What Kind of Video?!

So my husband has this odd fascination with the show "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet. While they are fighting for a worthy and noble cause, the tactics they use are a bit on the ridiculous side of the spectrum. So my creative, witty, hilarious husband decided he would take to his blog about "Whale Wars." And as if writing about it were not enough he chose to make a video/mockumentary about a portion of it as well.

www.thejoyfulandtireddad.blogspot.com

Unbeknownst to me, he used one of our bedroom walls as a backdrop for the video because it was a bare wall, and that's what he needed. So late last night I went upstairs to get ready for bed and saw THIS in the middle of our bedroom with the curtains wide open and lights on for all the neighbors to see. Hmmm...



A tripod, a video camera, and lamp set up in our bedroom. Thanks Mark. Thanks a lot.

STOP TOUCHING ME!

I am not sure if any other parents can feel my...what is the word I am looking for? It's not 'pain.' Hmmm...my frustration, my desire for some personal space, my longing to have 10 moments where someone is not touching me.

I just want to try to paint a picture for you of the last 20 minutes.

We have 2 couches and 2 chairs in our family room. Usually at this time of day my boys are watching their favorite show on tv. Also at this time Nate has been up for awhile and is ready for his first of many cat naps he takes throughout the day. I moved his bouncy seat over to the chair that is the furthest piece of furniture from everything else in the room to sit down and bounce him with my foot so he could fall asleep, but not have a child flip off the couch onto him. Before I could turn myself around to sit in the chair Drew had already climbed into the chair to sit with me. Ok. That's fine. We'll just be extra close while I try to bounce your brother to sleep. 5 minutes later after, Drew had been crawling all over me, Zachary comes up and wiggles his way behind me on the chair. So now I have both boys with me in the chair. Cali then decides it's the perfect time for me to throw her the ball, so she is also at my feet. They have both found a way to push me to the very end of the cushion so they could both sit behind me in the chair. I am continuuing to bounce Nate as the boys keep saying, "Mommy, watch me. Watch me. Take that cup! Yah!" (while fighting a sipping cup). Then the 2 of them start fighting and screaming at each other behind my back. I am being bumped this way and that and I can feel my blood pressure rising. I decided to get up and carry Nate's bouncy seat into the office to try to get him to sleep. (No, the little booger still won't take naps in his crib.) Both boys are at the door hollering at me and Drew is literally trying to climb the door. I came out of the office. Went upstairs. Zachary started crying because he couldn't do something with the wii remote and I had to scream down, "Just let me put on a bra!" I came back down. Helped them out, and now I am finishing my blog for the day. How do I have time to write a blog with all the chaos around me? Easy. I have locked myself in my office.
Anti-Touch Today,
The Joyful and Tired Mom

Can't Keep a Good Man Down...or a Crazy Toddler

So we found out today that our sweet baby boy, Drew, has an inguinal hernia and needs surgery. We haven't had a consultation with the pediatric general surgeon yet, and so the surgery date has not been set. I will be honest though, even though I know the surgery for a hernia is extremely common I am still near tears at the thought of my sweet, and often crazy, child having to go under general anesthesia.
I will continue to blog updates about his surgery and about his recovery. And about my emotional stability leading up to surgery.
But here is my question for everyone...
We don't need to eliminate all activity, but we do need to eliminate higher risk activites from his daily life until he has his surgery, and a few weeks following his surgery. So...how do we keep our little guy from his crazy climbing and flipping around the house? I mean, look at the picture above-that is our every day. And if you notice, Drew is the one in the center of the action. That is just who he is and how he rolls through this life. In the middle, and often the instigator of "crazy" in our home.
Worried,
The Joyful and Tired Mom