Boot Camp Day 2...

We enjoyed playing in the snow yesterday. We double layered the Brownies to go outside to play in the snow. Little Brownie was very shy and uncertain of all the white stuff when we came out. Big Brownie went for a huge scoop of snow to throw up in the air. We ran to the back yard and Daddy Brown used a box and some cord to fashion a sled. The boys loved it. Guess who loved it more... Sissy. As Daddy Brown ran with a Brownie on the makeshift sled, Sissy ran, jumped and hopped around. Then it was Sissy's turn and she LOVED it! The Brownies ran to the back of the yard. We still have berries on some of the trees. The Brownies had a blast and before long, everyone was chilled to the bone.

One good thing about Big Brownie potty training and running around with a bare toochy...the heat is up to 70 degrees inside. We all thawed out pretty quickly. Later in the evening, I went outside and loaded up a huge bowl of snow for snow cream. I made a huge batch using a recipe from a friend. 1 c of sugar, 1-2 tsp of vanilla, 1-2 cups of milk, 2 eggs (optional...we left this out because of the boys) and snow! Yummy! We enjoyed our snow both outside and in. Everyone was in the bed and asleep by 8:30p and everyone slept in until 9a this morning.

Now, as we assess our fridge, we are officially out of milk and juice. Daddy Brown is venturing out to the convenient store or grocery store depending on the roads. He has a love affair with snow and ice. In our younger days, we would go out on days like this with our overall on and boots. We would equip the truck with tow ropes and chains. With the truck in 4 wheel drive, we would drive around and help others out in distress. A luxury we no longer indulge now that we are responsible parents of the Brownies. So...it is a treat for Daddy Brown to get out and play in the snow for a short amount of time. I don't worry a bit when he leaves because I know he was trained well. Daddy Brown's dad, Pops, would totally be out in it if his tires were in better condition.

Now...on to the big news of the day. Day 1 of Potty Training Boot Camp was a success! The conversation heart treats are the best, but unfortunately because of the snow, and the fact we just started potty training on a whim, we didn't prepare for the mass amounts of pee(ing) in the potty. Each #1 deposit receives 1 heart. Each #2 deposit receives 2 hearts. I started out with a 4 oz mason jar of hearts and as of this morning, we are out! Luckily, I had purchased some mint and chocolate chips last week on sale at Food Lion from the post Christmas clearance sale.

Big Brownie has been running to the potty to tinkle so he can taste the different treats. We were not brave enough to go without a diaper overnight, but we did use a regular diaper as opposed to an overnight diaper. He didn't overflow the diaper so that too is a good sign. The struggle...keeping Little Brownie out of the potty. He wants to put his toys in the potty, lift the seat and jump on Big Brownie's back while he's doing his business. Oh me...too bad he wasn't ready for potty training too! We move into Day 2 with an optimistic outlook on our progress. We'll keep you posted!

Without a net...

This week has been a mixed bag of adventures. Monday, Aunt Berry and I drove to Atlanta for a rode trip to IKEA. I seriously could have done some damage there. My first experience and I was like a kid in a candy store. Because I have a compulsive personality, I knew I needed to have a control. So, I only brought $50 cash to spend. I efficiently used each dollar to the max. An art easel with paper roll $19.99, 2 baby stools for $3.99 each, etc. Aunt Berry purchased an entire bedroom suite, bed, 2 chest of drawers, and 2 nightstands for $550. What a deal! Tuesday, went to Hobby Lobby with Aunt Apple and the Brownies. LOVE ME SOME HOBBY LOBBY!!! After naptime, our sweet little nephew Peanut Butter Fudge came over to play with the Brownies. They had a blast!

Wednesday, we visited with my Grandmother and Aunt. The Brownies enjoyed running around eating cookies and biscuits...I know an odd combination, but they loved it. Yesterday, we visited a friend and her new 1st born son. Big Brownie wanted to hold him and to my surprise, Little Brownie didn't have a care in the world that I was holding a little one. After leaving, the Brownies napped in the car and once they woke, we had a snack and went to the park to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. We were the only ones there, but we had a great time. Cold as the dickens, but that didn't keep the Brownies from running from slide to slide having a blast.

So, now here we are on Friday morning and it is actually snowing outside. We are so excited! We have also began a new adventure with Big Brownie...potty training. I have a friend that has a little boy about the same age as Big Brownie. After talking to her this week, she shared her success in potty training her son. A new approach I had never heard of previously. NO DIAPER AT ALL...ALL WEEKEND! I know, very scary, but worth a try. Big Brownie is running around the house with nothing on from the waist down. This has created an unexpected reaction from Little Brownie...inspection of his own manhood. We have had 2 successful uses of the potty so far this morning. Conversation hearts are the treat of choice for a successful deposit. We are ready for the challenge and here on one of the coldest weekends of the month, have turned the heater up to a balmy 70 degrees to keep his little toochy warm. Keep us in your prayers as we go through this weekend without a net!

Sane Saturday...

Is it my birthday? No. Is it Valentine's Day, Mother's Day or my Wedding Anniversary? No, No and No. I usually don't get much consistent sleep at night. I get about 2 maybe 3 hour stretches of rest before one of the Brownies is up and needs some attending...diaper change, bottle, lost binkie, etc. Last night was much the same. Little Brownie slept all night, but Big Brownie was up 2 times...2a, 4:45a and then ready for his day at 7a. I'll add he didn't fall asleep until 10:15p, although we put him in the bed at 8:30p.

I went through my same rhetoric as every other morning..."I'll turn the television on and you can watch one of your shows". Desperately hoping for another 30 minutes of rest. To my surprise, Daddy Brown popped his head up and told Big Brownie that once he showered, he would get up with him to play. I fell back to sleep and the next thing I knew, Daddy Brown was sneaking in our room to ask me a question about Little Brownie. I told him, "I'll get up to help". Daddy Brown told me to go back to sleep...which I did. Big Brownie came in once to tell me he had a BIG POOPY! I asked him if Daddy Brown had changed it and he began to go into details. I asked Big Brownie if I could sleep a little longer and he said, "Ok Mama, you get some rest...I love you!"

Sound asleep I fell until Daddy Brown came in and gently rubbed my face. I opened my eyes and he said, "I thought you might want to come down and see the boys before nap-time". "Nap-time? What time is it?" I asked. "Oh it's almost 1 o'clock." he said. "WHAT? Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" I began apologizing. Daddy Brown was so cool and calm. I came downstairs and everyone was playing nicely and happy to see me. Big Brownie asked me, "How was your sleep, Mama? Are you rested?" I told him, "Yes baby, Mama is very well rested."

How lucky am I to have a sweet, precious husband that let me sleep in today. Not for any reason, just because. It reminds me to do something special for someone you love and care for...just because. Not because you have been asked or nagged to do it. Just do something unexpected and with a giving and willing heart. I have the most miraculous husband. The day is half over, the boys are in bed, Daddy Brown is napping and Sissy is snoring on the floor. What a wonderful treat of a Saturday and a great gift from my hubby!

Freaky Friday...

Almost without fail, I check my Facebook home page on Friday mornings and there are at least 5 people shouting...TGIF! Don't know about you, but Friday's have a tendency to be one of my toughest days. Here it is a little bit after 11a on Friday morning and I'm just about at my whiny, not listening, kid meltdown limit. Here is a recap of my morning so far...

Beginning at 3:45a, Big Brownie comes out of his room to tell me he can't find his binkie. I'll admit I have not been very consistent with the binkie. That is about to change. I have done my best at making the binkie unavailable during the day and leaving it for naptime and bedtime. However, since Little Brownie still uses a binkie, they are still prevalent in our household. We found binkie in his bed, then he wants juice. I've started giving him water at night instead of juice because he is literally pee(ing) through an over-sized, overnight diaper. We have a small battle about, "This is water, I want juice!" Next we have the other requests, "Mama, will you sing me a song" and "Mama, will you sleep here in my bed with me...PLEASEEEE!" Because I'm exhausted, I lay there and sing songs until we fall asleep. I wake up around 5a and head back to my bed.

Then, Little Brownie wakes up at 5:15a. I go downstairs, let Sissy outside, give her water and make Little Brownie a bottle of milk. Put Sissy back on the couch and upstairs I go to rock Little Brownie back to sleep. Back to my bed at 5:45a only to fall asleep at 6:30a. Daddy Brown's alarm goes off at 7:00a and continues to go off every 9 minutes until he wakes about 7:30a or so. I fall back asleep and Big Brownie climbs into bed with me at 7:45a. I turn the television on and try to convince him to watch t.v. while I attempt to sleep a little bit longer. Daddy Brown leaves and Big Brownie begins jumping on the bed. I usually have this discussion with myself every morning...either I can get up and get in the shower before Little Brownie wakes up, or I can lay here for another 15 minutes. I'll admit, I choose the latter of the two most mornings.

Big Brownie and I come downstairs, I slam down a cup of coffee and make Little Brownie a bottle. Get Little Brownie out of bed about 8:45a and back downstairs for oatmeal and yogurt. Let Sissy outside to tinkle, fix her breakfast...slam down 2nd cup of coffee! Big Brownie goes upstairs and decides after many corrections from me, he wants to jump on the stairs. You know what happens next, he falls and bumps his leg. "I NEED A BINKIE...IT WILL MAKE ME FEEL BETTER!", he exclaims. Then, the battle of the binkie begins. Little Brownie is following me around wanting a cheese cracker, a butter cracker, a graham cracker...only to feed them to Sissy. Upstairs everyone goes to change out the laundry. Unload the dryer, with the help of both Brownies of course, load the dryer from the washer...fight over who is going to close the dryer door...pushing fight between the Brownies. Turn on washer, Big Brownie starts putting in anything he can find and Little Brownie wants to help but isn't tall enough. Little Brownie gets mad and pulls clothes out of Big Brownies hand. Get the clothes put in washer, Little Brownie gets to close the door. Get his hand caught in the bi-fold doors and meltdown.

I get him calmed down, and nature calls. I go to the bathroom for literally 2 minutes and I come back to find all my clean clothes inter-mingled with all my dirty clothes. AHHHH!!! I could have screamed. The boys are now in the middle of the clothes pile and throwing clothes up in the air...laughing their heads off. Gather all the clothes and put them back in the laundry basket. Come downstairs for story time. Battle of the books! We select 5 books each and begin to read our books. We peacefully enjoy our snack and juice while we read. Once the snacks have been eaten, mass chaos ensues. Little Brownie gets so upset he thrashes around until he finally realizes I'm not paying attention. We go back upstairs to organize our craft activity and I'm about to pull my hair out. I decide I need coffee cup #3 and end up turning on the television for a break. I know...you frown at me, but I need a break!

PEACE...at least for the next 22 minutes while the boys watch Nick Jr. I ask myself many times, why do I blog? Days like this is my answer. I'm at home with the sweetest 2 Brownies in the world. However somedays, like today, I need to share my day with someone. It's therapeutic for me and a giggle for you. I know that if you are reading this and you are a MOM...you feel my every pain and you smile at each incident! It's ok, today is Friday and I'm sharing my day with you! I hope your freaky Friday is better than mine!~I look forward to Daddy Brown coming home and giving me a hand! Oh...and I just realized I forgot to turn on the dryer! AHHHH!!!

3 kid meals please...

Over the last few days, I just haven't felt like myself. Partly missing my Bubba, the other is that we are waiting to hear from the vet about Sissy. She has been having some issues of her own and we are hoping for the best, but anticipating the worst. Sissy has been a little blue as well.

Since Bubba's no longer with us, it hurts my heart to leave Sissy all alone in the house by herself. Today, I needed to run some medicine to Aunt Fudge's house and then to Publix to pick up a few items. As I'm putting shoes on the Brownies, Sissy stands in the background looking at me. I remembered how much she loves to go for rides in the car. Bubba always hated the car, so we didn't take them riding that often. I got her leash, strapped it on and headed to the car. Big Brownie asked, "Mama, is Sissy going to ride in the car with us? Can I hold her in my lap...PLEASE?"

I opened the door and in she jumped...Shotgun Sissy. Panting and nub just a working, she was so excited to go with us. As we began our trip, she sat down looking forward as if she were a person. I cracked her window open and her little nose stuck out just enough for her to get a good sniff of cows, horses, hay and everything else in the wind. We went to Aunt Fudge's house, then to Publix. She was not thrilled when I got back from leaving her in the car. But then...something that blew her mind away. We went to the Burger King drive-thru. Oh the excitement! I got Sissy her own kids meal. HEAVEN! She was so good. The Brownies kept calling out her name and talking to her, but her eyes were focused 100% on me and my precious brown paper sack.

She had a cheeseburger and fries. The boys got to have her toy. She has been stuck to me like glue. Wherever I go, she is no further than 3 steps behind me. At night, I spend a little extra time with her after everyone has gone to bed, rubbing her head and talking to her. I hope she knows how much we love her too. The Brownies and Daddy Brown have been giving her a few extra pats on her back and rubs on her head. At naptime and nighttime when we are putting the boys to bed, she is on the floor or in the bed as we read books and say our prayers. We are including her more in our family life and she has very little restrictions. Hopefully we will get news from the vet soon and hopefully, it will be good.

Oh Mr. Sun!

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun,
Mr. Golden Sun,
please shine down on me!

I hear my mom sing this song to my Brownies and it brings back so many good memories. As the Brownies and I woke this morning...it was yet another dreary, cloudy day. As the morning progressed, we were SO happy to see the sun. The Brownies could hardly contain themselves in the house when they saw what a beautiful day it was outside. Big Brownie kept telling me, "Mommy, it's a beautiful, sunny day outside!" I agreed. We opened the back door and ran to our hearts delight. Little Brownie pointed at the trees, the berries, the slides, the steps and every other thing that he could see. Big Brownie commenced his digging of the garden from the fall. We ran and played with each other and with Sissy.

Time for lunch! I brought Little Brownie inside and allowed him to color in his high chair while I prepared lunch. I've been giving Big Brownie some opportunities to play by himself lately. A privilege he has relished. As we were coming inside, he asked, "Mama, can I stay outside and play?" I said, "Yes, you may play here on the deck and I will leave the door open." He used his sidewalk chalk to write on the deck. He used his yard stick to measure the chairs, table and decking. He popped his head in to see what Little Brownie and Sissy were doing. He had no idea that I was watching his every move from the reflection in the door's glass. He walked over to the grill and I yelled out to him, "Don't touch the grill!" I then heard an "Awww!"

Brownie belly's are full and off to sleep, and Sissy is snoring on the couch. I'm enjoying the beautiful day myself. Gonna start working out today. I figure if I say it out loud and to someone other than myself, it will help to keep me accountable. Yep...me, Billy Blanks, Denise Austin, Jillian Michaels and Tony Little are going to have a date for at least 30 minutes every day during naptime. The challenge..lose 50 pounds in the year 2010. Ready, set...off the couch, tennis shoes on, knee brace strapped and get my booty in gear. I'm not getting any younger and the time is now. Get up and join me...won't you?

A little laughter...

Ok...some really sad days have come to our house over the last week or so. However, in this house...there is always laughter, even when we mourn. Big Brownie can pull out some real zingers. We have had them on a slightly earlier schedule for the last couple of days. Both Brownies have been up and at 'em by 7a. This is a stretch from the normal of 9a sometimes 10a. With 7a wake-up calls, comes 11:30a nap times. Again...a stretch from the 2p normal. And finally bedtime, which can range literally from 8:45p to 11:30p depending on our day.

Tonight, early bedtimes. Little Brownie was so tired at 6:30p, I thought he was just gonna lay down on my chest and close his eyes. I rushed to "tickles and giggles" to bring him back to an aroused state for another hour. He was out like a light at 7:45p. Since we have had so much going on this weekend, Big Brownie has been requesting me to rock him in the chair and sing to him as opposed to our normal nighttime routine. A request I welcomed and obliged. By 8:15p, completely asleep, with binkie falling out of his mouth and snoring. I laid him down in his bed, kissed his head and tiptoed out of his room. At 8:20p, a creak in the floor and out pops Big Brownie..."Mommy, I can't find my blue binkie!" I hustled him back to his bed, found his binkie and kissed him again. That child did not go back to sleep until 9:30p! He creeped out of his room once...BUCK NAKED! I asked him where his pajamas were. He crouched down on the floor and looked under my bed, then stood up and threw his hands in the air. He said, "I don't know, they fell off and now I can't find them." So off to bed he finally went, with pajamas ON, at least for now.

Little Brownie is certainly entertaining all by himself. He is a book worm to say the least. His new thing is to read only books that have "Hippos" in them. This absolutely narrows our book selection. Big Brownie will bring a book that he wants us to read and Little Brownie will throw it across the floor. His vocabulary seems to be expanding over night. He can shake his head "no" and actually does mean "no". Instead of nodding his head "yes", he'll say, "uh-huh" when something is acceptable. We watch Noggin on television and when Moose and Zee sings a song, he will stop everything, clap his hands in a pretty steady rhythm and stomp his feet. If I'm not in the room, he'll run to me, grab my hand and lead me to the television to sing and dance with him. He has the cutest smile. Currently 4 front top teeth, 3 bottom lower teeth (which looks quite funny) and a SLUE of molars coming in.

We enjoyed an all out crafty, sugar high, awesome birthday party with a friend this weekend. A much needed distraction for everyone and a chance to get out of the house and enjoy some good friends and fellowship. I say, the host, maybe one of the most creative individuals I know. An outdoor craft party was planned and when it rained, she adjusted and made such fun alternative indoor crafts. When my outdoor parties have been rained on, we simply rescheduled the party. She inspires me to be more creative and we had a BLAST. Water-gun painting in the bathroom shower, fruit loop bracelet making and icing a cake (more like eating all the icing, sprinkles and candy to be used for decorating, then maybe, just maybe the cake). The Brownies were so tired after we left the party, we were afraid to come straight home thinking they would crash. So, we went to the store and bought a new coffee maker for me and Daddy Brown. We brought everyone home, made and fed supper, quick bath time and off to bed the Brownies went without so much as a peep.

With early bedtimes, a welcomed surprise...Daddy Brown and I have some quiet time to ourselves. I asked him yesterday, "So do you think this is why other parents put their kids to bed so early?" This extra quiet time with Daddy Brown was so needed with what has been going. It gave Daddy Brown and I a chance to talk, comfort and love on each other this weekend. I can't say it enough, I love my husband. He knows me inside and out. He can tell when my mood changes and he adjusts accordingly. This morning, I let him sleep in so he could catch up on his rest. When naptime commenced, we laid down for a nap ourselves and he let me sleep in a little to catch up on mine. The best feeling this weekend...his touch. He rubbed my face, wiped my tears, held me close and with that, each day has been better then the day before. I love my family, even one member shy, we made it through this very difficult weekend through tears, heartache and most importantly...a little laughter.