Yes, I am still here...

Yeah, I haven't posted much in a while. I'm quite the slacker, I know. I keep intending to post and then one thing or another comes up and then I end up forgetting about it or I'll do a short status update on FaceBook and leave it at that. I still need to do a full update on the cell phone drama and a few other things but those aren't going to happen tonight.

I figure a good way to get back on track for what I had planned on this blog being about, would be to post something cute that Liam did today. Now we're having medication issues with Liam (again, another long post that I'm going to try to get to this week), so Liam didn't have a dose of medicine yesterday so I could make sure he had a dose today (tomorrow we're just paying out of pocket to get more for him). Anyways, because of this I think Liam was a bit off. So this is what happened...

Since I only have one paper left for class, and that's due tomorrow, I decided to turn on some music and fold some laundry and stuff tonight to clear my head so I can work better tomorrow. I ended up going through a pile of clothes that I've been digging through for laundry for way too long. Got a bunch folded and put away in drawers.
After I had a good amount done, Liam comes up to me and says:
"Mommy! Your room looks SO nice with your laundry all folded and put away and stuff picked up! You have done SUCH a good job! I am SO proud of you Mommy! I love you!" and gives me a HUGE hug.
*waits for everyone to stop "oohing" and "aahing"*
Now, this would have been the sweetest thing I had heard in all of my life IF I was not sitting on the toilet and wiping my behind while he was hugging and praising me. *snort*

I told him thank you and asked him if he could please wait until I was done in the bathroom and then that would be a more appropriate time to tell me that. He seemed a bit confused, but stood outside of the bathroom door as asked him to. He tried pouncing one more time before I could wash my hands and I had to again explain that no, this was NOT an appropriate time.



I have also decided to implement something similar to what our BSC and another friend told us about. We're going to do a "reward book" for both kids. It's pretty much a booklet made out of construction paper with lines dividing it into 20 squares per page. I am going to give them stickers anytime that I catch them doing something nice/polite/following a rule/etc. It's not going to be everytime they do something, but at random times. We started it this afternoon and so far it's done pretty well. I'm hoping that focusing on this might help both of them -- for Liam I'm going to be focusing on being nice to Ethan, helping around the house, doing homework, getting "green days" in school. For Ethan, I'm going to be focusing on safety rules, being nice to Liam, helping, being nice to Tiger, etc.
I'm not sure what to make the rewards at the end of the page. I was thinking maybe 50 cents to be able to spend when we go somewhere that has those little toy machines (like gumball machines). They love those silly things. Or maybe when they fill the page they get to pick where we go for dinner or get a "no chore" evening or something. I'll have to keep thinking on it. For now they are content with earning stickers without a concrete award. I am sure this will change as they approach the end of the page. Thankfully 20 things should at least get me through a day or so ;)

Liam amusement...

I've been meaning to start recording more of the kid-stuff that happens and I haven't been keeping up on that much... Here's an amusing antidote from tonight:

So I'm sitting here in my office, watching Ghost Hunters with Liam and poking on Facebook before bed (gotta make sure my farm, frontier, island, and monster backyard are all safe before bedtime!) Liam walks out of the room to go to the bathroom.
I hear the toilet flush (we have the new dual flush toilets, so the toilet flushes really quickly and quietly).
Then I hear Tiger (our cat for those of you out of the loop) SCREAM and race past me from the direction of the bathroom. She almost takes out my foot and barely misses embedding herself into the front of the TV and then the front door in her panic to get away from whatever just scared the everloving piss out of her.
Before she finishes bouncing off the walls, Liam comes running out of the bathroom. He's PANTING and white as a sheet (ok, whiter than a sheet since the kid is already pale as all get out). He starts going "Mama, Mama, Mama!". I asked him what was wrong and then he saw Tiger and started breathing again...

Apparently he went into the bathroom without turning on the light. Tiger was attacking some random piece of fuzz and didn't notice he was in there. Liam then flushed the toilet, which scared the piss out of Tiger... who then scared the piss out of Liam.

Thankfully, Liam had already peed...

He's so lucky he's cute....

Edit: I wrote this last night at about 11pm, but forgot to hit "send" ;)


So tonight we have a guy from a basement water proofing company here to look at our basement and see if it's possible to fix the leaks and stuff we have. Ethan was in bed for about an hour before the guy showed up, but then woke up. I put the TV on for him and wanted to talk to the guy about what he found before taking Ethan back up to bed.

Karl, me, and the guy are sitting in the kitchen talking and Ethan comes walking out.

Holding his PJs.

Totally naked.

I jump up and say "Ethan! Put your clothes on!" .... what do you think my ADORABLE baby says to that?

"Mama, I just wanted to show him my penis!"