Tonight

I am awake at 12:30 because a telemarketer called to let us know our commonwealth credit card might have been breached. What a nice company. They are unrestrained in making sure a credit card that we do not have is ultra-safe. Good to know someone is watching out for me.

On a better note...
When we were putting Eli to bed - 4 hours ago. John and I were in his room giving him kisses and tucking him in. He sleeply smiled at us and said "Seriously, get out of my room."

Medicine

The kids have always been pretty good at taking medicine. Although, we are getting smarter. We have started giving medicine to them while they are in the bath so when they inevitably spit it out we are ready to clean them up. Today we attempted to give Eli allergy medicine. He has been particularly crabby tonight, so naturally he spit medicine at both John and I. Lovely. As a small punishment John spanked Eli twice on the bottom, since he was in the bath there was no leg protection (pants/diaper). Eli was quite upset crying, "Daddy, no spanking, I want time out." Ah - the age of accountability has begun.

Another political one....

So I am not sure if it is because I am a few months shy of 30 or if it is because I have little ones this time around, but for some reason I have decided to take this political stuff a bit more seriously this time around. So here is my "quota" - you know, 25 cents worth....

I have taken the time to listen to the debates and speeches, sometimes 2 and 3 times. I have read the articles CNN and Fox News (so I can get both biases). I have tried to be as open minded as possible, given my obviously conservative leanings - but I just can't shake this feeling that our country is on the verge of disaster. Listening to the Obama/Biden ticket talk makes my tail tingle, as Verne in "Over the Hedge" would say.

Obviously this election we are picking between two people with obvious flaws. So, no decision is perfect. Obama is an incredible speaker, I will give him that. A few editorials I have read say he should win because he has been composed and consistent through out the campaign. And I say, he is a white washed tomb.

I will start with the obvious - I just can't vote for someone that is pro-abortion. Obama said at the Saddleback forum that he personally was against it, but that he couldn't possibly dictate a woman's choice that she has been anguishing over within herself and with her family. A safe answer. Psalms 139:13-14 says "For Thou did form my inward parts; thou did weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." If you have had a baby, or even held one, you know they are utterly perfect and helpless. They are God's handiwork, yet fully reliant on us to make every decision for them and care for them. In the first four weeks - before you really even know you are pregnant, the baby's sex is determined the nervous system forms and the heart and circulatory system are rapidly forming. Abortion is murder, and I just can't get past this, so no pro-abortion person will ever get my vote, ever.

The war, the war. Everyone thinks McCain years will be a repeat of the Bush years. First I will say - we have had no attacks on US soil since 9/11. There have been 20 foiled attacks, 20, since 9/11. Iraq or no Iraq - we must be doing something right. To date there have been 4185 soldiers killed in Iraq. This is 4185 too many. Abortion kills approximately 3,700 per day in the USA. In two days abortion surpasses the Iraq war. When a soldier becomes a soldier, they know that the ultimate price may have to be paid. I am not trying to minimize it, but these men and women are serving their country and those that die, die with pride. Those that die to abortion made no choice - they didn't have a chance.

Poverty. Poverty in America is inexcusable. According to almost everything you hear the Democratic party cares for the poor people, but lets personalize it. The only reason that the government has to take care of the poor people is because the church stinks at it. I mean really, really stinks at it. James 1:27 says "This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world". Not pure and undefiled government, but religion. The church and the people of God have got to make this a priority. Personally I am not for this socialist way of thinking - taxing the heck out of the people to redistribute wealth. But poor people HAVE to be taken care of - and the church has to respond - NOW. They have to respond lovingly. Obama brings up poverty a lot. I will mention that Obama is not poor and even in his best year he only gave away 6.1% of his income. His 7 year average 2.18% - pathetic. A biblical tithe is a tenth - a Christian should give above and beyond this. If a person really cared for the poor, I mean really cared and they made 1.6 million... I think it is a shame to not even meet the Biblical giving standard. That is greed and selfishness and, caring words are just that, words, empty words.

So I have been a bit negative. McCain isn't perfect - I will admit that up front. He is pro-life, has military experience (an understatement) and his giving far surpasses Obama. If you want to read a true story of someone who has served their country in deed, not just words. Visit: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/01/28/john-mccain-prisoner-of-war-a-first-person-account.html?PageNr=1

If I were Obama, I don't think I could stand on stage with McCain and feel justified to do so.
So McCain will get my vote.
Take my two cents, or leave it.
It is my blog after all, and you choose to read it.

Fakers

Not sure how barfing suddenly became funny...
Eli & Isaac faking a stomach bug - and they aren't even trying to get out of school or some other unbearable life event.

Lovely....

Puke Free for 24 hours...

So far so good for Isaac.
Eli threatened to puke a couple of times. He would cough and make this pain-filled face, John and I would scurry towards him with towels/buckets, etc. And he would crack up.
I believe he is a product of his parents. We are in for it - aren't we?

By the way...
Thanks Mac for the pinwheels! The boys loved them!

Multiplication

Eli has had a stomach bug today so this morning has been a flurry of activity. The routine is:
Eli coughs, he starts crying - this signals that the puking is coming.
We pick him up and run down the hallway to the tub - the puking/crying continues.
It has been a lovely morning.

I have learned two important life lessons today -
1) Do not give a puking kid a full cup of apple juice - 8 oz. in is about 2 gallons coming out.
2) Do not give a 20 month old kid a cup of chex and put him in a confined space. You may think 1 cup of chex will only make a hundred pieces - but given enough crunching time it can cover an entire crib.

On a side note... Tuesday of this week John and I rearranged Eli's bedroom. We moved out his old hand-me-down dresser and put in his new big boy dresser. He has voiced disdain for it since Tuesday becasue he can not see his airplane lamp on it. About 5 minuts ago the coughing and crying was starting in Eli's room so I ran in there thinking he was throwing up, yet again. He said - "Mom I hate this." I said, "I know sweetie, do we need to go to the bathroom again." He said, "No I feel fine - I hate my new dresser." To my credit his eyes were closed. Although, that is a lot of hate when it is even coming up in his sleep.

Update: It ain't over till it is over...
Eli woke up fairly peacefully from his nap. It had been about 4 hours since he last puked so I thought we were out of the danger zone. So I leaned down like any good mother would to kiss his forehead. And he puked. This time it was projectile - shower 3, outfit 5 for the day.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Explorium

Vacation - Day 3
Lexington Explorium.
Another fun day - very few afternoon meltdowns.

This post is coming to you at midnight on our first day of vacation. Oh –check that it is only 7 pm – feels like midnight. Today should best be presented in Parts – I “The Zoo” and II “The Aftermath”. Part I is full of happiness, laughter, and good memories. Part II is full of screaming, crying, and the gnashing of teeth.

Part I – The Zoo
We had an excellent family trip to the zoo. Below is a series of video clips and pictures from our day of fun. And yes – that is a video of a giraffe spitting water at us. Really – it was a good day.




Part II - The Aftermath
Nap times were obviously disrupted by our trip to the zoo. As a result there were a series of unfortunate incidences at our house.
1 full hour of wrestling - resulting in a bloody lip
3 time outs for Eli
2 time outs for Isaac
On and off crying for most of the evening.
Isaac ate his entire dinner like cookie monster and I caught Eli licking the table during dinner at least twice.
2 sippy cups whizzed across the room, more than once.
I am sure I cleaned up more food on the floor then I think they got in their mouths.

As the perfect night cap - someone pooped in the bath.

Ladies

The girl to guy ratio at the mall playground today was about 3-1. Our boys were quite the draw, naturally. Eli had an older girl smitten with him about 15 seconds into our excursion. The conversation seemed to flow effortlessly. She kept introducing herself, politely asking Eli his name to which he replied - "I, two and a half." Conversation issues obviously begin early. She replied "I got that, but what is your name." Her marked sarcasm was nice, I thought maybe I should take her name down in case she was still cute in about 12 years. As they went back and forth far too long I finally interceded and said "Eli tell her your name" being an intelligent girl of 4 she said, "So your name is Eli, Chase me." And the nap preparation began. Eli chased the girls for a solid half of an hour. At one point Eli paused on one of the toys to take a breath and they came running up - "CHASE us" to which the ever brilliant Eli replied - "I not Chase, I Eli."
Isaac also found the girl of his dreams - she was about six and he kept running up to her and grabbing her around the waste - she was a real trooper, but definitely not interested.
I believe we are in for it.

The poppers

This holiday season if you are considering purchasing a popper for the parents of a toddler please consider this video carefully. If you appreciate that persons sanity pick a stuffed animal instead.

Yesterday

Sometimes pictures capture a day better than words:

ok, that was seriously the largest head of cauliflower - ever!

A new way

This morning Eli woke up and stripped his clothes off (as usual). As of late he has been obsessed with his big boy underwear, which we bought in hopes of using as leverage to potty train. This morning he had all six pairs, around his arm. It looks like we have a long way to go.

The Followers

The more time I spend with Eli and Isaac - watching their shenanigans - the more I realize we are in big trouble once they can fully communicate. A week or so ago I bought them miniture pumpkins at the grocery for being good. Not sure what I thought they would do with them, but they were cute. The first question asked was "What is inside of the pumpkin," - "Seeds" I replied. From that minute forward the overarching goal has been to break them open - they threw them out of the car once we got home, have bounced them all throughout the house and spent 20 minutes kicking them up and down the hallway yesterday. Luckily they ae pretty sturdy so I am letting the fun continue until they become mush melons - at which time they will disappear to the happy hunting ground where all toys-that-become-weapons find their way.

Yesterday we received the following note from Eli's teacher:
Parents, please talk to your children about keeping their shoes and socks on at school. As you can imagine it is very time consuming to put 10 children's shoes/socks on sometimes more than once a day. Next week we will put their shoes and socks by their bags if they keep taking them off. Thank you
I find this letter hilarious - not from the teacher's standpoint because that would be a royal pain, and I do plan on talking to Eli next Tuesday before school. However, from a kids standpoint - I can totally see them gathering around the slide, plotting and scheming. "I start with shoes, then you, and you, and you.... and then we take off socks. Same order." Seriously, what will they think of next? The teacher will be getting crafts ready one minute and turn around to 10 butt-naked kids.

Congrats from the Boys

Eli & Isaac prepared a video for Kevin and Andrea.
Congratulations!

A Big Night

I guess it is official, my brother is growing up. I wouldn't call him an adult because he bought an airbrushed baseball cap on vacation this year, but he is making progress. Last night Kevin popped the question to his girlfriend Andrea. I have always felt that this was such a personal, intimate thing, but being involved sure was fun. We captured the proposal below.



The funny thing is about a week ago Kevin asked Andrea what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said a nice dinner and hanging out with friends. Then she actually called all her friends to tell them that to set aside Friday night, that Kevin was going to call them, but that he probably wouldn't until Thursday. Four weeks of great planning and about 50 guests the party (some from quite a distance) was just perfect. She was surprised - it was just great.

Congrats and Welcome to the family! I hope you know what you are getting into.

If I told you once....

Eli has a pair of old school PJs. You know the type. They were your favorites as a kid. That warm, soft fuzzy material, zips up the front and has feet in it. It is the classical-kid-in-front-of-the-Christmas-tree outfit. So last night Eli decided the debut the jams. I tried to talk him out of them for about two hours (what can I say, I am persistent) knowing that he would be smoking hot - it isn't THAT cold yet. To no avail, he wanted to sleep in the "wondaful jamas" as he calls it.
So this morning he is in bed, naked. Yep naked. And the first thing he says when I walk in the room? Mommy - those jamas were SO HOT.
The first of a million told you sos......