw it away in the diaper champ. At least it was just a pee diaper.

I went for a run/walk with the boys and Lizzy this morning and then we played in the front yard for a little bit.

Evan and Noah took good naps today. Evan actually napped in his bed (not at his gate). He must have been pretty tired. We had Asian pasta and chicken and stars soup for dinner.

I tutored one student tonight and got back around 9.

Tonight is a football night. Morry is upstairs watching the Steelers.

Evan and Noah are in bed now and quiet. Let’s hope for a good night. Last night was a lot better, by the way. We gave Noah gas drops before bed and that really helped him sleep. He slept until around 7am. Much better than the night before.

Classifieds

Free to good home: A 7-month old little boy who is as cute as can be with big blue eyes and a wonderful smile. He comes with one problem: He suddenly is having issues sleeping through the night. Last night, at 1am, he woke up from sleeping and began to cry and cry. We tried to let him cry it out but he just worked himself up into a greater frenzy. So we brought him into our bed and sat him up and he was as happy as can be. He just sat there playing with the remote control, cooing and smiling. Finally at 2am, we tried to put him back down again and he went back to sleep...

Until just before 5am (well 6am, but the time changed). The same thing happened. He screamed and cried until we brought him into our room. We put him in the exersaucer and he had a great time. As soon as I tried to put him back in his crib, he started to scream again. I rocked him and he fell asleep and I put him down in the crib and as soon as his body hit the mattress, he started to cry. I ended up rocking him for another 20 minutes and was able to put him back down...around 6:10am.

Oh, by the way, this is Morry again. Yes, two posts in the last 3 days. All of our readers should feel honored.

Once the day really started, we went for a walk to the elementary school. There's a dirt field next to a playground on the school property. Evan did not want to play on the playground, he just wanted to run back and forth the dirt field. He'd pick up a rock and throw it and yell "Home Run!!" and then run around as if he was touching each base - except he was running the wrong way around the bases. He and I raced a bunch (He won every time). Then we found a kickball. Evan just loved kicking the ball and running after it. I think he may have a future in soccer actually.

We got home and has some lunch. Noah, exhausted from having been up all night, fell asleep in his high chair. Evan spent much of lunch "reading the newspaper". Actually, he was just deep into the Toys R Us ad.

We then went to Ben's birthday party. Alissa and Matt threw a very nice birthday party for Ben. The boys ran around playing football and then everyone participated in a scavenger hunt. Somehow I ended up looking for all of the stuff, while Evan walked away.

After the party, we came home for naps, and then went back to Alissa and Matt's house for dinner. Evan was very excited to play with Ben's GeoTrax and only ate his yogurt. When we had to leave, he cried. He really loves all the toys that Ben and Molly have.

Now, both boys are in bed and they both are quiet. Hopefully, Noah is able to sleep through the night tonight.

Uh oh, I hear Noah! I wonder how much the La Quinta Inn down the road costs...

Sleepless in Austin

I don’t know what Noah’s problem is. He kept us up all last night. He woke up just about every hour crying. We tried everything. He had a 101 temperature during the middle of the night, but this morning had no fever. So, we’ve been pretty tired today. It was a hard night.

We decided to walk around the Barton Creek greenbelt. Morry and I had never brought the kids there and it had been a while since either of us had been. The weather is beautiful today and we wanted to do something outside. By the time we left the house it was about 12:30.

We took Lizzy and the boys to the hiking trail. Evan walked and Morry had Noah in the baby backpack. Evan had a great time and wanted to stop and touch everything. Noah liked being outside and slept some of the time in the backpack. Evan walked almost the whole time except for the very end when I carried him to the car. On the way home we stopped at go smoothies at Jamba Juice. Normally what I do at Jamba Juice is get a medium sized smoothie and have them put some of mine in a kid’s size cup for Evan. This time, I guess they misunderstood and they split the smoothie evenly in 2 small cups. We thought that was a lot for Evan, but he had no problem finishing it.

For dinner we went to Alborz (Persian). We go pretty often since Evan usually does well there and likes the food. Morry and I got the buffet and when Morry was up getting his food Evan asked me where he was. I pointed to Morry and Evan yelled, “Hi Daddy. Daddy, Hi.” Evan ate lots of tabouli. At one point we noticed Evan was wiping his nose on the bottom of the table cloth that was hanging down near him. We told him not to do that. Then he lifted up the tablecloth and said, “Look at the booger.” It was hard for Morry and me not to laugh.

After dinner we stopped at Target to get a present for Ben’s birthday party tomorrow. Evan loves Target. Morry thinks Evan touched every single item they had at target. We got a few things for Noah like formula and pacifiers. Noah’s pacifiers seem to disappear around the house. The problem is that they are rubbery and bounce really far whenever dropped. We also got some candy (Morry’s idea) since all the Halloween candy was 50% off.









Last night Morry sorted Evan's candy (something Morry does every Halloween). He says that way you can see what you got better. Evan did pretty well. :)