Snow Daze

When I put off blogging too long, all my postable material accumulates and I find myself facing a monster. I feel very daunted right now with where to begin in terms of describing our week... I guess I'll start with the snow. It started Monday afternoon and we got about 20 inches total. Tuesday was officially our first snow day of the season! If you've been reading my blog all along, you likely know how I feel about snow days. Given the choice to take them or leave them, as much as I love this extra cozy time with my kids, I'd leave them. Haha.

So Tuesday was challenging. The whining started more or less immediately. What was going to keep these boys interested and engaged while being stuck inside all day?

Here's a nice view from inside our fort. 

The snow muffins we "baked" were delicious.

The snow muffins made us want the real thing, so we whipped those up too.

We waved to Daddy while he so fearlessly snowblowed.

And then Jason took Ashton outside for some winter fun. 

Poor Alex, such is life on the inside. He was glued to the glass for 30 minutes watching Ashton play. Look how skinny his little neck is. This is made worse by the fact that his hair makes his head look bigger than it is. It's very fluffy. 

They went down to the backyard to build a snowman while I fed Alex lunch. Ashton came running back when he needed a "cawwot" so I gave him one and followed him out to snap a couple quick pictures.

Now, can I just take a minute to tell you that when they finally came in, Jason was chuckling about something. I said, "Why are you laughing?" and he said, "We gave our snowman a big bean."

"Bean" is code for penis in our family. Readers, can you imagine a situation where instead of Jason building the snowman with Ashton, it was me, and I came in giggling because I had actually made a snowwoman and she had the genitalia to prove it? Of course you can't! Because it would never happen! Even grown men are boys are heart, especially when it comes to their penises. I have seen first hand just how early this fascination starts, you know, by raising two members of this male species. The other day, Alex was sitting in the tub and dropped a toy, which sunk down between his thighs. His visibility is limited because his tummy is so big, but he reached into the water to try and get it. You can guess what he found; it was not the toy, and he damn near drowned himself trying to look down and see what he had grabbed. 

Of course, I flipped out about this hyper-masculine, wishful-thinking snowman. I was like, "Jason! Our neighbors are going to see that! Go take that OFF! Are you serious?? Come on!" And he laughed and went back down to take care of it, but not before I called after him "Make sure to take a picture first!" ;)  Hey, if you can't beat'em...

Where was I before we got distracted by penises. Oh, so after naps, the snow day continued with "A Bug's Life", which Ashton swore he wanted to watch and whined and flapped his hands until we bought it. Turns out, he didn't really like it, but he kept still for about five minutes, which was nice.

The rest of the night is a blur and then...what do you know. We had ANOTHER snow day on Wednesday. Jason got up bright and early to go snowboarding and then had to head to work, so luckily Jen and Mike (her boyfriend) were here to help me with the boys. Why did I need help? Brings me to the second part of this post.

I had had a bad cough for about a week and then spent all of Saturday night awake with lots of chills and shaking. Sunday morning I felt terrible, and was in and out of bed all day, no appetite, headache, still coughing, and general malaise. Thank goodness Jason was around to help me with the boys and ended up taking Ashton to a birthday party that afternoon instead of me. Monday morning I dragged myself into work, but due to the impending snow storm was back home by 3 pm. I again went straight to bed, and much of Tuesday, the snow day, was spent the same way. It sucked. I could hear the boys downstairs playing and Jason picked up 100% of the slack, but I just felt so bad that I couldn't do anything but lay in bed. I had had a chill for 3 days and the worst fatigue and coughing. Wednesday came and I woke up and felt good! I was like, hmmm, I'm losing my voice, but I have some energy so I must be turning a corner. With Jason off snowboarding, Jen and Mike came, and I caught up on all the laundry, cleaned and wiped the whole kitchen, scrubbed the tub, and in general picked up the pieces from the last few days. Mike took Ashton outside and shoveled all kinds of roads for his dump truck:

And when I was done, we all took the boys for a walk around the block. It was the first time Alex had been out in the snow!

Around 1:30 pm I crashed and felt worse than ever. I had talked to my sister that morning who had said, "Uh, go to the doctor, you might have the flu or something!" For the record, I did get my shot, even though I know it's not super effective this year. But I had been coughing so so much and feeling so sick, since Sunday, that I called up, and they could see me in an hour. Perfect.

Long story short. She sent me for a chest x-ray and I have pneumonia. Ain't nobody got time for that! I cried, I really did. Thankfully I'm not contagious, but THEN she told me she was going to prescribe me a z-pack, but that I could not breastfeed on it so I would have to pump and dump my milk for 7 days. This really sent me into the tailspin because a) I have almost no frozen milk, certainly not enough for a whole week, b) Alex has never had formula, and I was definitely going to need time to work it over on him, c) could tonight be my last night breastfeeding? Was this it? I don't expect anyone besides another nursing mother to understand this, but it was beyond saddening and I was just a mess about it. Usually weaning is a process, not cold turkey! It's such precious time I have with Alex, I was not ready for it to be over so suddenly.

Luckily, I got a second opinion and the antibiotics are safe to take while breastfeeding. But I did buy formula anyway and have been adding an ounce to his bottles in an attempt to make up for my failure to keep up with pumping. I'm so tired, and I'm tired of my pump, so if I can get him on formula for a month (just bottles) and keep nursing him at night, I will be happy. When March comes it will be time to do the cows milk thing so it's not for very long. Anyway, that's in the works - I've started with 75% breastmilk and 25% formula and it's not going well so far. The little bugger knows there's a difference.

Yesterday, Thursday, I stayed home from work and rested. Jen came and took the boys to the library because their music class was cancelled, and then after naps, Mike came and they all went to Launch so I could rest some more. She doesn't know I have this blog, but she, and especially Mike, have been my saving grace this week. Just want to give her a shout out for being so flexible and patient. Mike usually tags along with her when he is not working, so I get them both for the price of one, and Mike has always been the one to build Ashton his crazy train tracks, take him outside, play cars, etc. while Jen watches the baby. I'm a lucky mom to have them.

Last night after Alex went to bed, I laid on the couch and Ashton was super concerned with making sure I was comfortable. He helped me with my water and brought me an extra blanket :)

And I kept asking him for things because Jason was in the kitchen so he got lots of exercise running back and forth between us. "Daddy! Mommy needs tea! And chwapstick!" and was so excited that he was helping me "feel bedder". I had quite the set up.

The trashier the magazine, the dirtier the gossip. Poor George - it seems Amal has turned out to be quite the diva.

So as I type this, it is Friday, Ashton is at school for the first time since Monday, Jason's at work, and Jen is downstairs with Alex. I'm supposed to be resting but my good friends the Cardillos are next door making all kinds of racket doing snow removal so I decided to try and blog. Blogging feels restful enough :) I'm hoping to lay low this weekend and then get out of my sweats, wash my hair, and join the living world again. Day 2 of my antibiotics and I'm already less tired, the chills and sick feeling are gone and my coughing has subsided a lot. My voice is coming back too! But I know not to push it so I can get done with this business of being sick as soon as possible. I'm so over it, and I'm over the snow too! There should be antibiotics for cold weather. Oh wait, there are. They are called "tropical vacations", of which none are in my future. But I'll take "sick of winter" over "sick with pneumonia" any day! ;)

It's January. And??

And nothing. I've got nothing. Hold on a sec, let me check back to see what on god's green earth I was writing about at this time last year.
***
{opens blog archives, prays for inspiration}
***
Ha! As it turns out, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
http://anewnill.blogspot.com/2014/01/bored.html

But I'm going to stay positive and note that at least there is no snow on the ground. That's probably my favorite thing about January 2015 right now. How about some others? Surely I can come up with some good stuff this month has had to offer.

1) Let's start with alcohol. Always a good decision when you're stuck inside. My new favorite drink is the Moscow Mule. It's seriously delicious and refreshing and I totally love it. Russia...vodka....cold....winter...it's totally fitting. Now I just need a ushanka and one of those fancy copper mugs they are traditionally served in. Я люблю это!

2) My new favorite place is called Launch. It's a trampoline park that just opened in Watertown about 5 minutes from my house. A friend and I took our boys last week and they jumped around for an hour, were laughing, panting, sweating and begging for more. Any activity that knocks Ashton out cold at bedtime...I will be devoted to you. I particularly love this place because there are no germy toys and the exercise, when you're 3, is what I'll call "whole body". Lots of falling and getting back up, bouncing and recovering, rolling, flipping, etc. The waiver I signed was about as long as the US Constitution including amendments. Did you know trampolines are very dangerous but so is a cooped-up 3 year old. I'll take my chances.

3) My favorite day so far has been Sunday, January 18. I checked the thermometer; it was warm enough to be outside. I opened the door to feel for rain; it was not precipitating. I did a quick mental checklist: does anyone need a new diaper right now? Negative. Does anyone need to eat right now? Negative. Was there enough time until someone DID need a diaper or something to eat? Affirmative.
[Pause...]

"Ok boys, MOVE! Let's go! Outside! Ashton get your shoes on! Where's your coat? Do you want to take your scooter or your bike? Where the heck did I put your helmet. Alex! Doubletime! Fleece suit baby! Let's get you stuffed in to that thing. Ashton - your shoes!! NOW!" I marched both of these guys out the front door left-right-left style with Ashton yelling "YES-Drill-Sar-Jint!"

Hahahaha but it was the only way. Playground time in January is virtually nonexistent and I'm happy to report, we were out a good 45 minutes before it started to drizzle and at that point, it was lunch time. The fresh air was sooo good for our souls!

4) I have two favorite new gadgets. The first is my crockpot that Santa brought me. The second is our blender, which I have really never used until I decided it was time to see if I could get Ashton to drink his vegetables, because he certainly won't eat them like he's supposed to. So slow-cooker meals and smoothies have been my January initiatives with moderate success. For the first, I made salsa chicken the other day - it was unbelievable how easily it shredded but definitely needed some doctoring up afterwards. Not so much flavor as I would have thought.

I also made some bolognese sauce which was just ok. I'm used to sauces that boil down and thicken, not sit with a lid on and steam. Room for improvement.

As far as the "poothies" go - Ashton loves them.

And I love them because you can dump pretty much anything in there and press blend haha. The first batch we made had blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, a banana, greek yogurt, OJ, ice, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for sweetness. Oh, and kale! I bought a huge bunch of the curly-leaf kind and sold Ashton on the fact that we needed a rainbow of colors to make the smoothie work and kale was our green. He was so completely into this I almost laughed at how easy it was. There are a lot of wonderful things about smoothies: first, I discovered you can blend them up and then freeze them in portions. I use the microwave to defrost just to the point where they are still icy but can be poured into a cup. Second, they are the answer to any fruit that is on its last day or not quite appealing to eat as is (like mushy strawberries). And I can't wait to see what other veggies I can sneak in there. Third, the novelty. Ashton picks what he wants to go in it, gets to press the buttons on the blender and then as such is excited to drink it. And I do a happy dance in the corner watching the kale flow through the straw and into his unsuspecting little body ;) My overall plan was to make so many smoothies Jason would have to approve the purchase of a fancy new blender specifically for this purpose. Annoyingly, the one we have works just fine.

5) My favorite person is Anthony Cardillo. Well, this is a bit of a stretch. He is the contractor that bought the house across the street last spring. Sometime last fall, he came by and showed us the plans for the duplex he planned to build there. Honestly, it broke my heart. The house had been owned and lived in for 50 years by the same couple, Rosemary and Joseph (Ro and Jo). They were incredibly sweet neighbors, but they were old and it was time to sell. Their lot is extra wide and we knew when it went up for sale that it was likely to be bought by a contractor, torn down, and be replaced by some condos. It's a popular business model around here. Sucks.

Anyway, they closed in July and nothing at all happened until last week. I was beginning to think maybe their plans had fallen through, but nope. The excavator came on Thursday and it was clear: demo day had arrived. Behold, the before and afters.

In between these pictures were massive amounts of rubble and the biggest, longest dump trucks you have ever seen.

The house debris filled two of those and Ashton spent the entire morning with his face plastered to the front window. So I'm saying (through gritted teeth), thank you Anthony Cardillo for the free entertainment that will be ours for the next several months. I'm glad the project is underway and also glad you start at 7 am every morning. 

Make sure to save all your loudest tools for naptime.

See, look at that. A whole post of positivity and then I end on a snarky note. Did you know that it's a proven fact that months of sleep deprivation make it very difficult to regulate emotions and maintain a steady state of happiness? Alex is 10 months old and it's starting to get to me haha. I don't even need to make excuses for being cranky though because it's science.

Anyway, if you need us, look for us at Launch. Ashton will jumping and and drinking his kale and I'll be the one wearing a fur hat with a copper mug. Alex will be there too, just looking cute :)

Christmas!

So the question on everyone's mind: Did Ashton's head pop off on Christmas morning due to the sheer force of his excitement??

I'm happy to say, his head remains in place. He didn't transform into a category 5 hurricane either, which we had braced ourselves for. He did think every present was his, and in the beginning, after tearing the paper off one gift, went right on to the next without even bothering to look at what he had just opened. We made some efforts to slow down and after that, we had a nice little Christmas morning, aside from Alex feeling miserable. I think the wrapping and tissue paper frenzy perked him up a little, but in general, his nose leaked, his eyes were droopy, and he whined a lot.

Poor baby. Cute pjs, but not a great way to spend a first Christmas. And poor me! I was up a ton with him the night before and wiped out. The first pictures Jason snapped were, uh, less than flattering. But this blog is for better or for worse so I'll include all the ones I think best represent our morning (spoiler alert: they are all crappy. Like, royally. Not that our morning was crappy, just the pictures.).

I included that last one so you could see the carnage. But did I get a family picture? No. What about one of the boys in their new pajamas? Mmmm, not exactly. I kind of failed in the photo department over the entire break, as a matter of fact, but it was actually a good thing because it meant I didn't have my phone with me a lot of the time. I was much more present because I wasn't trying to document everything! It was nice.

After presents, stockings, and breakfast, we packed up and hit the road for Hampton Bays and Grandma and Grandpa's house. 3 hours and 45 minutes later, Ashton finally, FINALLY fell asleep in the car. 10 minutes after that, we were there. Perfect timing (not).

The main highlight from Grandma and Grandpa's house were that the boys wore matching outfits for the very first time. Ties! They were so cute even with no smiles. Ashton was in Santa detox and Alex still didn't feel good :-/ Best result from the photo shoot with Daddy:

Best result from the all-boys photo shoot. Not saying much.

And a couple more of my favorites: Ashton waiting to pounce on Alex's gift,

Grandma making her famous antipasto while Jason cuts up filets,

And Alex and Grandpa, just chillin :)

Look at their feet! So cute. Anyway, we also got to go to the beach a couple of times, the weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm! Not in the traditional sense, but it was nice to get out, go for walk and search for shells and other treasures. Jason and I got an afternoon of shopping in at the Tanger outlets and before I knew it, we were back home and then heading up to Vermont for Christmas Round 3! A much quicker trip (too quick!). First Kari and Ben's, where the boys were obsessed with their little cousin Callie. Honestly, it was like Alex had never seen a baby before ;)

A little eyepoke never hurt anyone. Right?

Then Poppy and Mema's, where we were so busy playing with all the new toys I took ZERO pictures, and then GG's, whose biggest gift was suggesting we go use the toddler splash pool at her gym! It was warm, about a foot and a half deep, and probably the best winter activity I could imagine because I didn't have to go in. That's what husbands are for. Ain't nobody want to see me in a bathing suit right now.

 Alex had his tongue out the whole time and Ashton was exhausted. Success!

To sum up, we put about 1,000 miles on our car over the holiday break. I was really nervous going into it with such long car rides but the boys, thank Christmas, were angels. Ashton tested my nerves a little by simply.never.shutting.up. from the backseat. But minus that and minus Alex's week-long cold, I could not have asked for smoother trips (notice I didn't use the word "vacation" - no such thing exists with kids! haha).

That's a wrap on Christmas. On to the new year and new adventures...Happy 2015!

Did you know it takes me 2.5 hours to feed, bathe, and bedtime these kids??

It's utterly ridiculous. This is the true story of last night.

4:45 pm - Arrive home from work and search for Ashton. He likes to hide when he hears my car so of course I pretend to seek. Then I change my clothes, Jen leaves and I get down on the floor and play with the boys.
5:30 pm - Preheat the oven, get out sippy, bib, milk, water, fork, cups etc. All the accoutrements for both kids.
5:45 pm - I am not going to win any awards with dinner last night - chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries. Wonder if Alex wants to try some fish tonight - put fish sticks in as well.
6:00 pm - Wash everyone's hands, drop Alex in highchair, cut up a bunch of fruit, cheese and whatever else I can find in the fridge that is baby-friendly. Arrange Ashton's food *JUST SO*, it must be organized and all lined up if I expect him to eat it. He sits at the island and wants crackers. Of course, the answer is no and things get messy. While Alex eats and Ashton cries, I wash all my lunch containers, coffee mug, pump and bottle stuff from the day and generally try to clean up.
6:20 pm - Alex is still eating (and loves the fish!), Ashton is done after three micro-bites and brings his cars into the kitchen. He plays with them very loudly.
6:30 pm - Alex finishes, I wipe everything up, clean the highchair, and go upstairs to start the tub while the boys roll around in the living room
6:40 pm - I have to bribe Ashton to take a bath with new toys: a wind up turtle and shark that "swim". He bounds upstairs and into the bathroom while I take Alex to his room to strip him down. He has a huge poop that I did not expect. Fabulous! He's very squirmy so in the process of wiping him clean, it gets everywhere. I drop him naked into his crib to put a new changing pad cover on. I think, I should probably do laundry tonight and scoop it all up plus what is in Ashton's room. At this point, I see in the bathroom that Ashton is still fully clothed and his shirt and sleeves are soaked from leaning over into the water so he can play with his new toys. I strip him and drop him in the water. Go back to get Alex, realize he has peed all over his crib. Still naked and crying, he's wedged under my arm while I change his mattress pad and sheet. Add to laundry. Then he goes into the tub too.
6:50 pm - Ten minutes of splashing and trying to soap up both boys. It's what I call Double Bath Night, and I usually like to wait for a night when Jason is home to help but they were getting smelly.
7:00 pm - Hair is washed and butts and beans are clean. Alex is plucked first and I hit drain on the water. Ashton stays in while Alex gets toweled off and into his pajamas.
7:05 pm - Alex goes into his crib to play, I go back for the second kid and see he has dumped ALL the soap into the water and splashed it enough so there are bubbles everywhere. There was at least half a bottle left. A mess to wipe up later.
7:10 pm - Ashton gets all his lotions and into his pajamas, I change his sheets too (I like to put clean boys into clean beds) and I run him downstairs and put a quick show. Go back up, zip Alex into his sleepsack and nurse him, all the while listening to Ashton crash around downstairs. He is definitely not watching the TV. What is he doing? Feel very torn about cutting the baby off early to go see.
7:20 pm - Alex is asleep and I find that Ashton is still in one piece with no noticeable damage anywhere. Phew. We pick up all the toys, choose some stories and sit on the couch and read.
7:35 pm - Jason texts me he is on his way home. 10 minutes later, he walks in the door and Ashton jumps up and down because it's time to do superhero, which is when Jason wraps him in a towel and swings him all around his room.
7:55 pm - Little preschool teeth are brushed and lights out.  I sit in the chair next to his bed in the half-dark while he chatters on about juggling- something he is obsessed with lately. No one has any idea why. Specifically juggling apples where people take bites out during the process, it's so odd. He sits up and makes the hand motions, alternating sides up and down ("and when you juggle your hands go like this, like this, like this, like this, like this") and talks about how maybe Daddy can juggle in the morning, when his light turns green. I give him a big squeeeeeeeeeze hug and kiss him, close his door, and exhale. Rinse all the bubbles out of the tub and put toys into basket. Time to start the laundry...

So there it is. 5:30 - 8 pm, a night in the life. I wrote all this out thinking it would be a good exercise and maybe I could identify potential areas of inefficiency. But it really does take 2.5 hours. Perhaps on the nights Jason is home after 8 pm it is a tad shorter - no superhero, no extra hype that Daddy is home. But it's a lot to manage, two at one time at the end of a day. Unfortunately it's not the kind of juggling that Ashton appreciates ;)

Christmas Eve

I face a dilemma a lot of the time with these posts. Like, I can make them as long as I want (due to having approximately a zillion pictures) and describe absolutely everything or as short as I want and say Christmas was great, I had a break that was 2 weeks about a decade long, and here's a picture of our tree and stockings. The end.

But BAHAHA that's not my style. No, I like to bore everyone silly with the details so it might take me a few posts, but we'll get through it. My "regular" life resumed today in full force, and I have paid next to no attention to it for the past two weeks, so this first one will be short.

Christmas began for Jason and I on December 23. We left the boys and set out for some last minute toy shopping. I had ordered a lot of stuff from Amazon but surprisingly didn't have a lot for Ashton to open. We headed to Toys R Us when, what to my wondering eyes did appear?

Where were the Duplos? Certainly not here!

Luckily we picked out some other stuff and Ashton was none the wiser. But note to self: you get beat by parents everywhere if you wait until December 23rd for popular toys. Womp womp. There happened to be an employee when I turned around, and, seeing my look of disbelief, he said, "There's a truck unloading RIGHT NOW, I don't know what's on it, but I could find out!" Such a nice little elf, I laughed and said no thanks, that's not necessary, I would never be that desperate can I climb in it and see??

But the best part of our shopping day was going out to lunch. A seemingly simple thing but it rarely happens and when it does, our kids are there. We sat at the bar and ordered a couple of beers like normal people! We had so much fun together and that night, I started to wrap all the madness while Jason put together a "super duper track" as Ashton later called it.

See that green box in the foreground? That's one of Ashton's old toys that we pulled out of the basement and rewrapped for Alex. Good as new!

The next day was Christmas Eve. Alex woke up not feeling good at all. He would just crawl around and cry, and after his first nap he had a fever of 103.5. I called the pedi at 11:55 am, of course they were closing at 12 pm, and told me to go to the emergency room. Having ridden in this rodeo before, I took a deep breath and started to pack up (Jason was out doing a last minute errand). I called Papa for a second opinion (hi Papa!) and after a cool bath and a dose of Advil, Alex's temperature had come down 3 degrees. We stayed home (Alex continued to be miserable for days, I did finally take him to the pedi in Long Island on the 27th just to rule out flu, ear infection, etc. and it was all negative, but it was rough). So that's all I really remember about Christmas Eve, freaking out that Alex was sick. He went to bed early though and I set Ashton up to decorate cookies for Santa. I simply can't believe how big he is.

And then of course we left some "cawwots" for the reindeer. It was all very exciting and the entire set up process can be viewed here complete with prancing (on Ashton's part ;) )

After his bedtime, Jason and I put all the presents out, had a nightcap, and strategically crumbled the cookies and broke off bits of the carrots (you think I was going to put my mouth on those things?). When I was young, this extra proof that Santa had come sent us into a tizzy almost as much as the presents: "Look he drank the milk! Look he ate the cookies! He liked them!! AHHHHH!!!" And then we would rush to the window to see if we could see sleigh tracks and reindeer footprints.

We were off to a very good start. Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night ;)