Happy Birthday Uncle Matt

Uncle Matt turned 30 today. He's really old now. Or as Roo would say, that's a lot! When we were planning his birthday party I asked each of the boys what they wanted to get him. Bug's response was simply, cake. Roo said, all the toys and cars I want to get him. And I asked about whether we should get him cooking stuff too, and Roo said, yes, all the cooking stuff I want to get him.

We had a good time at his Oktoberfest party at Aunt Linda's house yesterday. Roo and I went and Daddy stayed home with a sick Bug. All the food was really good and Roo didn't want to leave when it was time to go. He was having too much fun either wrestling with his cousin Josh or showing cousin Rebecca how to use the Leapster.

Happy 30th Birthday Uncle Matt!

Mom of the Year-NOT!

Yesterday Bug and I were at Wegman's doing our weekly grocery shopping and getting everything we needed for Uncle Matt's Oktoberfest birthday party. Bug is my grocery shopping buddy, he's a lot of fun to bring along and is usually really good the entire shopping trip. He always gets something when he comes with me and we just have a nice time together. Bug usually likes to spend a portion of the shopping trip in the lower basket of the cart before he moves to the seat by where I'm pushing the cart where he'll usually lay his head down and rest.

Yesterday he was trying something new and was stacking his yogurts in the bottom portion of the cart while he was sitting there. He was very excited about his stacking and so was I. As we were walking down the beer isle to find the Paulner Oktoberfest for Uncle Matt, Bug stood up in the cart. I immediately told him to sit and stopped the cart to go over to sit him down. Before I even stepped to the side to go to him, he flipped off the back of the cart and landed head first on the back of his head on the floor. It was horrible.

A Wegman's employee witnessed the whole thing and rushed over to help me. Luckily, Bug didn't even have a bump. He was definitely not at all happy about it and I was able to calm him down by tucking him into my shoulder and holding him closely and snugly. The store took an accident report and gave us ice and asked if there was anything else we needed. Bug wouldn't let me put the ice on his head or even touch it and kept asking to go home. I asked them if I could pick up my groceries later and they stored my cart in the beer fridge.

I called Daddy on the way home to tell him what happened and started to cry. Bug said not to cry and said "I am so sorry."

When we got home, Bug walked up the stairs and happily told Daddy that he banged his head on the floor. After Daddy checked him out, he was super excited to tell Roo what happened. He told Roo and Roo told him "don't worry, I'll take you to the hospital whenever you want." These boys are a riot. I felt like puking the whole time because it was just such a terrible fall and I kept reliving it in my head.

I did have to go back to the store and pick up the groceries and finish the grocery shopping. Whew, what a stressful day!

Potty Time for Bug

Bug has been getting interested in the potty recently. He's really enjoying going potty using the little baby potty before he gets into the bath. On occasion he'll ask to go at other times. We're not putty any pressure on him. Roo didn't potty train until he was 3 1/2 but he did it all at once, day and night and very rarely had an accident; I can probably count on one hand the number of accidents he's had. Bug has a long way to go before he'll be night time potty trained since he still goes to bed with a cup of milk. So, we'll go with the flow. The daycare he's starting at focuses on potty training in their 2 year old room, so hopefully it'll really build his confidence and interest and he'll want to wear the cool Buzz Lightyear underwear we got him!

First Busy Fall

This fall will be a little different than our autumn's of the past. We have scheduled ourselves to be pretty busy. Roo started at his new preschool last week and has enjoyed it so far, they start their actual preschool portion of the day this week. I'm hoping he continues to build on what he learned last year and gets even more confident with his hand writing. Oh, and that he includes the number 13 when he counts.

We also have both boys in sports. Roo is in soccer for the first time in a couple of years and is on his friend Connor's soccer team. So far he really enjoys it. His practices are on Thursday's with games on Saturday mornings.

I took Bug to Roo's last practice and couldn't keep him off the field. The only soccer available to kids under 3 is the tots soccer at the field house. So I signed him up and he had his first session this past Saturday. He loved it! He absolutely loves kicking and dribbling the ball and had fun participating in each of the different activities. The kids were all worn out by the end and I thought for sure he wanted to go home but instead wanted to continue with our normal Saturday trip to Wegman's. He took a good nap that afternoon!

And today Roo had his first swim lesson. He was so funny in the car on the way there asking me to stay with him the entire time because he's shy. We got there and they were put into groups based on their swimming ability so he and one other little girl were with one instructor and life guard. I left and exercised a little and then came back his his instructor nodded to me that he was doing great. He was so happy, smile on his face the entire time he was in the pool. It was great and hopefully it'll continue to go well!

I'm excited for our busy fall, it's great to have the kids learning new things and participating in group activities. Stay tuned for pictures from these fun times!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Hope you're having a great day golfing. We all love you very much and look, we made you a cake! :)

Happy 8th Birthday Baxter

You'll always be a puppy to us. Glad you were able to teach Uncle Matt your appreciation of the word "hamburger" and hope you got a ride out of me saying "do you want to go for a R I D E?," oh how we miss saying those words to you. Happy Birthday!

How They Spent Their Summer

The boys spent a ton of time in their little pool on the deck this summer. They lounged in it in chairs, they swam in it, splashed water at each other and us from it, filled water guns with water from it and generally had a blast. Oh, and they at lots of popsicles in the pool too!

I put the pool under the deck in preparation for the hurricane and am not sure if it'll make it back out as we get into a busier fall routine. Can't wait to pull it out again next summer!

Roo's 1st Soccer Practice

We signed Roo up for soccer this fall. We decided to put him on a 5-6 year old team rather than the 4-5 year old smart start program so he could be on his friend Connor's team. Roo's really shy so we figured having a friend on the team would help get him out on the field. Connor wasn't able to go to the first practice because of the earthquake. Roo went and was very reluctant to go out on the field. I finally convinced him to go out there and he did what I expected. He stood around a lot on the field during the scrimmage portions but did follow the coaches instructions when they were doing a few drills. We need to practice basic skills with Roo so he can better know what he's doing on the field. He's actually not very aggressive at all, which isn't a bad thing, and after a little coaching I was able to get him to chase and kick the ball on a few occassions during their scrimmage portion.

His favorite part of practice was probably running to and from the field for water breaks. If Roo lacks a sense of competition in a scrimmage environment, he for sure showed it running to and from the field to the bench. He was always trying to be the first to get his water and fastest back to the field.

He's enrolled in swimming too, and that starts later this month. We're curious how he's going to do once he learns to swim. Is he going to be an individual team sport sort of kid who wants to be his own score but still have a team of friends? Only time will tell.

And finally, the next day after practice Roo noted that he had bumped into another player and they both fell and was that ok. He had fallen a couple of times either from bumping into or being bumped and got up well on his own, no crying or that sort of thing. I told him that sometimes you bump into people in soccer and it's ok as long as you're not trying to hurt the and you say sorry and help them up. He seem relieved. Can't wait to see how the season progresses!

Earthquake

I may be a bit behind on other blog posts but I want to make sure I document the kids reactions to the earthquake today.

When I asked Roo about whether or not he felt it and what his feelings were about it, he said that it woke up him from his nap and that he thought it was great.

I don't think Bug recognized what happened at all though I think the sitter got him up from his nap just to make sure he and her home were ok.

It was pretty crazy and we were really lucky the house was fine and nothing broke. Grandma and Grandpa had some damage as they're pretty close to where the epicenter is. Wow, still can't believe we had an earthquake!