halloween 2012

Halloween 2012 was a bust for us...and not due to the crazy traffic brought on by the truck going through the median.  Caleb was getting over his cold and didn't go to school that day because his cough was still bad even if he was over the fever.  Brynna was getting fevers off and on so we figured there was no sense in taking a chance of them getting worse or passing their germs on to others.  However, Dave and I had worked on the costumes so we had to at least put it on and take a picture!  We're considering using it next year, but we'll see...the numbers will be off because we did the 2 and 3 for their ages.  I know that doesn't really matter, but it kind of does....to me.  :-)  So far they've been tamago sushi, spam musubi and dice...I have other ideas, like I know I definitely want to do Mario and Luigi...but I'm always so last minute so it has to be something super easy! 

another sick baby

sure seems like if it's not one kid that's sick, it's the other.  yesterday caleb started an ugly cough after having some runny nose that i figured was just due to allergies and from the yucky vog and weather.  last night/this morning his cough was really bad, to the point where it seemed like he couldn't breathe well because of the coughing spasms.  he had a slight fever so we decided to take him to the dr since they're open and it's not a school day.  dr said that it was most likely just a cold and that we would just have to ride it out.  as the afternoon wore on his fever started to get higher.  at around 5 when he got up from a nap coughing, he was super hot even though i had given him some fever reducer at 4 before he went to sleep.  took his temp and it was 103.8...which freaked me out.  his whole body was super hot so i decided to put him in a warm shower to try to bring it down.  in the meantime i had dave call the dr to ask him what we should do.  thankfully after the shower his fever came down to about 101 and dr called and said that his fever might go up to even 104.  i asked him when i should get really worried and he said if it goes up to 105, take him to kapiolani's e.r.  gosh.  105???  that's crazy high! 

right now he's sleeping on the couch...before he went to sleep he was whining and wanted me to lie down by him...so i did and i was touching his face and that really pissed him off...he told me not to touch his face but just lie down next to him...lol.

i guess i better prepare myself for a rough night...poor baby...he can't clear the phlegm so he's just miserable when he starts a coughing fit and there's nothing i can really do.  sucks...praying that brynna doesn't get it but with the amount of non-covered-mouth coughing this boy was doing, i'm thinking she'll end up sick too.  gosh. 

these kids

these kids crack me up and drive me mento all at the same time.  i don't know if i can even begin to describe the sheer volume of both of their screeching voices and how massively irritating that piercing sound can be.  when it's sounds of laughter and happiness, that's one thing, but when it's sounds of fighting, mimicking and crying, it's worse than nails on a chalkboard.  i often wonder when volume control kicks in...but then i think of some adults who lack volume control so i wonder if it just never does for some people.

caleb has picked up saying, "awww, c'mon."  it sounds so rude, but it is hilarious at the same time.  he and brynna will be talking to each other and she'll be incessantly questioning him about things as she often does, and he'll get exasperated and say, "awww, c'mon brynna, you know (whatever it is they're talking about at that moment)." 

caleb also has recently said "fricken" in the context of "stop frickin' around."  i must admit that it threw me off and that i did a bad parenting move because i started laughing when i was trying to talk to him seriously about not using that word.  i don't know why...i couldn't hold my giggle in for some reason.  luckily, he seems to have still gotten the message that he can't say that because he hasn't said it since. 

brynna is still exerting her independence...when you scold her she furrows her eyebrows and just stares at you with this angry yet blank glare on her face, then she walks away.  sometimes she'll start crying and getting very pissed off, other times she goes by the door or in the bedroom and sits there like she's on some kind of self-imposed time-out.  her facial expressions are classic...i wish i could catch all of them on camera! 

she is also talking a lot more, but it's still suuupppeeerrr hard to understand what she's saying.  the funniest was last sunday when we were at dave's parent's house and she was trying to tell her grandpa something...he couldn't understand her (none of us could) and she was getting so exasperated and trying to talk louder, slower and enunciate more but she just can't enunciate.  her little eyeballs were gonna pop out of her head and she's leaning forward trying to get her point across...soooo funny! 

baby girl's fever

today started out rough.  actually, it started last night, before we went to bed, when my mom noticed that brynna felt feverish.  we tried to give her some medicine, but being the stubborn girl she is, she didn't take it all in.  she went to sleep pretty easily and all was okay...until 12:45 when dave wakes me up to tell me that brynna is burning up.  at this point i feel her and she really is super hot.  at first i just tell him that there's nothing we can do right now, but then it starts to worry me because every part of her body is blazing hot, even the soles of her feet.  i get up, take her temperature (which is 103.1) and search for a little towel so we can wet her down a little bit.  i get on the ipad and start reading up more on fevers and what we should do and after a while tell dave that we'll have to see how she is in the morning and we go back to sleep.  i wake up at 5:30 before the alarm goes up cuz i'm not sure if i should try to find a sub or what.  i actually text a sub at 5:45, apologizing for waking her, but seeing if she's available...unfortunately she isn't.  brynna's temp at this point is 102.7.  i try calling several different subs but can't find one that's available or answers the phone.  we give brynna some meds despite her fighting like hell and hope that the fever goes down.  i'm still torn between calling in a random sub or just going to school.  i know that we most likely won't be able to take her in to the doctor until after school is done, but i also feel bad leaving her at home (even if it's with my mom).  at 6:30 i dial the t-seas phone line but hang up because i know it's too late for a good sub to take the job and i'll end up with mrs. pedro or someone like that.  i'm feeling super shitty about leaving brynna, especially when she starts crying and wants to be held.  before we leave for school i put her in bed with her dinosaur movie on and soon after we leave she's asleep again.  as soon as we get in the car i start crying uncontrollably because i feel so shitty about going to work when she's sick.  usually i don't worry too much about fevers, especially with brynna, who is so tough, but for some reason today's fever had me worried.  first of all, i know that if the reading we're getting on our thermometer in her ear is 103, it's probably a bit higher than that, so that scares  me.  on top of that, i know how she is about taking medicine so even if my mom needed to give her medicine, it's not a one-person job.  i'm doing the hyperventilating cry and feeling like the frickin worst mother on earth.  dave has to explain to caleb that i'm just crying because brynna is sick because caleb looks a little scared/shocked since i'm crying so hard as we drive him to school.  thankfully brynna seems to be better after she wakes up from her little morning nap and by lunchtime she's asking my mom to take her walking outside.  i still left school early to take her to the doctor, though, and her fever when we got there was 103.6.  doctor thinks she has some kind of virus so we'll have to just ride it out.  she took some medicine at the doctor's office so her fever has gone down some and i'm just praying that she heals quickly.  all i know is that if i ever feel like i need to call in a sub to stay home with one of the kids, i'm doing it because the sick feeling i had in my gut is not worth it.  my kids at school are important to me, but they'll survive if i'm gone for a day...my babies at home are more important. 

on a funnier note, i had my first experience with having brynna pee in a cup...you think catching your own pee in a cup is hard, catching someone else's pee while you're holding her up with one hand and maneuvering the cup with the other is even more difficult.  the most difficult part was just getting her to agree to shishi, though, as she screamed bloody murder for i don't know how long in the bathroom until i figured out that she would only go once i took the "just in case" bucket out of the toilet.  needless to say, i got a whole lot of pee on my hand, but at least i got enough in the cup for them to test. 

sassy BOY

"sassy" seems to be attached more to girls than boys, and i've definitely had my share of my mom calling me a "sassy arse" (like she thinks saying "arse" in place of "ass" is somehow less harsh!) even to this day.  i guess i'm getting my payback because caleb, since starting school, has turned into his own little "sassy arse" and it's driving me a little bit crazy. 

he answers in a sassy tone, makes little sassy comments, and MIMICS everyone, which i think is a level of sassy all on its own.  he gets scoldings a LOT and little slaps and flicks on the mouth. 

the whole spankings thing is a whole 'nother post, but i'll just say that i am  now fully aware of why my mom's hand often flew so fast toward my face when i gave sassy answers or a sassy face.  it's infuriating.  being that caleb is almost four, i try to talk to him more and make him understand why his behavior is wrong, but i don't know if he doesn't get it or if the punishment has not been severe enough because he sure doesn't remember it and stop the sassy behavior. 

before we go to sleep we say a little prayer and usually i say something and caleb repeats it.  it was pretty funny last night, though, when on his own he said, "dear God, please help me to not be sassy."  hehe. 

i can only imagine the "sassy arse" behavior i'm going to get from my real payback, brynna! 

sickness and fighting

last sunday caleb started a fever and while i thought it would just be a passing thing, it wasn't.  i noted how brynna NEVER gets sick and caleb is always the one that gets colds, but alas, this time brynna caught it too.  we finally decided to take caleb to the doctor on wednesday and it just so happened that brynna woke up with a fever that day.  caleb's fever had broken but he had a horrible cough and brynna was just beginning with the fever (highest she had was 104, which was probably  the highest fever i've ever seen in any of them).  luckily it wasn't the flu, but caleb was out of school for the entire week and he's still hacking up a lung while brynna is fever-free now too but has a runny nose and is developing the same congested cough. 

we've been battling brynna with taking her medicine cuz she just refuses.  she won't take it in her milk, won't take it in chocolate pudding, won't take it at all.  we wrestle her and choke hold her and even with both of us trying our hardest to get it down her throat, i'm sure she's not getting much at all.  it's so different from caleb, who gladly takes any and all medicine and vitamins.  brynna has been like this since she was months old, though...she would barf up the vitamins when she was a baby and still refuses gummy vitamins, which i thought ALL kids loved.  i think she just does it to be the stubborn little girl she is.  i seriously should take my blood pressure after we give her the meds because i seriously get PISSED and FRUSTRATED knowing that she's not getting the medicine she needs.  

although they're sick, it sure hasn't stopped the two of them from FIGHTING!  gosh.  i seriously can't imagine what it's going to be like as they get older, more vocal, and stronger.  they both hit and kick each other at random moments and caleb LOVES to irritate his sister.  brynna will NOT let him get away with anything, though, and is vicious.  their moments of loving behavior are being overtaken by stretches of tormenting each other. 

on another note, caleb is at the height of irritating behavior.  i dunno what it is, but he hasn't learned volume control at all and is LOUD as heck.  we constantly have to remind him to lower his voice, especially when he's in public.  he's also fond of repeating what you are saying, which gets old super fast. he's also sassier since starting school...grrr. 

brynna and baba

i don't know if it's because she has baba all to herself now, but my mom said that brynna is a lot more affectionate with her now than she used to be.  as she's getting older she's just a lot more social and smiley than she was in the past, which is nice.  she's only cried maybe two times since caleb started school...which wasn't what i expected because i thought all of us leaving the house might be hard on her.  she and my mom get out of the house more to go walking and she must just looovvveeee all the one on one attention she's getting that she's NEVER had before. 

new routines

so if you know me, you know i'm slightly ocd/autistic.  i thought it would be harder to adjust to the new schedule/routine of caleb going to school...thankfully (or maybe i'm just loosening up some as i age...hehe), it hasn't been as bad as i feared.  it makes me a little antsy in the mornings when it gets past 6:45 and we're not ready to leave the house, and i do say more times than i'd like to admit, "hurry up, what are you doing, let's go" to caleb and dave, but it really hasn't been that painful. 

caleb is a GREAT schoolboy.  he goes to bed easier since he knows that he has to go to sleep early because he has school the next day.  when the alarm goes off at 615 and i wake him up, he doesn't fuss at all...he jumps out of bed and knows that it's time to get ready for school.  he does take some time with breakfast (we've found he's a slow eater and very distractable at eating time), but he does well with the routine for the most part.  he happily leaves us at school with no problems whatsoever. 

we also haven't encountered any traffic messes getting out of palisades and to school (though we are thinking of altering our route because of the holdup by our lady of good counsel with parents dropping off their kids there).  we're usually at school by 720, which is later than i'm used to, but not as late as i thought we'd be.  i feel a little bit more frantic in the morning and if i gotta make copies it throws me off significantly, but so far, so good. 

first day of preschool

super fast/short one cuz we gotta get the kids to bed...

today was caleb's first day of preschool and even thinking about it last night i was starting to feel kind of choked up.  i'm not sad he's going to school, but somehow it's a little bit sad knowing that my first baby is growing up so quickly. 

anyways, he'd been well prepped for preschool...he visited the school this summer, the teacher came and visited with us at home, and we've been talking about it a lot.  this morning he woke up with no problems and knew that today was the day to begin school.  as we drove him up there he wasn't nervous or scared at all, just very excited. 

once we got there he chose a cot to sleep on and put down his pillow and blanket.  then he chose his cubby and we put his basket in it.  we took him over the classroom and he quickly went to sit down with the aide and another little boy who was trying his best not to cry.  when i told caleb we were going he said, "bye."  no hug, no sadness, nothing.  i had to tell him to come over and give us a kiss and a hug and then he quickly went back to where the others were. 

when we go there to pick  him up he was in the bathroom...apparently he had waited too long to go to the bathroom and had gotten it on the floor and his shoes instead of in the toilet.  when we told him it was time to go he started whining and saying he wanted to stay.  we let him play a little bit more while we talked to the teacher and then after he picked up all the balls he could find on the grassy area (great at stalling already, i guess), he was finally ready to go. 

all in all, successful first day of preschool.  i was worried about brynna and how she would react to being left home alone, but my mom said that when she came out of the bedroom after changing her clothes she looked around for us but didn't cry. 

gosh...i'm a mommy of a child in school.  that's crazy. 

so sad...

leaving my babies for 5 nights and i'm sad.  i'm sure they won't even notice i'm gone, but i sure am gonna miss them.  dave's driving me to the airport without the kids because i don't wanna have to leave them in the van...at least this way i can cry myself out and compose myself before we get to the airport.  this is gonna suck big time. 

summer goals

i was inspired to do some summer goals by someone else's blog...so here goes...and like she said, who knows if it will get done (depends on if i feel like it), but here it is...

• thoroughly clean my house 
• donate many things (toys, books, clothes, shoes)
• maintain a schedule to get caleb on track for school
• read a lot of books since i don't read a lot during the school year
• go to the library once a week
• maintain a good cooking schedule and don't rely on eating out...cook all meals during the weekdays
• put up a bookshelf in my mom's room 
• work out at least four times a week with dave

new obsessions

caleb's new obsession is dinosaurs, and being the elephant brains that he is, he's devouring information and repeating it back to us like the little professor he is.  we thought that he was giving us false information when he kept saying that the stegosaurus has 17 plates on its back, but then as we were reading dave found out that it's true...it's not the sticky up plates, but i guess some other kind of bone plates on its back so we had to apologize for insisting to caleb that he was wrong.  lol.  it's really interesting to learn about dinosaurs all over again so i kind of like this new obsession. 

brynna doesn't have any obsessions besides chips.  she loves chips.  she loves veggie chips, potato chips, any kind of chips.  she's like me...more into the salty than the sweet.  she also continually surprises me with things that she knows...like counting to ten in spanish, knowing animals that i don't expect her to know, being able to do the alphabet puzzle when we tell her what picture to look for, comprehending more questions and answering appropriately.  she also loves to be read to, which gets exhausting because she always wants another book, another book, another book.  she also is the queen of the mad face...i can't imagine where she learned that mad face from...hehe! 

potty training

so potty training boot camp began on friday, may 25th.  we tried to follow the three-day potty training method which tells you to go bare butt or loose shorts (not underwear or pullups) and that after three days the kids would get it and pee in the potty. 

the first to successfully pee in the potty was....brynna!!!  she was refusing to sit on the potty but then dave noticed her moving toward the corner by the tv and told her to sit down on the potty and for some reason she listened...and a few seconds later, she surprised us and herself when we heard the pee hitting the potty!  YAY!  she got two m&ms for her peeing and after seeing that, caleb was determined.  by the end of day one he'd peed in the potty three times (standing up at the real toilet, not in the potty).  they both had multiple accidents, but it seemed like caleb was getting the hang of it while brynna was heading in the opposite direction and refusing to even sit on the potty anymore.

day two caleb really got the hang of it and even started working the system by peeing every 15 minutes to get his reward.  brynna, on the other hand, was not getting it at all.  we knew she wanted to doodoo but she refused to sit down and it ended up that the doodoo eventually fell out of her butt and i had to catch it with a napkin.  luckily she makes dry round balls of doodoo and not wet kine so that was do-able.  caleb also refused to make doodoo on the potty and we knew that he needed to so he ended up doing it in the pullups before we went to bed.

by day three you're supposed to make the connection between going to the potty right before leaving the house.  unfortunately we didn't do that, but caleb seemed to be really getting it with the exception of the doodoo.  he started doing this really funny dance and we knew it was because he needed to doodoo but he refused to do it on the potty.  brynna we've pretty  much given up on for the time being...i should have known she would be more difficult because if she doesn't want to do something, it ain't happening.

today we actually left the house...he used the potty at leish's house, which was his first potty use outside so that was good.  then we went to sam's club and he said he wanted to pee but after standing there for forever and nothing coming out i told him it was enough.  he proceeded to throw a small fit but got over it.  then he told dave he wanted to go so dave took him and when he wouldn't do anything dave told him it was enough and he proceeded to throw a huge fit.  luckily he didn't pee on the way home, which we were worried about.  he's taking a nap right now with underwear on so we'll see if he's dry when he wakes up.

overall i'd say this potty training experience was less traumatic (for me) than i expected it to be.  thankfully it looks like caleb will be able to go to school in august :-).  brynna....we'll just have to work on this little stubborn head a little bit more.   

cool beans and random stuff

before i begin writing other things, just had to share that caleb just said, in the right context, "cool beans."  hehe.  he then said, "twist says cool beans.  that's from fresh beat band."  i dunno if that's where that saying originated, but that's pretty funny.  now on to other things.

okay, i hang my head in shame and admit that until this past weekend, we were still getting up at least once a night and giving brynna milk.  yes, we know she shouldn't be drinking milk at two years old.  yes, we know it's bad for her teeth.  and yes, for selfish reasons, i kept doing it because i wanted to sleep and not deal with her crying.  i kept telling myself that at the next break, we'd break her habit...and i never did it.  this past friday my mom said, "you guys close your windows and your door and let her cry...stop giving her milk at night."  so we listened.  and it was a lot less painless than i anticipated.  as of last night she's still getting up and crying, but not for long.  hopefully by the the weekend she'll stop the crying at night and just sleep. 

in two and a half weeks (on may 25th to be exact), the potty training officially will begin for both kids.  it's going to be painful and we'll probably have to be on house-arrest for a while, but it has to get done.  my plan for the summer is to also get them into the same schedule that caleb will follow when he starts school in august so that he'll be used to it and will be trained to eat and pee and sleep when he's supposed to.  he likes to sleep in, so he'll have to get used to an earlier bedtime and a much earlier waking up time.  the only thing that's going to throw that off a little bit is that i have a workshop on june 26-29 but hopefully the schedule is pretty well-ingrained by then. 

brynna is talking a lot more...still pretty unclear most of the time...but after getting her test results back and seeing that she actually knows and can do quite a lot, i'm not as worried as i was.  she's started to say her abc's so i'm happy...i was a little worried there for a while because caleb picked up the alphabet really quickly and it seemed like she just wasn't learning it at all. 

caleb is frickin addicted to games on nickjr.com and though a lot of them actually require him to use his brain and learn some cool things, i'm not so keen on the one that he loves the most, which is just jumping and collecting crap.  i'm not a gamer at all, so games in general seem like a big waste of time to me but dave insists that it does help him with eye-hand coordination and problem solving.  caleb was getting ridiculous for a while and pitching a huge fit and fighting when it came time to get off the computer but after some good scoldings and spanks, he's learned that when i start the count, he better get his butt off that damn computer. 

we took the kids to tash's may day and our school's band concert this past weekend.  caleb is a really good audience member...he sits still and watches, enthralled, for pretty much the whole show.  brynna is less focused, but she was pretty good too, seeing as how both were at least two hours long. 

as the school year comes to an end, i'm actually pretty sad.  this is the first year in a while that i really, really, really like my kids.  even though i'm at that "little patience for shenanigans, dammit" level at this point, i still know i'm going to be sad to say bye to a lot of these kids.  i've been with my avid kids for homeroom, avid and english so i'll really miss them and there are a few others who i'm really going to miss too.  i am looking forward to the summer, though, and being able to be home with the kids all day.  there's a lot of cleaning that needs to be done (my freakin' floors are horrendous right about now because they haven't been scrubbed down in forever) and a lot of crap that needs to be donated or dumped.

holy smokes, maybe i should write more often so i don't have novel length entries like this one...lol. 

preschool...yikes!!!

so i'm sure i should have put more thought into this than i have...and as it is, i'm still slacking big time...but somehow i just can't wrap my head around the idea that caleb is going to need to start preschool sometime soon.  i also can't wrap my head around the idea that we'll be shelling out $600-$800 a MONTH to pay for it.  yikes. 

as of right now i have apps printed out for our lady of good counsel, alphabetland and keiki care center...i still have to call leeward community college's childcare center because they seem to have a pretty good program that would suit the needs of caleb.  the thing is, i don't even know if caleb is going to have to go to preschool this coming year or if he's going to have to wait an additional year.  right now the bill that would extend junior kindergarten to cover his year is waiting to be heard by the house finance committee on monday.  until we know what they decide, it's still unclear as to where caleb will need to be next year.  if they extend it, he'll have to go to preschool in the fall.  if they don't, he'll have to wait an additional year because i'm not sending him for two years.  how parents afford to send children to preschool and then private school is beyond me.  preschool is the only private school these two kiddoes are getting unless they somehow earn a full-on scholarship somehow. 

first things first, though...he has to get potty trained before we even think about preschool.  i'm thinking this summer i'll have to potty train both of them at the same time.  brynna shows some signs of being ready...the boy, though, still very resistant.  

dentist

yesterday the kids had a dentist appointment and i must say that as we were waiting, i felt like the parent that all the other parents were looking at and thinking, "sheesh, look at her kids."  caleb was more active than usual and he and brynna were climbing up and down the stair thing, jumping off each level, running here and there and making tons of noise.  at one point i wanted to turn brynna's dress around because it was on backward and she proceeded to pull it off and not want to put it back on. i was feeling verrryyyy embarrassed.

when the assistant came out to call us in, off bounded caleb, loudly saying in his sing-song voice, "hi aunty!"  brynna put up a little bit of a fight to go in since she was playing with a toy, but luckily she followed her brother's lead and even said, "hi aunty" quietly when we went in.  of course, caleb excitedly greeted the dentist in the same way, "hi aunty!" and proceeded to jump up on the chair and open his mouth before they were even ready for him.  the only thing he refused to do was put the spit sucker thingy in his mouth...he played with it and sucked water out of the cup with it, but didn't want to put it in his mouth. 

next was brynna's turn, and seeing as how we have to hold her down and force her to brush her teeth while she cries and yells, i thought for sure it was gonna be a battle.  nope...she sat on that chair by herself, opened her mouth for the dentist, let her brush for a good two minutes or more, and even let her put the fluoride on her teeth.  little miss show off i tell you!  i was pleasantly surprised...and greatly relieved! 

one note - being the clueless brain-farter that i am...after we brushed their teeth and were heading out the door to the dentist, what do i do but give them each a peanut butter cheese cracker thingy to eat...goodness gracious!  what an idiot! 

little miss brynna

right before break we took brynna for her 2-year appt and i told the doctor that we were a little bit concerned about her speech...not that she wasn't talking, because she's starting to pick up, but more because the clarity of her speech, to us, is pretty bad.  of course we don't have much to compare it to except caleb, so we know that our perception might be a little bit skewed.  caleb started talking a little bit later (21 months or so when he really started kicking it into high gear), but from the beginning he was always pretty clear and very vocabulary-rich.  his memory is one of his strongest traits, so picking up language was easy for him because he's really good at mimicking.  he picked up his alphabet and songs and memorizing books really quickly.  that was our baseline, so we definitely were concerned with brynna's speech (or lack thereof).  doctor referred us to a free early intervention program that would do a consultation and diagnosis and offer services for brynna and us if needed. 

the other day we had a meeting with the lady who is going to be our care coordinator.  she met with us for almost an hour and asked us to describe brynna and what she's able to do and what our concerns are.  it was kind of funny being the parent in that meeting because it was run very similarly to a sped meeting and we've always been on the other end of those.  we got our booklet of rights and all the information on the referral process...very familiar to anyone in the doe.  in talking to this lady, though, and telling her what our expectations were and how we were basing this off of what caleb does, i think that we may be wasting their time.  first of all, brynna has a significant buck teeth issue because of her thumb-sucking...and if you try to talk with your teeth sticking out at the top, your speech does become slurred.  that might be a big part of the problem.  part of me thinks that we just expected too much, but i'm so glad that they have these services available for us since it could be that there are other issues that we haven't noticed or we could actually be right about her having some speech issues. 

my only worry is that when the speech therapist and occupational therapist come to do the consultation (which is supposed to last about 2 hrs!), brynna will be her uncooperative self and won't do or say what they ask her to.  i'm praying that she'll surprise me, like she did at the dentist yesterday (i'll write about that later), and be more cooperative than i'm thinking she'll be.  we'll see what happens. 

spring break updates

i was a little bit afraid of what a week on maui, at my dad's house, would be like.  happy to report, though, that it was a lot easier than i expected!

the first part of our trip was a little bit hectic as i hadn't realized just how many peeps travel during spring break.  the airports were madness and we had some mishaps with luggage when we first arrived.  at the time it seemed beyond ridiculous, but looking back on it now, things actually worked out pretty well.  the kids' seats and my mom's suitcase didn't make it on our flight, which made for some craziness because we had to go rent the car and just as i was about to rent seats from the car place, hawaiian called saying that the seats and my mom's bag were in.  sucky part was that it meant i had to head back to the airport to pick up the bags...by myself...while dave stayed at the car place with the kids since we had no seats for them.  then the dang security guard guy told me that i couldn't just park at the curb for two minutes...i had to go around, park in the lot, then walk to pick up the bags, carry the humongous bag with two seats on my shoulder (just picture that ridiculousness) and roll my mom's bag, battling the high winds all the way back to the parking lot.  dave was waiting with the two kids on the side of the road, had to install the two seats (which for anyone who's installed seats, always ends up taking longer and being more difficult than you expect it to be, especially in a strange car), and by this time we were all starving since it was way past lunch time.  we got to my dad's house, though, and the relaxation began!!

well, not really.  i was worried that my dad's house would be filthy since he's the only one living there now (not that the ex-wife had frickin cleaned in years anyway, though).  in fact, the house was probably cleaner than when the woman was there...my dad is actually a pretty neat guy, but being a guy, he doesn't pay attention to the smaller details, so there was dust and dirt in places that i'm sure haven't been cleaned in decades.  anyways, it was really bothering me that the woman's clothes were still hanging in all closets of the house and that her knickknacks and shit were everywhere, so i started cleaning and throwing crap out.  by the time we left at the end of the week i was proud to have put all her clothes in bags, cleaned stuff out of drawers and threw away a bunch of unnecessary crap.  i'm not sure why my dad hadn't done these things yet, but i think he put away anything that was visible to him and as long as it wasn't in his sight, it didn't bother him. 

all of us slept in my sister's room...i'm pretty sure the bed is a queen size but it felt tiny with the four of us.  it didn't make for good sleeps at all.  caleb slept with my dad for a couple nights and that made for better sleeps for us, but worse sleeps for my dad cuz he was worried caleb would fall off the bed (which he did once).  my dad thoroughly enjoyed having the kids at his house and we got to visit with aunties and uncles which was really good too because we hardly ever get to see them.  caleb is just entertaining, and brynna really started warming up to people and being a lot more friendly than she was in the past.  caleb fits right in on maui cuz to him everyone is aunty and uncle and he makes friends everywhere he goes. 

the culmination of our trip was my cousin's wedding...which was tons of fun cuz they kept it light and totally un-serious.  the kids looked adorable in their little outfits and it was so cool to see all the family and some friends i hadn't seen in years. 

overall, our trip to maui was nice...we didn't do a whole lot of adventuring, but the kids got some quality time with family and that's what's most important. 

so neglected

i have been neglecting blogging big time.  not really sure why...i haven't been overwhelmingly busy (well, no busier than usual, i think).  maybe it's because i'm rarely on the computer now, except at school.  at home i'm either on my phone or on my ipad and i can't (or won't) blog from those devices.  now our main computer has broken down and we're using a super old emac, which is functional, but not pretty at all...lol...so that will probably make me blog even less. 

anyways, here's some new things...

my nephew is here with us this week so the four of us have been sleeping in our room so pres can sleep on caleb's bed.  tonight pres is staying at his brother's place, so i'm not sure if caleb is going to sleep with us...and that makes me a little sad.  he's been sleeping in the crib and brynna's been on the bed with us.  going to bed is nice because the four of us get into bed, dave and i read to them, then we read or play on the ipad for a little while and then once i turn off the light, the kids go to sleep pretty quickly (well, either that or i go to sleep pretty quickly so i don't know that they're not also sleeping...hehe).  on sunday we're going to maui and will be staying at my dad's house for most of the week so that should be interesting because i'm thinking that we'll probably be sleeping in separate rooms - me and bryn in one room and dave and caleb in another.  we'll see how that goes.  it's the longest we're ever going to stay with my dad and i'm pretty sure that by the end of the week he'll be glad to see us go so he can have some peace and quiet again.  lol. 

brynna had her 2-year appt today (poor second child, mommy forgets to call in and make her appt so it's far away from her actual birthday, not like brother's appts which were always near his bday).  she refused to do anything the doctor asked her to...didn't want to say "eyes, mouth, nose or ears" even though she knows those things and can say them.  she refused to take the little piece of rubbish and put it in the glass jar.  she refused to stack the blocks.  she refused to even say bye to doctor when it was done.  she's such a stubborn little girl...gosh.  we have been lax and let her use her sippy cup until now but doctor said we have to force her to use the straw...and thus far, she's refusing.  we're going to have a big fight with her tonight because she always wants milk before she goes to sleep...but doctor said we can't give in to her, even if it takes 5-7 days to break her habit.  we're in for some crappy days and nights.  we said we should wait until after we get home tomorrow so my  mom doesn't have to deal with it tomorrow while we're at work.  right now as i'm typing she's sitting on my lap and making me stretch my arms around her because she has to be sitting just so...and now she's trying to put her feet on the computer.

caleb has recently made us realize that "bad" words need to stop coming out of our mouths because he's picking them up and using them (in the right context too!).  the first one he was "holy shit" when the wind was blowing really hard.  that's straight out of my  mouth.  we've heard him say "g-dammit" (that's all my mom) and "frickin" (dave and me).  last night dave told me to shut up and both kids started saying, "mommy, shut up."  goodness gracious.  now he recognizes when the bad word is said and will tell us that it's a bad word.  wonder how my dad will handle since he says at least one bad word per sentence...lol. 

i'm really looking forward to this spring break...but i thinkwe're going to need a break from the break since we'll be on maui for most of it.  it also makes me sad to think that i only have a quarter left with my kids...i really, really like them this year. 

holy smokes

so yesterday was an adventure with brynna.  she was fine all morning long...we took her to school for gt testing where she played with caleb and emily.  took her to take my mom to the doctor, then back to school to pick up dave, then waited in the car for about half an hour for my mom to be done.  we finally got out of the car after picking my mom up and headed to denny's...but since it was too full, we decided to go somewhere else.  i guess by that time brynna had had enough of the car because she did not want to get in.  she did not want to sit in her seat.  she fought me...hard.  i couldn't hold her in her seat and strap her in so dave had to come back and the two of us had to pin her down so i could strap her in.  it was ridiculous.  she screamed and fought and tried to break free of her seat.  we ended up going across the street to zippy's and she finally calmed down after i carried her for a while.  after some errands in sears it was time to get back in the car...and she fought again.  this time wasn't quite as bad.  then off to waikele...and when it was time to get in the car it was a fight again.  i yelled at her and had to use all of my weight and force to buckle her in.  ridiculous.  i was afraid that she was going to fight again today...but no, back to her normal self.  i think she was just overly tired yesterday and it manifested itself in man-like strength and mommy-like hard-headedness. 

ho, long time...

hmm, i haven't written in forever and a day.  haven't uploaded any pics on my other blog either.  what can i blame...too busy, too lazy.  as i sit here, the two kiddoes are having tons of fun jumping on the couch.  we gave them baths early because caleb was tired and didn't take a nap...guess he's caught his second wind.  hopefully that means he'll have an early bedtime so that we can go to bed early too. 

these 4:45 wake up times 5 days a week are killing me.  actually, during the beginning of the week it isn't too bad...but come thursday and friday it's ridiculously tiring...and then on the weekend i find myself having to nap to make up for the missed sleep during the week.  week 3 of insanity and no drastic results yet...we'll see how it goes as we move forward cuz we haven't hit the MAX workouts yet.

dave's brother and sis-in-law visited so the kids got to spend some time with their aunty and uncle.  caleb even slept over at his grandma and granpa's house...brynna wanted to go too but i just couldn't let her.  :-)  I was scared she would wake up in the middle of the night and cry when she didn't see dave and i beside her.  i can't believe she's going to be two years old soon...that's so crazy!  she's talking more and more but it's still really hard to understand her.  she's getting nicer...she'll more freely give kisses and hugs now and laughs a lot more than she used to.  it's the cutest thing when she bus' laughs. 

caleb continues to make us laugh with his random comments...like how he told us that he had a boner in his foot, then after us explaining that he has bones in his foot and elsewhere, he comes back with..."i have a bone in my dingding."  today when we got home he had doodoo in his diaper and my mom didn't change it because when she noticed he wanted to make, she put him on the potty and he didn't do it.  then when she put the diaper back on he went in the bedroom to go make so she said she'd leave it there so maybe he wouldn't like the feeling...he couldn't care less, though.  my mom said she was telling him to do something and he said, "can you wait?"  so we asked him about it and he said, "because baba said to me, are YOU listening to ME?"  it was so funny.  his inflections and choice of words is soooo funny...and also convicting since sometimes the sassy that i hear in his voice can only come from me.

i wonder if i'll ever start to feel the longing to have another baby that many moms say they feel as their babies grow up.  so far, no longing for the crazy infant days.  we'll see if that changes as they get to be kids and not toddlers anymore, though! 

back to school

i have thoroughly enjoyed my winter break.  we did a lot of nothing but i don't feel like any time was wasted.  it would be nice to have an additional week like we used to, but i'm actually not devastated that we have to go to work tomorrow.  even though i know i'll miss the kids and spending so much time with them, i'm also happy that i'll get to see my kids at school again.  it's so weird to feel this way because for the past two years i felt like teaching was becoming just a "job" and not a passion. the only sad part is that i'll have a student teacher who will be taking over 3 of my 5 classes, so that will be an adjustment for both me and the kids.  we'll see how that goes...i have massive issues with giving up control so it should be challenging but hopefully a learning experience for both of us. 

at the start of the break brynna was talking a little bit, words here and there, but it seems like over the course of our two weeks, she's become a lot more verbal!  her first sentence was, "i like it!" in reference to the pork rinds i was giving her (lol...i know, not a nutritious food at all, but oh so yummy!).  her words aren't very clear yet, but i'm hoping she'll get there soon.  like with caleb, it seems like the verbal switch has been flipped and overnight she's become a little person instead of a baby...don't know how i feel about that yet...