Thursday, June 25, 2009

Swimming Lesson Success




The boys had their final swimming lessons today (and parents get to go watch). I was so proud of both boys - they did a fabulous job. Both of them have a few skills to work on in their respective classes but for the most part they passed all of the skills. Reid is swimming on his own and getting much more comfortable in the water. He needs to work on being comfortable floating on his back and gain some confidence with his crawl stroke. Ryan tried all the skills and even went underwater several times. He sat on the edge of the pool playing with a bucket when it was not his turn and never fussed or whined to come sit with Alyssa and I even though we were in there. I've attached several pictures from their lesson.












Thursday, June 18, 2009

Tid Bits of Crazy!

It's just been one of those weeks at the McDowell house... MOM feels like she's spinning out of control :) Courtney keeps telling me to take photos, Russ keeps telling me to blog all this crazy sh*t the boys are coming up with and I just can't seem to get any of it done. Honestly, I don't have a lot going on at all... just in my head. And only 17 weeks left until we add to this craziness too (that's by my self created due date).

So, in no great story telling fashion, here's a bulleted list of some of the rather "odd" or funny things the boys have done this week.

* Swimming lessons started on Monday. While Ryan has never taken an activity or sport that wasn't one where the parent participate with the child - we thought he'd do just fine. I went in to work late Monday to help our summer babysitter get the boys checked in. Good call as Ryan completed melted down. I believe he cried during the whole lesson. Every day has gotten a bit better though and today (Thursday) the report from Alyssa was "no tears at all today."

* In a shortened summary form, let's just say the other night in the bathtub the boys had some fun with their special boy parts. Reid was trying to get his to float on the water and teaching his brother how to dump water on it. At one time he yelled "don't dump water on my head, only on my wee wee"... I ended baths quickly that night!

* Because Ryan actually participated in swimming lessons on Wed and I had things to get anyway, I took them to Wal-Mart where Ryan knew I was going to get some chocolate milk (which I don't buy much of anymore). Ryan said on the way that I was the "best mom ever." Reid often uses this classic suck up phrase but this was a first for Ryan. Then, Reid, to top his brother said... "If I were 53 and you were 44, I would marry you!" This was brought on because I've told him a couple times lately that he can't marry me because I'm his mom and I married his dad and he can't marry Courtney because she's his family and he can't really marry Morgan because she's too old for him. I told him he'd eventually marry someone that was about his age. He's really into wanting to "marry" people he loves a lot... especially Morgan - 4 times out of 5 that's who he will say is his girlfriend (and his 16 year old cousin... so probably won't work).

* Last night Ryan was playing out back in the little blow up pool and sprinkler when Reid decided that he wanted to play as well. He had been riding scooters out front with his friend, Jack. He sent Jack home after swim trunks and he went in to change clothes. Jack comes back changed from his house and Reid was still inside. After another good 3 minutes or so I thought maybe he needed some help. I hollered in the back door of the house "Reid, do you need help"... the reply comes from right inside the front living room -not where I was expecting him to be. He was fully clothed, sitting in the living room watching cartoons! I asked him if he was putting on his swimming trunks and he said "Oh, I forgot." The boy is ENAMORED with the tv. He had went inside and got stuck on cartoons and totally forgot what he was doing.

* Last night before I went to bed I sent our babysitter a note and asked her to come 30 minutes later and sent my boss a note telling her I was going to sleep a little longer. I didn't feel very good and just felt like I needed to get some extra sleep. At around 3:15 I heard Ryan hollering for me (something about the boys voices I can always hear). I go into his room and he's sitting up in his bed and tells me there are spiders in his bed. No clue where that came from but I took him potty, rocked him a bit, and put him back to bed. Then around 4:30 I hear him hollering again. I can't remember what he said this time - either worms or snakes were in his bed. I assured him there was nothing in his bed (and I swear we washed his sheets two days earlier) and tried to get him to lay back down. He wanted a drink so I went down and got one for him and he drank almost a whole glass of water (yeah, I figured he'd be up at 5 having to go potty too... but he didn't). I have no clue what brought on all that craziness but I think I'm banning any more Indiana Jones movies for him :) LOL.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The three ring circus is complete...


I've been a bit delayed in updating the blog... one of the crazier weeks for us at the McDowell house. We had our sonogram last Wednesday and found out that #3 is indeed going to be our third boy. Phew... and I was afraid my blog title would make no sense any more :) In all seriousness, we're both very excited. I like boys... I believe I was meant to be a mother of boys. I'm far outnumbered now and will definitely be open to any girls trips, spa trips, etc but I couldn't be more excited!

We had a bit of a scare with some "oddities" on the sonogram but believe that these have been cleared up by follow up appts, sonograms and blood work. So, instead of 2 or 3 sonogram pictures - we have 15! We've got 4 different pictures of the penis alone so at least we know they've got that right :)

It seemed like the wind was let out of our sails there for a while and we're building back up to being excited now. I still feel a sense of reservation for some reason but I'm sure that'll be gone in no time as well.

The boys still don't know. We were going to tell them last week and then these things came up, etc and there just hasn't been a good time. Pretty soon I think Reid's going to put it together - that or he'll start hiding all the good food - as mom is really getting quite the belly :( Maybe sometime in the next couple of weeks or so. I just need to get my calendar numbered backwards so I can answer 'how many more days' every morning.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Summer is here!


Feels like summer is in full swing now! We are trying something new for the summer. We have a college girl (Alyssa) coming to our house during the day rather than the boys going to their home day care. The boys are enjoying being home, playing with their toys, playing outside, and watching tv. As you can see by the attached picture - Alyssa is wearing them out! They are staying up a bit later than they usually do but they are having no trouble at all sleeping. With Ryan sleeping in he has decided that he doesn't need a nap any longer... not sure if that's working - he just can't quite make it. Last Friday night Ryan fell asleep on my lap before dinner (around 5:45 pm) and I ended up moving him to his bed around 7ish where he slept until Saturday morning at 7:30! They had played outside that day from 1:30 to 4:15.

The picture is from last night. He laid down in the middle of the living room floor and fell asleep around 4:45 and stayed there until a little after 6:00. And he still went to bed at 8:00 and slept through the night. They had played outside with Alyssa again and then daddy later in the afternoon in the sprinkler system as well.

This week is the boys' 2nd week with Alyssa and I think they are starting to get their groove. Reid is getting a bit older and testing his limits on attitude and talking back but we aren't crazy - we didn't hire any pushover :) Alyssa keeps them in line and the boys really love her. They ask every night if she's coming the next day. Saturday morning Ryan kept asking where Alyssa was.

We've got some fun things planned as the summer comes along too. As the water warms up there will be lots of pool days, they have some summer movie passes, they are meeting mom for lunch at Red Robin today... ah, the life of kids :)

I certainly can't complain either though. Russ and I are both enjoying the shorter drive, less hustle here and there, not waking the boys up in the morning.... it's a nice summer break for us too.

Ryan will be going back to Beth's on August 10th and Reid will be heading to kindergarten and before and after school. We already miss Beth but it helps knowing that there's a spot for Ryan to go back to. For now, I relax knowing that the boys are truly getting to appreciate everything that I remember from my summers growing up - sleeping in, playing at home, and going to the pool.