You Happy Mom?

Okay, seriously, I don't know where Ben picked this phrase up and the first couple of times he used it, it was pretty cute. However, I am about to look into hypnotherapy to see if I can permanently erase it from his head. This all started when I once told Ben that he was making my very mad (this may come as a shocker, but the kid had just pooped his pants). About five minutes later (five long minutes of Ben sitting in the "naughty chair" asking if he could get down now) he said "You Happy Mom". And my mommy brain said "oh, how cute, he is asking about my feelings and recognizing that he did something to feel guilty about. Perhaps this sharing of our feelings is worth it". Yep, that was about two weeks ago. This phrase has snow-balled into Ben's automatic response when you ask (okay, tell) him to do about anything. "Ben, go get your shoes" "You Happy Mom?" "Ben can you get me the wipes" "You Happy Mom?" "Ben, stop hitting your sister over the head with her Cabbage Patch Doll" "You Happy Mom?". I take it you get the gist. Oh, but there is also the alternative saying, "You Happy Dad". I'm sure you can make the jump as to when that gets used. I might have to take to saying everything is a sing-songy, super chipper voice to see if I can eradicate this pest. However, saying "I can't believe you pooped your pants again" in a sing-songy, super chipper voice just doesn't seem to produce the type of results I am looking for. I have already tried the following responses: 1. Does this look like the face of a happy person? 2. I would be happy if you stop asking me if I was happy 3. Of course I'm happy Ben, are you happy? 4. Ecstatic. However, nothing seems to work. If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to suggestion.

Oh and while we are on the subject of toddlers and their annoying catch phrases, Ben also likes to say "I can't mom" accentuated with a shoulder shrug and a head nod that I have contributed to his cousin Evan. This used to be cute, and still is actually. However, yesterday on the stairs I told Madilyn she had to hurry up because Zach was crying and Mom had to go feed him to which she threw her arms up and replied "CAN'T!". God help us if she starts asking me if I'm happy.

Hide and Seek...Except You Hide There

So, my first week of stay-at-homedom is behind me, but if you haven't noticed, things are crazy! But, I have a few quick stories that I wanted to make sure were forever remembered...so here we go.

Ben and Maddie's new favorite game is hide and seek. However, if you have ever been to our house, you know that our main floor does not provide a lot of places to hide, which you think would be perfect for a 3 year old and an 18 month old. But, as he does with most things, Ben thinks he need to run the hide and seek show. So, he gets very mad if you don't hide exactly where he tells you to hide. So, hide and seek at our house goes something like this: First step, Ben tells you to hide behind the counter. Second step, Ben and Maddie hide behind the couch and counts to four with his eyes wide open to make sure that you don't go and try to hide anywhere else. Third step, Ben makes sure he leaves his spot behind the couch to run faster then Maddie to the spot where he knows I am hiding. Fourth step, he finds me behind the counter and laughs like crazy. Fifth step, Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Sixth step, put kids to bed, seriously consider having a big, cold Coors Light:)

Zach rolled over on Saturday! In other words, he is a super baby. He has only done it once, but I'm sure it will happen again. Also, we had his hearing test at the audiologist office this morning and everything checked out great! If you haven't ever had to get this kind of hearing test (I think it is called an ABR test) it involves a sleeping baby that you have to try to put electrodes on his forehead and behind both ears and then probes into each of his ears all the while trying to make sure he stays asleep and keeps everything attached. The test itself isn't anything, but it took Matt, myself and the audiologist to keep everything attached and going. She said that he may have a slight delay in his left ear which most likely is caused by a head cold or some debris in the ear, but would account for the failed hearing tests he had earlier. No need to follow up, we just are supposed to keep an eye on him to make sure he is developing normally. As if...he is already proven that he is going to be a super baby...so I don't think we will have anything to worry about.

Anyway, I probably have a very short window of opportunity to eat my lunch and take a shower, so I best be signing off. I will make sure I update next week after Zach's 2-month check up and Madilyn's check up at the doctor to see if she needs tubes in her ears. Nothing but excitment around here. I guess you know you are a mom when how many times a child poops, what they ate for lunch and what the doctor said is front page news!

This Stay at Home Mom Stuff Ain't Too Bad

As long as it is 70 degrees outside and my kids can just play outside while Zach peacefully sleeps in the stroller. Something tells me that not all the days will be like this, but hey, so far so good. I'll take it. We had one slight incident this morning which makes me wish I had about six additional arms. The two I do have were busy nursing Zach but I could have used another pair to keep Maddie from taunting Ben (yep, she is quite the aggresor) and then the other pair to stop Ben from bashing Maddie in the forehead with the ball she was trying to grab from him. The result was three crying kids: Ben because he was placed in the naughty chair turned away from the TV that was showing his beloved Imagination Movers, Madilyn because she seems to think she is above punishment and was unpleasantly surprised when she received a timeout in Zach's pack and play and Zach because I took away his breakfast and he didn't do anything to deserve that:) Oh well, we all ended up okay. Two kids are now sleeping up in their rooms, one is sleeping in his swing and I am eating lunch and writing about my morning...not too shabby!

The Update is There is No Update

Hey everyone. A couple of people have asked about how Zach's ENT appointment went. Well, it wasn't much of an appointment. First they ran a test on his ear drum to see how the movement was in each ear drum, which was perfectly normal. Then the ENT came and looked at the structure of his ear, which was also normal. But none of this really indicates whether or not there is a hearing loss. So, we go back at the end of the month to have the audiologist do a hearing test which has to do with electrodes and his brain stem, but no pain or needles. He just needs to be sleeping for the test. That will retest his hearing. If he still fails this test, the next step will probably be a CAT scan to try to locate a source for the hearing loss, but it is possible that he will have a hearing loss but no cause that we can locate. The doctor said that he can fit babies for hearing aids as young as one year to help with any developmental issues that may develop, but he also said that before they did neonatal testing a lot of kids with hearing loss in one ear went undetected until grade school and had no developmental delays. It would just be good to know what we are dealing with.

I will update everyone after the next procedure.

Playing the Potty Card

Well, this is going to have to be short and sweet, because I am holding Zach and it is hard to type one-handed. However, I just wanted everyone to know that after three months of potty training, Ben has finally learned to play the potty card. It was only a matter of time. He has to "make bubbles" about six times a night between bedtime and actually falling asleep. And he knows we are suckers for it because we don't want to have to change wet sheets, just in case. He'll sit on the potty for about five minutes until "just a bit" trinkles out (his words, not ours). It's an excuse not to go to sleep and to play with himself--smart kid. We finally had to start threatening removal of binkies from bed until he is ready to "sleep" which seems to have done the trick for now.