Boot Camp & Birthday Cake

Some of you may know that nearly 2 weeks ago I enrolled Caleb who is 2 1/2 in bootcamp.  Bootcamp you may ask...what kind of bootcamp? Well let me share!  This bootcamp is actually more of a mommy bootcamp.

• One in which I don't allow television during the day and only on the occasional evening
• One in which Caleb gets timeout when I tell him he will have one if he does ________
• One in which I am the boss and Caleb is not ie. no telling mommy, STOP, NO, LEAVE ME ALONE
• One in which I went to the arts & craft store and purchased $40 worth of supplies ( I had to convince Gary it was absolutely necessary - still not sure he believes me) in order to keep Caleb busy and not bored.

So how has mommy bootcamp gone you ask??? It was an exhausting and huge success. No more are the mornings where cartoons are playing until lunchtime. My son is playing with his toys, not yelling as much, colors, uses his imagination and his language has increased again. An added and much needed bonus is that the attacks on his little brother Jude have decreased significantly too.  The only set back to the great behavior I have seen was today...he just returned from a day and night at Grandmas with movies and not having to share attention/time with little brother. All day he has been asking for tv and movies. I so thought we were done with this.

Sigh!!! Its never ending but I'm sticking to my guns because that's all I can do.  So today I'm back at it. Playdough, coloring, a walk in the new stroller, lunch at noon followed by nap and timeouts when needed.  I realize that these all seem like obvious things to do with you child but its so not that easy. When you are awakened every two hours between midnight and 6:15am by your infant who has a cold and is hungry because he can't eat enough during his normal feeds it kinda makes you want to pretend you don't have children. You definitely just want to turn on the tv and let Curious George and Dinosaur Train take over your role as parent. I have successfully resisted the urge...now maybe I should work on not "tuning out" while on Facebook. Not sure I'm ready to cross that bridge yet.

I mentioned the new stroller. I have been agonizing on what stroller to get since we got home from South Africa in the end of October. Seriously had sleepless nights about this which is totally insane - certifiably insane. I know I'm not alone in my stroller insanity though. We ended up with the Baby Jogger Summit 360 with toddler jumpseat. So far I'm impressed although we did have an incidence of it tipping over due to the out of balance issue. Kinda a funny story...I was walking with the boys in the neighborhood we live in and Jude started crying really hard so I took him out. I had pushed the stroller over to the curb alongside someones white picket fence. Anyway, when I took Jude out the stroller tipped over with Caleb right into the fence. He got a little bruise on his leg where he was wedged between the stroller and fence. I tried not to laugh...horrible I realize but considering all the injuries Jude has sustained at Calebs hands it seemed "ironic" to me.

This week also marked Saint Patties day. In honor of this Irish Holiday that we American's celebrate with gusto, despite not being Irish...well at least most of us...I made corned beef and cabbage with red potatoes and carrots.

  I had my parents and brother Ryan over...although Ryan opted for Teriyaki Madness. He's a missionary on OM's Logos Hope and is home on furlow. Actually he goes back to the ship on Sunday. He has this crazy list of things he had to do while he was here that he can't do while overseas and I guess Teriyaki was one of them.

 

Surprise!!!

Most of you probably know that I love to cook. Let me say that again...COOK...not bake. Cooking is fun....baking is not and makes me fat!!! Anyway in my love for cooking I keep thinking I should take pics of the food I make while I'm prepping, etc. But who has time for that? Well this week both boys were napping while I prepped the meal so I took pics. It was a fun and creative adventure. ☺Actually this week I've started taking photos again. I really haven't since our outreach as life has been somewhat uninspiring in so many

 ways. Her are a few pics of my week including a play dough session with "birthday cake".

 This is the only cake I've made since Caleb's 2nd birthday in Panama. That was an adventure...I accidentally bought garlic butter(who knew it existed) and I didn't have a beater. Plus I had to even buy a pan to cook it in. I'm pretty sure it ended up being way more expensive that it would have been to buy a stupid cake. He probably would have liked cookies just as much...but there are no candles to blow out on cookies.

All in all its been a lot of work this Boot Camp business but I'm pretty sure its worth it. Of course as soon as I  type this Caleb will try to "Buzz Lightyear" off the couch or Jude will start wailing because Caleb pinched his cheek or head butted him for the 7th time today. I keep repeating my mantra..."I Love my Life, I Love My Life, I LOVE MY LIFE!"