This is My Forties

Yesterday Josh and I hung out with our neighbor until the wee hours of the morning. We had a great time just talking and laughing :) It's a relief having such great neighbors. I know Bosley will be in good hands. Thanks so much, Heather!! :D I cleaned a lot yesterday, but still have more cleaning ahead of me. I hate coming home to a dirty house... I WON'T DO IT! It's not too bad, thankfully. I've just got to clean a bathroom and do one more load of laundry. I cleaned the car out and it looks awesome. The rugs got so clean with my trusty Dyson that it looks as though I don't even have rugs in there... just black floorboards. Awww yeah... go Dyson! Noah is sooooo excited about going to see everyone. He's got his backpack stuffed with books for the road trip and is running around the house with it on his back already. We're going to let him stay awake until we actually hit the road, which won't be until around midnight or 1am. Driving at night...

Tristan's been sleeping through the night almost every night still. Right now he's cutting a few top teeth. He seems to be taking it all in stride, but sometimes I can tell he's in pain. He's getting really good at pulling up to standing and I think he will be standing on his own in the next month, maybe even walking! He's a big goofball, always laughing and smiling. He loves gnawing on solid foods, which has me on Mommy high alert status. The other day I gave him an apple slice and some peanut butter. Dang... he was in heaven. I had to take the apple away when he somehow achieved an actual bite. He was rather angry, but he got over it pretty quickly :)

I took Bosley and the boys to the vet yesterday and am happy to announce he still has a clean bill of health. He got his rabies vaccine, and I got him started on heartworm prevention meds and frontline. He did really well at the docs and in the car yet again. When we got home Noah and I gave him a bath and he got so happy! It was the happiest I've seen him. He was running in circles as fast as he could around the yard, playing with Noah. I was glad to see him perk up like that and show some playfulness. I knew he had it in him :) Unfortunately I don't think we'll be bringing him with us to Ohio after all. It's an 11 hour drive, which is ok and I think he would do alright. However, my parents don't have a fenced in yard or a room for him to stay in. I tried to get him house and crate trained, but he's still pooping on rugs and freaks out if I close the crate. I hate to leave him, but our neighbor said she'd be glad to take him. Maybe it will be go...

Josh got recruited for another soccer league. We're going to be watching games every Sunday, which is cool because otherwise we'd probably watch TV or needlessly spend money or something. It was a little difficult handling a dog and two kids (one in desperate need of food and a nap). I finally got Tristan to take a nap in the stroller though so we were fine. Next time it won't be as bad because we won't be going as early as we did. They made the park sound ridiculously awesome online, and it totally wasn't in person. There wasn't any shade out their either. We all got a little burned (except Tristan). Lesson learned! Bosley did pretty good. There were 4 other dogs there and he got uber excited at first, but then calmed down after I used my Cesar Millan tricks (hahaha). He's still learning the ropes, but he's adapting pretty well. After the game the boys were all playing on the kitchen floor, and in the cupboards while I was cooking dinner. Tri...

Noah woke up at midnight Sunday night (so I guess that's technically Monday) with a croup-like cough. You could tell he was congested, but he just couldn't loosen anything up when he coughed. He was having trouble breathing, his throat hurt, and he was totally freaking out. Then Tristan woke up to eat. So... I grabbed Noah and stuck him in the bed with Josh (who amazingly was still sound asleep) and said "BABE try and calm him down while I feed the baby. I'm gonna take him to the ER for a breathing treatment". I fed Tristan, but all the commotion had him all riled up so he was crying and crying when I left. Noah was actually excited to go to the Dr. I don't know if it was the fact that he and I would finally be getting some alone time together or maybe the attention that sickness brings. Whatever the case, he did a great job. We were wearing our Indians and Buckeyes stuff and wouldn't you know it... the nurse was from Akron. She said "well ...

Yesterday we finally went to the pound and found our dog. We have been talking about getting a dog for over a year now. We've looked a few times, but never found the right dog. Yesterday we did! He is a 4 year old beagle, neutered, very sweet, already trained, great on a leash and in the car. We named him Bosley. He actually picked us. We were looking at a few other dogs and Bosley started whimpering at us. He had been quiet all day, but when he saw us he started whining and barking. Once we got him out he wanted to play with Noah and got real buddy-buddy with us right away. When Josh left to the ATM we were walking around the store (the pound had adoptions taking place at a pet store). He saw Josh walk back in and got all excited. We're planning on taking him with us to Ohio. He seems to be a great traveler and he is part of our family now so why not! He's very patient. Noah pulls on him and tries to ride him and he never shows any signs of aggression. He al...

The past few days my neighbor and I have been spending nearly all our time outside, working on one project or another. The first project was putting together Caleb's new playset, which is AWESOME! It wasn't too difficult, but it definitely required 2 people. They were all over it while we were trying to put it together. Once it was finished they were too enthralled with the sandbox to even care... sigh. Boys don't make sense. Yesterday we went to Lowe's on a mission. We were going to get all our plants and necessary accessories to make our front porches gorgeous. We did a great job! I love the front of our little complex now because, although we "match"... 2 flower boxes and a hanging basket... our different personalities are obvious (mine is the purple one). It's great! We're going back to Lowe's sometime soon to get more plants for the little porch areas and some chain to bring the baskets down a bit. We both agree they're too high...

I may have mentioned it before, but Josh has been coaching (and usually playing keeper, sometimes sweep) for his brigade's soccer team. Yesterday was the championship game. Oh, man... it was extremely intense. The refs were making bad calls, everyone was on edge, I was ready to rip my hair out. I didn't get there until right at the whistle for end of the first half. We were up 1/0 and I walked past the challengers side to hear their coach's speech "We only need one goal, guys. We're still in this." HA! Yeah you just try to get any goals past my husband :) Josh made some awesome stops, but one got past him. It was a really nice shot and he barely missed it... only an inch more and he would have blocked it, but that's ok. We were tied and both sides were playing really aggressively. It was back and forth back and forth. The defenders on both sides were doing pretty well to block any goal attempts, but WHAM! We got one through. With only 2 minu...

It's a country song, but most songs with amazing lyrics are ;) This song is especially for my Aunt Cindy and Aunt Vita. My Aunt Cindy fought breast cancer. My Aunt Vita is fighting cancer right now. They're both strong and positive through all the challenges they've been faced with... and they've fought more than cancer. You women are amazing and I'm glad to have you in my life. Click on the post title to see the video and hear the song. "Tough" by Craig Morgan She’s in the kitchen at the crack of dawn Bacon’s on, coffee’s strong Kids running wild, taking off their clothes If she’s a nervous wreck, well it never shows Takes one to football and one to dance Hits the Y for aerobics class Drops by the bank, stops at the store Has on a smile when I walk through the door The last to go to bed, she’ll be the first one up And I thought I was tough Chorus She’s strong, pushes on, can’t slow her down She can take anything life dishes out There was a time Back...

Well I've been sick with a nasty cold the past few days, but today I woke up feeling much better! I can taste things and breathe through my nose (sometimes). Josh, unfortunately had to work from 6pm yesterday until 6am today. Then he came home and was writing out counseling statements until 9. He's sleeping now. He made sure there was fresh coffee for me this morning before he passed out. Tristan's gift to me was the 3rd night in a row of not waking ONCE. He sleeps from at least 8-8 now (knocks on wood). Noah told me Happy Mother's Day this morning and gave me a huge hug. He helped me with the dishes and we made french toast on my new griddle. It can fit 9-12 pieces at a time!! WOOOO! Tristan enjoyed every bite (and did a lot of laughing and coughing)... yeah he only has 2 teeth, but he wants real food!! He hasn't choked yet. Noah ate 2 whole pieces of french toast, not a speck was left. He is a breakfast kind of guy. I've been enjoying my babies...

Mother's Day is sometimes rough on me because I find it difficult to find the "perfect gift" for my mother. Babs is the sentimental sort and she always tells me she loves my writing, so I thought a blog tribute would be a nice treat for her. Unfortunately, Josh has my laptop and therefore I can't access all my pictures. I will have to make do with what I can find on Flickr and elsewhere. I'll probably end up putting a bunch more on later, though. The story would have to begin with my grandparents. My Grandpa was a Marine and went off to war. He was captured at one point and managed to escape. He made it back home, extremely thin and frazzled. My Grandma fattened him back up, nursed him back to health, and they started working on their huge legacy. It wasn't until after the war that they started having kids. They ended up with 7!!! My mom, Barbara (Babs) was the first born. She was raised in the projects with her 5 sisters and 1 little brother. They...

Tristan has been making tons more sounds. He will talk to everything in his room for about 10 minutes before he finally lays down to go to sleep at night. Josh and I turn the monitor up and listen to him every night. It's adorable and hilarious :) The face he made at the end is priceless!

We took Noah and Tristan to a carnival over the weekend. This was the first time Noah rode any carnival rides. Josh went on a few with him, but he was fine going on them all by himself. He wanted to go down the really tall potato sack slides, but I thought he would probably get to the top and freak out. There was this huge blow-up octopus wrapped around a ship that was just a big slide. Noah went on it twice and loved it! Maybe he wouldn't have chickened out on the big kid slide... we'll save that for next year. I don't handle the spinning-puking rides very well so I was glad Josh was around. Tristan had fun hanging out with me, taking pictures. We ate some expensively delicious carnival food, walked around a bit, rode a few rides, and then went home.