Living in Munchkinland

Can I just say how fun my kids are this week? Davis has been napping, and is in a good mood and hasn't tortured his brother (much) and has been loving and fun and full of conversation. He sang a song for me today that he made up. He played his belly like it was a guitar and told me, "This song is for YOU!". I'm in love. And Sam has been so vocal! He's talking and singing and playing the piano. And he hugs! He'll put both arms around your neck and squeeze and squeeze. He will also give wet kisses on the mouth and blow raspberries on your neck.

Saturday was Michael's birthday. He turned 36. It was a pretty low key birthday. The boys and I woke him up with kisses and presents and we had pancakes for breakfast. Later, we met Marchelle for lunch at Freddie's Place . Davis loves the playground there and we enjoyed a surprisingly cool midday breeze while sitting at the picnic table. Davis astounded Marchelle with his knowledge of his ABC's and counting. We read the chronicle and imagined what we would do if we were still childless. Then we went back to enjoying our children. ;) Saturday evening Michael chose to play video games on our big TV. From all the booming and gunshot noises downstairs, I think he had a pretty good time. We had plans to go to the hotsauce festival on Sunday, but it was REALLY hot, so we decided to take a mini road trip instead. We drove to Bastrop and explored the new Hyatt Lost Pines Resort . It was very, very nice and we hope to go stay there for a weekend away very soon. Sund...

We went to the First Annual Austin Ice Cream Festival this weekend. It was pretty fun. We got there right as it began and the skies opened and we got drenched. Then the sun came out and turned the whole park into a sauna. It was a very good thing that there was so much ice cream there. We toured the ice cream stands and we each picked a different vendor to try. Davis asked me a bite and I obliged, but he made a face and didn't ask me for another one. He just doesn't have a sweet tooth I guess. We saw some friends and listened to a really good children's band. Davis went into the petting zoo, but preferred to enjoy the animals from the safety of his father's arms. We got Davis' face painted and he looked awesome. We didn't stay as long as we wanted because the heat just became too much for us. Sammy started screaming in discomfort and my body was just aching all over. I gave Davis a mirror on the way back and he spent the whole car ride enjoying his ...

I’ve been having muscle/joint pain for years intermittently. I was tested for it once in college and was told it was stress and I was put on anti anxiety medication that didn’t work. Since then I’ve sucked it up and dealt with it. I pretty much assumed that everybody's bones and muscles hurt when they tried to relax in the evenings. The last month or so I’ve been wiped out tired. I’ve had mood swings, headaches. My weight loss has stepped up tremendously and I’ve shed ten more pounds. Then last week the muscle/joint pain got worse and worse and worse. Starting last Tuesday I could barely function. I was up all night cramped into a ball. I went to the doctor Wednesday for a round of tests. They’re guessing fibromyalgia. We’re going to test for the usual suspects like Lyme disease and Lupus mainly to rule them out. Then they’ll send me to a rheumatologist. I’m so bummed. I’m too busy to be sick. My plate is already full thank you very much. The good news is that the m...

Today we were in the car driving home from playdate and both boys were hot and tired and hungry. Davis started this loud, temper tantrum, crying session. Then Sam started crying. Davis stopped crying, leaned over to Sam's carseat and yelled, "NO, Sammy! Don't cry. I'M crying. Not you. I need you to hush now." Sam stopped crying, and Davis immediately went back into the temper tantrum, crying session as though there had been no interruption. There is no end to the tyranny around here.

This parenting gig is hard. You usually get the glass half full perspective. For instance, I could say that today we went to the park with our good friends and rode the train and fed the birds. I could tell you that I got my hair cut and that it looks great. And that would be true. I could blog about it and leave it at that. But that would be leaving out the other 98% of the day that just sucked. How can I describe it to you? I can't. It would be tedious for you to hear me recite each tiny thing all day that occurs. But just imagine something you do easily each day, like go to the bathroom. Now imagine that you have to go, but first you have to feed the children and turn on a movie and feed the dog and clean the kitchen and then you rush off to the bathroom only to be followed by a screaming toddler and a screaming crawler. You get there and sit down while the crawler pulls up on your legs and sticks his hands where they don't belong and the toddler pulls all the pap...

Davis is at school today. He started his two morning a week program this morning at our neighborhood child care center. I love his school. The sent home a 20 page packet to be filled out and did a home visit and everything. We went to open house last Friday and Davis has been talking about school ever since. Each morning I ask him what he would like to do that day and he tells me, "Go to school! And play with trucks! And make them go fast on the slide!", because that's what he did at the open house. Drop off time is half an hour past when Sammy usually goes down for his nap, so I showed up this morning with a fussy baby about five minutes early in the hopes that I could drop Davis off and rush home to put Sam down. Davis rushed in and ran straight for the trucks. I dropped off the large bag of school supplies, (yes! school supplies for my two year old!) and called out to Davis to tell him I was leaving. I got no response. Just loud zooming noises from behind t...