When I Grow Up...

Liam has declared, on separate occasions, the following things about his life as an adult:

"When I'm big I'll drive a motorcycle and you can sit on the back and hang on tight. We'll go to Starbucks for coffee and drink it there because you can't drink and drive with a motorcycle. I'm going to drink coffee when I grow up."

"When I'm older I want a convertable. So I can drive it with the top down with other people and with the top on in the winter. I still want a motorcycle."

"When I grow up I don't want a job like Daddy. I want to stay home and play and go to your house and take you out to coffee."

"I don't want kids when I grow up. And if I can't marry you then I don't want to get married."

Quinn, on separate occasions, has declared the following:

"I hope I find someone to marry when I'm in college."

"I think I'm going to be an astronaut. Maybe. I'd like a job like Daddy has where I can come home, cook dinner, play with the babies."

"When I get a car of my own I want a van like yours, Mom. Only blue. Well, when I'm old enough can you just give me your van and then I don't have to use any of my money? I can drive lots of kids around in it."

"I don't know how many kids I'll have. That's up to whoever it is I find to marry me."

Night and day these two. Night and day.

I Get it!

I've learned this past year to let go of my own inhibitions about team sports. I never liked them. I was never good at them. I didn't like trying out - not making the team, etc. I found my place with music - everyone wins - everyone participates - everyone (usually) has fun. Even if you're not the best player in the band - your part is still important. You are part of a group and you all need to work together to accomplish something great.

So between my past relationship with sports and Quinn's feet issues I was very leery about signing him up for any team sports. And then his Physical Education teacher suggested it. As she put it, "at this age - everyone plays and they really try to make it fun. Any experience he can get running with his friends will help him break into a true run eventually."

So - Quinn's played basketball, soccer, and tee ball this past year. And he's loved every single sport. If you ask him what his favorite is - it's whatever he's playing at the time. We're just finishing up a tee ball season - where I signed both Quinn and Liam up to play together.

I get it now. The boys love it. They cheer each other on. They pay attention to the game (most of the time). They know the rules. They've improved with catching and throwing. They respect their coaches. And they look adorable.

Quinn's also taking piano lessons and it got me thinking. Why are we doing this? I have no dreams/hopes of him becoming a professional musician/rock star. I believe most parents have their children participate in a musical activity to encourage a love and appreciation of music. By participating and not just observing you feel a deeper connection to the music.

And it hit me. Why not give my kids the same experience with sports? I don't believe either one of them will go on to play professionally - or even in college (well, maybe Liam, but that's another blog post in itself). I can expose them to a variety of sports and allow them to build a deeper connection with each through participation and not observation. It'll work for now - as the games aren't competitive and everyone makes the team. We'll see what happens when they're older. But I've put my own fear about not being good enough to play aside and I've allowed them to determine what they feel comfortable trying.

One Winter Day

Mornings Before School

After a month of getting everyone ready to go in the mornings I'm finding myself enjoy this time. I pack the lunches the night before, Mike feeds the kids their breakfast while I shower and then says goodbye, Quinn gets himself dressed and "brushed" (his way to say he brushed his hair and teeth), but most importantly - this is the time of day when my two boys play the best together. Most mornings they have a good hour to play together before we need to leave - they can either be found playing chess (Quinn's trying to teach Liam), Wipe-Out (jumping on the couch cushions), or just dancing around on Liam's bed. This playtime gives me plenty of time to empty the dishwasher and straighten up the kitchen before we go. It's been working wonderfully and I'm sure now that I've typed this up tomorrow will tell a different story all together.

The Library

I took the boys to the library today. Which is really nothing out of the ordinary.

They each finished their summer reading logs - logging in over 15 hours of reading. I'm pretty sure we've read way more than that, but I always forget to give them the stickers to add to the charts and they usually forget to remind me.

Anyway, I took the boys to the library today. Which is really nothing out of the ordinary.

Except. I was looking for a few books for myself - not just browsing - I had a list (Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and something by Philipa McGregory).

Anyway, I was looking for a few books for myself and the boys were actually being pretty well behaved. In each aisle I spent time looking the boys would each find one of the little step stools provided and stand up on the top step and just sort of hang out. Perfect. They weren't bothering anybody, they weren't yelling at or pushing each other - they were just sort of hanging out.

Except my younger one - he doesn't just hang out. Quinn says to me, "hey, mom - watch this," so I look over at him to see him start to climb. "No way, put your foot down." I look past Quinn over at Liam. And Liam's step stool is empty - because he's up on the shelf.

I am not even kidding. He climbed up two shelves. From the step stool.

Thank goodness nobody else saw that - I wouldn't want to be banned from the library.

Oh right, and thank goodness the kid didn't get hurt.

Happy Hannukah!

Although, we don't celebrate Hannukah over here at the Tub - Quinn and Liam have put together a special dance to wish you all a Happy Hannukah.

Be sure to turn your volume up!

That song is from my favorite Christmas album, or I suppose I should say Holiday album, Barenaked for the Holidays.

Happy Monday from the boys...

Our Halloween Day

I got home from work (where we had two really good parties!) around 3:30ish. And right away Quinn, Liam, and I headed out for some trick-or-treating while Mike stayed home and handed out candy.


After a few houses I thought we'd go drop off Liam and head out for more.
But first we needed to grab a few pictures of the boys. We got Liam to sit there by giving him chocolate.
Later we found out that Liam is, in fact, allergic, or sensitive to, chocolate - he now has a horrible diaper rash. After the pictures Quinn and I ditched Liam and went out for more CANDY! About an hour later we came home, I put Liam to bed, had some dinner, and Mike sat outside with Quinn waiting for more trick or treaters.
I could hear Mike telling the spooky stores and singing spooky songs. "Who has my golden arm? Who has my golden arm?" and "There was an old woman all skin and bones...."

All in all it was a great day - perfect weather, work wasn't too crazy - in fact - everything would have been perfect had I not felt like crap all day. I was feeling better (or doped up on pain medicine) after work, which is why I took the boys trick-or-treating. But then, I sat down while Quinn was outside and it hit me. My face hurts, my nose won't stop running, I keep sneezing, and of course the skin on my nose is all dried up from all the blowing. I called the doc. today, they sent in a prescription, but by the time I dragged myself to the pharmacy it was closed! Argh! Oh - but more good news - we went to some Halloween stores this morning looking for discounted costumes - and I got the best clown costume ever! So cute! I can't wait until next year!

From the Archives: Brothers

First posted on: July 3, 2007

Liam, meet Quinn. Quinn, Liam.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And Liam wants to know if he can have another drink?

Weekly Winners Seventh Edition

Splash!

Did you see that, Mom?

Totally Kissable


Hello

What's Up???
Joy!

Slim pickings this week, so a few are from the same "photo session."

Thanks to Lotus for hosting and enjoy the show!

Boys

For more Wordless Wednesday go here, here, here, or even here.

Weekly Winners Fourth Edition

Funny Face Liam

Saturday Morning Bed Head

My View: 7pm

Galobki

Delicious

My favorite flower
Blue Eyes, Red Cheeks, Big Smiles

For more weekly winners go here.

Adjustments

I really love the school I work at - and the position I'm in there. I teach "regular" ed. preschool - parents pay tuition for the program, but it's housed in a public school, which means I get all the benefits a regular teacher does (except for some, because I'm part time). The thing I love the most is the relationships I've built with many of the parents. Most of the kids in my class are younger siblings of kids I've had in the past - so for the past seven years I've been seeing some of the same parents again and again. Anyway, I just finished up parent/teacher conferences and was asked by many of the parents (who I could easily be friends with if I wasn't their child's teacher) how I was adjusting to having two instead of one (kids).

So - how am I adjusting??? It's been a pretty easy school year, since my mom is coming to our house to watch the kids. I haven't had to pack up bags for the two of them and load them into the car to get to the babysitter's house - so that's been easy. I think the most difficult thing with having two is their own sleep issues. If Quinn decides to sleep past 6am on the weekends Liam is up by 6:15. If Liam decides to sleep through his early morning feeding, Quinn is up by 5:30. If Quinn decides to take a nice long afternoon nap, Liam decides 40 minutes is long enough for him. I feel as though all the stars need to be in perfect alignment for the two of them to both have a good nap or a good morning. Luckily, they both go to bed pretty easily - but when I'm home alone at night it's just so tiring getting them both ready. First Liam takes about 30 minutes to nurse/wind down, then I play with Quinn for a bit, then he takes about 30 minutes to have some milk, read books, brush teeth, and wind down.

It's unbelievable to me just how much I love them both. Quinn is amazing with all his new phrases, ideas, and imaginition. Liam has started to army crawl (real fast) and loves to make us laugh. And the two of them together just push my heart to the extreme. I never knew I could feel so much love while watching two kids play together. So, I'll take this difficult adjustment with sleep issues and what not - for moments like this:

The Perfect Puzzle Pair

First, Quinn works really hard at putting together almost all of his puzzles.

He's always so proud.

And then this one works really hard to take them apart. Liam started figuring out an army crawl not even a week ago. I said to Mike, "Looks like we have two weeks until we're in trouble." Uh yeah. More like three days - this baby can move fast! And he gets right to work taking apart the numerous puzzles.

Liam is always so proud of his work. He thinks this arrangement is a really good idea.


Quinn doesn't think it's such a good arrangement and will often watch in disgust from the couch as his hard work is torn apart.

******

And a special hello to anyone joining me from Playgroups... Thank you to Jennifer for honoring me as the Site of the Week. With all that pressure I only went through and wrote 4 different post ideas for today until I finally said - forget it - and posted what I was going to post before I knew I might be getting new traffic. I did run the spell check, which I don't normally do, so lucky you!

*****

Now What?

Both boys are still sleeping. It's been 90 minutes for Liam (a miracle) and an hour for Quinn (pretty normal). I've switched the laundry, cleaned the living room, sorted through some toys of Quinn's (good bye happy meal toys), and checked up in the blog world. I'd like to go lay down now for a short little nap myself, but I know, I know, one of them will wake up the minute I get comfy and cozy in my bed.
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Right as I clicked the laptop shut, Liam started cooing, let me know he was ready to get up. And as I was changing his diaper - Quinn came smiling into the room. That's okay, though. The boys had a quick snack (popcycle for Quinn - milk for Liam) and we headed out to "The Castle" - think Chuck E. Cheese's - just not as well known.
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Like the stars? I stole that idea from Jennifer. She uses them within one post when switching topics. I like it. I'll be using it to, unless of course, I receive a notification of copyright infringement.
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This morning we took the boys to Picture People to have Liam's 6 month pictures taken and a few of the two of them all dressed up for Christmas. I just got back from viewing the pictures and they turned out way better than I thought. Liam really still does not like new situations and was very stingy with his smiles. But, unlike his 3-month pictures, where he gave no good smiles and plenty of cries - this time he had a large variety of expressions - from a goofy tongue smile to a full out cry and every expression inbetween. I was able to pick a few good ones - and speaking of picking - little Liam had a little bugger that was so obvious in all the close ups - I paid an extra $5 to have them fix it up on the close up print, but now when I look at the other I swear I can see it, but Mike thinks I'm nuts.
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When I blog at night I tend to ramble, so I think it's best if I just say Good Night to you all.

Who Cares That They Lost?

For more pictures go here.

Tickle Tickle Tickle

The answer to, "How does Quinn like his new brother?"

Happy Friday Y'All

One Buzz Light Year and One Lost Sheep

Mike and I dressed up also.

Woody and Little Bo Peep.

Dorky? Yes.

Fun? Yes.

Tomorrow's Friday!

I probably won't have time to do this later - and I know I won't have time to do this tomorrow.

So - Happy Friday Y'All!

Grandpa Tim - cancer free and with his boys!

What more do you need to smile about?