Balloons, Chaos and... Muffcakes?

Has anyone else ever wondered why we, as mothers, put ourselves through so much stress just to put on a 'show' for our child? The party is no longer for the child, rather a challenge for the mother to get the best cake in town, serve the most high-quality food and make sure there is enough to do so that the chlidren attending aren't so bored that they are attempting to use you as the ransom figure in a game of cops and robbers.

Ryan turned four this past week and we had some festivities. We took him to Applebee's for his birthday. He was chuffed when they came out to sing to him. I made cupcakes for him to take to his pre-school and he was all sorts of excited! The morning of his birthday he saw me frosting the cupcakes and asked "momma, are those muffcakes for me to take to Miss Diane's?" I replied, "Yes, buddy, these cupcakes are for you to take to your friends at school for your birthday." He corrected me. "No, mom! They're muffcakes." Okay, guess he told me!

We had a party on Sunday. My boss, Summer, is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She was determined to let Ryan have the 'best birthday ever,' and took him and Cayden to Chuck E Cheese's Sunday afternoon. After a few hours of playing, we packed up and headed home so I could finish the last minute preparations for the party that night. We had planned to have the party at a park. It's June. Weather should be immaculate and shouldn't cause a problem, right? WRONG. The party would have been held under a pavillion, so if there was rain that wouldn't be a huge issue. The problem was the wind! The wind came and picked up almost immediately after I started setting up for the party. The balloons I had gotten that afternoon were tied to the table and came loose. I look over and there are 13 balloons stranded in a tree. My brother, Josh, was ever so kind to go and retrieve them for me. Anyway, back to my boss. She noticed the wind and everyone standing around wishing they had a warm place to go and offered her house to hold the party. We had 20 people attending this party and she offers her house like it's no big deal! We accept, sheepishly, and pack up and follow her and her husband to their house. Their house is beautiful. The kind of home I intend to own one day. The kind of home I was afraid to stick tape to the walls in, because i was afraid of damaging something. Summer and her husband opened their home to us all and we had a great night. Ryan got lots of presents and thoroughly enjoyed himself. I guess all the fretting and stressing paid off in the end. I leave you with a picture of my most recent masterpiece:

Lightning McQueen.

p.s. Please disregard the horrible focus on the picture, I took this with my phone camera and forgot to take one with my 'real' camera. More pictures of the birthday party and birthday boy to come later! Stay tuned.

The Broken Duck and Allergies

Yesterday I had to take Cayden to the doctor. When I got to ShopKo to fill the prescription I had gotten for him, I ran into my dad. He asked me if I had heard from my mother about the "broken duck." I told him I hadn't. He then told me that Ryan had gotten super excited when he was outside and ran in to tell my mom that there was a "broken duck" in the back yard. She could not figure out what he was going on about so she decided to go outside and investigate. He led her outside and took her over to a dead starling in the yard. "Look, Grandma! A broken duck!" My mom said to my dad that she just had to chuckle to herself. I thought that story was pretty cute.

And... Back to the doctor visit. Cayden has had a profuse rash in his diaper area for about two weeks. I had some leftover ointment from a previous yeast infection treatment and since I *thought* it looked like thrush I started using it again. The rash didn't get any better, in fact, it got worse! So, I took Cayden to the doctor and found out he's allergic to Pamper's diapers! I know allergies can form at any time, but I used Pampers on him until he was about 5 months old and never had any problems. I switch one time now, because of the 'type' of diaper they are and he's allergic to something in them. Poor guy. He looks a ton better today after only one day, so it's nice to know I got it taken care of.

"Grandma, You Help Me?"

I had to work late tonight so my mom picked the boys up from daycare for me. When I got home we were talking about how the night went with the boys. She tells me that Ryan wanted to go outside; she told him to eat his dinner and then they could go out to play. He's looking out the window and eating and all of a sudden says "At Diane's, Savannah has to clean her room before she goes outside. Grandma, you help me?" My mom said she looked at him and said, "Help you what?" He says, "clean my room so I can go outside." My mom chuckled (as did I when she told me) and told him if he could let her finish her dinner she wouldn't have a problem helping him. He looked at her and said "okay." When he was finished he got down and headed straight into his bedroom and started cleaning. My mom said she finished her dinner and was getting ready to go in there and he comes out saying "all done, Grandma," so my mom goes in to look and sure enough, he'd cleaned. "I got my jammies on my bed, too." By this point my mom is thinking "did I pick the right child up from daycare?" Heh. He is such an angel sometimes. I have to document these times for the times he's not so angelic. :)

RSV, Croup, Ear infection, Sinus infection

Anything else you'd like to add to the list? My boys, more specifically Cayden, have been sick SO much this winter. Cayden has had a stuffy/runny nose, horrible sounding productive cough, etc. pretty much since December. I took him for his 12 month check-up on Monday and he only got over RSV two weeks ago and now has an ear infection. The doctor said it is common for the child to develop an ear infection after having RSV so it's nothing to be too alarmed about. Ryan has stayed relatively well, health-wise, only he must have been totally run down because when we were at the doctor on Monday he was barking like a seal so I had the doctor take a look at him, too, only to find he had a sinus infection AND croup! He was given his VERY first course of antibiotics and an oral steroid to help open up his lungs a bit to stop the coughing. My poor boys, I hope they start getting well soon!!!!

Cayden, though is a CHUNK. He weighs 23lbs 13oz and is 31 inches long! He's TALL! He's been trying to run now that he can walk fairly well, he copies movements and, unfortunately, he slaps everyone in the face and thinks it's funny. We're trying to rectify that- but it's slow going.

I am going to be updating the photos on the sidebar very soon - I think they need it, don't you? And here are a few pics to update you on my two sweeties. These are professional pics I had taken in April for Easter.

Can't Leave Ryan Out.

Ryan is going to get his own post. He has been misbehaving a little bit lately and I'm pretty sure that I know the reason behind it. Doesn't make dealing with the behavior any easier, but understanding it is a good step in knowing how to take care of it. I've been listening to a man/therapist on the radio recently and will probably end up buying his book. He has so many great ideas on how to parent in an effective way and also to give you tips on how to be your child's friend but also the person in charge. .
Anyway apart from the behavior, Ryan is coming on in leaps and bounds. His vocabulary has increased tri-fold since we've moved and he is becoming more efficient in his shapes, colors, letters and numbers. I definitely have to give props to my childcare provider for a lot of it. She seems to have this effect on him where he wants to go to her house on MY days off, too! Haha! I love that he likes her so much though.

Ryan's recent feats:
Alphabet
Counting 1-15
Spelling his name
knowing his birthday, age and brother's age.
He can color mostly in the lines now
And he can pretty much have a full telephone conversation now. :)
We're working on his address and phone number and shapes and colors. He's so stinkin' cute! He's getting better at understanding things too. ... When I talk to him about something he is starting to understand more of what i say. He amazes me. :)

Cayden is ONE

So, Cayden turned ONE on the 14th. I cannot believe that time has gone so quickly. He's walking fully now and even stood up in the middle of the room all by himself the other day. I will post photos of his party soon.
The party went well. He enjoyed all the company and loved the attention. He had some little friends as well as 'big' (adult) friends that came to his party. He loved his cake and was so cute when he was eating it.

Just a small recap of Cayden's accomplishments in the last month:
Walking
Standing up from sitting down without the help of an object/person
blowing kisses
clapping

He's getting so big!

So Here's an Invite

Cayden is turning 1!!! I haven't had a chance to update this in so long- because taking care of two boys keeps me busy~!!!

Anyone that reads this: This is an open invitation. We would love to see you! You're all invited to Cayden's birthday party (Tuesday, April 14 at 5pm)! If you would *like* to come - let me know, either here or at 801.388.3365 and I'll give you the address.