No Plans

After vacation, a week of VBS and then three days of Kidz Gig strung together by busy weekends, we were overdue for a day with no plans. Yesterday when Koen asked about what we were going to do today I said, "well, buddy, we have no plans. We are just giong to enjoy hanging out together, you, me and Tav." "Great, Mommy" was his reply. This morning when Doug first saw him he said, "hey Daddy, guess what? We have no plans today!" And he was really, really excited about that. Poor guy. He just needed some down time!

We started our day with breakfast. Tavin slept in as he has gotten the cold the Koen started earlier in the week. Tavin caught up with scrambled eggs while watching for buses out the window. Meanwhile, Koen was already in the backyard. Note that he dressed himself this morning and he put the boots on himself when he was preparing to play in the backyard. This was one battle I didn't feel it necessary to fight. He was very proud of his outfit despite its warmth.When Tavin finished breakfast, we all headed out to the backyard, but on our way out we met Koen with his truck horn. Tavin thought it was so fun (my ears are still ringing).Tavin didn't last long outside. The poor guy, can keep the snot from flowing. Koen continued with his work outside and faithfully held the hose to fill the pool up for later in the day.Koen is so into dinosaurs right now. Sometimes he's a carnivorus T-rex, other times he's a herbivore species. This morning it was herbivore and he attacked the lettuce plants and had a nice chaser after breakfast, raw lettuce.After playing outside in the dewy grass and dusty patio (Koen and I made a new parking lot for his trucks and Tavin had to be involved), the boys washed their hands. Koen was so sweet letting Tavin be on the stool with him and helping him scrub his hands. It was so precious!I feel like we did just about everything this morning. After the washing of the hands, the boys headed to piano playing. Koen announced he would play us a song...sure, why not?Our next activity was a bike ride/walk to the playground a few blocks away. Koen has been asking on a daily basis to ride his bike, so I had promised that we would do it today. He did a great job on the way to the playground and with staying in eye/ear shot while we were there. There were guys sandblasting and repairing the stonework at the school there and Koen was his confident self asking them what they were doing and telling them to have a nice day. Tavin kept up with brother on the bike by pushing the strollers. You gotta have wheels.After our time at the playground, we walked to a local store. Koen convinced me he could handle riding his bike back up the hill. Again, I didn't feel like fighting that battle, so instead of locking his bike up on the fence at the playground for a few minutes while we ran our errand, I allowed him to ride. He did great on the way there. He loved the downhill slope, but also listened pretty well to my "stop" and "wait" commands. Unfortunately the way back up hill went as I had figured it would...he couldn't make it. We ended up leaving his bike on a friend's porch and I walked the boys home. I picked the bike up later in the day. Koen was fine with that option and I was at least happy I didn't have to push the boys home and drag a bike. I hope Koen knows that next time he won't be riding his bike to the store.

Well, we got home and we were all hungry from our adventures. We had lunch and then headed on to the next thing...the pool! I think the boys missed everything around the house so much we just enjoyed doing all these simple things (and yet we also seemed to do them ALL in one day).Tavin didn't last long again. The poor guy is pretty miserable, but such a trooper. I picked him up in a towel and we just snuggled in the sunshine for awhile. I was chatting to him to calm him down and when he rebounded he started conversing back in his adorable babble. It's such an example of how agreeable he is. He just likes to be a part of everything even if it is to his detriment. After he bounced back (but he still wanted to be held), I took some pics of the two of us. He's just so cute, I couldn't help it...Well, after all our activity this morning ("no plans") the boys were exhausted for their naps. Poor Tavin was so, so tired, yet woke up earlier than usual due to his stuffy nose and bad cough. He was tired enough to just rest though until his normal wake-up time. Koen took a good nap as usual. Tonight we took a walk after naptime, the boys had dinner and then we had one last activity. On Saturday during the yardsales, Doug and Tavin walked around the neighborhood a lot keeping an eye out for deals. They found a $5 radio flyer wagon in great condition! So, Koen has been asking for days to take it out. Tonight was the night. We headed out for a quick walk/pull around the block in the "new" wagon. Koen and Tavin both really enjoyed their new ride.It was a fantastic day with the boys. Beautiful weather, simple pleasures and my boys. I have to mention too that Koen was so much better in the area of behavior today that it was a relief, encouragement and testimony to me. And it also really shows how much we all need a day every once in awhile with "no plans."

Kidz Gig Day 3 (Kidz Gig Over Already!)

So, after my Day 1 post, I did indeed switch my role for the remaining two days. I was with Grades 2 through 5 instead. Koen did much better without me being involved in his class. He was able to fully engage and not whine and complain the whole time. It's hard knowing he does that because I'm there, but I'm glad we were able to honestly look on it and I could switch with another volunteer. My class of Grades 2 through 5 were so cute! I haven't worked with that age group in years and I had no idea how much they can take in, understand and converse about. It was great to see how much they understood and what they thought about everything. We had a great group. They all got along and were big on participation. It was really encouraging to me to look forward to when Koen gets to that age range. When he can focus, listen and reason!

At the end of Kidz Gig today there was a family picnic. Koen enjoyed climbing on the blow-up obstacle course.Tavin mostly just enjoyed practicing his walking and pushing the stroller of course.Koen tried to get up the nerve to do the big blow-up water slide, but he couldn't do it. I felt bad. If I had been in a suit, I'm sure I could've done it with him. Oh well. Good note for next time.It was a great three days. Early mornings for us to be out of the house, but totally worth it. Thanks to all the staff, volunteers and kids that made it the great three days it was. Gotta say I'm pretty psyched to have a laid back with my boys tomorrow though!

Tavin Walking Progress

Just as of today Tavin seems to be moving from treating walking as a new trick to treating it as a new mode of transportation. I recorded a video so that you could catch a glimpse of how he's using his strong little legs to get around now (instead of skinning up those knees!)...

Kidz Gig, Day 1

Northway Oakland's summer day camp for Pre-K through 5th grade started this morning. Koen is attending and I am volunteering, Doug is overseeing and Tavin is in nursery. So, it's a full family affair this year! This is Northway's first time doing Kidz Gig in the city and it's super exciting. We have a ton of volunteers, so there is a lot of energy and backup so that the kids have a super few days. I am volunteering with the nursery schoolers. Well, I should say, I was. I'm going to have to switch out with someone else as Koen was a disaster due to the fact I was involved in his room. It was super frustrating. I think he would've had a much better time if I hadn't been in there. He turns into such a whiney, complainey baby when I'm around. It's sad to me that I bring that out of him. I should've known, but I guess I was too optimistic that it would be fun to be around his age group and watch him enjoy the day. Instead I feel more exhausted than usual and totally discouraged. Oh well. All the other kids seemed to do great and have a super experience on Day 1. Here are a few pictures of Koen (I wish I had pictures of Tavin, he was such a trooper and did so well in nursery all morning and on a few walk-arounds with Daddy).

Morning Activity: Introductions - make your own name tag...Playing in the sandbox after game time. This was possibly his favorite activity. He did like the parachute game until he got stuck under the parachute, lost his sneaker and started screaming...ahhh a smooth day it has been...Craft Time: The kids made a bucket of blessing. Koen really liked this activity as it involved stickers and glue. He loves, loves, loves glue!
Great job to all the volunteers and staff that made this day very dynamic and engaging for the kids. Keep up the good work. Two days of fun to go!

A Good Reminder

Koen has been INTENSE the last two days! I've been near breaking point many times the past 2 days. It's so frustrating as I feel like he's been doing a lot better lately. The biggest issue is that talking to him is like talking to a wall. He just doesn't listen sometimes. It's frustrating because sometimes it's intentional, other times it seems to be age related. It's phsyically, mentally and emotionally exhausting to follow-through on consistent discipline/consequences. That sets off all the whining and complaining, so then I have to muster the strength to be consistent with follow-ups to that. And that's how I arrive at a church service at 11am completely frustrated, exhausted and wishing Doug was there to tag team. I just love, love, love Koen Douglas so much, it is so hard that he also can be such a thorn in my flesh. And it's not even that. It's that he makes me feel like a failure because when I'm not consistent or if I lose my cool, I feel like a terrible mom, a terrible person. So, it's two-fold...frustration at Koen, frustration at myself. It is a humbling experience being a mom. I sure hope the Lord gives me the strength to improve each day and get better at this job. I love it so much, I want to do it so well, but lately I seem to only be reminded of how human I am. Anyways, so now for the uplifting part of this post. Tonight I was reminded of how Koen captures my heart. I was digging through some archives and found videos that just riveted my attention. They are pretty cute to me. I hope you enjoy!

KOEN WALKS! 6/09/2008




WALKING PRACTICE (and a little discipline foreshadowing) 6/13/2008




GETTING ORGANIZED (can you tell I'm his mom?) 8/01/2008

Brothers at Breakfast

Tavin emulates Koen so much. The second child continues to be a new experience for us. Koen at this stage didn't know the grass was greener on the other side per se. But Tavin gets to see all the freedom and independence of a four year old and figures that he is entitled to the same. It's so frustrating! Tavin has been battling with his 1st year molars the past few weeks (and particularly the past few days) so he is cranky and then he seems to not be able to calm himself down when he gets an idea, so if he wants to eat in a chair like brother he throws a fit until he gets what he wants. I try to make the high chair last, but it is a tough battle. This morning he ate only 4 bites of his breakfast! Eventually I gave in since I knew we had to go to church and he needed a good breakfast for the long morning. Tonight he threw a similar fit at dinnertime outside even though he was in a booster seat. How is a booster seat that much different than a chair? Why does he have to know the difference? I'm hoping this is just a phase. He is not old enough to ruin every meal (he has barely been eating anything lately because of the teeth and the fits!) and go hungry, but he seems to have just as strong of a will as his big brother! Oh dear, I'm in for it! Here are the boys at breakfast. It's pretty cute, but I'm determined to not let this be the norm (it's just not safe yet for Tav).

I've Got A Job To Do

Anytime I whip the stroller out, Tavin immediately is "eh, eh, eh-ing" wanting to push the stroller. He loves it! So, another short blog post to capture this chapter of Tavin's little life...the stroller-pushing phase.

Ready for the Red Sox

Although everybody else went to the Red Sox games this weekend (Doug and I on Friday night, Doug went last night with a friend and then Koen and Doug went today with some other father/son duos from the neighborhood), Tavin also showed some spirit. Actually he's showing spirit for the Red Sox as well as the Carnegie Library. =) I just had to post it. He's too cute.

Red Sox in Pittsburgh

Doug is ecstatic that his team, the Boston Red Sox, are in town to play the Pirates. And he even got his lame wife out to a game! I have to admit it was a blast. It wasn't really the game though, it was more his company and that of our friends Nate and Megan. Not to mention it was a beautiful cool night for a game! Look at our pretty city! I know they are upside down. I forgot my camera and I used my iPhone and again they transferred to my PC this way and it won't let me rotate them. So frustrating!And here's the happy New England couple (upside down)...Thanks for a fun date, babe. Have fun enjoying the rest of the series!

Tavin Takes Over

Tavin has both enjoyed and been ill at ease about his whole week having mornings just with mommmy and big brother being away. There have been moments where he's thrived and others where he really seemed to be missing something. All of these hours with no brother around did allow him to take advantage of some things he can't do when Koen's around. Check out the example this video portrays. Koen had left his Chuggington engines down by his placemat. Tavin wanted to sit in big brother's chair and play with them (so I let him). Also note at the end of the video how there are some noises outside and Tavin totally mimics them (he is such a good little imitator!). Enjoy!

Happy Birthday To Me

My boys took good care of me yesterday and I had a wonderful birthday. Thanks to all my friends and family for the cards, phone calls, emails, texts and facebook posts. I felt so loved!

Well, I started my day off at the pool for a swim. When I got back around 7am, I heard Koen's loud, excited voice in the kitchen. (I'm thinking to myself that starting mom duty an hour early did not sound like a good birthday gift!). Thankfully Doug had it under control though. He had gotten Koen out of his room early to make me chocolate muffins for breakfast. Then he coaxed Koen back to his room to play until "the 8" as usual. Ah, relief! By the way, we all enjoyed the chocolate muffins. Who wouldn't?Doug took Koen to camp (I've been walking both ways most days this week, so it was a nice break!) and Tavin and I stayed at the house to play and get a few things done. Doug headed to Shadyside to study, write and edit for his sermon this weekend, so we decided to meetup for lunch with him around noon since Tavin and I were walking to that area to pick up Koen from camp at 1pm anyways. We had a yummy shared lunch (all 3 of us) of tossed salad and brick oven pizza at Shady Grove. Perfect! It was fun to just be the 3 of us, but I missed my Koen in a way too. These boys are such a blast to share life with!Tavin was super cranky (he's been a little crab all week, I don't know if it's his molars, catchup after vacation or missing brother, but it's been tough!). He did perk up though when he got to sit next to Daddy in a booth. He just loves pretending he's all grown up and he is the biggest ham!After picking up a very happy Koen (he is loving camp everyday!), we walked home and the boys pretty much collapsed into naptime. Koen has been especially tired. Look at the picture of him passed out still after 5pm when Doug went to wake him up!After a naptime of working at my computer (not exactly a fun birthday afternoon), Doug got the boys up and took them out to run an errand. Koen had been asking all week to get me flowers for my birthday, so they headed to Trader Joe's to get the job done. Koen was thrilled to give them to me when he got back. He's such a sweet little love!After the boys had dinner and played, I laid Tavin down and then a babysitter came over to lay down Koen and Doug and I headed to Avenue B for dinner with Sean and Jen. It was a great night of adult conversation, gourmet, delicious food. Thanks, babe, for planning a really nice evening. I loved our date. Thanks for a great birthday all in all!

Time With Tavin

Tavin and I have really been enjoying our quieter mornings together. We absolutely love big brother and all his creative, loud and interesting conversation, but it's a nice break to just chat and hang out the two of us. I cherish these times. Koen and I got 2 years and 9 months just for us to develop our mom-son relationship. These are special times for Tavin and I took work on ours.

We walked Koen to "camp" this morning. We had perfect timing because we saw a train and several buses on the busway this AM. The boys loved it!

After walking Koen. Tavin and I walked home and just simply hung out (well, ok, I squeezed in some simple cleaning too). Tavin was supposed to be playing in his drawer full of plastic sippy cups, bowls, etc. But he actually got into my drawer and Koen's craft drawer. Look what I found when I turned around...

He had put on Koen's bracelet and my sunglasses. He was so, so proud of himself!!

Around 11am we headed to Osceola to meet our friends for playgroup. I felt like I was cheating on Koen going without him, but it did allow me to just keep my eyes on one child instead of two which meant a little more socialization with my mommy friends. Tavin mostly just wanted to push the stroller around. He did spend a little time in the swing (which he thinks is so funny!) and then he sat on a bench with his buddies for lunch. First there were two and then there were three!
Aren't they adorable! It was really funny though because they were all looking at each other's food wanting what the other had. We moms were discussing that next time we should coordinate what we bring so there will be no jealousy. =)

Tavin and I left plenty of time to walk back and get Koen. It's super humid here and very sunny, so I've been trying to pace myself with these walks to drop off and pick up Koen because otherwise I arrive looking like a drowned rat (and that's drowned in sweat...ech!). Koen was super happy to see us, but also didn't really want to leave. He is just loving this experience and I'm so excited about it. Very confirming that we are putting him in 3 day preschool next year and then it helps me think about what type of Kindergarten he might be able to handle. Not to mention it's exciting to see his maturity in being brave and independent.

Not much else to mention. The boys are so dead tired each day this week at naptime. I think they are still catching up from vacation and we've been quite active since coming home as well.

"Eas"-ing Back In

I have to say that this week has been pretty low key and "easy" (get it in the post title?) getting back into the groove of normal life. Reason is? Koen is at a local church's Vacation Bible School all week! We've been talking it up as "camp" and he did such a great job looking forward to it. I figured when we got him there yesterday morning he would lose it and not want to stay, but he's been so brave...such a big boy! He is loving it! And Tavin and I got so much accomplished yesterday. Tons of errands on foot. Then today we visited Aunt Jen, another errand and then a visit to the library. And we still had time for some play, books, loves and then lunch together back at home before heading back (on foot again - it's going to be a big walking week!) to get Koen. He had another great day and he's looking forward to tomorrow already. Here are a few cute pictures of Tavin and Michael "playing together" at Aunt Jen's this morning. Little buddies already!"Hey Michael...look at me!" says Tavin. Michael was more impressed with the camera."See Michael this is how you make funny noises with your mouth."
"Aren't I hilarious, Michael? You should really do what I'm doing instead of just laying there."Michael was quite impressed with Tavin or at least tavin thought so! Thanks Jen and Michael for a sweet impromptu visit.

Goodbye Beach, But Vacation's Not Quite Over

Written on Sunday evnening (I will get back on top of the blog, I promise!)...

On Friday, after our beach time, we left Stone Harbor. It was a wonderful family vacation in so many facets. Here are my top 3 things about our time there...
1. Time with Douglas and our boys.
2. Time with extended family. So sweet to see the boys interacting with their cousins and grandparents and Doug and I always enjoy time with his siblings and their kids and his parents.
3. THE BEACH!!!!

Thankfully after our great time away from the grind at the beach, we were able to extend our time away from the norm with a day and a half visit at our friends' Scott & Jenny and their two girls. On Saturday we went to the Philly Zoo with them and it was so fun. Koen was quite whiney as I think the exhaustion of the week had finally caught up with him. He had some good moments at the zoo as he followed the map, checked out animals and hung out with Jenny's daughter his age, but he had some intense low points as well. Ugh. Here's a quick review of Koen at the zoo (full of ups and downs!).Thankfully Doug and I were able to look past it and take in the zoo for ourselves and keep it amusing. Here we are taking a rare Doug and Amy pic while chomping on some carrots and can you tell we are a little put out from Koen's issues? He was intense!Tavin loved pointing at the different animals and "making their sounds" - he kind of makes the same sound for every animal. One of his favorite activities though was pushing the stroller. Classic!After our nice (except for Koen's whining!) time at the zoo, we headed home for naps. Look at their sweet tired sleepiness at naptime!After nap, Tavin enjoyed some playtime with his gal pal, mostly playing peekaboo in their play tent...Koen was more himself when he woke up and then he was great after a good night's sleep and was his sweet self this morning as we packed up and headed out for home. Doug and I had such nice grown-up time with Scott and Jenny after the kids were in bed both nights. Such a great visit. Thank you both!

We had a good ride home today (except that our car AC is messed up!) making great time, so we were home in time for the boys to play for about an hour and then head to long afternoon naps. Doug and I were super productive and already we are almost unpacked, laundry is folded, grass is cut, some groceries have been bought and we are ready to jump back into everyday life. Phew! Real life is at the same time comforting and refreshing as well as a bout of realism and a little overwhelming. Seriously, though, we had a great time being away, but there's no place like home!!