Busy Wednesday!

Busy is my middle name now, but today was particularly insane. I have my neice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday almost every week, so she was here bright and early today. She is 8 months old and a cute little redhead!

She's normally very happy and talkative and LOVES to be right in the middle of whatever the boys are doing! Today however she was not her normal self because she was teething like there was no tomorrow. Finally I had the epiphany that I should maybe give her some tylenol because it was obvious she was in some pain and it was like a miracle. She was back to her happy go lucky self in minutes. I know it hasn't been that long since the boys have had bad teething pain but it's amazing how quickly things like that leave your brain to think to do. I definately will not make that mistake again!

We also had a play date with friends of ours, Lori and Leah. They came over to play around 10 or so, and we had a really great time. I always like it when Leah comes over because it's fun to have a little girl around. I'm positive that Hannah is going to be really close with the boys as she grows older. Already they really like one another. So playing with Leah is like a look into the future with Hannah. Girls are so different and so fun.

Lori and Leah left when the boys got sleepy, and Lysander and Hannah ended up taking a nap at the same time. Isaac on the other hand wanted some alone mama time. He decided he wanted to "flay" with cars. Then we got the batcave out and played "eros". He is a constant source of chatter. He will tell you who all the heros are, who the cars are, what colors they are, what they are doing, and he if doesn't know what something is, he will ask and ask and ask until he gets a sufficient answer. It was nice to have some time just him and me.

We also had speech therapy today for Lysander. Thankfully, Lysander really enjoys going to speech therapy and we have a wonderful speech therapist, whose name also happens to be Hannah! I think there are a couple of reasons that he likes going. First and foremost he really enjoys getting to go for a ride in the truck all by himself. I think he feels like it's a special trip since it's just him going. Hannah really knows how to draw things out of him. He is so smart it's scary sometimes so it's frustrating that his speech is delayed. Luckily so far that is all Hannah thinks is wrong. He doesn't have a huge interest in learning to speak so he is just stubbourn about it. We have seen so much progress in his speech though. He tries now to repeat words when we ask him too and he even does it on his own without being asked to now. It's not clear, and that's still a concern, but it's getting better. There is a sensory room in the building, and Lysander loves to go in there and play. He talks up a storm when we go in that room. Of course he doesn't use it for anything but play, still, it's really fun. I even liked it.

When we got home Isaac had just woken up from  his nap and was really upset because I wasn't there when he woke up. He is having some seperation anxiety from me, which I can't figure out. It started around the time Grover left, but I'm not sure it's directly related. Maybe he's just going through a phase. It breaks my heart though, and it doesn't particularly make the people who are watching him feel very good. He loves his Gigi and Aunt Rae very much and has never had a problem being left before so it's a bit disheartening.

To top all that craziness off, it SNOWED earlier today and I am so tired of Winter. March 30th is very close to APRIL and I'd love to be able to work out in the yard and long for the day that we can play outside for hours and the boys will be so tired at night that they will go right to sleep! All I have to say is Mother Nature needs to get her $%*! together!!!

Sunday Funday~ Playhouse!

The above photo is my first experience of seriously needed two pairs of adult hands and having to make due with one. My mom and step dad got this for the boys for Christmas. I was saving it for when GJ was gone and we were going stir crazy in the house, and today was the perfect day. It was sunny but cold as all get out, so when they started begging me to go outside, I broke it out.
It's as big as it looks. Lysander can stand up inside of it. It's all black and white because the point of it is to color it as well as play in it.

You can see that I was coloring and the boys felt my coloring left something to be desired so they added their own flavor to it. The coloring was fun, but by far the best part about the play house is PLAYING in it!

I don't know how long this playhouse will last. After all it's cardboard and the boys are rough little ones. I hope it will at least last the week, so we can get some more coloring in on it and take some more pictures! It will be fun while it lasts, that is for sure!

Other than the playhouse, I spent the day organizing our house. It was pretty much a disaster area from the past two weeks of me not feeling very well. I feel much better now that the downstairs is decluttered. I have some sort of illness that I can not fully relax until my house looks nice. I have been trying to implement a "one step at a time" attitude lately. If I get one project done a day, I try to focus on that accomplishment, rather than the 180 million other things still left on my to do list. I've found it's best to not make myself feel overwhelmed. If I'm just whelmed I can do things like say complete sentences that make sense. :)

So tomorrow is Monday and more things to do await me, but right now I will go to bed with the satisfaction that today was definately a success!!!

The Petites.... Lysander and Isaac

This picture was taken in October of 2010, so it's a little outdated, but it is one of my favorite pictures of the boys. On this particular day I was at a Colts game with my best friend and the boys were at home with Grover watching the game. I believe that shortly after this was taken Isaac became overwhelmed by all the excitement and pop corn and had to take a nap!
Obviously, as I am a stay at home mom, most of what I have to talk about are the boys, or as I refer to them often, the petites. Petite 1 is Lysander, he is three years old and a very active, very loving, very stubborn little kid. His speech has been fairly delayed and we go to speech therapy once a week. However, if he feels strongly about something, he definitely still gets his point across! Petite 2 is Isaac, he is two years old (they are 15 1/2 months apart), and he always wants to be the center of attention. If he does not some day win an Oscar I will have failed as a mother. He can be very dramatic, but he is also so loving, and definitely knows how to use his cuteness to his advantage.
It is amazing how fast the second child develops by watching their older sibling. Isaac is very far along compared to where Lysander was at his age. I do think that they have ended up feeding off of each other with their growth and development. If Lysander is doing something Isaac is right behind him wanting to do the same thing and vice verse. The blessing I have found in having them so close together is that at this age they always have someone to play with, and they want to play with each other. They may not always feel that way, I'm sure they'll go through phases later on in life where they want to gain independence from each other. But for now it is really helpful for me that when I need to be doing other things they automatically focus in on playing with each other and do not always need me to be right there with them. Of course sometimes when I want to play and they want nothing to do with me, it kind of bums me out!
When Grover left for basic training and AIT, he was gone for 6 months, and at the time it was the longest we had ever been seperated. I was devastated at the beginning(partially due to hormones as I was three months pregnant); I felt so lonely. Of course I had my friends and my family, but there is no one who can take the place of your spouse. Still, no one can take his place, but every time he's left since then I've had Lysander and then of course Isaac, and I know how much of a difference they make to me. I know that I am here to raise them, care for them, and try to make up for daddy's absence... but with out even knowing they are doing it, they make it easier to get through the seperation. The petites are an adventure every day, and one I am eternally grateful for. :)

Beginning

Blogging has been around for quite some time now. I decided to start doing it at this point in my online life because Grover, my husband, is deploying to Iraq for a year. I want to create something that I do every day to help him feel that he's not missing anything in our lives. If days go by and we don't get to talk, or he calls in the middle of the night and I'm half asleep, it will be nice for him to be able to see this and know that I've put in all the important details. I also think it will be nice for us to someday look back on and remember how this first deployment experience felt. Everyone else is more than welcome to read the blog, because I think it will also be a nice way for extended family to keep up with us if they wish. I can only imagine that if I do this daily some of what I say will be incredibly boring as not every day in the Smith household is full of thrill and excitement. :) Hopefully I get better at it as I go and find interesting things to do and to write about.
And away we go!