Ben's Toys

Kyle has started watching the old He-Man and G.I. Joe cartoons with Ben. (Yes, Ben still watches cartoons! What can I say...I think I have 3 boys sometimes! ) :-)

Anyway....Ben picked up Kyle today from school and they met Ben's parents in Statesboro to pick up some of his childhood toys. (Thank you DeDe and Pa for getting them out and cleaning them!) Once they got home with these toys, I am not sure who was excited more. Ben was showing Kyle everything and pulling stuff out just as fast as Kyle was. It really was too cute!

"Look Mama, I found two He-Man cats!"


Ben was happy to find this toy gun, and even more tickled that it still have the string that he tied on to it from when he was a little boy so his toy soldiers could carry it on their back.

Kyle found another man in the toys.

As Ben and Kyle went though all these toys, Evan sat beside me in his bumbo and squealed while he played with his Elephant. I think he thought his Daddy and brother were acting a little crazy! Nah, I think he really just wanted to get down and play with them! :-)

Will they always be best friends?!?

Now having two boys I get the question all the time - "How is that working out?", "Do they like each other?" and so on. Every time I give the response, "They love each other" or "It is great". People will just say "Oh you just wait!"

Well honestly, my boys do love each other and I hope and pray they remain best friends and close their entire lives. I know Evan is only 5 months old and when he starts crawling and walking things will definitely change but I think Kyle has enough patience and loves him despite tearing down his Lego castle or slobbering on his favorite batman toy.

(This is my favorite picture of the boys!)

Tonight when we got home from work/school, Kyle started playing his Leapster. Ben was holding Evan but he wanted to see what Kyle was doing. Evan got so interested and then Kyle started showing him everything that he was doing.

Then Kyle got down and started playing on the floor. Evan was just not happy until he could get down to watch Kyle.

They played like this for a good 45 minutes. Kyle was talking to Evan the entire time telling him exactly what he was doing and what buttons he was pressing. It was SO sweet!

Most nights Evan is asleep before Kyle goes to bed but tonight Evan was still bright eyed. So we laid Evan down with Kyle to talk about our favorite part of the day and for bed time prayers.

I love my sweet boys so much! I know they will fuss and fight at some point but I am always going to remind them that they are brothers and they will always have each other - no matter what.

With just a picture....

The last few days have been very busy at work not to mention our home life is crazy as always.

Anyway....I was get ready for a late afternoon meeting and I was pretty bummed about not getting to pick the boys up from daycare and see them tonight.

Just as I was running out of my office I grabbed a black portfolio I had sitting on the bookcase at the door of my office. When I arrived at my meeting I took my seat and opened up my portfolio and found this picture staring back at me.

I have no idea when or why this picture was put in my portfolio. Kyle received his big boy bed in 2009 so I must I brought it in around then.

At any rate it was such a special treat to see my smiling little boy. I looked at this picture several times during my meeting and it made me smile every time. I remember how very excited Kyle was that day to receive a new big boy bed.

So with just a picture my end of the day meeting didn't seem so bad after all.

Why won't my babies sleep....

With having an almost 4 year old and a 4 month old, one can say our house is always pretty busy. However one would think bed time would be early, nice and peaceful at our house.... WRONG! It is anything but, and honestly I have NO IDEA how to make it better.

We have the structured night time/bedtime routine - supper, Evan bath time and Kyle play time, then Kyle shower (he is a big boy now) while Evan gets ready for bed. After both boys are ready for bed it is story time. Kyle picks 3 to 4 books. Depending on who Kyle wants to read that night depends on who rocks Evan to sleep. Usually by the time we finish books Evan is asleep or almost. We lay Evan down and then take Kyle to his bed. His routine is ALWAYS the same. Big hugs from mommy and daddy, we name our favorite part of the day, prayers and then kisses night night.

Then you would think that is when our night should end....well that doesn't even come close. Really that is where the night time running begins.

Kyle starts with his "calling us" one time it will be "Daddy I'm scared...", the next it will be "Mommy I'm thirsty..." This goes on for about 30 minutes. To help with the I'm scared, Kyle has started sleeping with a glow stick. I have no idea what this glow stick will do since his room is practically lit up like the JFK airport (honestly he sleeps with a lamp, night light and during the holidays - Christmas tree lights) but it makes him happy and so we buy them.

Once he finally goes to sleep Ben and I hurry to get our showers and get ready for the next day. Usually just as we are about ready to drop, Evan wakes up and its time to feed him.

Once Evan is diapered, fed, happy and asleep AGAIN.... Ben and I crash!

Then Kyle wakes up... he comes to our room, crawls in the bed and the next thing I know I have his foot in my face! (He is a WILD sleeper!)

Then before you know it 4 hours has rolled around and Evan is awake. So its time to get up and stagger to the kitchen, make a bottle....and then Kyle appears in the kitchen. "What's wrong, why are you up?" - I say. "Mommy, I'm thirsty..." and thus the routine starts all over again. So during bottle time (which is usually around 2:30 ish) I have Evan AND Kyle up with me in the living room. I do the no TV, no lights, thing not to wake Evan up much however. When he opens his eyes he sees Kyle up and he thinks "Hey Brothers up...it MUST be playtime."

Once bottle time is over - I lay Evan back in his bed and take Kyle back to his room. Evan spends the next hour in his room playing, cooing and squealing cause its playtime. And Kyle spends the next hour crying cause he wants to sleep in our room!

AAAaaaHHHhhh!

No joke this scenario actually happened Saturday night. From 2:30 am to a little after 4 am, Ben and I were wide awake listening to one child play and one child cry. We kept going in there rooms checking on them but would not get them up. Needless to say Kyle was not happy with us. Evan on the other hand was as happy as he could be, he spent his hour squealing and kicking his legs.

Then around 4 am the crying and the playing stopped. The house was quite again.... Ben and I jumped up to check and yes both boys were FINALLY asleep.

So we got to go back to sleep.... I think before I rolled over it was 6:30 a.m and Kyle was in our room asking "No school, Mama?" "That's right baby no school, now why don't you lay back down and rest." "No, it's playtime!" And within about 20 minutes Evan was up and ready for his bottle.

And with that our day begins.....

So to any moms out there that may possibly be reading this....HELP!!!! How do I get these boys to sleep?

Messy Eater

Evan has started eating his first set of "yellow" baby food. I have made the comment several times that Evan is so MESSY! He started eating squash which I am not so sure was his favorite, but he ate them. This week we started him on sweet potatoes and he LOVES them! :-)

When I was feeding him last night I thought I am going to take a picture of Evan to compare and to show everyone just how messy he is. In my mind Kyle was so much neater and a better eater.

When I went back to look for pictures of Kyle eating, I stand corrected!!!! Yes, I think Kyle was messier!! :-)