No More Than Ten

This morning, Benny was helping me carry in some grocery bags. He asked me to take them from him after a minute, saying it was too heavy. "My hands are too small Mommy, I need you to hold this!" No problem, I took the bag and we continued walking.

He said he wanted to count how many days there were left until Aunty Rochel gets to come visit. He started counting and stopped at ten (he can usually count to a pretty high number). He looked at me and said, "Mommy, I can only count to ten because I have small hands so I only have ten fingers right now."

I love that he thinks more fingers will be coming along sometime soon! I obviously explained to him that it doesn't really work that way but he had no interest in hearing that.

Ignorance is bliss.

Little Words

Over the weekend we noticed some new things Bella is doing. She says, 'YEAH' (with enthusiasm, hence the caps), she claps and dances to music, she mimics everything, she plays games with us, she is literally running everywhere with her walking toy.

My favorite new thing is her word, 'AH-DEN' for again. Like it's a camp cheer. When we are feeding her and she wants more, 'AH-DEN'. When Shuky is playing with her and he stops for a second, 'AH-DEN'.

When I am asking Benny to not touch Bella again, 'AH-DEN!!' Thanks for the back up, little one!

Yesterday, Shuky and I got a babysitter and went to see a movie in the afternoon. Originally, we planned to do it  after the kids were in bed but I got nervous and moved it to a time when Bella would be up and go down for a nap during the time, versus her being sleeping and waking up to a new face. She did great, up until she woke up from her nap. The good news is, we walked in a couple minutes later! So all went well, Shuky and I got to go out for probably the first real time since she was born, Benny had some fun teaching the babysitter how to play games on the Wii. A great time was had by all!

And today, we are all home, in honor of MLK. Out come the reserve toys!

The Circle of Life

I realized something over the weekend. Everything in life has a way of coming full circle. Sometimes, you just have to think in the now, forget about how things might affect the later in life.

Benny is a challenging little boy. Not specifically more than the average three year old but just saying his age is usually enough to get sympathetic glances.

I like to think he's a smart boy. Along with that comes the knowledge that everything I say and do is being scrutinized and will most likely be repeated. Often times, I find myself wondering if what we do now is going to make him hate us later or need years of therapy.

And then I realized it. That's the cycle of life. Whether we talk in even tones all his childhood or yell, as he gets older, he will rebel. Putting him in time out now or taking away a toy as a punishment, those are just blips on the radar. He will question the way we raised him. He will challenge everything we've taught him.

But then he will realize that it was all for the best.

I am 26 years old and  I talk to my mother almost daily.

It took a lot in life to get to that stage but that's just the way things go! We've had our good times and we've had our bad times, just like every other child/parent relationship out there! You learn, you grow, you move on.

Yes, I'd love to never have to deal with the troubles I dealt my parents, but if and when I do, remind me to come back to this blog post so I can savor every moment!

Let It Snow!

So Sunday night, Shuky threw up. Unfortunately for him, his new semester began the following morning. Monday night, Benny threw up. We stayed home and vegged all day long. Then last night, I threw up. Unfortunately for both of us, I didn't have the strength to take Benny to school and the apartment looks like a train drove through it. With me falling asleep while the kids played, and falling asleep every time I nursed Bella, let's just say Benny had a lot of free reign and a lot of energy. He made himself food. He poured himself drinks. He took toys all over the apartment, regardless of our toys-stay-in-the-playroom policy.

Hoping to wake up feeling nice and refreshed in the morning. I don't think the apartment can handle another sick day!!

When he was going to bed, I told him he gets to go back to school in the morning and he gave me a huge hug. Trust me kids, my sentiments exactly!!!

Oh, and it started snowing tonight, nothing heavy but it's very windy. Definitely feels like winter now!

Stay tuned for pictures soon, I have been slowly putting things up on the walls and organizing areas!!

Dinner Revisited

Benny threw up all over last night. I won't go into details. The name of this post should leave your imagination with plenty. The memory alone is enough to keep me awake at night! Three loads of laundry, a shower, and a bath. After all that, he slept through the rest of the night peacefully. I still have more to wash this morning. I'm getting to it.

He is obviously home from school today, and I am really hoping it doesn't move on to other members of the household!

Right now I am waiting for it to warm up a bit outside. We need some windows and doors open, get some fresh air flowing.

The good thing is we have PLENTY to keep him busy at home. With the aftermath of Chanukah presents still keeping things exciting and a small wave of packages that came recently, he should at least be entertained! And there is always the Wii and Netflix to fill in the gaps.

Continuing my path of organization will have to wait, Mommy Duties are calling for today!

On another note, I haven't been doing my menus since we moved here but I'm moving back into that direction. My kitchen is much more organized and my pantry is restocked. I have been enjoying my crock pot, to my surprise! I got liners for it and I have been making simple, do nothing meals that taste AMAZING! Why it took me this long to get on the slow cooker bandwagon, I can't tell you. But, rest assured, I'm here to stay!

Settling Dust

Benny's back in school, Shuky goes back on Monday. The vacation dust is starting to settle. I am finding it a bit easier to breathe. :)

I took Bella to get her ears pierced this week. I went once, thought about the crying (mostly hers, maybe some of mine) and asked Shuky to go back with me. I may have spun my request to the tune of 'It will be better for you to see how it's done so you don't worry about everything being sanitized and hygienic' while my heart was yelling 'COME HOLD MY HAND!'

She cried for a minute, I nursed her for a few more, she was sitting up giggling within five minutes. The piercer (is that a word?) loved that she was back to normal so quickly. But not more than me!!

I didn't get through as much of the organizing as I wanted but, in all honesty, I expected that. I did get the laundry room put together, with some organizing hooks and things hung up. I started on our closet. We moved some furniture around in the living room. We got a dining room table, goodbye folding table!

Bella really enjoys walking around underneath it, hoping to find lost cheerios!

We unpacked maybe three boxes. (We only have about five left after that, if even!) We restocked the pantry, best accomplishment of the vacation for sure! I even got a cool chalk board decal for the doors, for a menu of the day and shopping list...mostly for decoration but I love it!

One thing I didn't manage to get to was hanging decoration. Our last apartment was barely decorated. It just never really felt like home. We were content with the place but I was always on the lookout for something better. This new apartment really hit the spot. We are good here. I am going to actually hang things on the walls!!

Surprisingly, we made it through Chanukah. 

Between present insanity and traveling messes, I was on the fence about our survival rate!

Getting creative with new bath toys :) 

 Benny insisted the old kitchen stick around for a little while, until Bella gets bigger!

 Bella's new karaoke center 

Benny's awesome starlight turtle!

We went to a beautiful Bar Mitzvah this past Sunday. I didn't even know where in my closet to start looking for dressy things for myself. Then I realized I don't really have much. I had a lot when we first got married but after getting to know my new Mom body, I never really got too many fancy pieces. So my newest mission is to find some nice key pieces without breaking the bank! And that includes shoes too, I'm embarrassed to say how long I've had the pair I chose!

But, against all odds, we all looked lovely, so I took advantage and had someone snap a family picture. The boys are a bit blurry but you get the idea of who we are!

Bella is climbing all over me, I should probably end this post before she rips keys off the keyboard.

It's happened before.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and is ready for an awesome new year! Here's to hopes of many vacations and good times to be had by all!!

Hurricane Meyer

I'm going to pretend we are totally current with each other. Too many things to catch up on. All thats truly important is we are in our new apartment and loving it! (Yes, I know I already told you that. Be quiet.)

Most of the unpacking is done, we have very few boxes left.

This week is finals week for Shuky and then we go into vacation time. Cue fireworks and awesome theme song. Maybe 'Eye of the Tiger'.

We don't have huge plans for our glorious three weeks. We will enjoy Chanukah and the events being offered. We are going to Kansas City for a long weekend, just a nice getaway to uncharted territory. Short-ish driving distance. We will also be doing a shabbos in Des Moines and enjoy a bar mitzvah.

Otherwise, we will just hang out, finish up the last few boxes, do some organizing, maybe even get some decorating started!

In the meantime, both kids have been sick for a couple days now, although Benny is back in school already. But our home is definitely showing the side effects. Laundry to be done, forget about the clean baskets waiting to be folded. Dishes are finally under control. I've been ignoring the mess in the playroom, much to the dismay of the OCD person in me.

To make up for the mess inside, I've been taking an extra step to look put together when I drop off Benny. The sad thing is, the smallest amount of effort seems like a huge change worth mentioning to the people around me. I need to reconsider my morning routine if this is all it takes!!! :)

My computer is still not set up so my posting is limited to my phone and ipad so bare with me here!!

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALS SHUKY!!!!!