2 for 1 Deal

Earlier this week we took both the kiddos to have their well check-ups at the same time. When I had scheduled this 2-for-1 appointment a month ago it sounded like a good idea. One co-pay, one trip, one round of screaming at the scary old doctor, etc.

They really look harmless, right? :)

The closer I got to their appointment the more I realized I had lost my mind. Merrick by himself at the Doctor is insanity. He hates the pediatrician with a passion...I truly am embarrassed at how he acts in the doctors office. And if you know anything about Merrick you know that it probably takes a lot to embarrass me any more. ;)

I decided I needed to call in the back-up. I asked Billy to pretty please with cherries on top get off work a bit early and come help me. I admit it, I really didn't think I could handle these two, one big scary doctor, several torturous shots, a stethoscope, and a couple of tongue depressors by myself. This picture might clear up any confusion on why I didn't wanna go there. :)

They both actually did surprisingly well, though. Tirzah barely made a peep while she had her check-up, and while Merrick cried and looked like he had seen a big lab-coated ghost, he didn't display the theatrics I've seen at past visits. Whew. They even handled their shots relatively well. Merrick didn't cry at all, I think he was trying not to bread down in front of his baby sister. Tirzah did scream, just a little, ok hysterically, when she got her shots. It was very sad...as usual I cry too. So sad, but after the pertussis nightmare I didn't want to risk anymore contagious diseases at the moment.

After that little outing, we went to the store to pick up some cereal/baby food for Tirzah. The Dr said she obviously doesn't need to be eating more formula, and should try something more substantial so she isn't eating so often. I think she is just trying to make sure she doesn't lose her trademark "cheekies". :)

Then we rewarded ourselves for surviving, and went to Noodles and Company. *Any excuse to go to that place will work...I got up this morning, I deserve to go to Noodles and Company. ;)* Merrick made sure to make up for his good behavior at the Doctor's office by showing his "mac-cheese", as he called it, to all the other diners. At least they laughed. :)

Crib Diving

Recently I kept catching Merrick in his crib. Sounds kind of funny, because that's better than catching him OUT of it. But I couldn't figure out how he was getting in there...since I never actually saw him do it. I would come around the corner in his room and there he sat, playing with his truck and tractors, or looking at a book. *Very peaceful compared to his usual hobbies*. I finally caught him diving into his crib, and got him to do it a second time for the video:

Baking A.D.D.

I love trying new things. New foods, new hobbies, etc. I saw this crazy cake on a blog I read sometimes, and was suddenly inspired to work on my *ahem* baking skills. Ok, so I can bake, sort of. If it comes packaged in a box and only required me to crack a few eggs and spray some Pam. I like a good challenge, so I thought no 6-layer-multi-colored-sugar-high of a cake is gonna beat me.

It started off well. I had all my ingredients, my food coloring, the kids were napping...I got this. So I baked the first 3 layers. *There were supposed to be 6...a purple one, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, with icing in between each one.*

All in all so far that took me about an hour...I'm kinda new to this baking thing, and tend to be easily distracted by the many other things to do around here. I started trying to assemble my first 1/2 of a cake...and it was a bit more complicated than I had expected. There were purple, blue, and green tinted cake crumbs all over me and the kitchen. Thank goodness Merrick was still sleeping, or it could have gotten really ugly. ;)

I think I could have finished the project, but I got so tired of messing with the cake that I just decided there was nothing in the world wrong with a 3 layer cake. I can sit and play with photoshop or my camera for hours, but for some reason just couldn't find it in me to stand in the kitchen any longer to finish the multi-colored monstrosity on my counter. So...for now I think it's safe to say I'm not going to take up baking as a hobby. ;)

Lights Out

This past Saturday was our first experience with Trick-or-Treating with the kids. Merrick's first Halloween was spent like this:
Billy and I both seem to have developed amnesia, and can't remember what we did for his second Halloween. So yesterday we had a fellowship/trunk-or-treat at church. I was so excited about dressing Merrick up in his dino costume. We had a great time...even in spite of the rain. Merrick made sure to drag his dino tail through every puddle he could find, and made out like a bandit with a huge pumpkin full of candy for me, uh himself. ;) Tirzah just hung out in the car, but here is a picture of the 2 of them...minus the dinosaur head-piece Merrick really wasn't' very fond of:
So after such a great evening with the kids, Billy and I were very excited about the theoretical extra hour of sleep we were supposed to have coming to us thanks to daylight savings time. I say theoretical, because in theory it was a nice thought. ;) We got them home and in the bed, and got ourselves in the bed at a reasonable hour...10:30! Which is great for our usual Saturday night shenanigans all over the state with 180. :)

Then, for some reason, the power went out. No big deal right? We are asleep...who needs electricity? But, since marrying Billy, who always sleeps with a hurricane force wind fan blowing, neither one of us can sleep in dead silence. So, ridiculous as it sounds, the silence woke us both up at 1:00 am. And then, Merrick woke up. And then, Tirzah woke up. Apparently they don't understand the concept of extra sleep. :)

So...since our house is a shoebox pretty small (Merrick's room is right next to ours, and is the only other bedroom in the house) Merrick's sad crying and refusing to go back to sleep ended with him being put in bed with us. Did someone say party time? I think that was what he heard, although I don't recall saying that. There were feet on my head, and a head in my ribcage all at the same time...he was jumping on the bed, wanting a snack, talking about cat poop, *I still can't figure that one out*, poking us in the eyeballs, climbing out of bed and running into things in the pitch black dark when I didn't grab him fast enough.Yes, go ahead and laugh...I was. :) What else can you do? (Billy was holding Tirzah, who also wouldn't go back to sleep.) I tried holding him still, rubbing his back, reasoning with him, threatening him, *"...if you don't go to sleep right now." :)* but nothing seemed to work. Still no sleeping going on. Finally, we all went to the kitchen and ate chips in the dark. I guess we just decided to embrace the insanity, and hope for the best. After our midnight 4:00 am snack, we tried going to bed again. This time, after about 30 minutes of WWE, he finally fell asleep.

We all dozed off, even though Merrick was sweating on me like he had run a marathon. About 5:30 the power came back on, waking us all up again because the hurricane was back, and several lights came on. But Merrick was too far gone to resist sleep at this point, so we put him in his crib and called it a night. Or a morning.

I thought that I would keep the kids home from church and let them sleep in a little, because they were up half the night. They pretty much said, in their own cute little way, "no thanks mom...we're not tired"! Or maybe I just am hearing things because I can't think straight on 3 hours of sleep. But like I said...that extra hour of sleep? Theoretical. ;)
But it's pretty hard to stay mad at them when they are so stinkin' cute. Even if I am seeing double due to exhaustion. :)

Balloon Boy

Sorry, I couldn't resist the title, although Merrick hasn't gone so far as to escape in a weather balloon.

But speaking of balloons, and boys...that past Friday was a very special day around here. It was wild man Merrick's 2nd Birthday. I feel like we've been in the terrible 2's since he was about 9 months old, but now it's official. I'm not so sure how much more terribly wild and crazy it can get, but I know he always surprises me. And I wouldn't really call it terrible, because we are having way too much fun for that to be the adjective I would use. :)

For example, on his 2nd birthday: he escaped out the back door three times before lunch. (Yes, I finally got a clue, and am now using the deadbolt that he can't reach, yet...:) Next, he set one of his birthday balloons on top of his 3-month-old sister's head, then smacked the balloon off of her head and across the room. I didn't realize a head could double as a golf tee, but Tirzah is fine, btw, she didnt even notice. Tough lady. ;) And further tee-ing up off his sister's head has been prohibited. :)

Here is a shot of him, looking something like King Kong in Grandma's driveway, before his birthday party:It was a great party, and lots of great friends and family showed up to help us celebrate 2 years with Wild. We are looking forward to lots more...we just hope we can keep up with him. :)

At I Heart Faces this week the theme was *Balloons*...check out their site for lots of great pictures!