"I can't hear you"

As a mother I take pride in the fact that I usually keep my cool. I am usually very patient and try to explain why I want Myles to do things. I try to use distraction in order to avoid temper tantrums. I'm usually very level headed when it comes to the kids but, what does it say when your two year old covers his ears before anything comes out of your mouth? Picture this: we have been having a really hard week at the Dodd home. Myles has been exceptionally grumpy and disobedient. This has caused me some stress(okay, A LOT of STRESS). I've tried everything I can think of, but when you have to put a child down for a nap for the 22nd time you just start to loose it. I'm not kidding about 22 times! So Myles was playing yesterday while I was doing my hair. He pulled out the keyboard drawer and then pulled out the extra space shelf, and I'm guessing here, used it to get up on the trunk. Of coarse it isn't rated for this kind of weight and it split the wood that housed the drawer. I came out to the sound of a crash. Myles took one look at me and covered his ears as if to say, "I can't hear you!". He knew I was going to be mad and yell at him. I guess I've been doing too much of this lately. It makes me feel bad, but sometimes it's either yelling or killing, and I think the first is the better option.

Back on the move

I'm now seeing how dark this picture is and I'll try and post a better one.

I've been meaning to post about this for a while now. I've had my "BIG" stroller for a while now and I can't tell you how much I love it and how happy it makes me. The kids and I can now get out of the house every day. It' s so nice to be able to walk at a normal pace and not at Mylo pace. You see that's how we used to do it. I would put the girls in the double and Myles would walk. Well you can guess how well that didn't work. He would walk in the opposite direction that I wanted/needed to go. Then he would walk soooo slowwwww. It took us 1/2 hour to walk 2 1/2 blocks to the grocery store once. So now that I have the big stroller we can zip in and out of the store. Or at least that we the plan. We must be quite a sight because I have yet to use the stroller when I didn't get stopped at least once by someone who was interested in all the kids, or the stroller, or both. It's funny how perfect starangers will tell you their life story if it has anything to do with the fact that they had twins, or knew someone who had twins, or for no reason at all. Anyway, we love our stroller, we love that we are now back on the road.

Celabration

I *HEART* Fall. I love the cool weather, I love Halloween, and I love the beautiful colors it brings. I also love that October bring my birthday month. I look forward to my birthday all year. I guess I'm still like a kid in that regard. I celebrated my 34th this year. Yep, I'm in my MID THIRTY'S now. Not that I really care. I'm still young compared to Bjorn who will turn 40 this January. I guess he can always say he is in his EARLY FORTY'S! Anyway, it was a great birthday.


I had a great time on Friday night at the baseball game. I love getting to watch the Red Sox play. I have a fabulous husband who planned a great weekend for me. He even did his own shopping for a gift, flowers and a cake. I was going to say that he baked a cake for me, but non of you would have believed me. You all know he doesn't cook anything but oatmeal. Then on Saturday morning we drove to the Farmers Market at the Grove and had Crepes. It's something we used to do often when we lived on the West side. Now that we are farther away we don't do it that much, but I do love it. I love the cool weather over there and I love the outdoors. I love the crepes too. Then to top it all off we had take-out for dinner.

We put all the kids into bed and had cake and ice cream by ourselves. It was a glorious day. A whole day where I didn't have to cook anything. What more could I ask for. It was a great birthday thanks to my sweet husband. I'm not sure how I landed him, but I'm thanking my lucky stars!

Two year old stats

(Myles and Lydia, yes mom, he did get a haircut for his second birthday.)

Myles is now two, and he had his two year old check up with Dr. Ng. He is now 37# and is 40 inches tall. That's on target for 6'-7'' in case you are wondering. I'm wondering if he is ever going to slow down. He's already wearing Seth and Tates size 3 clothes and a size 9 shoe. He's wearing a helmet that was for a child ages 5+. Where did this giant come from? We don't have this kind of height on either side of the family. I guess only time will tell how tall he will really be, but I think we better start working on our ball skills!

Birthday Fun

(Angela is the tall one on the left. Sorry this is the only picture of Angela I could find. Among other things she is great at she is always taking the pictures. I have very few of her. You know always behind the lens kinda thing.)

So my friend Angela picked me up this morning for a fun date. We both ditched our kids and went to the opening of the Nordstroms Rack in Pasadena. It's been a long time since I've been there since we didn't have a close one to us. Anyway, it was very busy. As we walked in the door they almost made us wait till some people left. They said we were the 800th people inside. Then when we were checking out the sales guy said they had 350 staff too. I believe it. Man was it busy, but man was it great! Three hours seemed like three min. to me. Does this mean that I need to get out more?! We found some great stuff and I will be going back when the store isn't as crowded. It's a fun place to go and dig, especially when you don't have your kids. Today the store was brand spanking new and everything was in it's place. It was great! Then to top it all off I was treated to a lunch at my favorite bread shop, Panera. What a great birthday treat. What a great friend I have. Who else would want to go shopping at a really crowded place on the opening day. Angela would!

Picaso?

This is Myles favorite doggie. He got the original from Auntie Bug, when he was just a wee pup himself. As time has gone on he has grown to love this little doggie. You ask "what is the doggies name?"...well....Doggie of coarse! He can't go to sleep without him, he carries him all over the house and to most places we visit. Since he loves him so much I bought Myles a few extras since they would get really slobbery from all the loving Myles inflicted on him. If I didn't wash him about every two days you can't stand to sit next to him it would stink so bad. Even out of the wash he still has a small odor of spoiled milk and laundry detergent. Above you can see what a "new" doggie should look like. The picture below is the Picasso doggie. I often look at the poor thing and think of all the weird paintings that Picaso did. After Myles gets done with him, this little guy could resemble some of them. Notice how doggie is missing his hard plastic nose. Instead, he has stuffing coming through the hole where the nose once was. His face has sort of been "rearranged" by all the chewing and loving on it. Unfortunately you can't smell this little doggie nor does my photography portrait him in his true Picasso state. This little doggie is one of those things that I both hate and *heart*!

Two years old

My first born turned 2 today. I can't believe it, where has the time gone? Myles had a fun filled day beginning with presents early this morning. He wanted his P.J.'s off, so that's why he is filmed in his diaper. You can really see how much he is thinning down and getting REALLY tall without his clothes on.

Cars from Auntie Kristin and Uncle Chris
Train from Uncle Dru and Auntie Melissa

After breakfast we packed up for a shopping trip with a great friend and a little buddy of Myles too. We shopped for a while then had lunch on Myrtle street. After lunch we came home for a quick nap then it was off to the park for cake and ice cream with some friends. What a fun day.

The cake this year was Blue's Clues, Blue. Myles has loved the show the last month or so. He flashes his fingers open and closed when he wants to watch it. He was very happy looking at the picture I had pulled off the Internet this week. Then when he woke up this morning he was really happy to see the finished cake. He wanted to put his little fingers right in it! We also made a M&M cake, just to make sure we had enough for all our friends. Myles loves M&M's, and each morning he shows me his two fingers and points to the candy jar full of peanut M&M's. He knows he only gets two. This is a child of habit, if you can't already tell. It's kinda like living "Groundhogs Day", every day.

We had a great day, can't believe he's already two. Now I can say I have three kids, 2 and under!