{Catching Up -- No School, Girls Night Away & My Birthday}

Here is a brain dump of what has been going on around here lately!

 

The boys are out of school for almost four weeks, so we have had a lot of togetherness lately.  To help pass the time, we have done several weekend trips as a family which has helped tremendously.  It is nice to have a change of scenery every now and then and get out of our normal routine.  We have about one week left before they both go to 'camp' one or two days a week.  We can do it!  

A wonderful friend of mine is moving in just a week or so.  Our playgroup is quite sad with the loss of our sweet friend Phyllis and so the moms planned a night away to celebrate her, our friendship and get some quality time together without the kids before she leaves.  We ended up Hotel Sorella in Houston and had such an amazing day by the pool, eating out and in our pjs talking the night away for our slumber party!

We finally had Ben's pulmonologist appointment a few weeks ago and had a great discussion with a Texas Children's specialist there.  Good news is that Ben has zero risk factors for having long-term asthma!  Not-so-good news is he will probably have it for the next five years or so.  We discussed action plans on how to keep him healthy and then what to do when he has viral-induced attacks.  We should be prepared for scary times and possible a few ER runs over the next few years, but this is defnitely manageable and he will grow out of it.  Music to my ears!  We go back in about six weeks to discuss how things are going with the new medication he prescribed and the inhalant we are using.  And we hope since it is summer, his attacks will be pretty infrequent and give us all a nice break for awhile.  Ben did well in the appointment until he realized he had about enough and cried very loudly and then pooped right in front of the doctor.  Lovely Ben. 

Speaking of Ben, he has decided he doesn't really like to wear clothes.  Or a diaper for that matter.  He spends many days pulling at his clothes and diaper until I take them off and let him run naked.  It is not a pretty picture when we have to put them back on.  For kicks, I put some of Luke's old underwear on him and he LOVED it.  This was a big mistake because now all he wants to do is wear them and well, we are light years away from peeing in the potty.  So I pretty much created a battle with him.  Score one for mom. 

Luke has all of a sudden become obsessed with two things -- counting and singing.  He counts everything.  EVERYTHING.  From stairs as we walk up them to the number of goldfish on his plate.  He even counts backwards from ten (which I had no idea he even knew how to do).  I am assuming this is a normal milestone, but I do think he is a little over-eager with this.  Maybe he will be an accountant when he grows up??  And singing!  Oh this little guy has started to sing.  His favorites are ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.   I realize I need to get a CD or something to learn some new ones since these are getting a bit old hearing them over and over and over again.  Here is Luke singing the other night...

To go along with singing, Ben has picked up something he loves -- Ring Around the Rosie!  He and his cousin Molly will hold hands and walk in a little circle and then fall to the ground.  It is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen.

It was my birthday this past Monday and we spent it at the bay house with my family!  I have a whole post on that trip that is coming.  Chat surprised me the Thursday before with a dinner at a favorite restaurant of ours with some of our dear friends.  I feel bad since I complained about the place he picked since we had been there recently and if we were getting a night off it would be fun to go somewhere different.  Little did I know he had a master plan -- this place is great for groups.  It was such a blast and makes me thankful for a husband who still likes to surprise me and friends willing to get babysitters to spend an evening with me celebrating!

 

 

During all of our little trips lately, one thing has become very clear.  Luke LOVES to swim!  I am happy to see this since we have paid an arm and a leg for swim lessons for the last year.  He is becoming very brave though which makes me a bit nervous.  He loves to swim underwater to Chat and I and can actually make it several feet.  Occasionally we have to remind him to keep kicking but overall he is doing great. 

Soccer starts again for Luke next week.  I am excited about that, but not excited about sweating my tail off and stinking like a goat after practice.  It is funny though, the boys do not notice the hot weather at all.  They have sweating dripping off of them and they are happy as clams to be playing outside. 

I think Ben may be entering into the terrible two's early.  His favorite word is "NO!" and screams it loudly all day and can throw a mean tantrum.  He pretty much has two modes -- either sweet as pie or like a poltergeist has taken over his body.  And I am just never sure which one I am going to get.  Ha!  I am hoping this is just a phase.  But when this kiddo is happy, his laugh is seriously one of the best sounds I have ever heard. 

I am sure lots more is going on but that's it for now!  Next up, our San Antonio trip we took about 2 weeks ago!