Shmevan

This morning Noah was in a good mood and I had to problems taking him to school. He was happy to see me at pick up.  He and Cole made a dragon out of a box.  I'm guessing for the Chinese New Year?

Gabby came over and took Noah to get Evan. 

I tutored just one student today.

When I got home I took the kids in the cul-de-sac for a little bit.  Evan played basketball and Noah rode his scooter.  When we got home the boys played outside in the backyard.

Shmevan made an appearance today.  All of the sudden Evan got real cranky this afternoon and remained cranky the rest of the day.   He was complaining about everything.  That's really not like him.

For dinner we had grilled chicken.

After dinner we gave the boys showers and Noah insisted on giving Lizzy a shower too.  So, we washed Lizzy and then got the boys cleaned.

Both boys are in their rooms now. We are wiped out.

Shmevan at Newflower

This morning the boys got up super early. Both were up when Morry left the house before 7am.

Later in the morning we went to Newflower. Evan was really acting out there. They have a car cart there and the boys climbed in. It just happened that Noah got the side with the steering wheel. Evan was really upset and starting fighting with Noah. He wasn’t listening to me and didn’t want to wait for his turn. Evan was being so bad, I had to pull him out of the cart. Then he started screaming and kicking things the rest of our shopping trip. I had to hurry up and only get the things I absolutely needed for tonight. It was really embarrassing.

When we got home the boys played outside while I got lunch and dinner started. For lunch I made applesauce (recipe from cooking class). Neither boy ate it. Evan wouldn’t even try it. I put together some other things for them for lunch and Evan hardly ate anything. I also made carrots and beets salad (cooking class recipe) and stuffed peppers for dinner. I made extra peppers so that we could freeze them and have them later. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen. The only time I sat down was for just a few minutes to quickly eat lunch.

Noah didn’t nap.

Gabby came at 3:45.

I tutored and got home around 7pm.

We ate dinner and then put the boys to bed.

Shmevan and Tutoring

Evan and Noah slept late this morning. Evan woke up around 8:30 and Noah got up about 9:30. For some reason Evan gave me a hard time getting ready for school today. He was fighting everything. I had tutoring at 10am and needed to leave the house. Gabby came at 9:30 and then plan was to leave right then, but Evan wasn’t ready.

I had to struggle with Evan getting out of the car to go to school. It was raining and he didn’t want to get out of the car. He said he didn’t want to get his hair wet. Between all of this and the weather I was a little late to tutoring.

After tutoring I went to Target, the bank, and Postmark’d.

I got home about 1:00. I got the laundry started and made my lunch. Then Noah and I left to pick up Evan. Evan was in a good mood when we picked him up from school.

When we got home Noah took a nap. I ate my lunch and Evan watched TV.

For dinner we made pasta. I put veggies in with mine. Morry and the boys just had butter and salt with theirs.

After dinner we made cookies (from refrigerated cookie dough). Morry and the boys are cleaning up now and then we are going to put them to bed.

Shmevan showed up

Shmevan showed up this morning. I don’t know where he came from. Every Thursday during the summer at Evan’s school they have water day. When I tried to get his swim suit and sunscreen on he threw a fit and it escalated from there. I barely got him strapped into the car seat. I had to pry him off my leg when I was leaving his classroom. I’m not sure what the deal was, but the rest of the day he was ok.

I dropped Noah off at Alena’s house and came home for a little bit.

I tutored from 11 -12.

I was planning on bike riding to pick up the boys, but it started raining.

I drove to pick up Evan and then we went to Alena’s house. We hung out there for a little while and then I brought the boys home.

Noah napped and Evan watched TV.

For dinner we made a frozen Chinese dinner I got today in the mail (packed in dry ice) for the blog. It was quick and easy.

Morry and I folded a ton of laundry today. We had 3 baskets piled high.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed, but they are both still awake.

Shmevan pays another visit

This morning we didn’t get to school until about 10am. Evan threw another fit and again I had to take him to school in his pajamas. He told me he was sick and didn’t want to get anyone else sick. He kept crying that he didn’t want to go to school. I took his temperature and it was normal. I was barely able to get Evan buckled in his car seat. When we got to school I had to run to drop Noah off and then come back to the car to get Evan out. He was kicking and screaming. In the classroom both Evan and Noah were crying. I think Noah was just reacting to Evan and wanted me to hold him, but I was trying to deal with Evan. They had to get the director of the school to come in and help. It was really embarrassing. Noah and I tried to get out the door once, but Evan ran after us. A second time, Noah and I were able to get in the hallway while Evan stayed in the room. We hung out in the hallway for a while until Evan’s teacher told us Evan had calmed down some.

The plan was to celebrate Evan’s birthday at school today. I told him that, but he still didn’t want to go to school.

After dropping Evan off at school Noah and I went to HEB to get groceries and cupcakes for Evan’s birthday. By the time I got home and put the groceries it was time to go back to Evan’s school.

Morry met us at school. Evan was in a good mood when we got there and enjoyed having everyone sing to him. Both Evan and Noah only ate the icing off the cupcakes. We stayed for a little while at school and then I had Morry help me get both boys into the car.

When we got home Evan and Noah played outside while I was finally able to make myself something to eat. I was hungry after dealing with everything this morning and not having had anything to eat yet.

This morning really wore me out and I took a nap while Noah napped and Evan played in the game room.

For dinner we had burritos and made extra for dinner tomorrow night.

After dinner we cleaned up and folded laundry while the boys played.

We just gave Evan and Noah showers and put them to bed. I’m hoping tomorrow will be better than today.

Difficult Boys

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

When Evan was a baby and he would cry all the time, we'd say it was his evil twin brother, Shmevan, who was doing all the crying. Whenever Evan would be bad, as he got older, we'd say, it was Shmevan being bad. Since Noah was an amazingly well behaved baby, we never invented Noah's alter ego. I think, though, it may be time to do that. I think Noah's evil twin, Shmoah, has been spending time at the house with us recently.

Shmoah started last night waking up twice in the middle of the night. I couldn't just give him his pacifier to calm him down. He wanted me to pick him up. As soon as I'd put him back down again, he'd cry. I changed his diaper, gave him Tylenol, rocked him, give him his pacifier. I put his crib mattress on an incline, since he's a bit congested, by putting a pillow under the mattress on one side. Eventually, both times, I just let him cry it out.

Evan got up early. Rachel kept sending him away. Eventually, he ended up getting his own Special K bar and then Rachel put on a movie for him. Then Rachel texted Blanca to see if she was available to watch the kids in the morning, but she wasn't.

When we got up, we got them dressed and then took them to McDonald's for lunch. They were both really well-behaved there. While we were ordering, they were running around a bit, but they kept hugging. It was really cute. After lunch, they played on the playground there.

Then we went to Newflower to get some produce. The boys were good there as well and they got brownies. From there we went to PetCo and got food for Lizzy and litter for Mottel. The boys love seeing all the animals. Noah, excuse me, Shmoah, threw a fit as we left and passed by the dogs up for adoption and I wouldn't stop to see them. Keep in mind that he had already spent time with them.

We got home and the boys went down for naps and I watched the Steelers game. Noah got up at half time and was very good. But when Evan came down he started misbehaving. Evan wanted to play with my iPhone and Noah wanted to play. I said they had to take turns and Noah started to cry. When it was Noah's turn, he was happy but as soon as it was Evan's turn, Noah threw a major hissy fit. He twice hit Evan in the head, completely unprovoked. Eventually I had to say no one could play with it because Shmoah, would get so upset when it wasn't his turn. He was looking for things to throw or knock over.

The end of the game was amazing. The Steelers almost lost it but Mike Wallace's amazing catch with no time on the clock won it. It was amazing. For people who want to see this catch, here it is.

We ate dinner, Rachel made us pasta. Noah would alternate being very bad by throwing his food and then be incredibly cute, throwing his hands to his face over and over saying "Oy vey!"

They are in bed now. Evan has come out once.

The Return of Shmevan

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Evan shook me awake at 7:30. I'm glad he slept that long. I think he was pretty tired last night. Rachel said she'd take him down to get breakfast, but he insisted on me. I got him his breakfast and, as usual, got him set up watching a movie.

At 8:30, he returned to the room. He told me he was going to get dressed. He went to his room and picked out clothes and came back and got dressed. He's doing very well at getting dressed by himself. He's done it several times this week. Rachel took him downstairs and let me sleep.

I finally got up and went downstairs at 11am. Rachel and I had some chores to do in terms of cleaning up the house for her parents' visit. The boys were fairly well behaved in letting us get that done.

For lunch, we made pasta in the shapes of characters from the movie Cars. Evan, Noah and I each had some. Both boys ate very well. They each had fruit as well.

A little while later, Grandma and Papa arrived. Evan, Noah and Lizzy were all very excited. Grandma and Papa took everyone upstairs. I don't know what was going on up there but it sounded wild. Lots of laughter and shrieks coming from Evan and Noah. When I went up, Papa was pitching the koosh ball to Evan who had a small plastic bat in his hands. He hit the ball one time but it barely went anywhere. He said he "got a piece of it." I guess Papa taught him that phrase. At one point, Papa did a big exaggerated wind up and "fell" and dropped the ball behind him. Evan laughed so hard that he stopped making a sound. He really enjoyed that.

Of course it was difficult getting them down for a nap after that. Noah only napped for a little while and Evan didn't nap at all.

I had to go meet Marcin to talk about some things so I wasn't home in the later part of the afternoon.

When I got home, we left for dinner at a new Mexican restaurant they opened up by the house called Santa Rita. The food was good but Evan was a big pain. In fact, we joked that Evan went into this room for the nap, but his evil twin, Shmevan, was the one that came out. He was definitely over tired. Noah ate ok, and was better than Evan in terms of behavior but he wasn't great.

After dinner, Papa and Grandma gave Evan and Noah baths while Rachel and I went to see the movie (500) Days of Summer. Evan threw a fit as we were leaving. He held on to me crying saying he didn't want me to go. It was really tough leaving him like that. But it's quiet now. Let's hope he wasn't upset for too long.

Until next time...

Shmevan

Well, today Shmevan, Evan’s evil twin, came to visit. He arrived uninvited and stayed until the evening.

Today was a tough day. Evan was really bad. I think he’s just overtired. This morning he kept hitting Noah. Evan spit juice all over the carpet. He wouldn’t stay in time out. We had plans to meet Yenis and Kevin at the mall, but if we hadn’t been meeting someone I wouldn’t have left the house with him like that. Evan was ok at the mall at first, but as soon as Kevin arrived, he was horrible. He was running around like a wild animal and wasn’t listening to me. I had to put Evan in time out in the stroller at one point. Evan threw a fit on the way out. He wanted Chick-Fil-A and a cookie, but I told him he did not behave well and couldn’t have it. I had to strap Evan down to the stroller to get him out of the mall. He was screaming. Noah was screaming. On the way out Evan kicked his shoes off. Not fun.

At home, Evan was not much fun either. Finally, he ate some lunch. He was bad again so this time I went upstairs and took his pacifier away.

I put the boys down for naps around 1pm. Noah slept. Evan screamed and cried until Blanca got here at 2:15. Evan wouldn’t even let Blanca in his room. He closed the gate on her. That’s unusual for him. Evan said wanted me and didn’t want Blanca. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I took his temperature. It was just barely high at 99 something. I thought about staying home, but Evan seemed to calm down a little and I left.

I tutored and went to the bookstore.

I got home around 6:00.

We had corned beef and potatoes for dinner.

After dinner Morry and Evan ran out to HEB to pick up Mottel’s medicine.

We put the boys to bed around 8:00

I just gave Lizzy a haircut on the upstairs porch.

Hopefully, Shmevan does not return tomorrow.