You're never alone

I've been reading a book entitled, "Real Moms...Real Jesus: Meet the friend who understands" by Jill Savage. It's so good, I might add. There is a part in the book called "Can I please go to the bathroom alone?" You can guess what she talks about in this section. Reading her story of trying to go the bathroom while her four children are interrupting made me laugh about my own experience that happened a few shorts weeks before.

It was sometime in the afternoon and I ran to the bathroom. Both Garrison and Josiah were awake so I took Josiah into the bathroom with me. (I don't trust Josiah by himself with Garrison. Who knows what Garrison would do while I'm not in the room since he throws stuff at him with me right there.) Anyway, I had Josiah on the floor when there was a knock at the door.

me: "Who is it?" (I know fully well who it is.)

Garrison: "MOOOOM"

me: "Yes, Garrison?"

Garrison: "MOOOOOOOOOOOOM"

I open the door and two hands shove a box of cereal and a bowl my direction. Then he comes barreling into the bathroom. (In order for Garrison to get into the bathroom I had to quickly pick up Josiah and put him on my lap.)

Now if you've ever been in my house we have a very small bathroom on the main floor. It's a tight fit with all of us in there.

Garrison gets into the bathroom and we get the door closed. He realizes what I'm doing and starts grabbing the toilet paper and pointing at the toilet. After I thank him for helping me he begins to stand on the stool and wash his hands. Now a two year old trying to wash his hands by himself ends up being a bigger mess for me then clean hands for him. Plus, the only handle he can reach is the hot water side so I'm trying to help him get a good temperature. I would have turned off the water, but wasn't in the position to deal with a meltdown.

While all this is going on I realize that Josiah has thrown up at some point and now I'm covered in puke. Excellent!

I look at the three of us in the mirror and think all I wanted to do was go to the bathroom. Who knew there would be a party at the same time and take way more time than it should have? I love being a mom. Bathroom breaks used to be so boring before the two rug rats joined my days.

Happy Tail

A few weeks ago we were in the cities visiting Thomas' family. When we go down we usually put Aza into a kennel. Thomas' brother, James, is a manager of a kennel so we have an in. While she was there she got "happy tail".

What in the world is "happy tail"? Dogs receive "happy tail" when they are in the kennel wagging their tails so much from excitement that they cut it on the bars. Leave it to our dog to get excited (Aza... never!) and cut her tail.

Aza came home with a nice bandage. We thought she had a dangerous tail before. (The red in the picture is not blood it's just a red bandage.)

A few days after we got home Thomas thought it would be ok to take off the bandage. When he first removed it it was all scabbed over. No big deal. Aza licked it a lot and I tried to stop her whenever I was able to, but that wasn't often.

Well, we should have left the bandage on longer because now our house looks like a murder scene. We keep finding blood spots all over. The front door and the wall next to the front door are splattered. I've found blood on our cupboards, dishwasher and wood trim. So if you come over and think we beat our dog and she lives this miserable life. Think again! She just has "happy tail".

basketball

Sometimes Thomas and Garrison have way too much fun together. They like to play a music video by Kurtis Blow entitled "Basketball". (Warning: it's a super cheesy 80's video) It's fun to watch them dance around together laughing and having a blast. One day Garrison started singing "baaskeeebooo" followed by a little clap. So I've posted the music video that Thomas and Garrison dance to (you only need to listen to the first couple of seconds to get the basketball part that Garrison is trying to interpret) and then Garrison's version. (I was so excited that he actually sang for me while I was video taping.)

He's on cereal

My baby is having cereal already.

I started giving Josiah cereal about a week ago and he took right to it. He likes to eat it with baby food (so far we've only tried pears) or formula. I'm not a fan of putting formula with it, but I was given some from my clinic so I thought I would use it up.

He has cereal two times a day. Once around 10 am and then again at about 5 pm. Ever since I started giving him cereal he has slept for 12+ hours a night. It has been wonderful! And I love that he's predictable now, at least at night. Of course, now that I'm telling you about it he'll probably change his tune.

He loves eating so much that he opens his mouth as soon as he sees the spoon and if I don't get it to him fast enough he tries to grab the spoon. He's a true Bush... loves to eat and needs it NOW!

the boys

One likes to drum the other concentrates...

No Pacifier

Garrison is going on about a month of no pacifier. Yeah!! I'm so proud and excited that he has gotten rid of it. I tried a few times before, but then he'd get sick or we'd be away from home for a couple of days and I thought it would be easier to let him have the pacifier than fight with him.

I knew that he didn't need the pacifier anymore because he was starting to chew on it and was trying to talk with it in his mouth. Plus, I've read that you should actually take the pacifier away at about 6 months. Oops!

I was finally able to let Garrison get rid of it when holes started to appear. I also realized that I needed to stick to my guns and not give in to him when he was asking for the pacifier. Getting rid of the pacifier was more my problem than Garrison's.

I showed Garrison that his pacifier was "broken" and couldn't be used anymore. End of that. I threw it away (he didn't see me do this) and he never asked for it again. Whenever he needed to soothe himself he would suck his thumb. I thought that nap and bedtime would be the hardest for him, but he sucks his thumb. He uses his thumb only until he starts to drift off then he's normally fine.

Every time he saw a pacifier during my other attempts to get him to stop he'd pop it in his mouth, but now when he sees a pacifier he comes and gives it to me or tries to hand it to Josiah. Although, I've been trying not to leave them out to tempt him. I have one in Josiah's car seat and one in his crib. Josiah doesn't like the pacifier as much as Garrison did.

I'm so proud that Garrison is no longer using a pacifier.

a song

I've hit rock bottom. I've had this song stuck in my head for days, but the only part I could remember was "I'm looking for my friends. I'm looking for you." So to hear the whole song I looked up on our tv guide when they show "Sid the Science Kid" came on on PBS. Then, without any children even around, I turned on the channel and watched the beginning until I saw the song. How pathetic, right? I thought I share the wonderful song with you to enjoy as well. :)

doctor appointments

Yesterday Garrison and Josiah had their check-ups. I was so proud of them. They both were very well behaved and let the doctor do the exams without any fussing. Josiah received three shots and took them pretty well. The greatest part of Josiah getting shots is that he slept last night for 11 hours straight. He hasn't done that in almost 2 months.

Garrison is still our "skinny mini". He weighs 22 lbs and is 33 inches long.

Josiah is our "chunky monkey". He weighs 14 lbs 13 oz and is 25 inches long. Although, Garrison at this age weighed 15 lbs and was 25 1/2 inches long. I don't know how, but Josiah seems so much bigger. (Many people have commented on how Josiah seems bigger than Garrison at that age too. Apparently, we're used to Garrison's size now and have forgotten he was a chubby baby.)