Happy Fall, Y'all

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler temperatures, changing leaves, pumpkin coffee (and beer), and, most importantly, football season! I was up nice and early on the first day of football season, mostly because I wanted to be the one to get the boys up and dressed in their ND gear before Ryan tried to put them in Penn State stuff!

Go Irish!

Of course Ryan wore his Penn State shirt. We were quite a conversation piece at the farmers market. At least three people made comments ("at least 75% of you got it right!") about our apparel. ND got off to a great start. Penn State lost its first game to Temple. HAHAHA (although, we play Temple on October 31st and are completely decimated by injuries, so maybe I should wait until after that game to make fun of PSU for losing to them). 

A couple weeks ago, Montoursville had a fall fest. Ryan didn't want to go so he stayed home with Grant so I could take Connor. It was nice being able to do something just with him. The festival was cute. They had horse rides, music, food, and games. They also had a fire truck, police car, and ambulance that the kids could go in and explore/touch things, etc. We didn't stay too long but the weather was perfect and I loved spending time with Connor. 

This is the mascot for the Williamsport Crosscutters, the minor league baseball team here in town. Connor spotted him from about 100 yards away and screamed "Paw Patrol!!!" and shoved the rest of his hot dog in his mouth so we could go see him. I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't a character in Paw Patrol!

The next day the weather was beautiful so after their nap we took the boys outside to enjoy it. Connor got to ride his truck and I pushed Grant around in the Radio Flyer bike. 

This weekend we are taking our final trip of the year to Knoebels. My parents are going to meet us there, so I think Connor will be really surprised. I guess I should start thinking about what the kids are going to be for Halloween so we aren't ending up at Party City the night before!

First Trip to the ER

Just before Labor Day, Connor & Grant were playing around. Connor was being pretty rough with Grant and had been told several times to be more gentle. Connor tackled Grant and both fell to the ground pretty hard. Ryan grabbed Connor by the arm to pull him off Grant's head. Connor then started crying saying that his arm hurt. I thought he was slightly exaggerating because he was in trouble, gave him some motrin, and put him to bed. The next morning he wouldn't move his arm and screamed in pain any time it was moved/bumped, etc. so I took him to the ER for xrays. The PA said she didn't see any breaks and that it was more likely a sprain or contusion, gave him a sling, and sent him home with instructions to follow up with his doctor the next day. So I made the appointment for the next morning and an hour later the doctor's office called back and said they wanted to see him immediately. Of course I started to freak out and ran around like a chicken with its head cut off getting Connor up from his nap and to the office. I took him in and the PA said she was reading the ER report and was concerned that he possibly had nursemaid's elbow and the ER missed it. 

She told me that nursemaid's elbow is basically a dislocated elbow joint, and the sooner you can get it back into joint, the better, so she didn't want to wait until the next morning for the appointment. Sure enough, she was checking him out and all of a sudden I heard a pop. Connor screamed bloody murder and my eyes rolled back in my head and I started sweating profusely. She said that it is really painful for kids when she pops it back in but should provide immediate relief and he should start using his arm again.  He calmed down within a few minutes, but was really hesitant to use his arm. I thought maybe once we got home and into his own environment he would start using it again, but he really didn't.

Even the next morning, he kept complaining that his arm hurt. He couldn't really tell me if it actually hurt or if he was just afraid it WOULD hurt because it DID hurt the day before. I debated whether I should keep him home for the day but ultimately decided that I would send him to school in hopes that when he was around the other kids he would forget that he was afraid to use his arm. I did ask them to call me at lunch time to let me know if he still wasn't using it. Meanwhile, his doctor's office called me at work to follow up and see how he was feeling. I told the nurse that he hadn't used his arm much that morning and that I was concerned because it was a holiday weekend and I didn't want to wait until Monday if I picked him up from school at 5 and he still wasn't using it. She called me back and told me that the doctor wanted him to be seen that day by an orthopedist just in case. And that she had called around and the only practice that had an opening needed us to be there in 20 minutes.  I rushed out of work and was sweating profusely (again) by the time I got to school. He didn't see me right away when I walked in and of course he was using his arm as normal. Ugh. I thought about just ditching the ortho appt, but we went anyway just in case. It was very quick. The doctor said he was probably just really sore since it had been out of joint for almost 24 hours. He said it is liable to happen again, and showed me how to try to pop it back in to joint. I told him I probably wouldn't be able to do that without fainting, but it didn't seem all that complicated. 

Thankfully, by the next day he was feeling much better and we were able to enjoy the long weekend. I'm sure, with two very active boys, that it won't be our last visit to the ER but hopefully it will be quite some time before we have any reason to go back!

Summer Stats and Milestones

Both boys had check ups this summer.

Connor's 3 year check up was on June 12th. These were his stats:

• He weighed 37 lbs. (91st percentile)
• He was 40" (94th percentile)

Grant had his 15 month check up on August 7th. These were his stats:

• He weighed 28 lbs. 2 ozs. (88th percentile)
• He was 33" (91st percentile)

Its been a few months since these appointments, and it seems like every morning I get them up they are a little taller, a little smarter, and a little more handsome! Here are some of the developmental milestones we've been seeing over the past few months:

Grant: Grant started walking over the summer. It took him a little longer than most kids to get the hang of it, but once he started, he hasn't looked back. He is in to EVERYTHING. He is much different than Connor in this respect - Connor was never into the cabinets, stairs, etc. Grant's time is consumed by emptying the kitchen cabinets and while I'm putting all the bowls and cookie sheets back, he is busy climbing the steps, punching the tv, or standing on the coffee table. His appetite is seemingly endless, and after finishing his dinner, he looks at Connor's plate as if to say "are you going to eat that?" He will pretty much eat anything you put in front of him, although he doesn't seem to have inherited as much of his mother's sweet tooth. His first word was "poop" (undoubtedly because we are working on potty training with Connor and I feel like 93% of my waking hours are spent talking about/worrying about/obsessing about poop). He's slowly building his vocabulary. He's added "hi," "shoes," and "up." I'm looking forward to many more being added in the next few weeks/months. I have a feeling that once he starts, he's going to be talking up a storm and I can't wait to hear he and Connor interacting. Grant goes to bed around 730, most nights without a peep, and sleeps through the night. He is still napping for about 3 hours on the weekends (usually a little less when he's at daycare). 

Connor:  We converted Connor's crib into a toddler bed over the summer (I know, I was truly lucky that we were able to keep him in a crib past his 3rd birthday). I think that actually worked out in our favor when making the transition. I was afraid all hell would break loose when he discovered his new freedom, but being older, he was able to understand when we told him he had to stay in there until we came in to get him in the morning. He took that very seriously and the transition was a breeze. I wish I could say the same for potty training! It has been a slow process, but it is getting a little better. Lots of bribing with candy, matchbox cars, and Paw Patrol underwear! Connor is so smart - he can count to 20, spell his name and Grant's name, and has a steel trap memory (like his mom!). He has a great sense of direction and recognizes landmarks (he knows where every Jeep within a 10 block radius "lives." He loves to sing and to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and really looks forward to our Saturday morning routine of going to the farmers market and grocery store. His weekend naps are hit or miss. Sometimes he takes a 3 hour nap; other times I hear him entertaining himself for an hour or two and never falls asleep. I'm hoping that we can at least make it through football season before the naps are completely extinguished!

ND girls reunion in St. John

Probably around this time last year, my roommates from Notre Dame and I began throwing around the idea of going on vacation for a long weekend together. We used to be able to get together once every year or so, but after the last one of us got married, we no longer had a built in reason to see each other. So, we started circulating the emails trying to plan a trip. With three doctors, a lawyer, and a managing director at Goldman Sachs (and that's just the girls!), there were a lot of decisions to be made: where are we going? When are we going? Is it a girls' weekend or are husbands invited? Are kids welcome (hell no!)? 

After no less than 847 emails, we settled on St. John, USVI, from July 29-Aug 2nd. I will admit that I initially had a bit of a bad attitude thinking about what a travel hassle it might be to get to St. John. I had to take the boys 1/2 to my parents house the night before. We had a very early flight out of Williamsport on Wednesday morning. It is nice to be able to basically roll out of bed 45 minutes before your flight but there are some drawbacks about flying out of Williamsport (more on that in a minute). We knew we would be cutting it close for making our connecting flight in Philly, which is the world's worst airport. We took carry-ons only, and basically had to sprint with our bags through two terminals to make the first of our two connecting flights. Once we got to Miami, I began to relax a little and just look forward to seeing everyone. Our flight in Miami was delayed by an hour or two. We finally made it to St. Thomas, and then had to take a cab (which was really a van with about 10 strangers) to the other side of the island to grab the ferry to St. John. 

We had an amazing time! I loved where we stayed - Gallows Point Resort, where each couple had their own 1 bedroom apartment. It was literally steps away from the restaurants, bars, and shopping in Cruz Bay, as well as the ferry and charter boat docks. The first night, we all met at the bar/restaurant on the resort property (where we were pleasantly surprised by our bill since I am convinced our waitress forgot to charge us for at least 3 bottles of wine and all of our appetizers!) then headed down to the beach bars. 

The following day, we had a leisurely breakfast and headed to the store to load up on beer and snacks before heading to the beach for the afternoon. We took a taxi truck to Maho Bay and spent most of the afternoon in the water just catching up. 

That night we had dinner at a restaurant called Rhumb Lines, which I was really excited about but proved to be a bit disappointing. First, they lost our reservation. Then, the waitress was kind of a dud. The menu was mostly Caribbean/Pacific Rim fusion stuff, which sounded good in theory, but the waitress really overstated how spicy the food was going to be, and it turned out to be pretty bland. The spiciest thing all night were the habanero infused tequila margaritas!

On Friday we chartered a sail boat called the Nightwind. We weren't even out of the dock before the drinks were being served! We sailed around to a few snorkeling spots and had a great lunch on the boat. Captain Rick and first mate Deb were quite interesting characters and we spent a considerable portion of the remainder of our trip trying to figure out what their deal was.

While we were on the boat, we got the ridiculous brilliant idea that the guys were going to go to the grocery store and get all sorts of things to grill for dinner at the resort instead of going out to eat. I got a call from Ryan from the grocery store who said that the meat selection was "questionable at best." So the only thing they returned with was about 5 cases of beer and we decided to order pizza instead. I don't know who put Katie Koch in charge of ordering our dinner, but it took at least 11 phone calls ("Hi, do you deliver to Gallows Point? Yes? Okay, I'll call you right back." "Hi, can you have the pizza delivered at 730? Yes? Okay, I'll call you right back." "Hi, it's me again. What's the difference between supreme pizza and meat lovers? Oh, Supreme has vegetables? Okay, I'll call you right back." "Is your crust thick or thin? Medium? Okay, I'll call you right back." "Do you also have buffalo wings and Mozzarella sticks? You do? Okay I'll call you right back." "Okay it's me again. I'm ready. I'll take 2 plain, 2 veggie, 2 supreme, and 2 Hawaiian pizzas, 2 orders of wings, and an order of mozzarella sticks."). So we ended up having a $250 pizza party where each person pretty much had his own pizza. That night we all ate in Koch and Thor's apartment and played Cards Against Humanity. I'm pretty sure I wet myself at least three times. And we had about 4 1/2 pizzas left over, but oh well. 

While we were on the sailboat, we were trying to figure out what to do on the following day, our last full day on the island. At first a few people were going to go scuba diving and the rest were just going to spend the day at the beach, but we decided to book another charter boat (this time a motorized one) to take us around to some of the British Virgin Islands. This turned out to probably be my favorite day of the trip. We boarded the Sea More and of course they started serving the Pain Killers. We cruised around, making a quick stop in Tortola to get our passports checked. We stopped for lunch at the Willie T, and had a great time jumping off the top deck. But the highlight of the trip was when we went to Jost Van Dyke. It is the smallest of the BVIs, and has fewer than 300 full time residents, and about 30 beach bars. 

We anchored at the Soggy Dollar, where you have to wade/swim to shore and pay for your drinks (home of the original Pain Killer) with your wet money. We visited a few more beach bars before swimming back to the boat and heading back to St. John. It was a beautiful and fun day. Once back on St. John, we stopped for a quick drink (okay, they were shots and the bartender thought we were certifiably insane). 

We had happy hour in Kel and Steve's apartment, which was nice because it was next door to ours and I'm not sure I would have been able to walk any farther than that. We had reservations that night for a restaurant called Zozos, which is probably the nicest restaurant on the island. I'm not sure who planned that, but by some miracle 9 out of the 10 of us were able to pull it together in time to make it (I won't mention the one who could not make it, but it was a shame he had to miss it because it was amazing!). It was a great end to a great vacation!

At 5 am on Sunday, I got an automated phone call from the airline saying the flight had already been delayed. I got about three more during the day. We were flying from St. Thomas to Philly to Wmspt, and although it was nice to spend some extra time with Chris and Katie, with each additional delay I knew the chances of us making the flight from Philly to Wmspt were getting slimmer. Ryan was able to get us a good deal on an upgrade so we got to fly first class (my first time) and I must say it made the four hour flight seem like 2 hours. We probably would have made our connecting flight but when we finally got to the gate in Philly we waited on the plane for an extra 28 minutes until they could find someone who knew how to work the jetway. We were so frustrated. By the time we got off, the plane to Williamsport departed. They offered to put us on the flight the next day at 1pm (what?!?!) but we opted to rent a car and drive home. It was a long (expensive) ride home and we didn't get home until about 2am, but I was glad to sleep in my own bed. We got to sleep in a little bit the next day before driving down to meet my parents and get the boys. 

I was so happy to see Connor & Grant. I missed them so much but I know they had a great time at Nana & Pop-pop's, especially Connor who loved swimming in the pool. We had such a great time with everyone, and but for the small travel annoyances, everything went smoothly. We packed in a lot of activity in a short time, and it was so much fun to see everyone and catch up. I can't wait for our next adventure, hopefully it won't be another 3 years before we all get together. 

4th of July Fishing Derby

Anyone who knows me knows of my absolute love for the 4th of July, partly because I love the patriotism of the holiday, but mostly because I love picnic food. Wyomissing has an annual parade and community gathering at the Stone House that reminds me of an old Lou Holtz quote about Notre Dame - "Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation's necessary. Those who don't, no explanation will suffice." That's how I feel about the 4th of July at home. Ryan would probably beg to differ - he's been there and knows it, and still has trouble comprehending the magnitude of my love for it, but whatever.

Anyway, this year, much to my own surprise, I decided to take a year off from the Wyo parade and my parents' picnic. Lisa was in Italy and Sarah had a baby a few days before so I knew neither of them would be around and I knew that I was going to take the boys down the following weekend because Ryan would be out of town, so we decided to stay home and check out the annual fishing derby and picnic at Texas Blockhouse. 

It POURED the entire ride up there and they had to push the fishing derby back until after lunch, but we had a great day! 

Playing on the porch while waiting out the rain.

Quick walk down to the pond to scope out the best spot to fish!

Family photo

Watching Daddy bait the hook.

So proud of his fish!

Grant was rather unimpressed by it all, but I'm sure next year we'll have two fishermen!

With a little help from Daddy and Uncle Collin, Connor caught four fish and won a second place trophy for his age group! His biggest fish was a 15" rainbow trout, which is approximately 14.5" bigger than the biggest fish I've ever caught up there!

All that excitement put him to sleep about 30 seconds after we left. Needless to say we didn't make the fireworks that night!

Overall, it was a great day. We went to Ryan's mom's for dinner that night for pizza (she had to call about 12 places to find one that was open). A little different than the traditional 4th of July picnic food, but still a fun day. I am so thankful that we are able to take advantage of Ryan's Texas Blockhouse membership, not just on days that they have events, but any time we want to hike, fish, let the dogs run wild, etc. I know as Connor and Grant grow older they will love being up their with their dad, uncle, and Grandpa, and will learn to appreciate nature, responsible conservation, gun safety, etc. (and I will enjoy copious bottles of wine and pedicures to make up for all the weekends/hunting seasons where I was a single mom because the boys were too young to participate)! 

Summertime

This summer is flying by and we are busy, busy, busy!  Here's some pictures of what we've been up to the first half of the summer:

Memorial Day weekend - we had planned to have a picnic at Ryan's mom's house for the holiday, and she wanted to get something fun and entertaining for the kids. We thought she might get a sprinkler or a ball or something, but instead, she bought this:

Let me in!

They were hot, sweaty, and most importantly, tired at the end of the night!

Texas Blockhouse - We spent a beautiful Sunday morning up at T&B, the hunting and fishing club that Ryan belongs to. We are fully cognizant of the fact that the dogs have taken a bit of a backseat since the kids came along, and we usually decide to do something about it when we notice that more of the kids toys are destroyed by the dogs or we come home from work to find they have eaten all of the mail and two boxes of crackers off of the counters. Every once in a while it is nice to take them up there and let them run loose, swim in the creeks, etc. It is sometimes difficult to find a good weekend, as we don't want to take them up during hunting season lest they be mistaken for a bear or deer (although if you ask Ryan I think he prays for that on a daily basis) and when it is too hot you have to watch out for snakes. So when the weather was nice and cool, we loaded up the kids and the dogs and headed up there. 

Wyomissing - the boys and I went home for a weekend in June.

The maiden voyage of the wagon that my dad restored for the boys. Grant made it about 1/2 way around the block before bailing out, and I was a sweaty mess by the time I pulled Connor the rest of the way. It sure is cute but we'll have to get some padding and seat belts before it is ready for the Wyo 4th of July parade!

Itty Bitty Soccer - I signed Connor up for Itty Bitty Soccer through the YMCA. It is a six week session, once a week on Tuesday nights from 5:15 - 6:00. I thought he would love it, because he loves kicking around the soccer ball (or any ball) in the house, at the playground, etc. It is for 3-5 year olds and I thought that he was fairly athletic and big for his age, so he'd be fine. To be honest, it's not that fun. For him or for me. Since Tuesday is Ryan's night to work late, I always have to take Grant with me. I think part of it has to do with the fact that it is in a big, open gym, and they play basketball on the other half so it is noisy and he has trouble paying attention. Part of it has to do with the fact that he spends all day at school following directions and the open space is too tempting to be confined to one area doing "drills." I also think he's hot, tired, and hungry, and probably just a tad too young to really grasp the concept of organized sports. Most of the 45 minutes is spent with Connor running wildly around the gym, kicking any ball he can find or picking it up and trying to dribble it like a basketball (they have itty bitty basketball but I am not sure I have the energy to sign him up for that this year), and me trying to prevent Grant from having a meltdown in his stroller because he wants to get out and walk/crawl all over the place while at the same time trying to tell Connor to pay attention to the instructor and wait his turn instead of pretty much ruining the drills. A few weeks ago we were having a particularly bad session. Grant was screaming to be put down and Connor wasn't even bothering to pretend he was interested in any organized activity. He was just being a little brat, and when I told him to listen and stop throwing the soccer balls, he started having a major tantrum and throwing the cones, pulling on the soccer net, etc. I was pretty embarrassed and ready to get the heck out of there, so I wrangled Grant into his stroller, which proved to be very difficult because he was violently arching his back to avoid having to go back in it. I tried to nicely ask Connor to walk out with me since it was obvious he wasn't having any fun, and he started kicking and screaming. Somehow I got this weird old man strength, picked him up with one arm and managed to hold his hands down to avoid getting punched in the face by him, and pushed Grant's stroller out with the other hand. Thank God for the one kind soul who actually held the door open for me. Of course it was like 113 degrees and I parked in the farthest possible spot from the door so by the time we got to the car and managed to get both screaming kids loaded up in their seats all three of us sat and cried for a good five minutes! We did go back the following week (much to the eye-rolling dismay of the other parents, probably) and he did a little better, but last week was the last session and I can't say I was disappointed.

Connor is THREE!

It seems like everyone in our little family's birthday is crammed into a 6 week period. Grant's is April 22nd, mine is May 9th, Connor's is May 29th, and Ryan's is June 3rd. No sooner did we finish celebrating Grant's 1st birthday when (in theory) we began planning to celebrate Connor's 3rd birthday. 

Last night as a two year old!

I really want to start the tradition of doing something special with each kid (alone) on his birthday, so this year I had Ryan drop Grant off at school and Connor and I went out on a breakfast date for donuts before I went to work. Every time he is in the car with me and I get coffee, he knows as soon as we round the corner of the building what I am doing and starts repeating over and over and over "can I have some Munchkins. I want vanilla Munchkins," so I thought he would enjoy having a whole donut for a change. We went to Wegmans and I let him pick out what he wanted. I might have allowed his eyes to be bigger than his stomach, as both those donuts were his, and he pretty much just licked the sprinkles off the chocolate one. 

 

The fact that my birthday, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and the all-important spring turkey hunting season all occur in the month of May made Connor's birthday party kind of sneak up on us. As I mentioned in Grant's birthday post, I have all sorts of great ideas for parties, and zero creativity/ability/time to pull them off. So, this year we were so busy every weekend in May (I realize this is not going to change next year, or the following year, etc. so I will have to get better about planning in advance - or learn to stay up later at night to get things done!) that I really didn't think about Connor's party until about 4 days before it. I mean, seriously, he's (and the guests) lucky that I remembered to order a sandwich tray and cake. Oops. I was having all sorts of mom-guilt for not having a "theme" party this year, but when Connor saw me decorating with his Dollar Store tablecloth, plates, napkins, balloon motif decorations, he squealed with delight, so I knew his birthday wasn't a total bust. Oh, and the fact that Ryan went and bought him this definitely helped ease any disappointment he may have had:

Three years old and drives a nicer, newer car than his parents!

Just like Daddy's truck!

My parents got him a Kindle Fire and he is already more proficient at it than I am. It is great because I can park him in front of it for a few minutes at the end of the day and I don't have to watch/listen to Thomas the Train or Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. 

Multi-tasking.

I can't believe he's three already. I must say, however, whomever coined the term "terrible twos" is a dumbass and is obviously childless. The twos were a delight. The threes have proven to be a bit of a challenge at times. He is definitely asserting his independence, and there have been plenty of feet stomping, kicking, hitting, screaming temper tantrums. The time out chair has seen plenty of action. But when he's not busy being a jerk he is so sweet and sensitive, and he cracks me up with his little personality and imagination. I think I'll keep him.