Christmas Recap (Part 2)

Here are the rest of our pictures from Christmas day.....

Wes and the boys head down the stairs to see what Santa has left!

Noah discovers the note that Santa left him next his brand new bike.

Liam and Noah with their new pillow pets.

Noah helps Liam discover his new workbench.

Noah really loves his viewfinder with dinosaurs - I really love that he loves such an old-school toy!

Noah's new, blue bike - complete with pedals that DON'T fall off!

Wes with the family's favorite new toy. We are loving the Wii!

These are Noah's new interactive dinosaurs. They were a big hit.

Cute little Gemma with her Christmas bow! I bet her parents think she is the best present ever!

Our family - and Liam sporting his "Blue Steele" look.

Jessie and Scott hang out and play video games with us on Christmas night.

Noah is very excited to get a strike while bowling.


And last but not least......Over Christmas is when this sweet little face...

....decided to do this for the first time!

He is off and crawling folks. I imagine life will never be the same!

A Christmas Recap (Part 1)

I took about a million Christmas pictures this year and have been a little overwhelmed thinking about putting them all up on the blog. So I guess I will start with Christmas Eve.

This year we celebrated with both sides of the family together. My Mom and sister and Wes' family all gathered at my brother-in-law's house for dinner, singing, and some early gift giving.  Cy and Carissa were nice enough to host and when we got there I decided to take advantage of their festive decorations for some pictures of the kiddos.

So, here is where Liam and Gemma started to engage in a spirited round of fisticuffs....

See, the expressions are starting to get a little cranky. It's hard to say who could be declared the victor.

Liam was definitely using his brute strength - and extra 6 pounds - to his advantage, but Gemma is quite nimble and flexible so the fighting kind of ended in a draw.  Although, from his expression here, I do believe Liam is contemplating how to handle things for the next go around!

Noah really enjoyed singing Christmas carols!

Waiting to open our stockings from "Santa Nana".

When we got home Noah decided that it was absolutely essential to write a thank you note for Santa. Believe me, I thought this was sooooo sweet BUT it took forever for him to write out that note. In the end it was worth it though, because he was very proud.

Finally, he got in his PJ's and left the milk and cookies (and thank you note) out for Santa. Then it was off to bed to eagerly await the arrival of Rudolph and the presents!

Merry Christmas!

To all our friends and family...Merry Christmas!

We hope your day has been as wonderful, and as full of blessings as ours has been. May you enjoy this day with your loved ones and celebrate in the birth of our savior.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a women, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." ~ Gal 4:4

My Coach Says We're In A Tight Spot

Let's be clear about two things.

First of all, no matter how much I wish for it, I am neither fast enough or rich enough to have a running coach. The closest I get to any kind of coaching is the weekly chart that I printed off of Runners World that hangs on my refrigerator. That "coach" gives me my daily workout for 10 weeks as I train for the Charleston Half Marathon.

Okay, the second thing. Every time I look at that training schedule I hear the voice of George Clooney's character in O Brother Where Art Thou say, "Damn, we're in a tight spot!"

Because of the cold/flu virus that circulated our house I have now officially NOT run for two weeks. I am freaking out a little. One week was bad enough but two is kind of unthinkable right now. I only have 4 weeks left before the race and to have lost two weeks worth of training and fitness at this point makes me really pissed. And a little scared that I won't be able to race the way that I want to. I wanted to go into this race with really solid training underneath me so that there would be no excuses for how I preformed on race morning. I don't want to run slower than desired and be able to say, "Well, if I hadn't had that flu bug...."

But life very seldom gives us exactly what we want, huh? Soooo...... I am going to try to erase the last two weeks from my head and focus on getting some real quality running in over the next four weeks. Up this week: a 7 mile speed workout and an 8 mile long run (on Christmas Day!) I am hoping I can salvage what is left of my training and still feel confident about my ability to run well.

Liam Lou Who

Because of the season I can't help but think that with his cute little hair sticking up, and in his striped outfit, that Liam looks like a Who from Whoville! Plus, I call him Liam Lou anyway, so it is very natural to call him Liam Lou Who.

Well, Mr. Lou Who is 8 months old today. Crazy how fast time flies. I can hardly believe that before I know it, his first birthday will be rolling around and he will be walking and getting into all sorts of trouble. Well, he may walk. If he ever decides to crawl. You see, he could totally crawl if he wanted. He will see a toy that he wants and get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth....and then he will anti-climatically sit back on his bottom and reach for a toy that is closer to him. It's as if he just decides that it is really to much work to crawl anywhere, no matter how intriguing the toy may be. We have decided he may be slightly lazy.

At 8 months old he has 3 and 1/2 teeth (the second top one is almost in!) He also weighs in right at 20 pounds. I know this because of all the doctors visits we have made recently. A funny fact about that - Noah and Liam are so close in weight that they were given the same dosage on their antibiotics. I keep warning Noah that one day (soon) he better watch out - his brother is going to sit on him! 

Sickness and the King of Dormir

The above picture pretty much sums up our family's feelings about the last 5 days.

We have been hit, and hit hard, by some random flu-like virus. Body aches, chills, fever, cough, congestion. Yep, all those wonderful symptoms have shown up at our house.

It started with Noah on Thursday and over the weekend spread to me and Liam. Finally last night Wes was taken down as well. I tell you what, I have a new found appreciation for the fact that my family is, for the most part, a pretty healthy bunch. I can count on one hand the number of times that Noah has been this sick. (I am sure that is because of his excellent diet, right? Peanut butter must be a super food!)

Anyway, I hoping that we are all on the mend. We have a fresh supply of antibiotics and cough syrup and so hopefully the boys will be feeling better (and sleeping better!) soon. Because let me tell you, three nights in a row of no sleep is draining when you're healthy. Neither one of them have been able to sleep because of the coughing and congestion. Wes has literally slept while sitting up holding Liam and I have been in and out of Noah's room every 30 minutes because of all his moaning and thrashing.  Finally, yesterday, Wes rigged up a place for Liam in a our bed.

Being propped up on pillows seemed to help him a lot. We laugh every time we look at him though. He looks ridiculous all propped up like the King of Sheba. Or, as Wes has been calling him, the "King of Dormir". (We really like to speak a mangled version of Spanish in our house!)

So here's to hoping we all feel better soon. And to being thankful that the germs hit before Christmas and not during!

Dave Matthews Band Concert

Okay I know this a very belated post. This concert took place over a month ago and I have been meaning to do a post about it for awhile but I haven't been able to import any pics onto my computer until now. Anyway, for Wes' birthday I surprised him with tickets to Dave Matthews Band. We were super excited to have an adult night out at a concert (which we haven't done in forever!) and it was even better because we got to enjoy it with friends. Before the start we headed over to the North Charleston Coliseum for some tailgating with wings and beer.

Here is Wes chowing down on a wing!

The ladies...Katy, me and Tamera

The guys - Wes, Zach and David

After the tailgating we headed in for the show. It was soooo good! I have to say that I wasn't sure what to expect. I am a Dave Matthews fan, but I only know the stuff they play on the radio. Well, of course, Dave avoided almost all his real popular stuff so I didn't really know many of the songs. It didn't matter though. They were such great entertainers that it was really fun to just sit back and enjoy the music. (When I wasn't on one of my 7 million trips to the bathroom that is. I definitely burned off all the calories from the beer that was causing my bathroom runs when I climbed up and down the stairs on every trip!)

We had a great time and I think Wes was really happy with his birthday present. I can't say that he was all that happy about the wing sauce on the upholstery of the car though. But I guess that is what happens when two crazy blonds decide they are starving at 11pm on the car ride home!

PS....This whole post was done using my new MacBook and I am in love! For someone who is completely indifferent to technology I am surprised by how insane I am over my new toy!

A Day in the Life of a Domestic Engineer

(Or, alternately titled, The Life of a Crazy Stay-at-Home Mom; a Photo Essay)

Sometimes I joke that because of all the social media I encounter, I have started thinking in terms of status updates and blog posts. You know, driving down the road listening to Liam scream, I will be thinking something like, Kelly Shealy is...loosing her mind! Plus, I always seem to be mulling over a new blog post. Not that I ever get around to writing most of them. All of that to say, I have been wanting to do a post about a day in the life of me. A stay at home mom of two boys. You will either be highly amused, completely bored, or run screaming in the other direction of motherhood. Possibly all three! So here goes...my day.

This morning I woke up at 7:30. Sounds pretty good I know but it wasn't. I wasn't at all refreshed because I woke up in the guest bed next to my 4 year old and his puddle of drool. Why was I sleeping with him? (Cause that is actually like, house rule number 1 here, sleep in your own bed!) Well, because his little brother has been plagued with a nasty yeast infection that has made a full night's sleep impossible and Noah woke up in the middle of the night wanting water and Daddy. I had to explain that Daddy was sleeping with Liam and after that there was no stopping Noah from assuming that he needed to sleep with a parent too. (A funny side note: As he snuggled into bed, he kept grabbing at himself - you know, there - and when I asked what was wrong he said, "It's just that stuff is always sticking to my penis....and every time I sneeze I toot." Right.)

So the morning goes like this. Wake up. Thank God for a husband who is already awake, showered, taken charge of Liam, and made my coffee. Drink coffee/eat while checking email (and facebook, etc.) From time to time scream at Noah to please eat his breakfast. (I'm sorry did I say scream? I meant remind him firmly.) Say good-bye to Wes, get myself (and both boys) dressed and headed to the car by 8:30 to take Noah to school.

Perhaps I should pause here to show you a picture of my office. (aka, the front seat of my car.)

Two coats, a purse, a diaper bag (why do I have both?), artwork scattered on the floor and the essentials: the phone charger, my lip gloss, and my diet coke.

Usually I use the time that Noah is in school to workout, or grocery shop or clean the house. But some days a wrench gets thrown in the plan.

So after school drop off today I hurried over to the pediatricians office because Liam's aforementioned yeast infection was not getting any better - it was possibly worse - and I wanted the problem addressed before the weekend. I assumed we would have to wait forever but was pleasantly surprised to be ushered back to a room fairly quickly.

Despite the fact that his nether regions were soooo red and angry, my sweet little guy was his usual happy self. Content to play with my keys and the paper liner.

After finding out that he basically has the world's worst diaper rash (with "yeasty components" ?!) I headed over to Target to buy the ingredients for the doctor's secret diaper rash remedy. Had to rush through the aisles because I didn't want to be late picking up Noah and I'm pretty sure that people I passed were scared of the crazy lady mumbling under her breath, "Where the hell is the Lotrimin?"

Picked up Noah, chatted with some friends and then headed home for lunch. Listened to the usual amount of whining from my hungry, tired four year old. Seriously, the hour between getting home from school and putting the boys down for nap/quiet time is maybe my most busy. Make the sandwich, feed the baby, transfer the laundry, wash the bottles...and today? Mix the diaper cream Cinderelly!

See. There are all the ingredients - plus a huge basket of laundry needing to be folded - waiting for me!

  At 2pm. Liam is napping, Noah is "quiet-timing" upstairs, and I am finally eating lunch. My favorite time of the day. Lunch, a book, and my second diet coke.

Don't worry. It only lasts about 20 minutes because pretty soon Noah is down the stairs asking for more snack/more drink/ help wiping his butt (seriously)/ or possibly just the most annoying question ever. "Is quiet time over yet?" Well for me it is. After that the day (as usual) is more of the same. Sweep, help Noah find a missing dinosaur, transfer more laundry, color with Noah to keep him quiet. Feed Liam, go outside to play/stalk our friends. Oh yeah, and as soon as 5pm rolls around start thinking, At least Wes will be home within an hour!

Usually our evenings are kind of crazy. Play, eat, play some more, bath time, and bedtime. Around 8pm Wes and I finally get the chance to converse with each other about our day. Today was a special night though because we went out to eat at Moe's and then got ice cream. Since it was Friday it was fun to have a family night out just the four of us. And if bedtime was a little late coming, who cares? Isn't that what Fridays are for?!

Noah and Wes at Moe's. Not the best picture but it makes me laugh cause they have the exact same expression on their faces!

This is me attempting to eat ice cream while holding Liam - trying to avoid him grabbing the ice cream or falling out of my lap. Not an easy job!

So, my life is pretty crazy at this point. Two little guys means long days, little sleep, and a continual loss of brain cells. But it sure is fun too. Like when Noah growls like a dinosaur and makes Liam giggle hysterically at the ice cream shop. It makes the craziness worth it!

A Turkey Day Run and Gobble Wobble

Ahh, Thanksgiving. You are here again. I love you.

I am thankful for: my husband, kids, family, friends, and good health. For the ability to run 3.1 miles in beautiful 70 degree weather in a fantastic city and then gorge myself on a feast. For time spent enjoying the holidays at the festival of lights. And for pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Here we are at the 33rd Annual Turkey Day Run and Gobble Wobble

Noah ran the kids race for the 4/5 year olds. He is very proud of his medal!

Me, my mom, and sis at the county park lights.

And...riding the train through the lights!

A Beautiful Morning

This morning was beautiful! Sunny and 65 degrees outside. It was a perfect day for a run, so run I did!

Actually, I started my training for the Charleston Half-Marathon on January 15th so I would have had to run even if the weather had sucked but I digress. After the run, I was stretching outside when I realized that today Liam is 7 months old. For some reason that fact amazed me. 7 months! It feels like he was just born and now he is past the halfway point on his way to being a year old. I remember this time last year feeling so frustrated by the fact that the bigger I got, the less I was able to run. It felt like it would be forever until I had my body back to "normal" (whatever that is!) and I could run the way I wanted. Now, here I am and I am back to running the way that I want and I am feeling like my old self....the big difference of course being the  very cute little boy riding in my jogging stroller!

I have a ton of pics to post from the last few weeks but I will leave you with this picture of the family from a couple Sundays ago when we had Liam baptized.

No Werewolves Allowed

So we were eating lunch with Wes at Firehouse Subs this afternoon when Noah said the most bizarre thing.

"Thank goodness werewolves can't come in here."

Wes and I both looked at him in confusion and that at each other like, what the heck is he talking about?!

"You know", he said pointing to the front window. "That sign right there. It means they don't let werewolves in this store." He was of course referring to this....

I almost died laughing! I mean, sure, who wouldn't look at that and interpret it to mean "no werewolves allowed"?

Halloween Part 2...Finally

I should have warned you that when I said in my last post that I would put up pictures from the rest of Halloween tomorrow, what I really meant was I would do it over a week later. Oh well, story of my life.

So trick-or-treating. It was all the usual suspects and all the usual fun. There were tons of kids, even more parents, friendly neighbors with candy, and our very own bar on the go (a.k.a., Tonya's jogging stroller filled with a cooler of her special martinis!) Noah was in heaven parading around the neighborhood with all his buddies and Liam was great, only fussing to be held at the very end. A blast was had by all and I will let these pictures tell you the rest!

Halloween Part 1: Thursday and Friday

We had the busiest Halloween this year! There were so many fun activities that I will have to break the blog entry up into two posts. Here goes!

Lets start at the beginning. In August Noah informed me that he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. Not wanting to be caught at the last minute combing the aisles at Party City for something (anything!) like last year, I went ahead and ordered the costume 2 months early. Of course then Noah told me that he had decided to be a T-Rex. I told him maybe next year, but this year he was being Buzz cause Mommy already paid for it! In a rare moment of agreeableness he consented and so we had our costume. (Liam got to be a skeleton because it was on sale for 40% off at Babies R Us a few weeks ago. I can only be so prepared folks!)

On Thursday the fun began when Noah joined me for my Zumba class. It was family Zumba that night and the instructor made costumes mandatory. Noah was happy to break out Buzz for the first time and I grabbed some cat accessories to pair with my all black spandex. Don't worry, its not as scary as it sounds.

My regular Zumba buddy Jennifer brought her daughter Ann Connolly too. Those two had a blast dancing around. Watching Noah attempt the choreography to Thriller was priceless!

On Friday Noah had his class Halloween party. All the kids brought their costumes to change into and then enjoyed pizza and dessert. Noah of course ate goldfish and water. I didn't snap any pictures because I had Liam in one hand - and Noah's unwanted slice of pizza in the other - but lets just say it was 12 kids running around in costumes laughing and being crazy.

Finally Friday night rolled around and the adult fun began! One of our neighbors was having a costume party and we (well, I ) decided it would be fun to go. Wes balked at the whole costume idea but I came up with a solution to pacify "Mr. No Fun".  After googling couples costumes online I found the idea of going as War and Peace - Wes was a soldier and I was a hippie. This worked for two reasons. First, the "costume" that Wes wore was just his Air Force uniform so it was nothing embarrassing or attention grabbing. And second, both of our costumes cost absolutely nothing. Free always makes my husband happy! We joined some friends and spent the evening just having fun and hanging out without kids. It was fabulous!



Wes in his costume.

Katy, me and Jan... a.k.a.  Daisy Duke, the hippie, and Cleopatra.

Good thing Cesar brings his own wine everywhere.  Joe is always a good guy to have around!

Daisy and cousin Bo. Zach, you were definitely the better Bo! :)


Well that's it for now. I will finish up tomorrow with the rest of the Halloween fun!