Laura's Weekend Off

Well this weekend it was Laura's turn to get a break, this may be the first break on her own since Miles was born other than a vacation with me.  So what does Laura do when she gets time to herself?  She makes curtains.  Almost as exciting as video games.  She said some of the other highlights were making breakfast and getting to just sit and eat it along with getting to go out and eat some sushi.  Anyways, hopefully she is enjoying it because I am once more reminded why I would never be a stay at home today.  Let's run through some highlights.

Sleep or lack there of.  I'm pretty sure they have secret councils where they decide who will get up at three AM.  First night Miles, second night Chase.  Then both up at 5 AM screaming Dad at the top of his lungs.  This results in some bad parenting when you only have 4 or 5 hours of sleep.  It may start with watching a movie at 4 AM and then letting them watch the same movie again at 11 so you can have a little break while Miles naps. 

Miles is understanding more and more each day.  Last night at around 7:30 I told him if he played by himself he wouldn't have to go to bed.  That stinker spent the next hour playing quietly by himself, stacking blocks, playing with toys, just walking around.  Normally this kid doesn't give you 15 minutes to yourself, but he knew what was going on.  I would ask him if he wanted to go to bed and he would emphatically say "NO"

You can also tell both kids miss their mom and being at home.  Miles keeps pointing to the door and saying he wants to go bye-bye.  It's not that they don't have a great time here, but you can tell they like their normal routine.  Their mom is probably more fun than me as well.

I have no idea how Laura does the contact by herself.  I tried for around 15 minutes this morning by myself and had no luck.  You need a third hand to make it work, so basically I was just torturing him.  Grandma had a good iron grip though of the head and got the eye open just long enough. 

Chase also got his first real sledding experience on the old St. Joe hill.  Not a bad gig for the kid, he gets to ride down and then someone pulls him back up.  Thankfully grandpa was there so we could trade off on the rides. 

One day to go and then back to work for me and Laura comes back on down.  I'm sure that will be a fun goodbye tomorrow.  ISU game tonight to see if they can knock off Kansas.

Stupid Wii

You know those stories you heard about stupid people who threw their Wii remotes through their TV.  Welcome our family to this fun little group.  I got home today and turned on my TV upstairs.  It wasn't working.  This is normal with this TV as it usually has to restart itself for about a minute before you can use it.  This is what they call a "smart tv" I guess.  Well then I notice a little crack in the corner of the TV and I was pretty sure I knew what happened. 

I called Laura over and she confirmed that Chase had got a little excited and threw the wii remote into the TV while he was bowling.  This is why you should use the wrist strap.  How he got it to go that far and right into the TV is a little ridiculous.  So now I'm in the market for a TV again, fantastic. 

Miles has decided he is done with hi-chair (debating how to spell this).  Laura asked if he wanted to sit it in and he said "no", then he walked over to the chair and pointed to it and said "sit".  So time to take the hi-chair to Val and Scott, we won't be needing that again. 

We also found out that Miles needs some help walking.  He is flat footed and rolling his ankles a little bit.  So he gets to have braces for the next year and a half along with his contact.  This kid is going to owe us.  He is getting some cool comic book braces though so he's got that going for him.  At the end of the day if these are the main issues he has during childhood, we will deal with it. 

So basically my kids cost us about $1000 dollars today between the TV and the leg braces.  I'm keeping all of this in a ledger for them to pay us back later. 

Laura was in charge of Valentine's day this year and I was pretty sure she had decided we didn't have time to do anything.  She surprised me Friday night by telling me we were going to go to the Children's museum, but when I met her after work there were no kids. I thought it would be awkward if we still went to the children's museum so we decided to go out to eat and go to the "Book of Mormon" instead.  Very good musical, although slightly innapropriate.

My Bottom is Sick

Chase was having some issues this past Thursday and after taking a bathroom break he yelled out to Laura.  "My butt is sick, My butt is sick!"  Laura went in to check what was going on and he told her "My butt threw up, I need to eat healthy foods to make it better"  Supposedly this went on all day.  I used it to my advantage when I got home and he wanted to eat my ice cream.  I told him it would make his stomach feel sick again.  That's the key, use their own logic against them. 

Laura tried to get Chase to call me to and tell me but I wasn't around at work.  So then she tried to get him to leave me a message.  Let's just say that Chase doesn't quite understand how that works.  He just kept yelling my name into the phone and I would hear Laura saying "He's not there, you have to just leave him a message".  Eventually she just had to hang up the phone. 

Miles has learned how to say yes and no, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.  Instead of the pointing and yelling I now get a very emphatic head shake either up and down or side to side.  On the down side I hear a lot of "No's" as I try to figure out what he exactly wants.  It is a very high pitched "no" at this point as well. 

Next weekend is Laura's free weekend as long as a blizzard doesn't hit Iowa. We are heading down to watch some ISU basketball and hang out with the family.

Bachelor Weekend

What does a weekend without kids look like?  Basically it looks like me in a chair for over 10 hours a day watching TV and playing video games.  It includes things like Chipotle dinner, taco doritos, cans of pop, and ice cream.  If you are currently a parent and don't give yourself a break every once in a while, you should.  Laura and I have decided to take the kids to Iowa on our own every once in a while.  It's a win-win, grandparents get to see the kids, the parent gets a much needed break.  Not to say you don't miss your kids during the timeframe, because here's all the fun things you miss.

Chase basically asks me every time he sees me if I'm staying home for the day.  If I say yes, I get a loud "yes" from Chase with a fist pump included.  Laura's even taught him how to do a double fist pump.  Miles meanwhile laughs hysterically every time he sees me, except on facetime tonight.  There he gave me the cold shoulder for awhile.  I should really record these so I can play them back the first time they miss curfew and are not excited to see me sitting on the couch waiting. 

Miles has progressed to full blown walking or waddling everywhere.  He's pretty impressed with himself as he motors around.  The only issue is he can get to you a lot faster now, so escaping him does not come with much success at this point. We are also at the point and yell stage of communication.  I'm ready for more words and less anger.

Miles also loves sports at this moment.  Any ballgame causes a wild reaction with a lot of pointing and yelling of ball.  He can even just hear a ball bouncing and get excited.  Hopefully this continues.

Steph bought Chase a Kids dance game for the Xbox and that kid has got some moves!  His favorite right now is the song Despicable me, so I'm sure he's walking into school right now singing "I'm having a bad, bad day, something something something get out of my way.  Whoever picks the dance moves for those songs is terrible, I think I could do better.  We will have to put it on youtube later.

Well back to StarCraft for me.  One more day of silence. :)