Everything is easier to handle when the house is clean

When you walk outside after making a piece of toast in the morning to find your son throwing his own poop at the dog you start to wonder if he is really your child. Why would he want to do that? I certainly don't want to throw my own poop. But if my house was clean then the spur of the moment bath followed by a meltdown, all while Siena is crying really wouldn't be so bad....if the house was clean because then I wouldn't have the mess in the back of my mind.

When you get out of the bathroom to find your son has taken all the apricots and peaches that you made a special trip back to the house when you forgot them the first time when leaving Fresno last night because you know they are worth it and is throwing them all around the living room saying "num num ball, nummy balls, he chewing balls" and the dog is eating them, you know it would be easier if the house was clean because then you wouldn't wonder when you are going to find that last apricot. In the middle of the night when I get up to pee, or will it sit under the tv cabinet and rot because I can't see it. If the house was clean then wiping up apricot and peaches off the new baseboards wouldn't seem like such a huge task that is taking away from the other 500 things that need to be cleaned.

If the house was clean then maybe i could write up my grocery list since it's been almost a month since I last went to Trader Joe's. But since I can't sit still for one minute with out finding Cole naked, covering Siena in blankets or making more of a mess, groceries seems like the last thing I want to deal with. How can I put away food when I can't even pick up all the toys? We need food....And how is it that the sink is full of dishes when we have nothing to cook?

I photographed a wedding this past Friday. Together Mike and I took 5000 photos. Now I have 5000 photos to sort through and then edit the remaining ones in a timely manor. If the house was clean then the thought of this wouldn't even phase me, except that the house isn't clean. In fact it looks like the Tasmanian devil (Cole) has come through the house at a high rate of speed and destroyed EVERYTHING in EVERY ROOM. I so desperately want to vacuum but I can't even get a clear path.

If the house was clean then maybe I could get the laundry put away. But as you know the house isn't clean which means the laundry is sitting on the changing table and my kids are wearing nothing but diapers because I figure that if they wear no clothes then I wont have to wash anything but the diapers. Let's not even talk about the cloth diapers. I love them still, I do, but when the house is a mess the last thing I want to do is wash and fold diapers.

So I won't. I'm not gonna clean either. I am going to sit down, blog, take pictures, enjoy my kids and wait till the weekend when I have help and then we are gonna clean and clean, and clean. But until then the house will remain a mess, so nobody come to visit please. I'm warning you, it's not a pretty sight.

For now I will leave you with a picture of a naked baby because naked babies make everyone smile. And you forget for a moment that there will soon be double the mess because this cute little naked baby grows up to be a messy little toddler.

Exhaustion

I think this is probably the busiest I have been since having Siena. I of course brought it upon myself and then with unforeseen circumstances - losing an employee at work and a funeral tomorrow in Fresno - I literally feel like I don't know which direction is up at this point. Tonight is my last of 3 photo shoots this weekend with one being a wedding this past Friday. I have over 5000 pictures to sort though (that's just from the wedding) and then edit the remaining good ones. We are leaving tomorrow morning no later than 6 am to get to Fresno by 11am for my Grand Aunt's funeral. We are also driving back home afterwards. I can't wait for Tuesday. It is the start of a long stretch of NOTHING planned! I can't wait. I tend to be the type of person who thinks she can do it all and I realized this weekend I can't and I'm ok with that. To prove my point about being exhausted I have taken two 3 hour naps this weekend and the entire 4 1/2 months Siena has been here I have taken a total of 2 naps!

Then of course there are the deaths of a few famous people in the last few days, some expected and unexpected with the biggest shock being the death of Michael Jackson. At the wedding on Friday one of the best parts was a tribute to Michael Jackson with about 6 younger people doing the entire Thriller dance routine on the dance floor. Becky, I had no idea you had that in you! I am so impressed!

Tuesday can't come soon enough.

A new type of ball

Last weekend when we went out on the boat, Cole discovered the thetherball. Of course this was heaven for him. A ball that could not get away. Or so he thought.


Do we see a soccer player in our future?

All you could hear was "ball, pleaseeee, ball, no, now ball, pleaseeee!"
"ball, ball, ball, no go, ball"

We had to pry him off.

19 weeks

Siena has been trying for the past few days to get up enough momentum to roll over from her back to her tummy. She keeps getting stuck on her side. Her giggling and laughing is becoming more frequent and she is constantly smiling at us. I have been able to get her on a much better napping schedule and on most days she takes at least two long naps. Nursing is becoming difficult because she is constantly distracted by the slightest sound or light.

My favorite toy

What a poser I have! I'm thinking she may be a good picture taker in the future!
Siena will not keep those fingers out of her mouth! She loves to shove them all in there, thus making herself puke. Constantly.

Happy Fathers Day!

This year for father's day we went out on my parents new pontoon boat! It was tons of fun and Cole had a blast. Since kids are required by law to wear life jackets, it was quite the experience.

Poor Siena looked so funny.

She hated that jacket. When we had it snapped up she looked like she had a fish face. I really didn't like having to put her in it but of course I understand why it's the law. The thing is that jacket says it is an infant jacket for kids under 50 pounds. Well judging by the looks of it, it can barely handle a 12 pound kid. We tried it on Cole and couldn't even get his arms in both sides.

Doesn't she look like a tick ready to pop!?!?!?

Getting ready to go cruising. Once we got out of the marina my dad got it going pretty fast until we got to our cruising spot. Once we slowed down Cole turned to my dad, held his arm in the air, pointed to the front of the boat and yelled "GO!!!!!"
Onyx was in heaven! She was trying everything in her power except for jumping overboard to get in that water. She is a true lab.

Cole loves driving everything, so it was no surprise to us when he wanted to help grandpa drive the boat. Unfortunately he also knows how to turn it on and off and was finally caught the third time he turned it off. You can see my parents house from the lake. They have an amazing view!
Happy Fathers day to the best dads in the world - Mike, Dale and Glenn!

How you can tell if Cole's been in the room

More from the bumbo

This was Siena's first real acknowledgement that Nemo existed.

And of course not to be left out, Cole showing off his bumbo skills.

Chicken anyone?

Someone's been a little jealous of Siena getting her picture taken in costumes. This was the only one I had that sorta fit him.

Abs of steel

Look at those baby abs. She's all muscle! Ok maybe all chubb, but she's really getting stronger by the day. She's even starting to bounce in the jumperoo!

Improvising

All Cole talks about is balls. Footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, golf balls, and really anything that resembles a ball. When he wants to watch the Sandlot he says "mom mom, ball, woof woof".

So naturally he would want to play ball in the house. But the hoop is broken. Well Cole decided that Siena would make a good back drop and hold the hoop for him.

It worked out for maybe a minute.

Then Cole decided is was more fun to make a basket with Siena.

You can tell she's thrilled.

Really thrilled.

The lizard is gone!

About 3 weeks ago a lizard snuck in to our house through the new patio door. I almost stepped on it thus I freaked out and my mom tried to help me get it out and it ran behind the wall where we had yet to put trim up. I figured it was dead by now...until yesterday when I saw it cruising though MY BEDROOM!!!! I freaked out again and instantly called Mike and told him he had to come home an remedy the situation. He laughed and said see ya in a few hours.

I then remembered I had another boy in the house, a small boy, but a boy. They all like lizards now matter how big they are.

Cole was kind enough to get that gross lizard out of the house for me. What a good boy he is to his mamma.

I think we may have the next generation of Steve Irwin on our hand. Look at him handle that lizard (or maybe it is a fake alligator) What ever that thing is, grosses me out too.

He really knows how to tame them.

I can't stand that thing in the house. I get sick to my stomach every time I walk into a room and it is just lying there. Laughing at me.

Ok so Mike did remove the lizard, 2 hours later. I wouldn't go in my room until it was gone. Which meant no crib for Siena, no access to diapers.....

***Update - shortly after I posted this, my mom informs me that on Wednesday she kicked out a lizard also, which can only mean that little punk lizard had to of snuck in the house undetected. This this morning (Saturday) look what we found in our bedroom! Another one! I know this isn't the same punk lizard because this one has a tail and the one from Wednesday and Thursday had no tail. I am really starting to not like my house. Unfortunately what I think is happening is that either Minkie (one of the two cats) is bringing them in or they are sneaking in through the open patio door. We leave it open all day since Cole likes to run in and out. We never had a lizard in the house problem before the patio door. I fear that what was supposed to make my life easier (patio door / Cole 100% safe access to an outdoor area) is now becoming my worst nightmare. I don't do reptiles!

Underware

As you know already we have been having some keeping your diaper on / pooping on the floor issues with Cole over the past week. He really wants to go to the bathroom with out his diaper on however he doesn't want to use the potty. He prefers the floor.

So this morning Cole slept in and by sleeping in I mean 7 am. I heard his door handle wiggling around so I went to go let him out of the room and when I go to the door way there was Cole in a t-shirt and underware. His diaper and pj bottoms were on the floor. There was no poop or pee on the floor either. So I guess he just woke up and decided that he wanted to wear underware and got out a pair from his drawer to put on. He even got in on the right way!

He refused to let me put a diaper on him for about an hour or so but he didn't pee during that time either. Finally I got a diaper on him and then put the underware back on.

Fast forward to nap time. I put him down about an hour and a half ago. 30 minutes ago I hear him calling for me. I had figured he was a sleep so I quickly ran to his room hoping I wasn't going to find poop on the floor. I opened the door and there he was naked saying "poo poo mama" Off to the potty we went and he actually pooped 1 little poop. So he got a cookie and back to bed he went. But now I am worried that he is gonna go more in his room. I keep walking by waiting to see if I catch a drift of poop coming from his room.

18 weeks

I am starting to think her little face gets rounder each week.

Siena has her first cold this week. I think Cole gave it to her because he was sucking snot before she was, otherwise I'd blame the vaccines she got on Monday.

Whatever works

He slept like this for 3 1/2 hours. Yesterday he slept in Siena's crib. I could care less about where he naps as long as he is napping.

Fashion from a boys point of view

Cole dressed himself today. This is good because he needs to learn how. Unfortunately it appears that all males, no matter how young, don't seem to understand how to put together an outfit.

His outfit consists of Siena's hat.

A swim shirt and plaid shorts

And of course pink jellies, on the wrong feet. I love his signature crossed toes. He's been doing that since he was born.